School of Art and Design. Source: Picture Sheffield.
During the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries there were only a few architects living and working in Sheffield. There was very little call for architectural skills as the steel and cutlery industries had no need of impressive buildings and there were insufficient wealthy residents to support grand architecture. It took men like Samuel Worth (1798-1870) and William Flockton (1800-1864) to bring architecturally impressive buildings to the town. Samuel Worth and William Flockton designed the principal buildings in the Cemetery; a detailed account of their lives and work can be found under the Development of the Cemetery. The Sheffield Society of Architects and Surveyors gave support to architects through their lectures and library.
Among the Sheffield artists, crafts people and their supporters who are buried here are those who achieved national and international acclaim alongside others who died in poverty. The growth of nineteenth century Sheffield as an industrial centre led to a proliferation of artists’ clubs and societies and new educational opportunities for budding artists
You can read more about the artists in the Cemetery in the Sheffield General Cemetery Trust’s publication Canvas of Memories and follow the self-guided trail Artists of the Sheffield General Cemetery.
