Where Was Scotland's First Crematorium?

Scotland's first crematorium was built in the Western Necropolis at Maryhill and opened in 1895. IT was designed by architect James Chalmers. It was the first project of the Scottish Burial Reform and Cremation Society which took its inspiration from the Cremation Society of England founded in 1874. This had been set up by Sir Henry Thompson, a surgeon and public health reformer, who championed cremation as a hygienic means of disposing of human remains in the 19th century. Thompson's supporters included such well-known figures as John Everett Millais and Anthony Trollope. It was an organisation driven by secular, rationalist philosophies and had grown out of the concern around poor health and sanitation as well the particular problem of graveyard overcrowding. Cremation was for a long period illegal in the UK and it was not until the passing of the first Cremation Act in 1902 that their services became fully legal.