Trinity Collage

TIIK MURMUR Ol'TlIK CROWD

Above, left: A s a m ark o f respect to r a P rincipal w ho had a trem en d o u s influence on his hfe, S riyantha S enaratna, com m issioned
and d o n ated this p ain tin g o f W alter by K irinde to the CoWe^e. Above, right: P rincipal and M rs C .J. O o rlo ff (1957 -1968).

the divide. The policy fractured the country by being the cause o f ethnic division, and it
separated people along the lines o f privilege based on language. The years that followed
were to be marked by a series o f youth insurrections, ethnic riots and an ongoing civil
war. Educational reforms became part and parcel o f a nation in crisis. A t Trinity,‘history’
would divide into the tim e ‘before’N orm an W alter and the time ‘after’. The tenures of
the Principals who came after W alter have included the trial of dealing with national
upheavals and ongoing social changes. It no longer seems possible to stay ahead of
history as Trinity had done so cautiously and sensitively in the decades before.
C. J. O orloff replaced Walter, taking over the post of Principal in 1957. Unlike
Simithraaratchy, whose appointm ent as a Ceylonese had been the result o f a natural
succession, O orloff was selected for being Ceylonese, for being someone who could
straddle two worlds: the world o f the people created by the ‘W estern education’ that
schools such as Trinity offered, and the world o f the vernacular society that Trinity was
rapidly being forced to accept. O orloff had read Classics at University and had taught at
Trinity briefly before joining the Civil Service. H e came to Trinity with several years of
experience as the Principal o f Wesley College in Colombo. O orloff saw the full effects

51

T R IN IT Y

A bove, Icftc'Vice. P rin cip al H ila ry A b e y a ra tn e (1968 -1 9 7 4 ) a t his resid en ce in M o rn in g to n , V icto ria,
A u s tra lia - 2QQ?i. A b o ve, right: P rin c ip a l L io n e l F e r n a n d o (1 9 6 8 - 1977).

of the new language policy but refused to engage in narrow nationalism and protected
the school from nationalisation. Recognising the need to create unity through language,
he introduced Sinhala or Tam il as a third language to students. A nd in a gesture that
em bodied his role as a Ceylonese Principal o f Trinity, he reduced his own salary to a local
scale, refusing to take the salary offered to an expatriate.
In the years that followed, each Principal emphasised the im portance o f recognising
the school’s setting w ithin the local culture, and created room for its expression in
ways that would change the school quite markedly. In this way Trinity reflected the
transformations taking place in Sri Lankan society. According to A jith Samaranayake,
a former Trinitian and one-tim e editor o f several leading newspapers in Sri Lanka,
Principal Lionel Fernando, for instance, brought the local culture firmly into the
school structure. D uring his time, the prelate of the Asgiriya Buddhist C hapter Ven.
Godamune Nagasena, writer M artin W ickramasinghe and artist Senaka Senanayake
were chief guests at school prize days. H e allowed non-C hristian students to celebrate

52

THE MURMUR O ETIIE CROWD

Martin Wickramasinghe at Trinity

As chief guest at the T rinity College Prize day o f 1970,
M a rtin W ick ram asin g h e delivered a speech titled Fraser:
a genuine educationist. B elow is an excerpt fro m his
speech;

T rinity College, in the past, carried a bad
stigm a w hich has been wrongly attributed to
A .G . Fraser who was a very good educationist.
M any intelligent nationalists believed that
Fraser deliberately inculcated a hostile attitude
in the m inds o f the boys o f T rinity to their own
culture and language which m ade them im itate
E nglishm en and the superficial external aspects
o f their culture. I have refused to accept this
prejudice o f some o f our nationalists because
o f an incident [with a young man o f Trinity]
w hich I experienced about fifty years ago.

I thought that the stigm a attributed to Fraser
w as a m y th . It is n o t F raser w h o m ade boys, such
as th at young m an o f T rinity College, foolish
an d vulgar im itato rs o f E n g lish m e n . R a th e r it is
som e o f the m iddle class families w ho im itated
E nglishm en w ithout assim ilating even the
rudim ents o f their deeper literary culture which
was available here. The m ajority of the boys of
T rin ity C ollege d u rin g F ra ser’s tim e w ere fro m
these families, w ho rejected their ow n language
and culture.'

W icknuT iiisinghe, M a rtin . M a rtin IVickramasiiighi’
Complete Work - Volume /O .c.Tisara Pr.ikasakayn,
D k'hiw ala.l997,p.513.

53

TK IN ri'Y

their religious festivals, and Buddhist students began an annual pirith ceremony. The
Kandyan Dance troupe of the school, encouraged by him, excelled to a standard that
made it possible for them to go on a performance tour in Europe.

Yet, caught w ithin this setting, products o f earlier years such as H ilary Abeyaratne asked
themselves, “where does all this leave me?” W h e n Abeyaratne left T rinity in 1974, he
says;

[I] could barely speak Sinhala, not even to make m yself understood by
domestic staff and certainly not by parents who increasingly spoke in Sinhala
when asking me about the progress of their children. For the Vice-Principal
o f the school this was scarcely good enough and language, therefore, as I
tell anyone who cares to ask, is the m ajor reason why I am now dom iciled
in Australia.

However, H ilary A beyaratne is not necessarily representative o f the school, not even
during the time he taught there. H e admits Trinity was home to many students who
did not come from an A nglicised background’, w ho did not have access to the benefits
o f privilege and class. P ro f W im al Dissanayke,^ bi-lingual poet, form er East-W est
C enter Fellow, the w orld’s forem ost scholar o f A sian C inem a and pioneer o f Asian
C om m unication Theory, is one such student. A jith Samaranayake, w riting about him,
says:

W im al Dissanayake was born in Pilessa, a remote village off Kurunegala.
Perhaps the idyllic surroundings o f the W ayam ba countryside enriched his
em otional life and sharpened his critical sensibilities, b ut w hat is true is th at
from his time at Trinity College, Kandy, Dissanayake pursed an active life o f
the mind. H e was fortunate that the excellent English education at Trinity
College he was able to supplem ent w ith the prevailing excitement over new
trends in Sinhala literature and dram a in the 1950s.^

Trinity is stereotyped as a school for the elite. Yet to students w ho did not belong

6 Source: w w w.h:iwaii.eilu/acm /faculty/diss;\nay:ikc.shtiiil
7 Saiiiaranayakc, A jith. Siiuilay Essay; Culture of Riliugualism - Concluding IViinal Dissanayake on four cultural intellectuals,

S u n d ay O b serv er, A N C I ., 2()0.S

54

TIIK MURMUR Ol'TIIK CROWD

Above, left:'W \e D ru m and D ance T roupes o fT rin ity College, K andy and, o fH illw o o d C ollege, Kandy, perform on a street
in E ast Y orkshire. Tlie tw o schools toured the U. K. in 1992 and were accom panied on the to u r by the Principals o f the two

schools, L t. C ol. L. M . D e A lw is and M iss S. R atnayake. Above, right: P rincipal W . G . W ickram asinghe (1978 - 1988).

to th at background, and to the hundreds o f students who entered on fee waivers and
scholarships offered by the school, it provided an education that they would not have
received elsewhere. This education enabled them to straddle two worlds. Trinity helped
many students to walk through doorways that would never have opened for them
w ithout the education it provided.

The years from the late 7 0 s onwards were witness to rapid transformations within Sri
Lankan society, and the changes taking place in the country not only influenced Trinity,
but also steered the direction o f its growth. The impact o f the open economy and o f the
ethnic conflict seeped into the College. Rev. W ickram asinghe took over from Fernando
as Principal ofT rin ity in 1978 and during his tenure the College changed dramatically.
Student numbers increased to over three thousand, putting a severe strain on the
structural capacity of the school. New buildings and classrooms were built, the school

55

TRINITY

Above: Principal L eonard de Alwis (1989 -1999) in his T rinity archive at his residence, 2007.

swimming pool and Asgriya Stadium com pleted, and the Pallekelle farm school founded
on a donation made by the Baptist Church of Australia. W ickram asinghe dealt with
the crisis o f the July ’83 riots im partially and w ith trem endous circum spection, ensuring
the safety of the school and o f the students. Yet a way o f life had changed forever in the
country and a few years later came the second J.V.P. uprising, hurtling the country into
disruption and closing down schools intermittently.
Lt. Col. Leonard de Alwis, the third Trinity alumnus to be Principal, took over the post
in 1989. O ne o f four generations o f Trinitians, Alwis joined the staff as a m aster on
O orloff’s invitation. In the years th at followed he became H ouse M aster, C adet Officer
and Head M aster of the Junior School. H e began his tenure during the peak o f the
insurgency. D escribing the days o f the late ’80s, he says:

56

r ill'. M IIK M U K ()l r ill', C R O W D

I came in at a time when there were many problems and changes. The open
economy had changed society, suddenly there was a lot of money. Parents’
expectations were high and the students’ attitudes were also very different.
Dr. W ickxam asinghe brought in facilities to deal with the changes in society
and matched the school to the economic needs of the country. 1le was the
one who built the swimming pool and many new buildings.

Also, w hen 1came in, the J.V.P. was creatingstudent unrest. W e had unofficial
curfews and many school children were taken on to the streets, but not a
single Trinitian went on to the streets. I was able to prevent that happening
because I had the support o f the principals o f the schools in Kandy. As soon
as I got to know that students were being taken onto the streets, I took the
whole school into the Junior School and closed the gates, and we informed
the parents to collect students from there. A nd at the time we had severe
financial problems as parents didn’t pay fees when the school kept closing on
and oft. W e had to find the funds to run the school and pay the staff.^

Alwis stabilised the school financially and strengthened the staff as well as the education
at the school. W hen he left Trinity in 1998, he recorded the longest direct association an
alumnus has had with the College: 48 years, several years more than Simithraaratchy.

In 1999, Trinity saw the return o f another alumnus, and son of one of the school’s
most beloved masters. Dr. Ranjith Breckenridge. An academic of over forty years at
the University o f Peradeniya and an experienced administrator, Breckenridge strove
to consolidate a school that had been witness to significant social changes over the
past decade. As the 1900s came to an end, and Trinity entered its second century, he
strove to improve the academic standards of the school and strengthen its enduring
characteristics. H e introduced the English medium to the M iddle School and the
Advanced Level examination in English.’ M ost importantly, he emphasised the need
for students to be open to the world around them despite the oasis the school may
create: “The ‘Trinity spirit’is som ething very difficult to put your finger on, but part of
it is the strong sense o f pride we have in the College and the bonding it has created.

8 A uthor interview w ith Lt. Col. Leonard Alwis, January, 2008
9 Senaratna, Sriyantha. Dr. Warren R anjith Rreckcnridge,Tnn\r)' C ollege M agazine-2004,T rinity College, Kandy, 2004, pp 8-9.

57

T' R IN I T ’Y

A bove.The current Principal, R oderick G ilbert.

But the world is not Trinity, ju st because we have certain advantages they do not apply
to the w orldd°” The current Principal o f T rinity is Roderick G ilbert, a B ritish-born
educator with many years of experience in India. H e continues to build on the work
o f his predecessors. H e says. T rinity is “in the business o f producing m en w ho are
equipped for life w hether tough or easy; w hether successful or not; w hether public or
p riv ate... .The classroom o f chalk and talk is o f huge im portance, but it is in the outside
classroom of grass and grit where character, values and purposes are b u ilt." ”

10 A u th u r interview w ith Dr. B reckcnridge, 2007.
11 ( jilh e r t R o d erick . Pri?icipti/'s Report - 200-7, T rin itv C o lle g e M a g a z in e ,T r in ity C o lleg e, 2 0 0 4 , p .16

58

A Life Dedicated to Trinity

G . Y. Sahaj-am (seated thirdfro m /y?) joined Trinity, tem porarily, All C eylon U nion o f Teachers and his was a life dedicated to
during the tenure ot Principal C am pbell, but w ent on to serve T rinity. A s M . V. M u s h in says o f Sahayam : “In an age such as
the College for 43 years, o f w hich he was Vice Principal for th e p resen t w h ere co n fo rm ity is a virtue, d issen t o ften confused
alm ost 20 years. A ccording to legend, C am pbell, recognising w ith subversion, M r. Sahayam never let the m urm ur o f the
S ah ay am ’s fo rte for te a c h in g an d a d m in istra tio n , p aid S ahayam ’s crowd confuse the voice o f G od - always taking the right stand
salary' o ut o f his ow n pocket until a p erm an en t staff position however unpopular it may have b een .'”
o p en ed up. Sahayam is best rem em bered for the influence he
had on his students and on the school as an educationist. A M ushin, M .Vf Dedicated Teacher Retires, C eylon D ailv N ew s, A N C L .
teacher o f M athem atics, Scout M aster and strict disciplinarian, C olom bo.D ocem bcr 15,1969
Sahay'am earned trem en d o u s respect for his unbiased judgm ent
in his adm inistrative decisions. H e was the President o f the

Now, alm ost 40 years since the change in the national language policy, the issue is no
longer about A nglicisation at T rinity’. The question is w hether students will leave the
school com petent in English, yet steeped in the ‘Trinity Spirit’ at a time when many
students in Sri Lanka do not have access to the w orld’s commercial language. According
to Barana Waidyatilake, a Trinitian who completed his Advanced Level Examination
in 2007:

It is not that we are trying to be snobbish. W e are not trying to be elite. We
have just always maintained a good standard o f English. Anyone who has
been at Trinity from their boyhood should be able to speak good English.

Today Trinity attempts to produce what the country needs most: citizens rooted in their
culture, but com petent in the use o f both English and a national language, who will be
able to hold their own in any forum, anywhere in the world.

IV

The Spirit of a Trinitian

Tlie Param a W eera Vibhushanaya: the D ecoration shall be granted to all
ranks o f the Regular and Volunteer Forces o f the Army, Navy and Air Force
of the Democratic Socialist Republic o f Sri Lanka for individual acts of
gallantry and conspicuous bravery o f the m ost exceptional order in the face
o f the enemy, perform ed voluntarily whilst on active service, w ith no regard
to the risks o f his own life and security, w ith the objective o f safeguarding
the lives o f his com rades— ’

ONLY SEVEN SERVICE PERSONNEL of the Sri Lanka Arm ed Forces have been
decorated w ith the Parama Weera Vibhushanaya since President J. R. Jayewardene
instituted it in 1981. The Sri Lankan equivalent to the Victoria Cross o f Britain and the
Param Vir C hakra o f India, the Award is the highest recognition o f a service personnel’s
exceptional gallantry and bravery. The first o f the seven m en ever to win this Award
from the State, so far only made posthumously, was Lieutenant Saliya Aladeniya, a
Trinitian.

Second Lieutenant Aladeniya commanded the Kokavil Arm y Camp, an isolated base
between M ankulam and Killinochi, W est of the A9 Highway, which guarded the
Rupavahini transmission tower for the N orthern Province. The L.T.T.E. surrounded
and attacked the base in June 1990. T hroughout 14 days o f fighting vAladeniya’s
Battalion was unable to send him replenishments o f food, water, troops or am m unition
to the besieged camp. W hen he finally received com m and to abandon the camp, leaving

Based oil a translation trom tlic Caxette Extraordinary no 156/5 o f 1st September 1981 o f the Democratic Republic o f Sri Lanka.

60

Above: S econd L ieuten an t Saliya A ladeniya, w ho grew up w ith a childhood sim ilar to m ost Sri Lankan
children, displayed exceptional hravery on th e hattleficld, and sacrificed his life for his com rades and
co untry. A ladeniya is seen helow receiving a cerem onial sw ord from B rigadier D. VVijesekera.

•I'KINI'I Y

behind his wounded comrades, he ordered his able soldiers to leave, but he remained.
H is last words, before his headquarters lost contact w ith the camp were, “D on’t worry
sir, I will fight till 1 die.” The L.T.T.E. overran the camp on the 11* o f July. Second
Lieutenant Aladeniya was posthum ously prom oted and later honoured w ith The Parama
Weera Vibushanaya (P W V ). According to a news report:

By that evening, there were only 300 rounds o f am m unition left in the camp.
The choppers could not airdrop am m unition due to the height, much of it
fell outside the camp. The attacks continued throughout the night. A bout
fifteen o f the men were injured, leaving only about fifteen to fight....

“O n the evening o f the 11th, com m unication was lost,” C ol W eerakoon
said. A lthough Lt. Aladeniya was given orders to abandon the camp and
withdraw, he refused to do so because the majority o f his troops were injured
and unable to move. H e ordered the able men to withdraw, leaving him with
the injured. A t 11.45 p.m. the camp was overrun. The last they heard from
him were his words, “D o n’t w orry sir, I will fight till I die.”

A uthor and diplomat T.D.S.A. Dissanayake, in a book to be published on the events
o f July ’83 says he searched for individuals in the A rm ed Services w ho epitom ised
characteristics o f the ‘ideal officer.’^ H e had looked for leaders and officers w ho eschewed
narrow nationalism, who sought to respect differences and used military aggression
only where no other option remained. A t fighting rank he had identified Lieutenant
Saliya Aladeniya, at Flag R ank (Brigadier and above). Lieutenant G eneral D enzil
Kobbekaduwa, and he singled out M inister Lakshm an Kadirgamar from among the
political leaders. All of them had been educated at Trinity.

Lieutenant General Denzil Kobbekaduwa was born in July 1940, in Kandy. H e studied
at Trinity where he excelled in sports, especially rugby, and on leaving school joined
the Army in 1960. Having received his initial training at the Sandhurst Royal M ilitary
Academy, Kobbekaduwa w ent on to become one o f Sri Lanka’s m ost respected m ilitary

l.D .S .A D issanayake in conversation w itli Sriyantlia S enaratna.

62

I ' l I K SlMKi r Ol' A T K I N I T I A N

The School Crest and the Motto

Rev. Collins designed a crest for the C ollegiate School, Kandy,
in 1873, w ith a cro u ch ed lion ag ain st a b ack d ro p o f A d a m ’s
Peak and the sun. The design was encircled by the nam e o f the
school and below it was inscribed the m otto.
In 1878, w hen the school changed its nam e to T rinity College,
Kandy, the crest was changed to display the new nam e and
depicted a lion w ith a palm tree b ehin d it. The m otto rem ained.
Rev. G aster designed a new crest in 1912 w hich has not been
altered since. In C a s te r ’s design the lion holds a sw ord in its
right paw, a direct inspiration from the traditional lion on
Sinhala flags. It stands on a shield w ith a cross and three crowns
w ithin it. The crowns w hich represent the triune G od, were
borrowed from the University o f O xford Crest.
Tire C ollege m o tto . Respice F inem , Took to th e e n d ’, has
rem ained unchanged since Rev. C ollins coined it in 1873.

63

T’ K I N I T Y

A b o ve, left: A y o u n g D e n z il K o b b e k a d u w a . R ig h t. A j o u r n a lis t ’s p o r tr a it o f L ie u te n a n t G e n e r a l D e n z il K o b b e k a d u w a , ta k e n in
Jaffna a few weeks before he died in the bom b explosion at A raly P o in t in Kayts Island, off the Jaffna P eninsula, in 1992.

leaders. H e ’was com m issioned into the Ceylon A rm oured C orps in 1962 and took
over as its C om m ander in 1983. In M ay 1987, during the Vadam arachchi Cam paign,
Kobbekaduwa commanded 3 brigades and thereby became the first Officer in the history
of the Sri Lankan Arm y to com m and a brigade. H is com m and o f the troops and the
numerous landm ark battles he fought for the country earned him several awards during
his career which included the Rana Wickrama Paddakama, Rana Sura Paddakama,
Vishista Seva Vibushanaya, Utthama Seva Paddakama, Sri Lanka A rm ed Services Medal,
the Arm y 25’^Anniversary Medal, The President’s Inauguration Medal, and the Sri Lanka
Arm ed Services Long Service Medal. H e contributed his knowledge extensively to the
Royal College o f Defence Studies and his colleagues at the College com m ended his range
and depth of operational experience. In 1992, Kobbekaduwa and nine other military
officers, who were travelling w ith him in an A rm y L and Rover died in a bom b explosion

64

T H E Sl’IR IT OF A TRINITIAN

at Araly Point in Kayts Island, offjaffna Peninsula. In death too the country continued to
honour him, issuing a postage stamp as part o f a series titled ‘Distinguished Personalities
of Sri Lanka.’ According to W ing Com m ander E. H. Ohlmus:

Denzil was conscious that the well-heing and fundamental rights of the
defenceless civilian and the unarmed L.T.T.E. cadres in custody, were the
responsibility o f the State. H is sense o f fairplay, learnt on the rugby fields o f
Trinity College, simply exuded from him, and would certainly have earned
for the Defence Establishment every chance of a speedy and just resolution
of a totally unnecessary conflict. But this was not to be after that fateful day
in Kayts.

Denzil, especially after reaching Flag Rank, emphasised the need to prevent
those who have suffered because of conflict, from being further trodden
upon. If not for this untimely demise, we may have perhaps been able to
see him pave the way for all Sri Lankans to extend their hand o f friendship
to one another and more importantly, to convince the L.T.T.E. that all the
money wasted on weapons o f destruction can be used for the welfare o f all
people alike, in the N orth, South, East and West.^

Kobbekaduwa is still considered by many o f his colleagues and military historians to
have been the m ost capable field commander in the history of the Sri Lanka Army.

Born to a Protestant Christian family originating from Jaffna, Kadirgamar had broken
tradition to attend Trinity. A t the onset o f the 2"** W orld War, offered the choice of
selecting a school by his father, Kadirgamar opted for Trinity, even though all his
brothers had attended Royal College. A t Trinity, he marked his presence with a brilliant
academic and sporting career. Yet those who shared the classroom with him comment
not on his obvious brilliance, now recorded in history, but on his integrity and the
clarity o f thinking. Stanley Kirinde, Terrance Unamboowa, K. Arumugam, Douglas

3 O h lm u s, E .H . L t. Gen. D e n x il Kobbekaduwa - a true man o f the 20 th century. D aily N ew s, 8th o f A ugust 2006, A N C L ,
C olom bo, p. 11.

65

T R IN IT Y

Jayasinghe and Chrisitie Gunawardane were in the University Entrance Class at Trinity
with Kadirgamar from 1948 to 1949. Chrisitie G unaw ardana, says this o f Kadirgamar
and their time in school together:

H e was always questioning, always debating. Language to him was very
easy. H e was also very fair. H is integrity was som ething th at was taken for
granted.

Tlrat was the time period just pre-independence, and then independence:
the subcontinent was moving towards independence - Nehru, Jinnah and
G andhi were in the news all the time, and studying H istory gave us a chance
to get involved in politics, so to say. L akshm an had very firm views even
then about individuals, that personalities had a trem endous influence on
the course o f historical events. H e was very convinced o f this. In hindsight
I think that Lakshm an got into politics having this view - that he could
change the course o f events because o f his personality. H e intended to help
to influence events.''

Kadirgamar left Trinity to read Law at the University of Ceylon and then transferred
to its Campus at Peradeniya. From Peradeniya he continued his legal studies at Oxford,
where he became the President of the Oxford Union.Throughout his time in the political
arena, Kadirgam ar displayed qualities th at were the hallm arks o f the ‘T rinity S pirit’.

Lakshman Kadirgamar received the Ryde G old M edal in 1949, the most coveted award
at Trinity. First presented in 1908 by the Colombo Branch o f the Old Boys’Association,
the medal honours the best all-round student in the school. K adirgam ar’s was a school
career of remarkable achievement both academically and in extra-curricular activities.
He held the posts of Senior Prefect, Cricket Captain, Junior President o f several college
associations and editor of the college magazine. In addition to the numerous titles,
he also collected a m ountain o f prizes and trophies, such as the University E ntrance
Form Prize, the Nell Ceylon H istory Prize, the Public School Athletic Colours, the
Duncan W hite Challenge Trophy, Cricket Colours, Rugger Colours and an Athletics

4 A uthor interview w ith C hiristie G unaw ardane on the 22nd o f O ctober, 2007.

66

TIIF. SIMRFF OF A T K IN F riA N

Above, left: L akshm an K adirgam ar in O ctober, 1949. A ccording to the jo u rn alist w ho carried this photograph in his
sports colum n in a new spaper: “ L akshm an K adirgam ar o f Trinity, w ho show ed prom ise two years ago and Just failed
last year, cam e up to expectations this year w hen he w on the 120 yards hurdles in grand style estabhshing a new best

achievem ent for the event. A lthough his arm action can be bettered 1 have not seen a m ore im pressive Schoolboy
h u r d le r since K ib u k a , o f S t. P a tric k ’s C o lleg e. K a d irg a m a r is fast b o th over th e stick s an d b etw e e n th e m also .”

Above, right. Tliis p o rtrait o f F oreign M in ister L aksham an K adirgam ar w hich hangs at the C olom bo Law L ibrary in
H id f ts d o r p w as u n v eiled by C h ie f Ju s tic e S a ra th N . S ilva ( P C ) , also a T r in ita n , in 2 0 0 6 , a fte r K a d irg a m a r’s assassin atio n .

Lion. H e refused a Cricket Lion in 1950, saying he was “not quite up to standard”^.
W hen Lakshman Kadirgamar left Trinity College in 1950, he ended a school career
that epitomised the image of the ideal Ryde Gold medallist. Kadirgamar was the perfect
all-rounder.
The concept o f the ‘all-rounder’, defined first by N apier-C lavering and then emphasised

B reckenridge.W . R, Kadirgam ar - the perfect product o f T rinity, I h e Sunday T im es, S eptem ber 11, 2005.

67

T R IN IT Y

during Fraser’s time, is a gift from the English Public School system. By the turn o f the
20'*' Century, as by-products o f Public Schools, Fraser and N apier-C lavering would have
been well versed in the latest educational developments taking place in their country. For
decades, schools in Britain had draw n-up their curricula on the reforms introduced by
Tliomas Arnold, Headm aster o f Rugby from 1828 - 1842, leaning towards evangelical
earnestness, classical scholarship, an emphasis on the moral purposes o f schooling, and
the idea o{godliness andgood learning^ In the late 1800s the focus shifted. The creation of
the ‘m oral’and ‘m anly’student that A rnold had em phasised had given way to new ways
of thinking. Greater importance was placed on organised sports, team-games and the
values that were associated w ith them.^ M any H eadm asters o f Public Schools, such as
M arlborough and Rugby, made reforms to suit these ideas. In Eton, in particular, while
the shift in focus was made, it is said, this was never at the expense o f scholarship.®

The British educators of the time hoped to imbue the student w ith a stoicism that would
hold him through the ‘battlefield o f life’. H en ry N ew bolt’s poem s about C lifton College
in Bristol, England, are a product o f this era. The Vitai Lampada, one o f N ew bolt’s m ost
popular poems, relates how a student o f Clifton learns stoicism and courage on the
school playing-fields, all qualities th at guide him in his life as a soldier:

This is the word th at year by year.
W h ile in her place the school is set,
Every one of her sons must hear,
And none that hears it dare forget.
This they all w ith a joyful m ind
Bear through life like a torch in flame.
And falling fling to the host behind -
“Play up! Play up! A nd play the game!”

D uring the P ' W orld War, “Play up! Play up! A nd play the gam e” became a resounding
cry, both satirised and used for rallying on the battlefields. In 1915, Fraser introduced a

6 Ju d g e , I la rry G . R e v ie w - '[he E nglish PnhHc School: Elistory a n d Society, H is to r y o f E d u c a tio n Q iia rte rly , Vol. 2 2, N o . 4

(W inter, 1982), pp. 51,3-524
7 Ibid
8 Ibid

68

I’l l K S P I R I T O F A T R I N F I I AN

Above: A postcard o f rickshaw runners at the N iigegoda - K alubow ila Ju n ctio n in C olom bo - published by C oop & Co. L td

college song to Trinity. H e and his staff borrowed N ew bolt’s College Song for Clifton.
Despite being influenced by the general trends, Fraser never lost sight of the importance
of m aintaining high educational standards in the school. H e added the values associated
with sportsmanship to the curricula and emphasised the need to create well-rounded
personalities. D uring his time, the school became renowned in Ceylon for its academic
achievements. All this was in addition to his own approach to missionary education
which he believed should engage with the world around it. As early as in 1910 Fraser
noted that the “Conditions there [in the slums o f Kandy] are intolerable, but the church
has had no social work or regular visiting among them .’”A round this time, Rev.Tyndale-
Biscoe, the Headm aster of a mission school in Kashmir, India, had begun working with
the local community. His a rtic le ,^ Mission School and Social Serviced^ inspired Fraser,
and moved N orm an R Campbell, a master at Trinity, to form a group o f social workers
in 1910.
C om m unity Developm ent, Social W ork, and Welfare Programmes, all familiar concepts

9 W ard. W .E .F , Fraser o f T rin ity a n d Achimota, G h an a U niversity Press, 1965, p. 64.
10 Ibid, p.64.

69

TRINITY

The College Song

W h en Fraser decided to introduce a College Song D u rin g the T ' W orld W ar, Play upl Play up! A n d
to T rinity in 1915, he and his staff borrow ed Sir play the game from the V ital Lam pada becam e a
1 le n ry N c w b o lt’s S o n g a b o u t C lifto n C o lleg e, resounding cry, b o th satirised and used for rallying
E n g la n d , The Best School o f A ll. N e w b o lt’s p o em s on the battlefields o f E urope. Senior Resident-
a b o u t C lifto n are a p ro d u c t o f early 20'*' C e n tu ry M aster and later H eadm aster o f W esley C ollege in
B ritain . TTie V itai L am pada, o n e o f N e w b o lt’s m o st M elbourne from 1882, Lawrence A rthur Adam son,
popular poem s, relates how a student o f C lifton com posed the score. E ven today, b o th at T rin ity
learns stoicism and bravery on the school playing- College, Kandy, and at W esley College, M elbourne,
fields, all qualities th a t guide him later as a soldier. The B est School o f A l l is su n g to A d a m s o n ’s m usic.

I t ’s g o o d to see th e S ch o o l w e knew , T o sp eak o f fam e a v en tu re is,
the land o f youth and dream . th e re ’s little h ere can bide.

To greet again the rule we knew B ut we may face the centuries,
before we took the stream ; and dare the deepening tide;

T h o u g h lo n g w e ’ve m issed th e sig h t o f her, F o r th o u g h th e d u s t t h a t ’s p a r t o f us
our hearts may not forget; to dust again be gone.

W e have lost the old delight o f her, Yet here shall beat the heart o f us
we keep her honour yet. the school we handed on!

TTie stars an d s o u n d in g v an ities W e will honour yet the School we knew.
that half the crowd bew itch. T he B est S chool o f all;

W h a t are they b u t inanities W e will honour yet the rule we knew,
to him that treads the pitch? till th e last bell call.

A n d w h e re ’s th e w e a lth , I am w o n d e rin g , For w orking days or holidays,
could buy cheer th a t roll and glad or m elancholy days

W h en the last charge goes thundering They were great days and jolly days
tow ards the tw ilight goal? at The Best School o f All.

The m en th at tanned the hide o f us, - Sir H enry N ew bolt
our daily foes and friends.

They shall n o t lose their pride o f us,
how ever the journey ends.

T heir voice to us w ho sing o f it,
no m ore its m essage bears.

But the round w orld shall ring o f it,
and all we arc be theirs.

70

rilF. SIMKl r OF A T R I N r r i A N

today, were unheard o f at the time N orm an Campbell founded the social workers’group
at Trinity College. According to N orm an Cam pbell’s wife:

Set as the college is in some o f the m ost beautiful scenery in the world,
Kandy, tor all its picturesqueness, is one o f the m ost miserable towns on
the earth’s surface, and its slums are said to equal those o f any Eastern
port. The colouring in the streets is gorgeous, and is only rivalled by the
noise. Tltere are shouting rickshaw coolies; sleek H indu traders crying their
wares; an occasional elephant tinkling its bells, and more than the usual
accom paniment o f screaming infants. But in the back lanes of Kandy, in
spite o f the excellent water supply given by the G overnm ent, conditions are
appallingly primitive. Sick and well - men, and women and children, live
crowded together in single rooms, with no attem pt at ventilation, no light,
and in which sanitary conditions are conspicuous by their absence. Such
a spot gave an excellent opportunity for the starting o f the social work in
which N orm an was so keenly interested ..."

In 1910 the group was the only one of its kind in a school, and Trinity made history
when a few years later the Governm ent passed new legislature, approving proposals
they had made. A small group of students and teachers, unsure whether they would be
welcomed by the local community, made a ‘quiet entry’ into local hospitals and began
visiting patients regularly. Soon the group’s work expanded to include a close association
w ith the rickshaw workers and the low-income tenem ent residents outside the school.
They built a shelter for the rickshaw workers and the coolies, and visited it every week
to prevent gambling. They taught the children to read and write, and tracked down
opium addicts and the destitute and provided them assistance. The group had been so
successful that a year later the Staff formalised it into the Trinity College Unionfo r Social
Service. D uring a malaria epidemic in 1912 the Union visited villages in the Central
H ighlands, giving people regular doses o f quinine, and ran an effective campaign to
prevent mosquito breeding. It also conducted the first social survey in Kandy, mapping
and m easuring houses, roads and sewage systems and, recording and analysing the life
style o f people, their diet and demographics. The Union sent a report of the survey to
the Government. Based on this report, the Government legislated the move of the

11 C a m p b e ll, Af P. Campbell: Scientist, M issionary, Soldier, C a m b rid g e , W . Ifc fle r & S ons, C a m b rid g e, 1922, p. 13

71

rRINITY

community to a housing estate in Kandy. The A ttorney-G eneral made special mention
of Trinity College when he introduced the Bill, congratulating the students for their
contribution to the local legislature.

T ie ‘spirit’that reigned at Trinity during Fraser’s tim e was unique for its unusual blend
of academia, sports and social consciousness, w ithin a setting that appreciated the
vernacular and the local culture. It was quite unlike that of any other school in Ceylon.
Fraser had taken the current thinking in ‘Public School education’ and mixed into it
a vision that was generations ahead o f his times. The twenty years that Fraser spent
at Trinity have been called the school’s ‘G olden Years’, a tim e w hen one individual
transformed the school so dramatically, that no tim e since has been able to supersede it
in the volume o f positive achievements and transform ations it brought about. Yet, the
real hold the Fraser era has on the present lies not in a nostalgic portrayal it left behind
of a visionary in action, nor in the pining it has elicited for the dynamism of an age
th at is lost. Its hold lies in a ‘tone’ and ‘spirit’ it generated th at has stubbornly endured
from that time. The Fraser-years have become ‘golden’ for creating the indefinable, for
giving life to an institutional persona that has risen above both the passage o f tim e and
the actions o f individuals. The ‘persona’ he gave the school endures because each era
displays its relevance to the times. The Fraser-years, now alm ost a century away, m atter
because they continue to define the present.

In 1950, when Fraser and his wife visited Trinity and presided at the Prize Day,
Kadirgamar addressing them said:

Fraser made T rinity - you m ade a school th at is to live for ever, and sends
out in to the world, year after year, m en o f character and integrity. You made
a School where the finest virtues are upheld and where cads are disgraced;
but, above all. Sir, you helped to create th at spirit w hich resides today in the
body o f the Hall - in the men who lived in those glorious days - and now up
in the galleries - in the boys w ho reap w hat you have sown.'^

12 Ib id ,p .6 5 .
13 S en io r lY cfect, L a k sh m a n K a d irg a m a r’s spcecli, ta k e n fro m th e C o lle g e M a g a z in e o f 1950,

72

THE SEIUIT OF A TRINITIAN

Above: Rev. and M rs A lek F raser revisited T rin ity C ollege in 1950. Tliey
were accom panied to the prem ises hy a thronging procession.

A lm ost half a century later, when Kadirgamar him self returned to Trinity as the C hief
G uest at the 1992 Prize Day, he concluded that Fraser had created a school that gave the
students afam ily. Fraser had created a school that emphasised extra curricular activities,
the value of bonds formed between students and, between students and teachers, and
accepted any student irrespective o f religion, ethnicity or social background. This ‘spirit’
o f the school remains as relevant to day as it was a century ago.

M en such as Aladeniya, Kohhekaduwa and Kadirgamar rose above narrow definitions,
and in life honoured ‘Sri Lankanness’over divisive ethnic and religious labels. For this,
for refusing to identify w ith the ‘cads’, for living the way Fraser wanted his students
to conduct themselves, they paid w ith their lives. A nd in falling, as in N ew bolt’s Vitai
Lamapada, they flung the torch to the host behind them. They handed the flame back
to the school and to the students. Their lives will always be a reminder that it is possible
even today, to live the life the ‘Trinity spirit’embodies.





V

O f Playing-fields and Fair Play

Cricket: a game that in victory or defeat brought to public view the traits of
fair conduct and fair play, as instilled as disciplines in the classroom s.The old
[Asgiriya] pavilion mercifully stays to bear witness to the validity o f those
values as they came to be inscribed subsequently upon the larger canvas o f
our lives, and to forge a link betw een w hat has been and w hat is to come.

R. B.Tam m ita ^

IN JULY 1983, W H E N T H E RIOTS SEEPED IN T O KANDY, C hanna D asw atta and
his housemates at Trinity watched the streets below them go up in flames. As the mobs
torched shop after shop and b u rn t hom es down to cinders, these Trinitians saw ‘their
world’change forever. O ne o f their classmates had seen a gang o f thugs set a small boy
on fire near the Lake, and w hen the boy jum ped into the water, the m en had stoned
him until he drowned. The student from Trinity who witnessed the scene had got a
glimpse into a world so different to the one that he had been schooled in, the society
founded on brotherhood and service, that in the course o f a day his world had ceased to
hold its centre. D asw atta says th at his friend was “never the same a g a i n . T h e College,
however, always bound to the fortunes o f Kandy, did get drawn into the events taking
place around it. As the riots continued, lodgers from the Asoka Hostel, w hich provided
accommodation to boys o f Tamil ethnicity, came to Trinity for refuge. In the boarding
houses w ithin the school, the Trinitians had to suddenly acknowledge each other’s
ethnic differences. According to Daswatta, all the senior boys from Sinhala families
refused to leave the hostel, insisting on staying w ith their friends.

1 l-rom Nostalgia by R.B. T am m ita, stu d e n t of T'rinity and form er E d ito r o f th e T im e s o f C eylon, Tlie q u o tatio n has been
edited by author.

2 A uthor interview w ith C hanna D asw atta, C olom bo, O ctober, 2007.

76

A bove: In th e 1950s, ju s t as it is today. T rin ity C ollege was ho m e to stu d e n ts o f m any different eth nicities
and nationaU ties. H ere, students from 13 different backgrounds proudly portray their diversity.

TRINri'Y

Left: C hanna D asw atta and
his friends w atched the streets
o f K andy from the College
prem ises, as m obs set houses
a n d sh o p s o n fire in J u ly ’83.

The army provided Trinity College protection during the riots and the school remained
safe. Yet trapped w ithin its boundaries, as the flames consum ed the city around them ,
everyone in the College knew his safety could not be assured, that there were no longer
any guarantees. D asw atta’s H ouse M aster, w ho had been o f Tam il ethnicity, had spoken
to him that night. H anding his violin and his wedding ring to Daswatta, the House
M aster had told him to give them to his wife who lived in Jaffna, if som ething should
happen to him. Daswatta, today a renowned architect and board member of the
Geoffrey Bawa Trust, says th at was his m om ent o f com ing o f age.
1983 was not the first time that Trinity College watched its hom e embroiled in the
upheaval o f a communal riot. It was also not the first tim e that the school acted above
ethnic differences, when students and staff refused to divide themselves along such
lines. W h en the Sinhala-M uslim riots broke out in Kandy, in M ay 1915, Fraser w ent
on to the streets th at Saturday night w ith Asche, an A ustralian on his staff. Seeing the
mobs enter Colom bo Street, Fraser rushed w ith them to see if he “could do anything”^
and when the mobs entered a shop, Fraser confronted the crowd:

3 W ard, W .E .F ., Fraser o fT rin ity a n d Achimotu, G h a n a U niversity Press, 1965, p. 101.

78

Tlje Bradby Shield Encounter'

W lic n tlic P rin cip al o f Ro\-al C o lleg e, K. L. Bradby,
proposed an annual tw o-m atch rugger series between
Royal and T rinity in 1945, C . F. Siniithraaratchv, the
Principal o f 'Frinin- agreed. T rinity and Roval had
continued a tradition o f an annual m atch since 1920,
and B radbt’hoped to revive interest in the gam e through
the rw o-leg series.

Since the beginning o f the Roval-Trinity inter-school this annual encounter, w ith one leg played in C olom bo
m atches in 1 920,T rinit\'had won the gam es consecutively and the o th er in Kandy, is selected on the aggregate o f
tor 21 years. By end o f the Second W orld W ar, the two points for the two m atches. Bradby donated the shield,
o th er schools to play rugger, Z ah ira (entered in 1924) a w ooden disk w ith intricate Kandyan m etalw ork, for
and St. Peter's (entered in 1933), had been forced out th e m atch th a t is now synonym ous w ith his nam e. E ach
ot inter-school m atches w hen their premises were taken year, the w inner takes hom e the Bradby Shield.
to r m ilitary use. In 1945, only the Colombo Rugger Club,
TriniU ', and R ot al played the gam e. Tlie Bradbv Series
has been played u n interrupted since 1945.Tlie w inner o f

Sources: http://en.w ikipediii.orgA viki/B radby_S hicld_E ncounter,
ja n u iin ' 2008 an d th e C entenary N um ber, ed. I lilarv A bevaratne,
T rinin- C ollege. K andt. 1972, pp. 225 -228

As I faced the crowd a stone got me on the forehead and blood flowed down
over my face. I knew it was a case o f ‘speak now or forever hold your tongue’.
So I held up my hand and said, ‘I wish to speak to you all for a minute, but
before I speak I would like to smoke, and I see a friend here who has some
w et Jaffnas, and I ask him to give me one. H e knows I would give him one if
I had a cigar on me and he w anted it.’The ‘wet Jaffna’is a small cigar steeped
in can acrid juice and no European smokes them. The interest of the crowd
was caught by the unexpected suggestion. The owner o f the cigars said, ‘I
cannot give you one o f these. N o European can smoke them .’I said, ‘I can,’
for I had once smoked one to see if I could. The owner said, “No! it would
be a miracle.’I said, ‘Well, you will see a miracle.’ H e gave me one and the
crowd watched to see me light the damp thing. It took two matches and I
took a few puffs at it. Then I turned to the silent crow d...

W ith this, Fraser silenced and calmed the crowd, stopping them from destroying the
shop, and got them to move on. W hen the rioting continued, he returned that night to

4 Ibid,p.l02

79

T R IN IT Y

Above, left: N o rm an C am pbell, fo u n d er o f th e T rin ity C ollege Social Service U nion.
Above, right: F rancis D rieb erg o f T rin ity C ollege, served in th e R oyal Fusiliers d u rin g th e 1“ W o rld W ar.

the streets w ith six teachers from his staff: Sim ithraaratchy, Jansz, G oonetilleke, Asche,
Roberts and Houlder, all carrying walking sticks! For three hours the group guarded
Katukelle, holding back groups o f over 300 people, by walking in front o f them to slow
their pace or keeping up a discussion w ith them , to gain time until the police arrived.
W hile seven men could not hold back history, and in many quarters o f Kandy they
also aroused deep resentm ent, Fraser became known for his involvement in the riots.
Throughout the riots, the Trinity cadets patrolled the streets. The greatest compliment
to Fraser came when both the M uslim and the Sinhala groups asked him to mediate
with the Governor on their behalf The M uslim people went even further, rejecting the
Governm ent offers o f police escorts when they had to go across the town, they asked to
be accompanied by the Trinity cadets.
The years 1914-1915, proved the most eventful for Trinity, w ith the school involved in

80

O I' l> I.A^■ 1N G - 1 '11:1, 1) s A N I ) I’A I k - 1>LAY

CETLON AND THE WAR.

APPRECIATION OF TH E CEYLONESE
C O N T IN G E N T .

By a Retired Governniciit Agent Now at Home.
M r. S, M. Uurrow't w riting to tho reBprcted

Jlt-nd Clerk of an im portant departm ont in Kuru-
negttlii, on tho dtli ultim o from Norharn GiirdenB,
O xfonl, refe rs to floine of o u r Ck^lon lads who
littve gone to E ngland to enlist for tho Army in
these lerins.

■■\Vo h ad to te a four o f the O y lo o e s o C o n tin ­
gent, who are now stationed here in the lioyal
Eiisiliers. Aluwiluarc, H alangoda, iJriebcrg, and
Kenoviratne. Of course I knew most of thoir re­
lations, and wo got out all our Ceylon photos a u l
Iciirios, and it w as quite like old tim es. They
really do both Ceylon and th eir sehool training
encrm ous credit. T hey were ju st as nice fellows
as ono could w ish to m eet, in [sjrfwit health and
ti'aining, and thoroughly enjoying the hard work.
I knew they are very well thought of in the Itcgi-
m erit, and I hope to see th e ir C om m anding Oflioer
ne.xt week an d talk them over w ith him . Wg
have four more com ing to tea on M onday and
shall soon get to know them all. If you see any
of llicir relations will you tell them th at we will
do o u r lii'-st to look a fte r them w hilo th ey are h ere,
which may be till A pril.”

O ur good old chief fu rth e r adds “ V,'c have
q u ite good new s of m y son, though he m u st bo
getting very tired of prison. I am glad to say

h is w ounds are w e ll" fth c y o ungster w a s taken
quite oarlv in the w ar a prisoner). "P lease re­

mem ber' lis to all our kind friends in Kurune-
Ip.ilii.”— K uruiiegala C or., J a n . 6th.

Above: Aluhiw are, H alangoda, D rieberg and Seneviratne

the larger historical dramas that were being played out around it. W hen the First W orld
W ar broke out, Ceylon was agog in a patriotic frenzy and news reached Trinity of three
O ld Boys living in England who had enlisted. Immediately, H . S. Paynter and Norm an
Cam pbell from Trinity enlisted for war service. W hen a British General stated that no
one from Ceylon would be good enough for the Army, and expressed his doubt that
they were even capable o f marching, let alone joining as combatants, Fraser decided to
prove the G overnm ent wrong. H e organised a contingent of 23 boys and five masters
from Trinity to undertake w hat came to be known as Trinity’s Long March.

O n the 26'*’ o f November, 1914, the contingent set off at dawn from Kandy to Colombo,
a 72-m ile distance, on foot. They marched for 21 hours to their destination, breaking
journey at Am bepussa for breakfast, having lunch in relays and stopping tor dinner in
Veyangaoda at 7:30 in the night. Fraser said his, “feet were bad”, and that he “cut oft

81

T RIN IT’Y

parts o f his boots above the toes so as to let them s w e ll.T h e y started m arching again at
10:30. H e described the next 19 miles he did w ith them as “terrific”, w ith the marchers,
singing and him joining in with solos and choruses until they stopped at 2:20 in the
m orning to have the sandwiches th at he had “cut, buttered and w rapped.”'’ They slept
on the road, with the rain falling around them, until 4:00 the next morning. W hen they
arrived at the G eneral’s house the next day, the G eneral was forced to adm it th at the
Ceylonese had proved they were capable o f enduring the rigours o f the battlefield. ^

Yet the G overnm ent did not change its stand on sending troops from Ceylon and later
abandoned its plan of enlisting a small contingent o f 100 men. Those who enlisted
from Ceylon did so privately. Sixty-five men from Trinity served in various British
Regiments, including Fraser, who completed his war service in Flanders. O f the
Trinitians, four were decorated, 18 w ounded and 13 killed. A m ong those who died was
N orm an Cam pbell, the m aster who had started the Social Services Union at Trinity. In
1919, the King of England presented a captured G erm an machine gun to Trinity in
recognition o f the school’s contribution to the war, w hich was unveiled by the G overnor
of Ceylon at a jubilant ceremony in the College premises. Trinity College received the
only such recognition given to Ceylon by the King for the country’s contribution to the
T' W orld War.

The response o f the College and its students to crises such as the riots o f 1915 and 1983
dem onstrate their unwavering belief in fair-play, in justice and in the equality o f all
people. These are values that make up the very essence o f T rinity and all that the school
stands for. Yet, a set o f values can never be ingrained in a student through classroom
exercises and preaching. Instead, they need to be brought to life by providing the student
with an opportunity to make decisions that uphold those principles, by confronting him
with moments that force him to make a choice when a value conflicts w ith personal

5 Ibid. p.99.
6 W ard, W .K.I-., Fraser of T rin ify andA chim ota, G h a n a U niversity Press, 1965, p. 99,
7 Ibid. p. 100

82

O F F F A V I N O - I T F F D S A N D F A I R I’ F AY

A b o ve: T h e A r b u th n o t P av ilio n , b u ilt d u r in g F ra se r’s tim e, sta n d s u n to u c h e d as c o n s tru c tio n o f th e
A sgiriya International C ricket Stadium begins w itb levelling and clearing o f the ground.

interest. A t Trinity,‘sports’is the means by which these opportunities are provided to its
students. It is the means by which the College inculcates ‘sportsm anship’in its students,
which in turn guards against self-interest. In its effort to use sports as a means to an end,
unexpectedly. Trinity produces some o f Sri Lanka’s world-fam ous sportsmen.

In the early 1930s, M ajor H arry Hardy, Athletics M aster of Trinity, took a group of
small boys for sports practice to Asgiriya. It was a gloomy day and soon rain was pouring
down, drenching the students who were at the furthest end o f the field. Needing to get
the students to shelter as soon as possible. H ardy challenged them into racing each
other to the pavilion, promising a treat at the tuck-shop to the winner. That evening, he
w ent hom e to his family and said he had seen a boy run so fast, streaking past the others

83

ru iN ri'Y

Above, left: D u n can W h ite , ju st before em b ark in g on an ocean A bove, right: D u n can W h ite

donated his O lym pic Silver M edal to T rin ity CoUege. The m edal lies in th e C ollege A rchive.

like a flash o f lightning, th at he had a hunch th at this student would make it to the
Olympics one day.® The boy th at H ardy spoke about w ent on to w in the highest medal
yet awarded to a Sri Lankan at the O lym pic G am es, a silver, for the 400-m eter H urdles
event at the 1948 London Games. Hardy identified D uncan W hite.

Duncan W hite was born in 1918 in the village o f Lathpandura in Kalutara. H e studied
at Trinity College, shining in sports both at college events as well as at public schools’
meets.’ W h e n he left school in 1937, and joined the A rm y as an officer, he continued

8 A uthor interview w ith A nne R am bukw elle (nee I btrdy), C olom bo, O cto b er 2007.
9 Duncan White, the gentlem an, Suntiav T im e s, [ulv 15, 1998.

84

iW ■

The Sports Coaches o fTrinity

T rinity owes its excellence in sports to F R O M A C O A C H ’S DIARY: A cco rd in g to W h at a sensational start to the Royal match.
the unrem ittin g dedication o f its coaches. Jayantha Jayewardene, Philip Buultjens taught Licversz o f Royal opens the scoring w ith a
Jo h n H alang oda in cricket, H arry H ardy in T rin ity ruggerites to think outside the box a nd try. T his is tb e o n ly score th ey m ake. W e go
athletics, Sam E lh art in Boxing, and Philip th a t is w h y [they] pla yed in n o va tive rugby. on to 40 points and go on w inning for the
Buultjens and Bertie D ias in Rugby are Below are excerpts from Philip Buultjens’ next 15 years.
rem em bered w itb deep respect by the students w ritings about his life as a rugby player and
w ho trained under them . later coach': 1931: A great com plim ent to school rugby:
John D uncan, the school captain and 1 are
In 1983, w hen Paul Jeyeraj com pleted 25 1919: The second term in my first year at chosen as reserves for Ceylon against the
years as H ockey coach o f Trinity, he had T rinity; I am at Asgiriya to w atch G arret British Lions.
com pletely revived the gam e, ensuring the second X V play Napier. G arret are a man
team s m aintained th eir place as the best in short and M r. M oses drafts me into the team . 194S:The Bradby Shield makes its appearance:
the country continuously and consistently. Playing at full-back my first gam e o f Rugby, 1 oppose the idea very strenuously. W e lose
H e handled the U nder 13, 15,17, 19 and the I becam e rugby fanatic though I keep playing the first gam e b ut win the return scoring well
First Eleven team s, m any o f w hich becam e soccer. I w atch Neville M oonem alle score a enough to w in the shield. So Sourjah, our
A ll Islan d C h a m p io n s . In 1983, T rin ity ’s sensational try in a H ouse m atch. C aught by captain receives the shield.
First Eleven H ockey team created history his elastic-w aisted shorts, he slips out o f them
as All Island C h am p io n s w ith a record o f 81 and scam pers away. 1955: St. T liom as’an d St. Jo sep h ’s play rugby;
goals in 14 m atches and an average o f 6 goals I begin to w onder w hether because, we play
per m atch. The U nder 19 team rem ained 1924: I captain the school team : W e play in well w ithin tbe rules, we are not handicapped
unbeaten in 1984. A form er K ingsw oodian the new school jerseys - the present ones. by th e ‘g am esm an sh ip ’ em ployed by our
and an honours graduate in H istory, Jeyeraj opponents.
rose from A ssistant H ouse M aster, H ouse
M aster, H ockey C oach, Sectional Boarding ] B uultjens, Phillip. R ugby B a llSoi/rv/z/r.TrinitA’
H ouse M aster, Sectional H ead, Co-V ice C ollege,K andy 1956
Principal and finally Vice Principal ofT rinity.
H e served T rinity C ollege for 44 years,
dedicating his entire w orking-life to a school
th at he m ade his hom e.

TCK.CC T'UINirY

Lions and Colours

Tlic tradition o f aw arding a Lion began w hen the Sports C o m m ittee o fT rin ity
C ollege proposed to I'raser th at recognition should be given to “those w ho
achieve or help others to achieve som ething notew orthy in any branch o f
sp o rt.” F raser aw arded the first Lions to five o u tsta n d in g T rin ity sp o rtsm en
in 1915: R. A luw iharc, W .R B cligam m ana, ll.C . Inm an, M .R Kallora and R.
O ndaatjc.

Tire L io n , th e w h o le sc h o o l crest in its strik in g co lo u rs, is w o rn as a p o c k e t on
the school blazer. Tire nam e o f th e sp o rt for w hich th e stu d e n t received th e
aw ard is in sc rib ed below . T h e Colours aw ard , first m ad e in 1920, is sig n ified by
the school crest w ithout the L ion above it. N apier C lavcring introduced the
T rin ity C o lo u rs o f dark green, old g o ld an d chocolate in 1896. F ra ser an d h is sta ff
ch anged these to maroon, gold and n a vy blue in 1906.

T he sam e year th a t Fraser aw arded th e Sports L/'onr, T rin ity began th e trad itio n
o f honouring distinguished old boys and people w ho had done yeom an
service to the school w ith a General Lion. The General Lion, w orn the same
w ay as a Sports Lion, does n ot have any letterin g inscribed below it. In 1915
T rinity awarded General Lions to A . G . Fraser, C . E. Sim ithraaratchy, G . R.
M algrue, J. A. Flalangoda, A .C . H oulder, C .R Jayaw ardene, R. C. Edw ards, W .
O legesegeram and L .H . de Zilwa.

to dazzle in athletic events and was selected for the London Olympics at the age o f 29.
The selection com mittee almost left W h ite out o f the Sri Lankan team on the basis
that he was too old, but he proved them wrong, coming in second at the hurdles event
and overcoming fellow athletes — Larsson from Sweden, A ult from the U.S., M issoni
from Italy and Cros from France. Up to the halfway mark. W hite led the race, staying
ahead of the world record-holder Cochran from the U.S. From there, however, Cochran
overtook W h ite, and w ent on to win the gold. W h ite brought hom e the silver.^®

W hen W hite returned to Ceylon in 1948 w ith his O lym pic silver medal, a small group
of Trinitians greeted him at the Colombo Jetty and escorted him back to Kandy. The
College recognised and honoured his achievement by returning his Athletics Lion to
him. According to Kavan Rambukwelle w ho was 17 at the tim e, “the entire U pper

10 G bcysckcrc, Sriy;in, D uncan W hite leaves behind a lasting flam e, Sunday Island, July 5, 1998

86

O F IM. AYI NO-I ' I F F D S A N D I'A I lO I’ I.AY

School Stood before him in reverential awe to obtain his autograph”.”

In a letter to a College souvenir, w ritten in 1986, W hite recalled how he lost his Lion
and got it back:

It is a long tim e since I left Trinity in 1937, having proved my potential as an
athlete, when helping to win for Trinity the public Schools Championships
and breaking the existing record in one event, which qualified me for the
award ot the ‘Lion’even w ithout first gaining the ‘C olours’. . ..However this
has also had a sad side, when, this treasured award was taken back from me
by Rev. Stopford, the then P rincipal... To me the incident was just a student
‘prank’and to this day it give me the laughs.

W h a t happened was that four or five o f us students would enter a
H ousem aster’s room w hen he was busy w ith a class, and treat ourselves to
whatever eatables available. O n the day we were caught, another student and
I got into the room o f a teacher, whom we knew was in hospital, and feeling
more secure, were sitting on her bed and enjoying her biscuits when, to our
horror, we heard the room door being opened. Being taken by surprise, we
had to leave everything and dive under the bed. Unfortunately, my long legs
were peeping out from under the bed and the two ‘thieves’were caught. The
next day the Principal sent for me and dem anded my ‘Lion’ as a penalty in
addition to a number of strokes with the cane. M y tears and my pleadings
did not help. It was a joyful occasion, when, on my return to Ceylon after
the Olym pics, Col. C. P. Jayawardene and my fellow Trinitians gave me back
the coveted Lion.'^

W h ite continued his career as a brilliant athlete, going on to win the Gold M edal at
the 1950 British Empire Games in Auckland, New Zealand. For his achievements,
Britain awarded him a M .B .E. soon after, but Sri Lanka as a nation honoured W hite
only a few years before his death. For almost 50 years. W hite had only the recognition
that his school gave him for the glory he brought to Ceylon. In appreciation of this

] 1 R am bukw elle, Kavan, Eulogy - D uncan White, Sunday O bserver, Nov. 1998.
12 W h ite , D u n can . A n U nknow n Rise to Olympic Heights, Inaugural N ig h t o f the T rin ity Lions, T rin ity C ollege, Kandy, 1986.

87

Above: T he in n er san ctu m o f th e C a d e t R oom is strictly closed to th e public. T his is th e only p h o to g rap h
to h av e b e e n allo w ed p u b lic c irc u la tio n in th e B a tta lio n ’s h u n d r e d -y e a r ex iste n c e a t T rin ity .

Cadeting and Scouting

In 1990 T rinity celebrated 100 years o f E urope, 13 w ere killed, 18 w ounded J. N . T hom as introduced B aden Powell
o f cadeting. Introduced in 1890 by the and four decorated. For its contribution Scouting to Trinity. The first scout
V ice-Principal, M r. Fall, the school to the war, the K ing o f Britain presented uniform was introduced by A . R. D ean;
affiliated the C orps to the Ceylon T rinity the only souvenir to be awarded a khaki shirt, blue shorts and green scarf
Volunteers a few years later. In 1908, M r. to Ceylon: a captured G erm an m achine In 2009, the College Scout Troop, w hich
M algrue trained a school d ru m and fife gun. T rained over the years by m en w ho has been guided over the years by m asters
band to accom pany the C orps to camp. are now College legends, such as Pilson, such as A . R. D ean , C . J. S. D aniel, R.
H arry Hardy, T heodore Silva, Ivan Janze G nanapragasam , Kingsley C ooray and
Since its beginnings, the T rin ity C ad et and L eonard Alwis, the C adet C orps Sw am idason, will celebrate its century
C orps have had a colourful history, o f T rinity continue to prove its calibre at Trinity.
bringing the school both prestige and through the officers it sends to the
accolades and, at tim es pushing it into national forces.
the lim elight. 1914 and 1915 will be
the greatest years for the T rinity C adets N orm an C am pbell introduced scouting
because of the “L o n g M arch” and the to T rinity in 1909. In the early years
role it played in the K andy Riots. M any the scouts and the cadets wore the same
form er T rinity cadets enlisted for war uniform and boys betw een the ages
service during the L' W orld W ar, and o f of 12 and 16 were called scouts. Boys
the 65 m en w ho w ent to the battlefields over 16 years passed as cadets. In 1914,

TIIsl59:!

Above: A n early photograph o f the T rinity College C adet C orps. O n e o f a series of postcards
printed to raise funds for the T rinity College, Kandy, Extension Fund.

Below: 17th K andy S enior Scout T roop, T rinity College: Sanjay W ijcsinghe m akes a tripod and in the
background are C .J. A ram bew ela, H eshan W ickram athilake and Yohan Fernando - 2007.

T.

:: ■»'

A
4;,..:. i

■M

JJ

TKINri'Y

Preceding pages: W ith the co n stru ctio n o f the In tern atio n al C rick et S tad iu m in 1981, this view o f
A sg iriy a h a s b e c o m e a tre a s u re d m e m o ry fo r th e s tu d e n ts w h o k n e w th e g r o u n d s b e fo re ‘81.

This page: M in is te r G a m in i D issan ay ak e sym bolically declares th e b e g in n in g o f th e c o n s tru c tio n o f th e
A sgiriya Stadium by cu ttin g th e first turf.

gesture, and for all that the College had given him . W h ite donated his O lym pic medal
to Trinity. Today, his silver medal lies in the Trinity College Archives. D uncan W h ite
died in Warwickshire, England, in 1998.
For the sportsm en o f Trinity, Asgiriya is hallowed ground. It is the field on which
all the sporting battles o f their youth are fought, the ground where they learn the
heady thrill of victory and the bitter taste of defeat, against the unrem ittingly high
expectations o f their schoolmates and staff. In 1982 this small sports field, an unlikely
one on the edge o f a precipice and between two m ountains, became Sri Lanka’s first
International Cricket Grounds. Its transform ation took place because of a pledge made
in London. W h en M inister G am ini Dissanayake negotiated Sri Lanka’s admission
to the International Test Club at Lords, the country did not have a cricket pitch of
test standard. The hearing com m ittee sighted this as a reason for disqualification but
Dissanayake pledged that the grounds would be created if Sri Lanka were given test

92

O I' l>I .A't’I N G -V 11',I.D S A N I) I'A I R l>LAY

status, and leturned to Sri Lanka determined to keep his word. A former Trinitian and
the President o f the 0 /d Boys Association o f the College from 1981-‘82, Dissanayake
selected Asgiriya. Tlie expansion of the school grounds had been attem pted for decades,
but always eventually abandoned due to the cost, the difficulty in acquiring land, and the
inherent complications posed by the precarious positioning of the field. Dissanayake,
therefore, pitched into a campaign that had been going on for some time to expand the
grounds, w hich had first been revived by Sirisena Bandaranayake, another O ld Boy, in
1980. The expansion work on the grounds began in June 1981, on land at the eastern
periphery released for the project by the M inistry of Highways. The project employed
Australian consultants and brought together several national departments. Based on the
plans, workers lowered the ground by 10 feet, levelling it with 15,000 cubes of earth, and
planted Bermuda grass from Australia. They transformed a small school grounds into
a seven-and-a-half acre playing field. The project included the construction of a three-
story pavilion, flanked by the original school pavilion built during Fraser’s time. In less
than eight m onths, the President o f Sri Lanka, H .E . J. R. Jayewardene, declared open
the Asgiriya International Stadium in February 1982; the only test cricket venue to be
owned by a school. A seemingly impossible project had been completed successfully
despite criticism and prophesies of doom.

The impossible transformation of Asgiriya, from a sloping hill into a cricket ground,
has been its story from the very beginning. Fraser began this trend. In 1909, deciding
that the college needed a cricket pitch, he looked for a suitable plot close to the school
and soon identified a small block o f ‘useless’ land owned by the W ar Office. The field
had been leased out to a pensioner for grazing cattle. Fraser asked permission from the
W ar Office to take over the land, and after a series of negotiations on the rental, the
College received the land on a 99-year lease. Fraser resented that he had to pay for the
grounds at all, claiming that he was creating a field that would benefit not just Trinity,
but also Kandy and the other schools in the area. Yet the Governor at the time, H enry
M cC allum , was on hom e leave, and the young administrator, who had just arrived from
the Colonial Office, insisted that the school pay a rental, claiming that nothing should
be given free. Fraser wrote scathingly that, “...for 99 years [the school] shall have to pay

93

T R IN IT Y

for the privilege o f being governed today by an English Civil Servant. 13”

Asgiriya was completely inappropriate for the purpose Eraser intended it. The land was
V-shaped, made up o f two uneven hills. It looked like a steep hillside dropping into a
valley. U ndeterred, in 1910, Fraser began work on the land w ith college students and
workers, digging down the hill to level it and throw ing the soil into the valley below.
Fraser, assisted by his master-builder, D. J. A. Jayasinghe, finished the grounds and its
first pitch only in 1915. They nam ed the pavilion after Ashely A rbuthnot, who had
made the first donation o f 100 Sterling Pounds to the project. A t the end o f it all,
Fraser wrote jubilantly:

The lower hill acted like a retaining wall. I then got w orkm en from the villages
to help, and we made an eight-acre field. The Public W orks D epartm ent and
other experts told us that all our soil would be washed away by the big rains,
but I had seen w hat the D utch did in Holland, and we made similar under­
surface drains w ith loose stones in the field. W e never had any trouble and
the Australians said it was the m ost beautiful cricket ground they had seen,
and that the pitch was perfect.''^

O n the 15'’’ o f July 1915, G overnor R obert Chalm ers declared open the grounds open,
at a ceremony following the school’s annual prize distribution. In the years th at followed,
several successive principals attem pted to expand the grounds to accommodate another
pitch but all failed, unable to acquire the necessary land, m eet the exorbitant cost or
receive support from engineers. For many years, the hills around Asgiriya rose up to
100 feet and the land sloped into a valley 120 feet below. It rem ained an unadvisable
project to have been ventured into in 1981 as m uch as in 1910.

Trinity offers students a range o f sports including rugger, cricket, hockey, tennis.

13 G o o n ctilc’kc, I la rry W .,C erem o n ia l O pening oj N e w A sgiriya Slacliiim U V um ty C o lle g e , 1982.
14 W ard, W .l'..l\, Fraser o f T rin ity a n d Achimota, G h an a U niversity Press, 1965, p. 63.

94

O K I’ K A Y I N G - I T K L D S A N D KA I R I’ L AY

The Trinity Blazer

A fam ous old Judge lay a-dying, Tire hall 1 have seen in N ovem ber, llic shadows are falling around me,
The stern est o f all in his dav, W h e n term exam s are in full swing, I hear a great roar like the sea.
B ut his lace lighted up w ith em otion 1 rem em ber the long and weary cram m ing. A nd in the pavilion they arc shouting.
A s th ese his last w o rd s he d id say. A nd the rotten results it would bring. You’re w in n in g , well played T rinity.

Chorus: M any tries have 1 scored in Bogambara,
W rap me up in m v T rin irv Blazer, O r fielded all day in the sun.
W ith th e R ed, G o ld and Blue in m v view. O r run in th e mile an quarter.
A n d sLx sta lw a rt fellow s shall carrv m e. But not my last race has been run.
W ith steps all a-m o u rn fu l and slow.
O h, had 1 the wings o f a little dove.
O nce m ore 1 am in the quadrangle. Far, tar aw ay 1 fly.
A ll n ew a n d vill c h a n g e d th o u g h it be. S tra ig h t to the arm s o f m y true love.
For it seem s a spot dressed up in beauty. A n d there will 1 lay dow n and die.
B ringing youthful m em ories to me.

athletics, swimming, basketball and boxing. Leslie Handunge boxed for Ceylon at
the 1948 Olympics, and captained the team to the 1952 O ly m p ic s.In 2000, Kumar
Sangakkara debuted in the Sri Lanka Cricket Team as batsm an and wicketkeeper, and
in the years th at followed, managed a test batting average of over 5 0 . On the 4'’’ of
November, 2007, playing his 69'*^ test match against Lngland at Asgiriya, Sangakkara
became the first-ever player to make four successive scores o f over 150 runs. This record
included his two unbeaten double hundreds against Bangladesh and his 192 against
A u s tr a lia .H e also became the 9'*' player in the world to have scored a century against
each Test playing nation and is today the w orld’s leading test cricketer. Having studied
at Trinity from 1983-1997 where he was Senior Prefect and Ryde Gold Medallist,
Sangakkara is always on familiar ground at Asgiriya. Before he entered national level
age-group cricket while still at Trinity, he excelled at tennis, playing and winning all
major national level tournam ents. Yet he says:

15 Fernando, Leslie, w w w .sundayobserver.lk/2005/01/02/spo04.htm l,January, 2008
16 Source: w w w .cricketw eb.net/country/player.php?Player=18cCategorylD A uto=15& Pl;iyerlD A uto=155, O ctober, 2007.
17 D ham barage, C hris. R eporting from Asgiriya, D aily News, A N C L , 5th o f Novem ber, 2007

95

T'KINIT'Y

Above: Kum ar Sangakkara - 2007

T rinity is not just a sporting school. It is a place where people get a nice blend
of both. Trinity has produced brilliant academics and brilliant sportsmen,
but more often than not, it has produced well-balanced individuals who can
go out into the w orld and do well wherever they are.'*

However, T rinity’s name will always be synonymous w ith sports and rugby will remain
its flag-bearer. Jayantha Jayewardene, captain o f theT rin ity rugby team in 1961, winner
o f a Lion and witness to alm ost h alf a century o f T rinity’s rugby history, adm its that
Trinity and rugby are inseparable.^^ “But, ”he says, “we played a brand o f rugby th at was
primarily for enjoym ent.” H e explains, “we played it well and we enjoyed the gam e we
played. You see, if the overriding desire is to win, then th at overtakes your ability to play
good rugby. It is a scientific game, involving strategy and tactics. The player has to make
decisions very quickly and he has to be able to think on his feet.”
Jayewardene first played for Trinity at the age o f fifteen, under that mercurial captain
and leader, D enzil Kobbekaduwa. W hile still at College, he played for the Kandy Sports

18 S angakkara, Kumar. A utlior interview on 6 th o f D ecem ber 2007
19 A uthor interview w ith M r. Jayantha Jayew ardene, C o lo m b o, 22 n d o f F ebruary 2008.

96

O F I’ F A V I N G F I F F D S A N D F A I I O P I . A Y

Club and on leaving Trinity continued to be involved in the game as Chairm an of the
N ational Selection Com m ittee o f the Sri Lanka Rugby-Football Union. “A lso,” he
adds, the bonds that are formed between players in a rugby team are unquantifiable.
H ere are 15 fellows, getting together in an activity that is tactical and physical, striving
to get the better of their opponents and those elements bind the team. As the school
that holds the record of having played rugby continuously for the longest time, the
game has defined the school spirit. It gives the Trinity Spirit a particular flavour. And
Rugby defined everything that Trinity was to us and what we are to Trinity. W e would
go down from the hills to Colom bo and play our special brand o f rugby, which was
appreciated by rugby enthusiasts there. W e were also reputed to be well-behaved. You
know, he confides, diffidence is sometimes interpreted as good behaviour. Because of all
this we had glam our and a flair about us.”

H aving followed T rinity’s century in rugby for nearly 50 years and having been coached
in the game by Philip Buultjens, Jayewardene says if he were to name the best teams
that the school has produced over the years they would be the teams captained by
David Frank (1956), C. Y. C hing (1974), Ravi Balasuriya (1977) and Tyrrel Rajapakse
(1987).

Rugby gives Trinity an aura which cannot be quantified, which takes its colour from
the school’s place in the history o f the game and the indestructible icons the school
has created for itself over the years. “W h en you walk onto the field with the Trinity
jersey on you have won the game and you watch the opponents fall. That jersey alone
is intim idating, it stands for our rugger history and tradition o f over a century and that
Trinity history is the edge Trinity gives its students in life too - a landing platform that
no one else has. It taught me to believe in m yself” says P ro f Kemal Deen, Professor
o f Surgery at the University o f Kelaniya and Consultant in Intestinal Surgery.^® Deen
represented Trinity in rugger starting on the V' XV side from the time he was 17
years old and in 1977 the school awarded him a Rugger Lion. Despite his passionate
involvement in sports at school, he continued to work on his main goal in life, to become

20 A uthor interview w ith Prof. D een, January, 2008.

97

TRINI'I'Y

a doctor. “I wanted to do medicine from the tim e I was a kid, and after the O .L.s some
o f my friends left for Royal, and one said, “if you w ant to do medicine youd better leave
mate!”I was determ ined not to. I stayed back mainly because o f rugger. I simply couldn’t
go to Royal and play against Trinity.”

Deen became one o f the youngest Professors at the University of Kelaniya, receiving
the C hair w hen he was less than forty years old. “The others were in their sixties,” he
says, “and that was where the ability to believe in m yself made a difference. A nd Trinity
taught me that through some hard blows. I didn’t get the Ryde G old M edal, probably
wasn’t all-round enough, and th at is where I learnt to keep my self-confidence. There is
a fine line between confidence and arrogance and Trinity makes sure the students know
that line.” D een is m arried to Shahanaz, one o f the fifteen schoolgirls to enter Trinity
as an A .L. student in 1977.

Fraser trained Trinitians not for excellence in sports as an end, b u t as a means to one.
He prepared students for their involvement in the world around them through his
emphasis on an all-round education, an education that balanced academia, social service
and sports. H e created his own formula that combined all three, preventing one from
outweighing the rest. In sports, in particular, not only did he emphasise the values
associated with it but also ensured that students lived up to them . W herever possible, in
team sports, the school honoured the group and not the individual.

Yet the repercussions o f the focus on sports haunt T rinity as m uch as it does the Public
Schools of England. In Ceylon, with the standards Fraser and later the other principals
brought to sports. Trinity gained a reputation for producing sportsmen. This was despite
Fraser’s ability to juggle academia and sports, despite his own unique form ula that
added ‘service’ into the mix. In Britain, the association o f sports w ith Public Schools
stems from ‘M uscular C hristianity’, later developed to em phasise ‘godliness and good
learning’ by principals such as T io m as A rnold o f Rugby. This was not the case w ith
Fraser who, while directly influenced by the thinking of his contemporaries, never lost
sight of the need to keep up academic standards.

Sports will remain one o f Fraser’s legacies to Trinity, a legacy that every succeeding

98

OK IM. AVING-IT KI,1)S A N D K A I K I M . A Y

A b o ve:l\ie all-conquering Rugby Team o f 1956, captained by D avid Frank and coached by
B ertie D ias. S eated far left is p rincipal N o rm a n W alter.

Principal builds on. The Principals o f Trinity ensure ‘sports’ is inextricably bound to
‘sportsm anship’and hope to form a student’s character w ith the qualities of fairness and
team loyalty th at sports nurtures. It is sportsmanship learnt on the field, reinforced in
the school’s value system, that Fraser w anted his students to hold on to as they interacted
w ith the world around them. Fven many years later, Trinitians have displayed that
sportsm anship is not a quality always lim ited to the playing fields.
P ro f Senaka Bibile is renowned in the medical field for developing the Principals
o f Rational Drug Use. Through these principles Bibile introduced a list of approved
generic drugs that could be used for medical care. For this, he was severely opposed by
large m ultinational pharmaceuticals which promote branded medication. However, his
proposal was accepted by the W .H .O . and became a policy in many countries.
Trinity also produced two C hief Justices, Neville Samarakoon and Sarath N. Silva and
another Trinitian, M ichael Kabali Kagwa was President of the Ugandan Industrial Court
and 2"'’A frican national to be knighted. C hiefJustice Samarakoon was commended for
his professional integrity and the role he played in trying to safeguard the autonomy of

99

rUINITY

the judiciary. A ppointed as C h ief Justice in 1977 from the private bar by the President,
Samrakoon was expected to concede to “the changed version o f the relationship
between the judiciary and the Executive P r e s i d e n t . B u t , as the E ditor o f the Sunday
Tim es writes, “Neville Samarakoon, a man against w hom there has been no allegations
of impropriety whatsoever, was a chilling counterpoint to the machinations of the
Executive and he was able to acquit him self quite brilliantly as a fiercely independent
C hief Justice who did not give a tuppence for the power o f the appointing authority
that bestowed him w ith office. Eventually, Neville Sam arakoon left office, a m artyr to
the cause o f the independence o f the judiciary, and his name is w ritten in gold in the
annals o f this country’s legal history, after President Jayewardene contrived to bring
him before a parliam entary Select C om m ittee in order to more or less force Neville
Samarakoon out o f office.^^” Sam arakoon retired in 1984. As a T rinitian, he rem ained
personally involved in the progress o f the school and its activities throughout his life
and, held the post o f President o f the Colom bo Branch o f the O.B.A.. H e was also an
ardent supporter o f Trinity rugby and rarely failed to host the teams at this residence
when they came to Colombo for matches.

The tradition of Trinitians on the Supreme C ourt Bench of Sri Lanka has continued
since the luminous example set by Samarakoon. O n many occasions in 2006 and 2007,
Supreme C ourt hearings o f Sri Lanka were presided by a ‘Bench o f T rinitians’; Sarath
N. Silva, A ndrew Somawansa and N issanka Udalagam a; all onetim e boarders o f Alison
House.

Today, holding the position o f the most powerful constitutional appointm ent in the
country. C h ief Justice Sarath N. Silva says^®, “T rinity is a character building institution.
It moulded character and the hostel had a lot to do w ith creating a single identity. We
had a common bond and we had an affinity. You grow up in Trinity, so the character
I have is not from my hom e, it is from Trinity. You have to learn to live together, to

21 llic A sia I k iniaii R ig lits C o n iiiiissio ii, Sri I .aiika: I lo w hns the ju d ic ia ry been d im in ish ed in value since 1 9 7 8 a n d why?:
w w w .ahrclik,nct/statcm cnts/m ainfile.iihp/2()06statcm cnts/595/m aintilc.php/statcm ent/

22 S u n d ay I im cs, I'.ditoriid 19th Se/>/einher 1999: w w w .su iK la v tim c s.lk /9 9 0 9 1 9 /c d it.h tm l, A p ril, 2 0 0 8 , Sri l.a n k a .
23 Interview w ith author, 1lim ciuira Ranawccra and Vipula l)c Soysa on the 3rd o lM a rc h 2008

100