'The wind whispers through the trees,
Recalling words and dreams
And memories of those who left us
Long ago.'

EILEEN HEWSON'S passion for old graveyards has been the inspiration for her travels in the Indian subcontinent. From the former British hill stations across the Himalaya, to the tea plantations of Assam, she has searched for the Irish who died in service to the British or in the cause of peace and are buried in kabristans or cemeteries in foreign lands.

Her enthusiasm also extends to the people in the west of Ireland who stayed and died at home. Their burial places are disintegrating and will soon vanish for ever. This history is equally important and must be preserved otherwise they too will become the forgotten Irish.

During her search for the Irish memorials on the Indian subcontinent, Eileen found many inscriptions were intertwined with those of the British. Because their cemeteries also face extinction, she has recorded the inscriptions and their history. In Simla, the old British summer capital of the Raj there are over 1000 recorded burials but now only a handful of graves remain, less than 100 were found in 2000.

In a corner of the former British residency garden in Leh lie the remains of adventurers who lost their lives exploring the Himalayan vastness between India and China. They mostly died of altitude related diseases and the difficulties of travelling in the region. Up to the late 1900s access to Leh was limited to three months of the year and only by road from Srinagar (there was no airport). Leh was once a major trading post for many races from as far away as Afghanistan.

The tea planters of Assam and Darjeeling were predominately Scots who left their homes during the highland clearances. Many of their descendants stayed on for several decades. Some died of mysterious complaints such as 'brain fever' or 'imbalance of the nerves'. Death due to 'a gun going off accidentally' is open to speculation. The tea planters left en masse during the 1960s after the devaluation of the Indian rupee.

The beauty of Kashmir enticed many foreigners to 'stay on'. The enchantment of living on a houseboat in Srinagar surrounded by snow covered mountains within reasonable reach of New Delhi must surely have been a good enough reason to remain in India.

The promise of great riches such as sapphires and emeralds lured foreigners to Ceylon and caused several wars. The Dutch, the Portuguese and the British all fought for possession of this strategic island. The British won and turned to tea planting frequenting the hill stations of Kandy and Nuwara Eliya in their leisure time.

Statesmen, missionaries, priests, soldiers from the Irish regiments including the Inniskilling Fusiliers, the Connaught Rangers not forgetting the mutineers who rebelled in India (1920), adventurers including George Thomas nicknamed the Raja of Tipperary, women and children who left Ireland in search of a living and to escape the inevitable poverty. The Irish who stayed at home surviving the famine and the scourge of emigration, eked out a living on poor land. They are also remembered. Henry Lawrence, Governor of the Punjab (he was British and Irish) is remembered at Sanawar, the school he founded for orphans. The German missionaries in Leh and Lahoul are also remembered.

From her travels Eileen Hewson has written about these people, recording their memorials and their lives. Some of the inscriptions are very old, one found in Kiltoghert Graveyard, County Leitrim, in memory of Bishop Moran dates back to 1166. Others have no memorials at all, they are also remembered. Her paperback books are intended to help family historians to find their lost ancestors and their own identity. Or maybe just to tell a good tale from the past for those who are prepared to listen.

Eileen Hewson is a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society and the founder of Kabristan Archives.