Kandy Garrison Cemetery

The Kandy Garrison Cemetery, maintained by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, lies on the hillside northeast of the lake. The cemetery contains graves from the British colonial period going back to the early nineteenth century, plus World War I and II graves of soldiers who died in the East African and Southeast Asian campaigns. The inscriptions chart the typical mortality patterns of the colonial service — young men dying of tropical disease, women in childbirth, children from fevers.

The cemetery is well maintained and free to enter. It is quiet, shaded, and a genuinely interesting historical document. The Commonwealth War Graves register, available on request from the groundskeeper, identifies all the graves.

things to do sight
A story
The garrison cemetery contains graves of British soldiers, planters, missionaries, and officials spanning two centuries of colonial rule. Among the earliest graves is that of John D'Oyly, the British official who negotiated the Kandyan Convention of 1815 that formally ended the Kandyan kingdom and handed the island to the Crown. D'Oyly was unusual among colonial officials in that he was genuinely interested in Sinhalese culture and language; his journals remain a primary source for historians of the period.