Grave of Conchita Supervia Rubenstein
London
Liberal Jewish Cemetery, Willesden
West London, England
A small, distinctive carved-limestone tomb commissioned by businessman Ben Rubenstein in memory of his wife Conchita who died in childbirth in 1936.
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Description
This is one of many tombs and headstones in the Liberal Jewish Cemetery in Willesden, West London but, though relatively small, it stands out. Measuring about 4 feet square and about 3 feet high, it resembles a footstool or a jar of coldcream; a circular drum on a square base supported by four tortoises. It could almost be a column capital. The iconography is obscure but the best guess is that she liked tortoises. Conchita Supervia was a famous Spanish opera singer who married British businessman, Ben Rubenstein in 1930 and converted to Judaism. They lived in Sussex. She died in childbirth in 1936. In 2006 it was restored with help from the Lutyens Trust
Bibliography
post, The London Dead website, October 2021.
post, Cemetery club website ‘the tortoise & the opera singer’
Obit. Daily Mirror, 31/03/1936 (Lutyens Trust archive)