Colonial diplomatic passport

 

Superb 1952 Ceylon document.

 

Though not my main topic of interest, meaning colonial passports, the one that is mentioned in the article here is an important example when it comes to late colonial diplomatic travel documents, post-WW2 issue and also a consular one as well!

 

Looking into the country’s past, a distinction has to be made from British Ceylon, the period the island was a British Crown Colony from 1815 to 1948 and the period that followed, more relating to the passport here, where the holder of the document was an official government representative of Dominion of Ceylon, a period that was for about 24 years (1948-72).

 

Though not issued during the colonial era, it falls under the first years of post-colonial ruling, during the first years of true independence and still also bearing some connection to the British rule at the time, be it the design and printing of the document.

 

The country changed its name to how it is known and called today as Sri Lanka in 1972, before being Ceylon and prior to 1948 was the British Colony of Ceylon (up to 1972 it was an independent country sharing a Monarch and part of the Commonwealth of Nations).

 

Being issued originally in a regular passport then HAND changed to a diplomatic passport could possibly explain that during the first years a shortage of officially printed diplomatic passports could have been the case here, though personally I doubt this, still, it is an important document. Diplomatic passport numbered 5211 was issued to Rex Christopher Shelton Koelmeyer (who was born in the colony in 1916) on June 6^th 1952 at the embassy in London (as mentioned earlier being a CONSULAR issue, thus rarer).

 

Mr. Koelmeyer was part of the Ceylon Overseas Service, which was established in October 1^st 1949 and acted as the Foreign Ministry of the country, dealing with foreign affairs maters as opposed to the pre-1948 period were the Ceylon Civil Service dealt with internal affairs during the colonial era.

 

Some brief points to this individuals past:

 

• Educated both at the Colombo Royal College and the University of Ceylon.
• 1965 became the country’s first permanent representative to the UN – Geneva.
• 1970 first ambassador to Sweden.

 

I have added sampled images of the document, it is full of visas, and not all can be shared here with the readers here, I apologize for this.

 

 

Thank you for reading “Our Passports”.