George Vane

{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2023}} {{Use British English|date=November 2023}} {{Infobox officeholder |honorific_prefix = |name = George Vane |honorific_suffix = CMG |image_size = |image = |caption = |order = 12th |office = Treasurer of Ceylon |term_start = 1865 |term_end = 1882 |predecessor = Frederick Saunders |successor = William Dumaresq Wright |deputy = |birth_name = |birth_date =  |birth_place = |death_date =  |death_place = |resting_place = |resting_place_coordinates = |profession = Colonial administrator |parents = |spouse = {{marriage|Harriet Braybrooke|1847}} |children = Frederick William, Henry George Bagnall }}

'''George Vane''' CMG, CCS, was a British colonial administrator. He was the twelfth Treasurer of Ceylon (1865–1882), and a member of both the Legislative Council and Governor's Executive Council, under the Robinson, Gregory and Longden administrations.

==Career== Vane was initially appointed to the custom's department in Liverpool in 1834, before being appointed as inspector general of imports and exports in London in 1837, then landing waiter in 1839.<ref>{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hb5vEAAAQBAJ&dq=%22vane%2C+g.%22+%22colonial+office%22&pg=PA150 | title=The Colonial Office List for 1862 | isbn=9783375034252 | last1=Sargeaunt | first1=William C. | last2=Birch | first2=Arthur N. | date=14 May 2022 | publisher=BoD – Books on Demand }}</ref>

In 1847 he was made comptroller of customs in Jaffna, British Ceylon. In 1854 he was the deputy collector of customs in the western and north-western province of Ceylon.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://www.defence.lk/upload/ebooks/The%20Ceylon%20Almanac%201854.pdf|title=The Ceylon Almanac|date=1854|publisher=William Skeen - Government Printer|place=Colombo|page=64}}</ref>

Vane served as superintendent of fisheries from 1855 to 1860 and was primarily responsible for administering pearl fishing in the Gulf of Mannar, during that time.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://www.tamildigitallibrary.in/admin/assets/book/TVA_BOK_0047343/TVA_BOK_0047343_Pearl_and_Chank_fisheries_of_gulf_of_manaar.pdf|title=Pearl and Chank Fisheries of the Gulf of Manaar|author=Thurston, Edgar|publisher=Superintendent Government Press|place=Madras|date=1894|page=31}}</ref> In 1887 a report he prepared on the Ceylon pearl fisheries was published by the Royal Asiatic Society.

In 1861 he was appointed the principal collector of customs in Ceylon.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/22532/page/2997/data.pdf|title=London Gazette|date=23 July 1861|number=22532|page=2997}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7i03AAAAYAAJ&dq=%22george+Vane%22+-tempest+ceylon&pg=PA194 | title=The Gentleman's Magazine and Historical Review | date=18 October 1861 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://gemology.se/gill-library/gemjewelry/Pearl_and_Chank_Fisheries_of_the_Gulf_of_Manaar_Ceylon_Edgar_Thurston_1890.pdf|title=Pearl and Chank Fisheries of the Gulf of Manaar|author=Thurston, Edgar|publisher=Superintendent Government Press|place=Madras|date=1890|page=39}}</ref>

On 1 September 1865 he was appointed as Treasurer of Ceylon by Governor Hercules Robinson, replacing Frederick Saunders.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1dcNAAAAQAAJ&dq=%22g.+vane%22+ceylon+treasurer&pg=PA37 | title=The Colonial Office List | last1=Colonial Office | first1=Great Britain | date=18 October 1867 }}</ref> A position he retained until he retired in 1882.

In 1877 Vane was awarded Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George at the Queen's Birthday Honours.<ref>{{London Gazette |issue= 24464|pages=3442–3443 |date=30 May 1877 }}</ref>

== Family == On 15 December 1847 he married Harriet Braybrooke, daughter of Colonel Samuel Braybrooke, in Colombo. She was the sister-in-law of William Dumaresq Wright, Treasurer of Ceylon from 1882 to 1886.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lWHHDwAAQBAJ&dq=%22george+Vane%22+-tempest+ceylon&pg=PA327 | title=List of inscriptions on tombstones and monuments in Ceylon, of historical or local interest, with an obituary of persons uncommemorated | last1=Lewis | first1=John Penry | date=January 1913 }}</ref>

His oldest son, Frederick William, ISO (b. 1852), served on numerous occasions as acting Postmaster-General and Director of Telegraphs, Controller of Government Stores and Secretary, Savings Bank for Ceylon,<ref>{{cite web | url=https://en.m.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Indian_Biographical_Dictionary_(1915)/Vane,_Frederick_William | title=The Indian Biographical Dictionary (1915)/Vane, Frederick William - Wikisource, the free online library }}</ref> his daughter Alice Emma (1859-?), married Brigadier General August Hill (1853-1921),<ref>{{cite web | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-f7oEN0jsMsC&q=%22g.+vane%22&pg=PA1291 | title=Allen's Indian mail and register of intelligence for British and foreign India: 1878,7/12 | date=18 October 1878 }}</ref> and his younger son, Henry George Bagnall (1861-1938), was the State Auditor and Financial Commissioner of the Federated Malay States (1909-1915).<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.mof.gov.my/portal/en/profile/history | title=History }}</ref>

== Publications== * {{cite journal|author=Vane, George|journal=Report on the Pearl Banks of Ceylon and the Fisheries from 1855 to 1860|title=The Journal of the Ceylon Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain & Ireland|volume=10|number=34|date=1887|pages=14–40|publisher=Royal Asiatic Society of Sri Lanka}}

{{s-start}} {{s-gov}} {{s-bef|before={{nowrap|Frederick Saunders}}}} {{s-ttl|title=Treasurer of Ceylon|years=1843–1882}} {{s-aft|after={{nowrap|William Dumaresq Wright}}}} {{s-end}}

== References ==  {{Reflist}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vane, George}} Category:British civil servants in British Ceylon Category:Government Agents (Sri Lanka) Category:Treasurers of Ceylon Category:Date of birth missing Category:Date of death missing