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Conquest and Concession: The Case of the Burma Ruby Mines

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 November 2008

Robert Vicat Turrell
Robert Vicat Turrell
Affiliation:
Institute of Commonwealth Studies University of London
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Extract

A compelling vignette of the use of political influence for private gain in the expansion of the British empire is provided by the way King Thebaw' s legendary ruby mines in Upper Burma were acquired by British speculators in the late 1880s. The details of how the ruby-mine concession was awarded to a syndicate soon after Upper Burma was annexed to Britain in 1886 are not well known, although the concesion-mongering created a furore in the India Office and the House of Commons. There was even, at the time, a suggestion that the rubymine affair infleunced Lord Dufferin's decision to resign as Viceroy in 1888.

Type
Articles
Information
Modern Asian Studies , Volume 22 , Issue 1 , February 1988 , pp. 141 - 163
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1988

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References

The research on which this article is based was funded by an ESRC Postdoctoral Fellowship held at the Institute of Commonwealth Studies, London. Thanks to N. M. Rothschild and Sons for permission to quote from their archive.

1 India Office Library (IOL), Mss. EUR.F. 130/11A, No. 13, Lord Dufferin to Lord Cross, 26 March 1888, p. 43.

2 Crosthwaite, C., The Pacification of Burma, first pub. 1912 (London, 1968), p. 46.Google Scholar

3 Ibid., p. 44.

4 Ibid., p. 45.

5 Ibid.

6 Foster, R., Lord Randolph Churchill. A Political Life (Oxford, 1981), p. 206.Google Scholar

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8 IOL, Mss. EUR.D.912, SirBernard, C. to Ripon, Lord, 1 July 1880.Google Scholar

9 Ibid., 6 April 1881.

10 Ibid., 13 July 1882.

11 Ibid., 22 Feb. 1882.

12 Ibid., SirBernard, C. to Grant, 2 October 1884.Google Scholar

13 IOL, Mss, EUR.F. 130/2, Dufferin, Lord to Kimberley, Lord, 10 Feb. 1885, p. 24.Google Scholar

14 Corley, T. A. B., A History of the Burmah Oil Company 1886–1924 (London, 1983), pp. 32–9;Google Scholar BPP, Cd4616 (1886) Correspondence Relating to Burma, Cargill to Churchill, 6 July 1885, p. 24. After the British ultimatum Cargill applied for, and was granted, an oil concession of 4 square miles. In the same year Burma Oil was registered in Edinburgh with a capital of £120,000 and in 1889 the first shares were offered to the public. In 1890 Sir Lepel Griffin, in association with the Rothschilds, was also granted an oil concession of 4 square miles.

15 Foster, Lord Randolph Churchill, pp. 206–10.

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26 IOL, Mss.EUR.F. 130/8A, Dufferin, Lord to Cross, Lord, 8 June 1887, p. 2. It is worth noting that there was no British competition for the jade mines. They were situated at the heads waters of the Chindwin, ninety miles north of Bhamo and were leased to two Chinese lessees for R60,000 when Burma was first occupied. The trade was entirely in the hands of the Chinese, although the British had no intention of creating a monopoly. In August 1887 the Chinese lessees had their leases renewed for a year and the Deputy Commissioner of Bhamo, Upper Chindwin and Mogaung began to investigate the best method of getting a good revenue from jade. In 1891 the jade quarries were occupied by British troops.Google Scholar

27 For his career, see The Mining Journal, 23 03 1889, ‘Familiar Faces’, p. 335.Google Scholar

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31 Ibid., p. 3.

32 Ibid.

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35 Ibid., p. 5.

36 IOL, Mss.EUR.F. 130/8A, Dufferin, Lord to Cross, Lord, 1 March 1887, p. 33.Google Scholar

37 IOL, Mss.EUR.F. 130/9, Cross, Lord to Dufferin, Lord, 25 March 1887, p. 40.Google Scholar

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39 IOL, Mss.EUR.F. 130/27B, Godley, J. A. to Dufferin, Lord, 5 Aug. 1887, p. 41.Google Scholar

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41 Hansard, 7 July 1887, col. 68.

42 BPP, Cd. 5140 (1887) Correspondence Respecting the Ruby Mines of Upper Burma.

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47 Ibid.

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55 See Turrell, R. V., ‘The Rothschilds, the Exploration Company and Mining Finance’, Business History, 28, 2, 1986.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

56 See Turrell, R. V., ‘Rhodes, De Beers and Monopoly’, Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History, 10, 3, 1982.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

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59 Ibid., encl. M. Unger to Sir J. Gorst, 23 June 1887.

60 Ibid.

61 Ibid.

62 Ibid., encl. Sir J. Gorst to M. Unger, 27 June 1887.

63 IOL, Mss.EUR.F. 130/9, Cross, Lord to Dufferin, Lord, 8 July 1887, p. 85.Google Scholar

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65 IOL, Mss.EUR.F. 130/11B, Dufferin, Lord to Cross, Lord, 24 Sep. 1888, p. 189.Google Scholar

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67 IOL, Mss.EUR.F. 130/11A, Dufferin, Lord to Cross, Lord, 26 March 1888, p. 43.Google Scholar Lord Dufferin had a poor record with mines. He was persuaded by the sharpest mining financier of his generation, Whitaker Wright, to become the figure-head Chairman of his major mining corporation. It went bankrupt in a blaze of publicity as a result of fraudulent practices and Wright committed suicide in the dock. See Nicolson, H., Helen's Tower (London, 1937), pp. 265–75.Google Scholar

68 IOL, Mss.EUR.F. 130/29G, Sir D. M. Wallace to J. A. Godley, 29 Oct. 1888.

69 Stock Exchange Archive, Exploration Company, Prospectus, 1889; IOL, Mss.EUR.D.558/18, Godley, J. A. to Ardagh, Colonel J. C., 23 Nov. 1888, p. 9.Google Scholar

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71 The Economist, 30 07 1892, ‘The Burma Ruby Mines Company’, p. 970.Google Scholar

72 Ibid.

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77 IOL, Mss.EUR.F. 130/30B, Hurlibert, W. H. to Dufferin, Lord, 18 May 1888, p. 48.Google Scholar See also BPP, Select Committee on East India (Hyderabad Deccan Mining Company), 1888.

78 See Turrell, R. V., “Finance…the Governor of the Imperial Engine”: ‘Hobson and the Case of Rothschild and Rhodes’, Journal of Southern African Studies, 13, 3, 1987.Google Scholar