Royal College - Group of 49
D. C. Sivapragasam
All parents clamour to get their children into Royal, but not all of
them are lucky enough. Everyone thinks of other public schools as second
best. Royal and S. Thomas' (Mt. Lavinia) are the most prestigious, like
Eton and Harrow of England.
Royal College, Colombo |
Royal was founded in 1835 by the then British Colonial Government,
mainly for the education of the sons of the Britishers, under the
Principalship of Dr. Barcroft Boake, a product of Oxford University.
Though the school was initially called the Colombo Academy, it came to
be known later as Royal College. On the panels of the College Hall are
the names of those who distinguished themselves in the field of
intellect.
Also, in the College Hall hang the portraits of those who rendered
yeoman service to our country. Some amongst them are C. A. Lorenz KC,
the Acting Queen's Advocate, Sir Ponnambalam Ramanathan Acting Attorney
General and his brother Sir Ponnambalam Arunachalam of the Ceylon Civil
Service, Dr. C. A. Hewavitharne and his sibling Anagarika Dharmapala. Of
the Politicians of recent times were 2 Heads of State - Sir John
Kotalawala and President J. R. Jayewardene, while H. Sri Nissanka Q.C.,
a well known criminal lawyer and one of the founders of the SLFP also
adorns the Hall. Royal completes 175 years this year.
Products
Messrs D. S. Senanayake, Dudley Senanayake and S. W. R. D.
Bandaranaike were distinguished products of the school known by
Royalists as "the other school", namely, S. Thomas'.
About 60 years ago, 96 boys entered Royal College. They came to be
called the 49 Group. According to statistics compiled, it is perhaps the
best batch that Royal turned out in recent times.
It is said that 32 of them became medical doctors, most of them
consultants, while 9 entered the legal profession, 2 of them becoming
President's Counsel, 2 others becoming Judges of the Supreme Court, 3
entered the Ceylon Civil Service and 18 became Engineers.
It is estimated that about 60% of this Group became professionals,
but while in school, each one of them fought for the last place in
class! But when they commenced their respective disciplines, they shone
over the products of other schools.
Some surgeons of the 49 Group are, Ranjit de Silva - who captained
Royal at cricket, Priya Samarasinghe, Geoff Vanden Driesen, Gamini
Goonethilake, S. R. Ratnapala, whilst some of the well known physicians
are, Henry Rajaratnam, J. B. Pieris, Gamini Jayakuru, Brendon Gooneratne,
the latter distinguishing himself in Australia. His wife, Yasmin
Gooneratne, a Professor of English in Australia, has several
publications to her credit. Another wife of a member of the 49 Group is
Professor Lalitha Mendis, who reached the pinnacle of the medical
profession. She was the Dean of the Faculty of Medicine, and the
Director of the Postgraduate Institute of Medicine. She is the wife of
the late Dr. Lalith Mendis.
Professionals
The other physicians are, Danilo de Kretser, Tissa Cooray (WHO), N.
T. de Silva (UK), H. S. Karunasekera (UK), Leslie Muthukuda (UK), Dan
Perimpanayagam, Yasa Rajapakse (UK), Disampathy Subasinghe (UK), V.
Dharmapalan (New Zealand), and the late R. S. B. Wickremasinghe - who
was the Director of the MRI.
Of those who took to Law, are 2 well known President's Counsel
Jayantha Gunasekera (former Secretary of the Bar Association) and Chula
de Silva. Two other lawyers S. W. B. Wadugodapitiya and P. Edussuriya
ended up as Judges of the Supreme Court, whilst A. Balachandran worked
in the UN. T. K. N. Thilakan (District Judge) and Kumar Ponnambalam both
died a few years ago. Alavi Mohamed, a Barrister also died recently, M.
N. B. Pieris is a civil lawyer, in Colombo.
Harsha Wickremasinghe, D. G. P. Seneviratne and Dr. B. S. Wijeweera
entered the prestigious Ceylon Civil Service.
Entreprenuers
Of the Engineers that come to mind are Professor C. L. V. Jayathilake
(a Vice Chancellor of Peradeniya), Dr. Susantha Goonethilake, S. C.
Amarasinghe (former GM of the Electricity Board), Dr. Sri Bhavan Sri
Skandarajah, H. S. B. Abeysundara (Chemical Engineer), L. H. Meegama, C.
Ramachandran and Bandula Yatawara.
Perhaps the cleverest of them all was Chelvanayagam Vaseeharan, a
maths prodigy, who was to be appointed Professor of Mathematics.
In this class were 2 leading businessmen, namely the Cambridge
educated Upali Wijewardene of the Upali Group, and Lal Jayasundera,
Chairman of Hayleys, Ratna Sivaratnam headed another conglomerate -
Aitken Spence, whilst K. Manikavasagar was a Director of Glaxo. Arjuna
Hullugalle and Upatissa Attygalle are successful businessmen.
V. H. Nanayakkara and P. H. J. S. Ariyapala both Bachelors of
Science, joined the Staff of Royal College. There was one member of the
49 Group who distinguished himself as a clever investigator in the
Police Force. If he had not jointed the Police, surely he would have
been on the side of the Law. That was none other than Rahula Silva. It
is reported that he was charged in several cases of violence.
In all these cases he was successfully defended gratis, by his
classmate Jayantha Gunasekera, a well known criminal lawyer.
There is the very talented artist/architect Laki Senanayake, a
partner of Geoffrey Bawa, whilst A. A. Wijetunga and K. Sivapragasam
became senior assessors in the Inland Revenue Dept. K. L. Gooneratne is
a talented architect.
Late Bimal Padameperuma functioned as Chairman Engineering Corp and
D. C. Wimalasena was Chairman, Petroleum Corporation.
T. D. S. A. Dissanayake, a prolific writer, first served in the UN.
Later he was our Ambassador in Indonesia.
Domiciled
There were 2 members of this Group to whom life was a ball. They were
Aru Sellamuttu and Ranjit Kiriella. Nimalasiri Fonseka, a bright spark
in school, lives the life of a Squire in England.
Lionel Almeida and the late Tyrrel Muttiah took to planting, and were
ruggerites. W. K. N. de Silva is a propriety planter. Bobby Perera, was
one time Director of Quickshaws. Mahinda Gunasekera who is permanently
domiciled in Canada does much for our country by countering false
propaganda.
These classmates are a very close knit family, though half of them
live overseas... The 49 Group, depleted as it is, gets together,
definitely during the Royal-Thomian cricket encounter and the Bradly
shield. Sometimes they meet more often, to welcome members coming home
from abroad, for some reason or another.
It is at such gatherings that they reminisce about their schooldays,
some wild and some even wilder. Only the pleasantest memories remain,
and old yarns are told and retold, with salt and pepper added too.
Brotherly love
Masters then came to teach in full suit (coat and tie, mind you) and
some driving their own cars. They instilled into this impressionable
Group of youngsters all that Royal stood for; so much so that even
today, they instinctively take the acceptable course of action in any
matter. The feeling of brotherly love is strong in the 49 Group. A few
years ago, with great emotion and bonhomie the 50th anniversary of the
Group was celebrated for 3 days in a luxury hotel in the South. Almost
all the members (from here and abroad) attended this occasion. On the
last night of this grand get together, the College Song was sung
lustily, with a tear in the eye. Apart from being top achievers in their
respective disciplines, they had "Learnt of books and Learnt of men and
learnt to play the Game."
Here's hoping that the 49 Group will meet for many more years, to
reminisce and rejoice over a meal that cheers. |