‘Originators of Pestilence’: London’s burial grounds in crisis
In 1839, G.A. Walker, the London surgeon and cemetery reformer, published a treatise on the state of burial in the metropolis: ‘[m]y reflections upon leaving the masses of corruption here exposed, were painful in the extreme; I want language to express the intense feelings of pity, contempt, and abhorrence I experienced’. In shocking detail, Walker described burial grounds with half-open pits emanating miasma from putrid soil with splintered coffins. Gatherings from Grave Yards was far-reaching and was used to initiate legislative reform for the provision of opening new burial grounds that would discourage the prevalence of bodysnatching and provide a park-like venue for leisure. In the 1830s and 40s, a new corporate mode of interment was born—the garden cemetery—which came to the fore as a measure to relieve the crowded churchyards and to address the burial crisis in London.
Dr Heather Scott’s research interests centre on manuscripts, ephemera, monumental masonry, letters, and literature, and their broader implications in cemetery studies. She is presently preparing a monograph on London’s Victorian cemeteries, which is due to be published by Bloomsbury in 2026. Her scholarship has appeared in the European Journal of Life Writing, the Literary London Journal, and Moveable Type.
Suggested reading:
Gatherings from Grave Yards (1839)
Chapter extract: Description and state of some of the Metropolitan burying places, pp. 147-187
https://wellcomecollection.org/works/qre7bheq/items
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This page was last updated on 4 March 2025
