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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 07 April 2011
The Anglo-Burmese administrator, ostensibly another Anglo-Indian administrator and traditionally perceived as such, must be viewed as a special case. He served Company and Crown in a milieu and under circumstances that differed sharply from those known to his counterparts in the subcontinent. Burma was in a unique position in that it was a part of both the Indian and British Empires. The administrator in Burma found himself at the end of a chain of command that extended from London via Calcutta to Rangoon. London tended to view the remote province with an eye to diplomatic and mercantile considerations. Calcutta concentrated on local priorities and imposed a rigid economy that accorded with Indian priorities. Little attempt was made to understand the alien culture with its differing needs. To the Anglo-Burmese administrator fell the difficult task of governing the ancient land under the aegis of Calcutta and the eyes of London.
1 Colonel W.F.B. Laurie includes Sir Arthur Phayre, the first Commissioner of Lower Burma, in his list of distinguished Anglo-Indian administrators; Sketches of Some Distinguished Anglo-Indians (London: W. H. Allen, 1887). Philip Woodruff counts Phayre among the Guardians inGoogle ScholarThe Men Who Ruled India; Vol. II The Guardians (London: Jonathan Cape, 1963)Google Scholar.
2 Sir White, Herbert Thirkell, A Civil Servant in Burma (London: Edwin Arnold, 1913), p.291.Google Scholar
3 Fryer to White, 20 Oct. 1909, White Papers, E254/3.
4 White to Minto, 18 Mar. 1906, E354/5.
5 Sir Fryer, Frederick, “A Farewell Dinner”, Journal of the Burma Society 1 (09. 1910): 185. White Papers, E254/39Google Scholar.
6 Fytche, Albert, Burma, Past and Present with Personal Reminiscences of the Country, 2 vols. (London: C. Kegal Paul & Co., 1878), 1: 258Google Scholar.
7 , Fryer, “A Farewell Dinner”, pp. 180–85Google Scholar.
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9 Edwardes, Michael, Bound to Exile: The Victorians in India (London: Sidgwick & Jackson, 1969), p. 192Google Scholar.
10 Crosthwaite to White, 1913, White Papers, E254/1.
11 Literary examples of the spirit of the new imperial age are to be found in the novels of Haggard, H. Rider and Henty, G. A. and the poems of Rudyard Kipling. Contemporary works on the subject include: Charles Wentworth Dilke, Greater Britain: A Record of Travel in English-Speaking Countries during 1866 and 1867 (3rd. ed.; London: Macmillan & Co., 1869)Google Scholar; Froude, James Anthony, Oceana or England and her Colonies (London: Longmans, Green & Co., 1866)Google Scholar; Seeley, J. R., The Expansion of England, Classics of British Historical Literature, ed. Gross, John (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1971)Google Scholar.
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13 Ibid., p. 169.
14 Herbert M. Laurie, private letter dated 22 Mar. 1976.
15 White to Curzon, 10 Feb. 1905, White Papers, E254/4.
16 , White, A Civil Servant, p. 25Google Scholar.
17 Ibid., pp. 57–58.
18 White to Minto, 8 Nov. 1908, White Papers, E254/5.
19 , White, A Civil Servant, p. 288Google Scholar.
20 Ibid., p. 289.
21 Ibid., p. 291.
22 White to Minto, II Feb. 1906, White Papers, E254/5.
23 , White, A Civil Servant, p. 296Google Scholar.
24 Viceroy's Staff to White, 17 Jan. 1908, White Papers, E254/5.
25 , White, A Civil Servant, p. 293Google Scholar.
26 White to Minto, 22 Feb. 1908, White Papers, E254/5.
27 “A Farewell address by the Burmese Community, Rangoon, to his Honour Sir Herbert Thirkell White, K.C.I.E., Lieutenant-Governor of Burma”, Selection of Speeches by His Honour Sir Herbert Thirkell White. K.C.I. E., Lieutenant-Governor of Burma During his term of office 1905–1910 by a Loyal Burman (Rangoon: British Burma Press, 1910), p. 109Google Scholar.
28 Speech Delivered by His Honour the Lieutenant- Governor on the occasion of the inaugural meeting of the Burma Research Society at Bernard Free Library, held on the 19th March 1910, Selection of Speeches, pp. 124–25.
29 Sir White, Herbert Thirkell, Burma, Provincial Geographies of India (Cambridge: University Press, 1923), p. 1Google Scholar.
30 Ibid., p. 131.
31 , White, A Civil Servant, p. 306Google Scholar.
32 Sir Jacob, Lionel, Supplement to the St. Ives Times, 8 01. 1932, p. IIGoogle Scholar.
33 Ibid.
34 , White, A Civil Servant, p. viiGoogle Scholar.
