Aldersbrook Road, Manor Park
In 1849, the Chief Engineer of the Commissioners of Sewers of the City of London, reported on the condition of the city’s churchyards and their health risks. This stated that a cemetery should be built for the city’s 106 parishes, to replace parish burials in central London. Land owned by the 2nd Duke of Wellington, forming most of the Manor of Aldersbrook was purchased. The 200 acres of land suited the construction of the cemetery because it was accessible being 7 miles from the City of London. It was sold to the Corporation for £30,721 and the cemetery was founded in 1854.
The first interment was on 24 June 1856, although the cemetery was not consecrated until November 1857, due to legal difficulties. It is estimated that in 1858 around 2,700 interments took place. Approximately 600,000 people have been interred here and with the remains from over 30 disused London churchyards also placed on the site, the figure is now approaching 1 million burials.
There are 729 identified Commonwealth War Graves Commission at the cemetery, with many buried in a War Graves plot. There is a Cross of Sacrifice and a Screen Wall memorial that lists casualties who are buried in the plot or elsewhere in the cemetery without headstones, as well as those cremated at the City of London Crematorium. Many of the soldiers died at the Bethnal Green Military Hospital
Those known to have been buried here:
Alfred James Reffell, burial date: 3 May 1855, age: 57
William George Reffell, burial date: 24 January 1869, age: 3 months
John Waghorn Reffell, burial date: 27 October 1871, age: 19 months
Mary Eliza Reffell, burial date: 28 July 1875, age: 17 Months
James Reffell, burial date: 15 November 1875, age: 33
Joseph Reffell, burial date: 22 January 1880, age: 2 months
Richard Reffell, burial date: 9 June 1880, age: 39
Edward Forrester Reffell, burial date: 15 August 1889, age: 59
Sophia Reffell, burial date: 17 October 1900, age: 62
Edward Henry Reffell, burial date: 17 April 1924, age: 55