Postmaster General of Sri Lanka
{{Short description|Head of Sri Lanka Post}}
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{{Infobox official post
| post = Postmaster General
| body = Sri Lanka
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| incumbent = Ranjith Ariyaratne
| incumbentsince = 14 August 2018
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| department = Sri Lanka Post
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| first = Egbert Bletterman
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The Postmaster General of Sri Lanka is the appointed head of Sri Lanka Post, which is a government department. The current Postmaster General is Ranjith Ariyaratne.
History
The first mail service in Ceylon, was in 1788, established by the Dutch East India Company between Holland and Batavia via the Cape of Good Hope and Dutch Ceylon.{{cite web|url=https://www.vanwelie.com/gerard/phzwolle/Zwolle%20Dutch%20Indies.html|title=A Postal History of Zwolle|publisher=Nederlandse Academie voor Filatelie|first=G. L.|last=de Welie|date=31 August 2022|access-date=24 November 2022}} They established postal offices in the coastal trading centres of Colombo, Galle, Jaffna and Mannar. In 1795 the Dutch were expelled by the British and the Maritime Provinces were initially administered by the British East India Company. Two years later Ceylon became a Crown Colony. In 1798, a British officer, Captain Kennedy, was appointed as a competent postal authority.{{cite news|url=https://www.dailynews.lk/2020/09/14/features/228621/postman%E2%80%99s-bell-still-welcome-ring|title=The postman’s bell, still a welcome ring|newspaper=The Daily News|first=Joseph|last=Dishan|date=14 September 2020|access-date=24 November 2022}}
In 1815, following the signing of the Kandyan Convention the British took control of the entire country. They re-organised the postal service and a permanent post office was established in Colombo in 1882. The first official Post Master General of Ceylon was Egbert Bletterman, who was the PMG for the whole island. In 1817, Lewis Sansoni succeeded Bletterman as the second Postmaster General. The third Postmaster General was Major George Stewart and during his period he was instrumental in extending the postal services to major towns in the country.
List of Postmasters General of Sri Lanka
class="wikitable sortable" | |||||
#
! Postmaster General ! Took office ! Left office ! Appointed by ! Notes | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | {{sortname|Egbert|Bletterman}} | 1815 | 1817 | rowspan=2|Robert Brownrigg | first official Postmaster General |
2 | {{sortname|Louis|Sansoni}} | 1817 | 1826 | ||
3 | {{sortname|George William|Stewart}} | 1826 | 1833 | Edward Barnes | |
4 | {{sortname|George|Lee|George Lee (postmaster)}} | 1833 | 1859 | Robert Wilmot-Horton | longest serving Postmaster General |
5 | {{sortname|William|Barton|William Barton (postmaster)}} | 1859 | 1867 | Charles Justin MacCarthy | |
6 | {{sortname|Herbert Webb|Gillman}} | 1867 | 1871 | rowspan=2|Hercules Robinson | |
7 | {{sortname|Thomas Edward Barnes|Skinner}} | 1871 | 1896 | ||
8 | {{sortname|Charles Edward Ducat|Pennycuick}} | 1896 | 1899 | rowspan=2|Joseph West Ridgeway | |
9 | {{sortname|Henry Luttrell|Moysey}} | 1900 | 1906 | ||
10 | {{sortname|Arthur Sampson|Pagden}} | 1906 | 1913 | Henry Arthur Blake | |
11 | {{sortname|Francis Jagoe|Smith}} | 1913 | 1923 | Reginald Edward Stubbs | |
12 | {{sortname|Maurice Salvador|Sreshta}} | 1923 | 1928 | William Henry Manning | first non-European Postmaster General |
13 | {{sortname|Harry Archibald|Burden}} | 1929 | 1933 | Herbert Stanley | |
14 | {{sortname|John Radley|Walters}} | 1933 | 1940 | Reginald Edward Stubbs | |
15 | {{sortname|John Pringle|Appleby}} | 1940 | 1947 | Andrew Caldecott | |
15 | {{sortname|Abdon Ignatius|Perera}} | 1947 | 1951 | Henry Monck-Mason Moore | first Ceylonese Postmaster General |
16 | {{sortname|Victor A.|Nicholas}} | 1951 | 1956 | Viscount Soulbury | second Ceylonese Postmaster General |
17 | {{sortname|H. E.|Seneviratne}} | 1956 | 1961 | ||
18 | {{sortname|D. G.|Dayaratne}} | 1961 | 1962 | ||
19 | {{sortname|A. S.|Kohomban-Wickrema}} | 1962 | 1964 | ||
20 | {{sortname|A. L.|Perera}} | 1964 | 1968 | ||
21 | {{sortname|G. E. de S.|Ellawala}} | 1968 | 1968 | ||
22 | {{sortname|Vernon|Abeysekera}} | 1969 | 1970 | ||
23 | {{sortname|C. J.|Serasinghe}} | 1970 | 1973 | ||
24 | {{sortname|A. R. M.|Jayawardene}} | 1973 | 1980 | ||
25 | {{sortname|A. P.|Hapudeniya}} | 1980 | 1984 | ||
26 | {{sortname|U. W.|Bandara}} | 1985 | 1986 | ||
27 | {{sortname|A. B.|Damunupola}} | 1986 | - | ||
28 | {{sortname|K. A. S.|Senadheera}} | ||||
29 | {{sortname|M. K. B.|Dissanayake}} | 2008 | 2012 | ||
30 | {{sortname|Rohana|Abhayaratne}} | 2012 | 10 July 2018 | ||
31 | {{sortname|Ranjith|Ariyaratne}} | 14 August 2018 | Incumbent |
See also
External links & reference
- [http://www.slpost.gov.lk Sri Lanka Post]
Specific
{{Reflist}}
{{Postmaster General of Sri Lanka}}