Dig under way for Matthew Flinders in old London cemetery

by Nick Miller - Sydney Morning Herald on 23 Mar 2017 London has a long history of digging up burial grounds to lay rail lines. Sometimes it has done so with respect, but other times it has left behind – in the gruesome words of famous English author Thomas Hardy - 'human jam'. One body that may be disturbed in the name of progress is recognisable to every Australian – explorer Matthew Flinders, the first person to circumnavigate the Great Southern Land.

Flinders (Ed. The Master Navigator), who was born in Lincolnshire, died in London age 40 from an undiagnosed kidney infection contracted in the tropics and was buried in a churchyard in inner-north London, next door to where Euston station now stands. But that churchyard is to be dug up as part of the construction of Britain's 'High Speed 2' rail link from Euston to Birmingham, Manchester and Leeds.

The Sunday Times reported that the biggest exhumation in British history, of more than 60,000 bodies, will begin this year. Helen Glass, lead HS2 archaeologist, told the Times that discovering Flinders's remains will not be easy given the huge number of bodies. Her team's best chance was if they could discover an intact coffin with a metal name plate or some kind of identifiable decoration. However the story is not as simple as the Times would have it – Flinders' current resting place is a matter of debate.

The burial ground of the parish of St James' Piccadilly was used from 1790 to 1853, and historians estimate tens of thousands of bodies lie there, though only a few dozen headstones remain. In August 1887 it reopened as St James' Gardens, which it has remained ever since. According to experts from the Matthew Flinders Memorial Committee, a group of Australians and Brits who campaigned successfully for a statue of Flinders (and his cat Trim) at Euston, Flinders was indeed interred at the St James' Burial Ground.

However his sister-in-law, Isabella Tyler, visited in 1852 and reported his grave had gone. Mrs Tyler found 'quantities of tombstones and graves with their contents had been carted away as rubbish, among them that of my unfortunate father, thus pursued by disaster after death as in life,' Flinders' daughter wrote in a letter.

Research has shown it is almost certain the remains were moved to an unmarked grave, or just dumped a short distance to the east and he now lies either under Euston Station (platforms 12-15) or still under St James' Garden. In an information paper released last year and updated in February, HS2 promised to treat human remains 'with all due dignity, respect and care'.

According to the official HS2 website the Church of England is being consulted on plans for reburial. The Church intervened in order to 'ensure respectful treatment' – ensuring remains would be removed by hand digging rather than a mechanical excavator.

Flinders, whose name is synonymous with multiple places in Australia, from Flinders Station in Melbourne, to the Flinders Ranges in South Australia and the town of Flinders in Victoria, is not the only famous historical figure in HS2's path. In 2015 it was reported that Isambard Kingdom Brunel – history's greatest engineer and the architect of Britain's railway system - could be dug up.

His grave lies in Kensal Green Cemetery, which HS2 has acknowledged lies partly within land it intends to use. Other famous graves there include Harold Pinter and Freddie Mercury. However at the time HS2 said they were doing 'ground investigation' to check if the site they had chosen was free of burials. A mass grave from the plague years was discovered in the path of the underground Crossrail – aka the Elizabeth Line, due to open this year.

And back in the 1860s St Pancras Station, Euston's close neighbour, was built over a part of St Pancras churchyard, once the primary burial ground for all north London. Author and poet Thomas Hardy, then a pupil architect, was delegated to ensure the exhumations were carried out with respect. He later wrote a poem on the topic, The Levelled Churchyard, implying he was not impressed with the result.

'O Passenger, pray list and catch

Our sighs and piteous groans

Half stifled in this jumbled patch

Of wrenched memorial stones!

We late-lamented, resting here,

Are mixed to human jam,

And each to each exclaims in fear:

'I know not which I am!'

HS2 is also surveying the bat population in the park, in case they also need rehousing.

Editor's note: the original material was from the Sunday Times in the UK. Nick's original piece is here.