Cremation Society of Great Britain

In it he wrote: "it was becoming a necessary sanitary precaution against the propagation of disease among a population daily growing larger in relation to the area it occupied".The ensuing debate in the press encouraged Thompson to call a meeting of his friends at his home at 35 Wimpole Street on 13 January 1874 during which a declaration was written and signed by those present.[6] This stated: "We, the undersigned, disapprove the present custom of burying the dead, and we desire to substitute some mode which shall rapidly resolve the body into its component elements, by a process which cannot offend the living, and shall render the remains perfectly innocuous.Its founder Sir Henry Thompson wrote that the society was "organised expressly for the purpose of obtaining and disseminating information on the subject and for adopting the best method of performing the process, as soon as this could be determined, provided that the act was not contrary to Law".In 1884, the Welsh Neo-Druidic priest William Price was arrested and put on trial for attempting to cremate his son's body.Over the decades the society has assisted and advised private companies and local authorities on the building of new crematoria at the same time as lobbying government to ease the restrictions which were preventing cremation from being readily available to all.
The Cremation Society of Great Britain built Woking Crematorium in 1878
Sir Henry Thompson , founder and first President
Woking Crematoriumcremationmiasma theoryPaolo GoriniVienna ExpositionSir Henry ThompsonPhysician to the QueenQueen VictoriaThe Contemporary ReviewWimpole StreetShirley BrooksFrederick LehmannJohn Everett MillaisJohn TennielAnthony TrollopeThomas Spencer WellsWokingSurreyHome SecretarySir Richard CrossNeo-DruidicWilliam PriceJeanette PickersgillCremation ActManchester CrematoriumGlasgow CrematoriumLiverpool CrematoriumDarlingtonGolders Green CrematoriumBirmingham CrematoriumWorld War Ithe Duchess of ConnaughtChurch of EnglandUnited KingdomDurham University LibraryDurham UniversitySir Charles CameronHis Grace The Duke of BedfordThe Rt. Hon. Lord HorderThe Rt. Hon. The Earl of VerulamThe Rt. Hon. The Lord Greenwood of RossendaleThe Rt. Hon. The Lord Marshall of LeedsRt. Hon. The Earl Grey