British Garrison Cemetery (Kandy)

British Garrison Cemetery (Kandy)

British Garrison Cemetery (Sinhala: බ්‍රිතාන්‍ය ගැරිසන් සුසාන භූමිය) is located close to the Temple of the Tooth Relic in Kandy District, Sri Lanka. It is one of the nine cemeteries maintained by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission in the country. History The Kandyan Kingdom was captured by the British in 1815. This cemetery was established by them in 1817 or 1822 and used up to 1878 till the establishment of the cemetery at Mahaiyawa (Abeyawardana, 2004; Lewis, 1913; Rajapakse, 2016). The cemetery was administered by the authorities of St. Paul's Church, Kandy (Abeyawardana, 2004). Tombstones The cemetery retains about 172 tombs of British nationals who died during the earlier period of the British occupation of Sri Lanka (Abeyawardana, 2004). Of them, the tomb of Sir John D'Oyly is considered an important monument (Abeyawardana, 2004; Lewis, 1913; Rajapakse, 2016). It is a broken fluted column of masonry with a marble tablet. The tablet reads; In memory of the Hon'ble Sir …