Dutch Burgher Union of Ceylon

History

On 12 November 1907 Richard Gerald Anthonisz (1852–1930) organised a preliminary meeting of men and women of the Dutch Burgher community at the Lindsay School Hall in Bambalapitiya to consider the establishment of a Dutch Burgher Union. A small committee was appointed to draft a constitution for the union. The inaugural general meeting of the union was held on 18 January 1908 at the Pettah Public Library, with 267 enrolled members present. At the meeting Frederick Charles Loos CMG (1934-1911), a Proctor and Member of the Legislative Council was elected as the first president of the union, with Anthonisz as Honorary Secretary (a position he retained until 1915). The second president of the union was Henry Lorenz Wendt (1958-1911) however he died two months after his election and in 1912 was replaced by Fedrick Henry de Vos (1857–1920). In 1913 Sir Hector William van Cuylenburg was elected as the fourth president of the union. In 1916, Anthonisz was elected President, a position he held for twenty-four years until his death in 1930.

The first writ described the vision of union, and it stated ".. promote the moral, intellectual and social well-being of the Dutch and Dutch Burgher descendants in Ceylon (Sri Lanka).. and among many others .. the promotion of fellowship, self-help, self-reliance and thrift." Membership of the Dutcher Burgher Union was governed by strict genealogical qualifications, with members having to demonstrate an uninterrupted line of patrilineal descent from a European employee of the Dutch East India Company. Now it functions in Colombo as centre of Dutch Burgher's social and community activities.

Initially the union sublet two rooms at Sea View, Kollupitiya however the union shortly afterwards set about raising funds to establish permanent accommodation. In 1913 the union acquired land in Cinnamon Gardens on Buller's Road (now known as Bauddhaloka Mawatha) and Serpentine Road, where it constructed a two storey building. The ground floor of the building contains a vestibule which leads to a large public room, with a sprung teak floor, which was used for lectures and dances. A carved wooden staircase leads to the upper floor, which houses a billiard room, bar, card rooms, a drawing room and a reading room. There is also a wing containing residential quarters for outstation members and space at the rear of the building which was initially used for horses and carriages and subsequently for car parking. The grounds also contained tennis courts and a netball court. As the suburb developed the union was forced to sell much of its grounds for new roads and to pay for increasing property rates.

The Dutch Burgher Union still operates in Colombo as a centre for social and community activities. Nowadays, the union limits its function as a book states "once a powerful secret society but now only a gloomy billiard hall near Buller Road, draped in dust and cobwebs".

Notability

The union has published in excess of 70 volumes of The Journal of the Dutch Burgher Union of Ceylon. The first copy was issued on 31 March 1908 and copies were issued regularly until 1968. No volumes were published between 1968 and 1981, mostly due to the exodus of members of the burgher community from Sri Lanka. The journal is now published annually. The journals contain genealogies of over 200 burgher families and played a significant role on pre-migration in the 1950s. The journals are considered as good resource for researching the community.

The DBU's centenary (1908–2008) was featured on the Sri Lankan 5 rupee stamp.

The union manages St Nikolaas' Home that looks after the elder women of Burgher community, and Brohier Memorial Home for elder men.