Royal College, Colombo
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Royal College, Colombo was founded in January 1835. It is considered to be one of the leading Public School in Sri Lanka. It is a National School, ie, it is controlled by the Central government as opposed to the Provincial Council.
History
The school was founded by Rev Joseph Marsh, the acting Colonial Chaplain at St. Paul's Church (and former Mathematics and Classical Tutor at Christian College, Kotte) as the Hill Street Academy, a private institution to educate the children of the upper classes. In January 1836, the British Colonial Governor Sir Robert Wilmot Horton converted it, as the Colombo Academy, into a government school modelled on Eton College, with Marsh continuing as Head master. The third oldest Public School on the island, it was intended to give to the children of leading Sri Lankans an education which would make them fit to be citizens of the British Empire.Marsh did not believe in corporal punishment. However, his successor, Brooke Bailey did, and introduced flogging.
It was originally at Maradana, right next to Hulftsdorp, but in the 20th century was moved to the site of the Government Cattle Farm on Ried Avenue, which it still occupies.
In 1859 it was renamed Royal Academy and Queens College and affiliated to the University of Calcutta. In 1865 the Morgan Committee of inquiry into education recommended that it be reorganised and that scholarships should be awarded to study in Oxford. It became the Colombo Academy once again in 1869.
In 1881 it was renamed Royal College.
Houses
The students are divided into five Houses: Hartley, Harward, Marsh, Boake and Reid. The names are derieved from past principals of Royal College.Royal-Thomian
Cricket was played at the school from 1838 onwards. The annual cricket match against S. Thomas' College, Mt Lavinia is the second longest uninterrupted cricket match series in the world. The original match was played between the Colombo Academy and S. Thomas' College in 1879, with schoolmasters participating as well as schoolboys. From 1880 onwards, only schoolboys were allowed to play in the match.
Royal-Trinity Bradby Shield Encounter
The annual rugby encounter against our erstwhile and friendly rival, Trinity College, Kandy, is the Blue Riband of schools' rugby in Sri Lanka. In fact, it is one of the highlights in the Sri Lankan high society calendar. Rugby was first introduced at Royal in 1916, and the first historic match against Trinity was played in 1920. The Bradby Shield itself was first presented in 1945 by the departing Principal of Royal College, E. L. Bradby. Since 1945, two matches have taken place each year, one up in Kandy and the other down in Colombo. The Shield is awarded to the school that gets the highest aggregate of points in the two match series.
Head Masters
- Rev. J.H. Marsh (Snr) 1835 - 1838
- J. Brooke H. Bailey (acting) 1839 - 1842
- Rev. A. Kessen 1842
Principals
- J.F. Haslam 1839 - 1840
- Rev. Dr. Barcroft Boake 1842 - 1870
- George Todd 1871 - 1878
- J.B.Cull 1878 - 1890
- J.H. Marsh (Jnr) 1890 - 1892
- J.H. Harward 1892 - 1902
- C. Hartly 1903 - 1919
- H.L. Reed 1920 - 1932
- L.H.W. Sampson 1932 - 1938
- E.L. Bradby 1939 - 1945
- J.C.A. Corea 1946 - 1953
- D.K.G. de Silva 1954 - 1966
- B.G. Premaratne 1967 - 1971
- D.G. Welikala 1971 - 1972
- D.J.N. Seneviratne 1972
- L.D.H. Peiris 1972 - 1980
- C.T.M. Fernando 1981 - 1986
- B Suriyaarachchi 1986 - 1994
- S.H. Kumarasinghe 1994 - 1997
- H.L.B Gomes 1997 - 2003
- U. Gunasekera - 2003 -
Notable Masters
- Andrew Nicholl R.H.A.
- E.C. Gunasekera ('Kataya')
- Vijitha Weerasinghe ('Viji')
Notable Old Boys
- Anagarika Dharmapala
- Dr CA Hewavitharana
- Sir Ernest De Silva
- Sir Ponnambalam Arunachalam
- Sir Ponnambalam Ramanathan
- N.S. Joseph
- Dr Colvin R de Silva
- Pieter Keuneman
- President J.R. Jayawardene
- Gnr Kenneth R. Porritt
- Prof Osmund Jayaratne
- Vernon Corea
- Anil Moonesinghe
- Mangala Moonesinghe
- Susil Moonesinghe
- Neelan Thiruchelvam
- Lalith Athulathmudali
- Major General B.R. Heyn
- Dinesh Gunawardena
- Ranil Wickremasinghe
- Cedric Oorlorff - Principal of Trinity College, Kandy - 1957-1968
- Judge Christopher Gregory Weeramantry
- E.W.Perera "Lion of Kotte" - Freedom fighter & Senator
- Sir John Kotalawela - Former Prime Minister of Sri Lanka.
- J.P.Obeysekera - First Ceylonese Secretary of State.
- Sir Cyril de Zoysa
- Cyril de Zoysa - Recorded Richest Sri Lankan todate and Philanthropist.
- Geoffery W Bawa - Architect.
- U. N. Gunasekera - Engineer of notable fame
External links
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