Victorian London Had a Railway for the Dead - And Mourners Travelled With Them

Victorian London Had a Railway for the Dead - And Mourners Travelled With Them

I have been finding out about some of the more unusual ways the Victorians dealt with the enormous growth of London, and this has to be one of the strangest.

By the middle of the 19th century, London had a serious problem. Its population had grown rapidly, and many of its old burial grounds were overcrowded. One proposed solution was to create an enormous new cemetery well outside the capital, and Brookwood Cemetery in Surrey was the result.

It was around 25 miles from central London, which created another difficulty. Coffins, relatives and entire funeral parties still had to make the journey there.

So when Brookwood opened in November 1854, the London Necropolis Company operated a special funeral railway from a dedicated station near Waterloo. Coffins were placed in hearse carriages, while relatives and friends travelled in passenger carriages on the same train. Victorian class divisions followed them too, with different classes of accommodation provided for passengers and different classes for the transport of coffins.

After leaving London, the train travelled along the main railway before branching into Brookwood Cemetery itself. There were two stations within the grounds: one serving the northern, nonconformist section and another serving the Anglican section.

The first burials at Brookwood took place on the 13th of November 1854.

For families using the service, a funeral could begin in London and continue almost entirely by rail. Mourners travelled with the coffin to Brookwood, attended the burial and then returned to the capital afterwards.

The railway was a practical answer to Brookwood’s distance from London, giving funeral parties a direct route from the capital into the cemetery.

The Necropolis Railway continued operating for decades, although by the 20th century it was being used far less often. In 1941, the London terminus was damaged during an air raid, and the special service was never restored.

For almost ninety years, this unusual railway connected London directly with Brookwood. Thousands of families used it not as a curiosity, but as part of an ordinary funeral. Today the trains have gone, but parts of their route through the cemetery can still be traced.

Had you ever heard of a railway built to carry the dead?

Image info: 

Brookwood Cemetery North railway station, c.1911. Kingsway Real Photo Series. Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.