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John Singer
Sargent's Gravesite
Brookwood Cemetary
Jpeg courtesy
of:
Jim Sowa
click on
either
gravestone to
step closer
Ormond
Gravestone
Sargent's
Gravestone
From: Jim Sowa
<ja s wa@pop.nlci.com>
Lafayette, Indiana, USA
Date: 11/6/2001
In November, 2000 I
was
vacationing
in London. Prior to leaving I contacted via email the Visitor
Information
Center for the town of Woking. At this time there was not a
website
for Brookwood Cemetery. This was the only information I had
regarding
the location of John Singer Sargent's grave. I received the
following
reply:
Dear Mr Sowa
Thank you
for
your enquiry
regarding the grave of John Singer Sargent. I am pleased to be able to
confirm that it is located in Brookwood Cemetary and that there is some
detail about the painter held at the Brookwood Cemetary office, which
is
on site. Brookwood is located on the main Waterloo to Portsmouth
train-line,
one stop after Woking. Trains run approximately every 20 minutes from
London.
The cemetary is accessible from Brookwood train station and is open
from
10am until dusk (at this time of year, that's about 4.30pm). I hope
this
is of some help. Please do contact me for any further information you
may
require.
Regards
Laura Holman
Visitor
Information
Centre
Manager
I took the train as
directed
on a weekday
morning and arrived at the Brookwood Station. The train station
adjoins
the cemetery itself and by exiting the station to the back I was in the
cemetery. There were no signs or buildings to assist me in
locating
the grave. At the first main pathway, I could go left or
right.
I went right and walked for about twenty minutes and arrived at the
militaries
section of the cemetery. At this section was a building and I
located
a gentleman to ask for directions. He told me that I gone the
wrong
direction from the train station and I needed to back track and keep
going
across the road and I would see the office for the cemetery. So after
another
thirty minutes of walking I arrived at the office but no one was
there.
The office also served as living quarters for someone and there were
chickens
in the front yard. There was a man who was directing a front-end
loader driver who was repairing the roadway. I asked him if he
knew
when the office would be open. Well, he was the owner, Mr. R. H.
Guney. He led me inside the office and showed me on a map the
whereabout
of John Singer Sargent's grave. I purchased a booklet, "An
Introduction
to Brookwood Cemetery," because it contained a map and I still had a
ways
to go. John Singer Sargent is buried in Section 35, called "The
Ring"
and is near St. Edward Chapel.
The tombstone reads:
LABORARE EST ORARE
JOHN S. SARGENT
R.A.
BORN IN FLORENCE
JAN 12th 1856
DIED IN LONDON
APRIL 15th 1925
ALSO HIS
SISTER
EMILY SARGENT
BORN JAN 29TH
1857
DIED MAY 22ND
1936
At the base of
the
stone reads:
HE GIVETH HIS
BELOVED
SLEEP
Also at the grave is
another
stone identical
in style that marks the grave of his other sister, Violet, and her
husband,
Louis Francis Ormond.
Forum:
[Editor's
Note -- Janice Hingston had written me. She just found my site and
sent me a newer pic of Sargent's stone. I asked her if she somehow
worked
there giving tours.]
From: Janice
Hingston
<jani ce.hings ton@ntlworld.com>
Date: Tue, 5 Mar
2002
I am on the
committee. On
Sunday
[yesterday] the monthly walk included Sargent's grave amongst artists
various.
Here is the woman who led.
Had I known about
you I
would have
got a suitable picture for you. :-(
I'll look out for
the
grave for you
- maybe plant something special - and give JSS your regards :))
I went to the J S
Sargent
exhibition
at the Tate a couple of years ago and loved it.
At present the
committee are
looking
for ideas to attract more people and we have a project of improving a
conspicuous
area.
I am taking before and
after
pics
.
Now we are waiting
for
the stonemason
to do his straightening work :)
From: Jonathan
Silverlight
(j
silver light@merseia.fsnet.co.uk)
Date: Sunday, September 26, 2004
I thought you might
like to see this picture of John Singer Sargent's tomb, which appeared
in my local paper when it got "listed status" which should help get
funds for maintenance.
[From left to
right:] John Clarke is former chairman of Brookwood Cemetery Society,
Barry Williams is on Woking Council, and Ramadan Guney owns the
cemetery.
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