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Distinguished Royal Engineers

Buried in Cyprus

The most distinguished Royal Engineer buried in Cyprus is Sir John Eugene Clauson, buried in Nicosia

British Cemetery. He was a Knight Commander, Order of St Michael and St George (KCMG), and a
Commander, Royal Victorian Order (CVO). He was a military high flyer who, in his early twenties, had

designed a revolutionary pontoon bridge that was subsequently adopted by the army. He rose to the rank

of Major in the Royal Engineers, before going on to become Lieutenant Governor and Chief Secretary
of Malta, and finally His Majesty’s High Commissioner and Commander-in-Chief in Cyprus during

the whole of the First World War.7 He died in service at Government House just after the war ended, on
31 December 1918, age 52, apparently of pulmonary tuberculosis. His story, and how he overcame the

immense challenges he faced throughout the First World War, are ably recounted in Tabitha Morgan’s
history of the British in Cyprus.8

The grave of Sir John Eugene Clauson, KCMG, CVO,

High Commissioner and Commander-in-Chief Cyprus 1914 – 1918

7 The following announcement then appeared in The Edinburgh Gazette on 22 December 1914, page 1557: DOWN-

ING STREET, December 16, 1914: ‘The KING has been pleased to appoint Major Sir John Eugene Clauson, K.C.M.G., C.V.O.
(Lieutenant-Governor and Chief Secretary of Malta), to be High Commissioner and Commander-in-Chief of the Island of Cyprus.’
www.edinburgh-gazette.co.uk/issues/12753/pages/1557/page.pdf

8 Morgan, Tabitha (2010), ‘Clauson will do the best he can. 1914 – 1918.’ in Sweet and Bitter Island – a history of the British in
Cyprus (London: I B Tauris).

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