Some Significant Old Boys

Notable Old Boys

Sent in by: Palitha Manchanayake - (P.Manchanayaka@bom.gov.au) &
Pramuk Manchanayake (pramukm@prowessdev.com)

Net Software Engineer

Prowess Development Pty Ltd

L1, 1 Wharf Road Gladesville NSW 2111

Mob: 0402 140 312

PRESIDENTS & PRIME MINISTERS

President J.R. Jayawardene

Former President &. Prime Minister Maumoon Abdul Gayoom - President of Maldives

General Sir John Lionel Kotalawela - Former Prime Minister of Ceylon.

Hon Ranil Wickremasinghe MP - Former Prime Minister of Sri Lanka & present Leader of the Opposition

FREEDOM FIGHTERS

Anagarika Dharmapala - A leading figure in in the revival of Buddhism in the twentieth century.

E.W.Perera "Lion of Kotte" - Freedom fighter & Senator

Sir Ponnambalam Arunachalam - A Tamil political leader of Ceylon.

Ponnambalam Ramanathan - A Tamil political leader of Ceylon.

Capt.D.E.Henry Pedris - Prominent leader executed by the British

Sir Razik Fareed - Minister, Founder President MICH

CABINET MINISTERS & PROMINENT LEGISLATORS

Lalith Athulathmudali -Former Cabinet Minister & Member of Parliament .

Dr. Colvin R de Silva -Former Minister of Plantation Industries and Constitutional Affairs & Member of Parliament.

Pieter Keuneman -Former Minister of housing and local government & Member of Parliament.

Anil Moonesinghe -Former Cabinet Minister & Member of Parliament.

C.V.Gunaratne -Former Industrial Development Minister & Member of Parliament.

Anura Bandaranaike MP -Present Cabinet Minister, Member of Parliament & former Speaker & Leader of the Opposition.

Mangala Samaraweera MP -Former Minister of Foreign Affairs & present Member of Parliament.

Dinesh Gunawardena MP -Present Cabinet Minister & Member of Parliament.

Indika Gunawardena MP -Present Cabinet Minister & Member of Parliament.

Mahinda Samarasekera MP -Present Cabinet Minister & Member of Parliament

Tyronne Fernando

Ravi Karunanayka MP -Former Cabinet Minister & Present Member of Parliament.

George Rajapakse -Former Cabinet Minister & Member of Parliament.

Gamini Jayasuriya MP- Former Minister & Member of parliament

Lakshman (Lucky Kiriella) MP, ex Minister of Sports

Dr. Ranjit Atapattu - Former Minister of Health

Omer Kamil, Mayor of Colombo & Ambassador to Iran

MEMBERS OF THE DEFENCE SERVICES

Major General B.R. Heyn CLI -Former Commander of the Ceylon Army

General D.S. Attygalle MVO, CLI -Former Commander of the Sri Lankan Army

Major Genaral Naveen Seneviratne - Former Commander of Sri Lanka Army.

Rear Admiral Rajan Kadiragamar MVO, - Former Commander of the Royal Ceylon Navy

Air Vice Marshal WDH Goonetileke ndc, psc, SLAF - Former Commander of the Sri Lanka Air Force

Major General Janaka Perera- A Leader of Operation " RIWIRESA " and former Chief of Staff of Sri Lanka Army.

Vijaya Wimalaratne RWP,RSP,VSP,USP †- A Leader of Operation Liberation

Major General P.P. Fernando RWP,RSP, CR - Former Deputy Commanding officer of 54st Division, Sri Lanka Army.

Major General Parakrama Pannipitiya RWP, RSP, USP, psc - Commander Security Forces Headquarters East (SF HQ (E)).

Rear Admiral Thisara Samarasinghe RSP, USP, ndc, psc, DISS, MNI, SLN - Director General of Naval Operations

Major General C.H. Fernando

Major General Gamunu Kulatunge

Brigadier W.A.A.P.B Jayatilleka RSP, SLA † - Former Commanding officer of the 54-1 brigade.

Group Captain Shirantha Goonatilake, RSP, SLAF †

Group Captain D. S. Wickremasinghe who was killed in the war

AMBASSADORS and HIGH COMMISSIONERS

Sir Razik Fareed, High Commissioner of SL in Pakistan

John De Seram - Sri Lanka's Representative to the UN & Prominent Sri Lankan Diplomat in the UN.

Neville Kanakeratne - A permanent Sri Lankan diplomat & ambassador.

Hon. Mangala Moonesinghe -former High Commissioner in London and former Member of Parliament.

Hon. Susil Moonesinghe -former ambassador to Iran and former Member of Parliament.

Hon.Javed Yusuf- Former SL Ambassador to Saudi Arabia

JUSTICES, JUDGES, SENIOR COUNSEL & LEGAL LUMINARIES

Hon. Justice Manicavasagar

Hon. Justice C.V.Wigneshwaran

Hon. Justice T.S. Fernando

Judge Christopher Gregory Weeramantry -A Judge of the International court of Justice.

Frederick Dornhorst KC

Justice Sarath Ambepitiya

Shibly Aziz PC

C R (Bulla) de Silva - Attorney General 2007

BUSINESS, TRADE, INDUSTRY & COMMERCE

Sir Ernest De Silva- Greatest Philatelist in Sri Lanka's History

Sir Cyril de Zoysa- Recorded Richest Sri Lankan to date and Philanthropist.

U N Gunasekera - Sri Lanka's Greatest Construction Engineer of the 20th Century

Phillip Upali Wijewardena -Founder of Upali Group.

Ratna Sivaratnam-Former Chairman and Managing Director Aitken Spence

Deshamanya Ken Balendra - Chairman of John Keells Holdings

Late D. S. Jayasundera - Chairman Hayleys

Sunil Mendis - Former Chairman Hayleys and Governor Central Bank

Rizvi Zaheed, Director Hayleys

S Skandakumar, Chairman George Steuarts & Co Ltd

SENIOR ACADEMICS

Vidyajyothi Prof.V.K.Samaranayake -Founder of University of Colombo School of Computing

Vidyajyothi Prof. Rezvi Sheriff -Senior Professor of Medicine & Director of the Post Graduate Institute of Medicine, University of Colombo

Prof. B.A. Abeywickrama - Emeritus Professor, Dept. of Botany, University of Colombo.

Prof. Hema Ellawala

Vidyajyothi Prof. Osmund Jayaratne

Dr. E.M.Wijerama -The first President of the Ceylon College of Physicians, donated his house to the Medical College Library.

Dr. A M Mubarak - Director, National Science Foundation.

Cedric Oorlorff - Principal of Trinity College, Kandy - 1957-1968

Mr.J. K. B. Abeysinghe -Senior Lecturer, Department of Mathematics, University of Colombo

Prof. SAM Karunaratne- Former Vice Chancellor of University of Moratuwa

Dr.Gihan V Dias -Senior Lecturer, Electronics & Telecommunications Department, University of Moratuwa

Dr.Nalin Ranasinghe - Head ,Deapartment of Computation and Intelligent Systems, University of Colombo School of Computing, University of Colombo.

Dr. Devaka Weerakoon, Senior Lecturer, Department of Zoology, University of Colombo

PRELATES

Rt.Revd Kenneth Fernando - His Lordship the Bishop of Colombo.

Revd Dr. Lakshman Wickramasinghe D.D(Oxon) - Youngest Bishop in the Church of England.

Rt.Revd.Duleep De Chickera-His Lordship the Bishop of Colombo

Rt.Revd.Lakdasa De Mel- Former Bishop of the Chucrch of Ceylon

Rt.Revd.Harold De Soyza-Former Bishop of the Church of Ceylon

Rev Roger Adrian Herft - He is probably the top Prelate and once tipped to become Archbishop of Canterbury United Kingdom. Currently the Anglican Archbishop of Perth, Australia.

The Most Reverend Roger Adrian Herft (1948-) is the present Anglican Archbishop of Perth, Australia. He was inaugurated in 2005. Previously he was the Bishop of Newcastle from 1993 - 2005. Born in Sri Lanka, Archbishop Roger was one of the youngest bishops in the Anglican Communion when he was elected Bishop of Waikato, New Zealand in 1986.

Reverend Homagama Kondanna Maha Thera

SPORTSMEN AND SPORTS ADMINISTRATORS (International)

Ranjan Madugalle - Former Test Cricket Captain of Sri Lanka and the present presently Chief Match Referee of the International Cricket Council.

Asantha De Mel - Former Test Cricket Fast Bowler of Sri Lanka

N.S. Joseph- Former Sri Lankan cricketer

Jehan Mubarak - Sri Lankan cricketer

Gamini Goonasena - Former Ceylon & Cambridge Cricket Captain

Mahesa Rodrigo - Former Ceylon Rugby Captain

Jullian Bolling - Former Sri Lankan Swimming Captain & South Asian Gold Medalist

Hugh Aldons - Former Ceylon Hockey Captain

Cricket: Late Colonel F.C. de Saram, C. I. Gunasekera

Rugby Players - Indrajit Cumaraswamy, Tyrrel Mutthiah, Lionel Almeida

OTHER PROMINENT ALUMNI

Sir Richard Morgan -First Asian in the British Empire to receive a Knighthood.

J.P.Obeysekera - First Ceylonese Secretary of State.

Lalith Weeratunga - Present Permanent Secretary to the President of Sri Lanka

Charitha Ratwatte - Former Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Finance.

Deshamanya Geoffrey Bawa - Architect.

U. N. Gunasekera - Considered to be Sri Lanka's Greatest Construction Engineer of the 20th Century

Vernon Corea - A pioneer radio broadcaster & News Director at the Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation

Leon Belleth, Radio Ceylon & SLBC

Dr C A Hewavitharane

Gnr Kenneth R. Porritt

Dr S.R. Kottegoda

Kumar Ponnambalam (G.G.Ponnambalam Jnr.)

Neelan Thiruchelvam

Faris Thowfeek

Hasitha Weerasekera

Snippets from RC History

Brief History of RC

18 May 2007

From: Palitha Manchanayake

P.Manchanayaka@bom.gov.au

Pramuk Manchanayake

Net Software Engineer

Prowess Development Pty Ltd

L1, 1 Wharf Road Gladesville NSW 2111

Mob: 0402 140 312

pramukm@prowessdev.com

Royal College, Colombo was founded in January 1835. It is considered to be one of the leading Public Schools 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, Bart 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.

The College Main BuildingMarsh did not believe in corporal punishment. However, his successor, Brooke Bailey did, and introduced flogging.

In 1859 it was renamed Royal Academy and Queens College and affiliated to the University of Oxford. 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 with the approval of Her Majesty Queen Victoria.

The school was originally at Maradana, right next to Hulftsdorp, but in 27th August 1913 the school was moved to its new building at Thurstan Road which is now the main building of the University of Colombo. Ten years later on 10th October 1923 the school moved once again ,this time to the newly built Victorian styled building on Ried Avenue, which it still occupies.

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. Only second to the Ashes series played between England and Australia. 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.

Until 2006 the tally stands with both schools winning 33 each and 61 drawn. This is regarded as the most prestigious cricketing event in the country. This is also preceded by the legendary Cycle Parade which usually happens on the day before the big match, with the official objective of visiting the captain's house to encourage him.

Royal-Trinity Bradby Shield Encounter:

The annual rugby encounter against 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.

The 2002 Bradby encounter was the highest scoring encounter for Royal, Led by Zulki Hamid. Winning a record (39-00) in first leg held in Colombo & The winning the second leg (44-00) in Kandy. Thus winning the Bradby Shield with a record aggregate of 83 - 00.

The 2006 Bradby first leg was won by Trinity (21 - 10) in Colombo. The second leg was also won by Trintiy (26 - 5) in Kandy. Thus Trinity retains the Bradby for 2006 the with an aggregate of 47 - 15.