November 19, 2021 · 7:41 pm
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Revelations? “Nationalities” in the 1871 Census of British Ceylon

This table has been kindly abstracted by Iranga Silva of the ICES in Kandy from  Michael Roberts, Ismeth Raheem & Percy Colin-Thome: People Inbetween. The Burghers and the Middle Class in the Transformations within Sri Lanka, Ratmalana, Sarvodaya Printers, 1989, pp  202-03.

TABLE 21: LIST OF “NATIONALITIES” IN THE 1871 CENSUS

with special reference to Colombo and the Coffee Estates

1 Population of Colombo 5 6 7 8 9 10 11
Nationality or Race 2

 

 3

 

 4

 

 % in Colombo Population of Ceylon: numbers Col.4 as % of Col.6 Population on coffee estates Col. 10 as % of Col.6
Males Females Total Males Females Total
Afghan 02 02 04 * 06 66.6 + + + +
African 01 – 01 * 11 9.1 + + + +
American 06 01 07 * 28 25.0 + + + +
Anglo Indian – – – – 05 – 03 02 05 100
Anglo-Saxon 01 – 01 * 06 16.7 01 01 02 33.3
Anglo-Scotch – – – * 01 – + + + +
Anglo-Swiss – – – * 02 – + + + +
Arab/Arab descendant 27 05 32 * 153 20.9 + + + +
Armenian 01 – 01 * 01 100.0 + + + +
Asiatic – – – * 07 – + + + +
Belgian 02 – 02 * 02 100.0 + + + +
Bengalee 100 72 172 1.5 691 24.9 + + + +
Brahmin 42 09 51 * 778 6.5 + + + +
British 04 03 07 * 24 29.5 06 02 08 33.3
Burgher 1,383 1,383 2,766 2.9 5,771 47.9 54 34 88 1.5
Burmese – – – – 07 – + + + +
Caffre 24 15 39 * 245 15.9 + + + +
Canadian 03 01 04 * 08 50.0 + + + +
Canarese – – – * 35 — + + + +
Carnatic 04 02 06 * 1,800 0.3 670 254 924 51.3
Caucasian 01 – 01 * 03 33.3 + + + +
Ceylonese 46 54 100 0.1 176 56.8 11 03 14 7.9
Celtic 01 02 03 * 22 13.6 06 01 07 31.8
Chetty 893 283 1,176 1.1 3,114 37.7 24 04 28 0.9
Chinese 23 11 34 * 59 57.6 + + + +
Danish 01 – 01 * 07 14.3 + + + +
Dutch 539 654 1,193 1.2 2,256 52.9 31 17 48 2.1
Dutch descendant 192 186 378 0.4 783 48.3 13 03 16 1.7
East Indian 16 13 29 * 65 44.6 + + + +
English 233 170 403 0.4 1,776 22.7 404 195 599 33.7
English descendant 17 23 40 * 83 48.2 01 + 01 1.2
Eurasian 776 820 1,596 * 3,341 46.5 01 + 01 1.2
Euro-African – – – – 01 – + + + +
European 124 86 210 0.2 639 32.9 108 42 150 23.5
European descendant 48 47 95 0.1 167 56.9 + + + +
French 33 36 69 * 203 34.0 07 06 13 6.4
French descendant 10 06 16 * 29 89.6 + + + +
German 29 28 57 * 124 46.0 10 01 11 8.9
German descendant 13 05 18 * 24 75.0 + + + +
Goanese (sic) 02 – 02 * 02 100.0 + + + +
Half Caste 05 – 05 * 22 22.7 08 05 13 59.1
Hindostanee 07 05 12 * 20 60.0 + + + +
Illyrian 01 – 01 * 01 100.0 + + + +
Indo-Briton 20 24 44 * 57 77.2 + + + +
Indo-Dutch – – – – 02 – + + + +
Indo-Portuguese – – – – 03 – + + + +
Irish 66 33 99 0.1 260 38.1 38 11 49 18.8
Irish descendant 02 04 06 * 11 54.5 + + + +
Italian 07 05 12 * 27 44.4 + + + +
Jew – 01 01 * 01 100.0 + + + +
Mahratta 01 – 01 * 29 3.4 + + + +
Maori 01 – 01 * 01 100.0 + + + +
Norman – – – * 03 – 01 01 02 66.7
Parsee 16 02 18 * 23 78.3 + + + +
Pattany 160 129 289 0.3 1,304 22.2 + + + +
Pole – – – * 03
Polish descendant – – – – 01
Portuguese 242 218 460 0.5 1,229 37.4 34 25 59 4.8
Portuguese descendant 18 07 25 * 60 41.7 + + + +
Prussian 02 01 03 * 06 50.0 + + + +
Prussian descendant – – – * 02 – + + + +
Rajpoot – – – * 09 – + + + +
Russian – – – – 08 – * * * *
Saxon – – – – 13 – 08 01 09 69.2
Scotch 100 36 136 0.1 667 20.4 301 87 388 50.7
Scotch descendent – – – – 04 – * * * *
Siamese – – – – 07 – * * * *
Sikh – – – – 04 – * * * *
Spanish 04 01 05 * 07 71.4 * * * *
Swedish 02 – 02 * 11 18.2 * * * *
Swiss 01 01 02 * 15 13.3 – 03 03 20.0
Syrian 01 – 01 * 01 100.0 * * * *
Teutonic 01 – 01 * 01 100.0 * * * *
Welsh 01 01 02 * 18 11.1 10 01 11 61.1
Malay 1,221 1,265 2,486 2.6 6,839 36.3 126 61 187 2.7
Moor 13,727 8,662 22,389 23.4 163,516 13.7 907 429 1,336 0.8
Sinhalese 21,324 20,836 42,160 44.0 1,669,998 2.5 3,966 428 4,394 0.3
Tamil 12,325 6,845 19,170 20.2 534,339 3.6 74,488 40,604 115,092 21.5
Total as above 53,852 41,993 95,833 100.0 2,401,069 *-* 81,362 42,292 -*-
Total elsewhere 53,850 41,953 85,843 2,406,262

Column 1 is the principal interest from the point of view expressed in People Inbetween. The statistics have been included in order to serve wider interests.

Sources:    Census of the Island of Ceylon, 1871, Colombo: Govt. Printer, 1874.

Cols. 1-4are from Table X: “Nationality of the Inhabitants of the Principal Towns of Ceylon” as well as Table IX.

Col. 6 is from Table IX: “Nationality of the Inhabitants of Ceylon (exclusive of the Military and Shipping)”

Cols. 8-10 are from Table XX: “Nationality of the Population on the Coffee Estates of Ceylon”

Note:         The 1871 householders schedule (see Ibid: xxiv) requested each person to provide his or her Name; Relation to Head of Family; Condition: Sex; Age last birthday; Profession or Occupation; Where born; Race; Religious Denomination; If Deaf. Dumb. Blind. Crippled or Insane. It would seem that individuals were left free to stipulate their “race” or “nationality”

Notes:    – indicates no persons in Colombo.

* indicates that the percentage is too small to be worth computing.

+ indicates that Table XX does not list these “nationalities” at all.

Totals:   There are no totals provided in Table X. so we have added up the figures for columns 1, 2 and 3. The dis­crepancies are relatively minor, both in terms of internal consistency and with totals delineated elsewhere in the Census. The totals for the columns 8, 9 and 10 are those drawn from Table XX.

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2 responses to “Revelations? “Nationalities” in the 1871 Census of British Ceylon”

  1. Pingback: “Anglo-Ceylonese”: A Missing Dimension in British Ceylon | Thuppahi's Blog

  2. Rex Olegasegarem
    October 1, 2023 at 3:37 pm

    Thank you Michael. Interesting information.

    Reply

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