Leith+Cemetery+Company

=Leith Cemetery and Crematorium Company Limited=

Company Number:SC001635 Date of Incorporation: 6 June 1887 Contact Details: The Lodge, Seafield Cemetery, Seafield Place, Edinburgh, EH6 7QP Operating Details: Active (dormant) Other names (if known): Leith Cemetery Company Limited Function of Company*: Funeral and related activities (9303) Headquarters/Base of Operations Location: Leith, Edinburgh Area of Operation: Leith, Edinburgh


 * Taken from Standard Industrial Classification 2003, as used by Companies House in 2010

Records
Held By: Privately held. Contact the details above, or the Edinburgh Crematorium Ltd (owners)

Scope/type: Memorandum and Articles of Association, Certificate of Incorporation 1897; Share documentation 1887-1963; Minute Books 1887-1995; Annual reports 1887-1978

Conditions governing access/use: Contact above details

Related records: There are still working documents of the cemetery dating back to the company. These are still in use and are not available for use or research

Company History
The Leith Cemetery Company Limited was formed in 1887 to; purchase the grounds of Seafield House, Leith, Edinburgh; convert the grounds into a cemetery; and then administer that cemetery. At this time Leith had no cemetery of its own, despite having a population of 70,000. The prospectus for the company states that ‘The cemetery is required, and would be taken advantage of at once from its convenience alone, while it superior suitability in other respects renders it certain that the ground will be rapidly bought up.’

The initial subscribers and directors were all local Leith businessmen, while many of the initial shareholders were local persons of apparently modest means and background. This was probably because shareholders had the right to use shares to purchase their funeral and grave. Lairs were also sold in installments over the years to enable slow investment for working families.

Having achieved the necessary support to sell 10,000 shares at £1 per share, the company purchased the site and prepared it for use. Leith Cemetery opened in February 1888 on its present-day site on Seafield Road. One of the first actions for the fledging company was to make an agreement with the Caledonian Railway in 1890 to alter the path of its proposed railway extensions around the cemetery grounds.

After almost two decades of growing profit, the company purchased Seagrove Lodge to the south of the cemetery in 1907 in order to have the ability to expand the cemetery, although (owing to agreements with tenants) it wasn’t until 1932 that the land was ready to received interments. Extensive space in the cemetery was also bought by the military and naval departments during the First World War. However by the 1930s the business was beginning to slow, despite an upswing in demand for the cheaper sites available in the Seagrove Lodge property.

By 1937 in response to this decline the Directors recommended that a crematorium be constructed and the company’s named changed to the Leith Cemetery and Crematorium Company Limited. This motion was accepted, and in April 1939 a crematorium was opened by Lord Salvesen on the site of a cottage on 22 Seafield Road. In the first year there were over a hundred cremations, though by 1944 this figure had increased to 244 cremations.

After the Second World War rising staff and maintenance costs decreased the company’s profit, and eventually caused it to fall into debt. Although the shareholders rejected one offer of amalgamation with Edinburgh Eastern Cemetery Company in 1961, two years later the Edinburgh Crematorium Limited became the majority shareholder in Leith Cemetery and Crematorium Company, effectively rendering it a subsidiary. The company continued to manage the cemetery for some time afterwards, though from 1995 it has been dormant in companies house.

Note on Edinburgh Crematorium Limited
Edinburgh Crematorium Society (later Edinburgh Crematorium Limited) was originally founded to educate the public on cremation through lectures and distribution of publications. In 1928 it founded Edinburgh Crematorium Limited to buy up land at Warriston from the Corporation of the City of Edinburgh for £3000. Warriston Crematorium opened the next year, and continues working to the present day.

Thanks to Mr Neil Munro and the Edinburgh Crematorium Limited for their assistance with this entry to the project