The St Marylebone Burial Board purchased of Newmarket Farm in 1854; and the cemetery, then known as St Marylebone Cemetery, was laid out by architects Barnett & Birch after winning a competition. Principal features are two Lebanon Cedar trees planted on the front lawn. The crematorium was opened in 1937 and is now owned by The London Cremation Company. Due to local government reorganisation, the cemetery was managed by the Metropolitan Borough of St Marylebone - from 1900; and became the responsibility of the City of Westminster in 1965, when the cemetery became known by its current name. The cemetery contains about 22,000 interments; and remains open for burials. The cemetery was awarded a Green Flag Award in 2007, 2008 and 2009. It is also a Site of Local Importance for Nature Conservation. The cemetery became a point of controversy in the early nineties when the then Leader of Westminster City Council and one of the councillors wanted the cemetery to be sold. The cemetery also included a considerable amount of land being used at the time for plant propagation for horticultural use throughout the City of Westminster; it also provided housing for the Cemetery Keeper. After much argument at Council Meetings and against the advice of the Chief Officers concerned, the cemetery was sold, the transaction then became part of the Westminster cemeteries scandal. The cemetery contains a number of structures listed on the National Heritage List for England. The Anglican chapel was designed by Barnett and Birch and is a Grade II listed chapel., as is the crematorium. The gates and lodge are also Grade II listed. The monuments to Thomas Skarratt Hall, Harry Ripley, Peter Nicol Russell, Thomas Tate, and the mausoleum of Algernon Borthwick, 1st Baron Glenesk and his wife and son, are all listed Grade II,
Sir Thomas Smith, 1st Baronet, of Stratford Place - eminent British surgeon, Surgeon Extraordinary to Queen Victoria and honorary Serjeant-Surgeon to Edward VII
Henry Charles Stephens – Ink magnate, philanthropist and local MP
Thomas Stevens – Cyclist, the first one to circle the globe by bicycle
Marie Studholme – Actress and Singer
Leopold Stokowski – Conductor
William Bernhardt Tegetmeier - English naturalist, bee keeper and friend of Charles Darwin
Little Tich – Music Hall singer and dancer.
Mathilde Verne - English pianist and teacher (HM the Queen Mother
War graves
There are 75 Commonwealth service war burials of World War I in the cemetery, most in the War Graves plot in the cemetery's northwest corner that was set aside for military burials in 1916, and 79 of World War II, besides ten 'Non War graves' that the Commonwealth War Graves Commission maintains. A Screen Wall memorial, behind the Cross of Sacrifice, records the names of the 20 World War II casualties who were cremated at the St Marylebone Crematorium. There are also special memorials to eight World War I servicemen whose graves could not be marked by headstones.
