Ceylon

Ceylon, to the South East of Madras Presidency

Ceylon, a large island and British colony in the Indian Ocean, separated on the N.W. from India by the Gulf of Manaar and Palk Strait. It lies between 5° 55' and 9° 51' N. and between 79° 41' and 81° 54' E. Its extreme length from north to south is 2 712 m.; its greatest width is 1371 m.; and its area amounts to 25,481 sq. m., or about five-sixths of that of Ireland. In its general outline the island resembles a pear, the apex of which points towards the north." The island is now called Sri Lanka.

History

The Portuguese arrived in the early 16th century, followed by the Dutch in the 17th Century with the British, as usual, arriving late - 1796 - when the British East India Company established control. In 1802 Ceylon became a British Crown Colony. The island was unified in 1815 (previously there had been three kingdoms) and the island finally gained its independence in 1948.

Military actions

• War against Dutch in Ceylon -1795-96
• 1st Kandyan War - 1803-05
• 2nd Kandyan War - 1815
• 3rd Kandyan War (Uva Rebellion) - 1817-18

Ceylon Planters Rifle Corps

The Ceylon Planters Rifle Corps was a Volunteer Corps established  in 1861. Initially the movement consisted of the Ceylon Light Infantry Volunteers but by the 1900s also had Artillery, Medical, Engineers and Supply and Transport units. 

The CPRC sent a contingent to South Africa in 1902 along with a detachment of the Ceylon Mounted Infantry. In 1910 the force became known as the Ceylon Defence Force.

A Corps of 150 ‘fine young Englishmen’ left Ceylon in 1914, comprised not only of planters but also Government servants, Colombo businessmen and others. They served in Egypt and were then attached to the Wellington infantry Battalion of the New Zealand Expeditionary Force in the ANZAC division at Gallipoli. The high standard of the men led to virtually all of them receiving commissions and they went on to serve in other regiments  which meant this Corps then ceased to exist.

Records

Except for the few short years when the East India Company was in control (1796-1802) records for Ceylon will not be found in the India Office Records at the British Library, but at The National Archives at Kew. For example, the description and succession books of the Ceylon Rifles covering years 1809-1872 are held under reference W025/638-641 (these include officers services) and reference WO23/158 includes the admission books for the Ceylon Rifles and Gun Lascars for the period May 1868-Sept 1876. Personal data may also be held amongst the National Archive's Administrative Records of Ceylon (Sri Lanka).

Some birth marriage and death information in respect of civil registration from 1867 may be obtained by writing to Registrar General's Office, New Secretariat, Maligawatta, Colombo 10, Sri Lanka.

In Holland, located in the same building as the National Archives at The Hague but a separate organization, is the 'Centraal Bureau voor Genealogie' (Central Bureau for Genealogy - CBG) , the Dutch information and documentation centre for genealogy, family history and related sciences. Researchers visiting this centre found some copies of records relating to British Ceylon christenings.

LDS Records

For general details about LDS records, including microfilms, see IGI.

Sri Lanka, Colombo District Dutch Reformed Church Records 1677-1990 are available on the familysearch website. These are not searchable by name but as images that can be browsed

The North Parramatta Family History Centre in Sydney, Australia has the detailed indexes to the Baptisms and Marriages at the Dutch Reformed Church at Wolfendaal, Colombo, up to 1897. These are not LDS microfilms but are spiral bound photocopies made from the journals and indexes at Victor Melder's Sri Lankan Library in Melbourne.

Churches and cemeteries

A researcher advised a trip to Sri Lanka in 2010 "uncovered masses of records in churches in Kandy, Colombo, Galle and Matara that need to be photographed ASAP... The Methodist Church seems to have centralised all records prior to 1982 in Colombo". "The Anglican church records are at the Diocesan library in Colombo. The records are from churches all over the Island."

Several kinds of registers of the Dutch Reformed Church at Galle and Matara are to be found in the main office of the Christian Reformed Church of Sri Lanka, in Colombo. The volumes include baptismal (1677-1807), marriage (1744-1847) and burial registers (1770-1840s), all for Galle, and a baptismal register for Matara 1776-1800. No inventory is available and some of the material is heavily damaged. In the future, the collection may be transferred to the Wolvendaal Church

The Galle Face Burial Ground was opened in 1803 and located on the south side of the Fort. Trying to locate this cemetery which appears to have also been the Garrison cemetery, a researcher was told that a Roman Catholic church had been built on the site and all the tombstones moved to the Kanatte cemetery. She also visited the Garrison cemetery in Kandy which has been restored

FIBIS Resources

• Monumental Inscriptions from Columbo Cemetery, Ceylon FIBIS Database
• List of inscriptions on tombstones and monuments in Ceylon, of historical or local interest, with an obituary of persons uncommemorated by J Penry Lewis in FIBIS database
• Images of Ceylon

Also see

• Dutch
• The Dutch Burgher Union of Ceylon

External links

Maps

• 1850 Map of the Diocese of Colombo, with Plantations marked. The Colonial Church Atlas 3rd Edition 1850 National Library of Australia Digital Collections-Maps. Catalogue entry
• 1956 Diagram of the planting districts of Ceylon showing the principal estates: tea, rubber, coconut, cacao, cinnamon, cardamom and citronella plantations, roads, railways, hospitals, rest houses, post offices and police stations. National Library of Australia Digital Collections-Maps Catalogue entry

Other

• Ceylon Wikipedia
• The Virtual Library of Sri Lanka has a section "History", which in turn has a section "Colonial History, The British in Lanka (1796-1948)"
• Administrative Records of Ceylon (Sri Lanka) - movinghere.org
• Registrar General’s Department, Colombo. Registration of births, marriages and deaths from 1867. Retrieved 15 September 2014
• Centraal Bureau voor Genealogie (Central Bureau for Genealogy - CBG) The Hague, The Netherlands. Retrieved 15 September 2014
• Sri Lanka Genealogy Website
• Kabristan Archives-Ireland- Ceylon- India Genealogy
• Genealogy Sri Lanka. Retrieved 16 September 2014
• Kyle Joustra’s International Ceylon Database, includes Military, with regiments and names
• Dutch Burgher Union of Ceylon - Website contains much information including journals containing various family history Example
• History of Ceylon Tea also includes many online publications, refer below, including Ferguson’s Ceylon Directories from 1871 to 1930 (broken range).
• Select page 4, Column 4 for the article "On a Rubber Estate" The Glasgow Herald Nov 29, 1913. Google Newspapers.
• "Rubber, rain and rat snakes" by Michael Speer c 2003 sundaytimes.lk The author was born in Ceylon in 1938 and after the war, from 1946, his father managed rubber plantations, as a PD (periadurai or "big master") until the family left in 1959.
• Photographs: Images of Ceylon
• Collection of photographs: Colonial Buildings, Colombo by DBHKer flick.com. Includes some churches. Retrieved 16 September 2014
• Church of Ceylon - Diocese of Colombo. Anglican. Retrieved 16 September 2014
• Archdiocese of Colombo [Roman Catholic]. Retrieved 16 September 2014
• Colombo Fort February 19, 2006 ”F's Place” Retrieved 16 September 2014
• St Peters Church – [now] Mission To Seafarers. Retrieved 16 September 2014. Previously known as St Peter’s, Fort, or the Garrison Church
  • Photographs: St Peter’s Church, Colombo. Retrieved 16 September 2014
• The Wolvendaal Church, Colombo. Retrieved 16 September 2014
• "The country’s oldest Christian church" [and other churches in Ceylon] by Gaveshaka. The Sunday Times Newspaper in Sri Lanka. Sunday 28 November 2004. Retrieved 16 September 2014
• British Garrison Cemetery of Kandy October 18, 2013 amazinglanka.com. Retrieved 16 September 2014
• Under a Tropical Sun (Macquarie University) covers 1796-1821. Includes the historical background and contemporary accounts of the Officers of the 73rd Regiment of Foot (and their families) in Ceylon 1814-21.
• The 95th Regiment In Ceylon 1838-1847 “Moss Valley”. Retrieved 28 August 2014
• Ceylon Planters Rifle Corps
  • Short History of the Ceylon Planters Rifle Corps Compiled by Major Anton Edema, 2(V)SLLI scribd.com. Retrieved 16 September 2014
  • "Tea Leaves." Ceylon Planters Corps. The Sydney Morning Herald 6 September 1916 trove.nla.gov.au. Retrieved 16 September 2014
  • Ceylon Planter's Rifle Corps Correspondence on OHMS Postcards by Kathryn Johnson html version, pdf .collectorsclubchicago.org. Retrieved 16 September 2014
• Ceylon Mounted Infantry in the Boer War AngloBoerWar.com
• Boer Prisoners of War. Also see POW Camps in India-Boer War.
  • Anglo Boere Oorlog/Boer War (1899-1902) POW Ceylon geni.com
  • Sri Lanka, Diyathalawa, Boer War Memorial eggsa.org Click on images for larger version and list of names, if available
  • Transcriptions by Pieter van der Merwe: html version pdf boekmakierie.co.za. Contains
    • Articles from the Journal of the Dutch Burger Union of Ceylon: "The Boers At Diyatalawa" by E. H. Van Der Wall Volume XVIII January 1929 No 3. "The Boer Prisoner-Of-War In Ceylon (1900 – 1902)" by R. L. Brohier in Five Parts. Volume XXXVI July 1946 No 1 to Volume XXXVIII July 1947 No 1. The last Part includes a list of deaths. "Addendum.The Boer Prisoners Of War In Ceylon" by L.G. Poulier. List of Boer War Prisoners who died in Ceylon received from the Anglo Boer War Museum
• 1941-1945 Eastern Travels, Parts 1-9 by Cecil John Callis, Royal Corps of Signals. in India and Ceylon. WW2People’s War. The author's posting to Ceylon is covered in Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6.
• A tale of two Mutinies: The Indian Ocean 1942 by Harry Fecitt from Harry’s Sideshows. Includes the mutiny by a detachment of No 1 Coast Regiment of the Ceylon Garrison Artillery on Horsburgh Island, one of the Cocos-Keeling Islands.
• Bibliography of Ceylon Hunting Books shakariconnection.com
• "A Guide to Locating Photographs of Colonial Ceylon" Compiled by Benita Stambler, American Institute for Sri Lankan Studies, November 2014. aisls.org

Historical photographs online

• University of Cambridge Digital Library contains the Royal Commonwealth Society Collection which contains many images/collections of Ceylon including
  • Faviell Collection of Ceylon Railway views, 1867 relating to the construction and opening of the Colombo-Kandy line.
  • Plumbago in Ceylon c 1886. Plumbago or graphite was an important mineral export from Ceylon.

Historical books online

• Instructions from the Governor-General and Council of India to the Governor of Ceylon, 1656-1665 Translated by Sophia Pieters. [The Government of Netherlands India]. 1908 Archive.org
• An Historical Relation of the Island Ceylon in the East-Indies: together with an Account of the Detaining in Captivity the Author and… by Robert Knox , a Captive there near Twenty Years. 1681 Google Books
  • Article about the book and its author: "Knox-Knox: Robert Was Here!" by Rukshani Weerasooriya 3 May 2016 roar.lk
• A true and exact description of the most celebrated East-India coasts of Malabar and Coromandel; as also of the Isle of Ceylon…. by Philip [or Philippus] Baldaeus, Minister of the Word of God in Ceylon. 1703. Archive.org Translated from the High Dutch printed at Amsterdam 1672.
• A description of Ceylon, containing an account of the country, inhabitants, and natural productions;‬: ‪with narratives of a tour round the island in 1800, the campaign in Candy in 1803, and a journey to Ramisseram in 1804. Illustrated by twenty-five engravings from original drawings‬ by Rev James Cordiner, late Chaplain to the Garrison of Columbo. 1807 Google Books. Volume 1, Volume II The author was in Ceylon 1799-1804

There are chapters on Ceylon from page 139 A Voyage To India by Rev James Cordiner 1820 Google Books The author was in Ceylon 1799-1804.

• Narrative of the operations of a detachment in an expedition to Candy in the island of Ceylon in the year 1804 by Major Johnston, of the Third Ceylon Regiment 1810 Google Books. New edition 1854, with a biographical "Memoir" of the author. Google Books
• Voyages and travels to India, Ceylon, the Red Sea, Abyssinia, and Egypt, in the years 1802, 1803, 1804, 1805, and 1806 by George, Viscount Valentia 1809 Archive.org. Volume I, (Volume II, Volume III}
• ‪The History of Ceylon: From the Earliest Period to the Year MDCCCXV; with Characteristic Details of the Religion, Laws, & Manners of the People and a Collection of Their Moral Maxims & Ancient Proverbs‬ by Philalethes (pseud) Google Books 1817. The author is generally identified as Rev Robert Fellowes.
• "Observations on the Campaign in Ceylon" The Naval and Military Magazine "Part 1: the Dutch War ending 1764" Volume 2, page 564 1827 Archive.org; Part 2: The British Campaign from 1803, involving the 19th and 65th Regiments of Foot, together with Royal Artillery and troops from Bengal. Volume 3, page 204 1828 Google Books
• The Golden Age Of Military Adventure In Ceylon 1817-1818 1933. Pdf download, Digital Library of India. Full title: The Golden Age of Military Adventure in Ceylon. An account of the Uva Rebellion, 1817-1818, etc. by Richard Leslie Brohier. [DLI catalogue lists a different author].
• The Ceylon Gazetteer; containing an accurate account of the districts, provinces, cities, towns, principal villages, harbours, rivers, lakes &c. of the Island of Ceylon, together with sketches of the manners, customs, institutions, agriculture, commerce, manufactures, revenues, population, castes, religion, history of its various inhabitants 1834 Google Books
• An Appeal to the British Government in behalf the British Colony and Province of Ceylon: with an appendix containing various notices of the island by authors and travellers of the early and middle ages by William Peter 2nd Edition with Additions 1836. 1st Edition 1835 Google Books .
• Slave Trade (East India). [Also] Slavery in Ceylon. Correspondence between the Directors of the East India Company and the Company's Government in India, on the subject of Slavery. Communications relating to Slavery in the Island of Ceylon. House of Commons Parliamentary Papers 31 July 1838. Google Books
• Statistics of the Colonies of the British Empire from the Official Records of the Colonial Office by Robert Montgomery Martin 1839 Google Books. Book IV- Possessions in Asia "Chapter II Ceylon" pages 369-402
• Old Ceylon, Sketches of Ceylon Life in the Olden Time by John Capper 1877 Archive.org. Generally refers to a period 30 to 40 years prior ie c 1840s
• The History of Ceylon from the Earliest Period to the Present Time: With an Appendix, Containing an Account of Its Present Condition‬ by William Knighton 1845 Google Books. Archive.org version
• Journal of the Ceylon Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society: Archive.org Multiple volumes from Volume 1 1845. Hathi Trust multiple volumes including restricted access, some of which, to c 1923, are probably available to those in North America. Multiple volumes as pdf downloads, Digital Library of India to 1928 (broken range).
• An historical, political, and statistical account of Ceylon and its dependencies by Charles Pridham 1849 Google Books Volume I, Volume II
• Ceylon, Past and Present by Sir George Barrow 1857 Google Books.
• Ceylon: An Account of the Island, Physical, Historical, and Topographical, with Notices of Its Natural History, Antiquities and Productions‬ by Sir James Emerson Tennent 4th edition, thoroughly revised 1860 Volume I, Volume II Volume II includes "Gampola and the Coffee Regions" page 222 and Map of Coffee Estates which requires strong magnification. Additional versions of the same map Deutsche Digitale Bibliothek, Staatsbibliothek Berlin
• A Gazetteer of the Central Province of Ceylon (excluding Walapane) by Archibald Campbell Lawrie Archive.org
  • Volume 1, A-K 1896, Volume 2, L-Z 1898
• Ceylon in 1903 describing the progress of the island since 1803, its present agricultural and commercial enterprises, and its unequalled attractions to visitors, with upwards of one hundred illustrations, by John Ferguson 1903 Archive.org
• List of inscriptions on tombstones and monuments in Ceylon, of historical or local interest, with an obituary of persons uncommemorated by J Penry Lewis 1913 Archive.org
• Life in the Jungle or Letters from a Coffee-Planter in Ceylon to his Cousin in London by Sampson Brown. Simmond's Colonial Magazine and Foreign Miscellany, Volumes 10 and 11 1847. Google Books and Hathi Trust. Page 13, page 150, page 323, page 376, page 14, page 155, page 401. First published as a book in Colombo 1845 under a slightly different title: Life in the Jungle or Letters from a Planter to his Cousin in London Google Books. (Print quality is poorer in the latter version).
• Coffee: its physiology, history, and cultivation adapted as a work of reference for Ceylon, Wynaad, Coorg and The Neilgherries by Edmund C.P. Hull 1865 Google Books
• A concise essay on the medical treatment of Malabar coolies employed on the coffee estates of Ceylon and India by J. Thwaites M D 1865 Archive.org
• Ferguson’s Ceylon Directories from 1871 to 1930 (broken range) and other online publications ave available on History of Ceylon Tea, accessible from the Home Page.
• Coffee planting in Southern India and Ceylon by ECP Hull 1877 Archive.org
• "The Eurasians of Ceylon" Calcutta Review Volume 63, 1876, page 173
• Prize Essay on Cinchona Cultivation Written for the Dikoya Planters' Association [Ceylon] by Thomas North Christie 1883 Archive.org
• Ceylon & Her Planting Enterprize: In Tea, Cacao, Cardamoms, Cinchona, Coconut, and Areca Palms Published 1885 by A.M. & J. Ferguson. Archive.org
• All about Cinnamon: including Practical instruction for planting, cultivation and preparation for market published by A.M & J Ferguson, Ceylon 1902 Is available to read online at Kerala State Central Library Rare Books Online. Catalogue no.16433
• All about Pepper: Including Practical Instructions for planting, cultivation and preparation for market published by A.M & J Ferguson Ceylon c 1901 Is available to read online at Kerala State Central Library Rare Books Online. Catalogue no. 16434
• All about 'Coconut Palm' (Cocos Nucifera): Including Practical Instructions for planting and cultivation by J Ferguson (Comp.) 3rd edition 1904 is available to read online at Kerala State Central Library Rare Books Online. Catalogue no. 16435
• Coconut planter's manual. Ferguson's "All about the coconut palm" (Cocos nucifera). Treating of the history and cultivation, chemistry and physiology of the palm, and about its commercial products by J Ferguson 5th edition 1923 Archive.org
• "Preparing “Para Rubber” in Ceylon" page 192 The India Rubber World March 1, 1903 Archive.org

"The Rival of "Para" Rubber in the East" page 219 The India Rubber World April 1, 1903 Archive.org

"Rubber Planting in Ceylon and the Malay States" page 225 The India Rubber World April 1, 1904 Archive.org

• My Tour in Eastern Rubber Lands by Herbert Wright 1908 Archive.org Ceylon, Malaya, Java, Sumatra
• "A brief sketch of the medical history of Ceylon" by J L Vanderstratten page 306 The Journal of the Ceylon Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain & Ireland 1886 Volume IX, no 32 Archive.org
• Slavery and the slave trade in British India: with notices of the existence of these evils in the islands of Ceylon, Malacca, and Penang, drawn from official documents Published 1841 Google Books
• The Memoirs of the Gemini Generals; Personal Anecdotes, Sporting Adventures, and Sketches of Distinguished Officers by Major-Generals Osborn Wilkinson and Johnson Wilkinson. 1896 Archive.org. Twin brothers Osborn and Johnson Wilkinson were born 1822. The former joined the Bengal Cavalry in 1844, and served initially in the 10th Light Bengal Cavalry, and subsequently the 2nd Bengal Cavalry, (and perhaps other cavalry regiments); the latter HM 15th Regiment of Foot, which went to Ceylon in 1845, with a period at Poona.
• The Rifle and the Hound in Ceylon by Samuel W Baker 1854 edition Google Books. New edition 1874 Archive.org
• Eight Years' Wanderings in Ceylon by Samuel White Baker 1855 Google Books
• ‪The Wild Elephant and the Method of Capturing and Taming it in Ceylon‬ by Sir J Emerson Tennent 1867 Google Books
• The Duke of Edinburgh in Ceylon. A book of elephant and elk sport ... Illustrated with chromo-lithographs, etc. by John Capper 1871. British Library Digital, British Library itemViewer said to be good for images. If necessary, hover mouse over the bottom of the book to scroll pages. British Library’s pdf version
• The “Grand Tour” of the British Princes: the visit of ... Prince Albert Victor and Prince George to Ceylon Reprinted from the Ceylon Observer 1882 Archive.org

The Cruise of Her Majesty's ship "Bacchante", 1879-1882, Volume II- The East Compiled from the Private Journals etc of Prince Albert Victor and Prince George of Wales 1886 Archive.org. Includes China, Singapore, Ceylon.

• Two Years in the Jungle : the Experiences of a Hunter and Naturalist in India, Ceylon, the Malay Peninsula and Borneo by William T Hornaday, Chief Taxidermist, US National Museum 1885 Archive.org
• Two Happy Years in Ceylon by C F [Constance Frederica] Gordon Cumming with Illustrations New Edition 1901, first published 1892 Archive.org
• A Guide to Kandy, with maps. A handbook of information, useful alike to the visitor and the resident by George J.A Skeen 1903 Archive.org. Includes Map of the Town of Kandy
• Recollections of a Boer Prisoner-Of-War at Ceylon by J N Brink, "late adjudant of General Crowther" 1904 Archive.org
• Golden tips. A Description of Ceylon and its Great Tea Industry by Henry W Cave 3rd edition 1904, first published 1900. With illustrations. Archive.org

The Book of Ceylon; being a guide to its railway system and an account of its varied attractions for the visitor and tourist by Henry W Cave 1908 Archive.org

The Ceylon Government Railway : a descriptive and illustrated guide, mainly extracted from the author's larger work "The Book of Ceylon" By Henry W Cave 1910 Archive.org

• Around the world via India : a medical tour by Nicholas Senn 1905. Contains chapters on India and Ceylon, including hospitals. Archive.org
• Twentieth Century Impressions of Ceylon: its History, People, Commerce, Industries, and Resources by Arnold Wright, reprint edition, first published 1907 is available to read online on the Digital Library of India website, in TIFF format. Contents digital file page 18. Includes Military and Volunteers, actual page 857, digital file page 864 Volunteers 865. It is also available as a pdf on DLI. Sample pages are available on Google Books.
• Hunting & Shooting in Ceylon by Harry Storey 1907. Archive.org. Includes elephant shooting.
• Jungle Sport in Ceylon from Elephant to Snipe by Marcus W Millett, an Old Ceylon Shikari. 1914 Achive.org
• Memorandum Upon Recent Disturbances in Ceylon by Edward Walter Perera 1915 Archive.org. The 1915 Ceylon Riots.
• A Prisoner in Turkey by John Still 1920 Archive.org. The title page contains a handwritten note “Ceylon Civil Service (Forests)”

Poems in Captivity by John Still 1919 Archive.org. Includes poems about Ceylon.

• Ceylon Past and Present by Major C. M. Enriquez. c 1927 (not 1815, as catalogued) Archive.org.
• Articles on Christianity and Christian Missions in Ceylon by C. N. V. Fernando from University of Ceylon Review 1948-1951. Pdf downloads, Digital Library of University of Peradeniya.