Cementerio Británico

Cementerio Británico de Buenos Aires, also known in English as Buenos Aires British cemetery, is a cemetery in Buenos Aires, Argentina. It is in the district of Chacarita in the northern part of Buenos Aires, adjacent to La Chacarita Cemetery.

This article is about the British Cemetery in Buenos Aires, Argentina. For British cemeteries elsewhere, see British Cemetery.
Cementerio Británico
Details
Established1822
Location
Buenos Aires
CountryArgentina
Typenot extant
Find a GraveCementerio Británico

History of the British Cemetery

The British Cemetery was inaugurated in April 1821; President Rivadavia approved the project on 19 March 1821 and the purchase of the land. The first address was Juncal Street today number 866, beside the building that houses Socorro Church. The first burial took place a few days after 19 March 1821 when it was still an open paddock. This burial was of a 30 year old Englishman named John Adams, a carpenter by profession.

In 1833 the Cemetery was moved to Victoria Street, (today Hipólito Yrigoyen), between Pasco and Pichincha, until 1892.[1] The site is today a plaza called "1 de Mayo".

Protestant Cemetery of Victoria

In May, 1827 the British consul Woodbine Parish started negotiations with the government to obtain permission for the British community to build a new temple and another plot for the cemetery, since the existing cemetery (at Socorro) was full.

In February, 1829, the Rosas government made available a plot for the construction of the temple, but there were no funds for the donation of the land for the new cemetery. On 21 August 1832, the then British consul Griffiths reported that the British government would cover half of the expenses necessary for the new cemetery.

In 1833 Victoria Cemetery was opened in today's Plaza 1° de Mayo, between Hipólito Yrigoyen Street (then Victoria Street) and Pasco, Alsina and Pichincha Streets.[1]

The new land, measuring 100m x 100m, was acquired from Manuel La Serna and Maria Luisa Roseti for $4,500. The land was more expensive than expected, and the estimated budget was insufficient to finish the project. In March, 1833 the Buenos Aires English language newspaper, The British Packet, reported that the subscriptions were not sufficient so more contributions were requested from the community.

When on 7 June 1833 the purchase of the land was concluded it was agreed that it was exclusively for Protestants of the city.

Victoria Cemetery received its first two British burials on 6 November 1833.

The plots were freely transferable, but no trees could be planted; no tablets or monuments against the walls or common space were allowed. Carriages, wagons, horses or cattle were not allowed to enter. The gravedigger would take record and deliver a copy to the British chaplain for the official record.

Victoria Cemetery remained open for almost sixty years, with a temporary closure in two occasions: during Hilario Lagos's siege in 1853, and during the yellow fever outbreak in 1871, when the government prohibited burial in urban cemeteries.[2]

As the city around the cemetery was growing, the neighbors wanted the cemetery moved further away. In 1869 the Municipality notified the cemetery that they had to go elsewhere, so they initiated negotiations, which dragged on for more than twenty years.

The last burial at Victoria Cemetery dates back to November, 1892. Some remains, monuments and headstones, were moved to the new cemetery, work that finished around 1923. The old Cemetery became the Plaza "1° de Mayo" where a commemorative plaque remains. Some say that the remains of Elizabeth Chitty, wife of Admiral William (Guillermo) Brown, are still under this plaza.

At La Chacarita

Section 16 of the Chacarita Cemetery was given in exchange for the Victoria Cemetery.[3] The British Cemetery finally opened its doors at its current address in Chacarita on Sunday, 13 November 1892.

In 1913 the British Cemetery was divided into the German and the British Cemeteries as we know them today, because the two local communities had grown since the beginning of the 19th century.

War graves

The Chacarita British Cemetery contains the war graves of one Royal Navy seaman of World War I and eleven British service personnel of World War II, comprising six from the Royal Navy and three of the Merchant Navy, besides one each from the Royal Artillery, Royal Marines and Royal Air Force.[4]

War Memorial

On 16 November 2016 a War Memorial, with the names of the 866 volunteers from Argentina who died in World War I and World War II engraved in the granite, was unveiled with the presence of Ambassadors; Defence Attachés; Argentine Military, the Buenos Aires Scottish Guard; the Honour Guard of the Argentine Air Force; the band from the Argentine Military School and over 300 members of the public and members of the Argentine British Community. The religious service was conducted by Archbishop Gregory Venabales, Primate of the Anglican Church in South America and Rev. Douglas Robertson of the Presbyterian church.

British Garden Cemetery in Pablo Nogués

The British Garden Cemetery in Pablo Nogués was inaugurated in July 1971.

The British Garden Cemetery is considered the first garden style in the country and it is situated in Ingeniero Pablo Nogués in the Province of Buenos Aires, about 30 km north of the City of Buenos Aires.[5]

Management

The British Cemetery Corporation of Buenos Aires is managed by an Honorary Committee and its goal is to serve the community.[6]

Both Cemeteries are open to all people regardless their religious denomination.

Notable Burials
  • Juan Jacobo Bajarlía (b. 5 October 1914 - d. 22 July 2005) - Poet, essayist and novelist.
  • Vasily (Wilhelm) Baumgarten (b. 1879 - d. 1962) – Russian and Yugoslavian architect
  • Lucas Bridges (b. 1874 – d. 1949) - Anglo-Argentine author.
  • Thomas Bridges (1842–1898) - Anglican missionary.
  • Frank Brown (b. in Brighton, 6 September 1858 – d. 9 April 1943) - English Clown
  • Francis Drummond (b. 1798 – d. 1827) - Argentine naval officer who died in the Battle of Monte Santiago during the Cisplatine War
  • Cecilia Grierson (b. 22 November 1859 – d. 10 April 1934) - Argentine physician, reformer and prominent freethinker.
  • Alexander Watson Hutton (b. 10 June 1853 – d. 9 March 1936) - Founder of Argentine Soccer.
  • Leopoldo Torre Nilsson, (b. 5 May 1924 – d. 8 September 1978) - Acclaimed Argentine film director
  • Mario Passano (b. 1925 - d. 23 July 1995) - Actor
  • Gordon Stretton (b. in Liverpool, 5 June 1887 - d. 3 May 1983) - Introduced jazz to south america and radio broadcaster
  • Juan Bautista Thorne, ( b. in New York, 8 March 1807 – d. 8 August 1885) – Colonel of the Argentine Army fought in battles at Pozos, Patagones, Martín García, Vuelta de Obligado and Quebracho.

References
  1. "Burials in the Victoria Cemetery, 1834 to 1892". www.argbrit.org/. Retrieved 13 November 2019.
  2. Schweimler, Daniel (2 April 2006). "Argentina unearths forgotten past". news.bbc.co.uk/. BBC News. Retrieved 13 November 2019.
  3. Montes-Bradley II, Saul M. (2012). Dissident Cemeteries in Buenos Aires, Vol. I, 1821-1855. South Boston VA: Thomas Osgood Bradley Foundation. ISBN 978-0-9859632-0-0.
  4. BUENOS AIRES (CHACARITA) BRITISH CEMETERY CWGC Cemetery report, details from casualty record.
  5. Maronese, Letitia (2005). Patrimonio Cultural en Cementerios y Rituales de la Muerte. Comisiâon para la Preservaciâon del Patrimonio Histâorico Cultural de la Ciudad de Buenos Aires. p. 139.
  6. "¿Quienes somos?". www.cementeriobritanico.org.ar/. Cementerio Británico de Buenos Aires. Retrieved 13 November 2019.

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