micsi 
^^0///,  7'r 
0^ 
o<  MONTHLY.  >o 
T/ 
f 
Vol.  XVI] 
COLOMBO,  MARCH  ist,  1^97. 
No.  9. 
“PIONEERS  OF  THE  PLANTING  ENTERPRISE  IN  CEYLON. 
}> 
{Second  Serial ) 
LIEUT.=COL.  HENRY  C.  BYRDE  (NO.  2), 
PLANTER  AND  MERCHxVNT  IN  CEYLON, 
AND  AFTERWARDS  DEPUTY  LIKUTENANT  AND  J.P.  FOR  CO.  MONMOUTH;  CHAIRMAN 
OF  PuNTYPOOL  PETTY  SESSIONAL  DIVISION  ; AND  HONORARY  (.’OLONEL  OF 
4tH  VOL.  BATTALION  SOUTH  WALES  BORDERERS. 
GEO.  BIRO,  THE  FIRST  OF  CEYLON 
PLANTERS. 
HE  late  Lieut. -Col.  H.  C. 
Byiale  occupieil  for  many 
years  a leading  i>osition 
among  the  planters  and 
merchants  of  Ceylon.  Apart 
from  owning  several  colTee 
plantations,  he  was  the  foun- 
der of  a Planting  Agency 
House  in  Kandy,  which  bore  his  name  and  that 
of  his  son— the  Colonel  Henry  Byrde*,  still  of  the 
central  capital  —for  many  years  ; and  his  family 
had  also  the  prominence  and  prestige  natur.ally 
associated  with  the  ojtenirig  of  the  very  first  coffee 
plantation  in  tiie  island.  The  King  of  Kandy  had 
a so-called  coffee  garden  at  Hanguranketa  ; but 
the  bushes  were  allowed  to  grow  at  their 
sweet  will  and  undoubtedly  the  lir.'^t  regularly 
formed  plantation  was  in  LS24  at  Sinnapittia, 
near  Gampola,  the  planter  being  Mr.  Geo. 
Bird  (the  name  was  originally  so  speltf)  — the 
uncle  of  the  subject  of  this  memoir— who  was 
* One  of  the  heroes  of  the  Redau  and  who  if  he 
had  been  left  in  the  Army,  in  place  of  being 
turned  into  civil  life,  would  probably  have  proved 
one  of  the  youngest  as  well  as  most  active  Generals 
in  the  British  Army. 
t The  change  was  made  by  Colonel  Byrde  after 
retiring  from  Ceylon.  A wag,  who  had  the  ear  of  the 
editor  of  Punch,  sent  to  that  publication  a hon  mot  to 
the  effect  that  although  8 gallant  colonel  down  in 
Monmouthshire  had  had  his  “ i ” (eye)  put  out  by 
Royal  letters  patent,  he  was  doing  as  well  as  could 
be  expected  under  tlie  circumstances,  and  had  found 
.aided  by  Col.  Henry  C.  Byrde  the  first  of  the 
name  iii  Ceylon  and  father  of  the  gentleman 
whose  portrait  we  give. 
The  subject  of  our  memoir  is,  therefore,  the 
middle  one  of  three  Colonels  Byrde  wdio  liave 
been  identified  with  Ceylon  from  1823  onw'ards. 
The  first  was  Colonel  Henry  C.  Bird  of  the  16th 
Regiment,  w'ho  arrived  in  the  island  in  1823,  (ac- 
companied by  his  brother,  Mr.  Geo.  Bird,)  and 
who  became  Commandant  of  Kandy.  George  Bird 
himself  had  been  a Cavalry  Officer  and  had  come 
to  Ceylon  especially  to  engage  in  agricul- 
tnral  or  planting  pursuits.  He  was  a per- 
sonal friend  of  the  Governor  Sir  Edward 
Barnes  who.se  great  de.sire  w'as  to  see  the  line  hill 
country  of  Ceylon  openetl  up  by  European  capital 
and  planters.  Accoidingly,  Geo.  Bird,  supported 
by  bis  brother,  set  to  w'ork  and  opened  in  1824  Sin- 
napittia near  Gampola  ; while  the  Governor  him- 
sell  soon  after  put  his  money  into  the  openitm 
ot  Gangaroowa  .still  known  as  the  “ Rajah  Tot- 
tum  ”)  oppo.site  the  Royal  Botanic  Gardens,  Pera- 
deiiiya,  having  Mr.  Wm.  Nortliway,  senior,  for 
bis  Superinten  lent.  We  cannot  do  better  at  this 
stage  thaniiuote  the  .account  furnished  by  tliesnb- 
tlie  operation  really  a painless  one. — The  joke  is  not 
so  good  as  that  related  to  ns  a few  months  am 
by  Sir  .Tames  Gell,  Attorney-General  of  the  Isle  of 
Man.  We  had  previously  mot  Deemster  Gill  ; and 
referring  to  the  similarity  of  names,  Yes,”  said  Sir 
James,  “but  we  are  quite  distinct  families,  and  on 
my  marrying  a sister  of  the  Deemster,  it  was  all  the 
talk  that  I hid  put  out  the  eye  (i)  of  Miss  Gill  1”— 
Ed.  T.A. 
