An Englishman abroad: Sir James Emerson Tennent in Ceylon, 1845-50: Robin Jones discusses a remarkable collection that reveals much about the impact of British taste on art and craft in Ceylon in the 19th century

In contrast to recent research on 18th-century British collectors of artefacts originating from India, little has been published on the formation of such collections after 1830. (1) Even less has been written about collections created by the British who were resident in Ceylon (Sri Lanka) during the 19th century and their intervention in the material culture and artistic production of the island. (2) This article will address that neglect. It has its origin in the dispersal sale of the Langham family collections at auction in Dublin in September 2004, when a selection of works of art and artefacts from the collection of Sir James Emerson Tennent (1804-69) was offered for sale. (3) This recently-discovered collection is significant for a number of reasons: the objects are securely provenanced to one of the key figures in the British colonial administration on the island during the mid-19th century and can therefore be accurately dated; a number of the drawings and watercolours in the collection are directly related to one of the great works published on the history of Ceylon during the colonial period; fresh light is shed on an aspect of the output of one of the artists patronised by Tennent; and, in addition, the collection reveals the type of furniture and works of art commissioned by a member of the British 4lite in Ceylon at a time of rapid change in the social economy of the island.

Tennent was appointed Colonial Secretary of the Ceylon government in 1845 and arrived in the island later in that year (Fig. 2). (4) His intelligence, educational background and experience, both as Member of Parliament and administrator, seemed to equip him with many of the qualities found in the best of the colonial service. He had been a friend of Lord Byron and an acquaintance of Jeremy Bentham and Charles Dickens; in fact, in his youth, he had shared Byron's enthusiasm for Greek independence as well as his passion for the culture of ancient Greece. (5) Educated at Trinity. College, Dublin and trained as a lawyer, Tennent was elected MP for Belfast in 1832 as a supporter of the Reform Bill. During his parliamentary career, he showed great interest in the relationship between design and the production of manufactured articles and in 1841 published A Treatise on the Copyright of Designs.

He was also instrumental in guiding the Copyright of Designs Bill through parliament in the following year. (6) He served as Secretary to the Board of Control for India between 1841 and 1843, was knighted by the King of Greece for services to that country in 1842 and three years later received the same honour from Queen Victoria. (7) However, his subsequent support for Catholic emancipation in Ireland prevented him from contesting his Belfast seat again and, when offered an alternative career, he therefore accepted the post of Colonial Secretary. (8)

[FIGURE 2 OMITTED]

TENNENT IN CEYLON

Despite his evident potential, however, Tennent's tenure as Colonial Secretary of the Ceylon government was not a particular success in either political or administrative terms. When he accepted the position, he entertained the hope that he might eventually succeed to the governorship of the island on the retirement of the incumbent, Sir Colin Campbell (9) However, the new Secretary of State for the Colonies, the third Earl Grey, distrusted him, as did the newly appointed Governor of Ceylon, Viscount Torrington. Under the leadership of Torrington and Tennent, the colonial government of Ceylon faced a series of testing problems, which were either mishandled through lack of experience or hampered by an inability to win the whole-hearted support of the civil service on the island; furthermore, Tennennt unwittingly attracted the opposition of the colony's powerful newspaper proprietors. (10)

The most serious problem that faced the colonial administration in Ceylon during Tennent's term as Colonial Secretary occurred in 1848, with the outbreak of a small-scale rebellion, concentrated in the central highlands of the island, or Kandyan Districts, provoked by the administration's recently imposed tax rise on the island's population. This rebellion and its heavy-handed suppression led to Tennent's recall to London in 1850, where he faced a parliamentary committee of enquiry into the events of 1848. (11)

CEYLON: AN ACCOUNT OF THE ISLAND

If Tennent's administrative career in Ceylon had been something of a disappointment, then he gained consolation from his researches into the natural, religious and political history of the island, which, in 1859, bore fruit in his two-volume Ceylon: An Account of the Island, Physical, Historical and Topographical. (12) This book, which went through five editions, remained until well into the 20th century the standard history of the island. (13) Kingsley de Silva, the foremost present-day historian of the island, has described Tennent's work in the following glowing terms: Today its value lies in the magnificent picture of the Sri Lanka of his day, a study on a lavish scale, comprehensive and vastly interesting ... his book on Ceylon became a classic virtually from the moment it was published.' (14) This meticulously researched work, which runs to over 1,000 pages, is illustrated with a series of engravings by a number of artists resident on the island, including Hippolyte Sylvaf and Andrew Nicholl, in addition to the work of other artists, government surveyors, surgeons and naturalists? (15) Nicholl is credited as the source of 30 illustrations, the largest single contribution of images to the work.