Ascension Parish Burial Ground

Main	Births etc

The former chapel of the Ascension Parish Burial Ground, Cambridge.

The Ascension Parish Burial Ground, formerly the burial ground for the parish of St Giles and St Peter's, is a cemetery in Cambridge, England. It includes the graves and memorials of many University of Cambridge academics and non-conformists of the 19th and early 20th century. The cemetery encapsulates a century-and-a-half of the university's modern history, with 83 people with Oxford Dictionary of National Biography biographies. Among those buried here John Couch Adams, the astronomer, is unique in also having a memorial in Westminster Abbey.

History

The 1.5 acres (0.61 ha) of the burial ground were established in 1857 when extra burial space was needed as the city of Cambridge expanded in Victorian times. The first burial here was in 1869. Today some 2,500 people are buried in about 1,500 plots. Many city and university dignitaries, scientists and scholars are buried here, including and 11 members of the Cambridge Apostles. 83 have biographies in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.

The cemetery is located just off Huntingdon Road near the junction with Storey's Way in the northwest of Cambridge. The burial ground is a designated City Wildlife Site and is part of the Storey's Way Conservation area. In 2005 the plant species present were catalogued and the site is now managed so as to encourage wildlife and habitat diversity, as well as to care for the graves themselves.

The Friends of the Parish of the Ascension Burial Ground aim to protect and enhance the burial ground for the public benefit as a place of remembrance, spirituality, history and nature.

Graves and memorials of notable individuals

Note: plot numbers, where known, are given in square brackets.

A

Grave of astronomer John Couch Adams and wife Eliza Adams

• John Couch Adams FRS Astronomer, discoverer of Neptune, Lowndean Professor, Fellow of Pembroke College and wife Eliza Adams [2D5]. He is unique in also having a commemorative memorial in Westminster Abbey.
• Sir Hugh Kerr Anderson FRS, physiologist, Master Gonville and Caius College : 1912 to 1928 and his wife Lady Jessie Anderson [4I1]
• Elizabeth Anscombe FBA, Fellow of Newnham College, Philosopher, Professor of Philosophy; her husband Peter Geach is buried with her.
• Rev. Richard Appleton Master Selwyn College 1907–1909, Vicar of St. George's, Camberwell, Vicar of Ware [2D14]
• Arthur John Arberry FBA Orientalist, Professor of Arabic, Fellow of Pembroke College, Cambridge and wife Serina Arberry

B

Grave of Sir Robert Stawell Ball and wife Lady Frances Elizabeth Ball.

• Sir Robert Stawell Ball FRS, Astronomer, Lowndean Professor of Astronomy and Geometry, Fellow of King's College, Cambridge and his wife Lady Frances Elizabeth Ball [4I36]
• Arthur Beer Astronomer, member of Caius College and wife Charlotte Vera Beer
• Cecil Bendall Professor of Sanskrit, University of Cambridge; Honorary Fellow of Gonville and Caius College
• Edwin Keppel Bennett, noms de plume: Francis Bennett, Francis Keppel, Fellow and President of Gonville and Caius College
• J.A.W. Bennett, New Zealand born literary scholar and his wife Gwyneth Bennett a member of the informal Oxford literary group, the Inklings, Fellow of Magdalene College
• Arthur Christopher Benson 28th Master of Magdalene College, Cambridge noted for writing the words of the song "Land of Hope and Glory".
• William Henry Besant FRS, Fellow of St John's, mathematician [4I21]
• James Bethune-Baker FBA, Theologian, Lady Margaret's Professor of Divinity, Fellow of Pembroke College and his wife Edith Bethune-Baker [4I30].
• Frederick Blackman, FRS Plant Physiologist, Fellow of St John's and wife Elsie Blackman
• Joan Boulind CBE, fellow and tutor at Hughes Hall, Cambridge, and husband Henry Boulind and children Gillian and Richard Boulind
• John Buckley Bradbury, Downing Professor of Medicine, Fellow of Gonville and Caius College and Downing College, Cambridge and wife Jane Bradbury [2B14]
• Charles Oscar Brink FBA, Classicist, fellow of Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, (cremated remains) and his wife Daphne Hope Brink (cremated remains)
• Sir Denis William Brogan FBA, Historian, Political Scientist, Fellow of Peterhouse, Professor of Political Science; note: Lady Olwen Brogan, later Hackett, is also interred in the Burial Ground. [6C44]
• Zachary Nugent Brooke FBA, Historian, Fellow of Gonville and Caius College, University of Cambridge, Professor of Medieval History, and wife Rosa Brooke [1H6]
• William Warwick Buckland, Professor of Law, President of Gonville and Caius College, Regius Professor of Civil Law
• Robert Burn, Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge, and wife Augusta Sophia, née Prescott (a descendant of Oliver Cromwell)
• John Burnaby, Dean of Trinity College, Cambridge, Regius Professor of Divinity, and wife Dorothy Burnaby, née Lock; also her brother Robert Heath Lock is buried in the same grave.
• Geoffrey Bushnell FBA, Archaeologist and Ethnologist, Fellow of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge and wife Patricia Bushnell

C

Memorial to Sarah Clackson

• Sir James Cable, Diplomat, Naval Strategist, and wife Lady Cable, Viveca Hollmerus
• John Walton Capstick Bursar and Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge Physicist, Musician [2C25]
• Neville Chittick, Scholar, Archaeologist
• Richard Chorley, Quantitative Geographer, Vice-Master, Sidney Sussex College
• Sir Derman Christopherson FRS, Engineering Scientist, Master Magdelene College : 1978 to 1985 and his wife Frances, Lady Christopherson
• Sarah Clackson Coptologist; (cremated remains), first wife of James Clackson of Friends of Ascension Parish Burial Ground.
• Sir William Henry Clark Civil Servant and wife Lady Anne Clark [2G3]
• Sir John Cockcroft OM FRS, Physicist, Nobel Prize winner, Master Churchill College 1959 to 1968, Fellow of St John's and wife Lady Elizabeth Cockcroft, and son John, known as Timothy.[1E1]
• Agnes Bell Collier Vice Principal of Newnham College, passed Maths. Tripos in 1883 [5A8]
• Frances Cornford, Poet, interred in grave of father Sir Francis Darwin [2D34]; wife of Francis Cornford.

D

Gravestone of Sir Francis Darwin, FRS and his daughter Frances Cornford

• Sir Francis Darwin FRS, Botanist, biographer, Fellow of Christ's College, Cambridge, buried with his daughter the poet Frances Cornford [2D34]
• Lady Florence Darwin, third wife of Sir Francis Darwin, widow of Frederic William Maitland, daughter of Herbert William Fisher [4I28]
• Sir Horace Darwin FRS, Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge, Scientific instrument maker and wife Lady Ida Darwin [2C27]

E

• Sir Arthur Eddington OM FRS, Astrophysicist, Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge, Plumian Professor of Astronomy and Experimental Philosophy, : cremated remains interred in the grave of his mother Sarah Eddington, with the cremated remains of sister Winifred Eddington [4139]
• Sir James Ewing FRS, Professor of Mechanism and Applied Mechanics, Professorial Fellowship at King's, Fellow of King's College, Cambridge, and wife Lady Ellen Ewing [4CI]

F

• Michael James Farrell, Fellow of Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, Economist
• Thomas Cecil Fitzpatrick, Vice-Chancellor and Master of Queens' College, Cambridge
• Sir James Frazer OM FRS FBA, Anthropologist, Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge and wife Lady Lily Frazer [1G14]

G

• Peter Geach, FBA, the British philosopher, buried with his late wife Elizabeth Anscombe
• Roberto Gerhard Composer, Musical Scholar and wife Poldi Gerhard
• Henry Melvill Gwatkin (Rev.) Dixie Professor of Ecclesiastical History, Historian, theologian, conchologist, Fellow of St John's College, Cambridge and Emmanuel College, Cambridge and his wife Lucy De Lisle Gwatkin [4A19]

H

• Reginald Hackforth FBA, Laurence Professor of Ancient Philosophy, Classical Scholar, Fellow of Sidney Sussex College and wife Lily Hackforth
• Basil Hammond Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge and historian, and wife Margaret Hammond [4I14]
• William Emerton Heitland Classicist, Fellow of Emmanuel
• Margaret Heitland [2C23], née Bateson, daughter of William Henry Bateson, master of St John's College, Cambridge
• Robert Drew Hicks Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge, classicist, blind for 30 years
• Ernest William Hobson FRS, Mathematician, Sadleirian Professor, Fellow of Christ's College, Cambridge and wife Seline Hobson, and William Hobson [4E1]
• Sir Frederick Gowland Hopkins OM, FRS, Nobel Prize winner, Biochemist, Professor, Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge and wife Lady Jessie Ann Hopkins [2G2]
• Bertram Hopkinson, CMG FRS, Patent Lawyer, Engineer, Professor of Mechanism and Applied Mechanics and wife Mariana Hopkinson [2D51]
• Tristram Frederick Croft Huddleston Fellow of St John's and Censor Fitzwilliam House 1890–1907, and wife Bessie Huddleston [2D39]
• Arthur Hutchinson FRS and Master Pembroke College 1928 to 1937, and wife Evaline Hutchinson

J

• Henry Jackson OM, FBA, Regius Professor of Greek (Cambridge), Classicist, Vice-Master Trinity College, Cambridge 1914–1919, Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge, Member of the Cambridge Apostles, the intellectual secret society, [2D47]
• Sir Richard Jebb OM, MP, FBA, Regius Professor of Greek (Cambridge), Classicist, Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge, Member of the Cambridge Apostles, the intellectual secret society, and his wife Lady Caroline Jebb (who died in America and her cremated remains are buried here) [4I2]

K

• Courtney Stanhope Kenny FBA, MP, Legal scholar, Downing professor of the laws of England, Fellow of Downing College, Cambridge and wife Emily and the cremated remains of daughters Gertrude and Agnes [2B11]

L

• Sir Horace Lamb FRS, Mathematician, Honorary Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge and wife Lady Elizabeth Lamb [2B24]
• Guy Lee, Cambridge professor, classicist, translator of Ovid, Horace and Catullus, Fellow of St John's College, Cambridge
• Edward Hubert Linfoot Mathematician, Fellow of Wolfson College
• George Downing Liveing FRS, Professor of Chemistry, Fellow and President of St John's College, Cambridge and his wife Catharine, [4D6]
• Robert H. Lock Fellow of Gonville and Caius College and Assistant Director of the Peradeniya Botanical Gardens.
• Henry Richards Luard Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge, mathematician and clergyman

M

Gravestone of philosopher G. E. Moore OM and wife Dorothy Moore

• Alexander Macalister Professor of Anatomy, Cambridge University, Egyptologist, Fellow of St John's College, Cambridge and his wife Elizabeth MacAlister [2B42]
• R. A. Stewart Macalister, archaeologist, Member of St John's College, Cambridge and his wife Margaret A. M. Macalister[2B42]
• Sir Donald MacAlister, Vice-Chancellor Glasgow, Fellow of St John's College, Cambridge and Member of the Cambridge Apostles, the intellectual secret society, [2D47] and wife Lady Edith Macalister [5I13]
• Sir Desmond MacCarthy, Literary and drama critic, Member of the Cambridge Apostles, the intellectual secret society, and wife Lady Mary (Molly) MacCarthy [1H2]
• Norman McLean FBA, Orientalist and Member of the Cambridge Apostles, Master Christ's College, Cambridge 1927 to 1936 and his wife Mary McLean, née Luce.
• Alfred Marshall FBA, Economist, Fellow of St John's College, Cambridge, Professor of Political Economy, who was married to Mary Paley, co-founder of Newnham College [2D2]
• Sir Charles James Martin FRS, Scientist, Fellow of King's College, London and Member of St John's College, Cambridge and wife Lady Edith Martin [4F2]
• Brigadier Arthur Gordon Matthew
• Jeremy Maule, English scholar and teacher; Fellow and Lecturer in English, Trinity College,
• Edwin Arthur Maxwell, Mathematician; Director of Studies in Mathematics, University of Cambridge, Honorary Fellow of Queens' College, Cambridge
• John Eyton Bickersteth Mayor FBA, Librarian, Professor of Latin, Antiquarian, President of St John's College, Cambridge [4I18]
• Robert Williams Michell FRCS
• Sir Geoffrey Fitzhervey de Montmorency Indian Civil Service
• William Loudon Mollison, Master of Clare College, Cambridge
• George Edward Moore OM, FBA, Philosopher, Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge, Professor of Philosophy, Member of the Cambridge Apostles, the intellectual secret society, and wife Dorothy Moore. [1H1]
• Andrew Munro, bursar and mathematician of Queens' College, Cambridge

N

• Hugh Frank Newall FRS, Professor of Astrophysics, Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge, whose second wife was Dame Bertha Phillpotts Mistress of Girton College 1922–1925, [4H1], who is buried in Tunbridge Wells
• George Ernest Newsom Master Selwyn College: 1934 to 1946 [2B19]
• Alfred Newton FRS, Professor of Comparative Anatomy, Fellow of Magdalene College, Ornithologist,

P

• Conrad Pepler Priest, Writer, Editor, Publisher
• Max Perutz OM, FRS, Molecular Biologist, Nobel Prize winner, Fellow of Peterhouse, and wife Gisela Perutz; their cremated remains are buried together with his parents Hugo and Dely Perutz.

R

• Sir Leon Radzinowicz FBA, Criminologist, Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge and wife Lady Isolde Radzinowicz.
• Arthur Stanley Ramsey Mathematician and philosopher, President of Magdalene College, with his wife Mary, and their son Frank Plumpton Ramsey [2C48]
• Frank P. Ramsey Philosopher and mathematician, Fellow of St John's College, Cambridge, Member of the Cambridge Apostles, the intellectual secret society, buried in same grave as his parents: Arthur Stanley Ramsey and Mary Agnes Ramsey. [2C48]
• William Halse Rivers Rivers FRS, Fellow of St John's College, Cambridge, Anthropologist, Neurologist, Ethnologist, Psychologist
• David Roberts, architect and fellow of Magdalene College
• Walter William Rouse Ball, Mathematician, Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge [4I9]

S

• Sir John Edwin Sandys FBA, Fellow of St John's College, Cambridge, Classicist and Public Orator, and Lady Mary Sandys, [2D46]
• Sir Charles Henry Sargant, Lord Justice of Appeal, Privy Counsellor [1H12]
• Charlotte Scott, Pioneer woman student, buried in the grave of Eliza Nevin [4C52]
• Isabel May Griffiths Seltman, wife of Charles Seltman, art historian, fellow of Queens' College, Cambridge and a University Lecturer in Classics
• Gerald Shove, economist and Member of the Cambridge Apostles, the intellectual secret society, and Fredegond Shove, poet, step-daughter of Sir Francis Darwin; her mother was Lady Darwin, formerly Florence Maitland;
• Walter William Skeat FBA Philologist, Elrington and Bosworth Professor of Anglo-Saxon, Fellow of Christ's College, Cambridge and wife Bertha Clara Skeat, daughters Bertha Marian Skeat, and Ethel Gertrude Woods, née Skeat [4I19], wife of Henry Woods;
• Lucy Joan Slater Mathematician and Recorder of Ascension Parish Burial Ground, and her mother Lucy Dalton Slater [6C45]
• George Smee, solicitor, and wife Eliza Smee; monument sculpted by Jacob Epstein,[2D28]
• Bridget Spufford, after whom "Bridget's Hostel", Cambridge was named; daughter of Professors Peter Spufford and the late Margaret Spufford, sister of Francis Spufford. She is buried with her grandmother, Mary Clark, née Johnson.
• Vincent Henry Stanton Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge and Regius Professor of Divinity, Member of the Cambridge Apostles, the intellectual society at Cambridge University, [2D50]
• Joseph Peter Stern FBA, Germanist, Fellow of St John's College, Cambridge, (cremated remains) and wife Sheila Stern (cremated remains)
• Stanley Stubbs Headmaster of Perse School 1945–1969 and wife Margaret Stubbs

T

• Joseph Robson Tanner, Bursar of St John's, Samuel Pepys expert [4A1]
• Charles Taylor Vice-Chancellor and Master St. John's College: 1881 to 1908, Fellow of St John's College, Cambridge, mathematician and Hebrew scholar, [4I5]
• Harold McCarter Taylor Mathematician, Barrister, a Fellow of Clare College, (cremated remains).
• Henry Martyn Taylor FRS, Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge, Mathematician, braille expert, and mother Eliza Taylor [2C52]
• Sir Alfred St Valery Tebbitt, managing director of Kirby, Beard & Co. and British Chamber of Commerce, Paris, and of the Hertford British Hospital, Paris, and wife Lady Gladys St. Valery Tebbitt, née Pendrell Smith.

V

• Augustus Arthur Vansittart, Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge, classical scholar [2D1]
• Arthur Woollgar Verrall, Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge, Classicist, Member of the Cambridge Apostles, King Edward VII professorship of literature, literary scholar, and wife Margaret Verrall, lecturer in classics at Newnham College, [2B33] and daughter Phoebe Margaret De Gaudrion Verrall (1888–1890),[4D45].

W

Gravestone of Ludwig Wittgenstein in 2004, before its 2015 restoration

• Harry Marshall Ward, colleague of Sir Francis Darwin and his wife Selina Mary Ward, née Kingdon
• Sir Percy Henry Winfield FBA, Rouse Ball Professor of English Law, Fellow of St John's College, Cambridge, author of The Law of Torts and his wife Lady Helena Winfield, née Scruby [1E5]
• Denys Winstanley Vice Master Trinity College, Cambridge: 1935–1947
• John Wisdom (cremated) Professor of Philosophy, Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge, philosopher, and Honorary Fellow of Fitzwilliam College
• Ludwig Wittgenstein philosopher, Professor of Philosophy, Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge, Member of the Cambridge Apostles [5D31]
• Charles Wood Professor of Music, Fellow of Gonville and Caius College, composer, and his wife Charlotte Georgina Wood. [4A21]
• William Aldis Wright Shakespearean and Biblical scholar, Vice-Master Trinity College, Cambridge, Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge, 1888–1914 [4I7]

Darwin family

Five members of the family of Charles Darwin are interred here: two sons: Sir Francis Darwin and Sir Horace Darwin, two daughters-in-law: Lady Florence Darwin (third wife of Francis) and Lady Ida Darwin (wife of Horace), and a granddaughter: Frances Cornford, the daughter of Francis Darwin by his second wife, Ellen Wordsworth Darwin, née Crofts.

Charles Darwin himself is buried in Westminster Abbey.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:

Ascension Parish Burial Ground, Cambridge

• Final resting place of the dead clever finds friends – Cambridge News
• History of Churches & Burial Grounds – Church at Castle
• Britain's brainiest cemetery – BBC Radio 4 Today
• Ascension Parish Burial Ground at Find a Grave