This cemetery was initially established for British soldiers who fought in the Crimean War (1854–1856). Around 6,000 soldiers were buried here during this time, many of whom died from cholera as the Third Cholera Pandemic, which began in India in 1852, swept across Asia, Europe, Africa and North America. It was during this time that Florence Nightingale established the nearby military hospital, today the Selimiye Barracks. There is a memorial to her in the cemetery and in the Barracks. Later, it was the burial place for Commonwealth soldiers from the two World Wars, as well as other British civilians, and up until 1925, it was under the responsibility of the British government.

Its location in a vast green space in Kadıköy has earned it the title of the ‘English garden’ by the late Yolande Whittall, one of the last generation of the great Levantine trading families. Cornucopia 52 features her moving impression of the cemetery, where her ancestors lie buried.