Contested wills, exhumation and missing bodies

When we started the walk we mentioned that one of the property developers benefiting from the arrival of the railway was Henry Scarth. This is the headstone of his father James Scarth.

Henry was a solicitor who turned to property development in the 1840s and amassed a huge portfolio of land and property by building Parkfields, Coalecroft & Charlwood roads in Putney, and Scarth & Station roads in Barnes.

When Henry died there were several challenges to the disposition of Henry’s estate after his death. One disposition involved the attempted exhumation of his father’s James coffin here in 1872.

The coffins of James’ wife and daughter were found, but bizarrely James’s coffin was never located.