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The concise
guide to the Anglo-Sri Lankan lexicon by Richard Boyle - Part XV Burgher (1807).
"An inhabitant of a burgh, borough or town; a citizen."
Under the sense of this word recorded in the OED2 that is associated
with the island is the bald explanation, "In Ceylon."
Moreover, users are advised to read the illustrative quotations
for the definition. The earliest
reference to the word in English literature pertaining to Sri Lanka
given in the dictionary is by James Cordiner from A Description
of Ceylon (1807[1983]:52): "The greater part of them were admitted
by the Dutch to all the privileges of citizens under the denomination
of Burghers." The other reference, from the Penny Cyclopaedia
(1836:VI.457), reads: "The descendants of Europeans of unmixed
blood, and that race which has sprung from the intercourse with
the natives, are called Burghers." There are many
other references in 19th century English literature pertaining to
Sri Lanka. For example, Charles Henry Sirr remarks in Ceylon and
the Cingalese (1850:I.9): "The touter is invariably a half-caste
or burgher, who generally abounds in a very unique appreciation
of his own dignity... most ludicrous is the assumption of these
half-castes, who are held in supreme contempt by the full-caste
natives, their greatest term of reproach being - 'he burgher man,'
(or half-caste,) and many a hearty guffaw is indulged in at their
expense by Europeans." Robert Binning
writes in A Journal of Two Years Travel in Persia, Ceylon, etc.
(1857:I.9): "The term Burgher is properly applicable only to
white persons of pure Dutch descent, of whom there are now but very
few in Ceylon; but the name has, by courtesy, been given to all
those who in India are styled Indo-Britons, Eurasians, Anglo-Indians,
or more commonly half-castes, namely, the descendants of white men
by native women." James Emerson
Tennent notes in Ceylon (1859[1977]:II.603): "At the present
time, the establishment of clerks is composed almost exclusively
of burghers and gentlemen who trace their ancestry to Holland." One of the
best descriptive 20th century references is by Bella Woolf from
How to See Ceylon (1914:39): "A large and important class in
Ceylon are the Burghers. Certain Dutch Burghers are of unmixed Dutch
descent. Otherwise the Burghers are of mixed Dutch or Portuguese
and native descent. Many of them are employed in government service,
and they also number among their ranks an unusually large proportion
of lawyers and doctors." R. L. Brohier
states in Changing Face of Colombo (1984[2000]:70): "The smaller
Burgher community weathered the changes introduced by the language
issue in 1801 to greater advantage than the larger communities in
the Island. Affiliated as they were to the multi-racial European
infiltration in the Dutch era - some of them even speaking an English
tongue - they had the advantage of subconscious antecedent, and
facilities within the community to render adaptation easier." Michael Roberts,
Ismeth Raheem and Percy Colin-Thome note in their book about the
Burghers, People Inbetween (1989:12): "They had indigenized
themselves to sufficient degree that from the late 19th century
onwards the majority of Burghers regarded themselves, first and
foremost, as Ceylonese. This self-perception was supported by their
status and power in Sri Lankan society. At this stage of time, the
1880s to 1920s, the majority of Burghers were above the tumult. "Thus
secured, several Burghers thought of themselves as a superior category
of Ceylonese. This sense of superiority had different dimensions.
In the first place, it attempted to enforce distinctions within
the Burgher community. A line was drawn between the 'front door
Burghers' and the 'back door Burghers.' More vigorously, the superior
Burghers saw themselves as 'Dutch Burghers' and thus as 'true Burghers,'
and denied the rights of those known as 'Portuguese Burghers' and
'Eurasians' to call themselves Burghers." Over the past
decade Carl Muller has employed the word in all its various shades
of meaning in his novels on the subject of the Burghers. The first
reference by him is from The Jam Fruit Tree (1993:7): "Because
the English nabobs favoured the 'educated' Burghers, he knew that
someday he would become a locomotive apprentice and actually ride
the rails." Another reference
(Ibid.27) reads: "The sons of the Dutch found Sinhalese and
Tamil girls to their liking and the British, who ramrodded the plantations
went in among the natives too. The result was a hotch-potch that
was, for convenience, classified as Burgher (from the Dutch 'burgher'
or townsman). The brew was further spiced by other foreign types
who drifted in and out with each East Indiaman that sailed in -
French, German, Persians, Indians, Afghans (who became very serious-minded
money lenders) and Scandinavians." Muller writes
in a later novel, Once upon a Tender Time (1995:137): "The
ships of the Dutch East India Company would bring in these emigrants
twice a year and they all settled down or ran amok as inclined and
became 'Burghers.' You see, the Dutch wanted a cohesive European
population. The community was made up of all nationalities, true,
but the generic was important as well as administratively convenient.
Without distinction, they were nominated 'Hollanders' and more conveniently
'Burghers.'" Henry Yule
comments in the Introduction to HJ-2: "Burgher is unusual in
that the word has three distinct applications in three distinct
localities. The Dutch (in Ceylon) admitted people of mixed descent
to a kind of citizenship and these were distinguished from the pure
natives by this term, which survives. Burgher in Bengal means 'a
rafter,' properly barga. A word spelt and pronounced in the same
way had again a curiously different application in Madras, where
it was a corruption of Vadagar, the name given to a tribe in the
Nilgherry hills." In the entry
the definition of the first of these applications reads: "This
is used only in Ceylon. It is the Dutch word burger, 'citizen.'
The Dutch admitted people of mixt descent to a kind of citizenship,
and these people were distinguished by this name from pure natives.
The word now indicates any persons who claim to be of partly European
descent, and is used in the same sense as 'half-caste' and 'Eurasian'
in India proper.'" H-J2 credits
Cordiner (1807) with the earliest reference, and gives the following
from the Calcutta Review (1877:180-1): "About 60 years ago
the Burghers of Ceylon occupied a position similar to that of the
Eurasians of India at the present moment." Fiscal (1653).
"In Holland and Dutch colonies: A magistrate whose duty is
to take cognizance of offences against the revenue." None of the
references given in the dictionary has relevance to Sri Lanka so
here is an example in verse from "The Tamby," by Vereker
M. Hamilton and Stewart M. Fasson, contained in Scenes in Ceylon
(1880:88): "Whenever
a sleek, smiling Tamby appears, I'm always
assailed with excusable fears; For tho' I'm
in debt, and the Fiscal's court nigh, I know that
the wretch will induce me to buy." The corresponding
entry in H-J2 reads: "Dutch Fiscaal; used in Ceylon for 'Sheriff;'
a relic of Dutch rule in the island." The editor adds in parenthesis:
"It was also used in the Dutch settlements in Bengal. In Malabar
the Fiscal was a Dutch Superintendent of Police, Justice of the
Peace and Attorney General in criminal cases." Proponent (1825).
"A kind of government agent in Ceylon under the Dutch." This definition
infers that the word is or was employed in the Dutch language (though
it is of course Latin in origin). The definition needs to be revised;
not only to provide more clarity, but also to give a more complete
history, for during the British period the word continued to be
used in an ecclesiastical context. The earliest
reference given in the dictionary, which is dated 1860 and does
not come from English literature pertaining to Sri Lanka, reads:
"These men were selected by the Government, paid stipends varying
from sterling pounds 60 to 100 per annum, and called Proponents." However, an
antedating or earlier reference exists, for Amelia Heber writes
in Reginald Heber's Narrative of a Journey (1828:III.150): "There
is another object which he has, if possible, still more at heart,
which is giving the native proponents, or catechists, such facilities
for education as would gradually fit them for admittance into holy
orders, and make them the groundwork for a parochial clergy." Another reference
that antedates the OED2 is by James Selkirk from Recollections of
Ceylon (1844:26): "Those who perform the marriage ceremony,
and by licence from government even administer baptism, are called
Proponents." |
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