Emerson Tennent

Sir James Emerson Tennent

Born in Belfast in 1804, Sir James Emerson Tennent (1808-1869) was a writer, parliamentarian and sometime colonial administrator. He served as colonial secretary of Ceylon between 1845 and 1850. While in Ceylon he travelled widely, gathering knowledge of the island, and upon returning to Britain he produced a series of influential books. The most important of which was the two volume Ceylon: an account of the island physical, historical and topographical, with notices of its natural history, antiquities, and productions (1859). Running through five editions in less than a year, this book was quickly established as the book on Ceylon and it secured for Emerson Tennent a reputation as an expert on the colony and a place in the literary and scientific elite of mid-Victorian Britain.

Relates to:

hp SK305 TENN - Lecture by Sir James Emerson Tennent (to the Belfast Natural History and Philosophical Society on ‘The habits of wild elephants, and the modes of capturing them, in Ceylon.' (Belfast: Printed at “The Belfast Daily Mercury” office, 1856)

Christianity in Ceylon : its introduction and progress under the Portuguese, the Dutch, the British, and American missions; with an historical sketch of the Brahmanical and Buddhist superstitions

Relates to:

h BR1165 TENN - Christianity in Ceylon: its introduction and progress under the Portuguese, the Dutch, the British, and American missions; with an historical sketch of the Brahmanical and Buddhist superstitions (London: John Murray, 1850)

Ceylon : an account of the island physical, historical and topographical, with notices of its natural history, antiquities, and productions

Relates to:

h DS489 TENN - Ceylon: an account of the island physical, historical and topographical, with notices of its natural history, antiquities, and productions, 2 vols (London: Longman, Green, Longman, and Roberts, 1859)