William Gregory van Dort

Dr William Gregory van Dort (24 October 1841 – 26 October 1921) was a Ceylonese Burgher physician and politician.

Dr William Gregory van Dort
Born	(1841-10-24)24 October 1841 Colombo, Ceylon
Died	26 October 1921(1921-10-26) (aged 80) Colombo, Ceylon
Nationality	Ceylonese
Education	St. Paul's Parochial School, Pettah, Colombo Academy
Alma mater	University of Aberdeen
Occupation(s)	surgeon, politician
Spouse(s)	Caroline Lankenstein (m.1860); Sophia Marion McCarthy (m.1870)
Children	8

Education and career

William Gregory van Dort was born in Colombo on 24 October 1841, the seventh child of Johannes Jacobus van Dort (1801–1876) and Petronella Margaretta née Kalenberg (1806–1847).^[1] The family lived in San Sebastian (Small Pass), which adjoins Pettah,^[2] with Van Dort and his siblings attending school at St. Paul's Parochial School in Pettah^[3] and Colombo Academy.^[4][5] His eldest brother, John Leonard Kalenberg, was a 19th-century artist.

Van Dort studied in Madras and Calcutta receiving a Licentiate in Medicine and Surgery from the Calcutta Medical College. He travelled to the United Kingdom and studied at the University of Aberdeen, graduating with a degree in medicine and surgery in 1864.^[6] He went on to travel extensively around Europe, before returning to Ceylon. He served as assistant Colonial Surgeon in charge of the Gampola Hospital.^[7] Van Dort highlighted the significant mortality rates of Indian migrant labour, authoring the Report on the Gampola Civic Hospital in 1870, where he identified the death rate amongst all new workers as being as high as 25%.^[8][9][10] Whilst the report was heavily criticised by plantation owners it did result in Governor William Gregory reviewing the regulations governing the control of migrant labour.^[7][9]

In 1887 van Dort was one of the fifteen founding members of the Ceylonese branch of British Medical Association, now known as the Sri Lanka Medical Association,^[11][12] serving as the ninth branch president, from 1900 to 1903.^[13][14]

Between 1909 and 1911 van Dort acted on several occasions as the unofficial member of the Legislative Council of Ceylon representing the Burgher community,^[15] in the absence of the sitting member, Frederick Charles Loos.^[16] During his tenure on the Legislative Council van Dort called for tuberculosis to be recognised as an infectious disease and that it be treated through policies on isolation, special hospitals and compulsory notification.^[17]

Personal

In c.1860 van Dort married Countess Caroline Lackenstein (c.1845-1861) in Calcutta, West Bengal, India.^[1] She died approximately a year later in 1861. He subsequently re-married Sophia Marion McCarthy (1851-1921), daughter of Rev. Edward McCarthy and Sophia Smith, in 1870 at the Scots Kirk, Kandy.^[1] They had eight children together, their fifth child, Claribel Frances, married Richard Lionel Spittel in 1911.^[18] Van Dort died on 26 October 1921, twelve days after his wife's death.^[19][20]

Further reading

• Spittel-Wilson, Christine (2007). Christine, a Memoir. Perera Hussein Publishing House. ISBN 9789558897126.

References

1. Altendorff, D. V. (1949). "Journal of the Dutch Burger Union of Ceylon" (PDF). Genealogy of the van Dort Family. XXXVIII. Dutch Burgher Union: 22.
2. de Silva, Rajpal Kumar (1998). 19th Century Newspaper Engravings of Ceylon – Sri Lanka. Serendib Publications. pp. 13–14. ISBN 0-9510710-2-5.
3. Seibel, J. B. (April 1950). "Journal of the Dutch Burger Union of Ceylon" (PDF). Reminiscences of J. L. K. Van Dort. XL. Dutch Burgher Union: 33–44.
4. Brohier, Deloraine. "Running in the family... with brush and palette". The Island. Retrieved 1 November 2021.
5. Roberts, Michael (1994). Exploring Confrontation: Sri Lanka--politics, Culture and History. Taylor & Francis. p. 234. ISBN 978-3-7186-5692-9.
6. The Medical Times and Gazette. Vol. 2. London: John Churchill and Sons. 1864. p. 267.
7. Duncan, James S. (2007). In the Shadows of the Tropics: Climate, Race and Biopower in Nineteenth Century Ceylon. Ashgate Publishing. p. 126. ISBN 9780754672265.
8. Clarence-Smith, William Gervase; Topik, Steven, eds. (2003). The Global Coffee Economy in Africa, Asia, and Latin America, 1500–1989. Cambridge University Press. p. 151. ISBN 9781139438391.
9. Peebles, Patrick (2001). The Plantation Tamils of Ceylon: New Historical Perspectives on Migration. A&C Black. p. 11. ISBN 9780718501549.
10. Breckenridge, Shiva N. (2001). The Hills of Paradise: British Enterprise and the Story of Plantation Growth in Sri Lanka. Stamford Lake. p. 107. ISBN 9789558156834.
11. "History of SLMA". Sri Lanka Medical Association. Retrieved 1 November 2021.
12. Hart, Ernest, ed. (10 March 1888). "British Medical Journal". London: British Medical Association: 553. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
13. "British Medical Journal". 1. British Medical Association. 1 June 1901: 1373. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
14. "Past Presidents". Sri Lanka Medical Association. Retrieved 1 November 2021.
15. Fernandis, Rodney (1995). Proud and Prejudiced: The Story of the Burghers of Sri Lanka. p. 64. ISBN 0646255924.
16. "Journal of the Dutch Burgher Union of Ceylon". 1–5. Dutch Burgher Union of Ceylon. 1909: 48. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
17. Jones, Margaret (2004). Health Policy in Britain's Model Colony: Ceylon, 1900-1948. Vol. 10. Orient Blackswan. p. 132. ISBN 9788125027591.
18. Abeynayake, Stanley E. (9 September 2003). "Dr. R. L. Spittel - champion of Lanka's aborigines". The Daily News. Retrieved 1 November 2021.
19. "Death of Dr W G Van Dort". Malaya Tribune. 27 October 1921. p. 5. Retrieved 1 November 2021.
20. "England & Wales, National Probate Calendar (Index of Wills and Administrations), 1858-1995". Probate Registry. 1995. p. 1923.