St. Patrick's Roman Catholic Cemetery, Leytonstone
Opened in 1868 to help cope with the increase in the local population, St Patrick's Roman Catholic Cemetery is situated on Langthorne Road, Leytonstone. By the early 1980s, the cemetery had recorded nearly 170,000 burials.[1]
Mary Jane Kelly, the last of the "canonical five" victims of the serial killer known as Jack the Ripper, is buried in the cemetery.[2]
Following a royal pardon, Timothy Evans — who had been found guilty of murdering his daughter and executed in 1950 — was exhumed from Pentonville Prison and reburied in St Patrick's in 1965. It is know acknowledged that serial killer John Reginald Halliday Christie was responsible for murder of Evan's wife and daughter.
Avis Ethel Graydon, sister of Edith Thompson who was executed in 1923, was buried in 1977. The sisters were known to Alfred Hitchcock and his sister, Ellen Kathleen, and, according to biographer John Russell Taylor, Hitchcock knew every details of the Thompson/Bywaters trial.[3]
The Hitchcocks
Alfred Hitchcock was born at 517 Leytonstone High Road in 1899, which was situated to the east of the cemetery.
On this archive map from 1919, the cemetery is shaded green and the Hitchcock grocery at 517 is shaded red.
Five members of Alfred Hitchcock's immediate and extended family are known to be buried at St. Patrick's in a single plot:
- Catherine Kipping (b. 1872) née Hitchcock — died 26/May/1909 (aunt)
- William Hitchcock (b. 1862) — died 12/Dec/1914 (father)
- Harry Lee (b. 1892) — died 18/Apr/1924 (brother-in-law)
- Emma Jane Hitchcock (b. 1864) née Whelan — died 26/Sep/1942 (mother)
- Ellen Kathleen Hitchcock (b. 1892) — died 30/Jan/1979 (sister and wife of Harry Lee)
Research by Iain MacFarlaine has identified that Alfred Hitchcock's brother, William John Hitchcock, was buried not with his parents and sister, but in a separate plot with his uncle and cousin. William John does not have an inscription on the plot.[4]
- Alfred Hitchcock (b. 1860) — died 03/Nov/1926 (uncle)
- Alfred Charles Hitchcock (b. 1889) — died 06/Dec/1944 (cousin)
- William John Hitchcock (b. 1888) — died 04/Jan/1943 (brother)
Situated almost in front of that plot is that of Charles Joseph Hitchcock and his family. The weight of the headstone had caused it to sink into the ground.[5]
- Charles Joseph Hitchcock (b. 1852) — died 23/May/1915
- Catherine Hitchcock (b. 1856) née Roche — died 11/Mar/1925
- Catherine Clare Hitchcock (b. 1883) — died 16/Jul/1943
- John Francis Hitchcock (b. 1884) — died 14/Nov/1944
- Charles James Hitchcock (b. 1891) — died 28/Oct/1917 and buried at Beersheba War Cemetery, Israel
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Notes & References
- ↑ Source: http://www.londongardensonline.org.uk/gardens-online-record.asp?ID=WAL040
- ↑ Casebook.org - The Funeral of Mary Jane Kelly
- ↑ Find a Grave: Avis Ethel Graydon
- ↑ The exact reason for this is uncertain, but William John seems to have become close to both the Alfreds following his own father's death in 1914.
- ↑ If anyone is able to transcribe the full inscription on the headstone of this plot, please email d.c.pattern@hud.ac.uk.
