9000 former psychiatric patients are buried at Horton Cemetery in London. A campaign aims to bring the site back into public ownership and preserve the memory of those buried there
Overgrown and unloved, around 9,000 former patients of what was once the largest cluster of psychiatric hospitals in Europe are buried at Horton Cemetery in Surrey. Lost souls, they come from all walks of life and include a Titanic survivor, a Polish noblewoman and even a muse of Picasso. Now a major campaign is underway to bring the privately owned five acre site back into public ownership and preserve the memory of those buried there.
Lionel Blackman, honorary secretary of the charity Friends of Horton Cemetery, which is spearheading the drive, says: “We think Horton is of national importance. We believe it is the largest abandoned hospital cemetery in Europe. That makes it a rich resource for historians. The more stories we uncover of the people who are buried there, the better we can understand their lives and society at the time.”
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Lionel, a lawyer from Surrey, also believes the stories of Horton’s lost souls may help banish the stigma towards mental illness today. He says: “These were people just like me and you – butchers, hat makers, piano tuners – but they fell into poverty or became ill and came to an unfortunate end.”
Once back in public ownership, the charity wants to see the site become a garden, nature reserve and memorial to those buried there – information on around 500 of whom has been found by its volunteer researchers. Meanwhile, a granite memorial outside the cemetery, paid for by public subscription, is the only indicator of its past.
The Epsom cluster was a group of five large psychiatric hospitals built by the London County Council. The Manor, Horton, Ewell Epileptic Colony, Long Grove and West Park asylums began operation in 1899, offering those suffering with mental illness an opportunity to recover in the fresh air of the countryside.
But some of the reasons for committing people to asylums were truly shocking. Lionel says: “Trauma after miscarriage, for example. Remember, there was a time when a man could decide to have his wife certified. We have anecdotal evidence about women who had children out of wedlock ending up in psychiatric hospitals, while soldiers with shell shock might also be admitted.
And, of course, there is now no such thing as an ‘epileptic colony’ as there was on site at Horton – thank goodness. If family finances were strained, or no relatives came forward, those who died there between 1899 and 1955 were laid to rest in paupers’ graves on land at the heart of the estate”.
Few had headstones, most just a simple cross, although few of these remain. Felicja Staszewicz was a Polish noblewoman who entered the hospital site in 1947. A mother of ten, she was forced to flee her country estate at the outbreak of the Second World War. Arrested by invading Russian forces, she and her family worked as slave labourers, but were released in 1942.
Felicja arrived in the UK in 1947, but her health declined and she died at Horton in 1950. Her great grandson, Alex Buchinger, a semi-retired chartered engineer, from Surbiton, says: “We think she may have had dementia. I have huge admiration for her. She and the family lost everything – a noblewoman who ended up in a pauper’s grave. It would be lovely to be able to go and see her last resting place.”
Mary Ann Godfrey arrived at the Manor Hospital in 1912 and died three years later, aged 42, apparently suffering with ‘chronic melancholia’. “Today she would probably be diagnosed with anxiety and depression,” says Derek Andrews, 77, from Clacton-on-Sea. Mary Ann is his wife Patricia’s great grandmother. “We talk so much more about these things these days. There should be no shame”. Grateful that the charity preserves her memory, he is saddened by the dilapidated cemetery, saying: “It’s more like a rubbish tip.”
Others buried at Horton include Manchester born Byron Pedley, a popular comedy actor and famed Spanish dancer Felix Garcia, who was sketched by Picasso. Burials at Horton stopped in 1955 and changes in the treatment of mental health patients in hospital meant numbers fell.
The hospitals were sold and in 1983 the Department of Health and Social Care sold the cemetery grounds to a local property investment firm. Lionel says: “Nothing has happened with it since. It’s mainly overgrown, largely impenetrable and protected only by an old iron fence. We would love to restore the cemetery to community ownership.”
Epsom and Ewell Liberal Democrat MP, Helen Maguire, is backing the campaign. She says: “Horton Cemetery in my constituency remains a site of profound historical significance. It is the resting place of around 9,000 people, many of them among the most vulnerable in society, including former psychiatric patients, the poor, and those who in life had little voice or power.”
Helen, who raised questions concerning Horton in the Commons, continues: “Horton is uniquely placed to serve as a pilot for any new legislation addressing neglected and abandoned burial grounds. It offers a real opportunity to lead the way in restoring dignity, proper memorialisation and long-term protection.”
For Lionel, the quest to give Horton’s lost souls a dignified resting place, feels personal. He says: “Their stories never fail to move me and their tragedies often give me a chill down my spine. There is one about a boy soldier, Leslie Attwood, who lied about his age to join the military in 1914 – he was only 15. These people may have been born before all our time but in reality we’re not too distant from them.”
George Pelham
George Pelham survived the sinking of the Titanic in 1912 only to be torpedoed on another ship during WW1. It was perhaps because of these traumatic incidents that the London shoemaker’s son was admitted to Horton Psychiatric Hospital. A father to two boys when he went to sea, aged 38, family members believe an unhappy marriage to wife Elizabeth prompted the move.
The following year, in 1912, he was transferred to Titanic as a trimmer, responsible for moving coal from storage bunkers to the stokers. He survived Titanic and later years saw him working as a general labourer. By January 1935 he was admitted to Horton Psychiatric Hospital, after suffering a breakdown. He was moved in August 1939 to nearby Long Grove, where he died 42 days later.
Tottie Fay
‘Tottie Fay’ was dubbed ‘the worst and wickedest woman in London by a magistrate. From a poor background, she became a small-time thief and conwoman, using a variety of wealthy alter-egos and becoming something of a celebrity for doing so. Born in London in 1850, Tottie would claim to be an actress, or a lady of means; a governess, or newly arrived from the Continent – conning gentlemen out of cash and hoteliers out of food, drink and lodgings.
An alcoholic, she was interned in various prisons and asylums, before being taken to Horton in 1902, discharged the following year, but readmitted in 1907. Even behind bars she fashioned costumes out of prison clothing and used brick dust and chalk as make-up. She died in 1908 aged 58. Her case was instrumental in pushing through The Inebriates Act of 1899, which championed reformative treatment rather than imprisonment for alcoholism.
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