Trinity Collage

TRINITY

Ramya Chamalie Jirasinghe

PUBLISHED B Y T H E T R IN IT Y COLLEGE KANDY OLD BOYS'ASSOCIATION, COLOM BO BRANCH

Book Number . ofa lim iteilfirst cililion o f1,250hooks.

Trinity

bv Riimya Chamalic Jirasinghc
with principal photography by Alcfiya Akbarally

Commissioned and published by the
Trinit)' College K andvO ld Bovs’Association, Colombo Branch

© 2008 Exclusive Rights Reserved by the Trinity College
Old Boys'Association, Colombo Branch

ISBN: 978-955-1939-00-7

Illustrations Editor: Alefiya Akbarally
Research Coordinator: Prasad Pereira
Proofreading: Fiona W right
Design: Deshan Tennekoon
Production Manager: Shehan de Silva
Printed and bound in Singapore by T ien Wah Press (PTE) Limited

PAGE i: T h e T rin irv ' C o lle g e d riv c w a v b v S u n il K e p p c tip o la , P re s id e n t o f th e PAGE vi: G e o r g e K e y t’s U d a w a tta k a le (1927), c o m p le te d w h e n h e w a s 2 6 y e a rs, is
P hotographic Society o f T rinity C ollege. 1968 one o f his carlv paintings. It captures on canvas, the forest behind T rinity C ollege,
e v e ry T r i n i t i a n ’s h a u n t.
FRONTISPIECE: T he Q u a d ra n g le , th e cen tre p o in t o f th e school, is cur m idw ay into
t h e h ill o n w h ic h th e s c h o o l h a s b e e n b u ilt. I t is s u r r o u n d e d b y th e C o lle g e ’s o ld e s t PAGES 8-9: D e ta il - U v a R e b e llio n o f 1818; p o rc e la in m o s a ic (224 cm x 6 4 7 c m )
buildings, the G a ste r B lock and th e b oarding houses. N ap ier H ouse can be seen by S ta n ley K irin d e, ex e cu ted by B. S. H e n ry K u m ara, fo r T h e S ri L a n k a M ilita ry
opposite this pensive batsm an. W h e n th e b atsm an turns around he will be greeted A cadem y, D iyatalaw e (1980).
bv e v e rv T r i n i t i a n ’s m o s t fa m ilia r v iew f r o m th e s c h o o l g ro u n d s : T rin c o m a le e S tr e e t
below, and rising from b eh in d Kandy, th e b reath tak in g vista o f the m o u n tain s o f the PAGES 1 0 - l l : T b e Q u a d r a n g l e d u r i n g t h e in te rv a l.
C entral I lighlands.
COVER: C o v e r d e b o s s s h o w s d e ta il o f V ic e P r in c ip a l G a s te r ’s 1912 h a n d - e t c h i n g
PAGE vi; D a v id I’a y n te r ’s w ell k n o w n p a in tin g . B oy w ith C a t a p u l t (1931), is o f o f his redesigned C rest for T rin ity C ollege, Kandy. G aster, w h o also d esigned the
Stanley R atw attc as a stu d en t at T rin ity w hich P aynter presented to Principal school C hapel, changed the earlier C rest o f couchant lion and palm tree to this
M cL eod C am pbell. W h e n C am pbell returned to E ngland he took the painting w ith version inspired bv th e K andyan lion an d th e three golden crow ns in th e U niversity
h im , b u t b e q u e a th e d it to S ta n le y R a tw a tte . U p o n C a m p b e l l ’s d e a t h , t h e p a in tin g o f O x fo rd C o a t o f A rm s.'F ite C re st h as re m a in ed u n ch a n g e d since. It is co lo u re d in
c a m e i n to R a tw a tte ’s p o s s e s s io n . m aroon, gold and navy blue and, b en eath th e shield runs a scroll, w ith th e m otto,
‘R e s p ic e E in e m .'

N o part of this publication m ay be copied, reproduced or d istrib u ted in any form , or by anv m eans, o r stored in a database o r retrieval svstem , w ith o u t th e p rio r w ritten consent
of the I rinity C ollege O ld B oys’A ssociation, C o lo m b o B ranch, including, b u t not lim ited to, in any netw ork or o th er electronic storage or transm ission.

PREFACE

W H EN UPALl RATNAYAKE, the President o f the C olom bo token o f the m em bers’ appreciation o f all th at the school had
B ran ch o f th e T rin ity C o lleg e O ld B oy’s A sso ciatio n , suggested given them .
in 2005 th at a book about T rinity should be published to
m ark the B ranch centenary in 2008, his successor, H im endra Tlie book was, in fact, m eant to be their gift to T rinity College:
R anaw eera, w ith stro n g su p p o rt fro m th e C o lo m b o B ra n c h ’s a gift that would capture the im m easurable, the unquantifiable,
C om m ittee, took on the task o f transform ing the idea into in a tangible form .
paper and ink.
The character and significance o f an institution will always be
A n E ditorial Board, led by Sriyantha Senaratna and, com prising elusive. They are n o t com prehendible chronologically through
M .V . M uhsin, Upali Ratnayake and Rohan W irasinha, joined m ilestones and outcom es, b u t instead offer a subjective but
H im en d ra R anaw eera to turn the idea into paper and ink. clearer u n d e rsta n d in g o f its essence th ro u g h th e in stitu tio n ’s
responses to th e tim es, to people an d to th e w orld it is a
W ritin g a book about T r in ity begins w ith one question, “W h a t type part o f
o fbook should it be?"
Trinity
From the beginning, the C olom bo Branch o f the O ld Boys
Association understood that at the heart o f the initial question captures the spirit o f a school
should be, not an im age o f a book, but rather, a firm sense o f the - T rin ity College, K andy -
purpose and the spirit o f it. a n d is a g iftfr o m the Colombo Branch o f the O .B ^ .
on its Centenary in 2008,
The m em bers o f the Branch realised that the publication had
to be o f en d u rin g value. It had to, at once, capture the life to their A lm a M a ter
o f an institution, pay hom age to the people w ho had given whose contribution to the lives o fgenerations o fT rin itia n s
o f them selves to it, laud its outstanding products and, be a
w ill remain immeasurable.



CONTENTS

I A M ost Opportune Time 12
6
II “Sir, C hrist is very little preached here. . 2
42
III The M urm ur of the Crowd 60
76
IV The Spirit of a Trinitian 104
126
V O f Playing-fields and Fair Play 144

VI Their Exits and Their Entrances

VII T ie W orld W e W ant

VIII The More Enduring; the More Beautiful

IX Building for Eternity

Appendix
Bibliography
Illustration Sources
Index





■ m im

■ / : '■

’^^'tVvy v ® 'i'7 v ’ J 'VV^f ■*««■ .X ^ A* w ' «l»'v'. .V
■’>

A Most Opportune Time

The annexation of Kandy was followed by three years of peace. But an

undercurrent o f uneasiness ran through the G overnor’s despatches to

L ondon. H e knew that, despite a genuine effort by D ’O yly to conciliate the

chiefs and the Buddhist priesthood, British rule was neither popular nor

understood.'

H . A. J. Hulugalle, 1963

T H E STORY O F T R IN IT Y C O L L E G E is inseparable from the fortunes o f its home:
the small, m ountain-locked, once fiercely independent Kingdom o f Kandy. The College
sketched its beginnings against the backdrop o f the Kingdom ’s resilience to foreign
rule and its loss o f independence in the early 19'^ century. The first missionaries w ho
entered Kandy observed the lives and histories o f the people o f this Kingdom who held
tenaciously to their cultural identity. They recognised the need to respect the world the
school was part of, and despite their zealous faith, were compelled to offer the education
that the people o f the C entral H ighlands w anted. This gave T rinity a particular ‘tone’
and ‘shade’ th at no other m issionary school in Ceylon could claim. It is m arked by a
sensitivity to the vernacular. A n ability to juggle social hierarchies and an unexpected
tolerance of religious and ethnic differences are its hallmarks. Trinity and Kandy,
connected by a tenuous thread of mutual need, reflected the changes in the fortunes
o f one on the other. In this way, Kandy created T rinity in its own form. All the time,
holding up this canvas o f sweeping historical and cultural transform ation, is a natural
world of remarkable beauty. Surrounded by the m ountains o f the Central Highlands,
Kandy is defined by the rhythm s o f verdant forests, a river and the Lake. T rinity lies
w ithin the ‘h e art’o f this landscape.

I lulugalle, I I.A.J, British Governors o f Ceylon, A N C L , C olom bo, p 30.

12

L Ml,. ■m
V ' 1 r./^

I'KINITY

W hen the first Anglican missionaries arrived in Sri Lanka at the beginning o f 1818,
G overnor R obert Brownrigg still had luck on his side. The tim e seemed m ost right for
his request to Rev. and M rs. Browning, newly arrived missionary educators, to open
a school in Kandy. Brownrigg had enjoyed an unquiet peace in Kandy since he had
successfully manipulated the Kandyan rulers into surrendering the Kingdom to the
British in 1815. Unfortunately for him, the semblance of calm did not last. It soon gave
way to open dissent when the Kandyan nobility rebelled against British administration
o f the Kingdom. Tlie Uva Rebellion o f 1818, as the uprising came to be known, was
stamped by the Kandyan peoples’ resistance to foreign occupation and was driven by
a strong nationalist fervour.^ Rev. Browning, w ho was later joined by his wife, arrived
in Kandy against this backdrop o f rebellion and disenchantm ent. They travelled a
treacherous mountainous terrain on crumbling footpaths, braved malaria and tropical
weather, to enter a City seething with discontent. A people, proud of their independence
and unwilling to forget the glories o f their own court-culture, greeted them . Yet, despite
the upheaval and resentm ent that played in the background, the missionaries were
accommodated. The handful o f Christian families in Kandy gave them shelter and the
local comm unity offered tolerance. The Brownings started a small elementary school in
Kandy in 1819, but the school was slow to take root. W h en Governor Brownrigg left
Ceylon in 1820, his hope o f seeing a well established missionary school in Kandy had
not been realised.

The Brownings received a small piece o f land in Kandy from the new Governor, Sir
Edward Barnes, in 1922. They had made it to the heart o f the Kingdom. The Kandy
Lake was a stone’s throw away and the sound o f drum s from the Temple o f the Tooth
filled the air during ritual times. Behind them the hills ended in the thick Udawattekelle
forest and all around them was tem ple land. The following year they constructed the
mission house, a solid building w ith an open verandah and heavy pillars that would last

Dc Silva, K .M . / / History o f Sri Lankn, O xford U niversity Press, D elhi, 1981.

14

A MOS T OIM'OirrUNK TIMK

•?'.C ;u ^

,,^/<ew of fhe Temple of fhe Holy Toofh and
H.i^ary from across fhe Lake. Kandy. Cey'**'
A b o v e :^ G . fo u r P a ra n a g a m a -R a tw a tte b ro th ers (L - R: A b ey ratn e R atw attc, S cnev iratne R atw atte, A . K. P aranagam a, j . R. Paranagaiua)
attended T rinity College, K andy in the late 1800s. This photograph by Venus Studio, taken during the early 20th century, shows the brothers at
A b e y ra tn e R a tw a tte ’s W alau w a in M a h a iy a w a . Below.'W iif, h a n d co lo u red p o stc a rd o f th e , “ V iew o f th e T em p le o f tlie 1 loly T o o th an d L ib rary
fro m acro ss th e L ak e, K andy, C e y lo n ” is o n e o f a series o f “A r t ” p o stc a rd s p u b lish e d by A . VV. P late & C o . betw een 1900 - 1920.

S " ■■ 7 ■ .- ■'........-'^ -- i

ITWLIDUINO COM»'Airr

A Family Legend about the Trinity Land

M a rk e d o n th e 1815 M a p o f K an d y is th e o ld D u n u w ila 1854, a n d A n n ie H enrietta Florence D u n u w ille who
W alauw a on K ande Veediya (H ill Street). Jam es A lexander died in 1859, were buried at T rinity. Their grave
D unuw ille Snr. dem olished this house and constructed a stones were between the Gaster Block a n d A lison House
new residence, now the T ow n H all o f Kandy. A ccording to u n til they were rem oved af e w years ago to make w ay
fam ily legend, retold by R ohan D unuw ille: fo r new buildings.

Jam es D unuw ille, by then D eputy Queen's Advocate, P rincipal A lek Fraser had w ritten to Jam es A.
donated a large extent o f la n d J'rom this property to D u n u w illeJ n r , saying the school w ou ld not charge any
K andy Collegiate School before he died in 1865. fe e sfro m his children. In his letter, Fraserprom ised this
I Us three sons were educated a t Trinity. Tw o o f his fe e w a iver to all male descendants o f James D u n u w ille
daughters, Sarah E lizabeth D unuw ille, who died in Sr. This letter is untraceahle.

Opposite-. “A M a p o f C e y lo n ”, by J o h n R a p k in w ith steel e n g ra v in g a n d o rig in a l o u tlin e h a n d c o lo u rin g , p u b lish e d by J o h n T allis & C o , en g rav ed by 1 1. W in k le s
- 1851. R a p k in ’s finely e n g ra v e d o r n a te m ap s o f c o u n trie s have b e e n d escrib ed a s 'th e last d eco rativ e scries of m ap s.'

Above-.'\l\c K andy M ay o f 1815 show s the D unuw ila W alauw a on K ande Vcediya (H ill Street). A ccording to the D unuw ille Fam ily,Jam es A lexander D unuw ille
Snr., donated a large extent o f land from this property to T rinity College.

M o v e . 'lh c h a n d co lou red p o stc ard “ R o u n d th e K andy L ak e, C e y lo n ,” by A . W . P la te & C o ., is
th e ,32nd in a se ries of “A r t ” p o s tc a rd s p u b lis h e d by th e C o in p a n y b e tw e e n 1900 -1 9 2 0 .

/ie /o w :“'lh c N e w P e ra d e n iy a B rid g e , C e y lo n ,” - N o . 17, A . W . P la te & C o . 1 9 0 0 - 1920.

A M o s r o l ’ l’OK r u N i. I IM i:

over 182 years. T iis was the land that would eventually become the premises of Trinity
College, Kandy.

IK

Unlike Brownrigg, who encouraged missionary education, Barnes openly opposed the
system. H e wrote; 'O ne o f the greatest defects o f our school system in my opinion is that
it has got into the hands o f the clergy. ^” Despite his opposition to missionary education,
Barnes created a setting that would transform Kandy. In doing so he provided an
environm ent that made missionary education a social necessity. O n the reconnaissance
tour Barnes made of Ceylon, he concluded that the country needed three things: Jirst
roads; second roads; and third roadsd H e opened the military road to Kandy before it had
been completed. The road had not even been gravelled or metalled.^ H e brought in the
Ceylon Pioneer Lascars, a corps made up o f Indians, com m anded by the British, that had
been established to construct public works in the country. Barnes linked Kandy with
every coastal town in Ceylon. He engaged military engineers to construct the bridges at
Mawanella and Peradeniya, and with roads, Barnes changed forever the landscape that
C h ief Justice, Sir H arding Giffard, had complained of:

M arshes and quagmires, puddles, pools and swamps.
Dark m atted jungles and long pushy plains.
Exhaling foetid airs and m ortal damps.
By Kandyan perfidy miscalled a road.
Through which the luckless traveller must wade.
U ncheered by sight o f m an or m an’s abode.*’

As the roads opened up the hiUs to the low country administrators, Barnes turned to
developing coffee plantations and spearheaded the lucrative plantation sector. A friend

3 H ulugalle, H .A .J, British Governors o f Ceylon, A N C L , C olom bo, p 42
4 Ibid. p.40
5 lbid.p.41
6 Ib id . p.41

19

PANORAMIC VIEW OF KANDY.

o f Barnes, G eorge Bird, planted coffee in the Kandy D istrict and B ird’s Sinhapitiya
Estate in Gampola heralded the beginning o f the plantation industry in the country.
In 1825 Barnes established his own plantation, the Gannoruwa Estate, part o f w hich is
today the Peradeniya Botanical Gardens.^ Towards the end of Barnes’time in Ceylon,
a Royal Commission led by Lieutenant-Colonel W illiam Colebrooke, and later joined
by Charles Cameron, arrived in the island in 1829 to report on the finances and
administration of the Government. The Commission recommended that the Public
Service should be opened to locals according to their qualifications. Barnes is said to
have strongly opposed this proposal, claiming that the idea was “.. .ludicrous in view of
their [natives’] lack o f W estern education.*” The reforms suggested by the Colebrook-
Cameron Commission took time to come into effect. It was only in 1844, almost fifteen
years after the Com m ission had made its recom m endations, that the first Sri Lankan,
Fredrick de Livera, entered the Civil Service as D istrict Judge o f M atara. A W estern
education’became an imperative for the Ceylonese who wanted to enter the Service or

7 h llis, R oyston. 'the G ro w in g VcrtraFllic P la n te rs' A sso ciatio n o f C e y lo n , C o lo m b o , 2 0 0 4 , p. 22
8 Ibid. p. 46

20

Above: Postcard triptych, “P anoram ic View o f Kandy,” bv A. W . Plate & Co. 1900 - 1920.

to take advantage o f the growing mercantile sector. The changes that Barnes catalysed
took firm hold over the next 25 years after his departure. The plantation industry
thrived, and the Kandy-Colombo railway line was inaugurated in April 1867. Because
o f the thriving plantation industry and the railway, the ‘w orld’seeped into Kandy. The
residents of the Central Highlands were suddenly at a disadvantage. Unlike Colombo,
Kandy did not have a school that offered a ‘W estern education’ to its young men. The
small elem entary school o f the Brownings no longer sufficed.

It is said, that in the 1850s the residents o f Kandy requested the Church Missionary
Society (C.M .S.) to begin a secondary school in their City. Rev. Ireland Jones, an
ardent missionary w ith a charismatic personality answered this call by transforming
the Brownings’elem entary school into the Kandy Collegiate School in 1857. Yet after his
departure the school struggled to maintain numbers and closed down during the time
o f Rev. R. B. Tonge. From 1863 onwards Kandy had no secondary school that offered
a ‘W estern education’, yet the dem and for such a school continued to grow. Finally
in 1872 Rev. Richard Collins arrived in Kandy to attem pt a revival o f the secondary

21

TKlNn'Y

school. Collins had heen at the Syrian

College in Travancore in India and held a

M aster’s degree from the St.John’s College,

C am bridge University. Described as a man

of varied gifts, a musician, a composer and

a writer, Collins was above all a Christian

missionary w ith the panache and drive

of a statesman. H e came to the same

premises th at Rev. and M rs. Browning

had started their elementary school and

where Rev. Ireland Jones had attem pted a

secondary school. O n the 17*^ o f January

1872, Collins revived the secondary school,

still calling it the Kandy Collegiate School.

The school would report an uninterrupted

existence from that day onwards. W ith

Rev. Ire la n d J o n e s (1 8 5 7 -1 8 6 0 ), f o u n d e r a n d 1“' P rin c ip a l an entire social and political environment
o f K andy CoUegiate School:. behind him that supported the demand

for secondary education in the central

highlands of Ceylon, Collins succeeded where his predecessors had struggled. H e had

founded Trinity College, Kandy.

Collins’ tim e at the Kandy Collegiate School was lim ited to six years. H aving given the
school a firm foundation, he left Ceylon in 1878 and did not return. D uring the next
two decades, until the turn o f the century, the school struggled to consolidate its role
as a secondary school in Kandy. The principals w ho took over the school after Collins
had experience running educational establishments in Britain and in the colonies, and
had a public school background with a university education grounded in the Classics.
Yet they spent their time and energy trying to give the school a sound academic and
administrative foundation. Few seemed to have been able to achieve the right balance
between academic successes and discipline, adm inistration and vision that was needed
in the school. For instance, the tim e o f C ollins’ successor. Rev. J. G. G arrett, a brilliant

22

A M o s 'i ' o i ’i’o i r i 'U N i : riM i'.

A draw ing o f th e C . M . S. M ission H ouse and school (1843): constructed in 1823 by Rev. and M rs.
B ro w n in g , th e M is sio n H o u s e w as in use, first as a b u n g a lo w a n d a fte r 1916, fo r th e p r in tin g sh o p , a v isito r’s

room and even the Ryde H ouse com m on-room , until it was dem olished in 1981 am idst furious protests.

The Church Missionary Society

A sm all group o f m em bers from the Clapham Set, an activist The first overseas m ission o f the C .M .S w ent to Sierra Leone
evangelical C hristian society from L ondon, founded the in 1804 and soon m issions spread across N orthern A frica,
C h u rch M issionary Society (C .M .S .) in 1799.Tlie first m em bers C anada, S outh A sia, the M id d le E ast, E ast A sia and Pacific
included W illiam W ilberforce M P and H enry T hornton M P O cean countries such as N ew Z ealand and A ustralia. The first
w ho w ere strongly co m m itted to the abolition o f the slave C .M .S m ission arrived in Ceylon in 1818. The group was made
trade, to social reform in E ngland and to w orld evangelisation. up o f four m issionary educators who came w ith the purpose ot
The C .M .S . m oved to its ow n prem ises, a building in Salisbury setting up schools and w orking am ong the people.
Square, only in 1813, but by the end o f the century the society
had expanded into an active organisation occupying a row o f
houses on the Square.'

A B rief H isto ry o fC M S , C h u rch M ission Society, w w w .cm s-uk.org/
W how care/I listory/tabid/181/D efault.aspx,January 2008.

23

I'KINITY

Trinity College Dublin Hebrew scholar, bad been marked witb unruliness. Less
than 25 years old and immensely charismatic, G arrett would breeze into the dining
hall with an Ayuhowan to have a raucous bunch o f students gleefully shouting back;
''palay(mg yakkd^A'

Over the years the school roll improved. D uring the early years most o f the registered
were m ature or m arried students. Principal Rev. E. N. H odges improved the curriculum
by shifting its emphasis from Classics to Sports and the Sciences in 1884. H e introduced
Astronomy, and Trinity holds the record as the only school to teach the subject in Ceylon
at the time. From then on, the school began carving out characteristics that would
become its hallmarks. By pioneering new areas o f study and improving the quality of
its staff, the early Principals hoped to turn T rinity into one o f the best ‘Public Schools’
in regional Ceylon.

For many years, the people o f Kandy referred to K andy Collegiate School as ‘O akley’s
College’, going by the popular nam e o f The Holy T rinity Church th at Rev. O akley had
founded a few years earlier on the same premises. The origin o f the nam e Trinity College,
Kandy, w hich became the official nam e o f the school in 1876, is clouded in a haze o f
conflicting anecdotes. According to Valesca Reim ann, who wrote ^ History o f Trinity in
1922, the school took its nam e from the Holy T rinity Church. O thers, however, claim the
school was named after Trinity College in D ublin by Collins. W hile those who gave the
school its official name would have been influenced by their experiences or by the world
around them , the school soon gained its own identity. Today, for m ost o f the students
and alumni, their school is T C .K .

Trinity College, Kandy, outlived the world that created it.

Itciiiiann, Valcsca \ ,.O .A ! lislory o f'I'rin ity College Kitiuly, M ad rac Press, Vapcrv, 1922.

AboveJXJne. n ew P rin cip al, M cL eo d C am p b ell (1 9 2 4 -1 9 3 5 ), m akes a stately en try to T rin ity C o lleg e
through the streets o f Kandy in a carriage drawn by the C ollege cadet battalion.

II

“Sir, Christ is very little preached here..

Tlie year is 1910 or 1940, but it is all the same. You are at G reyfriars, a rosy-
cheeked boy of fourteen in posh tailor-m ade clothes, sitting down to tea in
your study on the Remove Passage after an exciting game of football...There
is a cosy fire in the study, and outside the w ind is w histling. The ivy clusters
thickly round the old grey stones. The King is on his throne, and the pound
is w orth a pound. ...

...an d we are sitting down to a trem endous tea o f sausages, sardines,
crum pets, potted meat, jam and d o u g h n u ts everything is safe, solid and
unquestionable. E verything will be the same for ever and ever.

George Orwell, 1946

IT TO OK ONE INDIVIDUAL twenty years to consolidate the challenges that beset
the founding Principals o f Trinity College, Kandy. Alexander (Alek) G arden Fraser, the
Principal of the school from 1904 to 1924 who achieved this feat realised the world
around him was neither solid nor unquestionable, and th at everything would not be the
samefo r ever and ever. A t the turn o f the 20^*' Century, w hen the British Em pire was
still intact, not many o f his contemporaries felt inclined to agree w ith him. Surrounded
by a close-knit circle o f staff, governed by the C hurch M issionary Society (C.M .S.)
in London, and living the life o f an Englishm an in an outpost o f the Em pire, Fraser
should have been bound by the mores o f his times. Yet, he displayed a remarkable
understanding o f the need to question the role o f the school he managed and redefine
its place as an educational establishm ent in the w orld it was part of. H e clashed w ith
contemporaries, fought battles o f policy, but will be rem em bered for the school he made
ofT rin ity during his tenure as its Principal.'

1 llic title of th is cli;i]itcr is bascil on a sta te m e n t m ad e to F ra ser by a strid e n t of'lV inity. S ource: W a rd , W .E .F ,
Frawr oj I'rinity and Achim ol(i,V,\\.\n\ U niversity Press, 1965, p. 158.

26

n A r Fraser Principal of Trinity College. K and y.
p„„, and wa. of peata,M..ance.o.Kn
The Rev. A. G.
,„ ie e and hae been m ade perm anen.
ved fo. o ver w o yeare ^
^ h . M.’a Forces.
Ceylon boya.

A b o ve: P rin c ip a l A le k F ra se r (1904 - 1924) a fte r th e 1” W o rld W ar: F ra se r served in F ra n ce fro m 1917
-1 9 1 8 as a C h a p la in to H . M . ’s F o rces u n til he w as severely gassed a n d h a d to leave th e A rm y. Tlie gas

d am ag ed his voice an d m ade it difficult for him to speak in public for .several years.
O verleaf: Issu e d in F e b ru a ry 1917, F ra s e r’s p a s sp o rt in clu d es th e fo llo w in g c h a rm in g details: Forehead
- H ig h ; Complexion - Sallow ; Face - L ong; Eyes - G reen B right; Nose - M ed iu m ; M onth - F irm ; Chin

- Dim ple.





TRINirY

A bove: Beatrice Fraser, w ife o f Principal A lek Fraser.

The circumstances th at brought fVlek Fraser to Ceylon were not too unusual for his
times. Fraser was born in Scotland on the 6'*’ o f O ctober 1873, to A ndrew and Agnes
Fraser. Having studied in M erchiston Castle School in Edinburgh, he w ent on to
Trinity College, O xford to read Law. A t O xford, a turning point in his life, Fraser gave
up his law studies to become a missionary, and it was through his w ork as a student
volunteer that he met Beatrice Glass. H e followed Beatrice Glass to Africa where she
had started working as a missionary. They m arried in U ganda. The Frasers, who had
been in Uganda from 1900 to 1903, were forced to return to England due to Beatrice
Fraser’s deteriorating health. W h e n Fraser heard about the vacancy at T rinity he wrote
to the C.M .S. in June 1904, expressing interest in the post o f Principal, but claimed that
the job may not be right for him as he was an “extremely bad scholar”, and not “a real

30

“ S I R , C I l R I S r IS V K R Y I . I T 11,K l>RR AC 11Kl ) 11R R R ...”

01)* &Uan*r. Ihe Founder ofKingswood College, Kandy

fm/Tftr ft "il ’ .MWt (Un< L ouise E d m u n d B laze' did T rin ity proud. A s one o f its
ft W r «. nf stu d e n ts, he began the college m agazine, The Gleaner, and
served on the staff until he left to read for a degree at the
iiJ-If Xc40ij»«'A,>oiU«fco^uiuW. U niversiryofC alcutta.W hen he com pleted his degree in 1882
he becam e T rin ity ’s first g raduate. B laz e' rem ain ed in India,
'■ci ' ■ > a~.el je<f.1110,1 IL Hi.XI Aovr u first teaching in schools in C alcutta, and later holding the post
o f Second M aster at the Boys School in Lahore, until 1890.
Ull.'^ V- f*«- •«»-i i‘ »'■«^ , ..L W h en he returned to Ceylon he saw the need for a school
where students and teachers enjoyed a close relationship,
,U, •'•AOUO*^ eu J. fJu>' , dA*,U, and w here stu d en ts were n ot ju d g ed by their capacity to past
examinations. B laze' founded the Boys’H igh School in Kandy
It iieo'o. fo<A in 1891, w hich was renam ed, Kingsw ood C ollege in 1898. It
was B laze' w ho introduced Rugby Football to schools when
Jt,^X he taught the gam e to students at Kingswood. T rinity and
K ingsw ood m ade history in 1906 w hen they played the first
.U U <»U/v -ifj .vt W «ist ; interschool rugby m atch in Kandy.'

—-s*. fft. «f f«* ,,oov. Jt 1 W arakuallc, N issanka H .M ., Lo«A E dm und Blaze o f
Kingsniood,'Vc\e. S unday Island, U pali N ew spapers,
U ’l- Arf )UAoo. 6''> o f O c to b e r 2 0 07, p ’ 2

.#.J ,((« ,1c<U .'" y 9 "

. f-o,„. 0..

T he first copy o f the C ollege m agazine, Tlie G leaner, h an dw ritten by its
editor, L. E . Blaze, appeared in 1876. The original m agazine, w ith its

w ritin g still p erfectly legible, is on display in th e T rin ity C ollege A rchive.

Student”.^ A few weeks after his first letter, Fraser wrote hack, offering to take up the
post as a layman as he felt it would be easier to ordain under the Scottish Presbyterians
instead o f the Church o f England. H e wrote again in July, this time asking questions
th at hinted at the tone he would give the role: how was Trinity “governed, who would
the Principal be reporting to?” H e expressed very clearly that “as a newcomer and a
layman the position o f its Principal would be almost untenable if the said newcomer
were not present ex officio at the meetings o f a body which ultimately governed the
school.^”Having thought o f such possible administrative pitfalls, and having established
his position as a layman, Fraser took up the post o f Principal of Trinity. H e received
strong support from Sir Patrick M ason, his physician. M ason advised that considering

2 W ard, W .E .F , Fraser o f T rin ity andAchim ota, G h an a U niversity Press, 1965, p. 38.
3 Ibid, p. 39

31

T R IN IT Y

M rs. Fraser’s health, Kandy was one o f the few places in the tropics that could be
recom m ended to the Frasers.**

W h en Fraser arrived in Kandy on the h'*" o f Novem ber 1904, Trinity College had been
in existence for three decades. Tliese had been unsettled years. The school had seen
a succession o f over six Principals and each Principal had spent much o f his tenure
attem pting to maintain student numbers, keep discipline, build-up finances and achieve
good academic results. The early years were m arked by Principals such as G arrett and
H odges grappling w ith these burdens. As the new century dawned. Rev. N ap ier-
Clavering , w ith 10 years in the role o f principal, had managed to consolidate many
o f the issues that his predecessors had been burdened with. It was during his time
that L.E. Blaze' who later founded Kingswood College in Kandy, began the school
magazine, and under N ap ier-C lav erin g ’s guidance, a group o f alum ni form ed the Old
Boys Association in 1900. Yet, having brought T rinity on to firmer ground, N ap ier-
Clavering returned to Britain in 1900. Rev. Ryde, the form er Principal o f S t.Jo h n ’s
College, Jaffna, who succeeded N apier-C lavering , stayed only for two years. The Vice
Principal Rev. M acLulich acted in the post until the C .M .S. found a new Principal.

Fraser took on a formidable task. H e noted that while Trinity claimed to be a Public
School, the welcome address made to him in the assembly hall by a student in Latin
was “full o f idiotic m istakes”. O n the first m orning the teachers lined up 100 boys who
had done badly in their fortnightly test to be caned by the new Principal, and in the first
two terms Fraser expelled 140 students. The school’s educational standards had dropped
to an alarming low and it had no funds for a new building to accommodate all o f its
452 students. A few m onths into the job, Fraser made two requests from the C.M .S.
The first was for a trained teacher. This, he insisted, was the only way to stop the drift
o f students to Colom bo schools. Fraser’s second request was to be allowed to privately
appeal for funds for a science building. The private fund that Fraser set up grew into the
Trinity College Extension Fund and it enabled him to buy two and a half acres o f land
adjoining the premises o f Trinity. In the years that followed, Fraser’s fundraising skills

Ib id , p. 40

32

‘SIR, C H R I S T IS VI'.m I. IT TI. K R R K A C I I K D III'.RK..."

made him an indispensable money-spinner to the

C.M .S., and it was Fraser who developed most of

the schools infrastructure. New classroom blocks,

a science lab, a cricket ground, a new chapel and

many more of the enduring structures at Trinity

owe their existence to Fraser. As part of his request

to the C .M .S. he received Rev. W alter S. Senior, a

personal friend and trained teacher with a classics

background from Oxford, when the Vice Principal

transferred out of the school. Rev M acLaulich

left Trinity claim ing that while the school was in

“splendid condition now and improving steadily...”

he doubted if “it can be as missionary as before,”^ Above: The Frasers’eldest daughter, Mary, was born
a com plaint th at would mark Fraser’s career as the in C eylon in 1906. Two more daughters followed
Principal of Trinity. in 1910 (A lison ) and, in 1916 (Jean). In this rare

Fraser also began his many battles w ith his family photo, Beatrice Fraser sits with the two older
contemporaries during his early years at the daughters whUe Fraser carries Jean. O n either side
school. H e started with controversial and definitive
are Alastair, the eldest, born in U ganda in 1902
and, Andrew, born in 1903 in Edinburgh.

educational reforms which set the tone o f Trinity as a school, and became his landmark

contribution to missionary education. W hen Fraser arrived at Trinity he noted that,

“[a]ny boy w ho spoke in a native tongue was thrashed for it”, and to him that seemed, “an

absurd r u l e . H e believed that only a student well versed in his own language could

become a part of a thinking culture, and most importantly, that a student alienated from

his language would be alienated from his country and from its masses. A t a time when

missionary schools were emphasising education in English, denigrating the vernacular,

Fraser introduced Sinhala and Tamil as subjects to the lower classes at Trinity in 1905.

H e was convinced this would not take away the im portance placed on English, and said

he would be able to find more time by K m oVm gfancy subjects such as Latin and Euclid.

5 Ibid, 45
6 Ibid,p.49

33

TRINI'I'Y

So convinced was Fraser in his justification that he predicted Sinhala and Tamil would

ultimately be subjects offered at the Cam bridge Examinations. H is contemporaries

severely criticised him for introducing the vernacular, but the G overnm ent D irector of

Public Instruction supported him. Fraser formulated his ideas on vernacular education

into a paper on educational policy and voiced opinions that questioned education in

missionary schools in Ceylon. H e understood the complexity o f educational work

outside England and emphasised, at a speech he made in India, that “m odern education

in the East is still largely an experim ent, and we are still ignorant o f m ost that we

should know....^” The Governm ent made vernacular education compulsory in 1912

and Fraser’s reforms became national policy. A lthough m any o f Fraser’s suggestions

did not see the light o f day until several

decades later, his ideas formed the

The First Ceylonese basis for some o f Ceylon’s landm arks
Inspector General ofPolice in educational history. The proposal of

Richard A luw ihare becam e the first C eylonese Inspector starting university-level education in
G e n e ra l o f P olice in 1947, an d later o n e o f C e y lo n ’s m o st Ceylon first came from Fraser in 1911
distinguished Am bassadors. As Senior Prefect and Ryde when he suggested that Royal College
G old M edallist o f T rinity College, A luw ihare associated should be developed into a university
w ith Fraser very closely. H e travelled to In d ia w ith Fraser that would work in collaboration with
and Rev. G aster, touring schools in the subco n tin ent and the University of London in England.
taking the opportunity to visit cities such as C alcutta,
Benares, C aw npore, A gra and D elh i'. In 1915 he m arched In his early years o f managing Trinity,
as a T rinity C adet from K andy to C o lo m b o in p rotest
ag ain st th e G o v e r n m e n t’s c o m m e n ts o n th e locals’ in ab ility
to serve in the W orld W ar. A year later he left for F landers
and was w ounded in the battle at Som m e. A luw ihare was
knighted in 1948.

Fraser set the tone for the school.

1 W ard, W .E .F , Fraser o f T rin ity a n d Achim ota, G h a n a U niversin' Press, Discipline was established, first through
1965, p. 96 corporal punishment, and then through

a prefect system and close association of

students w ith staff. Fraser erected new

buildings, created the college cricket grounds, and opened the battle for a college Chapel.

H e and his wife entertained locals, students and parents in their bungalow. A nd he did

the unthinkable. A t the risk of alienating parents o f boys from elite Kandyan families,

he enrolled a student from a low-caste. By doing so, and eventually m anaging to give

the student lodging in the college boarding house, he broke down caste differences at

lbid,p.57

34

'SIR. C H R I S T IS V E R Y E I T ' I ' E E I’R E A C I I E l ) H E R E . .. '

y^^ox'e.Principal Alck Fraser with a group o f students: one of a series o f postcards printed to raise funds
for the Trinity College, Kandy, Extension Fund, printed bcrvvccn 1905 - 1924. Printed on its reverse is the
following: Forfallparticulars ‘write to Mr. A. G. Fraser, Principal, Trinity College Kandy, Ceylon, or to Mr. W.

Watson, Hon. Sec., andTreas., 15 Grosvenor Place, N E V V C A S T L E - O N - T Y N E . Funds arc urgently needed.

the school. In a decade, Fraser consolidated Trinity as one o f the best schools in Ceylon.
“The position o fT rin ity College, is tied up at present in [Fraser’s] personality,^” noted
the Secretary o f the C.M .S. as early as in 1910.

Fraser was a missionary ahead o f his times. His contemporaries in Ceylon however, did
not share his vision. M any o f his own staff, such as his first Vice Principal, MacLaulich,
had accused him o f taking the “missionary spirit”away from Trinity. O thers also opposed
his close association w ith locals. In his early letters he writes; “The missionaries told us
we must never let Ceylonese beyond our verandah; it was part of the old imperialism.
W h e n I asked why, they said it gave them swelled heads.'9' ”

8 lbid.p.77
9 Ibid, p. 56

35

rUINITY

Despite Fraser’s particularly controversial approach to missionary work, to vernacular
education, and to life as a Britisher in Ceylon, he was always deeply religious, a man
devoted to Christian values. Believing th at creating a Christian character was the real
purpose of the work of an educational missionary, he emphasised that students should
he hrmly grounded in the ideals o f service and brotherhood. W h en the G overnm ent
made a move to bring in secular education and threatened a reduction in grants to
mission schools, Fraser was the first to criticise the move. As the nationalist movement
took hold o f the people’s consciousness and the Mahabodhi Society levelled accusations
at Trinity for its Christian missionary work, Fraser defended the school, claiming that it
was after all a C hristian school where students were enrolled by parents who knew this.^°
W h en several students had come to school in national dress,, Fraser made them stand on
benches and ridiculed them}^ Yet, Fraser’s m ost severe opponents were the missionaries
themselves. Some o f his contemporaries petitioned several times to the C.M .S. to
recall him. That Fraser had enemies who were not willing to overlook his approach
to missionary work and his fiery personality, for the good that he had done, became
clear at the end of his time in Ceylon when his name was put forward for the post of
Bishopric of Colombo. Fraser was defeated at the election. Those who opposed him
most, especially the Ceylonese clergy, did so openly in 1921 to the C .M .S. delegation
that toured the country. They said th at teaching at T rinity was not ‘C hristian’ enough.
Some o f the students shared this view. O ne student, in a display o f remarkable candour,
wrote:

W h e n I was leaving college as head boy, M r Fraser invited me to go w ith
him to the new playing field one evening after dark; and there he asked me
to criticise his work at the college. I told him all I knew, and 1 finally said ,‘Sir,
C hrist is very little preached here, although it is a C hristian college__

,.0.// Kand\,10 Reim an 11, Valcsc.i I
/ hstory o fT r iu h y College M adras Diocesan Press, Vaperv, 1922.

11 W ick ran iasin g lie, N ira. Sr\ l.a n ka in the M odern Ages - A I listory o f Contested Identities, C , I lu rs t & C o , L o n ilo n , 2 0 0 6 , jcOS,

12 W ard , W . 1'.. I', 1‘niser of T rin ity a n d A ih in w tn , ( ih a n a U n iv ersity IVess, 196.5, p. 158.

36

“ S I R , C H R I S T ' IS Vi:R\- I.IT T’ I.F. R R K A C H F I ) H F . R K. . . ”

Fraser believed that a school and its staff had a role to play in the world it was part of. His
involvement in local, as well as regional educational reforms and politics, stemmed from
this. Fraser stood out in his response to the 1915 riots in Kandy when he, with cadets
from Trinity, delayed the outbreak of the riots by holding back the mobs. A few years
later, when the Am ritsar massacre took place in 1919, Fraser visited the Punjab with the
Village Education Commission o f the C.M .S. H e met Indian Congressmen and rulers at
State level and spoke to missionaries, seeking to understand the causes of the massacre.
W h en the C .M .S appointed him the Chairm an o f the Village Education Commission to
report on the situation o f illiteracy in India, he travelled extensively from England to
the U.S., Japan, the Philippines, Ceylon and finally to India. The Commission’s report
emphasised that missionaries needed to adapt to the atmosphere created by nationalist
movements. Fraser concluded that a missionary educationist who did not play a role in
helping to reduce poverty, disease, social hierarchies and difficulties with educating girls,
was not doing his duty. A t the time, in 1920, the report set in motion a quiet revolution
in the C .M .S .’s approach to missionary work in rural India.

According to Fraser, the role of An Egyptians Account ofFraser and Blaze'
a missionary educationist went
beyond the narrow goals of A li F oad T o u lb a, a fo rm er K ingsw oodian an d E g y p tia n , d escribed as the
“conversion”. H e believed that
the medium of education, the “E nglish R edactor to the C abinet o f H .M . the King o f Egypt, A uthor o f
form it took, and the spirit it
endorsed mattered more than From an Egyptian w rote a chapter on T rin ity in his book, Ceylon - the
the end for which a missionary
school had been established.This L a n d o fE ternal Charm. H e said:
was his lasting legacy to Trinity.
This was also the apparent F or w as it n o t w ith in [T rin ity ’s] w alls th a t o u r g reat H e a d M a ste r
contradiction of his work. He M r. B laze' in his tim e d ran k o f her lore, and beneath its w atchful
created an ethos at Trinity that gaze and benign care, developed th at character he brought into play
was entirely different to any w ith such conspicuous success in later years in his own turn in the
other such school in Ceylon. school w hich now stands as a living m onum ent to his great name?
H e recognised ahead of his
Indeed, w h at a lovely picture w ould it have m ade had I been able,
u n k n o w n to th e m , to sn a p sh o t b o th th e Rev. F raser an d M r. B la z e ',
as fro m m y h o te l w in d o w o n e m o rn in g I saw these tw o fam iliar
figures walking side by side, quietly engaged in conversation. Here
indeed was a picture to grace the walls ot any school - two great
headm asters o f two great schools, in quite unconventional m ood,
and evidently shorn o f every care and w orry in the fresh m orning
breeze, now exchanging the thoughts of two great m inds.'

Ali Foad Toulba, 1926

1 ■I'oulx, A li C e y lo ti-th eL a m lo fE h rm ilC h iirm .W m M n 'io n & Co. L ondon,

1926, p. 161

37

TKINITY

A bove: Students and staff in the Quadrangle: another one o f the series o f postcards
printed to raise funds for the Trinity C ollege, Kandy, E xtension Fund.

time the inevitable path on which nationalism would take colonised countries and
wholeheartedly approved transferring self government to these nations. His criticism
was of a system of education, and those in it, who could not foresee the coming changes.
H e knew that they needed to meet the demands a changed society would put on schools
such as Trinity College. A t Trinity, Fraser had already set these ideas in m otion w ith
his close involvement in village schools and through the social work the school did in
the region.
W h en Fraser left T rinity in 1924 he had consolidated T rinity’s place as one o f the
leading schools in Ceylon. A lthough Trinity rem ained firmly w ithin the parameters of
a missionary school, he had stamped on it a character that was defined by the culture
and traditions o f its home. The school he created was not the type o f C hristian Public

38

“ S I R , C H R I S T IS V E R Y l . n ’T I . E I’ R E A C I I E I ) H E R E . . . ”

School th at is so bitterly satirised by writers such as Orwell. It was a school with an
ethos that was unique even in Ceylon. Fraser displayed ultimately, that Christianity and
missionary work that rose above religious denom inations, social hierarchies or ethnicity
was all that m attered. By doing so, he left an enduring legacy at Trinity College, Kandy:
the spirit of humanism.

Hillwood College, Kandy

In th e late n in e te e n th century, it is said, th e need arose school for girls in Kandy. H illw ood College was officially
to h ave a g irls’ boarding school on sim ilar lines [to T rin ity opened in M ay 1890 in H illw ood H ouse, a bungalow
College] so th a t the educated boys o f T rin ity could choose overlooking the lake. T he school began as Clarence
educated girls as their w ives. The appeal w as made to Rev. M em o ria l School b u t w as ren am ed H illw ood College by
Irela n d Jones a n d R ev. ]. G arret who conveyed the message the C E Z M S . M any Trinitians began their education
to the C .M .S., London.' In 1889 M iss E lizabeth Bellerby at H illw ood College w here small boys and girls were
arrived in C eylon in response to the call o f the Church lovingly looked after by the older girls and the m atrons.
o f E ngland 7.enana M issionary Society(CEZM S) for a H illw ood paved a gentler entry into boarding-school life
w om an m issionary w ho would establish a boarding for m any future Trinitians.

1 W ita n a c h c h i, L a lith a K., The early beginnings o f H illwoait,.
H illw ood C ollege K andy C entenary Souvenir, 1990.

t■-i. ' »P2*jC- r>'.>.’i-A.,S1

,N '• i^T j-i

KTm- ■'v7T''*>:3'7- ■=■• ■■uJi
p-r-.>*. „ V } ■ ■' <i,.-- -ll

' vV ' vJ

•'.*■A 'A ;*/’??.'B,p■’.f'■■« j|

' ...

f

f'

m.

jit!itim m ii»i}iif»{f«t*

Ill

The Murmur of the Crowd

Tlie pioneering role o f T rinity as a C hristian M issionary School, founded
during the B ritish colonial period, bu t blending as gracefully w ith indigenous
cultural traditions as the College C hapel, had already been challenged w hen
I entered school following the family traditiond

Jayantha Dhanapla, 2004

TO T H O S E TR IN IT IA N S w ho sat in H ilary A beyaratne’s classes during his H istory
lessons, this teacher epitom ised all th at was best about Trinity. ^ As a student he had
won the Ryde Gold medal in 1940 with an unanimous vote, become Senior Prefect in
1941, and set the record for the fastest century on Asgiriya against Royal, in under an
hour; 111 in 55 m inutes and 22 in one over.^ Tall, dashingly handsom e, living a life o f
style, and carrying it all off w ith trem endous flourish, Abeyaratne returned to his school
to teach. H e had trained at the University o f L ondon’s Institute o f E ducation and had
come back, he says, w ith teaching experience ranging from G ordostoun to a Secondary
M odern Dockyard school in London, plenty o f ideas about education, and a Teaching
Diploma and an Academic Diploma.

Abeyaratne came back to the school where he says he received “a more all-round
education than any in Sri Lanka or anywhere in the world for that m atter.” H e became
Co-Vice Principal o f Trinity in 1968, and remained the soul o f the school, until.

1 D hanapala, Jayantha, from the Prize Day speech delivered at the T rinity College on the 13* o f Feb. 2004. T rinity College,
Kandy M agazine, 2004, p.l 1

2 Ibe title for this ch ap ter is based on th e saying a ttrib u te d to P rincipal O orloff: Do not m istake the m urm ur o f the crow d for the
voice o f God.

3 All q u o ta tio n s by H ila ry A b ey aratn e in th is c h a p te r are b ased on his resp o n ses to th e a u th o r ’s q u e s tio n s in 2007.Tl-iis reco rd
has since been broken by his nephew , A jith A beyaratne.

42

Above: P ortrait o f Principal M cL eod C am pbell by D avid Paynter (1936).

r u i Ni r v

•according to him, “for reasons that m ight seem somewhat obscure [he] beat it down
under,” in 1974.

Today, H ilary Abeyaratne lives in M elbourne, Australia. N ow 84 years o f age, he is
writing his autobiography; and central to his reminiscences about his days at Trinity,
he says, is the issue “o f being anglicised by going to T .C .K .” H e recalls that his tutor at
the Institute o f Education was “dum founded w hen he discovered that [he] was totally
illiterate in his own language.” Despite the numerous other Trinitians o f his generation
who did not em body the Anglicised Product’o f the school, he says,yor w h at i t ’s worth, is
this not an issue that must be raised and met asf a r as T.C.K. is concerned^

Before A lek Fraser left T rinity College in 1924, he selected a successor in Rev. M cL eod-
Cam pbell, a m an w hom Fraser him self described as a fairly hum an being.'* H e possessed
all the qualities th at Fraser valued in an educationist. H ere was a prelate who w ent out
hop picking in Kent, not as a padre, but as a picker. H e had started a boys’ club in the
slums o f O xford where he had been nam ed a fellow and representative o f the University,
and he had refused appointm ent as A rchbishop o f C anterbury to serve in the War.
A nd, according to Fraser, “Rev. M cL eod Cam pbell was a H ighland chief and had all
the chiefly traditions behind him, and he own[ed] a walauwa[!].^” This imposing but
gentle man, a former student o f M arlborough and o f Balliol, took on the onerous task
o f continuing to m aintain T rinity’s place as one o f the leading schools in Ceylon.

Inevitably, as Cam pbell and the later Principals discovered, Fraser’s shadow stretched far
into the future. H e had left behind several projects that his successors had to continue,
and the ethos he had created had become institutionalised. W hen Campbell arrived
at Trinity, the school’s C hapel project had been in progress only for a couple o f years.
W hile Fraser and his staff had conceptualised the building, the project soon outgrew

4 S p eech given by F raser a t his fa re w e ll,T rin ity C o lle g e M a g a '/.in c ,'le rm 11 , 1924. p.41
.5 Ih id .

44

r 11F. M u K M U K O I' I’11F C R O W 1)

The Prize Day and the Guest Book

Tlie list o f nam es on the G uest Book o f the C ollege reads like a historical
tim elin e. I t in clu d es c h u rch m issio n aries such as C . F, A n d rew s, R oyalty and
H eads o f State such as Q tiecn F lizaheth II and the D uke o f E dinburgh, the
M ah ak u m ari o f Sikliim and Jaw aharlal N eh ru , and leaders such as M ah atm a
G andhi.
A lm ost every H ead o f State o f Sri L anka has attended the Prize Day o f T rinity
and M rs. Sirim avo B andaranaikc was C h ief G uest in 1972 and in 1997, on both
occasions as Prim e M inister. In 1908, w hen the G overnor o f Ceylon refused
F ra se r’s in v itatio n to a tte n d th e P rize Day, F raser invited his lath er, Sir A n d rew
Fraser, the Lt. G overnor o f Bengal, thereby com pelling the G overnor to attend
the cerem ony on protocol. Principal Lionel Fernando invited author M artin
W ickram asinghe, Film D irector L ester Jam es Peiris, artist Senaka Senanayake,
prelate o f the Asgiriya B uddhist C hapter Ven. G odam une N agasena and
journalist H . A. J. H ulugalle, individuals quite unlike the traditional invitee to
the T rinity College Prize Dav.

all estimates, and it was left to Cam pbell to raise funds for it. All the detailed writing
available today that captures and describes the thinking behind the Chapel is those by
Campbell. His efforts raised enough funds to build the key sections of the church, the
side chapel, to begin the work on the murals, and to hold its dedication. Campbell also
took Fraser’s initiative o f teaching Sinhala and Tamil as subjects even further by changing
the m edium o f instruction from English to the vernacular in the lower classes.

Language was Cam pbell’s forte. H e could use it to give new perspective on a subject
and expressed him self poetically in his writing. H e would speak in his striking voice
to mesmerised audiences and was so renowned for his oratorical skills, it is said that
people travelled from afar to listen to him. D uring Cam pbell’s time at Trinity, M ahatm a
G andhi toured Ceylon in 1927. Gandhi visited Trinity briefly on the 19* of November
on his travels around Kandy, and Cam pbell’s address to him bore all the usual hallmarks
o f his ability to gently criticise and speak his mind w ithout giving offence:

I venture to im itate [sic. your] frankness by saying tbat we welcome you
most warmly in spite of fundamental differences o f political and religious
outlook. You bave felt it to be your mission to wound tbe susceptibilities
o f people like me. Since you arrived in Ceylon you bave felt it necessary to

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TRINITY

Stigmatize M o th e r E ngland and all her works in India as unm itigatingly
evil, contam inating, untouchable. Your utterances provoke in many o f us
perplexity and sorrow almost to tears, that one endowed with such superb
capacities for reconciliation should hold aloof, when, if ever a task called for
the active co-operation o f men passionately set on mutual understandings,
m utual forbearance, m utual forgiveness, it is the task o f gently disentangling
the complex web of inter-relationships between two great nations, which we
have inherited from our forefathers.

O n m atters o f religion we can not all see eye to eye w ith you. By your actions
and life you have taught us to tread the royal road o f the Cross, but by your
work you have often seemed to be patronizing with eclectic commendations
H im W h o calls forth from us nothing less than adoration. It would be
hypocrisy to minimize these differences; it would a poor com plim ent to our
guest to disguise them beneath the froth o f flattery. But having confessed
them we can let ourselves go in giving you a welcome as sincere as it is
warm.

Every person in this Hall welcomes the opportunity o f paying homage to
the spirit o f your life. L ong may it be before you have to lay down our work
o f healing the sores o f humanity, - before we shall be called upon to say of
M ahatm a G andhi, “N ow he belongs to the Ages.

Campbell voiced sentiments tbat many in tbe colonial administrative circles possibly
refrained from expressing to G andbi as be toured Ceylon, speaking to the public and
raising funds for the Kadhi M ovem ent in India. Yet the 1920s were the early days of
nationalism in South Asia. The changes that would sweep across these countries, two
decades later, were yet to come. Cam pbell left Trinity in 1935 and returned to Britain
where he became the King’s C haplain at W estm inster Abbey.

A whisper o f change had already made itself heard by the tim e Rev. R. W . Stopford
arrived at Trinity as C am pbell’s successor. Stopford had known C am pbell personally
and he had the right background for the school as a form er H ouse M aster at O undell,

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T 11K M U R M U U O L T M F C R ( HV I)

a Public School in England, and scholar from

Oxford. Stopford stepped right into the eye of a

storm in Ceylon. He arrived when an appraisal

was being made of the existing educational

system, and Stopford became a member of the

Commission on Education almost immediately.

Over the years he became the council member

o f the University College Planning Committee for

the university to be established in Peradeniya,

and his involvement in national level educational

changes that were being mapped out for Ceylon

gave him insight into the future of educational

institutions such as Trinity. H e began reviewing Above: Principal R. W . Stopford (1935-1941),
the school’s relationship w ith the C.M .S., the becam e the Bishop o f L ondon from 1961-1973.

medium o f instruction and the curricula. Believing, like his two predecessors, that

students would be com petent in English by the time they came to the secondary stage

in school, he changed the m edium of instruction in the prim ary classes to the vernacular.

In doing so, he pre-em pted educational changes yet to come. Yet the most significant

changes and ones that would later hold most impact would be the changes he brought to

the governance of Trinity. H e spearheaded amendments to the school constitution, and

severed the C .M .S.’connection to Trinity, transferring control of the school to a Board

o f Governors in Ceylon. W hen Stopford left Ceylon in 1941, he had significantly

added to the school’s development w ith curriculum changes such as the introduction of

Kandyan dancing and several far reaching policy changes. The school landscape had also

changed. The new school hall had been built w ith funds donated by A. H . T. de Soysa,

and a sick room built by Asoka Panabokke in memory o f his son. Stopford left Trinity

to Achimota. Later, on his return to England, he became the Bishop of London.

Every Principal o f Trinity has needed to possess a charisma capable of setting a tone to
the school, o f re-working the existing ‘spirit’to suit the times. Yet, behind him, an entire
hub of people, the Vice Principal, the House Masters, the M atrons, the teachers and the
support staff, have been around to endorse his vision, to embody it and filter it down to

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I'RINITY

the ranks. Tliroughout Fraser’s 20 years at Trinity he was hardly around after the first
few years when war service, fundraising tours, and other larger and grander projects
took him out o f the country. It was Rev. G aster who managed the school, rallied the
staff' together and kept order. For the first tim e in the history o f Trinity a Ceylonese, C.
E. Simithraaratchy, held the post of'Cice Principal during C am phell’s tenure.

C. E. Sim ithraaratchy arrived at Trinity in 1904 at the age o f 12. In school he excelled
at hoth sports and studies, w inning all the coveted awards and holding key positions. A t
the time o f his appointm ent as Vice Principal he had behind him the record o f being
Senior Prefect, Captain o f Cricket, Ryde G old M edallist, M em ber o f Staff, House
M aster and Senior Boarding House Master. Simithraaratchy supported Campbell by
managing the school when work on the Chapel had reached a peak and Campbell had
to devote his time to fundraising. W h en Stopford left Ceylon, opening up the post of
Principal, Sim ithraaratchy became the natural choice for the role. In 1941 w hen he took
over the post of Principal of Trinity, once again he created history by becoming the first
Ceylonese to hold the post.

The Unsung Heroes Portrait o f V ice Principal W alter Senior.

Every Principal o f T rinity has needed to possess a
charism a capable o f setting a tone to the school, o f te-
w o rk in g th e ‘C o lle g e s p ir it’to su it th e tim es. Yet, b e h in d
him an entire hub o f people have been around to endorse
his vision, to em body it and filter it dow n to the ranks.
A m ong the academ ic and non-academ ic staff, the Vice
Principal stands out as the crucial figure in the day-today
functioning o f the College, carrying a large w ork-load
and displaying a rem arkable ability to m ove from the
m inutiae to the general. D espite their years o f dedicated
service, the College does not have a policy o f routine
prom otion of Vice Principal to the post o f Principal: it
rem ain s a role t h a t’s crucial b u t largely invisible to th e
public. From its inception. Vice Principals o f T rinity
such as Senior, G aster, S im ithraaratchy, Sahayam ,
A beyaratne, Jeyaraj, D aniel, C anon Ratnayake and
Jansze have displayed selfless dedication and loyalty to
the school.

48

TTIK M U K M IIU O K T IIE CKOVVI)

Sim ithraiiratchy’s appointm ent came at a time of

major upheaval. Tlie Second W orld W ar was in

its 3'^^* year and the school had been earmarked

for military requisition. In addition to changes

buffeting the school from outside, he had to

consolidate the repercussions stemming from

reforms that Stopford had initiated within the

school. W h en the school had severed its ties with

the C .M .S. it had also cut off its main source of

funding, and was left with debts to tbe C.M .S.

TItc W ar com pounded the newly created financial

strain on the school with food shortages and, when

Ceylon gained independence in 1948, there came

an onslaught of educational reforms. Schools in

the country had to decide if they would remain

on their own or join the Scheme offered by the

G overnm ent to become an ‘Assisted School.’

Simithraaratchy opted to keep Trinity out of the

Scheme, a decision that proved to be of sound Above: Principal C. E. Simithraaratchy (1941 - 1951).

judgem ent when the Government nationalised

schools in 1962. Solidity in management, a display

o f deep loyalty to his school and an unquestioned integrity, became the hallmarks of

Sim ithraaratchy’s tenure as Principal o f Trinity. H e prevented military requisition, and

w hen he resigned from his post in 1951, he had cleared the College’s debts to the

C.M .S. to leave behind a school o f sound financial standing.

The Principal who replaced Simithraaratchy, N orm an S. Walter, held the post only for
a brief period o f five years. Yet, during this short tenure the school turned into a hub of
activity. H e came to be known as T rinity’s Master Builder. W alter had links to Stopford,
Campbell and Fraser. A lecture by Fraser had inspired this Oxford postgraduate to
choose missionary work and he had worked with Fraser’s son as a teacher in the West
Indies. Cam pbell and Stopford also knew him well and W alter took up the post with

49

TRINITY

their blessings. D uring W alter’s time the school w ent through an unprecedented am ount
of development. H e began by introducing waterborne sanitation and then constructed a
series of new buildings; tbe Fraser Building, the Library donated by E. L. Senanayake, in
m em ory o f M ilton Senanayake, and the Junior School, all o f which changed the school
landscape, bringing it closer to the form it takes today. It was W alter who identified
the land for the Farm at H aragam a and was personally involved in setting it up. Yet,
while working on large-scale projects he also spent time reviewing the standards of
the school and of staff welfare, constantly looking for ways to improve both. W ith
Vice Principal G.Y. Sahayam he introduced a staff gratuity scheme 30 years before the
Government made it mandatory. The most im portant academic change he supported
was the introduction of Social Studies, many years before the subject became part of the
national school curricula.

Yet while bringing about substantial changes to the school, W alter also sensed the ‘w ind’
changing; that soon, English would be replaced by Sinhala and Tam il as the m edia o f
instruction in schools. Trinity had always been ahead o f the prevalent cultural changes
taking place in the country, had pioneered vernacular language instruction in the school,
and had predicted the force and direction o f the nationalist movement. W alter sensed
more than just a change in educational policy, more than just the need to be ahead
o f a curriculum change that would become national policy. H e sensed the onset of
educational reforms th at would change the very fabric o f life in a school such as Trinity,
and he knew the school would require individuals, staff, who would be able to deal w ith
these changes. H e realised th at o f all am ong the staff, the Principal, as the head o f the
school, would need to be seeped in the local culture. A nd this too, no longer in the
gentle and compromising m anner that Trinity had excelled in up to then.

W h e n W alter resigned from his post as Principal in 1957, the effects o f the Official
Language Act o f1956 were already beginning to tell on the country. Over the years, the
repercussions o f this policy would seep into every aspect o f the country, including civil
adm inistration, national unity and personal identity. O n the other side o f the ‘’56 divide’
stood the likes o f Hilary Abeyaratne who could not remain w ithin a cultural setting
that had changed. However, those who would be m ost affected were on ‘this side’ o f

50