Petrus Vuyst or Vuijst (1691, Alkmaar, Netherlands – 19 May 1732, Batavia) was the 20th Governor of Ceylon during the Dutch colonial period.
Biography Vuyst was born in Alkmaar as the son of Hendrik Vuyst of Alkmaar (1656–1705) and Maria de Nijs. He returned to the Netherlands for schooling, where he signed in as a student in Leiden in 1711.Historische-Genealogische-Heraldieke aantekeningen over Ceylon in De Wapenheraut, D. G. van Epen, editor, Volume 1, The Hague, 1897, pp. 53-4 In Haarlem, he married the local Barbara Wilhelmina Gerlings (1692–1746) in 1714.F. H. de Vos, Portraits of Dutch Governors of Ceylon, in The Journal of the Dutch Burgher Union of Ceylon, Volume V, Albion Press, Galle, 1912, pp. 14–18. The couple lived in Leiden where they had one surviving daughter, before leaving for the East Indies on 16 May 1716 on the ship De herstelde Leeuw.M. G. Wildeman, Familie-aantekeningen Gerlings (family notes Gerlings from the 18th century), in De Nederlandse Leeuw, 1897 He arrived in 1717 in Batavia where he was fiscal lawyer and in 1720 became Extraordinary Council of the Dutch East Indies. Between 1722 and 1724 he was Governor of Dutch Bengal and finally in 1726 was appointed governor of Ceylon.
Vuyst's rule in Ceylon began well, as he ordered the fortifications of the strategic port of Galle to be strengthened, and had a new road built from the Fort of Colombo to the suburb of Mutwal.Vinod Moonesinghe. "Vuyst's Ghost", Medium However, he turned out to be notoriously inept and cruel. At his instigation a number of people, including Dutch settlers and officials, were sentenced to death on false or trumped up charges. He was dismissed from his position in 1729 and summoned to appear before the High Council in Batavia, which found him guilty of "judicial murders" and other serious crimes. He was executed on 19 May 1732.R. G. Anthonisz, introduction to Memoir Left by Jacob Christiaan Pielat to His Successor: Diederik van Domburg, Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, The Hague, 1905Rajpal Kumar de Silva and Willemina G. M. Beumer, Illustriations and Views of Dutch Ceylon, Serendib Publications, London, 1988, , p. 438 His widow and daughter returned to Holland, where they arrived in Haarlem in June 1733.
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