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Graves and Cemeteries of Exeter - a history and photo essay

Updated 25th July 2007

Cemeteries Human settlements have had the problem of disposing of their dead from earliest times. When the Romans arrived in Exeter during AD49, they built a fort and civic buildings. It was their habit, to bury their dead outside of their settlements, often on the edge of a road. Two such Roman cemeteries have been discovered in Exeter, one on the old site of the Valiant Soldier in Magdalen Street, now a car park, and the second near the Duke of York in Sidwell Street. It wasn't until the Romans left, early in the fifth century, that the central part of Exeter, now Cathedral Yard received its first Christian burials. The excavation of the Roman bath house in the early 1970's found pre-Saxon, Saxon and mediaeval burials at different layers on the site. See Roman Bathhouse. The building of the Norman cathedral consolidated Cathedral Yard as a burial ground for Exeter. However, many of the small churches in the city had interments, either in small yards or in the church itself. Bartholomew's Yard The Cathedral Yard burial ground was becoming very unpleasant by the 17th century, due to the shear number of burials. On St Bartholomew's Day, 24th August 1636, Bishop Hall opened Bartholomew Yard in Little Britayne on what was a former rack field. The new burial ground replaced the facility at the Cathedral. Izacke wrote of the new yard: 'A new Church-yard, 24 August, Saint Bartholomew's Day, was here solemnly consecrated by Bifhop Hall, a piece of Ground formerly called Friern-hay, lying within the Walls of the said City, and in the West quarter thereof,' which said Ground was given by the City, and levelled and inclosed by the concurrent Charge of both Church and City, by the Care and Vigilance of the Mayor.' The Catacombs and Lower Cemetery Two hundred years later, Bartholomew's Yard was also suffering from overcrowding. The 1832 cholera outbreak had put a real strain on the many small burial yards around the city, Bartholomew's Yard was almost full and a corner of Bury Meadow was used for a mass grave. The Improvement Commission employed Thomas Whitaker to design a cemetery and catacombs to be built below Bartholomew's Yard, below the city wall. Henry Hooper was engaged to build the catacombs between 1835 and 1837 at a cost of £6,000. The Lower Cemetery, on the slope of the hill below the catacombs had a dividing wall to keep dissenters away from true believers - Bishop Phillpotts, refused to consecrate the dissenters section, when he opened the cemetery. No wonder he was one of the most disliked, of Exeter's Bishops. The cemetery had 17,552 interments before it was closed in 1949, while the catacombs managed 11 interments before it was abandoned as a failure. Higher Cemetery It was obvious that the new cemetery would not be sufficient and on 26th May 1866, Higher Cemetery was consecrated by the former Bishop of Colombo the Right Reverend James Chapman, as Bishop Philpott's was indisposed. Robert Veitch and Son were employed to landscape the new cemetery, and a lodge and two chapels designed by Edward Ashworth (buried in the cemetery) were built of Heavitree stone. Higher Cemetery contains two War Memorials, one oval shaped the First World War in front of one of the chapels and one in the North East corner of the cemetery for the Second World War. There are a number of graves of German airmen, shot down over England, as well as servicemen from Southern Rhodesia, Canada, Newfoundland, New Zealand and Poland. By the Long Valley Path there can be found three rows of graves of victims of the Exeter blitz on the 24th April the 4th May and the 30th December 1942. See World War Memorials for all the war memorials including those in Higher Cemetery. Exwick Cemetery This cemetery at Landhayes was opened in 1877, by Bishop Temple, who, as did his son William Temple, became Archbishop of Canterbury. The first burial was that of Elizabeth Curry who died at the age of 29. The cemetery also contains the grave of the Victoria Cross holder, George Hollis, who died in 1879 and Frank Shooter, the Hero of the Exe who died in 1917. Interesting Graves and Memorials
All Hallows, Goldsmith Street re-interment monument Higher Cemetery The small All Hallows, Goldsmith Street church is unknown to many in Exeter. It stood on the corner of Goldsmith and High Street, a place now occupied by H Samuel, the jewellers. The church was removed in 1906 for road widening. The Council paid £8 5s for the burials in the church to be moved to Higher Cemetery in April 1906. The remains included those of Stephen Vilvaine died 1556, Simon Gandy, died 1678, Thomas Bampfylde died 1656, and Peter Vilvaine, died 1602 the father of Dr Vilvaine who founded a 'common brewhouse', that eventually became the City Brewery.	Thomas Whistler Higher Cemetery THOMAS WHISTLER FOUNDER OF A VILLAGE NOW THE CITY OF UNLEY SOUTH AUSTRALIA THE CORPORATION OF THE CITY OF UNLEY AND THE NATIONAL TRUST OF S.A. (UNLEY BRANCH) ERECTED THIS PLAQUE COMMEMORATING THE 100TH ANNIVERSERY OF THE DEATH OF THOMAS WHISTLER Born in Suffolk, Thomas Whistler emigrated to South Australia in 1840 at the age of 30. He purchased 420 acres of land at a £1 an acre, near the embryonic Adelaide. He drew up a town plan and started to sell blocks of his land, making a fortune in the process. The new three street settlement was named Unley, along with Unley Park. In 1856 he returned with his housekeeper, Mrs Elizabeth Bayley, to England and settled in Exeter. He died on 1st August 1891. Unley is now a suburb of Adelaide, with a population of 37,000. In 1999 a delegation from Unley visited Exeter, and the Deputy Mayor of Unley unveiled a plaque on Whistler's gravestone.
Theatre Royal Fire Memorial Higher Cemetery The tragedy of the Theatre Royal fire is familiar to many in Exeter. The fire on the 5th September 1887, claimed 186 victims. Many of the dead could not be identified, so a mass grave was dug for their interment. A large memorial cross, carved by Harry Hems was placed over the grave.	Bombardier Francis Scattergood Higher Cemetery next to the Theatre Royal Fire Memorial Alongside the Theatre Royal Fire Memorial can be found this gravestone to Bombardier Francis Scattergood. A 25 year old soldier in the Royal Artillery, Scattergood was at the performance of Romany Rye that turned to a fiery tragedy in 1887. He died trying to save many others from the inferno, and was hailed a hero. His gravestone was refurbished and rededicated in June 1992.
Victims of the Bombing Higher Cemetery Three rows of headstones for victims of the bombing during 1942. Some are to unknown civilians and some are still tended. In total 265 were killed by the bombing of Exeter. These graves are for the victims of the April, May and December 1942 raids. See the Exeter Blitz and World War Memorials	Homeguard victims of the blitz Higher Cemetery Two headstones for members of the Homeguard who were killed on 4th May 1942. Private E H Hubbard was 19, and Private F W Draper was 44; both were members of the 1st Devon Battalion.
Mary Findlay Higher Cemetery During the deprivations of the Great War, Exeter had its own minor tragedy that is still remembered. The tram crash of 1917 had a single victim, Mary Findlay. Her memorial is placed flat as it has become detached from its base. See Tram Crash.	William Oxenham VC Higher Cemetery One of two graves in Exeter for winners of the Victoria Cross. Corporal William Oxenham, as a member of the 32nd Regiment, won his award for bravery on 30th June 1857 when he rescued a Bengali while under fire at Lucknow, during the Indian Mutiny. He died in 1875. Both this grave, and the grave of George Hollis VC still have poppy wreaths in place.
Titanic Victims Higher Cemetery Two Exeter victims of the sinking of the Titanic in 1912 are commemorated in Higher Cemetery. Ralph Giles was buried at Fairview Cemetery, Halifax, Nova Scotia, but is remembered on his father's gravestone, who died in 1917. Giles was travelling to America on business. Henry Ryland Dyer signed on as an engineer on the Titanic at a monthly wage of £11. More on Exeter's Titanic victims.	Harry Hems Higher Cemetery The beautifully crafted memorial to Harry Hems, the noted 19th century church restorer, and stone and wood carver. Hems arrived in Exeter during 1866 and immediately started work producing carvings for the Royal Albert Memorial Museum. He had a purpose built workshop built in Longbrook Street, where high quality carvings for churches all over the country were produced. Harry Hems died on 5th January 1916. The inscription has been enlarged for clarity.
Sir John Bowring LLD FRS Higher Cemetery to the rear of the Dissenters Chapel Born in Larkbeare in 1792, Sir John Bowring died on 23rd November 1872. He travelled widely, becoming fluent in several languages. He was then appointed the 4th Governor of Hong Kong in 1854. He is also remembered for inventing the Florin, based on 2 shillings (10 pence), and was a keen supporter of a decimal coin system, a full 100 years before decimalisation. Bowring was a founder of the Devonshire Association for the Advancement of Science, Literature and Arts and was its first President in 1862. His tombstone has the words 'In the Cross of Christ I Glory' from the hymn that he penned, after seeing a cross on a fire gutted church on the shore, while sailing past Macao, China.	John Evomy Norman Higher Cemetery to the rear of the Dissenters Chapel It was in 1845 that Benjamin Salter sold his interest in the City Brewery to John Evomy Norman. Walter Pring, the second player in the formation of Norman and Pring became a partner in 1865. Norman was born on 6th March 1811 and died on 26th May 1899. His son, also John Evomy took over the brewery after his father's death. FJ1, Exeter's first car to be registered in 1903 belonged to the younger John Evomy.
Robert Pople Higher Cemetery Dissenters section The proprietor of the New London Inn, Robert Pople gained fame when he was praised in the Illustrated London News for his efforts to save life during the Theatre Royal fire in 1887. He quickly produced six to eight ladders by which fifty people, or so, were saved. He opened his household to tend to the survivors and laid out the dead in the courtyard and stable yard at the rear of the inn. He was also a prominent member of the City Council and was three times Mayor of the City. Also see Theatre Royal Memorial	Frederick Henry Cheshire All Saints Churchyard, Whipton FREDERICK HENRY CHESHIRE LATE 8TH HUSSARS ONE OF THE SIX HUNDRED WHO DIED FEB. 16TH 1912 AGED 79. Lt Frederick Henry Cheshire was born in Whipton in 1833. He was a member of the 8th Hussars who made that fateful charge at Balaclava on the 27th April 1854, when he lost a leg in the action. The Light Brigade consisted of the 8th and 11th Hussars, 4th and 13th Light Dragoons and the 17th Lancers, under the command of Major General the Earl of Cardigan. The action was a disaster and 118 men were killed, 127 wounded, and 362 horses lost. Trumpeter James Donoghue There is a second survivor from the Charge of the Light Brigade with connections to Exeter. Trumpeter James Donoghue enlisted in 1848 and sailed for the Crimea on the H T Medora in April 1854. He had his horse shot from under him in the charge. After he retired, he became the Band Master of the 1st (Exeter and South Devon) Volunteer Regiment and lived in Blackboy Road. He is buried in Warrington.
Dr Hennis MD St Sidwell's Churchyard Dr Hennis brought relief and succour to the people of the West Quarter during the outbreak of cholera in 1832. The next year he became involved in a dispute with Sir John Jeffcott, which led to a duel at Haldon Racecourse. Hennis was hit by a bullet in the chest and died a week later. Thousands turned out for his funeral cortege to St Sidwell's. He is the last known victim of a duel in Devon. See the last duel for the full story.	The Willeys family grave St Thomas the Apostle Churchyard Henry Frederick Willey was born September 1830 in St Sidwells. He joined Vicary's an engineering company. When Mr Vicary died, Willey went into partnership with Mr Ford to found Willey and Ford, manufacturers of gas meters. The partnership dissolved leaving Willey to continue with Willey and Co. Within a short time Willeys were the main supplier of gas equipment, domestic and commercial in the country. He was Mayor of Exeter in 1892. Henry Frederick Willey died in 1894. The gravestone is for the Willey family who became synonymous with engineering in Exeter for more than a hundred years.
John Stocker OBE JP St Thomas the Apostle Churchyard John Stocker OBE JP FOURTH SON OF THE ABOVE NAMED BORN JANUARY 31ST 1848 DIED MARCH 2ND 1940 CHAIRMAN OF ST THOMAS SCHOOL BOARD 1892-1900 CHAIRMAN OF EXETER EDUCATION COMMITTEE 1908 - 1940 ALDERMAN OF THE CITY AND COUNTY OF THE CITY OF EXETER 1910 - 1940 SHERIFF OF THE COUNTY OF THE CITY OF EXETER 1915 - 1916 'FAITHFUL' John Stocker was born in St Thomas and lived in Cowick Street. He always took an interest in education and was chair of the St Thomas School Board and the Exeter Education Committee for many years. The St Thomas Boys School, built in 1901 at the bottom of Dunsford Road, was renamed the John Stocker School in 1921. John Stocker laid the foundation stone for a new school in 1936 after the previous building was damaged in a fire. It has since become the John Stocker Middle School.	Edward (Teddy) A Towning Higher Cemetery The manner of Edward Townings death is graphically illustrated on his grave stone. An 0-6-0 L&SWR engine is carefully carved in the upper panel, which is unfortunately, obscured by lichen. 'Teddy' Towning was killed in a railway accident at Crediton on 29th November, 1889, aged 35. The train was an up goods from Yeoford to Exeter - he attempted to oil a bearing on the engine while it was still moving, slipped, and fell under the wheels. He left a widow and six children. His fate was all too common for railway workers at the time. Photo courtesy of Alan H Mazonowicz.
Elizabeth Curry Exwick Cemetery The first burial in Exwick Cemetery was that of Elizabeth Curry who died at the age of 29, and, as the first, was given a free tombstone. Sadly, the next year, her small son was buried next to her and two years later, her husband. The burial of Elizabeth Curry was conducted by Bishop Temple, who would go on to become Archbishop of Canterbury.	George Hollis VC Exwick Cemetery One of only two holders of the Victoria Cross to be interred in an Exeter Cemetery, George Hollis enlisted as a farrier in the 8th Hussars (King's Royal Irish). With Captain Heneage, Sergeant Ward and Private Pearson, he charged through the enemy camp, on 17 June 1858 at Gwalior India, into two batteries, and captured the enemy guns, all under fire from the fort and town. After a ballot, of the regiment, which was unanimous, the four men were chosen to receive the VC. He was born in Chipping Sodbury in 1833 and died on 16th May 1879.
Frank Shooter Exwick Cemetery Frank Shooter was known as the 'Hero of the Exe'. He was the Bathing Constable and Superintendent at the Head Weir bathing area. During his time in the job he saved over 200 people from drowning and taught thousands to swim. In 1886 he issued a challenge to any boy of 12 years or younger to race 500 yards for a £20 prize. Shooter was awarded a silver and bronze medal and four clasps by the Royal Humane Society for his life saving exploits. When he died in 1917 the Flying Post wrote "Amidst manifestations of deep sympathy and regret the remains of Mr Frank Shooter, for 37 years superintendent of Head Wear Bathing Ground, Exeter, were laid to rest in a walled grave at Exwick Cemetery yesterday afternoon, within sight of the place he loved so well, and where the best part of his life was spent."	Walter Henry Palmer Exwick Cemetery Walter Henry Palmer was a Leading Seaman on HMS Indefatigable, who was killed at the Battle of Jutland on 31 May 1916, when she received a direct hit from the German Von der Tann. There were 57 officers and 960 men of the ship's crew killed that day. "....a few minutes after 4.0, the British ship was suddenly hidden in a burst of flame and smoke. A salvo of three shots had fallen on her upper deck and must have penetrated to a magazine. She staggered out of the line, sinking by the stern when another salvo struck her; a second terrible explosion rent her, she turned over and in a moment all trace of her was gone...." Extract from Official History; " Naval Operations" by Sir Julian S. Corbett
John Gendall Lower Cemetery - on the path below the Catacombs John Gendall was born on Exe Island in 1789. He gained employment in London as an artist, and gained a reputation for the quality of his aquatint engravings and coloured lithographs. After several years, he returned to Exeter and set up, in Mol's Coffee House, his studio and carriage painting business. Over the next thirty years, Gendall produced hundreds of drawings of Exeter, especially the many buildings that were demolished in the wake of the Improvement Commission. Without his body of work, the Exeter of the late 18th and early 19th century would be lost. He died in 1865.	Samuel Sebastian Wesley Lower Cemetery, by the Catacombs The son of the composer Samuel Wesley, and grandson of Charles Wesley. John Wesley, the Methodist was his great Uncle. He became a musician, taking a post of organist at Hereford Cathedral in 1832. In 1835, he became organist at Exeter Cathedral where he remained until 1841, at a time when Bishop Philpotts held sway. His move away from Exeter was probably hastened by running away to marry the Dean's sister. He took later posts at Leeds Parish Church, and Winchester and Gloucester Cathedrals. He composed the anthems Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, Blessed be the God and Father, and The Wilderness and Ascribe unto the Lord. He died in Gloucester, but was buried in Exeter.