Cemeteries

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This article details sources for monumental inscriptions and cemetery records.

See also:

Contents

FIBIS resources

  • The FIBIS database has a category of records called Cemeteries
  • FIBIS Fact File No 6: Graves in British India by Richard Morgan 2011.
    • Part 1 explains what sources, paper and online, there are for Memorial Inscriptions in British India.
    • Part 2 suggests how to make best use of your time and resources if you wish to visit India and transcribe or photograph MIs of ancestors there.
Available to buy from the FIBIS Shop
  • FIBIS blog: Book of the month. A comprehensive new edition of Burma Register of European Deaths and Burials, edited by Rosie Llewellyn-Jones, published by BACSA, 2015. Covers burials up to 1948. 212pp
  • "Some Unpublished Inscriptions from the Cemeteries of Jaipur" by Syed Faizan Raza FIBIS Journal Number 37 (Spring 2017) pages 47-51. See FIBIS Journals for details of how to access this article

British Library Records

  • The British Library has the book, in three volumes, The Oriental Obituary being an impartial compilation from monumental inscriptions on the tombs of those persons whose ashes are deposited in these remote parts since the formation of European Settlements, to the present time To which is added Biographical Sketches, Anecdotes, etc by William Urquhart of Madras. Published in Madras by Journal Press, 1809. Shelfmark: General Reference Collection C.55.d.23. This book must be read in the Rare Books Reading Room. The first volume of The Oriental Obituary is available online at archive.org, refer below. It appears that some or all of the contents of this book has been borrowed by M Derozario for his 1815 book The Complete Monumental Register, available online, refer below.
  • Official Publications: Monumental Inscriptions and Monuments IOR/V/27/74 1848-1946. Many of these items are books on the open access shelves.
    • Two of these books, items IOR/V/27/74/69 -70, A list of inscriptions on Christian tombs or monuments in the Punjab, North-West Frontier Province, Kashmir and Afghanistan possessing historical or archaeological interest Part 1 by Miles Irving (1910) and Part 2 by George William De Rhe-Philipe (1912), the latter containing biographical information, have been reprinted by the Naval and Military Press under the title Soldiers of the Raj. These books are also available to read online, refer below.
    • An additional book at the British Library (UIN: BLL01012507305) is Inscriptions in the district of Puri by W.H. Lee (William Herbert) 1898 Cuttack : Orissa Mission Press, (43 p.). This book (or selected pages) is also part of the online database available to members of the Society of Genealogists, London.
    • An additional book at the British Library is List of Inscriptions on Tombs or Monuments in H.E.H. the Nizam's Dominions : with biographical notes by O.S. Crofton. 1941 (UIN: BLL01001781826). Also available in an Indian reprint edition.[1]
  • United Kingdom High Commission files relating to cemeteries IOR/R/4/1-539 1943-1967. Transferred from Indian Public Works Department to the British High Commission, New Delhi, and from there to the India Office Records in 1972-73. Includes
    • File 12a Military memorials of the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders in India and Pakistan IOR/R/4/87 Dec 1948-Dec 1950
    • File 12b Military memorials of the Royal Artillery in India and Pakistan IOR/R/4/88 Jul 1947-May 1948
    • File 12e Military memorials of the Royal Engineers and the Sappers and Miners in India IOR/R/4/91 Jul 1947-Dec 1947
    • File 18/1 Durham Light Infantry monuments IOR/R/4/97 Aug 1949-May 1950
    • File 18/4 Graves of foreign nationals IOR/R/4/114 Mar 1890-Sep 1950
    • Also contains items "List of inscriptions". As an example, the FIBIS data base contains Transcriptions of summary data from gravestones in Chakrata taken from IOR/R4/539
Note these records are available on Family Search microfilm/digitised microfilm [2] where there is more detail provided about the individual items, in the "Film Notes".
  • Bengal Past and Present which was the Journal of the Calcutta Historical Society was issued from 1907. Some issues contained articles about burial inscriptions. Most editions are held by the British Library, although some appear to be missing. There is also an Index volume for the years 1907-1985, available on open access in the Asian & African Studies Reading Room. Many editions are now available online, see the Fibiwiki page Bengal, Past and Present, Journal of the Calcutta Historical Society.
  • There is an extensive collection of records in the BACSA archive at the British Library, refer British Association for Cemeteries in South Asia, Mss Eur F370. The BACSA archive also includes publications, one BACSA listing is "Publications containing data chiefly of geographical interest", where at least two of the publications do not appear to be listed elsewhere Inscriptions on Christian graves and memorial tablets in the Purnea District, Bihar and Orissa by Rev H Hosten, SJ (Patna, 1920) photocopy of printed book Mss Eur F370/1156, and List of European tombs and monuments in Mysore, by B Lewis Rice (Bangalore 1906) F370/1188, the latter possibly also available at IOR/R/2/Box17/106, with title File 299 1905 European tombs and monuments in Mysore, or perhaps this is a different file. There is also a BACSA listing titled "Publications containing data chiefly of biographical interest", see BACSA, where geographical coverage is mixed/covers multiple locations.
  • Lloyd Collection: papers on European cemeteries in India and biographical information on British in India Mss Eur F146
  • There are Monumental Inscriptions from Surat made by A F Bellasis, at the British Library, catalogue reference Add MS 44948 : c 1860. These Inscriptions contain additional records to those appearing in the 1861 article by Bellasis "Old Tombs in the Cemeteries of Surat", available online, see below.
  • The book In Memoriam Burma-Siam 1942-1945, published in Bangkok in 1946 (Dutch language) in respect of Dutch war graves is available at the British Library UIN: BLL01011257081 , and also at the FamilySearch Library in Salt Lake City, Utah - catalogue entry with details of contents. Also at the FamilySearch Library in Salt Lake City, Utah catalogue entry for [List of deceased World War Two-era Dutch military personnel in Burma and Siam], 1946, Dutch language, source Nederlandsch Hoofdkwartier Bangkok, Kantoor Personeele Zaken Afd. Inlichtingen Overledenen (Dutch Headquarters Bangkok, Office Personnel Affairs Dept. Information Deceased).

Libraries in India

  • The Goethals Indian Library in Calcutta holds the book The Registers & Inscriptions of the Church of Our Lady of Dolours, Baithakhana (1810-1914) by Fr H Hosten, published 1915, which probably contains burial details. This was a Portuguese church. See Calcutta - Churches and missions for more details.
  • Tamilnadu State Archives, Egmore, Chennai is indicated to hold the book List of European Tombs in the Calicut Taluk, Calicut, 1907 (Internet search result, not confirmed)

Other libraries

  • Some of the cemetery inscriptions by Fr H Hosten are held at the Maurits Sabbe Library, University of Leuven, Belgium.

Organisations

BACSA

A very useful resource for locating ancestors buried in South Asia is the British Association for Cemeteries in South Asia (BACSA). This organisation is dedicated to preserving European cemeteries in the region and has completed many projects to preserve cemeteries. It has many records in its archive at the British Library. In addition, BACSA publishes many useful books on the subject of South Asia, including complete transcriptions of all the monuments in many cemeteries. To view the Cemetery Record books currently available, and also those out of print, go to Cemetery Record Books. Also see Cemeteries and monumental inscriptions reading list.

For online editions of the BACSA Journal Chowkidar, refer Other external links, below.

Indian-cemeteries.org

  • Indian-cemeteries.org has hundreds of transcribed memorials from cemeteries all over India. This website is now archived, however most of the internal information still appears to be accessible.

CWGC

If your ancestors died during the First, or Second World War whilst serving with Commonwealth armed forces (for the six member counties Australia, Canada, India, New Zealand, South Africa and the United Kingdom, but also including some other Commonwealth forces), then their graves will be maintained in special cemeteries by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission. These are scattered throughout Asia (and other parts of the world) and are beautifully maintained. The dates covered for commemoration on the CWGC website are 4 August 1914 to 31 August 1921 and 3 September 1939 to 31 December 1947. There were some additional military burials in cemeteries maintained by the CWGC, outside these dates, which are also maintained, but the names will not be included in the database on the website.[3]

The CWGC has a long term program in India for the reinstatement of First World War Cantonment Graves which were previously declared un-maintainable.[4]

For images, see the "War Graves Photographic Project" below.

The CWGC, (until 1960 called the Imperial War Graves Commission), maintains the CWGC Archive, including a Library, located in the Head Office in Maidenhead, England, with visiting by appointment. An earlier webpage, now archived, with more details.

Hierarchy Browser for the Archive. Includes "1 Historic Archive", subdivided according to WW1 and WW2 (click through for more sections) . For WW1, "Section 7 - Care of Graves and Cemeteries of British and Empire War Casualties" and "Section 8 - Care of Non-British Empire Graves by the Commission", see the archived earlier version webpage which shows the Archive holding in one document.

After both WW1 and WW2, there was a series of hundreds of publications[5] by the then Imperial War Graves Commission , with titles including Memorial Register, War Graves of the British Empire, and The War Dead of the British Commonwealth and Empire, in respect of particular countries, counties in the UK, cemeteries and armies. (2 pages from The Helles Memorial Register, Part Eight (ww1lit.nsms.ox.ac.uk) indicates it includes names from India). Generally it could be expected that all this information is now included in the website database, but perhaps there could be a few instances where the Registers have additional information. CWGC Archive reference is Cemetery and Memorial Registers CWGC/8/3. Some of these volumes are also available at the British Library, including some in the BACSA Archive Mss Eur F370. The pay website Forces War Records, in its Historic Document Library/Official Documents/ Memorial Register contains a large number of these publications which may include amendments dated c 1980s. Note also some cemetery registers were published in multiple parts.

The Library holdings. Includes a number of regimental histories.
Archive catalogue Search. Some of the catalogue items have been digitised, and these are located through the catalogue Search.
War Records Revealed warrecordsrevealed.com website, Category Records, includes some articles on the CWGC records and Archive.

Inscriptions in online books

A small number of these inscriptions had appeared in "Appendix II: Tombs in the Cemetry of Calcutta" pages 84-89 The East Indian Chronologist 1801 Archive.org. The British Library catalogue gives the author as John Hawkesworth.
Also available Archive.org, mirror from Central Secretariat Library (CSL) [Delhi] Digital Repository : 1896 edition (1895 edition).
Also available from wikimedia.org as a pdf.
The Preface says Wilson was the editor of a work brought together by the Publics Work Department "a special officer being deputed for the work". Elsewhere it has been stated there were a limited number of copies of the "original version" of 1895 by the special officer E S Wenger, who was Registrar of the Bengal Public Works Department.[6]
"Some Echoes of the Past" by Lieutenant-Colonel W A Morris page 288 Journal of the Royal Army Medical Corps, Volume 24 1915 Archive.org. Medical officers who lost their lives in N-W P and Oudh Provinces 1788-1860.
List of Inscriptions on Christian Tombs and Tablets of Historical Interest in the United Provinces of Agra and Oudh by Sir Edward Arthur Henry Blunt (1911) Archive.org. Index of names, following page 263.
Catalogued as List of Christian tombs and monuments, of archaeological by historical interest and their inscriptions in charge of the P.W.D. United Provinces. Internal title is List of Christian tombs in charge of the Public Works Department. Contains two maps at the back of the book dated 1912. Archive.org, mirror from Central Secretariat Library (CSL) [Delhi] Digital Repository. Elsewhere the publication date is stated to be 1913.
Same list in a different publication, List of Graves at Howrah Cemetery in a ruinous condition page 701 Gazette of India April 3, 1915. Subsequently repeated page 774 Gazette of India April 17, 1915. Archive.org.

Other historical books online

  • Two Monsoons by Theon Wilkinson with drawings by Bill Smith 1976. Archive.org Lending Library. The aim was to provide "an insight into the life and death of Europeans in India in the last three centuries".

Other external links

  • An article on the old cemeteries of British India : Scroll to "Visiting India’s Land of Regrets" by Geoffrey E. Duin, possibly written c 2003, or earlier. geocities.ws/scn_pk, archived.
  • Kabristan Archives 'Ireland - Ceylon - India Genealogy'. Includes a Search and partial transcriptions of records. Transcriptions (probably the same partial transcriptions) from some of the records are also available on the pay website findmypast in the database "British India Office Deaths & Burials".
  • The War Graves Photographic Project. Worked in conjunction with the CWGC until June 2016. Covers “all nationalities and military conflicts”. A researcher found an image for a British Army soldier who died in Hong Kong c 1900.[8] It is possible to Search by Cemetery, and there appeared to be a number of Indian cities included, for example Allahabad, Bombay, Calcutta, Kirkee, Madras, Lucknow, Poona, sometimes with multiple cemeteries in the same town/city. There is a fee payable if you require a high resolution image or photograph.
  • British War Graves: War Grave Photographs is a site which provides free photographs of War graves from some cemeteries around the world. Includes category "Memorials to the Missing" which includes Basra Memorial.
  • Asia War Graves. Provides free photographs of War graves in Asia for selected cemeteries, mainly relating to the Second World War.
  • Find A Grave - millions of user added grave inscriptions from around the world, some with photos. Asian cemeteries not well covered but some with war graves/memorials have many entries. There is also a Find A Grave Index collection on FamilySearch, for which you must be signed in to FS to view, and also a Find a Grave Index on Ancestry.
  • BillionGraves contains some records for India, although probably limited coverage. Some images for Dalhousie were noted. BillionGraves Index collection on FamilySearch, for which you must be signed in to FS to view.
  • Shared Cemeteries is about (former Dutch) funerary heritage all over the world. Includes India: Introduction, or access India from the menu across the top of the page.
  • Baghdad Burials at Hinaidi RAF Cemetery, (now Ma'Asker Al Raschid RAF Cemetery): Searchable Database of 299 Graves from 1921-1937. Direct pdf, edition 8 July 2022 (archived). 196 of the 299 graves are for Royal Air Force casualties from eight RAF squadrons. Also includes Armoured Car Company deaths. There are also 71 graves for British Army personnel, 2 Royal Navy and 30 civilian. There are additional internal links about the cemetery. 6 Squadron, Books & Early Military Aviation website.
  • deceased online Search for free and pay to view records. Mainly UK records
    • Includes a section on burials at overseas military garrisons. For details, select coverage, then scroll down to " “The National Archives - Military Burials” date added: 12 Dec 2013". The records are mainly from Malta, Egypt and Cyprus. Selected records from WO 156/103-122.
  • Stephen Lewis' Soldiers Memorials lists NCO and other ranks graves in India by surname, amongst other memorials. Officers Died is the equivalent commissioned ranks site.
  • Last Post - Indian War Memorials Around the World by Rana T S Chhina. Photographs. issuu.com. Also available mea.gov.in Ministry of External Affairs, India which may be easier to view.
Memorials to Indian soldiers and sailors First World War cwgc.org, now an archived webpage.
Memorials to Indian soldiers and sailors Second World War cwgc.org, now an archived webpage.

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Department of Heritage Telangana reprint which includes a description of the contents, of List of Inscriptions on Tombs or Monuments in H.E.H. the Nizam's Dominions : with biographical notes by O.S. Crofton. 1941.
  2. ↑ Microfilm catalogue entry British High Commission cemetery records, ca. 1870-1967 (See FamilySearch Centres for access.)
  3. ↑ charlie2 A CWGC anomaly Great War Forum 22 March 2017. Retrieved 25 July 2020.
  4. ↑ 2011-2012 Annual Report page 17. Located in the CWGC Archive, Browse the collection, Annual Reports, View Records then click on CWGC/2/1 .
  5. ↑ 941 parts for WW1 and 559 parts for WW2, together with a 7 Volume WW2 Civilian War Dead Roll of Honour, reported in 47th Annual Report April 1965-March 1966 cwgc.org.
  6. ↑ Correspondence from Rev. Father H Hosten, S J Pages 302-305 Bengal Past And Present Volume 10, 1915 Archive.org.
  7. ↑ Page 31, Dictionary of anonymous and pseudonymous English literature, Volume 3 by Kennedy, Smith and Johnson 1928 Archive.org.
  8. ↑ 2ndRWF. 2nd Battalion Royal Welsh Fusiliers graves hong kong Victorian Wars Forum 18 Nov 2012, now archived. Possibly the image was in Stanley Military Cemetery, as Hong Kong (Happy Valley) Colonial Cemetery only contains one image. twgpp.org

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