When I found that my 4x great-grandmother Fanny Hodge, nee Horn, had died in London’s East End in 1859, I thought it would be pushing my luck to locate where she’d been buried. It turned out to be easier than I imagined, and her gravestone in Tower Hamlets Cemetery has survived.

Fanny, who’d been born in Somerset, married a militia man named Peter and followed him on his postings. They eventually settled in Bath, but after Peter’s death in 1845, she moved to London and lived in Shadwell for about 14 years, with her son Abraham and other family members. Most of that time was spent at 3 King David Lane, not far from the Tower of London.

Tower Hamlets Cemetery

Tower Hamlets Cemetery was created as a garden cemetery, with trees and shrubs. Known as one of London’s Magnificent Seven Victorian cemeteries, it was still relatively new when Fanny died. She was one of more than 350,000 people buried there between 1841, when it opened, and 1966, when burials there stopped.

The Magnificent Seven comprise seven large private cemeteries which form a ring around London. They were built in the 19th century to help overcrowding in the capital’s existing burial grounds due to a booming population…. 

Tower Hamlets Cemetery is more ramshackle than the other Magnificent Seven cemeteries. Sadly, this is because it was often bombed during the Blitz. The Anglican Chapel and the Dissenter’s Chapel were so badly damaged that they had to be demolished. 

Today, Friends of Tower Hamlets Cemetery Park have transformed it into an urban space where nature takes over — an oasis in the middle of London’s East End. Sculptures are scattered throughout, surrounded by flowers and plants such as wild garlic, honeysuckle and sweet violet.

~ A Guide to the Magnificent Seven Cemeteries in London, Memorials of Distinction, https://www.memorialsofdistinction.co.uk/useful-guides/a-guide-to-the-magnificent-seven-cemeteries-in-london, accessed 3 May 2026.

Selected references

Death registration of Fanny Hodges [Hodge], died 3 March 1859, Stepney, General Record Office, volume 01C, page 345.

Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/182768820/fanny-hodges_hodge: accessed May 3, 2026), memorial page for Fanny Horn Hodges Hodge (1778–3 Mar 1859), Find a Grave Memorial ID 182768820, citing Tower Hamlets Cemetery Park, Tower Hamlets, London Borough of Tower Hamlets, Greater London, England; Maintained by SarahS (contributor 51516225).

Tower Hamlets Cemetery, London Museum, https://www.londonmuseum.org.uk/collections/london-stories/tower-hamlets-cemetery/, accessed 3 May 2026.

A Guide to the Magnificent Seven Cemeteries in London, Memorials of Distinction, https://www.memorialsofdistinction.co.uk/useful-guides/a-guide-to-the-magnificent-seven-cemeteries-in-london, accessed 3 May 2026.

Tower Hamlets Cemetery Park, Friends of Tower Hamlets Cemetery Park, https://fothcp.org/, accessed 3 May 2026.