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Streatham Cemetery in Lambeth, London
Now Available on Deceased Online





Records from the London Borough of Lambeth's Streatham Cemetery are now available to view on www.deceasedonline.com. Streatham Cemetery opened in 1893 under the Metropolitan Burial Act of 1852, which was instigated after the cholera epidemic of 1848 to 1849.

Cemetery Image
Above: Streatham Cemetery

Along with a large number of Commonwealth War Grave Commission burials from World Wars I and II, Streatham Cemetery provides the final resting place for many notable people. Among them is Edward Foster VC, born in Streatham in 1886. In 1915, during the First World War, he enlisted in the British Army in the 13th Battalion (Wandsworth), East Surrey Regiment and was eventually awarded the Victoria Cross for gallantry in the face of the enemy. In April 1917, the regiment's advance in Villers-Plouich, Nord, France was held up by enemy machine guns, strongly entrenched and covered by wire. Corporal Foster succeeding in entering the trench and engaging the enemy, resulting in the capture of their guns. One of his own Lewis guns was lost in the process, until Foster rushed forward, bombed the enemy, and recovered it. In addition to his VC, he was awarded the British War Medal 1914-20, Victory Medal 1914-19, George VI Coronation Medal 1937, and French Medaille Militaire. After his discharge from the army in 1918 he returned to work for Wandsworth Council and he worked for 26 years as a Dusting Inspector. He died in 1946, and his Victoria Cross can be seen at the Lord Ashcroft Gallery in the Imperial War Museum, London.

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Above: Streatham Cemetery houses a great many beautiful and unique memorials

Charlie Wilson, the treasurer of the Great Train Robbery gang, also lies in Streatham Cemetery. Wilson met Bruce Reynolds in 1960 and they planned various heists, including £62,000 robbed from a security van in Heathrow Airport. Reynolds organised a group of 17 men to undertake the Great Train Robbery of 1963 and Wilson, as treasurer, distributed the shares of the haul, which amounted to £150,000 each. Wilson was tried in Aylesbury in 1964. In his court case he said almost nothing and was nicknamed "the silent man". He was sentenced to 30 years imprisonment, but after four months in HMP Winson Green he arranged for three men to break him out. Over the next few years he moved around the world, including Canada and France, until he was captured again in 1968. He served 10 years at HMP Durham before release in 1978. In 1990, Wilson was fatally shot at his home in Marbella and the suspected assailants never caught.

Cemetery Image
Above: Streatham Cemetery

Sir Wyke Bayliss, British artist, author, and poet, rests in Streatham Cemetery after his death in 1906, aged 70. His father, Rev. John Cox Bayliss, taught military and mathematical drawing and encouraged his son's natural ability with drawing. After a move to London Bayliss studied at the Royal Academy and the School of Design and became friends with many artists now known as pre-Raphaelites. Bayliss published a number of books, covering art critiques, depictions of Jesus, and a volume of poems. His most well known book is The Enchanted Island: the Venice of Titian, and Other Studies in Art. He became president of the Royal Society of British Artists in 1888, holding the post until his death. He received a knighthood in 1897.

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All photographs in today's bulletin have been gratefully sourced from Wikimedia Commons. Author Irid Escent kindly shared them under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license.





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