Kensal Green cemetery is the posthumous hang-out for several world-famous scientific geniuses, including an extraordinary number of Fellows of the Royal Society. On this guided tour Laurence Scales will introduce you to several pioneering engineers and botanical and medical luminaries of the 19th century. Among the household names are Isambard Kingdom Brunel, computer pioneer Charles Babbage and Robert Brown (the discoverer of Brownian motion). But the cemetery also boasts an immigrant from America, one of whose inventions may now be found in every home, and another, described as the greatest mechanical inventor of the 19th century, although you may never have heard of him.

Tickets £12 including a 20% donation to Kensal Green Cemetery. Please click here to purchase.

Laurence Scales is a specialist guide for the history of science, technology and medicine in London. He has been an archives volunteer at the Royal Institution and Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce. A rich scientific and technological history has been neglected by most chroniclers of London. Having turned over this stone, Laurence has found the city underneath teeming with curious but forgotten characters and remarkable stories.


Image credit - Le squelette de Mirabeau sortant de l'armoire de fer. Caricature from 1792. Public domain courtesy of Wikimedia Images.