THE NEED FOR MUNICIPAL BURIAL GROUNDS
Liverpool and its docks were expanding fast in the mid 1840's, ships were taking emigrants to the the New World, and the docks gave employment to thousands of men. The Irish famine of 1845 saw an influx into the city and surrounding areas on an scale never seen before. Although there was prosperity for some, a majority of people lived in abject poverty and squalor. There could be up to five, six or more families living in a one bedroomed house. The dreaded "courts", with no clean water and sanitation, meant diseases like Typhus or Cholerea could spread like wild fire in the dark, cramped, overcrowded conditions.
The death rate, especially amongst infants and children was appalling and as a consequence Local Churchyards were becoming seriously overcrowded, so Liverpool Town Council, (Liverpool was not a city until 1888) needed to act to find alternative arrangements for the burial of the local populace.
Initially to alleviate the overcrowding, three privately run cemeteries were opened,
The Necropolis, in 1825,
St James Cemetery, 1829,
St Mary's Cemetery, Kirkdale 1837,
Then in the 1850's the gradual closure of overcrowded churchyards, created an urgent need for more space. Cremations were illegal in Britain until 1885 so the opening of new "Out of Town" municipal cemeteries were planned under "The Burial Act of 1857", these were;
TOXTETH PARK CEMETERY in 1856,
Anfield Cemetery in 1863, (cremations from 1896),
Everton Cemetery in 1880,
Kirkdale Cemetery in 1881,
West Derby Cemetery in 1884,
Allerton Cemetery in 1909,
Also in 1856 a large parochial cemetery in Rice Lane, Walton was opened, this was sub divided into free and paid ground.
The Roman Catholic Archdiocese opened Cemeteries at;
Ford Cemetery in 1859 ( indexes are available at Liverpool Library),
Ainsdale Cemetery in 1884,
West Derby Cemetery in 1893,
THE INCEPTION OF TOXTETH PARK CEMETERY
The "Burial Board" of Toxteth Park initially purchased thirty acres of land, from The Earl of Sefton, at a cost of around £15.000. William Gay of Bradford was charged with the design, and Thomas Denville Barry the architecture, they were leading cemetery designers of their day. A further ten acres of land was purchased a couple of years later, as Liverpool's population was still expanding.
''The Northern Daily Times, dated Tuesday July 6th 1855'' reported "The foundation stone for the church and chapel of Toxteth Park General Cemetery was laid at 3 o'clock on July 5th 1855, for the "performance of the burial service according to the rites of the Established church and other religious denominations". The article also stated that, "A very large number of persons attended the ceremony" and the chairman of "The Burial Board" Mr Gregson, was "presented with a silver trowel, who then buried a bottle containing journals of the day and ground plans in a place provided and covered with a plate".
The opening ceremony was performed by the then Lord Bishop of Chester, and the first interment took place, that of an Elizabeth Watling on 17th June 1856.
TOXTETH PARK CEMETERY is separated into Consecrated and Non-Consecrated sections and then divided into smaller alphabetical or numerical sections (see Plan of Cemetery). All denominations are buried here, including Presbyterians, Methodists, Independents, Unitarians and Roman Catholics.
Within 57 years, over 144,000 people were interred, ranging from ordinary Liverpool folk, to James Dunwoody Bulloch (who fought for The Confederacy in the American Civil War and Roosevelt's uncles), to a Mr Alfred Rowe who died on Titanic. Also laid to rest there is Mary Billinge, reputedly the oldest woman in Liverpool, she was interred in 26th December 1863 at the grand old age of 112 years and 6 months.
TOXTETH PARK CEMETERY lies on the A562 Smithdown Road a very busy road in Liverpool. Although the Council are now laying flat headstones that they deem to be 'unsafe' due to the dreaded 'Health & Safety' (which I think is legalised vandalism) it is still quiet, peaceful and quite well maintained. Although it has its problems like all urban cemeteries, it is still used for interments today.
WHAT THE INDEXES INCLUDE
I am in the process of transcribing only the Consecrated section. If your burial is not included in these indexes, and you know they are there, don't panic, it does not mean they are not, they could be in the Non-Consecrated section.
The "indexing" is an on going project, and with the help of volunteers, we have tried to be as accurate and concise as possible in translating them from the original records, but if you know of any discrepancies please contact me and I will amend them when possible. If you would like to view the original documents we are working from click here, View The Original Documents.
Feel free to use the indexes as often as needed, and any suggestions on how to improve the site would be very welcome.
This is not an engraving of Toxteth Park Cemetery
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