Bodies in the Cemetery

There have been over 60,000 burials in Hampstead Cemetery in Fortune Green Road since it was opened in 1876. But this sad story is about four bodies that were found above ground, the result of suicide and perhaps, murder.

Alfred Chambers

In 1884, the body of Alfred Pierpoint Chambers was discovered by a grave digger lying face downwards on the grave of his wife. Alfred was a photographer with a studio in Clapham. Alfred and Ellen were married in 1867, but since her death in 1882, Alfred had been very depressed. The post mortem revealed he had taken cyanide which was used in processing photographs.

Henry Butterworth

In December 1885, an inquest was held on Henry Butterworth, the owner of a chemist’s shop at 70 Tottenham Court Road. Today it is CEX electronics store, one of the few surviving original properties, immediately south of Goodge Street underground station.

His widow Elizabeth told the inquest court that Henry had left home on the 26 November, saying he was going to the City. She was alarmed to receive a telegram from him later that morning, saying, ‘Have gone to see our Fred’. Fred was the couple’s only son who had died in 1882, aged just three. She contacted the police immediately and Henry’s body was found on Fred’s grave. His brother in law said that the death of his son affected Henry badly, along with a recent downturn in business and poor health, but he had never threatened to take his own life. Henry had taken a small bottle of cyanide from his chemist shop and drunk it at the grave side. The headstone is unusual, as the large upright and plain stone slab bears no evidence of any inscription with lead letters or carving.

At the inquests both these cases were determined to be ‘suicide while of unsound mind’

Edward Scanes

On the 31 December 1892 the Illustrated Police News featured a dramatic drawing of 44-year old Edward Cornelius Scanes. It showed him leaning on his first wife’s grave and shooting himself through the heart. The paper wrongly reported his surname as Scones and showed the bearded Scanes as clean shaven.

Picture from the Illustrated Police News

Edward’s father John Scanes came from Exeter and his mother Mary Green was born in Norfolk. John was a coachman and a cab master when he married Mary in London in 1837. The family settled in North Street, Marylebone (between Lisson Grove and Edgware Road) where the 1871 census shows Edward Cornelius, 22, living with his parents and employed as a tin plate worker. The following year he married Sarah Ann Dunlop, the daughter of a gun maker. The couple had six children and lived round the corner from his parents, in Carlisle Street. Sarah died in 1886 and was buried in Hampstead Cemetery, where the register notes that she was ‘reinterred from a common grave.’ Seemingly, it took Edward a few weeks to raise the money to buy a private plot. His father John Scanes died in 1887 and was buried in the adjoining grave.

In 1887 Edward remarried Alice Helliwell, a young widow with two children. The 1891 census shows the large family at 30 Windsor Road, Islington. In addition to Edward and Alice, there were nine children, five from Edward’s first marriage and two from Alice’s. The couple also had two young children of their own and another daughter was born later that year. But the marriage was unhappy and Edward had taken to leaving home, returning after a few days absence.

At the inquest his sons said the state of things at home had given Edward considerable trouble as Alice ‘was afflicted in her mind’.

A labourer who was walking through the cemetery said that he found Edward’s body lying across his first wife’s grave, with his head resting on his father’s grave. Police Constable Williamson said there was a five-chambered revolver in his right hand with one shot fired, and a bullet wound just over his heart. Two letters were found nearby. They were dated 19 December and said that his sons should have his watch and ring. He wished various members of his family ‘Good-bye,’ and concluded with the sentence, ‘My head is so bad.’

Edward Scanes

Edward had committed suicide on the 22 December, shortly after the anniversary of his first wife’s death, which may have prompted his action. He was buried in the same grave as Sarah. Dr Aubyn Monks said that death must have been instantaneous, and Dr Norman Clarke said that the deceased had effectively been out of his mind for some time. The standard verdict of suicide while of unsound mind was returned by the inquest jury.

Marion Duignan

On Saturday 25 February 1956 a grave digger was surprised to find a skeleton under a holly bush by the wall of the cemetery which backed on to Ranulf Road. The murder squad were called, and Chief Inspector Payton was the officer in charge. The remains were those of a woman about 5ft 2in tall, wearing a blue and white check three-quarter length coat, a black skirt, and a blue blouse with a Peter Pan collar. She had taken pride in her appearance, her long hair was upswept and pinned back with two ornamental combs. Her teeth were near perfect and her finger-nails had been painted red. She wore a 22-carat gold wedding ring hallmarked Birmingham 1931. On her right wrist was a bangle with small black jet stones which had been made in 1861 during the mourning for Prince Albert.

Medical evidence indicated the woman had died over a year ago. The police thought she had been murdered and the killer had brought the body to hide in a newly dug grave, but then panicked and left it covered with leaves, under a bush.

The first problem was to identify the body. Because her teeth had been so well looked after, the police issued photographs and a chart to all London dentists. Reginald Royston Course of 26 Lawrence Gardens in Hendon recognised her as one of his patients. So three days after finding the body the police knew it was that of 49-year-old Marion Gwendolen Duignan of 23 Tanza Road Hampstead.

Marion Duignan

She had been missing for over two and a half years since August 1953. Her daughter Theodora said that even though they lived in the same house they did not have a close relationship, ‘to me she was always odd. She lived a life of her own, apart from the family. If I showed any interest it was never reciprocated.’

The press interviewed artist Mabel Sharp of Nassington Road, who said Marion visited her every week. ‘I think I knew her better than anyone. She always confided in me her unhappiness and joys. She was unhappy for a long time. She would come here and cry and cry and then afterwards she would say she felt better. She had financial problems since her husband left and I got her some work as an artist’s model when she was paid 10 shillings a session.’ Mabel made a sketch of her friend which was used by the police.

Mabel Sharp painting the portrait of Marion Duignan

When he saw the press reports Frederick Duignan contacted the police. He told them he had met Marion Dixon at a party at a friend’s house in Hendon. She was a very attractive woman who worked as a secretary at her father’s company in the City. 

 

Frederick who was a tax inspector, had married Marion in 1931 and they had two children, Theodora and Anthony, who was in the merchant navy.

Although the marriage was initially happy Frederick said: ‘The last 15 years of our marriage was really a polite estrangement. I lived my life, she lived hers. We had separate rooms and all we shared were the larder and the roof. My wife went out quite a bit, but I was more or less a homebird. It was clear we were drifting slowly apart.’ 

When their daughter decided to get married, Frederick packed up and left without telling anyone so that she and her new husband could live at the house in Tanza Road. He left a year before Marion went missing and moved a short distance to 6 Rosslyn Hill where he lived with Phyllis Cowle. They were married in 1956, by which time the couple had moved to Kenton, Middlesex.

Annie Trotman, a medium of South Hill Park Gardens Hampstead, told the police that she had met Marion in 1950 and they had attended the Golders Green Spiritualist Church. The police found spiritualist pamphlets in Tanza Road and were told that Marion came to believe Frank De Monte, who lived next door at No.21, was her ‘spiritual’ lover. Neither Frank or his wife Louise encouraged this idea and Louise said that Marion and Frank never had an affair. Frank had died in 1950 and as his grave was about 50 yards from where the body was found, the police thought that Marion may have been visiting it.

Frederick Duignan said, ‘If she had had an affair after I left I think I would have heard about it. But I haven’t. Here I am reading things about my wife, day after day in the newspapers, things I knew nothing about. I never knew she was a spiritualist. I never knew she worked as a model. I never knew she had a Prince Albert mourning bangle. It’s a sad business however you look at it. It is a very unsatisfactory end to a life.’

The body was examined by Dr. Francis Camps the famous Home Office pathologist, who found no traces of poison, which ruled out suicide from an overdose. There was a small hole in the skull which could have been the result of a fall onto the edge of a grave stone. Chief Inspector Payton said he now believed that Marion had not been murdered. At the inquest, Barclay Purchase, the St Pancras coroner, decided on an open verdict as it was impossible to determine the cause of death. He praised the pathologist, the dentist and the police, saying that the body had only been identified because of advances in anatomy and dentistry.

Frederick Duignan died from a heart condition in March 1957, just over a year after Marion’s body was discovered.

In November 2015 the Camden New Journal used a Freedom of Information request to try to see the records of Marion Duignan but were told the case remained closed until 2025. The CNJ reported that Scotland Yard had told them: ‘Primarily, this record relates to the investigation of a suspicious death that was ultimately considered a case of murder that remains unsolved. Essentially this murder could still achieve prosecution.’

This is an odd conclusion since at the time the police concluded it was not a case of murder. Perhaps more evidence came to light later which has not been reported?

We have produced a 'Good Grave Guide to Hampstead Cemetery' which can be bought from the Camden History Society web site.

It gives you details of over 200 people and aerial photos showing the position of the graves.

http://www.camdenhistorysociety.org/general-publications-admin/the-good-grave-guide-to-hampstead-cemetery