Henry ThompsonPath through Cemetery headstonescross

Bringing Linwood Cemetery Alive!

Welcome to the website for the Friends of Linwood Cemetery Charitable Trust. You are invited to browse through the relics of the past. We hope that you will be inspired to come back and perhaps even become involved. Your interest and participation is welcome. Many of the headstones in the cemetery reveal stories about people who formed and developed Christchurch and New Zealand – from artisan to engineer, and there are many fine examples of the work of local monumental masons.

The heritage value of Linwood Cemetery is without doubt.  Those buried or memorialised at Linwood Cemetery include:

  • explorer-surveyor Arthur Dudley Dobson (of Arthur’s Pass fame),
  • Herewaka Porourangi Potai, the daughter of Ngati Porou leader Tama-i-whakanehua-i-te-rangi,
  • at least twelve Christchurch mayors and many Local Councillors,
  • several Members of Parliament,
  • bishops and religious ministers,
  • the Peacock family whose philanthropy included the iconic Peacock Fountain in the Botanical Gardens,
  • Thomas John Edmonds the founder of the ‘Sure to Rise’ Edmonds Flour Factory,
  • graves re-sited from the 19th century Jewish Cemetery in Hereford Street and the only specific Jewish burial ground in Christchurch,
  • the first Grand Master of NZ Freemasonry and many other freemasons,
  • 41 original settlers from the ‘First Four Ships’,
  • the highest number of WW1 memorials in any cemetery in Christchurch and includes buried in the cemetery at least one who received the Military Cross and one of the first 100 NZ pilots,
  • 250 people identified to have signed the NZ suffrage petition,
  • many ‘first generation’ New Zealanders,
  • 2 of the sextons who looked after the cemetery,
  • the first Muslim to be buried in New Zealand,

and is probably the only cemetery in the world with a tram line going into it.

Linwood Cemetery is important not only for its ‘notable person’ graves, but that everyone buried there is significant to the development of the Christchurch and New Zealand we know today.

Prior to the formation of the Friends of the Linwood Cemetery Charitable Trust, the cemetery had fallen into disrepair through neglect and vandalism. Today a small group of volunteers work to raise the profile of this important heritage site and greenspace.

Our vision is to conserve and maintain the heritage of Linwood Cemetery for future generations.

Contact us

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Reviewed and updated 05/08/2018 by Alexandra