Looking after a corner of England in the heart of Malaga

For more than 175 years from when the English Cemetery in Malaga, the oldest Protestant cemetery on the Spanish mainland, was founded in 1831, it was run by successive British consuls with some funding from the British government.

However, by the end of the twentieth century this money had been withdrawn and the cemetery had fallen into a state of neglect.

With nobody responsible for its upkeep, the then British consul Bruce McIntyre considered that the best solution would be to put it into the hands of a charitable foundation in Spain in an attempt to raise funds.

Bruce put his idea forward to the British government and on 23 February 2005 SUR reported that the British Consulate in Malaga was “awaiting the signing of the constitution of the foundation for the maintenance of the English Cemetery in the city”, but that its financial resources were “almost exhausted”.

The ownership of the cemetery was eventually transferred to the nonprofit-making Fundación Cementerio Inglés de Málaga on 20 June 2006.

The foundation was entrusted with preserving, maintaining and administering the cemetery as part of the city’s heritage and Bruce would go on to become the foundation’s president, a role he still holds today.

Collecting the special recognition at Monday’s SURin English 40th anniversary gala, Bruce reflected on the steps he took to get the cemetery recognised as a foundation: “When I first arrived here in 2000, the cemetery wasn’t known by the British community and very little known by the Malaga community. Very few of the British ever came into Malaga in those days and didn’t know about the cemetery. The few who did know believed that it was property of the British government and thought they should be looking after it.”

In 2010 the English Cemetery participated for the first time in Malaga’s ‘Noche en Blanco’ and this acted as a catalyst for the foundation’s programme of guided tours and other events. “We are now well-known in Malaga. Many Malagueños have got to know us over the years through our visiting programme, with schools coming to see us, guided, night and dramatised visits, concerts and other cultural events. One of the things that we are proud of is that Malaga knows we exist and I think the British community now also knows,” Bruce said while speaking about the programme of events which is still thriving today.

However, despite the establishment of the foundation, in January 2011, as Spain was in the grips of an economic crisis, SUR reported: “The English Cemetery in Malaga is in trouble. It will have to close its doors to the public at the end of this month if it does not obtain funds to cover the costs of its upkeep.”

There was better news by the end of the month when Malaga city hall stepped forward with enough funding to keep it open. At the same time the foundation launched an appeal to find sponsors.

There was further good news on 20 November 2012 when the English Cemetery was listed as a cultural asset (Bien de Interés Cultural) by the Junta de Andalucía.

“That was very important to us because it prevented any moves that might be made to try to expropriate the cemetery for building purposes as had been rumoured when I first arrived, so we were safe there,” Bruce explained.

In April 2023 the English Cemetery launched an audio guide available in six languages (English, Spanish, German, Dutch, French and Finnish) and three months later, in July, the foundation was presented the ‘Solidarity’ prize at the annual Joan Hunt award ceremony. Receiving that award Bruce said, “The cemetery is an important historic site and we want visitors here to have the best possible experience.”

On 6 June 2024 the first gala dinner and charity auction were held where the “ambition to transform the historic site into one of Andalucía’s emblematic gardens” was revealed.

Accompanying Bruce onto the stage at Monday’s gala, David Tweed, trustee responsible for fundraising and funeral services for the cemetery said, “In 40 years I hope we are still a model for gardening innovation on the Costa del Sol.”