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Five charlatans, eccentrics, or otherwise notable personages buried at Kensal Green

Mike Pollitt | Thursday 17 March, 2011 11:31

I recently went on a romantic afternoon stroll through Kensal Green cemetary (no, it’s not weird), and a beautiful stroll it was too. So many graves, so many lives, so many lived days lie scattered beneath your feet – it’s impossible to avoid some very big thoughts indeed. And it’s also a great place to get stuck in to some London oddballs. Here are five good ones, and may they continue to rest in peace.

John Saint John Long
Any man who has a chapter of his own in a 1928 book called Mysteries of History with Accounts of Some Remarkable Characters and Charlatans has already got me pretty fascinated. When his chapter is entitled A Charlatan of Distinction, then I’m in love. A dashing quack who sold made up medicine, he was tried for his dubious practices and fined the substantial sum of £250. His response? I quote from the above linked book: “There was intense excitement in the court, during which Long remained unperturbed, then ostentatiously taking a roll of notes from his pocket, he immediately paid the fine and left the building.” What a hero. Explains the curious wording on his tombstone.

Andrew Ducrow
What sort of man would have a brightly painted pastel tomb combining Egyptian and pagan motifs, and including a deliberately broken column on which rests a stone replica of his hat and gloves? Why, the sort of man who would fight a live lion while dressed as a centaur of course!

Sophie Dawes, Baronne de Feuchères
Wikipedia describes her as “an English ‘adventuress’”, and that extra pair of inverted commas should tell you that her adventure was not exactly played by the book. She grew up in a workhouse, was a servant in a brothel, and yet somehow finagled her way to the very heart of the French court. What a woman.

Percy Sholto Douglas, 10th Marquess of Queensbury
UPDATE: The potted biography below relates to Percy’s father, John Douglas, the 9th Marquess who lies buried in Scotland. Poor Percy, who does lie in Kensal Green, was thus the victim of a gross slur at my hand. I can only ask forgiveness of his memory. Thanks to Linda Stratmann for pointing out my error.

Notable for three things: sponsoring the rules which govern boxing to this day, having a brilliant middle name, and prosecuting Oscar Wilde for being a whoopsie. He pursued that vicious campaign to the extent that it bankrupted Wilde who, broken, died soon after. Not a nice man, Percy Sholto Douglas.

James Barry
Forgive the repeated links to Wikipedia, but it really is the best way. James Barry was a surgeon who travelled the world with the army, fought a couple of duels and helped revolutionise medical sanitation in the armed forces. Only after his death was it revealed that he was probably born a woman. A pioneer then, in so many ways.

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