Anfield Cemetery is one of the oldest cemeteries in Liverpool and was designed by Edward Kemp (1817-91) with the buildings, including the three chapels and the entrances and entrance lodges, designed by the Liverpool architects Lucy and Littler laid out in 1856-63. The total cost, including land purchase, was £150,000 (equivalent to £16 million today) and the first internment in 'Liverpool Cemetery', as it was known then, was on the 7th of May 1863 and was of an Eliza Cray Johnson who was 52 years old and took place in section 6 grave number 135. The Crematorium, built in 1894-6, was then only the fourth in the country. The cemetery was divided three ways to accommodate Church of England burials, Roman Catholic burials, and general burials, and is especially renowned for its stunning architecture, with a number of beautiful monuments and memorials scattered throughout the grounds with one of the most notable monuments being the Liverpool Cenotaph, a memorial dedicated to the fallen of World War I.
The only listed memorial is to Alexander McLennan, who died in 1893, and his wife. It is in granite and is in the form of an Egyptian pylon. Notable monuments are a memorial in the form of a Celtic cross to John Highmett, who died in 1890, a granite sarcophagus to Robert Daglish, who died in 1904, and a pinnacled Gothic canopy to William Bottomley Bairstow, who died in 1868. Visitors to the cemetery can also take in the breathtaking views of the city skyline from the grounds, making it a perfect place to relax and appreciate the beauty of the area. In the past people would find pleasure walking about the 70 acres of gardens containing rhododendrum, willow, holly and sycamore and myriads of flowers where over 100,000 were laid dead. Four recipients of the Victoria Cross are buried in Anfield Cemetery, John Kirk and Patrick Mylott who were awarded one for gallantry in the Indian Mutiny of 1857, Joseph Prosser who served in the Crimean War and Donald Dickson Farmer who served in the Second Boer War.. The cemetery also contains a mass grave containing the remains of over 500 residents of Liverpool who were killed during the May Blitz of 1941. Notable local people buried here include James Maybrick, the Liverpudlian cotton merchant suspected to be the notorious Jack the Ripper and the artist William G. Herdman (1805–1882).
Situated in the shadow of Liverpool and Everton football grounds there are bound to be some football connections and a staggering 30 Everton footballers, managers and officials have been laid to rest here. One of these is Dr James Clement Baxter one of the founding fathers of Everton F.C. who served the Blues for more than 50 years, including a spell as chairman, and his grave is a grand, towering monument. Liverpool FC managers Bill Shankly and Joe Fagan were laid to rest here as well as William E Barclay who holds a unique place in Merseyside football history as the only man to manage both clubs. He combined these roles with that of headmaster at an industrial school in Everton Terrace, off Netherfield Road South. He later drifted into obscurity and was found dead in tragic circumstances in 1917, an inquest returning a verdict of suicide during temporary insanity. His final resting place in Anfield cemetery remained unmarked over ninety years but due to the sterling work of local football historians a stone was placed on it in 2013. He had remained loyal to Liverpool FC founder John Houlding after the acrimonious split within the Everton membership in 1892. However local solicitor George Mahon was instrumental in Everton’s move away from Anfield and arranged the purchase of the land that became Goodison Park, after which he became the club chairman. He lived at 86 Anfield Road and was buried in Anfield cemetery after his death in 1908. Liverpool FC’s longest serving manager was Tom Watson who died in May 1915 and his funeral at Anfield cemetery was attended by many leading figures from the game in which he was held in high regard, having also won honours with Sunderland. In May 2015 a headstone was re-erected on his grave after family members were traced. Edwin 'Ted' Berry, a founding member of St. Domingo’s FC, an Everton player and Liverpool FC chairman from 1904 to 1909, lies here and his grave also boasts a grand tombstone.
Other noteable graves are those of Thomas J Hughes, founder of the T J Hughes chain of shops in 1925 (http://www.thefootballvoice.com/2021/07/a-liverpool-exemplar-thomas-j-hughes.html ); Michael J Whitty, former Chief Constable of Liverpool and founder of the Daily Post newspaper in 1855; shipowner Sir Alfred Lewis Jones, who opened the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine in 1898 (http://www.thefootballvoice.com/2021/01/a-liverpool-exemplar-sir-alfred-lewis.html ); the Victorian boxing champion Jem Mace, the singer Michael Holliday, whose song 'Starry Eyed' was the first number one of the 1960s and musician Rory Storm (http://www.thefootballvoice.com/2016/12/mersey-beat-rory-storm-hurricanes.html ). Near to the Cherry Lane entrance is a grave containing the remains of husband and wife William and Julia Wallace, who were at the centre of a classic 'whodunnit' in 1931. On the 20th of January that year Julia was found battered to death at her home in Wolverton Street by William, an insurance agent. He was later charged with murder after police concluded he still had time to carry out the killing and then create his alibi, that he was in Allerton looking for an address that did not exist. After being found guilty by a jury he was sentenced to death but the conviction was overturned by the High Court as the verdict had been reached against the weight of evidence. Just two years later William died of renal cancer and was buried alongside his wife.
Most people are not aware that there are four blocks of catacombs 25 feet beneath the cemetery, modelled on the ones in Rome. When a Russian nobleman was visiting Liverpool over a hundred years ago, it is said that his wife died and he had her put in a specially constructed coffin which was deposited in the Anfield Catacombs. The nobleman said he had to return to Russia, but that he would come back and build a church dedicated to the memory of his wife in Anfield Cemetery but he was never heard from again – and his wife’s hermetically-sealed coffin was left on a stone shelf in the catacombs and has been the topic of many ghostly rumours over the years.
see also :- http://www.thefootballvoice.com/2024/01/liverpools-dead-interesting-yew-tree.html
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