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 3 January 1773 Cape Town, Dutch Cape Colony
Died	Unknown
Nationality	Dutch/British
Occupation	public servant
Known for	Postmaster General of Ceylon
Term	1815 - 1817
Successor	Louis 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.

External links

• Liyanage, Michael (1987). The History of the Sri Lanka Post Office: 1815-1987. Colombo: Union of Post & Telecommunication Officers, Sri Lanka.
• Sri Lanka Post