Egbert Bletterman

Egbert Bletterman (3 January 1773 - ), was the first official Postmaster General of Ceylon, serving from 1812 to 1815.[1][2]

Egbert Bletterman
Born
Egbertus Lodewijk Bletterman

(1773-01-03)3 January 1773
Cape Town, Dutch Cape Colony
DiedUnknown
NationalityDutch/British
Occupationpublic servant
Known forPostmaster General of Ceylon
Term1815 - 1817
SuccessorLouis Sansoni
Spouse(s)Geertruida Christina née de Waal (m.1794)
Parent(s)Johannes Matthias Bletterman, Geertruij Catharina née Schot

Egbertus Lodewijk Bletterman was born in 3 January 1773 in Cape Town in the Dutch Cape Colony, the third of seven children to Johannes Matthias Bletterman (1742-1796), a former Dutch East India Company official (Landdrost of Stellenbosch) and member of the burgher militia, and Geertruij Catharina née Schot (1752-?).[3][4] On 17 December 1791 he joined the Dutch East India Company as a bookkeeper for the Chamber of Amsterdam.[5] He resigned from the company on 31 August 1793.[5]

On 8 June 1794 he married Geertruida Christina de Waal (1777-?), daughter of Arend de Waal and Maria Josina née van As. In 1795 following Britain's occupation of the Dutch Cape Colony Bletterman’s family established a business importing and selling goods in the Cape Colony from across and beyond the British Empire.[6]

Bletterman traveled to Ceylon in 1803, where he joined the Ceylon Civil Service and began sending goods to the Cape Colony, a practice that subsequently landed him in trouble with the Ceylon government. The Governor Frederick North appointed him as First Assistant in the Chief Secretary's office.[7] The subsequent British Governor, Thomas Maitland did not look upon Bletterman with the same favour as North had, transferring him to Customs.[7] Bletterman taking the position of Custom-master of the Port of Colombo in 1806.[8] The next Governor Robert Brownrigg appointed him as the colony's Postmaster General in 1815.[7]

In 1812 he established one of the first privately owned and operated coffee plantations, obtaining a licence to export the produce.[6][9] I was ultimately unsuccessful due to the poor condition of the soil.[10][11] In 1814, Bletterman applied successfully to Governor Brownrigg for permission to export arrack, coconuts, tobacco, coffee, pepper, and saffron to the Cape.[6] In January 1825, he was appointed a special envoy for trading interests of the Ceylon government at the Cape.[6][12]

References
  1. Ferguson's Ceylon Directory (PDF). Colombo: The Ceylon Observer Press. 1946. p. 162.
  2. Joseph, Dishan (27 January 2019). "Sri Lanka Post: 200 years of Stamping with excellence". Sunday Observer. Retrieved 21 December 2020.
  3. "Johannes Matthias Bletterman". Geneagraphie - Families all over the world. Retrieved 21 December 2020.
  4. Cloete, Hendrik; Schutte, G. J. (2003). Schutte, G. J. (ed.). Hendrik Cloete, Groot Constantia and the VOC 1778-1799: Documents from the Swellengrebel Archive. Translated by van Gylswyk, N. O.; Sleigh, Dan. Van Riebeeck Society. p. 217. ISBN 9780958452212.
  5. "VOC: Opvarenden, Voornaam opvarende: Egbertus Lodewijk Bletterman" (in Dutch). Nationaal Archief. Retrieved 21 December 2020.
  6. Wilson, James David (October 2018). The Anglo-Dutch Imperial Meridian in the Indian Ocean World, 1795-1820. Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge.
  7. Toussaint, J. R. (1951). "Journal of the Dutch Burgher Union of Ceylon" (PDF). Egbert Bletterman: The Hollander who was Postmaster General. Dutch Burgher Union of Ceylon. 41 No. 2: 83.
  8. Campbell, Lawrence Dundas; Samuel, E., eds. (1809). "The Asiatic Annual Register: 1806". J. Debrett: 185. Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  9. Mills, Lennox A. (2012). Ceylon Under British Rule, 1795-1932. Routledge. p. 222-223. ISBN 9781136262647.
  10. Moonesinghe, Vinod (2 May 2018). "How modern Sri Lankan plantations began: Present Day Issues of the Estate Sector have their roots in the early history of Planations". Echelon Magazine. Retrieved 21 December 2020.
  11. Colin-Thome, David (ed.). "History of Ceylon Tea". Ceylon remained attracted to Colonial Powers. Dilmah. Retrieved 21 December 2020.
  12. Proclamations, advertisements and other official notices. Government Press. 1827. p. 692.
  • Liyanage, Michael (1987). The History of the Sri Lanka Post Office: 1815-1987. Colombo: Union of Post & Telecommunication Officers, Sri Lanka.
  • Sri Lanka Post
Government offices
Preceded by
 Postmaster General of Ceylon
1815–1817		 Succeeded by
Louis Sansoni
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