Balls Pond Road Cemetery, Kingsbury Road, Balls Pond Road, Dalston, London N1:
Also known as Kingsbury Road Cemetery.
This Reform burial ground, near Dalston Junction, was in use from 1843 until 1951. http://www.apex.net.au/~tmj/balls-pond/ .
This cemetery was established in 1843, the first cemetery of the West London Synagogue of British Jews, which had been formed in 1840, primarily by breakaway members from Bevis Marks (Sephardi) Synagogue but with some Askenazi members. It was the first Reform congregation in Britain.
West London Synagogue, the owners of the cemetery, had tried to sell off the ground, for development for housing, remove the bodies and destroy gravestones, which let to is a huge campaign amongst the Jewish community in the U.K. to stop it. Source: Janet Girsman: (0117 968-6768); Bristol, UK (2:255/74). At least, for the time being, the cemetery survived these plans
The cemetery is one of the most important sites not only in Anglo-Jewish history and genealogy but a slice of British history too. Here lie the founder of the Daily Telegraph, University College London, the first Jewish Baronet, Henriques, Horatio Montefiore and others in the Montefiore family, Mocattas, de Stern, Phillips, Jacobs, Nathan, Abrahams, Michaels, Collings and many more. In order to save this cemetery, please protest to The Chief Planning Officer, Islington Council, Islington Town Hall, London, N.1.U.K. ( +44 117 968-6768); Bristol, UK (2:255/74) Source: Janet Girsman on JewishGen Digest on March 16, 1995. No further developments were submitted as of June 2000.
In Balls Pond Road Cemetery....the final resting place of David Mocatta is to be found. He was one of the first Jews to devote himself to a professional career and was a member of the Institute of British Architects, designing among other buildings, Brighton Railway Station and the viaducts and stations on the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway. On his gravestone can be found the words "who was endowed with superior mental gifts and who took part in all progressive movements of he age"...he was one of the founders of the West London Synagogue. Source David Jacobs - The Graveside of History. Shemot [December 1997]
JOWBR burial listings [August 2010]
See also Cemetery Scribes - Balls Pond Road Cemetery, which includes images of all headstones [January 2017].