Comely Bank was first opened as a public cemetery in 1843. It was later laid out for the Edinburgh Cemetery Company in 1898 by Mr. J. M. Dick Peddie. The only entrance is on Crewe Road South, about 200m north-west of the roundabout junction with the Craigleith Road. Some parking is possible on cemetery roads inside the entrance. During the first world war, a plot was acquired for burials for servicemen and women who died in three local military hospitals, and 225 burials took place as a result. At least 50 of the servicemen buried here died of the Spanish flu pandemic of 1918-1920. A further 76 servicemen were buried here during the second world war.