Burial had long been the British mode of disposal. When cemeteries became the responsibility of local government in the mid-nineteenth century, only isolated voices proposed cremation as a better alternative. When engineer Carl Siemens developed the first cremator in 1873. Sir Henry Thompson, surgeon to Queen Victoria, took up the idea, publishing a widely read article supportive of cremation in January 1874 and founding the Cremation Society of England in April 1874. There being no law forbidding cremation, Sir Henry’s original intention was to seek a permissive law but was confronted by Home Office opposition. He identified a suitable site for a cremator in New Southgate, but the local Bishop did not support the proposal. Another suitable site was found in Woking, arousing landowner’s and local opposition. Unexpectedly, in 1884, the druid Dr William Price of Llantrisant was prosecuted when he attempted to burn his dead son’s body on an open pyre and brought a court case. Justice Stephen found Price not guilty and cremation not illegal so long as no public nuisance was caused. In March 1885 at Woking, the first legal cremation took place at Woking in March 1885.