Royal College Alumni 1945 Group

by Nihal Seneviratne

It is with a small sense of pride that I record that most of the boys who joined Royal in January 1945, calling ourselves the 45 Group, have made their own small contribution to the welfare of the country, both in the public and private sectors.

I am proud to record that we have a galaxy of doctors from our group. Dr Ranjit Atapattu who later became Minister of Health is just one of them. The others are Dr Upali Atureliya, Dr MB Kappagoda, Dr Cuda Wijeratne, Dr Channa Wijesinghe, Dr Piloo Rustomjee, Dr MN Haniffa, Dr Sarath Wickramasingha, Dr Ali Hussein, Dr K Lal de Silva, Dr MP Jayasuriya, Dr Gamini Jayasuriya, Dr Suren Ramachandran, Dr M Ramanathan, Dr Malik Vitarna and Dr K Somasundaram,

Joining the public sector of the country were Lal Jayawardene, Secretary to the Treasury who later became our High Commissioner to the UK, T. Ratnasundram, Commissioner of Inland Revenue, Nihal Seneviratne, Secretary General of Parliament, Rohan Cooray, head of the Ceylon Electricity Board, Asoka de Lanerolle who entered the Foreign Service which he quit early to join Lever Brothers and later the UN system, Jeevaka de Zoysa, architect with the State Engineering Corporation, Neil Fernando, Justin Goonewardane, Cyril Herath who became IGP and P. Mahendran who retired as a DIG. Hemasiri Premawardane joined the Civil Service and retired as a Permanent Secretary while Norman Mathew joined the State Engineering Corporation. Sinha Bannaarchi joined the International Civil Service and Channa Wimalaratne joined the Colombo Municipal Council as an architect. Ged Gooneratne joined the Attorney General’s Departnment and became Crown Proctor while Shirley Perera joined the Broadcasting Corporation. MSH Wariyapola joined his old school as a teacher as did Gamini Wijesinghe who did likewise.

Joining the mercantile sector were GC Wickramasinghe who was Chairman of Aitken Spence. Nihal Senaratne heads Senaratne Associates a top insurance broking company while DK Wijeyaratne worked with John Keells Ltd. Ranjan Gooneratne joined Rowlands and later became its Chairman, SO Wijesekera joined the Sohli Captain Group of Companies and later became a Director. Behan Perera joined the hotel industry while Douglas Perera joined Lever Bros, Manilal Perera joined the Insurance Corporation, Lakshman Senanayake joined Mackwoods and later became Managing Director, Gamini Senanayake joined Associated Motorways as Chief Accountant, KDR Senanayake joined Don Edwin Company, his father’s printing firm, Don Ernest Weerasinghe joined the Ceylon Tobacco Company after a short stint in the Navy, Nalin Wickramasekera joined Keel and Waldock while Gamini CB Wijeyasinghe joined Ford Rhodes and rose to be a Partner. Michael Britto Muttunayagam was a Chartered Accountant, Vajira Fernando was with Harison and Crosfield before migrating to Australia, PBN Hapugalle joined Brown and Co, Hasnain Jafferjee was, Chairman of Jafferjee Travels, Raja Atukorale worked for Walker & Sons Co. Ltd, Ranjit Wettasinghe joined the Whittalls Group. Daya Williams worked at Samuel Sons and Co. while Jan de Zilva and Aubrey Vancuylenberg both worked for the telecom sector before migrating to Australia.

Joining the planting community were TLK Mendis who ended his career as chairman of a Plantation Corporation, Naomal Dias as a consultant in estate management and owned Orchid Acres at Nattandiya. Ian Goonewardena was a planter before migrating to Australia, Ubhaya de Silva started planting at Bandarawela. Other planters included Maurice Koelmeyer who migrated to Australia and Senani Karunaratne from Kandy who was later in insurance.

Joining the legal world were Ranjit Jayasinghe, advocate, Lal D. Wijegunawardana, attorney-at- law at Kalutara, Nanda Wijesekera, legal consultant to the National Savings Bank before migrating to Kiribati as a legal consultant. WCL de Silva was a proctor practicing at Balapitiya.

Joing the military was Major General CH Fernando from the Armored Corps.