Graves

This page is dedicated to the graves in various parts of India and is a supplement to the work being done by BACSA through the efforts of Eileen Hewson the creator of the book
Assam & North East India
Christian Cemeteries and Memorials
1783 - 2003

Please click the lines below to go to the various areas

Eileen Hewson is returning to Ceylon in December and will be visiting all areas except the restricted zones and would be happy to check on any graves belonging to KOI-HAI members' families. Contact her at the address below.

Eileen Hewson FRGS

Kabristan Archives
Old Irish and Indian Graveyards
19 Foxleigh Grove
Wem SY4 5BS

Tel 44 1939 234061

www.kabristan.org.uk---------email info@kabristan.org.uk

January 21 2007
Ali Zaman has sent the following--and we thank him.

We appreciate the information below and thank the members of Paneery Club for honouring some of the Pioneers of the Tea Industry in the Mangaldai District--We have passed our sincere thanks to Rajat Dutt the President of Mangaldai club and asked him to pass our thanks onto the membership.

Mr Rajat Dutt, Senior Manager Borengajuli and President Mangaldai Club, informs that a resolution was passed at the last AGM of the Club to honour the dead buried at Paneery Cemetery, in front of the Club. The ceremony will now be an annual event in the clubs calendar. The original headstones were removed to a central graveyard in Pertabghur TE, some years back, and replaced with replicas to avoid depredation by elephants.The graveyard now forms an integral part of the club and is well cared for.
Photographs of the inaugural ceremony, honouring the pioneers, with a list of their names are shown below

1. W. J. S. FEA,
17/08/1967
    50 Yrs.
2. MYLES ANTHONY,
19/11/1951
23 Yrs.
3. MARGARET BURKE ( Nee Mc Arthur ),
07/05/1940
  45 Yrs.
4. GEORGE BLACK McWILLIE,
26/07/1936,
47 Yrs.
5. WILLIAM EDWARD THORNE,
06/09/1932
23 Yrs
6. CHARLES WILLIAM,
09/1832
2 Months 13 Days.
7.JOHN HELLIER BLOUNT,
28/06/1866
44 Yrs.
8. GWENELLEN WHINCHESTER,

9. MARGARET CHAMPBELL,
26/06/1886
10. RICHARD GRAY SIMPSON,
22/10/1968
Born & Died.
11. DOUGLAS JAMES
11/11/1924
9 Months.
12. EDWARD D. ATKINSON,
12/07/1911
34 Yrs.
13. G. G. ANDERSON MARTIN,
19/08/1900
22 Yrs.
14. HUGH ROBERT MAC DONALD,
07/03/1900
30 Yrs.
15. GEORGE PATRICK HAGUE,
08/12/1890
47 Yrs.
16. REGINALD BERKELY SWIRE,
05/09/1895
29 Yrs
17. GEORGE FREDERICK
1894.
No name and date on 4 nos Graves ( minor ).

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Jan 16 2005
Again we are indebted to Romesh Bhattacharji for this picture--thank you

This picture is of a memorial to Noel Williamson, an Assistant Political Officer of Sadiya, and his friend John Duncan Grierson, who were killed by the Adis in 1911, while the 2 were on a hunting trip above Passighat. These people thought that they were out to kill their leaders. This memorial stands in a ruined cemetery in Bokel tea estate a few miles out of Dibrugarh.

This is a picture of a gravestone in Dibrugarh Cemetery in order to try to prove which was the oldest burial ground for Europeans--the year 1776 is that of the founding of the USA as an independent nation
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January 3 2006
We are indebted to Romesh Bhattacharji for supplying the photographs of the two grave yards plus his informative comments.

These two photographs are from the Bokel Tea Estate Graveyard near Dibrugarh Assam. Romesh tells us that the main cemetery within Dibrugarh is being repaired carefully

This grave is referred to on page 48 of Eilleen Hewson's book
Bokel TE Cemetery

Meerut Area

Meerut Cemetery
Romesh tells us that parts are well looked after and some parts are being renovated, but there are some parts that require help immediately.
The following two pictures are also from the Meerut Cemetery

This is to the memory of General Gillespie and the picture
below is the inscription

This next picture below shows the repair work that has been done
It was financed by BACSA . Once the funds ran out so did the plaster

Lastly here is a picture of an inscription from an
1825 grave of Dr Roger Keys

This is a recent photograph of the cemetery --it is located outside the Jorehaute Company Division of Numalighur Factory Compound. We are indebted to Vikas Joshi the current Manager who has been responsible for clearing it up and ensuring ongoing maintenance of the cemetery.

We are also indebted tom Bibek RAYCHAUDHURI for his help and hard work in digging out the facts in this story together with Venk Shenoi who first alerted us to it, and kindly forwarded the photographs

The graveyard at Numalighur is one of the oldest ones, I presume, where planters who died in the neighborhood were buried. I am sure, there are a few more of these scattered all over Assam, which were needed, in view of lack of road communication, in those days. However, this one was in a sadly neglected state, till the present management of Jorehaut Tea Co. cleared it all up and is being tended regularly. It is located just outside the compound as one enters the factory gate of Numalighur and the present Manager, Vikas Joshi, takes keen interest in ensuring proper maintenance.

I did some research on the names written on the stones, through an amateur Genealogist, Writings in bold are in respect of persons employed by Jorehaut Tea Co. and those details are extracts from the "History of Jorehaut Tea Co. Ltd.: Past and Present members of the Company from 1858 to 1946".

Bibek writes: I am enquiring with the Kemble One Name Study in case anything is known about him. There is a record of a William Kemble marrying Elizabeth E Hinde in 1865 in the Bengal marriage index

Edward Ledlie French, son of Henry Gloster French of Calcutta for several years Manager of Numalighur Division of the Jorehaute Tea Co. who died at this factory on 28th April 1873 Aged 28 years

In the Bengal Presidency records, Edward Sedlie French (sic) is shown as being born 11 Apr 1845, son of Henry Gloster French and his wife Charlottee Louise. I found another child of this couple, named Gloster Henry French born 21st Sep 1841, Calcutta. I looked in the 1901 UK census for anyone born in India with the odd first name Gloster, but found nothing. I did find a Gloster Marshall, aged 36 born in Lambeth and living in Clapham who was a Teabroker’s Clerk, so may be some connection? Gloster Henry French is shown as marrying Sarah G. Weston in 1876 (Bengal Marriage Index). Mr. French was formerly an indigo planter for many years, latterly was employed in the Railway Department prior to joining Cinnamara as an Assistant Manager. He subsequently assumed charge of Numalighur in November, 1865. Mr French died from epilepsy on April 28, 1873.

Dr John R. Elliott, M.R.C.S; L.R.C.P. – Prizeman in Anatomy, Barthotomew’s Hospital, aged 30, when appointed on October 18, 1873 as Medical Officer to relieve Dr. Grey whilist on leave and thereafter stationed at Numalighur. Died from heat epilepsy on October 20, 1876.

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S.L.E.Skeen of Methoni

An odd name. I found three Indian birth references to the name, but none that relate to an S.L.E. In the Bengal Marriage Index, there are two Skeen marriages.

This head stone is very clear as to the person's place of birth but regretfully we have no name therefore falls into the category of "Unknown"

John E. Bartlett Born 5th June 1846 Accidently drowned at Dhunseri Mookh Assam 2nd October 1885

precise birth date always helps. There were several John Bartletts with English births registered in Q2 1846, but none shown with a middle name E. Could be Scottish or born in India.

John E. Bartlett, son of Dr. William Bartlett, Ladbroke Square, appointed on April 3, 1866, arrived in Assam on December 30, 1866. He fell from the river steamer at Dhunseri Mookh on October 2, 1885 and drowned. His body was recovered on October 5 and buried at Numalighur on October 7, 1885.

The Editor contacted Peter Bartlett who started in tea in 1968 and is now retired and living in Uk and this was his answer:

Many thanks for your e-mail on the subject of the Numalighur cemetary stones. Yes, John E. Bartlett was my Great Great Grandfather's brother. It was mentioned to me when I first considered going to Assam in 1958 that the last family member who took to Tea had come unstuck in a drowning incident. Mention was made that he had gone to the Jorhaut District but that is all I was told. Now you have come up with his name, dates of birth and death and the fact that he was drowned at Dhanseri-mukh and buried in the Numilighur cemetery .. none of which I was aware of! Fortunately the family didn't know I was joining the same Agency, James Warren, or there might have been ructions! J.E.B. must have been one of the early pioneers of the Assam tea industry.

Thanks a million for solving a family puzzle; I have long wondered whether there was any truth in this story of long ago and now I know it was true .. and I must pass the news on to the few other Bartletts who might be interested.

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Herbert Comley
who died at Behora 16th April 1891 aged 44 years

A somewhat unusual name. He’s probably the Herbert Comley born in Whitechapel Q1 1847. I think he had a family whom he brought back to England while he stayed on in India, since I found this family in the 1881 census in Finchley :-

It’s not clear to me that Clair-Smith was always a double barreled name. I can find almost no reference to it in this way. But there are some tantalizing references in the Indian records that might relate in some way to this family. For example:

Queenie Phyllis Clair Smith born 28 Oct 1893 bap 25 Dec 1893 Calcutta daughter of Henry Davron Clair Smith and his wife Esther Gertrude.

Walter Henry Clair Smith married Emily Falkner Cooper 27 Nov 1888 (Bengal Presidency records).

Ernest B Clair-Smith married Ellen Caroline Meares 1891 (Bengal Marriage Index)

I tried searching the 1901 UK census for Smiths born in India with the middle

Clair – nothing. There are also no Clair-Smiths at all.
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Arthur Pelham Kentish
of Mithunguri Assam, died 13^th November 1907, aged 49 years.

A distinctive name, but seems to draw a blank. There is a GCA Kentish in the Bengal Marriage Index for 1893.
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