“The headstones in this Kandy cemetery record Britons killed not in battle but by malaria, sunstroke, cholera and even a wild elephant.”
About British Garrison Cemetery
The cemetery was used through the 19th century to bury members of Kandy's British colonial community, from officials and planters to their families. As the inscriptions reveal, tropical disease and the hazards of the jungle claimed many lives at a young age. Restored and cared for in recent decades, it survives as one of the most evocative colonial-era sites in the city.
What British Garrison Cemetery is
The British Garrison Cemetery in Kandy is a small, poignant colonial graveyard tucked behind the Temple of the Sacred Tooth Relic, holding the graves of British colonists who died in Sri Lanka during the 19th century. Its weathered headstones tell, in miniature, the often short and dangerous lives of the colonial community in the tropical hill country.
Its weathered headstones tell, in miniature, the often short and dangerous lives of the colonial community in the tropical hill country.
Killed by the Tropics
The cemetery is a sobering record of how perilous colonial life could be. Many of those buried here died young, struck down not by war but by tropical diseases like malaria and cholera, by sunstroke, and in at least one famous case by a wild elephant. The headstones, with their inscriptions recording the causes and ages of death, lay bare the heavy toll the climate, wildlife and disease of the island took on the British who came to govern and plant it.
The Experience
A knowledgeable caretaker often guides visitors among the headstones, recounting the stories behind them, including a man killed by an elephant and others lost to fever in their twenties. The quiet, shaded plot, with its weathered tombstones and personal inscriptions, offers an unexpectedly moving and human glimpse of the colonial experience, close to the bustle of the Tooth Temple.
Why It Matters
The Garrison Cemetery humanises the colonial history of Sri Lanka, recording the individual costs paid by the British community in an era when the tropics could be lethal. It is a small but powerful counterpoint to the grand monuments of empire, telling the story through ordinary lives cut short.
The Garrison Cemetery humanises the colonial history of Sri Lanka, recording the individual costs paid by the British community in an era when the tropics could be lethal.
Why Visit
A poignant, atmospheric colonial cemetery behind the Tooth Temple, where the headstones reveal the dangers, diseases and short lives of British Kandy.
✦ Insider Tips
- 1
Ask the caretaker to share the stories behind the headstones.
- 2
It is tucked behind the Temple of the Sacred Tooth, easy to combine.
- 3
The inscriptions record causes of death, from fever to an elephant.
- 4
It is a quiet, reflective stop rather than a long visit.
