CAVE, Henry William. Brackley, Northamptonshire 23.2.1854 — Brighton, Sussex 28.10.1913. British Author, Photographer and Publisher. Son of William Cave (1831–1894) and Louise Wilson. Studied at Magdalen College School, and Queen’s College, Oxford (M.A. 188?). Came to Ceylon in 1872 and worked as secretary to Anglican Archbishop of Colombo. His duties…
CAPPER, John. Lambeth, Surrey 29.9.1814 — Fulham, Middlesex 31.3.1898. British Journalist and Writer in Sri Lanka. Son of Benjamin Pitts Capper (1773?–1850?) and Maria Margaret Bessell. In 1837 he joined a coffee wholesale business and was sent to Ceylon. He was interested in journalism and in 1840 founded the short-lived…
BURROWS, Stephen Montagu. Headington, Oxfordshire 26.12.1856 — Oxford 4.3.1935. Sir. British Civil Servant in Sri Lanka. Son of Montagu Burrows (1819–1905), Professor of Naval History at Oxford, and Mary Anna Whalley-Smythe-Gardiner. Educated at Eton, studies at Exeter College, Oxford. B.A. 1879, M.A. 1884. In 1880 joined Ceylon C.S. Mainly served in…
BRODIE, Alexander Oswald. Madras 1821 — Edinburgh 5/6.11.1874. British (Scottish) Civil Servant in Sri Lanka. Son of Colonel James Brodie (1782–1831), of Madras Army, and Eliza Thompson (1795–1868). From 1845 in Ceylon rising 1850 to Assistant Agent of Nuwarakalawiya, in 1853 returned to the U.K., got married and resigned from…
BOISSELIER, Jean Henri Joseph Albin. Paris 26.8.1912 — Paris 26.2.1996. French Archaeologist, Art Historian and Buddhist Scholar. Son of the military illustrator Henri Boisselier (1881–1959). In the 1920s studied at École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris, already then interested in Cambodian art. Worked as painter and drawing teacher. In…
WHITE, Herbert. 25.8.1857 — 19??. Civil Servant in Sri Lanka (from 1879). Acting District Judge of Ratnapura (1884). Also mentioned as Government Agent in Badulla and Uva, and as the Acting Mayor and Chairman of the Municipal Council of Colombo (1900). Retired before 1919. Publications: Articles on Sinhalese in The Orientalist 1, 1884…
WALL, George. North Shields, Northumberland 22.12.1820 — London 16.12.1894. British Merchant, Coffee Planter, Politician, amateur Astronomer, Botanist and Humanitarian in Sri Lanka. Son of Rev. George Wall, a Methodist Minister, and Ann Lytham, educated at Harrow. Worked in an engineering firm, in 1846 left for Ceylon because of health problems.…
STRUTT, Edward. Mansfield Woodhouse, Nottinghamshire 1853 — St.Columb, Newquay, Cornwall 1911. Rev. British Wesleyan Missionary in Sri Lanka. Son of master bootmaker George Strutt (1807–1899) and Elizabeth Housley, a pious Wesleyan family. Working in Ceylon at Jaffna (1876-78), Kalmunai (1878), Trincomalee (1879-81) and Colombo (1881-87) concentrating on Tamils. In 1887…
STARK(E), James (or John?). Kirkcudbright 5.5.1798 — Troqueer Holm near Dumfries 8.11.1879. Hon. British (Scottish) Lawyer in Sri Lanka. Son of William Starke and Anne Smith. From 1824 lawyer in Edinburgh. Queen’s Advocate in Ceylon 1838-40, then Puisne Justice of Supreme Court in Colombo (still 1849). In 1845 the first…
SPITTEL, Richard Lionel. Tangalle, Sri Lanka 9.12.1881 — Colombo 3.9.1969. British Physician, Anthropologist and Author in Sri Lanka, a Pioneer of Vedda Research. Son of Dr. Frederick George Spittel (1853–1943), of Ceylon Health Service, and Zilla Jansz. After Colombo Royal College and Ceylon Medical College (L.M.S. 1905) trained in 1906-09…