Liverpool's Dead Interesting - St Mary's Cemetery

In 1835 the first stone of St Mary’s church at Kirkdale was laid by his worship the Mayor, James Aspinall, Esq, on the 13th of April, and it was consecrated on the 14th of November 1846. St. Mary's Cemetery, named for the nearby St. Mary's Church, was opened as a cemetery in 1836, a proprietary cemetery (Private), vested in a body of Trustees, pursuant to a deed of settlement dated the 11th of February 1837. This cemetery served all religious denominations in the communities of Walton, Anfield, Everton, and Vauxhall. Upwards of 47,500 internments spanned sixty one years from the 3rd of August 1837 to the 5th of November 1898. When this small cemetery reached its full capacity, alternative grounds were sought with the purchase of 32 acres of land in Longmoor Lane, Fazakerley in 1878; forever to be named 'Kirkdale Cemetery'. The church endured longer closing in 1973 and was demolished in 1979. The cemetery had no association with the church and was the third of the public cemeteries of Liverpool, where bodies were also disposed of in pits. The Astoria Cinema backed on to it and Westminster Road Baths was on the other end. The seven burial ground which bodies were disposed of in Pits were those attached to the Wesleyan Chapel Stanhope St; St Patrick’s Catholic Chapel Park Rd; St Anthony’s Scotland Rd; St James; Necropolis; St Mary’s Kirkdale and the Parish cemetery Vauxhall Rd. The pits varied in depth from 18 to 30ft, being 7 to 12 ft long and 31/2 to 9 ft wide The number of bodies deposited in such pits varied from 30 in St James and St Marys cemeteries to 120 in St Patrick’s.
In 1897, the City of Liverpool petitioned Parliament to close several burial grounds, including St. Mary's Cemetery, Walton Road, Kirkdale, with the intent of converting them into ornamental open spaces. In 1898, the cemetery was acquired by Liverpool Corporation and officially closed on the 28th of December 1898. It was opened as Lester Gardens on the 10th of July 1905, named for Canon Thomas Major Lester (1829-1903) who was vicar of St. Mary's Church for over 50 years. The entrance to the cemetery still stands adjacent to 61 Walton Road.

 

In 1973 graves were moved when Derby Road was being widened and they tried to find any decendants for their permission to exhume the remains.
The remains of 1,138 souls were reintered in a mass grave in Bootle Cemetery in April 1973 with the cemetery being demolished in 1979. Although the cemetery was called St Mary's, Kirkdale, as mentioned previously, it was not attached to the church and had no association with it. The first burial was on the 3rd of August 1837, and the final burial on the 5th of November 1898.

Lester Gardens circa 1958

 

Canon Thomas Major Lester ( 1829 - 1903 ) was born in London and like his brothers was educated at Christ College, Cambridge, ordained at Chester Cathedral in 1852 he was originally the curate at St Barnabas Church, Parliament Street, Liverpool and his first position as a vicar was at St Mary's Church in Kirkdale in 1853. After short time spent in Manchester he returned to St Mary's Church were he took up residence in Everton at 294 Netherfield Road North and under his guidance the congregation swelled at St Mary's, where he took a keen interest in his flock and was deeply concerned about the amazing amount of poverty stricken children with families, and also orphaned who were left to fend for themselves. This bothered him so much he obtained premises to shelter the children in houses in Kirkdale,Walton which in turn led to the opening of the Major Street Ragged Schools, basically the Kirkdale Child Charity, the first of its type in Liverpool and it was this that Canon Thomas Major Lester dedicated his life to.
When he died on the 3rd of November 1903 a huge crowd gathered and a procession, which was led by 500 of the poorest children in Liverpool, snaked it's way towards his final resting place and his funeral was attended by 45,000 people, he was a truly remarkable and kind soul and his statue is easy to locate in St John's Gardens.

see also :- http://www.thefootballvoice.com/2023/12/liverpools-dead-interesting-st-james.html