Tomb of Herbert Fitch, Brompton Cemetery
Brompton Cemetery, Old Brompton Road, London, SW10
Listed on the National Heritage List for England. Search over 400,000 listed places
Overview
- Heritage Category:
- Listed Building
- Grade:
- II
- List Entry Number:
- 1403331
- Date first listed:
- 21-Dec-2011
- List Entry Name:
- Tomb of Herbert Fitch, Brompton Cemetery
- Statutory Address:
- Brompton Cemetery, Old Brompton Road, London, SW10
Location
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Discover moreOfficial list entry
- Heritage Category:
- Listed Building
- Grade:
- II
- List Entry Number:
- 1403331
- Date first listed:
- 21-Dec-2011
- List Entry Name:
- Tomb of Herbert Fitch, Brompton Cemetery
- Statutory Address 1:
- Brompton Cemetery, Old Brompton Road, London, SW10
- Statutory Address 2:
- Brompton Cemetery, Old Brompton Road, London, SW10
The scope of legal protection for listed buildings
This List entry helps identify the building designated at this address for its special architectural or historic interest.
Unless the List entry states otherwise, it includes both the structure itself and any object or structure fixed to it (whether inside or outside) as well as any object or structure within the curtilage of the building.
For these purposes, to be included within the curtilage of the building, the object or structure must have formed part of the land since before 1st July 1948.
The scope of legal protection for listed buildings
This List entry helps identify the building designated at this address for its special architectural or historic interest.
Unless the List entry states otherwise, it includes both the structure itself and any object or structure fixed to it (whether inside or outside) as well as any object or structure within the curtilage of the building.
For these purposes, to be included within the curtilage of the building, the object or structure must have formed part of the land since before 1st July 1948.
Location
- Statutory Address:
- Brompton Cemetery, Old Brompton Road, London, SW10
- Statutory Address:
- Brompton Cemetery, Old Brompton Road, London, SW10
The building or site itself may lie within the boundary of more than one authority.
- County:
- Greater London Authority
- District:
- Kensington and Chelsea (London Borough)
- Parish:
- Non Civil Parish
- National Grid Reference:
- TQ2561177914
Summary
Tomb of Herbert Fitch and family, by Flemings & Co, c.1933.
Reasons for Designation
* Architectural interest: an unusually decorative tomb, of Herbert Fitch and family, taking the form of a classical aedicule, and enriched with various materials including bronze capitals, green marble columns and coloured mosaic
* Group value: located on the Ceremonial Way, which is the principal thoroughfare in the Grade I-registered Brompton Cemetery, and having group value with other listed tombs nearby.
History
Herbert Fitch was the founder of the printing company Herbert Fitch and Company, based on Bury Street in the City of London. His tomb records that he was also a Master of the Worshipful Company of Stationers and a member of Lloyds (that is, a subscribing member of the Society of Lloyds, a syndicate of insurers).
Brompton Cemetery was one of the 'magnificent seven' privately-run burial grounds established in the 1830s and 1840s to relieve pressure on London's overcrowded churchyards. It was laid out in 1839-1844 to designs by the architect Benjamin B Baud, who devised a classical landscape of axial drives and vistas with rond-points at the intersections marked by mausolea or ornamental planting, the latter devised by Isaac Finnemore with advice from JC Loudon. The main Ceremonial Way culminates in a dramatic architectural ensemble recalling Bernini's piazza in front of St Peter's in Rome, with flanking colonnades curving outwards to form a Great Circle, closed at its southern end in a domed Anglican chapel (the planned Catholic and Nonconformist chapels were omitted for financial reasons) The cemetery, never a commercial success, was compulsorily purchased by the General Board of Health in the early 1850s, and has remained in state ownership ever since.
Details
MATERIALS: Portland stone, verde marble, bronze and mosaic
The monument takes the form of a classical aedicule in Portland stone, located alongside the Ceremonial Way. Two square pilasters and two verde marble columns in antis, these with bronze Corinthian capitals and bases, support an entablature with egg-and-dart and bead-and-reel carving and a frieze inscribed 'Family Vault of Herbert Fitch'. Inside the aedicule are six stone tablets, edged in green and gold tesserae, commemorating Herbert Fitch (d 1933), his wife Jeannie (d 1935) and sons Herbert Trevor (d 1935), Frederick Vernon (d 1941) and Clive Evelyn (d 1921); the sixth tablet is blank.
The small 'forecourt' in front of the aedicule is flanked by solid walls and paved with a mosaic showing the family coat of arms (three leopards) and the motto 'Facta non verba', meaning 'Deeds not words'.
Sources
Books and journals
Sheppard, FHW, Survey of London: Volume 41: Brompton, (1983), pp.246-252
Pevsner, N, Cherry, B, The Buildings of England: London 3 North West, (1991), pp.470-471
Stevens Curl, J, The Victorian Celebration of Death, (1972), pp.112-129
Legal
This building is listed under the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 as amended for its special architectural or historic interest.
Map
This map is for quick reference purposes only and may not be to scale. This copy shows the entry on 05-Jun-2026 at 11:27:57.
Download a full scale map (PDF)End of official list entry
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