Monumental Inscriptions of Britons in Kefalonia

I've just returned from a holiday in Kefalonia, a Greek island.

The scenery is remarkably like the hillier parts of the Borders, although the vegetation is different, and the hills much higher.

As the largest Ionian island, it was liberated from the French during the Napoleonic Wars in 1809 by British forces, remaining as a British protectorate until 1863.

There's a British cemetery there, on the Lixouri peninsula, at the other end of a stone bridge from the capital, Argostoli. The bridge was originally wooden, built in 1813 by a Swiss engineer, Colonel Charles Philip de Bosset, employed by the British army. The stone bridge was built in 1839.

The army also constructed most of the island's main roads, and a number of buildings (the latter now lost due to a major earthquake in 1953).

Inscriptions of people buried in the cemetery are available online, and two of my favourite ones are
http://www.northeastmedals.co.uk/mm/kefalonia_argostoli_british/cemetery.htm

and
http://www.c5d.co.uk/100.htm

To comment on this article, please click the 'comments' link below.