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THOMIA

Expanded Table of Contents

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Preface

Why the book alternates Thomian with Lankan history. A note on the spelling of certain important names.

 

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PART I: HANDMAID & HELPMEET

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Chapter 1. The Philhellene

Building on the legacy of the old VOC administration, the first British Governor of Ceylon, Sir Frederick North, establishes (1800) the beginnings of modern, state-sponsored education in the new Crown Colony.

 

Chapter 2. Missionary Men

Governor Brownrigg gives responsibility for education over to Evangelical and Dissenting missionaries. The fall of the Kandyan Kingdom (1815) is followed by the signing of a treaty in which the Crown undertakes, inter alia, to ‘maintain and protect’ Buddhism, drawing protests from the Church and Evangelical groups.

 

Chapter 3. War to the Knife

Hostility between Anglican clerics and Evangelical missionaries leads to sectarian strife over education. First Anglican school, the Cotta Institution, opens (1822). Colebrooke-Cameron Commission establishes a central educational authority, the Schools Commission, recommends that Ceylonese be educated in English. Governor Barnes disagrees but is overruled. Neglect of education under his successor, Sir Robert Horton.

 

Chapter 4. Faith & Faction

In Britain, the Victorian religious revival creates doctrinal and political divisions: High vs Low Church, Evangelical groups vs the conservative, ‘High Church’ Oxford Movement (1833); Nonconformists, Dissenters, Anglo-Catholics, etc. Sectarian rivalry affects British politics and imperial policy alike, and is reflected in missionary competition throughout the Empire, not least in Ceylon.

 

Chapter 5. The Old Etonian

The life and character of James Chapman, founder of St Thomas’s College, up to his arrival in Ceylon (1845) as first Bishop of Colombo. A description of Eton – on which he is said to have modelled St Thomas’s – during his schooldays there. A profile of its headmaster at the time, Chapman’s future father-in-law John Keate.

 

Chapter 6. Foundation & Construction

The early episcopacy of James Chapman. Embroilment in sectarian controversies over education. The Matale Uprising leads to the resignation of Governor Torrington. St Thomas’s College is founded along Etonian lines at Mutwal (1849), part-sponsored by the ‘High Church’ missionary Society for the Propagation of the Gospel.

 

Chapter 7. Esto Perpetua

Early days at STC under its first head or ‘warden’, Rev. Cyril Wood (1851). Dr Barcroft Boake, headmaster of the rival Colombo Academy, begins a campaign in print and from the pulpit against Chapman, Wood and STC, seeing the early successes of the College as a threat to the older Academy. Wood’s pre-STC life; his family, his extraordinarily self-sacrificing character and his misfortunes in Ceylon. Origins and meaning of the STC motto.

 

Chapter 8. Crown Colony

General depiction of Ceylon in the year of STC’s foundation, the peak of the prosperous ‘coffee era’. Social distinctions and ethnic divisions, political structure, economic growth, the unchanging character of rural life.

 

Chapter 9. Growing Pains

Early achievements and trials at Mutwal. Dr Boake accuses STC of teaching the ‘popish heresy’ of Transubstantiation, resulting in the ugly Eucharist Controversy. Consecration of the first Anglican cathedral and installation of the new College warden, Rev. James Baly (1854). The College prospers under Baly, but Chapman fears the loss of its religious character and sacks him; a lawsuit and public scandal follow. Baly leaves Ceylon for India.

 

Chapter 10. The Chrysalis

Retrenchment and gloom. Chapman, exhausted, retires (1861). Wood dies in poverty in England. STC suffers neglect under Piers Claughton, 2nd Bishop of Colombo, and comes near to closing down altogether. Rev. George Bennet, 3rd warden, recruited by Claughton from St Helena, suffers a nervous breakdown and is sent home.

 

Chapter 11. Muscular Christians

A chapter on the British ‘public schools’ after which STC is modelled: their history, features and character. The influence of Rev. Thomas Arnold, headmaster of Rugby School, on their development. The critical importance of public-school alumni in the growth and government of the British Empire during the High Victorian period.

 

Chapter 12. A Candidate for Greatness

STC revives under sub-warden Rev. James Bacon. His humble origins and character. Economic and population growth in Ceylon spur demand for more schools, changes to education policy and the grant-in-aid system. Morgan Commission (1870) mandates ‘vernacular education’, creating a two-track education system that reinforces and perpetuates social inequality. Barcroft Boake retires after 28 years as head of the Academy.

 

Chapter 13. Coming of Age

Third Bishop Hugh Jermyn finally makes Bacon warden. STC prospers under him and Sub-Warden T.F. Falkner, who founds the Cricket Club and College Magazine, Lanka’s oldest continuously published periodical. Bishop Jermyn succeeded in short order by Reginald Copleston (1875). Bacon’s untimely death in office.

 

Chapter 14. Resurgent Buddhism

The founders, causes, origins, development and sociopolitical effects of the nineteenth-century Sinhalese Buddhist Revival, the most influential cultural, political and social phenomenon in modern Lankan history.

 

Chapter 15. The Paragon

Family origins and character of STC’s first ‘great’ warden, Rev. Edward Miller. He narrowly saves the school from bankruptcy in the middle of the Coffee Crash (1880). Causes and effects of the Crash. Life at Mutwal during the lean years. Munificent old boys come to the rescue of STC. Death of Bishop Chapman in England.

 

Chapter 16. A Public School

The first golden age of STC. Origins of Royal-Thomian cricket match, today a major Lankan sporting event. Old Boys’ Association founded (1886). Lankan society and mores seen through the lens of the STC Debating Club. Miller’s attempted ‘erasure’ of A.E. Buultjens, the first Thomian Oxbridge graduate, for becoming a Buddhist.

 

Chapter 17. The Millerians

School life and composition of the student body under Miller, drawn partly from the memoirs of famous old boys. The schooldays of the Sinhalese-Buddhist ideologue Anagarika Dharmapala and other historically important Old Thomians of the era. Contemporary ethnic, class and religious attitudes among the boys.

 

Chapter 18. Imperial Summer

The high point of British rule in Ceylon (c.1890). Persistence and growth of communal divisions under it. An era of religious and cultural ‘revivals’: Hindu/Tamil, Catholic and Muslim as well as Buddhist. The popular ‘divide and rule’ hypothesis of British rule in Ceylon considered.

 

Chapter 19. The Archdeacon’s Farewell

Miller’s retirement (1891) and his emotional leavetaking. His character and his effect on the College further examined. His post-STC life as a successful school proprietor and head in England. His retirement and death.

 

Chapter 20. The Enigma

The troubled career and mysterious demise of Philip Read. Drift and decay at Mutwal under his wardenship. Lucian de Zilwa’s memories of being a boarder at STC. His STC production of Aristophanes’s Wasps (1893) in the original Greek.

 

Chapter 21. One of the Boys

The muscular Christianity of Rev. William Buck (1896), another reputedly ‘great’ warden. The coming of C.V. Pereira and E. Navaratnam, masters who would become Thomian institutions. Bishop Copleston’s episcopate in retrospect. Warden Buck’s subsequent ecclesiastical career among wealthy Anglican expatriates in Europe.

 

Chapter 22. Dog Days

The afternoon of Victorian peace and prosperity in Ceylon. Ethnic and caste representation in the Legislative Council’; early political activism among the commercial elite; decline of ‘native headmen’. Changing lives and attitudes among low-country Sinhalese minor bourgeoisie. Population, economic, infrastructure growth. Ceylon Census of 1901. Exploitation of plantation labour. Arrack-farming and the rise of the temperance movement.

 

Chapter 23. The Cornerstone

The early life, character and definitive influence of William Arthur Stone (1902), arguably the most important STC warden. His working-class, Nonconformist origins, family poverty. Educational achievements, probable identity of his sponsor at St John’s College, Cambridge. Early teaching career. Arrival and welcome at Mutwal.

 

Chapter 24. Diebus Lucis

Golden Jubilee celebrations (held 1902, one year late). Stone’s early wardenship: support for science education, co-authorship of Latin textbooks, launch of ‘commerce’ stream, disciplinary innovations. Sports at Mutwal, especially cricket. The first nationally famed Thomian cricketers, Arthur Scharenguivel and Douglas de Saram.

 

Chapter 25. Coal-Dust

Environmental degradation at Mutwal due to growth of the Port of Colombo. School life, staff changes. Ethnic brawling among the boys pits five Tamil Saravanamuttu brothers against scions of Kandyan Sinhalese nobility. George Arndt, first Lankan sub-warden, retires; his son Leonard (also a master) and others establish a tradition of theatre at STC. Revival of Divinity School by Rev. G.B. Ekanayake (1908). Stone’s curious lack of religious fervour.

 

Chapter 26. Changing Ceylon

Population growth, economic issues, rise of the labour movement. New technology: motor-cars, telephones, radio. Urban development. European monopoly of formal business sector. Debate over education reforms, social effects of English v. ‘vernaculars’. A temperance movement (1912) crystallizes anti-British ‘nationalist’ sentiment.

 

Chapter 27. The End of Innocence

World War I: its effects in Ceylon. Thomian participation and casualties; the heroism of Lt Basil Horsfall, V.C. Sinhalese-Muslim riots (1915): origins, spread, British response. Imprisonment of ‘temperance leaders’, among them old boy and future Prime Minister D.S. Senanayake. Efforts by Stone and others to save old boy E.H. Pedris from the firing-squad fail. Effects of 1915: political fallout, altered relations between rulers and ruled.

 

Chapter 28. Mutwal Sunset

STC reluctantly begins looking for a new home. Mutwal campus sold to fund new premises but College remains in residence pro tem. Move to Mount Lavinia announced to general dismay. Over-ambitious building plans and legal issues cause funding problems, delays. Funding and executive role of C.E.A. Dias. Departure from Mutwal (1918) after the most important buildings are finally complete at Mount Lavinia.. Fate of the abandoned campus.

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PART II: GLORY DAYS

 

Chapter 29. Hegira

The move to Mount Lavinia re-imagined. Primitive conditions and strictures of life there. Local houses rented as dormitories, staff quarters. Slow growth and development of essential facilities. Standards in work and games maintained despite challenges. A production of Twelfth Night raises funds and morale. New sub-warden George Withers (1920) takes on the task of building a chapel. His obsessive labours, eccentric character, post-STC life.

 

Chapter 30. The Forge

Tracing the growing influence – ultimately, the dominance – of Stone-era Old Thomians in the public life of Ceylon. Examples in politics (Senanayake Sr & Jr, Bandaranaike, Dahanayake, N.M. Perera &c.), civil service, law and judiciary, journalism (Richard Wijewardene, H.A.J. Hulugalle, M. Saravanamuttu &c.) and other fields.

 

Chapter 31. Men of Stone

Thomian contributions to public, social and cultural life in early and mid-twentieth century Lanka explored.

 

Chapter 32. Destiny’s Child

Childhood, Thomian and Oxford years of the future Prime Minister and avatar of Sinhalese Buddhist nationalism S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike. His ambition, extraordinary character and Warden Stone’s acknowledged influence on him. His early political career and quarrelsome, never-quite-abandoned relationship with his alma mater.

 

Chapter 33. Consummation

The remarkable character and psychology of William Stone: his wardenship, influence on STC and, through the many eminent men who were educated under his care, on Lanka, considered. His retirement (1925), years at the Ceylon University College and return to parish work; ill health, financial straits, return to the UK and death.

 

Chapter 34. The Apple of Discord

Prospect of constitutional reform to introduce elected representation in government gives rise to political lobby groups, largely of an ethnic or caste character, among the elite. Progress of the ‘reform movement’. Communal quarrels and British machinations. The rise of ethnically exclusive gentlemen’s clubs in imitation of the British.

 

Chapter 35. The Transitionary

Passage of the Indian Church Bill in the UK creates difficulties for the Church and STC’s sponsor, the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel. The brief, troubled but pivotal wardenship of Rev. Kenneth McPherson sees the separation of STC from the SPG and the formation (1930) of the Board of Governors. McPherson’s innovations. School life in his time. His ambitious building programme, which mires the school deeply in debt.

 

Chapter 36. The Taste of the Apple

The prospect of approaching self-government provokes further communal discord. Ethnocentric ‘nationalism’ the result. The Donoughmore Commission, charged with devising constitutional reforms for Ceylon, hears multiple representations, gives its report. First election (1930) under universal franchise creates State Council of Ceylon, a legislative and quasi-executive body. Early life and career of C.W.W. Kannangara, ‘father of free education.’

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Chapter 37. The Last Missionaries

Biographical and character studies of the last SPG missionaries to STC: Thomas Keble, Rollo Hayman &c. Their vital contributions to the school, including the foundation of S. Thomas’ Preparatory School (1938, Keble) and STC Gurutalawa (1942, Hayman). Their service considered as part of British colonial policy.

 

Chapter 38. Isle of Tribulations

Ceylon weathers the Great Depression, a devastating malaria epidemic and massive unemployment leading to violent strikes and other labour troubles. Old Thomian N.M. Perera founds the LSSP, the first Lankan Marxist political party, displacing the older Ceylon Labour Party as principal representative of the working classes. The State Council in operation; C.W.W. Kannangara’s first Education Ordinance generates religious controversy.

 

Chapter 39. The Defender

Reginald Stewart de Saram: his family origins and the role of his extended ‘first-class Govigama’ tribe in Lankan history. His early life and education; character, religious nature; ordination, marriage and return to Ceylon. As sub-warden then acting warden, restores morale and discipline at STC after McPherson’s departure. Made first Lankan warden (1932). Rise of Anglo-Catholicism at STC and the origins of the ‘S. Thomas’’ convention.

 

Chapter 40. Idyll

Early years of de Saram’s wardenship: a tranquil, successful time at STC in spite of the Depression and the school’s vast debts, which de Saram strives manfully to pay. Diamond Jubilee of the Magazine. Other literary efforts proliferate. Clubs and societies, sports and games. Opening of Ceylon’s first swimming baths (a gift from sub-warden Rollo Hayman). Old boys’ growing public influence. Collapse of de Saram’s marriage (1936).

 

Chapter 41. Warring Nations

Early negotiations towards full self-government. Support for a liberal-democratic or Socialist constitution high among the large English-educated minority but the Lankan political elite is already exploiting ethnic and religious intolerance to build electoral constituencies among the largely illiterate masses. Development of mutually exclusive ‘national’ identities among communal groups: Sinhalese, Tamils, Muslims, ‘Dutch’ Burghers.

 

Chapter 42. Warring Empires

Nationalism at STC. Foundation of S. Thomas’ Preparatory School. Warden de Saram and Minister Kannangara clash over education policy. Second World War interrupts self-government talks; Thomians rush to ‘join up’. War preparations in Ceylon and at STC. Old boy M. Sara surrenders Penang to the Japanese after the British flee. Japanese attack on Ceylon (1942) as viewed from Mount Lavinia. College buildings and campus requisitioned as military hospital.

 

Chapter 43. Diaspora

STC dispersed to Kandy, Milagiriya, etc. Foundation, growth, early trials of STC Gurutalawa under R.L. Hayman, who is made headmaster. Difficulties of dispersal overcome by adaptation, resolution and ‘Thomian grit’.

 

Chapter 44. ‘For the Duration’

Ceylon at war, 1942-45. Vast influx of troops and materiel boosts economy and employment, causes shortages, fuels cultural change. Adm Mountbatten establishes SEAC HQ at Peradeniya Gardens. Effects of the war and the Japanese attack on both Ceylon and St Thomas’s. A boarders’ revolt (1945) at Gurutalawa and its consequences.

 

Chapter 45. Jungle John

Origins, life and character of Independent Ceylon’s first Prime Minister, D.S. Senanayake. His years at STC. Early political career (temperance movement, election to Legislative Council, dominance of State Council and near-sole control of self-government negotiations). His hostility toward ‘Indian’ Tamils. Wrangles over the ‘Ministers’ Draft Constitution’; his indispensable support sees the 'Soulbury' Constitution Bill (1945) through State Council. ‘Father of the Nation.’

 

Chapter 46. The Revolutionary

C.W.W. Kannangara leverages a mandated State Council review of educational finances to convene a Special Committee on Education and develop new policy sympathetic to nationalist calls for the abolition of English. Progress of the committee’s deliberations. A detailed examination of its proposals, which ignite public protests and dissents from several committee members, including Warden de Saram, but are adopted none the less (1946) by the State Council.

 

Chapter 47. The Resistance

The debate over Kannangara’s education bill in the State Council and in public; vocal resistance from Christian denominations and other proponents of language choice in education meets equally fierce opposition from Sinhalese Buddhist and other ‘nationalist’ groups. Thomian criticisms expressed in the Magazine, etc. Political elite, initially opposed to the bill, changes sides after its popularity among the Sinhalese masses becomes apparent.

 

Chapter 48. The Mutineer

Largely concerning the short, unhappy life and career of Bombardier Gratien Fernando, Old Thomian and leader of the Cocos Islands Mutiny. The end of the war at St Thomas’s, and preparations for the return to Mount Lavinia.

 

Chapter 49. Homecoming

STC returns to Mount Lavinia and ‘Prep’ to Kollupitiya. Gurutalawa now fully established and growing sturdily. Staff changes, debt problems, slow resumption of normal school life at ‘Mount’. Fears of closure due to nativist hostility. The arrival and career at Mount Lavinia of Roy Bowyer-Yin, Sino-English aesthete, musical icon and brother of author Leslie Charteris (creator of the Saint). Other highlights of the de Saram era at Mount Lavinia and Gurutalawa.

 

Chapter 50. A People’s Triumph

Rapid postwar progress toward national independence, spearheaded by Senanayake and Sir Oliver Goonetilleke. British Governor becomes (mainly ceremonial) Governor-General. Elections to new Parliament (1947): newly formed United National Party under D.S. Senanayake wins election but C.W.W. Kannangara loses his seat. His later life and career; the enduring historical, political and cultural effects of his education policies on Lanka considered.

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PART III: BY THEIR FRUITS

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Chapter 51. Degrees of Freedom

National independence and its significance to various groups within Lankan society. Citizenship Acts of 1948 and 1949 disenfranchise most ‘Indian’ Tamils and render them stateless. Consequences of this for Tamil political power and national influence. Federal Party established. J.R. Jayewardene proposes Sinhala be made sole official language. S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike leaves UNP to form (1951) the ‘nationalist’ Sri Lanka Freedom Party.

 

Chapter 52. Vintage Years

The golden age of St Thomas’s under Reggie de Saram. Threat of closure or state takeover recedes. College begins to modernize, adapting to the postwar age of science, scepticism and political change. Gurutalawa fire (1948) fails to halt growth and development there under Hayman and chaplain A.J. Foster. A successful quest for good Sinhala teachers turns STC into an unlikely centre of the nationalist-linguist Hela movement.

 

Chapter 53. Centennial

St Thomas’s celebrates its centenary (1951). A long-running debate over whether or not to exit the state grant-in-aid system to avoid the coercive, communalist aspects of the free-education scheme ends when de Saram momentously decides to opt out. The dark side of public-school discipline, unintentionally exposed in an article written for the centennial issue of the Magazine by Stone-era boarding-house master E. Navaratnam, considered.

 

Chapter 54. The Fork in the Road

The untimely death of D.S. Senanayake ends a brief period of post-independence felicity. Thomia mourns her greatest son. Power struggle within a disunited and corrupt UNP resolved in favour of Dudley Senanayake, also an Old Thomian. Recession, joblessness lead to LSSP-led hartal of 1953; Dudley resigns. Rise of the ‘language question’: Buddha Jayanthi (1956), Buddhist Commission report. Successful resistance to ‘mother-tongue instruction’ at Royal College.

 

Chapter 55. Independence

STC now an ‘independent’ school. Its reputation, position and social role in early post-independence Ceylon: seen as a defender of English-language education and international culture, and as a bulwark against inward-looking nativism. Political engagement and emergence as a bastion of intellectual freedom: Magazine articles, debates, de Saram’s own campaign against language chauvinism and communalism in education. A golden age begins at Gurutalawa.

 

Chapter 56. Sinhala Only

The antics of Sir John Kotelawala and the electoral victory of S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike’s SLFP accomplish the triumph of Sinhalese Buddhism as a political force. ‘Sinhala Only’ Act (1956) sparks first Sinhalese-Tamil riots.

 

Chapter 57. Flashpoint

Political and practical consequences of Sinhala Only: Burgher exodus, administrative upheaval. Federal Party demands regional autonomy on behalf of Tamil speakers. Bandaranaike-Chelvanayakam pact rejected by both sides, turns Sinhalese reactionaries against Bandaranaike and leads to the first great anti-Tamil pogrom (1958).

 

Chapter 58. ‘Their Glory is Departed’

Altered prospects for Thomians in post-Sinhala Only Ceylon. Thomia plagued by self-doubt but school life is largely unchanged. Roy Yin’s STC production of Purcell’s opera Dido & Aeneas a public success. De Saram marks 25 years as warden, announces his impending retirement. Effects of the 1958 pogrom at STC, including the tribulations of senior Tamil master S. Venasithamby and his family. A persistent political rumour reconsidered.

 

Chapter 59. The Reckoning

Assassination of S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike by an ultra-nationalist Buddhist monk (1959). Developments leading up to the killing. An Old Thomian’s courageous final hours. The murder plot and motives of the participants. Political consequences of the assassination. A meditation on the historical significance of Bandaranaike’s life and death.

 

Chapter 60. Last & First Acts

Reggie de Saram retires, much fêted, to be succeeded by the ‘Eurasian’ C.H. Davidson. Other staff departures. First College play in many years, The Merchant of Venice, goes on the boards. L.A.H. Arndt, George’s grandson, writes an ambivalent tribute to Bandaranaike in the Magazine. Old Thomian W. Dahanayake’s brief, chaotic season as Prime Minister.

 

Chapter 61. Carrying On

‘Business as usual’ under Davidson conceals growing unease at STC. Halting, largely unsuccessful efforts made to accommodate change. A new SLFP government under S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike’s widow takes over all missionary schools within the grant system (1961); huge Roman Catholic protests against the move are silenced by papal intervention. An Evangelical group, the Student Christian Movement, establishes a cell at STC over Anglo-Catholic reservations.

 

Chapter 62. The Last Throw

The failed military coup of 1962. Motives and preparations, suppression, social and historical significance. Relevance to STC and the Thomian community. Political and administrative change in its aftermath. Social and political eclipse of the English-educated elite.

 

Chapter 63. Recessional

Staff departures and deaths usher in a time of uncertainty and sundry troubles at STC. Yin, L.A.H. Arndt and other colonial-era stalwarts depart from Mount Lavinia, Hayman and Foster from Gurutalawa. OBA diamond jubilee celebrations haunted by renewed fears of state takeover. A new generation of teachers gives hope for the future. Hayman’s and Yin’s parting meditations on the future of Lanka and STC.

 

Chapter 64. New Realities

Ceylon in the Sixties. Socialist economics and cultural insularity lead to stagnation and somnolence. Heavy state influence stifles innovation, enterprise, arts and culture. Electoral quid pro quo between SLFP-led government and Sinhalese peasantry benefits ‘rural bourgeoisie’ at the expense of real peasants and the minorities. Attempts to resolve the legacy of Indian Tamil disenfranchisement begin. The exodus of Anglophone Lankans, meanwhile, continues.

 

Chapter 65. Literature & Politics

STC in the Sixties. Worries over the declining quality of English among the boys. Growing size of student body also causes concern. Davidson announces his retirement, but finding a successor proves difficult, partly due to new government rules. Rev. John Selvaratnam finally appointed (1965). His background, early life and career. Colombo social snobbery and his clumsy efforts to restore staff discipline create difficulties for him from the outset.

 

Chapter 66. The Deep State

The UNP returns to power (1965) under Dudley Senanayake, who proves unequal to the uphill struggle against a failing economy and ethnocratic ‘nationalism’. State education structure now almost completely dominated by nativist ideologues who alter curricula, textbooks etc., to reflect their beliefs, seeding the growth of a majoritarian deep state. The poya holiday fiasco and its effects at STC and on the country in general.

 

Chapter 67. The Square Peg

The actions of John Selvaratnam spark rebellion among elements of the staff, antipathy among elite members of the Thomian community. His commission to the artist David Paynter, however, gives STC its greatest artistic treasure, the magnificent mural of the Transfiguration in the chapel apse. New sub-warden Frank Jayasinghe and chaplain Rev. David Townsend try to stabilize the school but, following a final crisis, Selvaratnam is obliged to resign.

 

Chapter 68. The Old Thomian

Samuel Anandanayagam, after a lifetime at STC, man and boy, is appointed warden. Phasing out of English-medium education, as demanded by the state, begins (1968) at STC and elsewhere. Openings in the still British-dominated ‘mercantile sector’ begin to attract Thomians and other English-educated Lankans – an alternative, at last, to emigration for old boys intellectually or temperamentally unsuited to medicine and the law.

 

Chapter 69. Sri Lanka

Electoral landslide (1970) brings SLFP-led United Front to power. Old Thomian N.M. Perera made Minister of Finance, maps out a Socialist five-year plan; economy to be heavily state-dominated. The JVP rebellion: its roots in overpopulation and poor education policy. Ceylon becomes the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka.

 

Chapter 70. Lean Years

STC soldiers on in the face of financial problems, official hostility and the larger troubles of Sri Lanka. Staffing problems become acute due to language and ‘social’ issues. Academic standards decline, as does STC’s lauded ‘extracurricular culture’. Mount Lavinia campus begins to decay physically due to lack of funds. Staff politics grows poisonous, leading to the resignation of Frank Jayasinghe. Anandanayagam begins to grow discouraged.

 

Chapter 71. Tempus Serpit

Sri Lanka in the Seventies. Land reform and its discontents. Takeover of large estates exacerbates the troubles of Indian Tamils; also, incidentally, causes the boarding-houses of elite schools to shrink. The Lake House takeover spells doom for press freedom. Further education ‘reforms’, including the abolition of O and A levels, damage prospects for youth; discriminatory ‘standardization’ in university admissions seeds Tamil militancy.

 

Chapter 72. Grit

STC now effectively a launching-pad to life overseas for many of Lanka’s best and brightest. Evangelical activity and the Left-leaning Anglicanism of assistant chaplain Rev. Duleep de Chickera bring new dimensions to Thomian Christianity. New sub-warden St Patrick Gunawardene makes an impression at Mount Lavinia. A fortuitous coming-together of unusually bright and talented boys sparks a mid-Seventies cultural renaissance, which has its roots within the College Drama Society.

 

Chapter 73. Thomiana

A chapter on matters traditionally left undiscussed: bullying, ragging, corporal punishment by teachers and prefects, truths and fallacies about the tolerance of homosexuality and the incidence of sexual abuse at St Thomas’s.

 

Chapter 74. Turnabout

A disintegrating United Front tries to extend its term of office, fails. Elections (1977) result in a whitewash for the UNP, erasing the SLFP and Left. The TULF, a new, separatist Tamil party, becomes the main opposition. Hated United Front educational reforms are summarily abolished. Economic policy under a new Finance Minister, Old Thomian Ronnie de Mel, leads to rapid growth, but Tamil militancy in the north of Lanka is also growing

 

Chapter 75. Tailenders

Samuel Anandanayagam retires, dies soon after. Ex-Gurutalawa head ‘Lyn’ Ilangakoon succeeds as warden (1977). His biography and character. ‘Prep’ introduces daily non-Christians religious rites, a radical innovation for a missionary school. The centenary Royal-Thomian cricket match causes excitement and controversy. The involvement of old boys in school affairs begins to create problems; some accuse the warden and Board of indolence, inefficiency, corruption.

 

Chapter 76. The Nadir

Growing dissension within the Thomian community is reflected by a battle for control between a new sub-warden, Rajiva Wijesinha, and the warden, in which powerful old boys take sides. Wijesinha’s feud with Ilangakoon and his accusatory memoirs considered. His dismissal and the resignation of Warden Ilangakoon generate bitterness and enmity within the community, leaving deep wounds that take many years to heal.

 

Chapter 77. July & Everything After

Tamil resentments and discontent boil over in Jaffna. The emergence of the LTTE, militancy and state violence on the peninsula and numerous other factors culminate in the atrocious anti-Tamil pogrom of 1983 and the beginning of Sri Lanka’s long civil war. An India-brokered ‘peace accord’ sees foreign troops arrive on Lankan soil and a revival of JVP militancy in the south. Old Thomian Gen Ranjan Wijeratne oversees the deadly, partly extra-judicial suppression of the latter.

 

Chapter 78. The Martyr

The life and death of Richard de Zoysa, the true causes of the latter, and its social and political significance.

 

Chapter 79. The Pragmatist

St Thomas’s, at its nadir, searches for a new role in a much-altered Lankan society. New warden Neville de Alwis (1983) takes control, makes unpopular but essential reforms, ignores ongoing quarrels to enlist old boys and rich parents in his programme of revival. This leads to more accusations of corruption. Ex-chaplain de Chickera returns as sub-warden, restores discipline and morale among the boys. Slowly but surely, STC begins to recover from its long decline.

 

Chapter 80. Restoration

Neville de Alwis: his background, character, management and executive ability. Restoration of sporting and – after some delay – academic standards at STC. His building and improvement schemes, efforts to secure staff pension and welfare benefits. De Chickera retires, is later ordained Bishop of Colombo. Drama Society enjoys another revival, largely the work of one man, Vinod Senadeera. The contributions of Thomians in the military and in politics.

 

Chapter 81. Millennium

STC in the Nineties. De Alwis’s long wardenship ends in enforced retirement, partly for health reasons. His appointed successor, ‘warden for a day’ Eksith Fernando, is prevented by a lawsuit from taking office. Sub-warden David Pakianathan acts pro tem until the dispute is resolved. The racist killing of David Selvakumar Ponniah and the murder of a ‘born-again’ Prep teacher by her own son reflect the violence of the times. The case for declaring Neville De Alwis one of the great wardens of STC.

 

Epilogue: Some Unanswerable Questions

Reflections on the role and influence of St Thomas’s College in twenty-first-century Lankan society, written in the aftermath of the economic and political collapse of the country in 2022.

© 2023 / Richard Simon. 

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