One of London's 'Magnificent Seven'
Jane is Chair of the Friends of West Norwood Cemetery
Originally the South Metropolitan Cemetery, West Norwood was in 1837 the second of the seven joint-stock cemeteries to open. The Friends were formed out of efforts to stop Lambeth Borough Council's 'lawn conversion' programme in the early 1990s which had resulted in the destruction of many monuments.
Jane is a qualified Lambeth Tour Guide ....
... she offers general tours of the cemetery as well as themed tours such as Black British History, Rethinking Victorian Women, Victorian Artists and Designers, and The Men Who Built Victorian Britain.
She undertook the year-long Lambeth Tour Guide course at Morley College generously supported by Heritage Lottery funding.
Jane has deilivered specialist tours for such as the Victorian Society, the Dulwich Festival, and the Streatham Society.
The "Millionaires' Cemetery"?
Previous research has focused on identifying the famous individuals in the cemetery. Jane's contribution has been to identify many as not possessors of 'old money', but self-made men, the individuals who built Victorian Britain.
Jane, however, is as equally interested in those who lie in the cemetery's common graves, individuals lost to history rather than those who made history.
The Friends of West Norwood Cemetery
Membership of the Friends offers ...
... newsletters three times a year, monthly digital communications,
talks, tours (e.g. medical, First and Second World War), and opportunity to volunteer with the gardening group or carry out research.