WRITER Alexander McCall Smith is launching a campaign to restore the graves of India's great Scots. The Scottish Cemetery in Calcutta is the last resting place of doctors, adventurers, missionaries and businessmen. But the graveyard has been derelict since India won independence in 1947.
Now, No 1 Ladies' Detective Agency author McCall Smith is backing a s200,000 project to restore it to its former glory. Organisers including Lord Charles Bruce are in talks with the Mayor of Calcutta over the planned revamp. More than s20,000 has already been raised to pay for an architectural survey. McCall Smith, who backed the bid after a chance meeting with Lord Charles in India, said: "The graves tell their tale - the characteristically Scottish names carved into the gravestones recording the simple facts of a life.
"There are many Scots who have relatives in that distant Calcutta graveyard and who want to find their graves. "Once the Scottish Cemetery is restored their task will be made all the easier and a bit of our history will have been returned."
Many names on the gravestones belong to Dundee families, because of the city's many connections to the jute industry. In 1800, almost threequarters of the East India Company officials serving in India were Scottish and 60 per cent of the agency houses in Calcutta were owned by Scots. Lord Charles, a direct descendent of two Viceroys of India, said: "The cemetery is filled with Scots who are very much a part of our colourful history in India - and it's a history worth preserving. The project is backed by the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland, who keep records of places of value to Scots. Secretary Diana Murray said: "The cemetery is an important monument to the joint heritage of Scotland and India."
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