Why do the English want to have their own cemeteries in Gran Canaria or Tenerife?
The Protestant community, English and also Dutch, and to a lesser extent Germans, who reside on the islands, dedicated to commerce, need a place to bury their deceased because they live here in a stable way. Since the 19th century, they have been demanding a dignified place for the Spanish State to bury their relatives, a battle that costs them time. In the 1930s, a Royal Order for burials was issued in La Coruña, and in this way both that of Gran Canaria, on the Paseo de San José, and that of Tenerife, along with the catholic of San Rafael and San Roque, that they can buy is obtained. a site to build cemeteries. But before these two were made, in the seventeenth century, in the port of La Orotava there was a place where the Dutch community, which was dedicated to the wine trade, had a place to bury their own. There is a letter from 1674 from a commissioner of the Holy Office of La Orotava that talks about the burials of the English, which is the first written reference to an English cemetery in all of Spain.
How is the San José cemetery different from those already on the island?
Especially in that they are burial graves, there are no niches, except in Puerto de la Cruz where in the 60s of the last century, due to lack of space if they are placed. The English inhuman, which means to put in the ground. And also the monuments, the Irish, Celtic crosses, all brought from Manchester, Liverpool, London … All a funerary heritage that is not found in other cemeteries,
And that is why they are declared an Asset of Cultural Interest?
Yes. One of the challenges that canaries have is to face the conservation of these spaces, which were born as a private initiative, 50 percent of which is set by the British State, but the other 50 is set by the Miller family, the Wood family, of the Southampton, all the English families are the ones who contribute the money. Now who is in charge of its maintenance is the Cabildo and the City Council.
“In the San José cemetery the Miller area is delimited, and there are three generations”
But can’t you visit?
The one in San José has been declared BIC since 2010 but is closed. I think it is a mistake because it would be very interesting for it to form a tourist route like other cemeteries in other countries. Sure, it has been protected as a Property of Interest, but the reality is that you have to invest money to maintain it, and the British community does not have the resources to do so. The English Club is concerned about this. In Malaga an association was made to safeguard this place. We live off tourism, and there are people who like to visit cemeteries, so I insist that it is important that it be open. There is a route of cemeteries in Europe and you can do a route of heritage cemeteries in the Canary Islands.
Are class distinctions visible within the British cemetery?
Sure, there are tombs that stand out for a marble cross and others have nothing, and that marks distinctions. There are those who can afford a monument and those who cannot. In the Vegueta cemetery the entire area of the Millers is delimited by an iron fence, it is the most VIP area, where Tomás Miller, his widow, his son, are three generations of Miller’s are buried. It is like here in Catholic churches, in which spaces are allocated within the chapels to the Manrique de Lara family, and to the families that pay for them. Whoever had a house in Triana and showed off his wealth in life built a mausoleum in Vegueta. Death equates us all as Jorge Manrique said, but the grave marked a distinction.
What elements do you bring the most from England?
The Millers bring an entire neoclassical monument that they attach to the wall. They are brought from simple tombstones or structures with the entire fence of the grave and the cross. It is not only to bring it but to pay a stonemason to install it. Everything was handled by the family from the UK. Consider that there are many British people who were not stable residents but who came because they suffered from tuberculosis and were in hospitals, and when their family died what they want is for them to have the same burial that they would have given there.
Are there graves of known British and others that not so much?
In this cemetery are the remains of a missionary born in Cincinnati, who was in the Congo, and came to recover, who has a precise epitaph: he died for Africa. It is a very beautiful phrase. There are the remains of British Army officers who were in West Africa, in Sierra Leone; there are daughters of evangelical pastors; consuls, and academics; and the founder of the English fascist party, Rotha Berly Lintorn-Orman, who was forced to leave Britain, and died here in 1935. Also the remains of the soldier, Nicholson, who was part of the crew of the ship MSHood, which shot down a German submarine.
“The tombstones, the crosses of Liverpool or Manchester are brought, a whole funerary heritage”
And which epitaph has caught your attention the most?
I have been asked many times. Frankly, I couldn’t tell you. Well, apart from the missionary, Tomás Miller’s because he claims to have lived 68 years in the capital of Gran Canaria. His epitaph says that he was a merchant after a 68-year residence in the city. That shows that the British community merged very well with this city.
How many people are buried in that place?
More than half a thousand dead, but not only British, there are Germans, Hebrews, and Jews.
Was it too small?
Yes, what happens is that in the sixties many Protestants were buried in San Lázaro, and now there are more cremations.
