{{Use dmy dates, date=April 2022 Sir Oscar James Lardner de Glanville, CIE, OBE (2 April 1867 – 1942) was an Irish-born barrister and political figure in

British Burma British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

who served twice as President of the

Legislative Council of Burma The Legislative Council of Burma was the legislative body of British Burma from 1897 to 1936. Establishment It was established in 1897 as an advisory council to the British colonial governor, the Lieutenant-Governor of Burma, in drafting legisl ...

Biography

Born in Donnybrook,

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...

, de Glanville was the son of Rev James De Glanville, a naval chaplain, and Louisa Mary Lardner. He was educated at

Portsmouth Grammar School The Portsmouth Grammar School is a co-educational independent day school in Portsmouth, England, located in the historic part of Portsmouth. It was founded in 1732 as a boys' school and is located on Portsmouth High Street. History In 1732, ...

. In 1882, he received a bronze medal from the

Royal Humane Society The Royal Humane Society is a British charity which promotes lifesaving intervention. It was founded in England in 1774 as the ''Society for the Recovery of Persons Apparently Drowned'', for the purpose of rendering first aid in cases of near dro ...

for saving a drowning woman. In 1890, de Glanville moved to Burma as the local agent of the

British and Foreign Bible Society The British and Foreign Bible Society, often known in England and Wales as simply the Bible Society, is a non-denominational Christian Bible society with charity status whose purpose is to make the Bible available throughout the world. The Soc ...

, serving until 1893. He subsequently practiced as a lawyer, specialising in criminal law, becoming officiating Public Prosecutor in the Rangoon police courts in 1894. He was called to the English bar by the

Middle Temple The Honourable Society of the Middle Temple, commonly known simply as Middle Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court exclusively entitled to call their members to the English Bar as barristers, the others being the Inner Temple, Gray's Inn an ...

in 1907. He was Western Sub-Divisional Magistrate in Rangoon from 1917 to 1919, and Administrator-General, Official Trustee and Assignee for Burma from 1919 to 1922. The leader of the Progressive Party (later the Independent Party), de Glanville became a member of the Legislative Council (European Constituency) in 1923, and was elected President of the Legislative Council on 19 February 1927, serving until 1929 or 1930. From 1930 to 1931 he attended the First Round Table Conference as a representative. He was elected to a second term as President of the Legislative Council in 1932, but experienced increasing difficulty with Burmese nationalists in the Council, who saw his presence as being incompatible with their "Burma for the Burmese" policy. In 1934, a motion to remove him on grounds that he did not speak Burmese (which he did speak) was defeated by one vote. A second motion was carried in August the same year, but the Governor, Sir Hugh Stephenson, declined the request. In 1935, another motion for his removal was carried with the support of Burmese ministers, and de Glanville was removed by the Governor. He was later a member of the Senate of Burma. During the Second World War, de Glanville was evacuated from

Rangoon Yangon ( my, ရန်ကုန်; ; ), formerly spelled as Rangoon, is the capital of the Yangon Region and the largest city of Myanmar (also known as Burma). Yangon served as the capital of Myanmar until 2006, when the military government ...

in 1942 and went to

Kalaw Kalaw ( my, ကလောမြို့; Shan: ) is a hill town in the Shan State of Myanmar. It is located in Kalaw Township in Taunggyi District. Overview The town was popular with the British during colonial rule. Kalaw is the main setting ...

. Made to leave his house by the Japanese military authorities, de Glanville died sometime in 1942 and was buried in the local Christian cemetery. de Glanville was appointed OBE in 1918, CIE in 1925, and was

knighted A knight is a person granted an honorary title of knighthood by a head of state (including the Pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the Christian denomination, church or the country, especially in a military capacity. Knighthood ...

in 1931.

Family

de Glanville married Ma Lun, a Burmese woman, in 1896; they had four children, the eldest of whom, Robert De Glanville, was killed on the Western Front in 1915. His youngest child, Stephen de Glanville, later served in the Burma Frontier Service.

References

* ''Indian Round Table Conference, St. James's Palace: Delegates from the Indian States and British India''. London, 1931. * Sandra Campagnac-Carney, ''Burma Memories WWII'', 2010 * P. D. Patel, ''My Fifty Years in Burma''. Rangoon, 1954. * http://www.glanvillenet.info/UK_Glanville/g0/p26.htm#i772 * https://www.trinity.cumbria.sch.uk/warmemorials/old-boys/robert-de-glanville/ * ''Burma Handbook''. Simla, 1943. Knights Bachelor 1942 deaths Politicians from Dublin (city) Irish expatriates in Myanmar British religious workers Members of the Middle Temple Burmese politicians Officers of the Order of the British Empire Companions of the Order of the Indian Empire People from Yangon Members of the Legislative Council of Burma 1867 births Members of the Senate of Burma