Factory Records: Ceylon

Accounts of embassies, 1762-1795 Proceedings of a committee of investigation, 1797-1798 Public consultations, 1798-1802 Commercial consultations, 1798-1800 Revenue and Commercial consultations, 1798-1802 Political consultations, 1798-1802 Secret consultations, 1798-1801 Military consultations, 1798-1802 Military Board consultations, 1799-1802 General Orders, 1798-1802 Committee for Charitable Establishments consultations, 1800-1801 Criminal Court consultations, 1799-1800 Letters sent by the Military Board, 1799-1802 Correspondence between the Governor and the Court of Directors, 1798-1801 Correspondence between the Board of Control and the Directors, 1798-1801; documents connected with pearl fishing, 1797-1802 Memoranda on various subjects, 1799-1800 Proceedings of Madras Committee for adjusting the accounts of captured Dutch settlements in Ceylon, Malacca and the Moluccas, 1804-1806

The Company's first contacts with Ceylon took place in 1762 when the King of Kandy solicited help from the Government of Madras against the oppressions of the Dutch. The Company servant John Pybus visited the court and investigated the suitability of Ceylon as a trading base. Nothing, however, came of this mission nor of a similar one undertaken in 1781 by Hugh Boyd. On the outbreak of war with the Dutch in 1795, the British sent a force against Dutch possessions in Ceylon and all the Dutch forts were captured. The island was placed under the Company's control and in 1798 the Hon. Frederick North took up the post of Governor. In 1802, under the Treaty of Amiens, the island was made a possession of the British Crown.

Unrestricted