Frederick Henry de Vos (14 September 1857 – 23 July 1920) was a Ceylonese legal practitioner, genealogist and historian. He was fluent in Dutch, English, French and Flemish and published a number of papers relating to the Dutch East India Company (Verenigde Oostindische Compagnie) involvement in Ceylon.
Frederick Henry de Vos | |
---|---|
Born | Galle, Ceylon | 14 September 1857
Died | 23 July 1920 Galle, Ceylon | (aged 62)
Occupation(s) | lawyer, genealogist, historian |
Frederick Henry de Vos was born in Galle on 14 September 1857, the oldest son of sixteen children, to Frederick William de Vos (1829-1883), a proctor of the Supreme Court of Ceylon, and his second wife, Henrietta Dorothea née Anthonisz (1832-1909), the younger sister of Peter Daniel Anthonisz.[1][2]
De Vos studied as an undergraduate at St John's College, Cambridge,[3] before enrolling as a student of the Inner Temple on 21 November 1878 (at the age of 21), he was called to the bar on 17 November 1881.[4][5] Upon his return to Ceylon he was appointed an Advocate of the Supreme Court of Ceylon and as a Justice of the Peace.[6] In April 1903 he was appointed as acting District Judge, Additional Commissioner of Requests and a Visitor of the Prison at Galle.[7]
He served with the Ceylon Light Infantry Volunteers, and was promoted to Lieutenant in 1891,[8] and then Captain.[1]
De Vos was a member of the Society of Dutch Literature, and served as the third president of the Dutch Burgher Union of Ceylon in 1912.[9][10] He had a fluent knowledge of Dutch and Dutch history, translating and putting together many genealogies of the families of the Dutch Burgher Union.[11] His translation of the Beknopte Historie for the Ceylon Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society is potentially the largest complete work which he authored.[12]
He died in Galle on 23 July 1920, at the age of 62, and is buried at the Galle Dutch Reformed Church.[13][14]
Bibliography
- de Vos, F. H. (1898). Monumental Remains of the Dutch East India Company in Ceylon.
- de Vos, F. H. (1903). Three Funerals of Ceylon Dutch Officials in the 18th Century.
- de Vos, F. H. (1919). Ceylon and the Hollanders, 1658-1796.