On this day the first burial took place at South Park Street Cemetery, which stands at the crossing of Park Street and Lower Circular Road.
The person who was buried that day was John Wood, a writer at the Customs House. This grave was later razed. The oldest gravestone at the cemetery is now of Mrs Sarah Pearson, who was buried here in 1768. Park Street was then known as Burial Ground Road. Later, it was renamed Park Street after the park surrounding judge Sir Elijah Impey’s residence.
The cemetery has about 1,600 tombs. There are several cenotaphs and many tombs are inscribed with epitaphs. They are often covered by a roof or supported by small Corinthian or Ionian columns.
Many eminent people are buried here, including radical poet and thinker Henry Louis Vivian Derozio, philologist and Orientalist William Jones and Robert Kyd, who founded Botanical Gardens in Kolkata. Many graves are of young people and of children.