George Corson was founder and first president of the West Yorkshire Society of Architects 1876–78 and again President 1897–99. He was born in Dumfries where he was articled to Walter Newa
Author: folc S
Ethel Preston (1861-1911)
Walter Preston was a manufacturing chemist. He married Ethel West in 1882. They had no children. When she died aged 50 in 1911, he erected this elaborate monument to her. It is said that Ethel is standing waiting at the open door to be reunited with her husband and that the door would finally be closed when he joined her
Arthur Currer Briggs (1855-1906)
Arthur Currer Briggs was born at Outwood Hall, Wakefield on the 23rd of July 1855. He was the son of Henry Currer Briggs who owned Whitwood Colliery, Normanton.
Sam Wilson (1851–1918)
Sam Wilson was born in 1851 in Ossett, and moved to Leeds to help with the running of the family worsted coating (cloth making) business at Bean Ings Mill, Wellington Street.
Grade II Listed Memorials
Apart from the buildings and the war memorial which are grade II listed, English Heritage has also listed four of the monuments as of special interest. These are Sam Wilson…
War Memorial
Lawnswood Cemetery contains 138 burials of the First World War, 88 of them forming a war graves plot. As these graves could not be marked individually, the names of the…
History of the Cemetery
HISTORIC DEVELOPMENT The cemetery movement came into being because of gross overcrowding in urban churchyards and public awareness of the health hazards associated with it. The first cemetery which opened…
Crematorium
Cremation was declared as legal in England and Wales when, in 1884, Dr William Price was unsuccessfully prosecuted for cremating his infant son. In 1885 the first official cremation took place…
Berkeley Moynihan 1865 – 1936
In July 2015, I visited Lawnswood Cemetery where my grandfather, Baron Moynihan of Leeds, the greatest surgeon of his time, lies buried. At the time, his family had been offered…
Peter Laycock 1837-1905
The life of Peter Laycock was one of struggle, perseverance and success. Peter Laycock’s contribution to the city and people of Leeds was remarkable and his legacy continues to this day,…