Lloyd's Road Jewish Cemetery

The Jewish Cemetery is a cemetery for the Paradesi Jews of Chennai, India. It is located off Lloyd's Road. The cemetery remains the only physical record of the historical Jewish presence in the City. Burials include the tombstones of 18th-century Jewish diamond merchants. The cemetery houses fewer than 30 graves, of which a handful are almost 300 years old. The cemetery is located on a market area of the road west of the Marina Fish Market and is adjacent to Baháʼí and Chinese cemeteries. Among the graves is that of Victoria 'Toyah' Sofaer, who was born into an elite Baghdadi family and died in Madras in 1943, aged 22. the story of her life and tragically young death was investigated by the BBC. The cemetery formerly used to have an iron gate on which a plaque was attached on which a Star of David and the words "Jewish Cemetery" were inscribed. After the renovation around 2016, these doors were replaced with sturdier ones. Before the renovation, the cemetery had been reported to be in a state of severe disrepair – with rusted iron gates, partially grown shrubs, and cracked walls. People in the surrounding area were oblivious to the existence and historical importance of the cemetery. As of 2016, it had few visitors.

Cemetery data from Wikidata (CC0). Summary from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA).