The French Cemetery in Gallipoli (Gelibolu) - Graham Lee, 2009

The French cemetery is located on a slope overlooking Hamzaköy Bay about 10-15 minutes walk from the harbour in the centre of Gallipoli (Gelibolu). It is just beyond the headland with cliffs and a lighthouse that divides the town. The cemetery is usually open since a watchman and his family live at lodgings inside the cemetery, which is under the responsibility of the French Embassy in Ankara. The cemetery predominantly contains graves from the Crimean War, pre-1914 consulates, and post-war period (1919-1923).


The cemetery is in 3 sections – upper, middle and lower – each section divided by low walls and metal railings. There are no graves visible in the middle section.

Upper Section

This part of the cemetery is dominated by a tall white tower in the centre dedicated to French soldiers who lost their lives in 1854-56. The only other inscription on the tower is “a. George 1935”.

There is a large box-shaped grave with no inscription, possibly a communal grave, and a grave to 11 Senegalese soldiers (unnamed) who died in 1919-1923. There are 6 individual graves (without names) of officers who died in the Crimean War marked simply “1854-56 Guerre d’Orient”. As well as these, there are 4 large gravestones with no inscription whatsoever (possibly re-internments from previous graves where the inscriptions were worn and unreadable).

The individual graves are as follows:

• Capitaine Paul Boutonnet. Infanterie Coloniale. 1 Nov. 1922.
• F. J. d’Andria (François d’Andria). French Consul 1870-1886. Born 1822, died 1903. He played an important role in the establishment of this cemetery in 1854.
• Caroline d’Andria (1825-1901). Spouse of Mr. F.J. d’Andria.
• Elfride d’Andria. Daughter of François & Caroline d’Andria. Died at the age of 16 of smallpox.
• Helene d’Andria. 1875-1886 (?) Daughter of Charles & Isabelle d’Andria and granddaughter of François d’Andria, the Consul. She died of small-pox.
• Isabelle d’Andria. Spouse of M. Charles d’Andria, Agent Consulaire de France. Died 1880. She was born PASQUALI, her mother was a d’Andria. She married her first cousin Charles d’Andria
• Frederic Odoni (died 14 January 1904). Possibly son of Amilcar & Marie Odoni.
• Amilcar Odoni. English vice-consul (Vice Consul d’Angleterre). Died at Gallipoli 25 December 1898. Husband of Marie Elisabeth Pasquali, niece of François d’Andria, the Consul.
• Alfred Odoni. Died 1878. Age 7 years. Son of Amilcar & Marie Odoni.
• Tancrede Odoni… (no other information or dates inscribed)
• ANGUELIKI s PAPADOPOLO ALEXANDROS sp (this grave is smaller than the others)
• Adele Battus PASQUALI. 187(6). (gravestone very worn) Adele Pasquali – niece of the Consul François d’Andria & sister of Isabelle & Marie Elisabeth – married Casimir Battus, Agent of Cie Fraissinet, in Gallipoli. She died at the age of 22, probably during childbirth.
• Pierre Dosile DLLIUNEAJ. 1814… 20 Juillet 1854.

The following two graves belong to brothers from a church-school: “Chapelle des Peres Assomptionnistes / Ecole de Peres”. It is thought that the building became a primary school in Republican times post 1923 but may no longer exist.

• Frere Nicephore Carelas de L’Assomption. Died 18 December 1913, aged 23.
• Frere Donatien Metais de L’Assomption. Died 23 May 1904, aged 26.

There is a small, rather worn grave with a two-sided sloping roof having inscriptions on both sides, belonging to: Michel Louis Félix Ney – Duc d’Elchingen – general de (brigade). Né à Paris le XXII Avril MDCCCIV (22 avril 1804). Décédé le 14 Juillet MDCCCIX (14 juillet 1854). He was the second son of Michel Ney, Marechal de France, Duc d’Elchingen & Prince de la Moskowa, one of Napoleon’s companions.

Alongside the old grave is a much larger, newer grave inscribed “Felix Ney, General de Brigade”.

Lower Section

The only individual grave is that of “Alexandre, Fils du General Federoff, 1912-1920”. His father belonged to the White Russian army that camped in Gallipoli 1920-21. He was buried in this cemetery thanks to Henri d’Andria, son of François d’Andria. In recognition, his mother gave Henri’s daughter, who was a child then, a few lessons in Russian.

In the centre of the lower cemetery is a large flat grave dedicated to: “Soldats Francais decedes a Nagara pendant la Guerre D’Orient 1854-1855-1856. Transferes a Gallipoli en 1886”. (French soldiers who died at Nagara during the Crimean War of 1854-56. Transferred to Gallipoli in 1886).

During the Crimean War, there were three British hospitals along the Dardanelles (at Renkioi, Gallipoli, and Kumkale-Besika Bay) and a French hospital at Nagara, the location once known as “Abydos” and nowadays called “Nara Burnu”. There would have been a cemetery attached to each of these. Later on, Crimean war burials tended to be gathered together either at the British Consular Cemetery in Chanak (“Canakkale”, “the Dardanelles”) or the French cemetery in Gallipoli.

An inscription on the small building at the bottom of the cemetery states that it is in memory of the 5,000 French soldiers who died in the “Guerre D’Orient” in 1854-56. On the rear of the building is a further description (“Ossuaire transfere ici en 1935”) stating that the bones were re-interred to this location in 1935.

The reason for the 1886 and 1935 reburials is unknown at present.


 Note: Additional information in compiling this listing courtesy of Marie-Anne Marandet.