Memorial Inscriptions from Toxteth Park Cemetery, Liverpool
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About the cemetery
The cemetery is divided into fifty seven different sections, thirty eight Consecrated Sections and nineteen General Sections. They are:-
Consecrated Sections 1 to 14. Appearing as C.1 to C.14.
Consecrated Sections A.Right to F.Right. Appearing as C.A.Rt. to C.F.Rt.
Consecrated Sections A.Left to F.Left. Appearing as C.A.Lt. to C.F.Lt.
Consecrated Sections G to S. Appearing as C.G. to C.S.
Consecrated Sections A.Right to F.Right. Appearing as C.A.Rt. to C.F.Rt.
Consecrated Sections A.Left to F.Left. Appearing as C.A.Lt. to C.F.Lt.
Consecrated Sections G to S. Appearing as C.G. to C.S.
General Sections 1 to 5. Appearing as G.1 to G.5.
General Sections A to O. Appearing as G.A to G.O.
In simple terms Consecrated Ground covers Church of England burials and General Ground covers all the rest. For some reason you will not find any dedicated Roman Catholic Sections in this cemetery.
The numbering of the sections does appear to be all over the place but whether they are numbers or letters or Right or Left, they are all just sections with no difference between them. You will also find that originally they had a Section I (the letter) but this evidently became too easy to mistake for 1 (the number) and Section I (the letter) was after some time renamed Section J but they are one and the same.
Please note that the site only includes what is shown on headstones and does not comprise a register of all the burials in the cemetery. The original burial registers for this cemetery are available for inspection on micro-film at the Liverpool Reference Library. The entries are just in date order so you will either need to know what you are looking for or you will have a lot of hard work.
A few notes:
The numbering of the sections does appear to be all over the place but whether they are numbers or letters or Right or Left, they are all just sections with no difference between them. You will also find that originally they had a Section I (the letter) but this evidently became too easy to mistake for 1 (the number) and Section I (the letter) was after some time renamed Section J but they are one and the same.
Please note that the site only includes what is shown on headstones and does not comprise a register of all the burials in the cemetery. The original burial registers for this cemetery are available for inspection on micro-
A few notes:
The first interment in the Consecrated Sections according to the registers took place on 17th June 1856. This was of an Elizabeth WATLING who was a seventy year old widow. Her headstone is still there in Consecrated Section C Left, plot 111.
The first interment in the General Sections according to the registers took place on 18th June 1856. This was of a John WILLIAMS who was a hatter by trade. His headstone is also still there on General Section L, plot 186.
A note of caution. Whilst every effort has been made to ensure accuracy do not rely on what is recorded here. If possible check the inscription yourself. It is just too easy to make a mistake between recording the transcription, and then typing it up. Some of the stones are easier to read than others, shiny marble especially can be particularly difficult and a large number of headstones are showing varying levels of weathering. It is also sometimes hard to distinguish between some things. A ‘3’ can easily be a ‘5’ and ‘8’, ‘9’ and ‘0’ can be hard to distinguish especially on worn stones. Quite a large number of headstones in the General Sections are in Welsh which have proved particularly difficult - hopefully they are nearly right. A few stones are in Greek which were just beyond the transcriber. Errors will have occurred - if you find any please let us know.
A note regarding surnames. Each surname that appears on the headstone has been recorded but this does not necessarily include everyone who is buried in the grave. It may be that someone was buried in a grave but they have not been included on the headstone for some reason. Equally people have been commemorated on a headstone but are not buried in the grave. This applies to some burials in Liverpool, overseas, at sea and of course war deaths.
In almost every case the inscription on a headstone is all in capital letters. Perhaps no more than half a dozen headstone inscriptions were originally in lower case. All inscriptions have, however, been transcribed using lower case. This is for presentational reasons but surnames are in capitals to make them stand out.
The cemetery is subject to constant change. The descriptions and transcriptions are those found on a particular day. Some of the headstones that were upright when recorded are now on their backs and equally some crosses have been broken and damaged. Vandalism does appear to be a problem and the ground-staff have their work cut out keeping the graveyard in good order. It sometimes can be most disheartening. The cemetery does also appear to be open to a number of other uses, particularly a dogs exercise area, a playground and a “lovers lane” and obviously a short cut to the local supermarket. It should be respected for what it is.
A request. The information on this site has been collected over a considerable period of time and with much effort. It is offered here free of use to help with family history research. You are welcome to copy the information you need. Please do not copy information in bulk - e.g. for other sites - we want to keep what we have collected freely available to those whose research it will help. If you have any special requests please contact us.