The Old Christian Cemetery, locally referred to as the ''Gora Qabristan'' (, ), is a

cemetery A cemetery, burial ground, gravesite or graveyard is a place where the remains of dead people are buried or otherwise interred. The word ''cemetery'' (from Greek , "sleeping place") implies that the land is specifically designated as a buri ...

located in

Abbottabad Abbottabad (; Urdu, Punjabi language(HINDKO dialect) آباد, translit=aibṭabād, ) is the capital city of Abbottabad District in the Hazara region of eastern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. It is the 40th largest city in Pakistan and fourth ...

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (; ps, خېبر پښتونخوا; Urdu, Hindko: خیبر پختونخوا) commonly abbreviated as KP or KPK, is one of the Administrative units of Pakistan, four provinces of Pakistan. Located in the Geography of Pakistan, ...

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...

. It was established in 1853 during

East India Company The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (the Indian subcontinent and Southea ...

rule and stayed in regular use following the

British Crown The Crown is the state (polity), state in all its aspects within the jurisprudence of the Commonwealth realms and their subdivisions (such as the Crown Dependencies, British Overseas Territories, overseas territories, Provinces and territorie ...

's assumption of direct rule over India. A grave from 1853 at the Old Christian Cemetery Abbottabad

History

The cemetery was established in 1853 when the modern city of

was founded by James Abbott, a British military officer and administrator. It remained the main

Christian Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...

cemetery in the town and for the nearby

Galyat Galyat ( ur, گلیات ) region, or hill tract, (also written Galliat and Galiyat) is a narrow strip or area roughly 50–80 km north-east of Islamabad, Pakistan, extending on both sides of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa-Punjab border, between Abb ...

hill tracts, and was later attached to St. Luke's Church when it was completed in 1864. The cemetery contains many interesting old graves and memorials. Most of these have Frontier military campaigns' connections and significance for military

historians A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the stu ...

, including the graves or tombs of Major Hugh Rees James, Major Leigh Richmond Battye and Colonel A W Crookshank, as well as others. The Rev. Henry Fisher Corbyn, of the Bengal Ecclesiastical Establishment, who spent long years here as Vicar, and who had previously served in the

Andaman and Nicobar Islands The Andaman and Nicobar Islands is a union territory of India consisting of 572 islands, of which 37 are inhabited, at the junction of the Bay of Bengal and the Andaman Sea. The territory is about north of Aceh in Indonesia and separated f ...

, and established a 'charitable home' there at

Ross Island (Andaman) Ross Island, officially known as Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose Island, is an island of the Andaman Islands. It belongs to the South Andaman administrative district, Andaman and Nicobar Islands. The island is situated east from central Port Blair. ...

is also buried here. Also buried here is Lady Julia Helen Palmer (née Aylmer; died 1896) first wife of General Sir Arthur Power Palmer, a former

Commander-in-Chief, India During the period of the Company rule in India and the British Raj, the Commander-in-Chief, India (often "Commander-in-Chief ''in'' or ''of'' India") was the supreme commander of the British Indian Army. The Commander-in-Chief and most of his ...

Present status

Since Partition and Independence of Pakistan in 1947, the Old Christian Cemetery has suffered considerable neglect, due to various financial constraints upon the Church of Pakistan and maybe around 70–80 of the older graves dating back prior to 1947, still survive and can be properly verified. A family of

Muslim Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...

caretakers lives within the precincts of the cemetery, who have been traditional caretakers of the site since circa 1902–1903,Old church records, St. Luke's Church, Abbottabad prior to which time two retired Gurkha soldiers of the

5th Royal Gurkha Rifles 5th Gorkha Rifles (Frontier Force), also abbreviated as 5 GR(FF) is an infantry regiment of the Indian Army comprising Gurkha soldiers of Nepalese origin. It was formed in 1858 as part of the British Indian Army. The regiment's battalions served ...

used to tend to it, from around the 1870s onwards.

References

{{coord missing, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa 1853 establishments in India Cemeteries in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Anglican cemeteries in Pakistan Abbottabad District Christianity in Pakistan

History

Present status

See also

References