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. From 1845 in Ceylon rising to Assistant Agent at Matale, in 1853 returned to the U.K., got married and resigned from service 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 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. Worked…
STRUTT, Edward. Mansfield Woodhouse, Nottinghamshire 1853 — St.Columb, Newquay, Cornwall 1911. Rev. British Wesleyan Missionary in Sri Lanka. Son of master bootmaker George Strutt 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 returned…
STARK(E), James (or John?). Kirkcudbright 5.5.1798 — Troqueer Holm near Dumfries 8.11.1879. Hon. British (Scottish) Lawyer in Sri Lanka. 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 President of the Ceylon Branch of R.A.S.…
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, of Ceylon Health Service, and Zilla Jansz. After Colombo Royal College and Ceylon Medical College trained in 1906-09 as surgeon in…
SMITHER, James George. 1833 — Camberwell, London 1910. British (Irish) Architect in Sri Lanka. Worked as architect in London and in 1865-83 as the first Government Architect of Ceylon, then retired to England. In 1899 he finally retired from architectural practice. As architect his work included the National Museum of…
SIRR, Henry Charles. 1807 — London 23.11.1872. Sir. British (Irish) Lawyer and Diplomat. Son of Henry Charles Sirr (1764–1841), Town Major of Dublin, and Eliza D’Arcy (1767–1829). Graduated B.A. 1833 from Trinity College, Dublin. In 1836 called to bar at Lincoln’s Inn, London. British vice-consul in Hong Kong (1843), then…
PERCIVAL (Perceval), Robert. 1765 — 1826. British Colonial Officer. Joined the 18th Irish Infantry Regiment in the U.K., as Captain in 1795-97 participated in the conquest of Dutch Capeland. In 1797 to Ceylon, where he remained three years. His both books are said to be full of description of the…