Dickens Connections in West Norwood Cemetery

The Friends of West Norwood Cemetery is a charity dedicated to the care and preservation of this extraordinary cemetery. Your support is greatly appreciated.

Dickens Connections in West Norwood Cemetery

Charles Dickens attended the funerals of two of his friends at West Norwood; those of Sir Thomas Talfourd (1854) and Douglas Jerrold (1857). Also interred here are several individuals who played important roles in his life and career - including those who employed him (or sought to employ him), and those who published and illustrated his works.

The tour will visit the graves of, amongst others: barrister and judge Sir Thomas Noon Talfourd, playwright and journalist Douglas Jerrold, artist George Cattermole, publisher Richard Bentley, and MP and newspaper owner Sir John Easthope.

Your Guide: Paul Graham has recently retired as Honorary Secretary of the Dickens Fellowship, a role he held for 11 years. He was for 6 years a Trustee of the Charles Dickens Museum in Doughty Street. He wrote the booklet 'West Norwood Cemetery: The Dickens Connection' for the Friends and contributed the biography of Dickens' maternal uncle John Henry Barrow (who is interred at West Norwood) for the New Dictionary of National Biography published by the OUP. He has written many articles and reviews for The Dickensian - the journal of the Dickens Fellowship.

Please meet by the entrance archway in good time for a prompt start at 2.30pm.

How to get here:

West Norwood Cemetery and Crematorium SE27 9JU is next to St Luke's Church and West Norwood Library

Buses: 2, 68, 196, 315, 322, 432 and 468 (several of these routes go via Brixton Tube Station: 2, 196, 322, 432). Robson Road stop

Train: West Norwood Station (trains to and from London Bridge/Victoria)

Host or Publisher Friends of West Norwood Cemetery