High on my list when visiting Fort Kochi, was to pay my respects at the old Dutch Cemetery. It dates to 1724 and is one of the country’s oldest European cemeteries.
Today, it’s managed by the Church of South India (CSI) and sadly, for me at least, the gates were locked. I had to make do with peering over the walls. Had I known, I could have rung ahead and made arrangements. 
But such is life.
The Dutch ruled this part of India from 1663 to 1795 having ousted the Portuguese and before being ousted themselves by the British.
From what I read, the oldest graves dates to 1724 and the most recent to 1913, being that of Captain Joseph Ethelbert Winckler, whose burial marked the end of an era. Capt. Winkler was the Port Officer of Cochin Port during the great fire of 1890.
The graffiti on the cemetery wall was more than apt.
