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Scots in Planting and in Ceylon

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Tom J Barron: Scots and the Coffee Industry in Nineteenth Century Ceylon” in Tom Devine and Angela McCarthy (eds)

The Scottish Experience in Asia, c.1700 to the Present ……………………..pp 163-185

Part of the Cambridge Imperial and Post-Colonial Studies Series book series (CIPCSS)

Chapter First Online: 23 November 2016

Abstract   This chapter examines the role of Scots in the coffee enterprise in Ceylon in the nineteenth century. It finds origins for the Scottish contribution in fields where Scots were established: West Indian planting, engineering, the colonial civil service, the army, business and mercantile activity and banking as well as agriculture. Family ties and chain migration are seen as elements in the recruitment of Scots for employment in Ceylon along with targeted campaigns and press appeals. How and why the social basis of migration changed in the late nineteenth century is outlined along with the difficulties which arise in estimating how large was the Scots presence. The chapter ends by indicating that their experiences in Ceylon offered Scots the means to seek further employment opportunities elsewhere.

Keywords = Scots – Ceylon – Planters – Migration

Copyright information © The Author(s) 2017

Cite this chapter as: Barron T.J. (2017) Scots and the Coffee Industry in Nineteenth Century Ceylon. In: Devine T., McCarthy A. (eds) The Scottish Experience in Asia, c.1700 to the Present. Cambridge Imperial and Post-Colonial Studies Series. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham

Angela McCarthy: ‘”Ceylon: A Scottish Colony?

First Online: 23 November 2016

Abstract:  This chapter critically examines the evidence for the depiction of Ceylon as a ‘Scotch colony’ and suggests why this characterisation was propagated. Three specific issues are addressed: the Scottish presence in Ceylon; the success and influence of Scots in Ceylon’s planting enterprise; and the Scottish sense of ethnicity. It moves beyond a focus on coffee to also incorporate the role of Scots in Ceylon’s tea economy with a brief case study of James Taylor, the ‘father of Ceylon tea’. The overall analysis is situated within debates about Britishness, the diverse ethnicities of the four nations, and issues relating to ethnocentrism and exceptionalism.

Keywords = Scots in Ceylon Tea Estate names James Taylor Coffee Ethnicity Ethnocentrism

I am grateful to Tom Devine and Tom Barron for their comments on an earlier version of this chapter, and to the Royal Society of Edinburgh and the University of Otago for funding towards research on the Scots in Sri Lanka.

Copyright information © The Author(s) 2017

About this chapter

Cite this chapter as:

McCarthy A. (2017) Ceylon: A Scottish Colony?. In: Devine T., McCarthy A. (eds) The Scottish Experience in Asia, c.1700 to the Present. Cambridge Imperial and Post-Colonial Studies Series. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham

 

 

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