Henry Burney (27 February 1792 – 4 March 1845),Holmes and Co. (Calcutta)
''The Bengal Obituary''
W. Thacker, 1851, p. 209 was a

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

army An army, ground force or land force is an armed force that fights primarily on land. In the broadest sense, it is the land-based military branch, service branch or armed service of a nation or country. It may also include aviation assets by ...

officer and

diplomat A diplomat (from ; romanization, romanized ''diploma'') is a person appointed by a state (polity), state, International organization, intergovernmental, or Non-governmental organization, nongovernmental institution to conduct diplomacy with one ...

for the

British East India Company The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company that was founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to Indian Ocean trade, trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (South A ...

Early life

His parents were Richard Thomas Burney, headmaster of the Orphan School at Kidderpore near

Calcutta Kolkata, also known as Calcutta (List of renamed places in India#West Bengal, its official name until 2001), is the capital and largest city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of West Bengal. It lies on the eastern ba ...

, and Jane Burney.''The Bengal Obituary''
W. Thacker, 1851, p. 208 He was a nephew of the English writer Frances Burney.

Career

In 1807 Burney joined the East India Company. In 1818, he was promoted to

lieutenant A lieutenant ( , ; abbreviated Lt., Lt, LT, Lieut and similar) is a Junior officer, junior commissioned officer rank in the armed forces of many nations, as well as fire services, emergency medical services, Security agency, security services ...

and appointed as an

adjutant Adjutant is a military appointment given to an Officer (armed forces), officer who assists the commanding officer with unit administration, mostly the management of “human resources” in an army unit. The term is used in French-speaking armed ...

of the 20th Regiment of Bengal Native Infantry,

Penang Penang is a Malaysian state located on the northwest coast of Peninsular Malaysia along the Strait of Malacca. It has two parts: Penang Island, where the capital city, George Town, is located, and Seberang Perai on the Malay Peninsula. Th ...

's acting town-major and military secretary to Governor Bannerman. Later he worked as an agent of the East India Company, collecting material about

Burma Myanmar, officially the Republic of the Union of Myanmar; and also referred to as Burma (the official English name until 1989), is a country in northwest Southeast Asia. It is the largest country by area in Mainland Southeast Asia and ha ...

and Siam, which he made available to England, while participating in the First Anglo–Burmese War (1823–1826). After his 1825 appointment as political emissary to Siam he met King Rama III there the following year, concluding the

Burney Treaty The treaty between Rattanakosin Kingdom, Kingdom of Siam and Great Britain commonly known as the Burney Treaty was signed at Bangkok on 20 June 1826 by Henry Burney, an agent of British East India Company, for Britain, and King Rama III for Thail ...

and a commercial contract to stimulate development of regional trade between Siam and Europe. Having negotiated a mutually agreed border between Siam and British-occupied

, only the exact course of the border at Three Pagodas Pass in Kanchanaburi remained in dispute. From 1829 Burney was the British resident at King Bagyidaw's court in Ava (the then capital of Burma), where he successfully resolved the dispute over the Kabaw Valley in Burma's favour. Hall, D. G. E. (1950) "Chapter XIII: The First Residency and the Annexation of Pegu (1826–1855)
''Burma''
Hutchinson University Library, London, p. 108, By 1834 he had risen to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel in the Bengal army.

Personal life

Henry Burney married Janet Bannerman (1799–1865),"Descendants of James Bannerman"
— genealogy the niece of the governor John Alexander Bannerman of

, at George Town (Penang, Malaya) in 1818. The couple had 13 children, eight of whom were living in 1845 when Henry Burney died.''The Bengal Obituary''
p. 209 Henry Burney died at sea in 1845 while on his way from Rangoon on sick leave. He was buried in Mission Burial Ground on Park Street in

References

Bibliography

* *

Early life

Career

Personal life

References

Bibliography

See also