State
British Ceylon
Sri Lankan British Crown colony
- This boundary
- 1815–1945
- Founded
- 1815
- Ended
- 1948
- Capital
- Colombo
- Preceded by
- Kingdom of Kandy
- Succeeded by
- Dominion of Ceylon
Overview
British Ceylon refers to the imperial possessions of the United Kingdom in the island of Ceylon, present-day Sri Lanka, between 1796 and 4 February 1948. Initially, the area it covered did not include the Kingdom of Kandy, which was a protectorate, but from 1817 to 1948 the British possessions included the whole island. The British Ceylon period is the history of Sri Lanka between 1815 and 1948. It follows the fall of the Kandyan Kingdom into the hands of the British Empire, ending over 2300 years of Sinhalese monarchy. The British rule on the island lasted until 1948 when the country regained independence following the Sri Lankan independence movement.
All rulers (53)
- Frederick North, 5th Earl of Guilford1798–1805
- Thomas Maitland1805–1811
- John Wilson1811–1812
- Sir Robert Brownrigg, 1st Baronet1812–1820
- Sir Edward Barnes1820–1822
- Edward Paget1822
- James Campbell1822–1824
- Sir Edward Barnes1824–1831
- John Wilson1831
- Sir Robert Wilmot-Horton, 3rd Baronet1831–1837
- James Alexander Stewart-Mackenzie1837–1841
- Colin Campbell1841–1847
- George Byng, 7th Viscount Torrington1847–1850
- James Emerson Tennent1847
- George William Anderson1850–1855
- Charles Justin MacCarthy1850
- Henry George Ward1855–1860
- Charles Justin MacCarthy1855
- Henry Frederick Lockyer1860
- Charles Justin MacCarthy1860–1863
- Charles Edmund Wilkinson1860
- Terence O'Brien1863–1865
- Hercules Robinson, 1st Baron Rosmead1865–1872
- Henry Turner Irving1872
- William Henry Gregory1872–1877
- James Robert Longden1877–1883
- Arthur Hamilton-Gordon, 1st Baron Stanmore1883–1890
- John Douglas1883
- Arthur Havelock1890–1895
- Edward Noël Walker1895–1896
- West Ridgeway1896–1903
- Henry Arthur Blake1903–1907
- Everard F. im Thurn1903
- Henry Edward McCallum1907–1913
- Hugh Clifford1907
- Robert Chalmers, 1st Baron Chalmers1913–1915
- Reginald Edward Stubbs1913
- Reginald Edward Stubbs1915–1916
- John Anderson1916–1918
- Reginald Edward Stubbs1918
- William Manning1918–1925
- Edward Bruce Alexander1925
- Hugh Clifford1925–1927
- Cecil Clementi1925
- Arthur George Murchison Fletcher1927–1928
- Herbert Stanley1928–1931
- Graeme Thomson1931–1933
- Bernard Henry Bourdillon1931
- Reginald Edward Stubbs1933–1937
- Francis Graeme Tyrrell1933
- Maxwell MacLagan Wedderburn1937
- Andrew Caldecott1937–1944
- Henry Monck-Mason Moore1944–1948
Records (7)
- 1803 — Battle of HanwellaBattle · United Kingdom ▸ Kingdom of Kandy
- 1815 — Battle of KandyBattle · United Kingdom ▸ Kingdom of Kandy
- 1818 — Battle of KandyBattle · United Kingdom ▸ Kingdom of Kandy
- 1899–1902 — Second Boer WarWar
- 1942 — Indian Ocean raidNaval battle
- 1942 — Battle of CeylonBattle · Japan ▸ United Kingdom
- 1942 — Battle of TrincomaleeBattle · Japan ▸ United Kingdom
Facts from Wikidata (CC0), HCED (CC0) and Cliopatria (CC BY 4.0); overview excerpted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0).