‘The Belfast Chameleon’: Ulster, Ceylon and the Imperial Life of Sir James Emerson Tennent

Author:

Wright Jonathan Jeffrey

Abstract

Using the varied life and career of the Belfast-born writer, parliamentarian and sometime colonial administrator James Emerson Tennent as a case study, this article explores the complexity of imperial lives and highlights some aspects of Ulster's connection to empire in the pre-Home Rule era. One of many Ulstermen active in imperial administration, Emerson Tennent served as colonial secretary in Ceylon between 1845 and 1850. Although short-lived and controversial, his career as a colonial administrator is nevertheless revealing, particularly insofar as it offers insights into the personal animosities and the networks of connection that existed in Ceylon's close-knit British community. More broadly, the article seeks to view the metropolitan and the colonial as a whole, arguing that while Emerson Tennent spent only a brief time in the Empire his imperial life was longer and more complex than this suggests. To this end, the imperial rhetoric he expressed as a parliamentarian in the 1830s and early 1840s is discussed, as are his later writing on Ceylon and his donations of scientific specimens and ethnographic artefacts to the Belfast Natural History and Philosophical Society. Through writing and donation, it is argued, Emerson Tennent continued his imperial career, mediating empire to metropolitan audiences, both local and national.

Publisher

Edinburgh University Press

Subject

History

Cited by 34 articles. 订阅此论文施引文献 订阅此论文施引文献,注册后可以免费订阅5篇论文的施引文献,订阅后可以查看论文全部施引文献

1. Introduction;Ireland’s Imperial Connections, 1775–1947;2019

2. The Great Famine, 1845–1850;The Cambridge History of Ireland;2018-04-26

3. Ireland and the Empire in the Nineteenth Century;The Cambridge History of Ireland;2018-04-26

4. The Impact of O’Connell, 1815–1850;The Cambridge History of Ireland;2018-04-26

5. The Politics of Protestant Ascendancy, 1730–1790;The Cambridge History of Ireland;2018-04-26

同舟云学术

1.学者识别学者识别

2.学术分析学术分析

3.人才评估人才评估

"同舟云学术"是以全球学者为主线,采集、加工和组织学术论文而形成的新型学术文献查询和分析系统,可以对全球学者进行文献检索和人才价值评估。用户可以通过关注某些学科领域的顶尖人物而持续追踪该领域的学科进展和研究前沿。经过近期的数据扩容,当前同舟云学术共收录了国内外主流学术期刊6万余种,收集的期刊论文及会议论文总量共计约1.5亿篇,并以每天添加12000余篇中外论文的速度递增。我们也可以为用户提供个性化、定制化的学者数据。欢迎来电咨询!咨询电话:010-8811{复制后删除}0370

www.globalauthorid.com

TOP

Copyright © 2019-2024 北京同舟云网络信息技术有限公司
京公网安备11010802033243号  京ICP备18003416号-3