People who love visiting cemeteries are called Taphophiles. We enjoy reading the inscriptions on headstones, which sometimes provide a tantalising glimpse into the past.

The gravestones in Paddington Old Cemetery (POC) are fascinating, moving and sometimes even comical. One grave provides a resting place for the two wives of a Victorian gentlemen, one of whom he describes as 'My favourite wife'.

It's strange to modern observers that Victorians often chose to put their address on their gravestone. One wonders what purpose that could have served? This inscription provides a moving example: 'Erected by a sorrowing mother and sisters in affectionate remembrance of Henry Thomas Proctor Shepard departed this life at 30 Beaufoy Terrace, Maida Vale, October 20, 1864, aged 29. The only son of his mother, and she was a widow.'

It is heartbreaking to see how many children died in infancy or early childhood. One of the mausoleums in POC has an inscription that reads 'In loving memory of darling little Gladys, born 28th April 1885’. Sadly it's impossible to read when Gladys died.

The oldest grave I’ve found so far belongs to Bosworth Jane Shellshear who ‘departed this life December 11th 1858, aged 6 months.’

The grave of ship's Captain William Curling RNR who died 11th May 1897, has an anchor carved into the headstone. POC is also the final resting place of several Generals, including Major General John Allen Wright of HM's Bengal Staff Corps, who died 1st March 1882, aged 58; and General William Robert Corfield of HM's Indian Army who died 30th November 1884 aged 30.

Some of the older headstones have clasped hands carved on them, which can mean a final farewell or an eternal bond between the living and the dead. Some of these graves must belong to Jewish people as they also carry the inscription 'Mizpah' which means watchtower in Hebrew and is loosely interpreted as ‘May God watch over you'.

One of the prettiest tombstones belongs to the Clarke family and is topped by a statue of an angel with a raised arm. On one side it has an embedded oval photo of a smiling Daisy Florence Clark, wearing a flapper-style hat, who died in January 1927 aged 37.

There's a handsome Celtic cross to commemorate the Australian-born faith healer James More Hickson who died in November 1933. According to the message on his gravestone, ‘he preached the gospel and healed the sick’ in an impressive number of places: North and South America, Canada, Bermuda, France, Italy, Egypt, Palestine, Ceylon, India, Philippines, Japan, South Africa, Tasmania, New Zealand, Australia and China.

Reading about all these people who lived so many years ago adds a touch of history, melancholy and fascination to our daily dog walks in Paddington Old Cemetery.