PMB Commercial Road Cemetery - Roman Catholic Section

There is no plan or register of the Catholic cemetery, nor does there appear to have ever been one, and the graves themselves are unnumbered and randomly arranged.

I have divided the cemetery plan into 6 rough blocks as indicated in the accompanying sketch.  Some of the stones are covered completely by earth and grass and may have subsequently disappeared once more.   There is also a list of Indian plot owners which is a bit unsatisfactory as the original compiler of the list seems to have been only semi-literate.  Most of the Indian and Black graves are in Block F which has very few gravestones.  Blocks A, B, C & D are parishioners' graves.  Block E was used by the religious orders of priests, nuns and brothers. 

HISTORY:  The burial ground was granted to the Roman Catholic community in 1850.  At this point it measured only 1 acre 30 perches.  An extension was granted in October 1884 which doubled its size.  The earlist gravestone surviving in the cemetery is that of Sarah Doyle who died on 18 June 1854 aged 37.  She was the wife of Dennis Doyle, an ex-45th Regiment soldier.

Neil Bloy