British Association for Cemeteries in South Asia

The British Association for Cemeteries in South Asia (BACSA) seeks to preserve graves from the Red Sea to the China Coast. Their website: www.bacsa.org.uk provides a wealth of information. It may be from the cemeteries and tombstones they are documenting you find that long Irish relative or that illusive birth place in Ireland carved on a tombstone.

Not only does the BACSA document the “British” cemeteries, but those from other European colonies. The East India Company had competition from Denmark, France, and The Netherlands. The BACSA estimates on the Indian Subcontinent alone there are more than 2 million graves of European merchants, military, civil servants, Anglo-Indians and their families.

The Society documents the locations of the cemeteries, transcribes the inscriptions and photographs the tombs and tombstones. They publish their findings. To date, they have sponsored over 100 projects utilizing the support of the locals to restore and conserve these graveyards.

The BACSA Archive is housed at the British Library in London: www.bl.uk/.  It contains folders on the majority of cemeteries in Bangladesh, India and Pakistan with some from Afghanistan, China, Indonesia, Malaysia and the Middle East. Some of the graveyards documented no longer exist making the BACSA collections invaluable.

The “BACSA Search” feature allows you to search their published books under one unified index. You can narrow your search by country or graveyard or simply conduct a broader search. A list of their publications can also be found on the Society website.

This is a worthy organization which is often the only advocate for these historic sites. They not only encourage new members, but also they have a form online to inform travelers the correct information to seek if they find a graveyard or are visiting one in South Asia. You can help in the preservation process!