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English Camp Cemetery
San Juan Island, San Juan County, Washington

Lat: 48° 35' 00"N, Lon: 123° 08' 24"W
T36N R4W Section 25

Contributed by Scott Smith, Sep 14, 2003. [scottysm@comcast.net]. Total records = 7.

English Camp Cemetery is on nearly level ground, about halfway up Young Hill on San Juan Island.

This is a very small cemetery for a few British Marines who died while waiting resolution of a border dispute between the United States and Canada.*

The plots are surrounded by a white picket fence and shaded by several large trees. Vancouver Island, B.C. is visible through the trees.

English Camp is maintained by the National Park Service. Four of the original buildings remain, including the blockhouse. The British flag flies over this park, although only the cemetery is actually British territory.

The 360 (views from the top of Young Hill (650 feet) include the Olympic Mountains to the southwest and Saturna Island to the north. Sidney, B.C. is nearly eleven miles WNW, while Victoria, B.C. is about thirteen miles WSW. Garrison Bay and English Camp are less-than a mile west, at the base of Young Hill.

The Cemetery has five stone monuments and two other gravesites, although a 1964 plaque states there are seven Royal Marines and one civilian buried there.

I visited this cemetery on Jul 19, 2003.

- Scott Smith

Davis, William, d. May 07, 1868, age 26, Pte. 109th Company RMLI, accidentally drowned
Ellis, Jos, d. Jan 04, 1863, Pte. RMLI, accidentally drowned
Riddy, Thomas, d. Jan 04, 1863, Pte. RMLI, accidentally drowned
Stewart, G. E., d. Jun 01, 1865, age 28, Corp. (corporal) RMLI, suddenly departed this life, Native of Derby, England
Taylor, William, d. Jan 26, 1868, age 34, (civilian) accidentally shot by his brother
Weasley, James, d. Apr 07, 1869, Pte. 27th Company RMLI, drowned in the adjacent harbor (Garrison Bay) . His body was not found, but a monument exists
Wood, Charles, d. Jan 08, 1869, age 28, Pte. (private) 109th Company Royal Marine Light Infantry (RMLI). There is no monument or cause of death

*San Juan Island was "occupied" by British and American forces from 1860 to 1872 after an American settler killed a British pig in 1859. The islands that comprise the San Juan group were involved in a border dispute that became know as the Pig War. This dispute was settled in favor of the Americans. During the intervening years, British and American solders went about their daily routine of drill and cutting firewood at their separate camps, with regular social gatherings between the two groups. Not a single shot was fired in anger during this twelve-year war.

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