Egbert Bletterman (born 3 January 1773), was the first official Postmaster General of Ceylon, serving from 1815 to 1817.
[1][2] Egbertus Lodewijk Bletterman was born on 3 January 1773 in Cape Town in the Dutch Cape Colony, the third of seven children to Johannes Matthias Bletterman (1742-1796), a former Dutch East India Company official (Landdrost of Stellenbosch) and member of the burgher militia, and Geertruij Catharina née Schot (1752-?).
[7] The subsequent British Governor, Thomas Maitland did not look upon Bletterman with the same favour as North had, transferring him to Customs.
[7] In 1812 he established one of the first privately owned and operated coffee plantations, obtaining a licence to export the produce.
[10][11] In 1814, Bletterman applied successfully to Governor Brownrigg for permission to export arrack, coconuts, tobacco, coffee, pepper, and saffron to the Cape.