245
Victoria is increasing rapidly in size, and the Happy Valley will soon be within the municipal boundaries. The time must come when the existing Cemeteries will be closed, and the dead taken elsewhere for burial. The Protestant Cemetery is now nearly full, and every little corner is being made use of...29
A soldier also wrote home about the cemetery:
[Happy Valley] is crammed with the graves of Europeans who have succumbed to the diseases of the unhealthiest country in the world. The graves of the soldiers are numbered. And when the last one was buried on his grave was 5373, showing that that number had died since the city was garrisoned by the British...30
Despite what had been written in the mid 19th century, new burials were and still are carried out in the cemetery till this day - almost one and a half century later.
Early Burial Grounds in Stanley and West Point
The cemetery in Stanley,31 renamed Stanley Military Cemetery after the Second World War, was another burial ground erected in the early days of British rule. The area was the site of early military barracks. Although burials can be traced back to 1843, no mention of the cemetery has been found in any of the examined records, nor is it depicted on Lieutenant T.B. Collinson's map and sketch prepared in 1846. One source suggests that the cemetery was opened on 21st July 1843.33 It may be possible that servicemen and families were buried in that area, but the cemetery was not designated until later.34 The use of this cemetery was apparently discontinued after 1870, but it was re-opened during the Japanese occupation period for the burial of civilian internees. After the war, many of the servicemen who died in the battle were re-buried in the cemetery. No new burials have taken place there since the war.
Similarly, West Point, another barrack area3 in the early days, was also the site of a burial ground in the early 1840s. It is recorded that the Pro-Prefect Father Navarro forwarded on 26th February 1843 a petition for another burial site at West Point for the troops, which was granted on 3rd March the same year.36 However, no further information
245
Victoria is increasing rapidly in size, and the Happy Valley will soon be within the municipal boundaries. The time must come when the existing Cemeteries will be closed, and the dead taken elsewhere for burial. The Protestant Cemetery is now nearly full, and every little corner is being made use of...29
A soldier also wrote home about the cemetery:
[Happy Valley] is crammed with the graves of Europeans who have succumbed to the diseases of the unhealthiest country in the world. The graves of the soldiers are numbered. And when the last one was buried on his grave was 5373, showing that that number had died since the city was garrisoned by the British...30
Despite what had been written in the mid 19th century, new burials were and still are carried out in the cemetery till this day - almost one and a half century later.
Early Burial Grounds in Stanley and West Point
The cemetery in Stanley,31 renamed Stanley Military Cemetery after the Second World War, was another burial ground erected in the early days of British rule. The area was the site of early military barracks. Although burials can be traced back to 1843, no mention of the cemetery has been found in any of the examined records, nor is it depicted on Lieutenant T.B. Collinson's map and sketch prepared in 1846. One source suggests that the cemetery was opened on 21st July 1843.33 It may be possible that servicemen and families were buried in that area, but the cemetery was not designated until later.34 The use of this cemetery was apparently discontinued after 1870, but it was re- opened during the Japanese occupation period for the burial of civilian internees. After the war, many of the servicemen who died in the battle were re-buried in the cemetery. No new burials have taken place there since the war.
Similarly, West Point, another barrack area3 in the early days, was also the site of a burial ground in the early 1840s. It is recorded that the Pro-Prefect Father Navarro forwarded on 26th February 1843 a petition for another burial site at West Point for the troops, which was granted on 3rd March the same year.36 However, no further information
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