Page 125 - Who Was Sapper Brown

importance. A small British garrison was stationed there for a while, especially during the First World
War when some 1300 Turkish prisoners from the Gallipoli campaign were held here. Once Cyprus

became independent in 1960, Famagusta developed into a main tourist area, only to lapse into obscurity
after the Turkish intervention of 1974. It is now within the Turkish-controlled north of the island, with

the British bases at Dhekelia and Ayios Nikolaos just to the southwest. The British military and civilian
cemetery at Famagusta was almost completely neglected for some 30 years after the intervention, and

several tombstones were vandalised. For the last ten years or so it has been maintained diligently on a
purely voluntary basis by a committee of six British expatriates aided by a financial contribution by the

Commonwealth War Graves Commission towards the maintenance of its 20 British First World War
graves and the Cross of Sacrifice. There are four Royal Navy graves (two from the First World War and

two from 1931), and two French Navy graves from 1919. There are no Second World War burials here.

The First Burial

Major James (Joe) Argyll Spalding Inglis, 71st Highland Light Infantry (71st Regiment of Foot), who
died on 1 April 1883 at the age of 34 years was the first person to be buried in the Famagusta British

Military and Civilian Cemetery, and he still has the most prominent setting therein.1 His regiment, which
had landed with Lieutenant General Wolseley’s Expeditionary Force on 22 July 1878, left Cyprus on

Sunday 15 December 1878, five years before he died, but he had stayed on, as Wolseley had appointed

him Assistant Commissioner of Famagusta on 1 August 1878, and then Commissioner on 13 October
1878.

He went on to become Assistant Commissioner of Nicosia on 4 December 1881, and then Commissioner

on 1 January 1882. This was in keeping with Wolseley’s policy of appointing high calibre military men
into such posts.2

The grave of Major James Argyll Spalding Inglis, died 1 April 1883

1 Cyprus Gazette, 16 April 1883, p. 294 (The National Archives: CO 70/1)

2 Harfield, A. G (1978), ‘British military presence in Cyprus in the 19th century.’ Journal of the Society for Army Historical
Research Vol.56, No. 227, pp.160 – 172.

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