The Buenos Aires British Cemetery was founded in 1820, and its first location was on Juncal Street, between Suipacha and Esmeralda. In 1833, it moved to what is now the Plaza Primero de Mayo in the Balvanera neighborhood. Since 1892, it can be found in its current location of Chacarita.

Because the cemetery was initially intended for British Protestants — or dissidents, as they were called then — many of the Britons who volunteered in Argentina’s armed forces during the nation’s independence wars and the War Against the Empire of Brazil were buried there. Most of their tombstones, monuments, and plaques were transported to the cemetery’s final site, but not all. Thus was born the idea for a memorial monolith.

Although this monolith serves as a tribute to all of the Britons who fought on Argentina’s behalf, there are six officers who have been immortalized on the corvettes of the Argentine Navy and whose surnames have been given to state schools, streets, and towns across the country. Now, they have received a new form of recognition.

On November 22, the British Cemetery unveiled its memorial monolith with a moving ceremony, replete with bagpipes and a rendition of the national anthem by the Argentine Navy Band. 

The six names the ceremony served to celebrate were: Enrique Guillermo Parker (1787-1826), Francisco Drummond (1798-1827), Guillermo Enrique Granville (1786-1836) Roberto Billinghurst (1782-1841), Guillermo Bathurst (1796-1844), and Carlos Bauness (1797-1855), each of whom provided a unique contribution to the Argentine war effort. In fact, Billinghurst was the first foreigner to receive Argentine citizenship.

Anglican Bishop Brian Williams gave the initial blessings, which retired Admiral Daniel Alberto Martin, Brigadier General Sergio Maldonado, and Richard Flory of the British Embassy followed with speeches of their own. Each expressed their gratitude to these British-born officers for fighting on behalf of Argentine freedom and independence.

After the ceremony at the chapel, the monolith was unveiled, and one could say that all those present bore witness to an act of historical justice: a commemoration of those brave men who fought for Argentina and whose remains rest in its soil.