St John’s Cemetery, Margate
Margate, Kent
Visited January 2014
A bit of a walk out of town (or even a bit of a walk from
the nearest bus stop), at the very edge of Margate away from all the tourists
and seaside tat, is this lovely Victorian cemetery. The original 10 acres
opened in 1856, with the first burial in November of that year; the first
interment was of Harriet Ross, who died of tuberculosis at the Margate Sea
Bathing Hospital. Nowadays the cemetery covers 35 acres, and includes the
Margate Crematorium.
Given the seafaring history of the town there are a number
of sea related tombs, including sailors, submariners, drowning victims, and the
Surf-Boat memorial which commemorates 9 men who died in December1897 while
going to the aid of a vessel in distress (the surf-boat was a type of
lifeboat). There are also a number of war graves here, both of the Great War
and Second World War; not only British and Commonwealth burials, but a number
of German war graves can also be found in the cemetery.
One of the most magnificent of the memorials in the cemetery
is the life-sized horse on the memorial to John Sanger (a circus owner) and his
wife and children; it’s gorgeous! There are also a number of other memorials to
people involved in the entertainment industry, unsurprising given how popular
Margate used to be as a holiday destination.
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