Photo courtesy Richmond Local History Society

Hello, and welcome to my website.

I work freelance providing a training, consultancy and research service under the banner of Funeral Service Training (London).

My website provides further information about me, my publications and my lectures. Links to all of these can be found above.

Meanwhile, you can contact me by emailing info@brianparsons.org.uk

My New Book: London Cemeteries: A Guide and Gazetter

London Cemeteries: An Illustrated Guide and Gazetteer has now been published by The History Press.

London Cemeteries: An Illustrated Guide and Gazetteer is a comprehensive guide to all cemeteries within Greater London. Listed alphabetically and with a map to help locate them, each entry includes the address, the date of foundation, the owner, the size, a note on its history, development and current state, and the names, dates and major achievements of any note-worthy people buried there. There are also chapters on the origins of London’s cemeteries and cemetery history, planning, architecture and epitaphs.

Illustrated throughout with both modern photographs and a wide range of rarely seen archive images, it is an essential source of information for anyone interested in London’s social and architectural history. Alongside a refreshed design, this sixth edition has been extensively revised with updated biographies, additional details about buildings and visitor facilities, fresh research on flora and fauna and entries for 28 further cemeteries in the Greater London area.

Price £25 from The History Press.

Forthcoming Lectures

 2024

Sunday 21 July 2024

A Look at London’s Cemeteries

F W Paine Funeral Directors, Kingston

Saturday 3 August 2024

Using Funeral Directors’ and Burial Records for Research

North West Kent Family History Society

Wednesday 25 September 2024

A Look at the Cemeteries of South London

Maldens & Coombe History Society

Wednesday 9 October 2024

The Victorian Funeral in London

The Friends of Putney Library

Thursday 28 November 2024

The Victorian Funeral

Society of Genealogists

Online Presentation

2025

Friday 16 May 2025

A Look at London’s Cemeteries

Dartford Historical Society

 Current Research & Articles in Preparation

Revision of Peter Jupp’s book From Dust to Ashes. Cremation and the British Way of Death (which originally appeared in 2006) to be published in 2025. The new edition of this seminal text will be issued to coincide with the 140th anniversary of the first cremation in modern times.

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Burial at Brompton Cemetery: Findings from Funeral Directors Records

Funeral Directors and the 1977 Strike

The History of Kingston Cemetery and Crematorium

The eighth of the ‘Magnificent Seven’? The History of Victoria Park Cemetery

You can contact me by emailing info@brianparsons.org.uk

W S Bond Bunny France Committed to the Cleansing Flame Evolution of the British Funeral Industry From Brooke Street to Brookwood Funerary Practice in England & Wales Glades of Remembrance J H Kenyon State Funeral of Sir Winston Churchill London Cemeteries 6 London Cemeteries London Cemeteries in Old Photographs London Way of Death Medical Examiner Service Frederick W Paine T H Sanders & Sons Undertaker at Work

Burial Cremation Cremation (Early History) Downloadable Articles Embalming Funeral Directing Funeral Service History Reviews Other Publications Current Research

Earlier Lectures