Cambridge City Cemetery, Newmarket Road

History of Cambridge City Cemetery

1903

Municipal cemetery, Newmarket Road — first burial, 3 June 1903
The new municipal cemetery, which Cambridge Corporation has prepared on Newmarket Road, was opened for interments. In anticipation of the time when the general public will regard burial more from a sanitary than from a sentimental point of view, a part of the ground adjoining Ditton Lane has been reserved for the erection of a crematorium. The first interment was a child named Alfred Willet Whitmore; the coffin was borne by six young ladies and Mr Ellis Merry was the undertaker.
Credit: Mike Petty, Cambridge Newmarket Road Scrapbook 1897 to 1990, entry 1903 06 03.

1905

Newmarket Road cemetery — crops grown between burials, 18 July 1905
The new Cambridge cemetery on Newmarket Road is nothing less than a small farm with oats, wheat and barley covering over 20 acres. As yet very few interments have taken place and years must elapse before graves encroach upon a great expanse of the site which would otherwise be lying unproductive. The crops have a very promising appearance and will produce a profit for ratepayers 05 07 18a & b
Credit: Mike Petty, Cambridge Newmarket Road Scrapbook 1897 to 1990, entry 1905 07 18.

1906

Newmarket Road cemetery — Harry Cotterill Stearn’s burial wish, 8 February 1906
We deeply regret the death of Harry Cotterill Stearn of the famous Cambridge photographic firm. He asked to be laid at rest in the new cemetery, Newmarket Road, ‘within sound of my work’ – the commotion caused by the University boat races where for many years his slight figure has been familiar to successive generations of undergraduates. 06 02 08a
Credit: Mike Petty, Cambridge Newmarket Road Scrapbook 1897 to 1990, entry 1906 02 08.

1908

Newmarket Road cemetery — criticism of expenditure, 16 April 1908
Newmarket Road cemetery was too expensive, ratepayers claimed. The land had cost four times what adjacent ground had fetched, the walls were crumbling and the cottage built of the poorest bricks so the papers hung in strips inside. There were four greenhouses and a kind of chapel where part of the service was held – all of which had to be heated. A number of beds had been planted with bulbs and expensive flowers whereas herbaceous plants would do quite well. A number of people visited on a Sunday bringing children who played in the open space, but it should not be a recreation ground. 08 04 16
Credit: Mike Petty, Cambridge Newmarket Road Scrapbook 1897 to 1990, entry 1908 04 16.

1914

Newmarket Road cemetery — military funeral of Arthur Larkin, 16 October 1914
Two military funerals took place from the First Eastern General Hospital at Trinity College. One body was sent in a coffin wrapped in a Union Jack to the station and put on a train to Durham. The railway expenses were generously defrayed by Nurse Keep. The funeral of other, Arthur Larkin of the Royal Scots, was held at Newmarket Road cemetery. He’d been wounded at Mons and the cause of death was tetanus. Bugler Royston sounded the ‘Last Post’
Credit: Mike Petty, Cambridge Newmarket Road Scrapbook 1897 to 1990, entry 1914 10 16.

Newmarket Road cemetery and Christ Church — double military funeral, 13 November 1914
A double military funeral of soldiers who died at the 1st Eastern General Hospital took place at Newmarket Road cemetery. Both coffins were conveyed in one cortege. One was a Belgian soldier whose funeral service in the Catholic Church was attended by many Belgian wounded. The service for Ernest Thorne of the Coldstream Guards was held at Christ Church. He had been a fine strapping fellow standing over 6ft 3”. His leg was amputated in France. Despite the fierce rainstorm many assembled at the cemetery where the soldiers were accorded full military honours and interred in separate graves. Meanwhile 200 more wounded soldiers arrived at Cambridge station. Reading and refreshment rooms for soldiers have opened in Cintra Terrrace. A gramophone has been donated but they would welcome presents of records
Credit: Mike Petty, Cambridge Newmarket Road Scrapbook 1897 to 1990, entry 1914 11 13.