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

cemetery A cemetery, burial ground, gravesite, graveyard, or a green space called a memorial park or memorial garden, is a place where the remains of many death, dead people are burial, buried or otherwise entombed. The word ''cemetery'' (from Greek ...

located in

Abbottabad Abbottabad is a city in the Hazara Division of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, Pakistan. It is the 40th largest city in the country and 6th largest in the province by population, and serves as the headquarter of its namesake tehsil and district ...

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (; ; , ; abbr. KP or KPK), formerly known as the North West Frontier Province (NWFP), is a Administrative units of Pakistan, province of Pakistan. Located in the Northern Pakistan, northwestern region of the country, Khyber ...

, Pakistan. It was established in 1853 during

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

rule and stayed in regular use following the

British Crown The Crown is a political concept used in Commonwealth realms. Depending on the context used, it generally refers to the entirety of the State (polity), state (or in federal realms, the relevant level of government in that state), the executive ...

'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 British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

military officer and administrator. It remained the main Christian cemetery in the town and for the nearby

Galyat Galyat () region, or hill tract, (also written Galliat and Galiyat) is a narrow strip or area roughly – north-east of Islamabad, Pakistan, extending on both sides of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa-Punjab border, between Abbottabad and Murree. The word ...

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 species; as well as the ...

, 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 comprising 572 islands, of which only 38 are inhabited. The islands are grouped into two main clusters: the northern Andaman Islands and the southern Nicobar Islands, separated by a ...

, and established a 'charitable home' there at Ross Island (Andaman) 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 and Crown rule in India, the Commander-in-Chief, India (often "Commander-in-Chief ''in'' or ''of'' India") was the supreme commander of the Indian Army from 1833 to 1947. 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 The Church of Pakistan is a united Protestant church in Pakistan founded in 1970; it holds membership in the Anglican Communion, the World Communion of Reformed Churches,Database (9 February 2006)"Sialkot Diocese of the Church of Pakistan". R ...

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 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 The Gurkhas or Gorkhas (), with the endonym Gorkhali ( Nepali: गोर्खाली ), are soldiers native to the Indian subcontinent, chiefly residing within Nepal and some parts of North India. The Gurkha units consist of Nepali and ...

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 serve ...

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