| Egbert Bletterman | |
| Birth Name: | Egbertus Lodewijk Bletterman |
| Birth Date: | 3 January 1773 |
| Birth Place: | Cape Town, Dutch Cape Colony |
| Death Date: | Unknown |
| Nationality: | Dutch/British |
| Occupation: | public servant |
| Known For: | Postmaster General of Ceylon |
| Term: | 1815 - 1817 |
| Successor: | Louis Sansoni |
| Spouse: | Geertruida Christina née de Waal (m.1794) |
| Parents: | Johannes Matthias Bletterman, Geertruij Catharina née Schot |
Egbert Bletterman (born 3 January 1773), was the first official Postmaster General of Ceylon, serving from 1815 to 1817.[1] [2]
Egbertus Lodewijk Bletterman was born on 3 January 1773 in Cape Town in the Dutch Cape Colony, the third of seven children to Johannes Matthias Bletterman (1742-1796), a former Dutch East India Company official (Landdrost of Stellenbosch) and member of the burgher militia, and Geertruij Catharina née Schot (1752-?).[3] [4] On 17 December 1791 he joined the Dutch East India Company as a bookkeeper for the Chamber of Amsterdam.[5] He resigned from the company on 31 August 1793.[5]
On 8 June 1794 he married Geertruida Christina de Waal (1777-?), daughter of Arend de Waal and Maria Josina née van As. In 1795 following Britain's occupation of the Dutch Cape Colony Bletterman's family established a business importing and selling goods in the Cape Colony from across and beyond the British Empire.[6]
Bletterman traveled to Ceylon in 1803, where he joined the Ceylon Civil Service and began sending goods to the Cape Colony, a practice that subsequently landed him in trouble with the Ceylon government. The Governor Frederick North appointed him as First Assistant in the Chief Secretary's office.[7] The subsequent British Governor, Thomas Maitland did not look upon Bletterman with the same favour as North had, transferring him to Customs.[7] Bletterman taking the position of Custom-master of the Port of Colombo in 1806.[8] The next Governor Robert Brownrigg appointed him as the colony's Postmaster General in 1815.[7]
In 1812 he established one of the first privately owned and operated coffee plantations, obtaining a licence to export the produce.[6] [9] I was ultimately unsuccessful due to the poor condition of the soil.[10] [11] In 1814, Bletterman applied successfully to Governor Brownrigg for permission to export arrack, coconuts, tobacco, coffee, pepper, and saffron to the Cape.[6] In January 1825, he was appointed a special envoy for trading interests of the Ceylon government at the Cape.[6] [12]