Majority of this group became professionals

byJayantha Gunasekera, PC
Vice President, Royal College Union

In 1949 a group of 96 students were successful in gaining entrance to Royal College, Colombo, having sat an open competitive examination. About 60 of them were from Royal Prep while the rest were from St.Thomas’ College, Mount Lavinia, Trinity College Kandy, St.Joseph’s Colleg and St. Peter’s Colleges, Colombo, etc. They were all around 10 years old. They were examined on general intelligence and general knowledge, Sinhalese or Tamil and Arithmetic. Although Royal Prep bore the same name there was no automatic entry to Royal College unlike several years before and several years after.

Royal was founded in 1835 by the then British government mainly for the education of the sons of the British, under the Principalship of Dr. Barcroft Boake , a product of the Oxford University. Though the school was initially called 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 their lives.

Also in the college hall hang the portraits of C.A.Lorenz, KC- Acting King’s Advocate, Sir Ponnambalam Ramanathan KC –Acting Attorney General and his brother Sir Ponnambalam Arunachalam of the Ceylon Civil Service, Dr. C.A.Hewavitharana and sibling Anagarika Dharmapala. Of the politicians of recent times were Prime Minister Sir John Kotalawela and President J.R. Jayewardene while H.Sri Nissanka a well known Criminal Lawyer and one of the founders of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party also adorn the hall.

Messrs. D.S.Senanayake, Dudley Senanayake and S.W.R.D.Bandaranaike were products of the school known by Royalists as the school by the sea, namely St. Thomas’ Mount Lavinia.

When I entered the Royal College during the War years the building at Reid Avenue was taken over by the British government and converted to a military hospital. We were about five years old and gained entry to what was known as the baby class. The Head Master of Royal Prep was A.F. de Saa Bandaranayake and the baby class teacher was Mrs. Keyt. About 15 of us were selected. Royal Prep was at Skelton Gardens where the Lumbini School is now located.

In 1949 some of us were chosen to gain entry to Royal College. Our Principal was Mr.J.C.A. Corea the first Ceylonese Principal after Bradby. Initially most of these boys did not take studies seriously as a large number were from affluent families being children of professionals but once they got into their respective disciplines there was no turning back. Quite a number of them, some 68%, became lawyers, doctors, and engineers etc. and reached the zenith of their professions. Royal College is indisputably the best school in the island or so Royalists claim. Parents clamor to get their children into Royal but not all of them succeed. Most think of other public schools as second best. Royal and St.Thomas’ are the most prestigious like Eden and Harrow of England.

This batch being written about came to be called the 49 Group. According to statistics compiled by a former Principal it is perhaps the best batch that Royal produced in recent times. It is said that 32 of them became medical doctors most of them consultants, seven entered the legal profession, two becoming President’s Counsel and two others became Judges of the Supreme Court; three entered the Ceylon Civil Service, one became an architect and 18 became engineers. Four headed top business conglomerates.

Whilst in school each one of these 96 boys fought for the last place in class but when they commenced their respective disciplines they shone over the products of other schools.

Of those who took to the legal profession are two President’s Counsel Jayantha Gunasekera (a former elected Secretary of the Bar Association of Sri Lanka) and top Civil Lawyer late Chula de Silva . Two other Lawyers, late S.W.B.Wadugodapitiya and Late Punyadasa Edussuriya became Judges of the Supreme Court whilst late Kumar Ponnambalam, late T.K.Tilakan (District Judge), Late Alavi Mohamed, a Barrister. M.N.B.Peiris died a few years ago. Vipulanandan is still engaged in the law in Australia.

Gamini Seneviratne, Harsha Wickremasinghe and B.S.Wijeweera entered the prestigious Ceylon Civil Service.

Of those 32 who entered the Medical profession several became surgeons: Ranjith De Silva who captained Royal at cricket, Priya Samarasinghe, Geoff Vandendrisen, Gamini Gunatilleke, late S.R.Ratnapala; whilst among the physicians are Henry Rajaratnam, diabetologist well known in his field. There is an Annual Oration in his name. J.B.Pieris was the first to qualify as a neurologist. There is an Annual Oration in his name too. J.B. was also the Director of Post Graduate Institute of Medicine.

Others included late Gamini Jayakuru (venereologist) and late Brendon Gooneratne who distinguished himself in Australia. Brendon was one of my closest friends. He lived in Deanstone Place while I lived in Flower Road and the two of us used to walk to school together. His wife, Professor Yasmin Gooneratne, was a Professor of English in Australia and has several publications to her credit. Brendon died two years ago as a result of a fall. I recently read about Yasmin Gooneratne’s death. She was a wonderful wife to Brendon. She was the daughter of Sammy Dias Bandaranaike brother of Justice Dr.R.F.Dias.

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 Post Graduate Institute of Medicine. She is the wife of our classmate, late Dr. Lalith Mendis.

The other physicians are Dr. Disampathy Subasinghe who practiced as a physician for over 50 years in the U.K., Dr.N.T. de Silva who also practiced in the U.K. for over 50 years, Tissa Cooray (formerly of the WHO), Danilo de Krester, H.S.Karunasekera, Leslie Muthukuda, Late Dan Perimpanayagam, Yasa Rajapakse (UK), V.Dharmapalan (New Zealand) and late R.S.B. Wickremasinghe was the Director of Medical Research Institute.

Of the Engineers that come to my mind are Bandu Yatawara, Late Prof. C.L.V. Jayatilleke who died of COVID 19, he was the Vice Chancellor of Peradeniya, Dr.Susantha Goonetilleke who secured a first class, Channa Amerasinghe former GM. of the Electricity Board, Sri Bavan Sri Skandarajah who staged a fast in Canada in support of LTTE, late H.S.B. Abeysundera, late L.H.Meegama, C. Ramachandran and late Beverly Vandergert.

Perhaps the cleverest of them all was Late. Chelvanayagam Vaseeharan, a maths prodigy who was to be appointed as Professor of Maths.

In this class were several businessmen who headed companies namely Cambridge educated late. Upali Wijewardena of the Upali Group and the owner of the Island Newspapers, late. Lal Jayasundera Chairman of Hayleys , late. Ratna Sivaratnam Chairman Aitken Spence, Godwin Perera Chairman Ceylinco Life whist late. K.Manikavasagar was a director of Glaxo. Arjuna Hulugalle is one of the best read, apart from being the son of H.A.J.Hulugalle Editor of the Daily News. Upatissa Attygalle was also a successful businessman. Nihal Weeratunga. who was Secretary to late President J.R.Jayewardene was also a company director.

V.H.Nanayakkara and P.H.J.S.Ariyapala, both Bachelors of Science, took to teaching and Nanayakkara was on the staff of Royal and also the Hostel Warden till he secured lucrative employment in Seychelles and now lives in Australia.

There was one member of the 49 Group who who became a policeman acquiring notoriety in the force as a ‘tough cop.’ If he had not joined the Police he would surely have been on the other side of the law. That was none other than Rahula Silva. He was charged in several cases of violence. In all these cases he was successfully defended gratis by me, his class mate.

There was late Brigadier Kingsley Jayawardena trained at Sandhurst Military Academy UK. He would certainly have been a General and the Army Commander if he drank less. During the JVP riots of 1988-1989 he protected many of his classmates.

There is also the well known and very talented architect K.L.Gunaratna. Late Laki Senanayake an artist of repute who worked closely with Geoffrey Bawa. A.A.Wijetunga and K.Sivapragasam became Senior Assessors in the Inland Revenue Department.

Late. Bimal Padmaperuma functioned as Chairman of the State Engineering Corporation and late Daham Wimalasena who was the Secretary of the UNP was appointed Chairman of the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation. T.D.S.A. Dissanayake a prolific writer served in the UN and later as our Ambassador in Indonesia.

There were two members of this group to whom life was a ball. They were late Aru Sellamuttu and late Ranjith Kiriella. Nimalasiri Fonseka a bright spark in school practices as a Chartered Accountant and now lives in England.

The late Lionel Almeida and the late Tyrell Mutthiah took to planting and were fine rugby players in school and later. Late W.K.N. de Silva was a Proprietary planter. The late Bobby Perera was one time Director of Qucikshaws. Mahinda Gunasekera domiciled in Canada and does much for our country by countering LTTE propaganda.

Theses classmates have now dwindled and about half are no more. Though depleted we get together at the Royal Thomian cricket match and Bradby Shield rugby encounter. Sometimes we meet more often to welcome classmates coming from abroad. It is at such gatherings that they reminisce about their school days, some wild and some even wilder. Only the pleasantest memories remain and old yarns are told and retold with salt and pepper added. It is amazing that there isn’t a tinge of jealousy and each one is proud of the others’ achievements.

As the college song goes ” they learnt of books and leant of men and learned to play the game”.

((Part of this articles excerpted from an article by late. S.D.Sivapragasam)