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The Fall of the Burmese Kingdom in 1885: Review and Reconsideration

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 April 2011

Ernest C.T. Chew
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Extract

The downfall of the Burmese Kingdom of Ava, late in 1885 (seen in the dramatic deportation of the last Konbaung monarch King Thebaw and the later dissolution of the Hluttaw by the British), was historically significant in several respects. First of all, the end of the Konbaung Dynasty and Burmese independence, which were heralded on 1 January 1886 in a British proclamation incorporating Upper Burma in Queen Victoria's dominions, signalled the start of a period of internal disorder and indigenous resistance to colonial rule. The deposition of the King meant the dissolution of traditional institutions and sanctions, including the demoralization of the Buddhist sangha of which the King had been patron. Thus was begun the Burmese struggle for independence and search for national identity — a struggle which culminated in Burma's attainment of independence outside the British Commonwealth on 4 January 1948, and a search which continued beyond that date.

Type
Articles
Information
Journal of Southeast Asian Studies , Volume 10 , Issue 2 , September 1979 , pp. 372 - 380
Copyright
Copyright © The National University of Singapore 1979

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References

1 See Crosthwaite's, C. classic account, The Pacification of Burma (London, 1912)Google Scholar; and the more recent works by Cady, J.F., A History of Modern Burma (New York, 1958Google Scholar), especially chs. 4 and 5, and Stewart, A.T.O., The Pagoda War (London, 1972)Google Scholar, especially chs. 14–16.

2 Martin, B. Jr., New India, 1885 (Berkeley, Cal.; 1969), p. 304.Google Scholar

3 See Kitzan, L., “Lord Amherst and the Declaration of War on Burma, 1824”, Journal of Asian History, 9, no. 2 (1975): 101–27Google Scholar; and Philips, C.H., “Dalhousie and the Burmese War of 1852”, in Southeast Asian History and Historiography: Essays Presented to D.G.E. Hall, ed. Cowan, C.D. and Wolters, O.W. (New York, 1976), pp. 51–58Google Scholar.

4 See Pollak, O.B., “Crisis of Kingship: Dynasticism and Revolt in Burma, 1837–1852”, Journal of Southeast Asian Studies (JSEAS) 8, no. 2 (1976): 187–96CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Adas, M., “Imperialist Rhetoric and Modern Historiography: The Case of Lower Burma Before and After the Conquest”, JSEAS 3, no. 2 (1972): 175–92Google Scholar; Chew, E., “The Withdrawal of the Last British Residency from Upper Burma in 1879”, Journal of Southeast Asian History, 10, no. 2 (1969): 253–78CrossRefGoogle Scholar; and Bennett, P.J., Conference Under the Tamarind Tree, Essays 2 and 3 (New Haven, Conn., 1971)Google Scholar.

5 The most recent detailed accounts are Singhal, D.P., The Annexation of Upper Burma (Singapore, 1960)Google Scholar; A.T.Q. Stewart, op. cit., chs. 1–9; and Keeton, C.L. III, King Thebaw and the Ecological Rape of Burma (Delhi, 1974)Google Scholar.

6 In addition to the works cited in fn. 5, see P.J. Bennett, loc. cit.; Gopal, S., British Policy in India. 1858–1905 (Cambridge, 1965), pp. 139–44CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Moore, R.J.. Liberalism and Indian Politics, 1872–1922 (London, 1966), pp. 43–49Google Scholar; and B. Martin, op. cit., ch. 11.

7 “England, Afghanistan and Russia”, The Edinburgh Review, 163, no. 333 (1886):3Google Scholar. It was later revealed that the author was Sir Alfred Lyall, then Lieu tenant-Governor of the North-Western Provinces. (See Durand, M., Life of … Sir Alfred Comyn Lyull [Edinburgh, 1913], pp. 477–78Google Scholar. for a list of Lyall's writings.)

8 Burma. After the Conquest … (London, 1886), pp. v. 329.

9 Burma Under British Rule — and Before (London, 1901). p. 81.

10 A Civil Servant in Barma (London, 1913). p. 102.

11 Colonial Policy and Practice: A Comparative Study of Burma and Netherlands India (Cambridge. 1948), p. 70.

12 See Hall's, Burma (London, 1950), p. 130Google Scholar, and History of Southeast Asia (London. 1955). pp. 550–55. For a critique, see Sarkisyanz, M.. Peacocks. Pagodas ami Professor Hall (Athens. Ohio. 1972). especially pp. 24–35.Google Scholar

13 J.F. Cady, op. cit., pp. 116–21. Quotation from p. 119.

14 See Tinker's, H. book review of Singhal's Annexation of Upper Burma in Journal of Southeast Asian History, 1, no. 2 (1960): 105–8CrossRefGoogle Scholar: Fieldhouse, D.K.. Economics and Empire, 1830–1914 (London. 1973). pp. 384–93Google Scholar; and C.L. Keeton, op. cit.

15 Cited in R.J. Moore, op. cit., p. 49. For some public statements on the commercial motivations and justifications for annexation, see Singhal, op. cit., pp. 83–87.

16 A.C. Lyall to B. Webb (private), 9 Feb. 1886, Lyall Collection/10. India Office Library MSS Eur. F. 132.

17 See Chew, E., “Sir Alfred Comyn Lyall: A Study of the Anglo-Indian Official Mind” (Ph.D. diss., University of Cambridge, 1970), 98–101Google Scholar.

18 The Annexation of Upper Burma (Singapore, 1960).

19 Ibid., p. 88.

20 Ibid., p. 89.

21 The Making of Burma (London, 1962), pp. 226–27.

22 Ibid., pp. 229–46.

23 The Stricken Peacock: Anglo-Burmese Relations, 1752–1948 (The Hague, 1965), ch. 5.

24 Martin, op. cit., ch. 11.

25 Fieldhouse, op. cit., ch. 2.

26 Ibid., pp. 385–86.

27 Ibid., pp. 387–88.

28 Ibid., pp. 388–89.

29 Ibid., p. 391.

30 Ibid., p. 393.

31 Dufferin to C.E. Bernard (private), 3 Nov. 1885, Dufferin Collection/39/24, India Office Library MSS Eur. F. 130.

32 R. Churchill to Dufferin (private), 18 Nov. 1885, D.C./3/ff. 213–214.

33 Keeton, op. cit., pp. 336–37.

34 Ibid., p. 337.