Hercules George Robert Robinson, 1st Baron Rosmead

On 30 May 1865 Hercules George Robert Robinson arrived in Ceylon. Robinson had been appointed governor of this important crown colony, again at a critical stage in its history. Robinson relished his seven years of power. As he once reflected, 'in a great Crown Colony … the Governor administers a system of perfect personal government … in the minutiae of his interference'. Robinson contributed much to the modern infrastructure of colonial Ceylon: harbours, railways, irrigation schemes, civil service professionalism, and social leadership with Nea. His imperialism took the form of a modernizing paternalism, often in conflict with the small settler élite, in the interests of indigenous peoples and colonial economic growth.

Image Courtesy of National Portrait Gallery