British Association for Cemeteries in South Asia (BACSA) is an organisation founded in 1977 that seeks to maintain and record for posterity European cemeteries in former

Indian Subcontinent The Indian subcontinent is a list of the physiographic regions of the world, physiographical region in United Nations geoscheme for Asia#Southern Asia, Southern Asia. It is situated on the Indian Plate, projecting southwards into the Indian O ...

and

Southeast Asia Southeast Asia, also spelled South East Asia and South-East Asia, and also known as Southeastern Asia, South-eastern Asia or SEA, is the geographical south-eastern region of Asia, consisting of the regions that are situated south of mainlan ...

territories of the

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 South ...

such as

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

, Sri Lanka,

Burma Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John Wells explai ...

and

Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...

. It is based in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

History

The BACSA was founded, in October 1976, by Theon Wilkinson who was a captain in the

3rd Gorkha Rifles The 3rd Gorkha Rifles or Third Gorkha Rifles, abbreviated as 3 GR is an Indian Army infantry regiment. It was originally a Gurkha regiment of the British Indian Army formed in 1815. This regiment recruit mainly Magars and Khas/Chhetri tribes. T ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

Scope

BACSA estimates that two million Europeans are buried in the Indian

subcontinent A continent is any of several large landmasses. Generally identified by convention rather than any strict criteria, up to seven geographical regions are commonly regarded as continents. Ordered from largest in area to smallest, these seven ...

. They provide financial aid to people in these areas who are willing to restore European cemeteries. They state that it is only by the impetus for restoration coming from the local community, that there is a chance that the old cemeteries will survive, and not relapse back into ruin and desolation in a few more years.

Work

As well as facilitating restoration, preservation and maintenance work in cemeteries in South Asia, the organisation supports and publishes books detailing cemetery

monumental inscription {, align=right , 250px, The inscription, carved in stone, on the monument of Sir John Young and Dame Joane, erected in 1606 in Bristol.html"_;"title="Bristol_Cathedral,_Bristol">Bristol_Cathedral,_Bristol,_England._Sir_John_entertained_Elizabeth ...

s that have been transcribed by members. BACSA also publishes a bi-annual journal, ''Chowkidar'', other works relating to cemeteries and keeps an archive that forms a unique record of over 1,300 cemeteries based on official sources with inscriptions and photographs. Some of these records are published on-line for free searching using the

Frontis Archive Publishing System Frontis Archive Publishing System is a content management system and electronic document and records management system (EDRMS) and is primarily used for publishing historical archives on-lines for researchers to search. Concept Frontis was laun ...

.http://bacsa.frontisgroup.com

References

External links

BACSA websiteIndian cemeteries
{{Cemeteries in India Cemeteries in India Cemeteries in Malaysia Cemeteries in Pakistan Cemeteries in Singapore Anglican cemeteries in Asia Non-profit organisations based in the United Kingdom History organisations based in the United Kingdom 1977 establishments in the United Kingdom Organizations established in 1977

History

Scope

Work

See also

References

External links