Simon Casie Chetty ( ta, சைமன் காசிச் செட்டி, translit=Caimaṉ Kācic Ceṭṭi; 21 March 1807 – 5 November 1860) was a

Ceylon Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...

ese civil servant, author and member of the

Legislative Council of Ceylon The Legislative Council of Ceylon was the legislative body of British Ceylon, Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) established in 1833, along with the Executive Council of Ceylon, on the recommendations of the Colebrooke-Cameron Commission. It was the first f ...

Early life and family

Casie Chetty was born on 21 March 1807 in Kalpity in north-western

. He was the son of Gabriel Casie Chetty, Mudaliyar of Kalpity, and Marie de Rosairo. He belonged to Ceylon's small

Chetty Chettiar (also spelt as Chetti and Chetty)is a title used by many traders, weaving, agricultural and land-owning castes in South India, especially in the states of Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Karnataka. They are a subgroup of the Tamil community ...

community, descendants of Tamils from Tirunelveli district in India who migrated to Ceylon during

Portuguese rule The Portuguese Empire ( pt, Império Português), also known as the Portuguese Overseas (''Ultramar Português'') or the Portuguese Colonial Empire (''Império Colonial Português''), was composed of the overseas colonies, factories, and the l ...

and converted to Catholicism. Gabriel's father Adrian converted to Protestantism during Dutch rule and was a member of the Dutch Reformed Church. Simon Casie Chetty was baptised as an

Anglican Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of th ...

in Colombo. He was educated at a

Tamil Tamil may refer to: * Tamils, an ethnic group native to India and some other parts of Asia ** Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka also called ilankai tamils **Tamil Malaysians, Tamil people native to Malaysia * Tamil language, nati ...

school in Kalpity and in Colombo. As well as Tamil, he was proficient in English,

Sinhalese Sinhala may refer to: * Something of or related to the Sinhalese people of Sri Lanka * Sinhalese people * Sinhala language, one of the three official languages used in Sri Lanka * Sinhala script, a writing system for the Sinhala language ** Sinha ...

, Sanskrit, Hebrew and Arabic. He also had knowledge of Portuguese, Dutch, Latin and Greek. Casie Chetty married his cousin in 1839. They had two sons (John and Aloysius) and a daughter.

Career

Casie Chetty was appointed interpreter to the magistrates court in Kalpity in 1824, aged 17. He was appointed interpreter to the Office of Assistant Collector of Puttalam in 1826 and in 1828 he became collector of Chilaw. Following the death of his father in 1837 he was appointed Mudaliyar and a

proctor Proctor (a variant of ''procurator'') is a person who takes charge of, or acts for, another. The title is used in England and some other English-speaking countries in three principal contexts: * In law, a proctor is a historical class of lawye ...

. He later became Maniagar (British appointed administrative chief) for Puttalam. Following the death of

A. Coomaraswamy Arumugampillai Coomaraswamy ( ta, ஆறுமுகம்பிள்ளை குமாரசுவாமி; 1783 – 7 November 1836) was a Ceylon Tamil member of the Legislative Council of Ceylon. Early life and family Coomaraswamy was ...

Casie Chetty was appointed to the

in 1838 as the unofficial member representing Tamils. He resigned after seven years and joined the

Ceylon Civil Service The Ceylon Civil Service, popularly known by its acronym CCS, was the premier civil service of the Government of Ceylon under British colonial rule and in the immediate post-independence period. Established in 1833, it functioned as part of the ...

, becoming the first Ceylonese civil servant. He was appointed police magistrate in Kalpity in 1847 and district judge for Chilaw, a position he held until his death. Casie Chetty was responsible for the construction of St. Peter's Church in Kalpity in 1839 and paid half the costs himself. He also ran a Tamil school in Kalpity catering for 50 boys. He became a member of the Ceylonese branch of the Royal Asiatic Society when it was established in 1845. He wrote several books and manuscripts, most notably ''Ceylon Gazetteer'' (1834), ''The Tamil Plutarch'' (1859) and ''The Castes, Customs, Manners and Literature of the Tamils'' (1934). Casie Chetty died on 5 November 1860 in Kalpity. Prior to his death he had converted to Catholicism. The Sri Lankan government issued a 75 cent stamp in 1989 honouring Casie Chetty.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Casie Chetty, Simon 1807 births 1860 deaths Members of the Legislative Council of Ceylon Mudaliyars of Ceylon People from Puttalam District People of British Ceylon Sri Lankan Anglicans Sri Lankan Chetty civil servants Sri Lankan Chetty judges Sri Lankan Chetty lawyers Sri Lankan Chetty politicians Sri Lankan Chetty writers Sri Lankan Roman Catholics Ceylonese proctors