IMAGES TAKEN NEAR TO
Frensham Drive, LONDON, SW15 3EG

The grave of singer-songwriter Sandy Denny. I only attended one of her concerts, at the Fairfield Hall, Croydon, in November 1977.

The grave of singer-songwriter Sandy Denny. I only attended one of her concerts, at the Fairfield Hall, Croydon, in November 1977.

The grave of singer-songwriter Sandy Denny. I only attended one of her concerts, at the Fairfield Hall, Croydon, in November 1977.

The grave of 7919241 Serjeant A.G.Strain, Army Educational Corps.

Bordered on two sides by Wimbledon Common and Putney Heath, Putney Vale Cemetery was opened in 1891 and the crematorium in 1938. Putney Vale's only rival in the London area for the number of famous people buried or cremated here is Golders Green Crematorium. Among those whose funerals were held here were Arthur Askey, Stanley Baker, James Beck of Dad's Army, Howard Carter who discovered Tutankhamun, James Hunt who won the Formula One Drivers' Championship, Hattie Jacques, J Bruce Ismay who was a passenger on the Titanic and Chairman of the White Star Line, Daniel Massey, Bobby Moore, Kenneth More, Jon Pertwee, Roy Plomley of Desert Island Discs, Nyree Dawn Porter, Joan Sims and Vesta Tilley. Vesta Tilley was born on 13th May 1864 and died on 16th September 1952. She was a noted music hall star and became one of the most famous male impersonators of her era. She was a star in both Britain and the United States for over thirty years. One presumes that her husband, no less than Colonel Sir Walter de Frece, enjoyed the fame of his wife Lady Matilda Alice de Frece. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vesta_Tilley for more information and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pf3LsGQPxSU and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pExpnHkmYgQ and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g6TUkv_uzBI to hear her voice and to see a short clip of her with her husband.

The quotation inscribed on this stone - the first thing you see on reaching the plot - is from the Epistle of James: 'Behold also the ships, which though they be so great, and driven of fierce winds, yet are they turned about with a very small helm, whither so ever the governor listeth.' (James, 3.4.) To me this seems an odd choice of text, woefully under-estimating the power of the elements - and ironic, when the one event in Bruce Ismay's life which everyone remembers is the sinking of the Titanic. See: Image

Bruce Ismay was the chairman of White Star Line who commissioned RMS Titanic - and, notoriously - a survivor of the sinking. The Ismay family plot is a large one. This tomb-chest stands in the centre of the plot, but there are also an upright slab (with biblical inscription), an elaborately carved stone bench (with a verse inscribed), and a plain tomb-slab (marking the graves of other members of the family). The tomb-chest has low-relief carvings of sailing ships on three sides, and a similar representation of a ship's compass on the fourth. It is signed 'Gerrard 1939' - which I take to mean A.H. Gerrard, later professor at the Slade School of Art. The Ismay plot lies in the southernmost corner of the cemetery, on a north-facing slope - and for much of the year is heavily shaded by trees. See: Image Image Image Image

Bordered on two sides by Wimbledon Common and Putney Heath, Putney Vale Cemetery was opened in 1891 and the crematorium in 1938. Putney Vale's only rival in the London area for the number of famous people buried or cremated here is Golders Green Crematorium. Among those whose funerals were held here were Arthur Askey, Stanley Baker, James Beck of Dad's Army, Howard Carter who discovered Tutankhamun, James Hunt who won the Formula One Drivers' Championship, Hattie Jacques, J Bruce Ismay who was a passenger on the Titanic and Chairman of the White Star Line, Daniel Massey, Bobby Moore, Kenneth More, Jon Pertwee, Roy Plomley of Desert Island Discs, Nyree Dawn Porter, Joan Sims and Vesta Tilley. Joseph Bruce Ismay was born in Liverpool on 12th December 1862. He was the eldest son of Thomas Henry Ismay, the owner of the White Star steamship company. He was educated at Elstree and Harrow. In 1888, he married Julia Florence Schieffelin of New York, the heiress to a pharmaceutical fortune. Upon the death of his father in 1899, Bruce gained control of the White Star Line but, within three years, was forced to sell to J. Pierpoint Morgan, although he remained as Chairman. As such, he was on board the Titanic and his role was subject to much scrutiny and condemnation afterwards as he managed to get into one of the lifeboats and was saved. Ismay never recovered from the public reaction to the disaster and died on 17th October 1937. See https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-17694824 and https://www.encyclopedia-titanica.org/titanic-survivor/j-bruce-ismay.html

The grave of Sir Walter de Frece and Lady Matilda Alice de Frece (Vesta Tilley).