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"There are more comfortable methods of making money than the newspaper profession affords. I staked a great deal on the venture. The paper had the ideals of Public Service and national progress before it. In the pursuit of those ideals the organization which I started with a few dozen men has grown and has been established on a solid foundation". - D. R. Wijewardene

by Neetha S. Ratnapala

D R Wijewardene on his wedding day

Don Richard Wijewardene was the third son in a family of nine children, of Muhandiram Don Philip Wijewardene and Helena Wijewardene. He was born in 1886 at Sedawatte, in Colombo District. He had his early education at St. Thomas' College then situated at Modera where one of his contemporaries was D. S. Senanayake.

He proceeded to England for higher studies. His admission to Cambridge University was a turning point in his career, in that he developed an interest in politics and social reforms.

He impressed on everyone that every educated young man be he Indian or Ceylonese (now Sri Lankan) had a part to play in the public life of his country and must be prepared to make sacrifices for the country's welfare.

First reforms

He was greatly influenced by Gopal Krishna Gokhale of India on the political questions of the day. He organised and led the first reforms deputation to be received by the then Secretary of Colonies afterwards Lord Mortisan. He led a second deputation and in this deputation were the great personalities of the time E. W. Perera, D. B. Jayatilleke, J. U. Peris and Sir Marcus Peiris - Ceylon then was a British Colony.

On his return from Britain D. R. Wijewardene's interest was the legal profession and Hulftsdorp - where all political movements of the time were initiated. So many Sinhala and Tamil lawyers were already there knocking on its doors. Together with Ponnambalam Arunachalam who by then had retired from Civil Service he founded the Ceylon Reforms League - to press for responsible government for Ceylon (Sri Lanka). D. R. Wijewardene was Joint Secretary of the league with W. A. de Silva while Ponnambalam Arunachalam was its President. He also helped in organizing the Ceylon Social Service League at the time. He happened to occupy a place in the inner circle of reform movements because of his organizing capacity and interest.

He had a great passion for starting a newspaper but development of a newspaper enterprise or business meant investing a lot of money - spending, recovering, and expanding, employing many hands and looking after them. Finding such large sums of money became more difficult in the absence of local banks at the time.

Foreign banks would not lend without a proper guarantee. Wijewardene therefore had to mortgage his private property to finance the business. The journey was not smooth for him all the way. There were difficult and anxious times during economic depressions and the wars, and advertising revenue went down. But as leading men in all walks of life contributed to the paper, Wijewardene's hopes were not swayed.

Ceylon Observer

In 1923, he purchased the Ceylon Observer and started the 'Ferguson's Directory' and gradually stepped into establishing a house for the newspaper industry. He was also keen on installing better machinery for his production. For the purpose he first leased the block of land close to the Beira Lake.

The new establishment was declared open amid traditional observances at a ceremony attended by the family members and employees. By 1930, The 'Silumina', 'The Observer' and 'The Thinakaran' came out to the great realization of his dream. That was how he laid the foundation for ANCL.

For nearly thirty years he had struggled fiercely and wholeheartedly for the expansion of the business of carrying on with the journals. It was no easy task with foreign masters at the helm - for at the beginning he had to face many financial and other problems such as a suitable location for housing the journals and staff and investing in modern machinery. In spite of his growing success he preferred to be away from the limelight.

He had few political friends in spite of his family connections. What interested him was work and public affairs. He was a keen student in this respect and kept digging into what mattered for the country to write inspiring editorials.

It was his intention that the Daily News he started publishing in 1918, be a paper with a soul though with convictions and opinions of its own it should give a fair expression to others convictions and opinions.

Daily News

S. J. K. Crowther - whom he had met and associated with in Britain joined him as the Editor of the Daily News and remained in Sri Lanka until 1931. This partnership proved fruitful for the paper. Initial problems were finding a place to house both the Dinamina and Daily News - first these were housed at Chatham Street.

Daily News faced competition from such papers as the Morning Leader. But with the advent of S. J. K. Crowther as Editor of Daily News, D. R. Wijewardene, was able to forge ahead on his mission. Sir Oliver Goonetilleke, one time Governor General of our Parliament also added to their strength. R. E. de Alwis was one of the best and rare reporters that supported him in his endeavours.

For Silumina he had no lesser persons than Rev. Welivitiye Soratha, Martin Wickramasinghe and Piyasena Nissanka.

Mr. Wijewardene worked hard even after the paper was on a proper footing.

He never gave up the habit of searching for the best information, digging into journals and official publications and extracting information from friends and contacts he met at weddings/funerals or such other occasions. But he remained a private individual - probably to keep away from being influenced on matters of reporting and fair editorials. His contributions through his papers to the cause of freedom were immense that the first Prime Minister of the country - paid a tribute to him on winning Independence for Ceylon as one of the architects of Ceylon's freedom.

Throughout his career he was deeply involved in the art of reporting. He paid adequate attention to all details in the work of the editors and reporters - for his chief interest in journalism appeared to be news and the moulding of opinion.

Constructive revolution

Lake House bus service

He was not merely a newspaper proprietor but 'he dared and executed what was nothing less than a constructive revolution in journalism, such as it had not been up to the time he entered the field of journalism', as quoted by HAJ Hulugalle .

Thus we see that he had a broad vision of what was expected of a newspaper. Free, Fair and Fruitful. He wanted an essentially Ceylonese paper.

'Lakmina', Sarasavi Sanda Resa, Sinhala Bauddhaya, started by none other than Anagarika Dharmapala, Sinhala Jathiya,and Gnanartha Pradeepaya were some of the papers that existed before D. R. Wijewardene himself became a newspaper magnate. But these papers had a very limited circulation within the city of Colombo - lack of modern machinery in their printing and distribution problems were in their way.

'Dinamina' which had become very popular overnight by its special issue of 1915 with the national flag and pictures of the last king and queen of Sri Lanka, happened to be his first daily.

Friend and companion

In establishing Lake House D. R. Wijewardene was ably assisted by Sydney Julius, the chief shareholder of Julius and Creasy solicitors.

The newspapers for registration were prepared by Julius. He also helped him in finding the needed capital at a lower interest rate and organized the agreements between ANCL and the architects, and the contractors.

He was a friend and companion of the first Prime Minister of Ceylon D. S. Senanayake. When the Prime Minister effected his plan of establishing colonies or Janapada in Eastern Lanka ANCL provided the necessary propaganda and publicity for such projects. D. R. Wijewardene also contributed his share in establishing the University of Ceylon in Peradeniya, and the Sangavasa there. Unfortunately he could not attend the Independence celebration due to ill-health.

D. R. Wijewardene was devoted to his religion and family. He was a devout Buddhist and patronised besides the Kelaniya Rajamaha Viharaya, Kelaniya, Sedawatte Ganegodalle Viharaya, Bambalapitiya Vajiraramaya and Hunupitiye Gangaramaya. In his home he held an annual alms-giving for monks. Though an ardent Buddhist and an upholder of traditional values he always respected views of other faiths and communities.

He left for the country a dynasty for free and fair expression of public opinion. To that dynasty belongs the ANCL and the Wijaya Group headed by his only son Ranjith Wijewardene.

He passed away on 13th June, 1950 having served the nation in its hour of need in the struggle for independence from foreign domination.

ANCL today is grateful to late D. R. Wijewardene for the following publications, namely the 'Dinamina', 'Daily News', 'Thinakaran', 'Silumina' and 'Sunday Observer'.

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