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Postmaster General of Sri Lanka

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Postmaster General of Sri Lanka
since 14 August 2018
Sri Lanka Post
Formation1815
First holderEgbert Bletterman

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

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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.[1] 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.[2]

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

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# Postmaster General Took office Left office Appointed by Notes
1 Egbert Bletterman 1815 1817 Robert Brownrigg first official Postmaster General
2 Louis Sansoni 1817 1826
3 George William Stewart 1826 1833 Edward Barnes
4 George Lee 1833 1859 Robert Wilmot-Horton longest serving Postmaster General
5 William Barton 1859 1867 Charles Justin MacCarthy
6 Herbert Webb Gillman 1867 1871 Hercules Robinson
7 Thomas Edward Barnes Skinner 1871 1896
8 Charles Edward Ducat Pennycuick 1896 1899 Joseph West Ridgeway
9 Henry Luttrell Moysey 1900 1906
10 Arthur Sampson Pagden 1906 1913 Henry Arthur Blake
11 Francis Jagoe Smith 1913 1923 Reginald Edward Stubbs
12 Maurice Salvador Sreshta 1923 1928 William Henry Manning first non-European Postmaster General
13 Harry Archibald Burden 1929 1933 Herbert Stanley
14 John Radley Walters 1933 1940 Reginald Edward Stubbs
15 John Pringle Appleby 1940 1947 Andrew Caldecott
15 Abdon Ignatius Perera 1947 1951 Henry Monck-Mason Moore first Ceylonese Postmaster General
16 Victor A. Nicholas 1951 1956 Viscount Soulbury second Ceylonese Postmaster General
17 H. E. Seneviratne 1956 1961
18 D. G. Dayaratne 1961 1962
19 A. S. Kohomban-Wickrema 1962 1964
20 A. L. Perera 1964 1968
21 G. E. de S. Ellawala 1968 1968
22 Vernon Abeysekera 1969 1970
23 C. J. Serasinghe 1970 1973
24 A. R. M. Jayawardene 1973 1980
25 A. P. Hapudeniya 1980 1984
26 U. W. Bandara 1985 1986
27 A. B. Damunupola 1986 -
28 K. A. S. Senadheera
29 M. K. B. Dissanayake 2008 2012
30 Rohana Abhayaratne 2012 10 July 2018
31 Ranjith Ariyaratne 14 August 2018 Incumbent

See also

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Specific

  1. ^ de Welie, G. L. (31 August 2022). "A Postal History of Zwolle". Nederlandse Academie voor Filatelie. Retrieved 24 November 2022.
  2. ^ Dishan, Joseph (14 September 2020). "The postman's bell, still a welcome ring". The Daily News. Retrieved 24 November 2022.