Historic Gibraltar cemetery named after eighteenth‑century British officer Witham.
Witham's Cemetery is a cemetery in Gibraltar. It takes its name from Captain Witham, an eighteenth‑century British officer involved in the sieges of Gibraltar, described as a spirited gentleman who enjoyed digging up a garden overnight. Graves from the Witham's Road Cemetery were later moved to North Front Cemetery.
Witham's Cemetery is a cemetery in Gibraltar, a British Overseas Territory at the entrance to the Mediterranean. The site is named after Captain Witham, a British officer of the eighteenth century who was involved in the sieges of Gibraltar. A contemporary description portrays him as a rather spirited gentleman who enjoyed himself by digging up a garden over the night, a colourful detail that survives in accounts of the cemetery’s origin and name. Documentation associated with the Gibraltar Naval Memorial records that the United States Navy, in cooperation with British authorities, moved a number of graves from the Witham's Road Cemetery to the North Front Cemetery. This indicates that some burials once linked with Witham’s name were transferred elsewhere, although the specific reasons and dates are not provided in the available sources. Visual records show several images of Witham’s Cemetery and related historical material, including depictions of Captain Witham alongside Roger Curtis in the painting The Sortie Made by the Garrison of Gibraltar, 1789 by John Trumbull. Within Gibraltar’s landscape of burial grounds, Witham’s Cemetery is recognised as one of the cemeteries in Gibraltar and appears in heritage and historical references connected with the territory.
