Hugh Cleghorn (colonial administrator)

Sir Hugh Cleghorn FRSE LLD (1751-1836) was the first colonial secretary to Ceylon. He was key in the takeover of Ceylon from Dutch control to the British Empire.^[1] In 1795 Cleghorn used his friendship with Comte Charles-Daniel de Meuron, who owned a regiment of Swiss mercenaries, the Regiment de Meuron, that controlled Ceylon for the Dutch, to transfer control to the British.^[2] His grandson Hugh Francis Clarke Cleghorn was instrumental in the foundation of the forest department and forest conservation in India.

^ Clark, Aylwin (1992). An enlightened Scot: Hugh Cleghorn, 1752-1837. Black Ace Books. ISBN 1-872988-01-6.
^ Newton, Arthur Percival. The Cambridge history of the British Empire, Volume 2. Campridge University Press. pp. 26–27.

[1] Clark, Aylwin (1992). An enlightened Scot: Hugh Cleghorn, 1752-1837. Black Ace Books. ISBN 1-872988-01-6.

[2] Newton, Arthur Percival. The Cambridge history of the British Empire, Volume 2. Campridge University Press. pp. 26–27.

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