© John Clarke 2014-2025, All Rights Reserved   |    Contact Me    |   Site Map

John Clarke

Historian of Brookwood Cemetery

Welcome to John Clarke’s Website

New Publications


Norwood and the Boer War by Peter Hodgkinson and John ClarkeBrookwoods Mausolea by John Clarke

My new booklet on the Brookwood Military Cemeteries is now available. Further details are posted here.


My 28 page booklet (co-authored with Peter Hodgkinson) on Norwood Cemetery and the Boer War, has been published by the Friends of West Norwood Cemetery and is now available. Further details are posted here.








Forthcoming & Recent Lectures


“The Brookwood Cemetery Railway” 25th September 2025, 6.30pm, for the Friends of Putney Library.


For details of my guided walks following the route of the cemetery railway at Brookwood, please see further details on how to book on The Brookwood Cemetery Society’s website.


For further information on lectures I have undertaken in previous years, please follow this link.



Current Research


*More on the Brookwood Cemetery railway (for a new edition)


* Pauper Burials at Brookwood Cemetery

John ClarkeHello, and welcome to my website


I'm a freelance writer, former administrator and medical librarian based in London.


My writing and research has mainly focused on Brookwood Cemetery and West Norwood Cemetery, but I have also written on various railway-related subjects.


Over the years I have presented many lectures on Brookwood Cemetery and its railway funeral service. If you are interested in booking me for a local (or national) group then please feel free to contact me via the contact page on this website or email me at info at john-clarke dot co dot uk.



Information about all of these areas are incorporated into my website.

Latest News:


New Memorial Garden Opens by Brookwood Station


Thanks to Tom Desmond, Operations Director, Network Rail, Wessex Route, I was invited to the official opening of the new Memorial Garden at Brookwood on 24 September. I was also invited to say a few words about the significance of the Cemetery Railway.


You can read more about the official opening on the BBC Surrey website.

































An unexpected bonus was meeting Jim Lester, the fireman on No. 34051 "Winston Churchill", the loco that hauled Churchill's funeral train on 30 January 1965.


Following a refreshment break, I led a guided walk along the route of the cemetery railway which included a visit to the St Edward the Martyr Church and Dugald Drummond's grave (which has recently been cleaned).



London Cemeteries 6


London Cemeteries


The new 6th edition of this classic guide is now available.


It is published by The History Press and was published at the end of August 2023.


You can read my book review here.










Saint Edward the Martyr


The Saint Edward Brotherhood has recently published a new book on Saint Edward the Martyr. This incorporates the text of John Wilson-Claridge’s The Recorded Miracles of Saint Edward the Martyr, which has been unavailable for many years. The book also includes a section on the life of St Edward the Martyr, historical notes on his death, his relics, their loss during the Reformation, and their rediscovery in 1931 by John Wilson-Claridge. Read my book review here.


King and Martyr Edward’s reign was brief, ended by his martyrdom in 978 when he was still only a young man. He quickly became one of the most venerated saints of Anglo-Saxon England; pilgrims came from all over England and from continental Europe to venerate his relics enshrined at Shaftesbury Abbey, Dorset.


Copies may be ordered direct from the Saint Edward Brotherhood using this link.