British Cemetery Elvas

British Cemetery Elvas

The British Cemetery at Elvas, Portugal (O Cemitério dos Ingleses) is one of the oldest British Military Cemeteries in existence. It holds only five known graves but two of these are the only marked graves of the thousands of British soldiers who fell at the Battle of Albuera and another is the sole marked grave of the thousands who fell in the three sieges of Badajoz.

The British Cemetery is situated in the bastion of S. João da Corujeiro, high on the eastern wall of Fort Elvas and just below the castle, commanding a fine view over the plain to Badajoz in Spain. It is named after the nearby chapel, founded by the Friars of St. John’s Hospitallers in 1228 to mark the spot at which they broke into the Moorish defences.

The area containing the graves of Maj. Gen. Daniel Hoghton, Lt. Col. Daniel White, Lt. Col. James Ward Oliver, Maj. William Nicholas Bull and his wife Caroline is surrounded by a cast iron railing, installed on 20 August 1904 by the Military Governor Brig. J.C. Rodrigues da Costa. A small stone engraved with G.P.E. 20-8-1904 commemorates the occasion. For many years the cemetery lay within Portuguese military jurisdiction. The cemetery was rededicated in 1997 and is now maintained by the Friends of the British Cemetery, Elvas, and open to the public.