South Park Street Cemetery

South Park Street Cemetery, formerly known as the 'Great Christian Burial Ground', was one of the earliest non-church cemeteries in the world.^[1]^[2] The cemetery houses numerous graves and monuments belonging to British soldiers, administrators, and their families. It is also the final resting place of several prominent personalities, including Henry Louis Vivian Derozio and Sir William Jones. It is located on Mother Teresa Sarani (also known as Park Street), Central Kolkata, India.

South Park Street Cemetery

1767 (1767)

Park Street, Kolkata

India

22°32′47″N 88°21′37″E / 22.54639°N 88.36028°E / 22.54639; 88.36028

Historic

Christian Burial Board, Kolkata

(1809–1831), teacher and poet, pioneer of the Young Bengal movement

Henry Louis Vivian Derozio

Sir (1746–1794), philologist and scholar, founder of the Asiatic Society

William Jones

Lieutenant-General Sir (c.1722–1777), army officer and diplomat

John Clavering

(1754-1784), colonial administrator

Augustus Cleveland

Captain (1772–1799), Royal Navy officer

Edward Cooke

(1746–1781), diplomat

George Bogle

Colonel (1746–1793), founder of the Indian Botanic Garden

Robert Kyd

Lieutenant-Colonel (1754–1821), Surveyor General of India

Colin Mackenzie

Lieutenant-Colonel (1778-1826), Surveyor General of India

Valentine Blacker

(1754–1818), politician

Sir John Hadley D'Oyly, 6th Baronet

Major-General (1758–1828), army officer and Indophile, popularly known as “Hindoo Stuart”

Charles Stuart

son of English novelist Charles Dickens. He was buried initially in Bhowanipore war cemetery, and the tombstone was later moved here in 1987.

Walter Landor Dickens

Grave no. 363 of an unknown woman (d. 1825) whose epitaph reads “A virtuous mother”.

Architecture[edit]

The cemetery is considered to be an important example of colonial-era architecture, with its Gothic-style tombs and monuments, mixed with the rich flavor of the Greek, Egyptian, and Indo-Saracenic styles. In certain instances, elements from Hindu architecture and Islamic tombs have also been adopted.^[6] Many of the monuments in the cemetery are adorned with intricate carvings, sculptures, and epitaphs. The structures are primarily constructed of sandstone, marble, and bricks, and feature a variety of shapes and sizes, ranging from simple headstones to grand mausoleums.

South Park Street Cemetery

Main gate

The marble plaque which reads: "South Park Street Cemetery, opened 1767, closed 1790"

The pavilions inside the cemetery

A tomb inside the cemetery

The tomb of Charles Stuart, known as "Hindoo Stuart"

The tombs inside the cemetery

Tomb of Sir Henry Vivian Derozio

The South Park Street Cemetery, Calcutta, published by the Association for the Preservation of Historical Cemeteries in India, 5th ed. (2009)

BACSA. South Park Street Cemetery, Calcutta: Register of graves and standing tombs from 1767. London: British Association for Cemeteries in South Asia, 1992.

Drost, Alexander, Tod und Erinnerung in der kolonialen Gesellschaft. Koloniale Sepulkralkultur in Bengalen (17.-19. Jahrhundert), Jena: Leander Wissenschaft, 2011.

South Park Street Cemetery