A tale of two coffins; James Moore (1949-1935) & Ivy May Hamilton (1922-1966) Kensal Green Cemetery

Not many people visit the KGC catacombs these days but anyone lucky enough to get the chance always sees this pair of coffins with their immortelles. Why the coffins were not tucked away into a vault but left standing out in a corridor no one was really sure. The assumption was that they were temporarily deposited in the catacombs waiting for either a grave to be prepared in the cemetery or awaiting transportation to another cemetery. Had they just been forgotten about? Both coffins turn out to have very different stories, both are fascinating.

A year ago, the cemetery was visited by Ron Carlson, the CEO of PBD Inc, a Chicago based corporate design firm who, in his spare time, flies light aircraft and records YouTube videos about cemeteries under the name Faces of the Forgotten. His video of KGC featured the catacombs and the two coffins including a lingering closeup of the name plate on the coffin on the left. One of Ron's subscribers, HazelOwl7893, otherwise known as Hazel Mahan (we think) went to the trouble of searching the name on the coffin plate on Google and was excited to discover that it belongs to James Moore (1849-1935) who, according to Wikipedia was "an English bicycle racer. He is popularly regarded as the winner of the first official cycle race in the world in 1868 at St-Cloud, Paris, although this claim seems to be erroneous. In 1869 he won the world's first road race Paris–Rouen sponsored by Le Vélocipède Illustré and the Olivier brothers' Michaux Bicycle Company. Moore covered the 113 km (70 mi) in 10 hours and 25 minutes. He was one of the first stars of cycle racing, dominating competition for many years."

According to the parish register of St James Bury St Edmunds, Moore was born on the 14^th January 1848 and baptised on Christmas Day 1850 along with two of his siblings, his older brother Alfred and his younger sister Matilda.  On the Civil Registration Birth Index though his birth is registered in the first quarter of 1849. In the 1851 census his father James, a blacksmith, declares him to be two years old on the 30th March, which would indicate that the 1849 date is correct. There were two other, older sisters, Selina aged 8 and Mary Ann aged 6. When James was four the family moved to Paris. Some accounts say his father was French but on the 1851 census James senior states his birthplace to be Cambs. It was an unusual move for a Suffolk farrier to make but Moore was to spend most of his life in France and spoke English with a French accent. The family moved to 2 Cité Godot-de-Mauroy, then in the 1st arrondissement of Paris. Their near neighbours, at number 7, were Pierre Michaux and his son Ernest who in around 1861 developed the pedal powered velocipede, the forerunner of the modern bicycle.  James’ first machine was bought from the Michauxs as a birthday present in 1865. It was initially used to run errands for his father but in 1868 he joined the Veloce cycling club and took part in what was the first official bicycle race meeting in the world at St-Cloud, although there is some dispute if the race Moore won was actually the first race of the meet.

James Moore pictured in old age posing with the Michaudine velocipede with which he won the St-Cloud bicycle race in Paris on 31 May 1868. The shot was probably taken in the back garden at 56 Wildwood Road, NW11, Moore's home at the time of his death. Note the curious kitchen maid watching the proceedings from the scullery window.

Moore’s racing career was interrupted by the Franco-Prussian War in which he served in the ambulance corps during the 1870 Siege of Paris. When the war ended, he continued to compete in bicycle races, winning five international championships between 1873 and 1877, but he also took a keen interest in horse racing, working at the Maisons Lafitte the French horse-riding centre. He later studied veterinary science at either Cambridge or at the Royal Veterinary College in London, depending on which source you read, and opened a horse stud in Normandy. He married Julie Cécile Mabille in Boulogne in 1887 and the couple went on to have at least one child, also called James.

Details of his later life are patchy and often contested but we know that by 1935 he was living in London at 56 Wildwood Road in Hampstead Garden Suburb (last sold in in 2004 for £1.85 million, current estimated value £3.5 million, so a very substantial property). He died there on the 17th July that year. Under the heading 'Burial Mystery' his Wikipedia article will tell you that "the location of Moore's grave is not known. His grandson, John, said: 'The odd thing is that my father was such a good story-teller but he couldn't or wouldn't tell me where my grandfather was buried. It was as if there was some unfinished business, some sort of mix-up, something I never understood. It's a mystery.' Moore believes the site may be near the Welsh Harp reservoir – also known as Brent Reservoir – in north London.” It appears that somehow, the family seem to have forgotten that on the 20^th July, 3 days after James Moore died, the undertaker stored his coffined body in the catacombs at Kensal Green. The burial register states quite clearly that this is a 'temporary deposit' but the coffin was never collected and remains there to this day.

Excerpts from the burial registers at Kensal Green Cemetery showing James Moore

HazelOwl7893 and Ron Carlson have tried to update the Wikipedia entry on James Moore to clear up the 90-year-old 'burial mystery' but their amendments are swiftly removed by someone who apparently wishes the mystery to remain unresolved. Even worse other YouTubers and FindaGravers have muscled in to try and claim credit for the discovery. Hazel is absolutely right, this is the coffin of James Moore and this is confirmed in the cemetery records. Other people speculated that the second coffin may belong to James' wife Julia Cecile Moore (nee Mabile) but this is definitely not the case; there is no record of Julia being buried in the cemetery or, indeed, of dying the UK and we suspect that she may have returned to France just before the outbreak of the Second World War.

When we were recently in the catacombs my friend Meriel was able to read the corroded nameplate on the second coffin; “Ivy May Hamilton Died 2nd September 1966 Aged 44 Years”. The next day she messaged me, “The coffin next to your cyclist, James Moore, is for Ivy May Hamilton – she was murdered in 1966! She has a will which is how I know it’s her as the address matches…” The cemetery burial records show that her coffin was placed in Catacomb B on the 24th September 1966. Probate records give her address as 166 Bravington Road and the value of her estate as £6362. The circumstances surrounding her death were reported in the Kensington Post on 7th October 1966;

Rent dispute ended in death, court told

During a dispute with his landlady over the nonpayment of a week's rent, a West Indian carpenter stabbed her with a chisel, inflicting a wound which resulted in her death two days later in hospital, alleged Mr. Arthur Flavell, counsel prosecuting at Marylebone Court on Thursday.

John Augustus Wills, 52, of Mozart Street, North Kensington, was committed in custody for trial at the Old Bailey charged with the murder of Miss Ivy Hamilton of Bravington Road, Paddington. Mr. Flavell said the defendant lived in a rear ground floor room at the house In Mozart Street with a Miss Eileen Davies. On learning that the building was to be the subject of a compulsory acquisition by the local authority, he decided to request a rent book and a written Notice to quit from Miss Hamilton. These would. he thought. better his chances of obtaining alternative council accommodation. To induce Miss Hamilton to visit him he deliberately failed to pay a week’s rent.

At about 9.15 p.m. on August 31, said Counsel, the landlady went to the defendant’s room and spoke to him and Miss Davies. Miss Hamilton's sister, Elaine, and two other relatives, all tenants of the house. stood at the door. An argument developed during which Miss Hamilton demanded payment of the previous week's rent and told Wills be would have to leave. He said that all he wanted was a rent book and a proper notice to quit, but she walked out, with the intention of going to Harrow Road Police Station to make a complaint

Mr. Flavel said Miss Hamilton set off on foot with two of her relatives, closely followed by Wills and Miss Davies who were also heading for the police station. On the way, a police car pulled up and the argument resumed in the presence of the officers. They were all advised to return home, but Wills went on to the police stallions where he rejoined Davies, who had walked ahead. A police officer advised them to go back to the house and wait outside.

They returned home, he said, and entered their room. Miss Hamilton followed them in and the argument broke out again. She became violent, pushing him on to the bed. Miss Davies tried to get out, but was prevented from doing so by two or three other tenants standing at the door. Wills managed to get up off the bed and got Miss Davies out. She left the house and telephoned the police.

Shortly afterwards, Miss Elaine Hamilton was standing outside the defendant's room when she heard her sister scream from inside. She ran in and found her sister lying on the bed with Wills standing over her holding a chisel. She shouted at him and he turned and stabbed at her with the chisel, catching her shoulder. Elaine called out to another tenant, Mr. Tyrrell, who struggled with Will. When the police arrived. the injured woman had been carried into the hallway.

Mr. Flavell said Miss Hamilton was taken to Paddington General Hospital with a stab wound in her chest. An operation was performed at 1.45 am the next morning, but she died on September 2 from bronchial pneumonia resulting from the wound. Acting Det.-Insp. Kenneth North said he questioned Wills at the police station and told him Miss Hamilton was critically ill in hospital. The defendant said: "She came at me for the rent. I told her I would pay her rent. but I wanted a rent book. She shouted at me for the rent and wouldn't give me a rent book. She hit me in the face. They all hit me." When asked who else had been present, he said: "My wife, but they hit her and punched her. One got a pan from the stove. The children, her niece and another girl, came at me. I fell on the bed and took the chisel from the table. She had her hands round my throat. I pushed her away. The chisel went into her. I didn't stab her—l pushed the chisel." The Officer said that later, after he had been told of Miss Hamilton's death, Wills said: "Why is there so much ignorance? Why did She come to me for the rent? Why didn't she give me a rent book? Why so much ignorance?" Wills pleaded not guilty and reserved his defence.

John Wills went on trial at the Old Bailey in 1966. Interestingly the jury acquitted him not just of murder but also of the lesser charge of manslaughter.

We know Ivy Hamilton was born in approximately 1922 and that electoral records show her living at 15 Mozart Street, W10 with her sister Elaine from 1961. In 1966 she moved around the corner to 166 Bravington Road but Elaine stayed on at Mozart Road until 1969/70. At this point the house would finally have been compulsorily purchased by RB Kensington and Chelsea, it was the plan to do this that had set in train the events that led to Ivy’s death. The house, along with the rest of Mozart Street that lay to the west of Lancefield Street was demolished to make the way for a new council estate, the Mozart Estate. The place has a bad rep, known as ‘Crack City’ and notorious for rival gangs from Harlesden, Kilburn and Ladbroke Grove fighting ‘postcard wars.’ But according to Big Zuu, who grew up there, there is another side to the story:

The media seems to focus a lot on the bad side of Mozart, all the things that come with gang culture – knife crime, drugs etc. It’s not about that. There’s so much more to the area. It has a mad sense of community which I think you only fully understand when you live there. It’s taught me that it’s okay to be myself. You don’t have to try and fit in anywhere, just be you.