Page 148 - Wish Stream Year of 2017

A Visit to the Haidar Pasha Cemetery at Scutari, Turkey
Sebastian Puncher
On a recent city break to Istanbul, to my sur- prise my wife (who is a nurse) suggested we visit the Florence Nightingale Museum
and the cemetery associated with her hospital
began when Constantinople was an important base for British forces fighting against those of Imperial Russia on the Crimean peninsula and in the Black sea region (1854-5). One of the first modern military hospitals was established in
there. Perhaps unsurprisingly the
museum, which was situated in a
Turkish Army barracks and involved
faxing (yes, faxing) your passport
details to them, didn’t come off. We
had to be content with the ceme-
tery which, in the pouring rain, was
an absolute mission to get to. My
brown leather shoes were totally
soaked and at the end of the day
when I took them off my feet had been liter- ally tanned a brown colour which took 2 days to completely go. Therefore, dear reader, you should appreciate what follows!
Crimean War
Following a convoluted route we finally found the Haidar Pasha cemetery. After having got used to the chaotic and sometimes broken up city streets of Istanbul, the first impression you get is of how completely immaculate the grounds of the cem- etery are. The mature trees and shrubs attest to the long period of continuous care this tranquil placehasreceived.Indeed,theCommonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) has main- tained this cemetery since 1925. But its origins
visit to the
nearby Selimiye Barracks (Scutari) by Florence Nightingale and the cemetery was its burial ground. It is now the final resting place of some 6,000 British sol- diers who died during the Crimean war, many of cholera, dysentery, typhus or typhoid. Sadly, only a few of the graves are now marked. Pictured is one of the few grave stones from the war which
still exist. The script on the stone says:
“Erected as a mark of respect and esteem by his brother officers to the memory of the Lt Colonel George Ainslie 21st Regiment Brit- ish Fusiliers who died at Scutari on the 15th November 1854 age 45 years from a wound received when leading on the right wing of his regiment at the Battle of Inkerman on the 5th November 1854”
The grieving family erected a marble memo- rial plaque in their local church (St Peter’s in Aubourn, Haddington and South Hykeham, Lincs.) which added: “He was a good man, a perfect gentleman, and a gallant soldier”.
It is now the final resting place
of some 6,000 British soldiers...
Plaque from the British community in Turkey commemorating Florence Nightingale and affixed on Empire Day in 1954
146 HISTORICAL