British Engineers Honored at San Sebastián English Cemetery for 1813 Siege Deaths
A marble plaque at the English Cemetery in San Sebastián commemorates four British engineers who died during the 1813 siege of San Sebastián. The plaque lists Colonel Sir Richard Fletcher, Captain C. Rhodes, Captain G. Collyer, and Lieutenant L. Machell of the Royal Engineers. This memorial is part of a larger historical site on Mount Urgull, which serves as the final resting place for British individuals who perished during various conflicts in Spain, particularly the First Carlist War (1833-1840). The cemetery was established because many British volunteers were not Catholic and could not be buried in the city's Catholic cemetery. The site contains numerous gravestones and monuments, reflecting the lives and deaths of soldiers, officers, and even family members who accompanied them. The plaque for the 1813 siege engineers was placed by British volunteers decades later, during the First Carlist War, highlighting a complex historical narrative where former adversaries are remembered in the same space.
