Cemeteries

An insight into the story of our early settlers, and indeed those of later years, can be guessed at from  reading tombstones in cemeteries on Falkland farms.

We read of the fate of many local seamen on small cutters and other boats, and other maritime disasters; sailors killed in accidents at sea, dying from scurvy, falling overboard, misadventure or other questionable circumstances.

Life on the farms, particularly in isolated shepherd’s houses or on islands, was hard and fraught with problems. These arose from the lack of communications and the fact that no medical  help was readily available.

We feel for these folk when we read or hear stories of sad and tragic deaths. There has been a little puzzlement, however, of some causes of death attributed to “visitations of God”.

One of the responsibilities of the Museum & National  Trust is to ensure that the fences round these numerous cemeteries are kept in good order. Where possible, individual graves, scattered around  coasts or in lone sites in settlements have been marked and identified.

A  long term project carried out under the auspices of the M&NT was to identify who was buried in each cemetery or grave in Camp. Whilst we cannot be positive that these records are 100% correct, there is at least something down on paper.