Wellington Garrison Cemetery

[Stephen Nulty]

One of the chaps I am researching, Pte. M Qualter, 6th South Lancs., is buried at the above. The CWGC entry for him states that he is remembered on the Madras Memorial.

So what's the deal with Wellington Garrison? What is/was it, whey were the South Lancs. there, how many men are buried there, why can't it be maintained, etc.

Grateful for any information.

[Terry Denham]

Many of the WW1 Commonwealth casualties are buried in what is now Pakistan and in Indian controlled areas of the North West Frontier.

After the terrible trauma of partition that befell the sub-continent following WW2 and the political situation that existed in the area - especially on the NWF - CWGC declared many of the war graves in pre-partition India to be unmaintainable.

Most of the WW2 war graves were concentrated into a small number of larger manageable locations but the same was not possible with most of those from WW1. They had existed for far longer and many of them contained family members as well as the military casualty as many of the men had their families with them and often spending much of their life in India (the tail end of the Raj). In addition some of them were in 'unsafe' areas.

Therefore it was decided to declare them as 'unmaintainable' and to commemorate them elsewhere in India on Memorials to the Missing.

[SiegeGunner]

Therefore it was decided to declare them as 'unmaintainable' and to commemorate them elsewhere in India on Memorials to the Missing.

So, does that mean that the men's actual graves are now lost, or do some of them perhaps still exist?

Mick

[Terry Denham]

Many of the graves are now lost forever but many still exist. There are 'European' cemeteries still in existence all over India/Pakistan but many are in a neglected state - overgrown and with headstones removed.

There is an organisation trying to record all the graves of the Raj period which still exist before this chapter of Britain's history disappears in the area. I'll try to track their name as I seem to remember they have a website.

[Terry Denham]

These sites will give you the idea

http://members.ozemail.com.au/~clday/cem.htm

http://www.indian-cemeteries.org/

http://www.bacsa.org.uk/

[Terry Denham]

Here's one unmaintainable grave

Photo courtesy of Dr Ali Jan

Now remembered on the Delhi Memorial

[SiegeGunner]

Many thanks, Terry.

[Stephen Nulty]

Terry

Many thanks for the information and the useful links

Regards

Steve