Revelations? “Nationalities” in the 1871 Census of British Ceylon – By Michael Roberts

Michael Roberts

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.

Source:thuppahis.com

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

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.