Ascension Parish Burial Ground facts for kids
The Ascension Parish Burial Ground is a special cemetery in Cambridge, England. It's a place where many important people from the University of Cambridge are buried, including three Nobel Prize winners!
Even though it's a Church of England site, it also has graves of many people who weren't part of the Church of England. This shows how diverse the area was in the 1800s and 1900s.
The cemetery was started in 1857, when Cambridge was growing fast. The first person was buried there in 1869. It's about one and a half acres big and has around 1,500 graves with 2,500 burials. It used to be surrounded by open fields, but now it's next to trees and gardens. It's even a special place for wildlife in the city.
In 2020, the cemetery was officially closed to new burials. Now, the Cambridge City Council is in charge of taking care of it.
The old chapel building at the cemetery is now used as a workshop by Eric Marland, who is a letter-carver.
| Top - 0-9 A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z |
Graves and memorials of notable individuals
This cemetery is the final resting place for many famous people, especially those connected to the University of Cambridge. Here are some of the notable individuals buried here:
A
- John Couch Adams: An astronomer who helped discover the planet Neptune. He was a professor at Cambridge.
- Elizabeth Anscombe: A well-known philosopher and professor.
- Arthur John Arberry: An expert in Middle Eastern studies and a professor of Arabic.
B
- Sir Robert Stawell Ball: Another famous astronomer and professor.
- Jack A. W. Bennett: A literary scholar from New Zealand.
- Arthur Christopher Benson: He was the head of Magdalene College and wrote the words for the famous song "Land of Hope and Glory".
- William Henry Besant: A mathematician and Fellow of St John's College.
- Frederick Blackman: A plant scientist who studied how plants work.
- Denis William Brogan: A historian and expert in political science.
- William Warwick Buckland: A professor of law.
C
- John Cockcroft: A physicist and Nobel Prize winner. He was important in developing nuclear power and was the first head of Churchill College.
- Agnes Bell Collier: A Vice Principal of Newnham College who excelled in mathematics.
- Frances Cornford: A poet, buried with her father, Sir Francis Darwin.
D
- Francis Darwin: A botanist and writer, son of the famous Charles Darwin.
- Sir Horace Darwin: Another son of Charles Darwin, who made scientific instruments.
E
- Arthur Eddington: An astrophysicist and professor who studied stars and the universe.
- Sir James Ewing: A professor of engineering.
F
- Sir James Frazer: A famous anthropologist who studied human societies and cultures.
G
- Peter Geach: A philosopher, buried with his wife Elizabeth Anscombe.
- Roberto Gerhard: A well-known composer.
- Jean Grove: A glaciologist who studied glaciers and ice.
H
- Frederick Gowland Hopkins: A biochemist and Nobel Prize winner. He discovered vitamins, which are essential for our health.
- Bertram Hopkinson: An engineer and professor.
- Arthur Hutchinson: A mineralogist and head of Pembroke College.
J
- Henry Jackson: A classicist and professor of Greek.
- Sir Richard Jebb: Another classicist and professor of Greek.
L
- Horace Lamb: A mathematician and physicist.
- George Downing Liveing: A professor of chemistry.
- Robert Heath Lock: A botanist and geneticist who wrote an early textbook on genetics.
M
- Alexander Macalister: A professor of anatomy and an Egyptologist.
- Alfred Marshall: A very important economist who helped create modern economic ideas.
- G. E. Moore: A famous philosopher and professor at Trinity College.
N
- Alfred Newton: A professor who studied birds and their behavior.
P
- Max Perutz: A molecular biologist and Nobel Prize winner. He was important in understanding how proteins work.
R
- Frank P. Ramsey: A brilliant philosopher and mathematician who died young.
S
- Charlotte Scott: A mathematician who achieved great success in her field.
- Walter William Skeat: A philologist who studied languages and their history.
- Lucy Joan Slater: A mathematician and historian of the burial ground.
- Bridget Spufford: A young woman after whom a hostel in Cambridge was named.
T
- Charles Taylor: A mathematician and Hebrew scholar who was also the Vice-Chancellor of St. John's College.
- Henry Martyn Taylor: A mathematician and expert in Braille, a reading system for blind people.
V
- Arthur Woollgar Verrall: A classicist and professor of English Literature.
- Margaret Verrall: A researcher in parapsychology and classics lecturer.
W
- Harry Marshall Ward: A botanist who worked with Sir Francis Darwin.
- John Wisdom: A professor of philosophy.
- Ludwig Wittgenstein: A very famous philosopher and professor at Trinity College.
- Charles Wood: A professor of music and a composer.
Darwin family
Five members of the famous Charles Darwin's family are buried here:
- Two of his sons: Sir Francis Darwin and Sir Horace Darwin.
- Two of his daughters-in-law: Lady Florence Darwin (Francis's third wife) and Lady Ida Darwin (Horace's wife).
- One granddaughter: Frances Cornford, who was Francis Darwin's daughter.
Charles Darwin himself is buried in Westminster Abbey.
