Woking Crematorium was founded in 1878, when a piece of land close to St John's Village was bought by Sir Henry Thompson.

The one acre (0.4 hectares) of land on which the crematorium was to be established was purchased from the London Necropolis Company with the aid of subscriptions (at £200 each).

[1] It was both secluded yet readily accessible, as a train-service, suitable for the conveyance of the dead, already ran between London Waterloo Station and Woking.

The inhabitants of Woking showed strong antipathy to the crematorium and appealed to the Home Secretary, Sir Richard Cross, to prohibit the use of the building.

Only after cremation had been declared legal in February 1884 during Dr. William Price's trial, could the Woking facility begin to operate.

A memorial panel fixed onto the wall of the columbarium by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission lists the names.