To West Norwood Cemetery in search of the headstone of David Chalmers, a library assistant who suffered a tragic early death in the 1880s. I didn’t find the headstone - but did discover a falling angel, a mosaic flag, a #WW1 casualty, & an American who helped children with disabilities. - ThreadSky

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historitage.bsky.social • 5 days ago

To West Norwood Cemetery in search of the headstone of David Chalmers, a library assistant who suffered a tragic early death in the 1880s. I didn’t find the headstone - but did discover a falling angel, a mosaic flag, a #WW1 casualty, & an American who helped children with disabilities.

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raynewman.bsky.social•3 days ago

The first thing I encountered on entering that cemetery, without looking for it, was the grave of Hiram Maxim, inventor of the automatic machine gun. That felt quite Moorcockian, somehow.

fownc.org•4 days ago

Unfortunately I’m not aware of the location of the grave but hopefully the cemetery staff can help. I did find this article about David Chalmers, I didn’t know about him before so thanks for prompting me to do a search. https://mjohansenblog.wordpress.com/2014/11/16/lifes-poor-play-is-over-for-david-chalmers/

historitage.bsky.social•4 days ago

Thanks for replying. I’ve got the location of the grave but it doesn’t seem to be there now. The article was actually written by me! I’m glad you enjoyed finding out more about Chalmers. His promising life was cut far too short.

fownc.org•3 days ago

Oh yes I didn’t check that fact - sorry! It’s a fascinating article and I’m glad I found it. Many grave stones were removed when Lambeth took over ownership of the cemetery and there was a plan to change it to a lawned cemetery, a policy that was eventually stopped. Also some graves were lost in WW2

lordbonkers.bsky.social•3 days ago

I once found the grave of Thomas Cook, the travel and tourism pioneer, in Welford Road Cemetery, Leicester. His only daughter died the year before David Chalmers and in just the same way. I wonder how dangerous those early water heaters were?

historitage.bsky.social•2 days ago

That’s interesting. I was starting to think maybe it was self-murder, recorded as an accident which often happened. But yes, I imagine those cutting edge heating technologies were hazardous. What a fascinating study that would make!

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