Philips Park Cemetery was Manchester’s first municipal public cemetery when it opened in 1866, though work was in fact not completed on its grounds and structures until the following year.

The site was divided into separate areas for different denominations, Church of England, Roman Catholic and Non-Conformists. Each portion had its own mortuary chapel, all built in the gothic revival style but to different designs. A fourth mortuary chapel and burial area, for Jews, was later added. Of the four mortuary chapels, only the Anglican chapel now remains.

During the First World War, Manchester contained between thirty and forty war hospitals, including the 2nd Western General Hospital and the Nell Lane Military Hospital for prisoners of war. Many of those buried in the cemeteries and churchyards of the city died in these hospitals. Philips Park Cemetery contains 274 First World War burials and 174 from the Second World War. The burials are scattered throughout the cemetery, and a Screen Wall near the main entrance bears the names of those casualties of both wars whose graves could not be individually marked.