# Liberal Jewish Cemetery, Willesden

The Liberal Jewish Cemetery, Willesden, is a cemetery for Jews in Pound Lane, Willesden, in the London Borough of Brent. It is adjacent to Willesden United Synagogue Cemetery. Established in 1911 by the Liberal Jewish Synagogue, it opened in 1914 and was originally known as the Liberal Jewish and Belsize Square Cemetery. Several notable British Jews, including members of the Sassoon family, are buried at the cemetery, which also has a Grade II listed war memorial.

## Prayer hall and war memorial

The cemetery's prayer hall, in Queen Anne Revival architectural style, was designed by Ernest Joseph and erected in the 1920s; it was extended in 1963. Directly opposite the prayer hall is a Grade II listed war memorial, commemorating 22 people who died in the First World War. Historic England describe it as "one of very few freestanding First World War memorials which specifically commemorate Jewish service personnel". A plaque was added later to commemorate those who died in the Second World War.

## Notable burials

Notable people buried at the cemetery include:
| Name | Dates | Description | Notes |
| Sir Louis Baron, 1st Baronet | 1876–1934 | Tobacco and cigarette manufacturer | He was the managing director of the Carreras Tobacco Company. |
| Bernard Delfont, Baron Delfont | 1909–1994 | Theatre impresario | |
| Benno Elkan | 1877–1960 | Sculptor | Elkan created the first statue in Britain of Sir Walter Raleigh, and designed Frankfurt's Great War Memorial, incorporating mourning mothers as a symbol of loss in World War I; it was removed by the Nazis in 1933 and re-erected in 1946. His work also includes the Knesset Menorah in Jerusalem. |
| Arnold Goodman, Baron Goodman | 1913–1995 | Lawyer | Goodman was Chairman of the Arts Council. |
| Lew Grade, Baron Grade | 1906–1998 | TV and film producer | Elder brother of Bernard Delfont |
| Leslie Grade | 1916–1979 | Theatrical agent | Younger brother of Bernard Delfont and Lew Grade |
| Otto Metzger | 1885–1961 | Engineer and inventor | Metzger, who grew up in Nuremberg, Germany, was an engineer and inventor of an impact-extrusion process for forming seamless zinc and brass cans. He and his wife Sophie Metzger (née Josephthal) (1894–1998) are commemorated in the cemetery by adjacent rose bushes. |
| Sir Albert Sassoon, 1st Baronet | 1818–1896 | Businessman and philanthropist | He ran the family firm, which was originally based in Bombay, India and became known as David Sassoon & Co. Sassoon was originally buried in the Sassoon Mausoleum which he had built in Brighton, but in 1933 his body was removed and reburied at this cemetery. |
| Sir Edward Sassoon, 2nd Baronet | 1856–1912 | Businessman and politician | He was the eldest son of Sir Albert. A Liberal Unionist Party MP, Sassoon was also active in Jewish community affairs, serving as a vice-president of Jews' College, London and the Anglo-Jewish Association. |
| Sir Isaac Shoenberg | 1880–1963 | Electronics engineer and inventor | Born in Pinsk, Imperial Russia (now in Belarus), Shoenberg is best known for his role in inventing the system used by the BBC in London in 1936 for the world's first public high-definition TV broadcast. |
| Sir Andrew Shonfield | 1917–1981 | Economist | Best known for writing Modern Capitalism (1966), a book that documented the rise of long-term planning in postwar Europe. From 1972 to 1977 he was Director of the Royal Institute of International Affairs, usually known as Chatham House. |
| Conchita Supervía | 1895–1936 | Spanish opera diva | Supervía was a highly popular Spanish mezzo-soprano singer who appeared in opera in Europe and America and also gave recitals. Her tombstone was designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens. The grave, which had fallen into disrepair, was refurbished by a group of admirers and re-consecrated in October 2006. |
| Walter Wolfgang | 1923– 2019 | Socialist and peace activist | Wolfgang was vice-president and Vice Chair of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament up to the time of his death, and a supporter of the Stop the War Coalition. |
| Israel Zangwill | 1864–1926 | Author and cultural Zionist | At the forefront of cultural Zionism during the 19th century, and a close associate of Theodor Herzl, Zangwill later rejected the search for a Jewish homeland in Palestine and became the prime thinker behind the territorial movement. |

## War graves

The cemetery contains the Commonwealth war graves of a World War I Royal Flying Corps officer and, from World War II, a Royal Navy officer, two soldiers and an officer of the British Army and an airman and two officers of the Royal Air Force.