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British Cemetery Kyrenia
To mark the 50th anniversary of the ending of the four-year conflict which preceded the independence of Cyprus in 1960, the British Cyprus Memorial Trust has been established to honour the memory of the 371 British servicemen who died during the course of that conflict with both a Roll of Honour Memorial Book (now online) <http://www.cyprusmemorialbook.com> and a permanent memorial bearing their names — unveiled on Remembrance Sunday, November 8 2009. Of the 371 dead, the Royal Navy and Royal Marines lost 28, the RAF 69 and the Army 274.
British Cyprus Memorial
Almost all the dead remain buried at the British military cemetery at Wayne's Keep now in the UN buffer-zone which lies between the Republic of Cyprus in the South and the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus in the North. Because public accessibility to Wayne's Keep is in consequence exceedingly difficult — the UN reports that on average only one visitor a week manages to get there — the permanent memorial is to be sited in the old British cemetery at Kyrenia. Nevertheless, to maintain a link between the memorial and those buried at Wayne's Keep, a Memorial Book will be placed in the British church nearby, which it is hoped will provide a focus for an annual remembrance service there in the years to come.
Given the requirement of public accessibility, the old British cemetery in Kyrenia is a fitting site for a fixed memorial. Established in 1878 when the British first arrived on the island, it is the last resting place of the only VC buried on the island, Sgt Samuel McGaw of the Black Watch (pictured), whose grave lies beside four other members of his regiment who also died in that first year of 1878.
Among the others are those of two British major-generals who served on the island in the years thereafter — Sir Courtenay Manifold (d. 1957) and Sir Charlton Spinks (d. 1959) — as well as that of a wartime governor and commander-in-chief of the island, Sir William Battershill (1959). These were all distinguished servants of the Crown who died in the same years as those remembered on the memorial.
There are other graves with strong military connections, among them a DSO and another with both the MC and the Croix de Guerre. Taken together, the graves in the old British cemetery give added dignity to the memorial, a final chapter in a long story.
Among the others are those of two British major-generals who served on the island in the years thereafter — Sir Courtenay Manifold (d. 1957) and Sir Charlton Spinks (d. 1959) — as well as that of a wartime governor and commander-in-chief of the island, Sir William Battershill (1959). These were all distinguished servants of the Crown who died in the same years as those remembered on the memorial.
There are other graves with strong military connections, among them a DSO and another with both the MC and the Croix de Guerre. Taken together, the graves in the old British cemetery give added dignity to the memorial, a final chapter in a long story.
British military cemetery at Wayne's Keep
The memorial is beside the grave of Sgt Samuel McGaw, Black Watch: the only VC buried in Cyprus, he died
in 1878 on the
day the British first landed on
the island. The beginning and
the end in one place...
Registered Charity United Kingdom No 226682 Spain No G54288329