Everton cemetery is actually situated in Long Lane, Fazakerley, more than three miles from the district of Everton because in 1876 the overseers of Everton parish were determined to buy a sufficient quantity of land in order to have an exclusive area for burials, rather than rely on the Anfield cemetery. After an extensive search, they settled on 54 acres of farmland that were purchased in 1876/7 from Mr Woodward for £12,000. Preparation of the land began in August 1877 but a severe frost in the winter of 1878-9 delayed work and it was not until 16th July 1880, some months behind schedule, that the Church of England section was consecrated by the Bishop of Liverpool, the Roman Catholic consecration following five days later. It was John Houlding's building company that was contracted to develop the site with its three mortuary chapels, gatehouses, boundary walls and gates. Houlding was the founder of Liverpool F.C. and was also the first Chairman of the Everton Burial Board.
Many of the headstones in Everton Cemetery date back much longer than the opening. Whenever work was undertaken in the city, like widening of roads or dock gates, if this work cut into the city's graveyards, the bodies would be exhumed, and moved to Everton, along with the headstones, and in fact sections of Everton Cemetery contain many of these graves, from the likes of The Necropolis, St.Nicholas's, St. George's and St. Anne's, to name but a few. The majority of standing Necropolis Headstones at Everton Cemetery are in the centre of Section GEN6; however, there are a few of these headstones placed in other religious denomination sections of the cemetery. Older 'dropped' headstones and remains, from churches within the city, long gone, are buried in the outer boundary sections of Everton Cemetery (CE32-38). Liverpool (Everton) Cemetery, as it is described by the Commonwealth Graves Commission, contains 55 First World War burials and 15 from the Second World War. During the First World War, almost 700 American servicemen died in Liverpool's military hospitals and most of them were buried in the Everton cemetery. These graves were later removed to the American military cemetery at Brookwood, 30 miles from London, or to the United States. In December 1914, Liverpool became one of the 21 Auxiliary Patrol Bases and, in February 1915, the base of the 10th Cruiser Squadron during World War I. During the Second World War Liverpool was the headquarters of Western Approaches Command and a manning depot for officers and men of the Merchant navy who agreed to serve with the Royal Navy for the duration of the war. There is a small Screen Wall memorial bearing the names of those whose graves are not marked by headstones and there are 71 identified Commonwealth service war casualties buried at Everton. It suffered bomb damage during World War 2, evidence of which can still be seen today via shrapnel markings on many of the older memorials. The cemetery lodges are still intact and retain much of their former glory as private dwellings. The gates to the cemetery, the lodge and the chapel are all Grade II listed buildings.
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| The Grave Digger's Lodge |
In August 1914 a man looking for an escaped canary stumbled upon a tragedy at Everton cemetery when he found the bodies of two lovers. They were identified as William Holden and Ethel Frost, both of whom were deaf and had been intending to marry. However Ethel became friendly with another man and in a fit of jealousy William cut her throat with a razor blade before taking his own life. Anther murder victim buried in the cemetery is Hugh 'George' Walker, an 82 year old who was battered to death in his Warbreck Moor second-hand dealer shop in 1953 in what became known as the 'Old Curiosity Shop Murder'. His killer, twenty year old John Todd, was hanged for the crime at Walton Gaol by Britain's No.1 Hangman Albert Pierrpoint.
There are not too many notable burials at Everton Cemetery but one significant grave is that of Brian Epstein, the manager of The Beatles who died in 1967 at the tragically young age of 32. He was buried in the Jewish section of the cemetery, where his mum, dad and brother are also buried. ( more on Brian's life here - http://www.thefootballvoice.com/2017/05/mersey-beat-brian-epstein.html ).
In 1997 an unusual exhumation took place at the cemetery when the head of Yagan (c. 1795-1883), an Australian Aboriginal warrior was exhumed following lobbying of British and Australian governments by Noongar tribal representatives. A bounty had been placed on him after he killed several white settlers near Perth in Western Australia and after he was shot dead in 1833, his head was sent to London and eventually found its way to the Liverpool Museum. After being held in storage for a century it was buried in an unmarked grave in 1964 along with a Peruvian mummy and a Maori’s head that had also been kept by the museum. Aboriginal elders lobbied for its repatriation but this was complicated by the fact that twenty stillborn babies and two who had died soon after birth had been buried above it. With it being impossible to get permission from all 22 next of kin to disturb the remains, a six feet pit was dug alongside the grave and then Yagan's head was exhumed horizontally. Even then the ordeal wasn't over, as arguments over the most appropriate place for his burial in Australia meant this did not take place until 2010 in Belhus, Western Australia.
see also :- http://www.thefootballvoice.com/2024/01/liverpools-dead-interesting-toxteth.html
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