Rinella and Bighi Cemeteries

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Bighi Royal Naval Hospital had its own cemetery within its boundaries. The cemetery and some of the hospital grounds were redeveloped for a housing project in 1967 and any remains were removed from Bighi in December 1966. A gravestone at the Commonwealth Cemetery states: ‘This stone stands in memory of those originally interred in the cemetery of the Royal Naval Hospital, Bighi, in the years 1846 to 1901. Their names are forever recorded in a memorial book in the church of St. Oswald, Royal Naval Hospital, Malta.’

Rinella Cemetery was located about halfway between the Commonwealth Cemetery and Bighi Hospital, and was used by British Servicemen and their families from 1865 to 1916. In 1978 any remains were transferred into a mass grave at the Commonwealth Cemetery where a gravestone states: ‘Here buried are those members of the British Services and their families who died between 1865 and 1913 and were formerly interred in Rinella Military cemetery.’ Today this cemetery has been transformed as a public garden.