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The Garrison Cemetery is situated in the heart of Kandy behind the Sri Dalada Maligawa, National Museum and the International Buddhist Museum. This 200-year-old cemetery is the final resting place of many notable personalities of British colonial Ceylon. Opened in 1822, it was closed by Governor’s Proclamation in the mid1870s.

Supervisor of the cemetery Victor James and caretaker Harsha Kumara helped the writer to identify the graves in the Garrison Cemetery. Mr. James first showed us the tomb of Sir John D’Oyly (1774-1824) – a fluted column with a marble tablet. D’Oyly represented the British government at the 1815 Kandyan Convention when Kandy was ceded to the British crown.

In a brochure on the cemetery, it is mentioned that he was fluent in Sinhala and had great influence over the local population. Gajaman Nona, the famed Matara poetess, is said to have addressed a set of verses to D’Oyly.

According to a brochure, the cemetery is “a ¾ acre plot of land wherein rest many men, women and children, mainly colonial British, cut off from life, many in their youth, others blossoming into manhood, and with only a bare handful reaching the proverbial three score and ten.”

“The Garrison Cemetery is restored and supported by the Friends of the Garrison Cemetery, The Ministry of Defence, London, The Commonwealth War Graves Commission, His Royal Highness, Charles the Prince of Wales (now King Charles III), who visited the Garrison Cemetery in November 2013,” the brochure