August 31, 2015 · 7:57 am
↓ Jump to Comments

The Burghers in Britain hit the Internet ‘Streets’

Gayle Bartholomeuszburghers WWW Burghher fam 1917

SEE http://www.burghersuk.com/index.html ..… And thank you for visiting ‘Burghers In The UK‘, the website which celebrates and plays tribute to the lives, contributions and adventures of Ceylonese Burghers in the United Kingdom. Ceylonese Burghers were once a thriving and vibrant community in Ceylon (renamed Sri Lanka in 1972) for over 500 years. They are now scattered around the globe mainly in English Speaking countries and on the brink of extinction.

Burghers who came to the UK since Ceylon achieved Dominion Status in 1948 have, up to now, been an invisible group of people unrecorded by data recording agencies and their lives and contributions undocumented. The Heritage Lottery Fund and ‘Burghers In The UK ‘ are changing this beginning in 2014 initially, by conducting interviews with 20 older Burghers and capturing visual and written information which demonstrates the uniqueness of the Ceylonese Burgher. Materials will be archived at the Harrow Museum.

As a visitor to this site, we hope you will enjoy listening to older Burghers we have interviewed as they chat about their lives in Ceylon, their journey to the United Kingdom and their experiences in London from the late 1950’s to date. Authentic Burgher photographs in the Picture Gallery date back to the early 1890s and provide a visual experience of these distinctive people. The small sample of Burgher colloquialisms on this website add to the humour which was an integral part of the Burgher persona. Two Cookery videos show you how to prepare two authentic Burgher dishes.

And this is only the beginning. We would love to hear from you if you can add to our compilation of the following.

  1. Funny Burgher Sayings
  2. Old Photographs / Videos depicting Burgher Life in Ceylon and the early days in London.
  3. Book Excerpts written by or about Burghers.
  4. Burgher achievers.
  5. Links to Burgher genealogy sites.
  6. Details of events which we can promote on our social media site or indeed anything else you think may be of interest to the Burgher community. As a contributor you will of course be recognised on our ‘Acknowledgements’ page (unless you request otherwise)

If you enjoy this site then please tell your friends about us so they can too share in these (up to now) untold events created by unusual circumstance, time and place in history, about a group of free spirited, creative, educated, self disciplined people whose feistiness and sense of camaraderie and joie de vivre led them to make useful contributions to both Ceylon and the UK on many levels.

Please click here to contact us or send any contributions.

With Warmest Wishes.

Gayle Bartholomeusz, Chair

***   ***      Click on the names below to hear the Burghers sharing their life experiences in Ceylon & the United Kingdom.

  • Recent Interviews

1 Comment

Filed under British colonialism, cultural transmission, island economy, landscape wondrous, life stories, literary achievements, self-reflexivity, sri lankan society, unusual people, welfare & philanthophy, world events & processes, World War II

One response to “The Burghers in Britain hit the Internet ‘Streets’”

  1. Pingback: The Goyigama Lansiyaas | Thuppahi's Blog

Leave a Reply