Jacob Burnand, a Swiss soldier in the…
August 1795 CE
Trincomalee's fort had been occupied by the Dutch for most of the 18th century, and subsequently by the French who had fought and won the Battle of Trincomalee as part of the American Revolutionary War in 1782 at the city.
On January 8, 1782, the British had captured Trincomalee's forts from the Dutch, the first place on the island they captured.
The French had recaptured it on August 29 of the same year after the Battle of Trincomalee.
In 1783 the French had ceded it to the British and subsequently, Britain had ceded Trincomalee back to the Dutch Republic under the Peace of Paris (1783 Treaty of Versailles).
In 1795 the British recapture the city and will hold it until Sri Lanka's independence in 1948, with a later claimed aim of "preventing Napoleon invading the colony" if left under the Dutch.