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From The Ceylankan No.8 (Vol.II No.4)
November 1999
Changes to Colombo’s landscape in recent years
have been so rapid and comprehensive that anyone visiting after a period of
time will hardly recognise parts of the city where its homes have virtually
grown out of sight. Where beautiful homes and gardens once stood gladdening
the eye of passers by, there now stands a compacted structure enclosed by
high walls. The beautiful garden city that Colombo was, up until the nineteen
sixties, and which enraptured visitors over the years, seem to have been
lost forever. On a recent visit to Sri Lanka, visiting old haunts,
I tried to recapture some of the imagery of the past, particularly in
relation to Havelock Road,
which was a regular route to me in the days of my youth. I met only with
limited success. Lots of old memories and images did however return, and I
thought I should retrieve some of it and place them on record partly as an
exercise in memory recall, and also to jog the memories of readers. The
descriptions are of people and homes along Havelock Road and beyond around fifty
years ago.
Havelock Road begins at the Bullers Road
intersection or what is popularly known as the Thunmulla Junction, and ends
at the Pamankade
Bridge on the road to
Kohuwala. Close to its southern end, at the intersection of Havelock Road
with Maya Avenue was a popular Shell Service Station opposite to which
there was the City Hospital for Animals which opened in 1947 by the then
Prime Minister Mr D.S.Senanayake. Adjoining the hospital was a roadway
leading to the Boys
Industrial School
providing vocational education  to young people. Next-door was
the home of Dr Thomasz whose daughter was a well-known sporting figure of
the time. A fine specimen of the Traveller’s Palm- Ravenela Madagascaris grew on its
front lawn. Next door, No 498 Havelock Road was “Kamala”the
home of Dr air named after his daughter. For a few years it was tenanted by
B.J.Lalyett a Director of Darley Butler and Co. The house was later
purchased by the then Director of Education H.S.Perera who named it
“Shalimar”. Mr Perera died not long after he moved in to the
house. His British wife continued to live in the house till she passed away
a few years ago. In the house opposite lived Horace van Twest who served
with the Ceylon Garrison Artillery during World War II. On the opposite
side next door to Shalimar at No 500, a battleaxe block stood the home of
Alfred West Toussaint a former Engine Driver of the Railway whose legs were
severed below the knee after accidently slipping off the engine on to the
railway track. His father Alfred West Toussaint (Snr) was one of the first
Burghers to be appointed as a Railway Engine Driver. Toussaint worked for
several years in an administrative capacity in the railway office at McCallum Road.
He used to travel to work each day by rickshaw, pulled by his faithful
rickshaw puller Muttiah. Each morning Muttiah would climb up the steps of
the house, lift Alfred from his wheelchair, carry him and place him on the
rickshaw. He would then pull the rickshaw all the way to McCallum Road in
the city; spend his time around the office until his master was ready to go
back home after work. Muttiah and his wife were quartered in the garage of
the Toussaint home, and the couple worked exclusively for the Toussaints.
The Toussaint home was one of a duplex, the other occupied by the Rowalnds.
Alfred’s wife Alice (nee Drieberg) aged over 90 years, was living
alone in this house in 1997, her son Maurice having migrated to Canada
several decades earlier. At 502 stood the rambling old Caroline House in
which Mrs Caroline de Silva lived for many years in the house built by her
husband. The house was demolished in 1955. Mrs de Silva owned the adjoining
row of houses in which lived the Fryer and Reimers families for several years.
These houses have also been demolished. On the opposite side was
‘Beth-Holme’ the home of B.J.Pompeus, and earlier R.A.Honter.
In the adjoining garden were several homes in one of which lived V.W.Halpe
a teacher at the Royal
Primary School for
several years. His son Ashley who attended St
Peters College
was later Professor of English at the University of Peradeniya.
Maya Avenue
was previously called Link
Road. It linked Havelock Road with the new road to
Nugegoda. At its intersection with Havelock Road was the famous Oasis
Nurseries owned by John Cosmas a Greek who was Colombo’s leading horticulturist.
He had a well-stocked nursery standing on several acres of land, and was
the source of the plants that beautified the gardens around homes of Colombo at the time.
Most houses would have a resident gardener or “thota karaya” as
he was called. The Oasis Nurseries sold packets of Zinnia, Balsam, Dahlia,
and Chrysanthemum seeds, which were all perennial favourites with the
housewives of Colombo together with canna tubers, rose grafts, and a
beautiful range of orchids, all very popular with garden conscious Colombo.
Oasis was bounded by Felsinger
Town, a
conglomeration of houses owned by the Felsinger family, on the northern
side. Oasis closed down in the nineteen fifties and its former site is now
obliterated with houses, and shops. Adjoining its southern border was
Ÿamuna”the home of H Sri Nissanka, Q.C. It was at this house
that the historic Yamuna Conference was held by Mr S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike,
the first meeting of his parliamentary supporters following his resignation
from the U.N.P. in 1951. It was this meeting that led to the founding of
the Sri Lankan Freedom Party. The house and its garden stands exactly as it
was fifty years ago, one of the few that has withstood pressures from the
soaring land values in Colombo.
Across the road was the Wellawatte Spinning and Weaving Mils, the largest
industrial enterprise in Colombo South. It was established by Darley Butler
and Co and at one time was owned by Goculdas the Maharajah of Gwalior. The
Mills employed thousands of workers most of whom lived in tenement housing
around the Havelock
Town,
Thimbirigasyaya, Pamankade and Wellawatte areas. Its towering smokestack
was a landmark in Colombo South. Its siren, which sounded at regular
intervals, could be heard for miles around, and served as a signal to the
end of a work shift and as a wake up call for workers due for the following
shift. The siren sounded exactly on time, so much so that people set their
clocks and watches to synchronise with it. The Mills which were associated
with the social history of the area was also significant in the political
development of modern Sri
Lanka. The origins of the trade union
movement in Sri Lanka
could be traced to the work force of the Mills. The Mills and its massive
complex of buildings, today stands in crumbling ruins ready for demolition.
The Wellawatte canal or “Layrds Folly” or the “Moda
Ela”in Singhalese, into which the industrial wastes of the Mills
freely flowed, passed under an old iron bridge on Havelock Road, replaced in 1938 by
the bridge, which stands today. It was constructed during the tenure of
office of the Mayor of Colombo Dr V.R.Schokman in 1938.
Dr Schokman lived in this
house called “Valerest” opposite the Havelock Park.
Stewart Orr of the Municipal Council lived in this house previously and it
was called ‘Dilkusha’. In its front yard was a beautiful
circular sunken garden. In later years the house was converted into a
restaurant. Adjoining the northern bund of the canal was the Government Senior School,
which later transferred to Maharagama. During World War II it housed the Royal Primary School
when the entire Royal
College complex was
used as a military hospital. Today the buildings are the home to Lumbini
Maha Vidyalaya. Opposite the school was a row of small shops and houses
including a bicycle repair service, which was popular with students and
adults alike, as many adults cycled to work in the city and would stop by
to pump up their tyres. In one of these houses lived Mr M.E.Piyasena
teacher at the Royal
Primary School and a
great organiser in the Boy Scout movement. Lawrence Tudawe of the building
firm Tudawe Brothers lived in the freestanding house next door. A few
houses further on lived S.B.Lekamge, a lawyer, whose wife was a teacher at
the Royal Primary School. In the adjoining
lane was the home of Dr C.O.Perera, then Superintendent of the Mental
Hospital. Beside the school was Skelton
Gardens, with much of
its land yet not built upon. At Dawson
Road where it abuts Havelock Road was the home of Dr
Francis Silva, Orthopaedic Surgeon. Havelock Place consisted of around ten
homes mainly occupied by British and Burgher families like that of Edwin
Ludovici a partner of a leading firm of lawyers, C.H.White of Walker &
Sons, R.M.Lawson whose home later owned by T.M.Soysa, and de Kretser who
migrated to Australia in 1946. His son who was in school with me was a tall
gangly youth nicknamed “pol gus maama” for his extraordinary
height. He wrote a letter from Australia stating much to our
envy that he was earning a lot of pocket money during weekends by pasting
labels on IXL jam tins! Next to Havelock
Place stood ‘Park View’ an old
house demolished about thirty years ago, which belonged to R.A.de Mel
former Mayor of Colombo. This house figured prominently in an election
petition that eventually unseated de Mel from his election as M.P. for
Colombo South. Dunstan Martin the Accountant built his home on part of this
property, but passed away not long after of a heart attack. In the house
next door lived Dr C.H.Gunasekera the Chief Medical Officer of the
Municipal Council and well-known sportsman. The sports triangle on the
opposite side of the road included the Colts, the Burgher Recreation Club,
and the Havelock Sports Club. The land was a rubber plantation at the turn
of the century. South of the perk area was Park Road, which was, then a gravel
road that extended to Nawala. The land between Park Road and the Wellawatte Canal
was low lying and was planted with “keerai: the source of most of Colombo’s green
vegetables. It belonged to Ramasamy Reddiar who sold most of it for
redevelopment. Today it is one of the more desirable residential areas of Colombo. Next to Dr
Schokman’s house referred to earlier, stood a cluster of large,
mainly two story bungalows built in the nineteen forties by E.P.A.Fernando
(later Sir Ernest) owner of the Bogala mines. His own residence
Údayasiri’ was away from the main road. One that faced Havelock Road
was named “Siripasiri” and was leased to W.B.Mackay then
Manager of the Bank of Ceylon, and later to the Sun Life Assurance Co at
the time a leading insurance firm in Colombo.
Its Managing Director F.M.Mc Bain lived in this house for several years.
His neighbour next door was Mrs Walteer Peiris whose well-manicured lawns
were always a pleasing sight. In a corner of her garden were two tombstones
to the memory of deceased family members. Dr J.T.Amarasingham a medical
practitioner, also involved in politics lived next door. In the adjoining house
was the Ayurvedic Medical practice of Rev Malewana Gnanissara who was also
a politician of sorts. At the Havelock
Road/Dickmans Road intersection stood an old
cottage named ‘Didi Vila’ belonging to a Maldivian. For some
years it was unoccupied and rumour had it that it was haunted. Sir Ernest
Fernando  constructed Bogala Court on this land in the late
1940s and it was then considered the ultimate in residential flat design.
At the junction was installed the first set of traffic lights in Sri Lanka.
In the first house past the Dickmans
Road intersection on the left was “White
Lea” the home of Dr Serasinghe and of Winston Serasinghe well known
in DRAMSOC circles and rugger player for the C.R. and F.C. He is also
remembered in later years for his stentorian voice often heard encouraging
the C.R. and F.C. team from sidelines. Next door lived Steuart de Silva who
for many years was a member of a trio that played each evening at the
“Pigalle”a nightspot on Galle Rad Colpetty. Further on was
“Chistlehurst” the home of W.S.Fernando. The adjoining house
was that of Dr Seneviratne whose sons Dr K.N.(Bull) and Nihal the former
Secretary General of Parliament rose to eminence in their respective fields
of professional activity. Two doors away lived B.P.(Percy)Peiris who served
as Secretary to the Cabinet of successive Prime Ministers. Percy was a
favourite at the Havelocks Club where his talents as a pianist and penchant
for singing were much appreciated. Former Chief Justice Hema Basnayake,
then a Crown Counsel previously occupied this house. The Agalawattes lived
two doors away. The last house on this stretch before reaching the
Thimbirigasyaya bazaar area was that of Samasamjist Bernard Soysa, later to
become a Minister.
On the opposite side of Havelock Road
adjoining the intersection with Dickmans
Road was ‘Mona’ the home of
Proctor Nicol Samarasinghe, which was demolished in the nineteen fifties to
give way to the modern homes that stand there now. Next door lived Dr
L.C.Gunasekera. A couple of houses away stood “Som Wasa” the
home of the Weerasinghe family that nurtured the well known fraternity of
sportsmen including Oliver (Chief Town Planner), Lionel (Auditor General),
Bertie (Fire Chief), Winnie (Police Officer). The last house on this
stretch adjoining Spathodea
Building was
“Sukhasthan”the home of R.R.Undugodage. Beyond the
Thimbirigasyaya bazaar area was T.F.(Freddie) Jayawardena’s property
on which a motor garage and a Shell Petrol Station stood. Part of the land
was built on during the nineteen sixties. Ad joining the petrol station
lived the Gunawardena family, whose daughter Kusuma was a well known
netball player. A few yards away lived Dr J.R.Wilson specialist in Chest
diseases. Vajira Road
led into Havelock Road
at this point where “Lileena” the residence of Sir Ukwatte
Jayasundera the Secretary of the United National Party in the fifties,
stands. His Chevrolet with registration CY1 was quite an attraction in the
area. Colonel Stanley Fernando who designed it with its façade of
Corinthian pillars originally owned the house. The building now houses the
popular restaurant
Jade Gardens.
Next-door was the home of lawyer “Spotty” Sunderampillai.
Former Supreme Court Judge F.H.B.Koch Q.C. lived in the adjoining house
“Bramble Court”
set in a beautifully maintained garden. In one corner was a splendid
conifer Araucaria Cookii, and
just at the entrance to the driveway was a striking clump of Agave Americana Variegata or the
Century plant. The walls of the house were covered with ivy, neatly clipped
in a line about a metre lower from roof level. F.H.B.Koch also owned a
countryseat in Talahena called Blue Lagoon, which was later to become a
tourist hotel. H.T.Roslyn Koch Managing Director of Colombo Apothecaries Co
lived in “Glenrose” next door. He had a beautifully tended
garden mainly of colourful perennials thriving luxuriantly off the cattle
manure that his plump Cape
Cows generated. His
daughter Kathleen La Brooy ran a school for dressmakers in later years.
Both these homes are no longer visible from the road, as modern flats stand
on the beautiful gardens that once existed there. On Gower Street abutting Havelock Road
was Dr Lance Fernando’s house, which was next to “St
Clair” the home of Dr Rex de Costa the war veteran who was tragically
gunned down in Deniyaya during the 1971 insurrection. Further on at 106
lived Dr G.R.Handy eminent cardiologist, whose neighbour at No 100 was
lawyer C.R.Gunaratne in a residence of more recent vintage. The University
Hostel “Aquinas Hall” was a few yards away. It was earlier the home
of lawyer J.A.P.Cherubim.
On the opposite side was the
Police Training School built originally in
1924, with several residential flats for police officers being added over
the years. At the entrance to Lauries
Road was the petrol service station owned by
S.De S Jayasinghe M.P. who also ran the Gamini Bus Co, which piled on this
route. His buses often made unscheduled stops for fuel here, much to the
annoyance of commuters. Beyond Lauries
Road was the Modern Chinese Cafe of the
M.C.C., one of the earliest Chinese restaurants in suburban Colombo and a popular
rendezvous for young people. Its owner Shu was a versatile man excelling in
tropical fish breeding and orchid culture. Rienzi Toussaint of the Post
Office Savings Bank previously occupied the house. Across the road at No 3
Havelock Road lived Edmund Wilson in his house “Tamund” which
is now a vegetarian restaurant. At No 7 was a two storeyed house purchased
in the nineteen fifties by Sam P.C.Fernando. Next door lived Ivor de Saram
in his home Áberdour’ and in the adjoining house lived Royal College
Master R.C. van der Wall who ran a boarding house in the nineteen twenties.
One of its occupants was a young Colvin R de Silva then making his mark as
a boxer in the Royal
College boxing team.
Municipal Surveyor Derek Swan lived two doors away at No 25. The Thunmulla
Junction was known for its many accidents and for the various endeavours
made by the Municipal Council to ensure road safety. For several years it
was a crossroad junction. A roundabout was tried next without much success,
then a set of traffic lights, and once again by a roundabout. A.E.R. Paul a
member of the Royal Collage cricket team was fatally run over by a truck at
this spot in 1928. Twenty years later a master at Royal College
met with a  similar fate at this spot while
riding his bicycle home after school. Reid Avenue commences from Thunmulla
Junction and runs through the ‘educational triangle’, then
consisting of the University College, Royal
College, and the Training College
on the left, and the Havelock
racecourse on the right. The offices of the Dutch Burgher Union stand
facing Thunmulla Junction. In the adjoining property was the surgery of Dr
Alan Rutnam. Senator A.M.Samarasinghe’s house was next close to
Adam’s Avenue in which lived Banking magnate N.U.Jayawardena. At the
corner with Thurstan Road
was a bare block of land, which subsequently became Oasis Nurseries run by
a former employee of the original enterprise in Havelock Town.
Next door was the ornate “Lankshmigiri” originally owned by the
de Soysa family and now with the Adamjee Lukmanjee family.
Royal College faces
Racecourse Avenue, which on its opposite side provides frontage to the
urban walawwa “The Maligawa” which belongs to J.P.Obeyserkera
and is much the same structure as it, was half a century ago. The Maligawa
originally stood on 9 acres of land bought from the crown for Rs 39,000 in
1893 by Mrs Cornelia Obeysekera. The house was at one time the Royal
College hostel and to this day has two fives courts on its extensive
grounds. At the entrance to Racecourse
Avenue stood the statue of Sir Solomon Dias
Bandaranaike erected in his honour in 1940 by the Ceylon Turf Club and the
public. Sir Solomon died in 1946 and the Turf Club paid him the unique
tribute of erecting his statue during his lifetime. Bordering Guilford Crescent
was the Cinnamon Gardens Police Station built in the nineteen twenties and
then considered a model structure for police stations in the colonies.
The Colombo Racecourse,
which opened for racing in 1893, was considered the best in terms of
design, facilities, and size in the East. The opening of its electric
totalisator in 1922 was quite a technological achievement of the time, the
only one in the East, though there were several in Australia where it was invented
by a son of a Bishop. Today the buildings and the extensive grounds of the
racecourse are part of the University
Of Colombo and also
houses the Department of National Archives. At the Reid Avenue end of Guilford Crescent and facing the side
of the Police Station stood the home of Dr D.J.T.Leanage.
On Torrington Avenue near its
intersection with Reid Avenue
stood “Newton” the home of the
silver tongued H.V.Perera Q.C. the leading lawyer of the time who dominated
the appeal courts of Colombo
for several decades. Next door lived Dr Noel Bartholomeusz a leading
surgeon of the time. Sir John Tarbat lived here in the house then called
‘Keston’ before he moved to the Galle Face Court. J.V.Collins the
Government Analyst lived in the neighbouring house called
‘Dunafanaghy’. In a cottage on the opposite side was the home
of Nihal Gunaserkera a successful criminal lawyer who passed away
comparatively early in life. The house was demolished in the nineteen
sixties and in its place a two storeyed was built by the late Tulsetha de
Soysa. At the intersection of Torrington
Avenue with Alexandra Place was the home of
A.S.Berwick a Director of Lee Hedges and Co. Opposite the old Sinhalese
Sports Club grounds is St Bridget’s Convent. Its buildings included a
house called “The Firs” built in 1890 and donated to the
convent by Charles Peiris’ family. On the nature strip in front of
the convent was a fine specimen of Diospyros
Ebenum or the Ebony Tree, the only one of its kind in the whole of Colombo. It is no
longer there. Next to the convent was “Hurst Green” the home of
Professor W.S.Osman Hill. He had a menagerie of apes and monkeys in cages
around his home, which attracted the attention of passers by. The house was
demolished in the nineteen fifties and in its place stands several modern
houses. At the corner of Alexandra
Road and Horton Place was
‘Abbotsleigh’ the home of A.R.H.Canekeratne Judge of the
Supreme Court. It is now the office of the Development Finance Corporation.
Adjoining the entrance to Barnes
Place was Alexandra House the home of the
Armitages who were the principal coffee merchants during the coffee days of
the nineteenth century. For the past four or five decades it has been the
home to Alexandra Colege. Next-door was “Homelea” long the
residence of the de Saram family. Adjoining the entrance to Rosmead Place
was the residence of Mr W.W.Berry Director of Bosanquet and Skrine. This
house too was demolished in the nineteen fifties for sub division. The Colombo Town Hall
completed in 1928 overlooked Victoria Park and was the geographical centre
of the city of Colombo.
Several other notable buildings stood around this area such as the
Moemeddan Mosque, and the Victoria
Memorial Eye
Hospital all relics
of architectural styles of a bygone era. The main roundabout facing the Eye Hospital was called Liptons Circus
and thereafter the De Soysa
Circle. The statue of C.H.de Soysa the
nineteenth century philanthropist occupies centre stage in the circle. The
adjacent roundabout holds a memorial fountain to commemorate the life of
George Wall legislator, and merchant of nineteenth century Ceylon,
held in high regard in the country.
As could be seen from these
descriptions recalled from memory, Havelock Road was the principal links
between Central and South Colombo. A good
cross section of the community of Colombo
lived there enjoying the social, recreational, educational and career
opportunities that inevitably arose from living in close proximity to the
city centre. Fifty years ago there were more people from the British and
Burgher communities living in Colombo
and that was represented in the Havelock
Road microcosm. Life was less complicated, and
probably more ‘family and friend’ orientated than is possibly
today. In that day and age, the school, the club, the employer, and the
cinema played a greater role in people'’ lives than today where
modern technology plays a dominant role through the computer, television,
and other electronic devices. Although names after a colonial Governor, Sir
Arthur Havelock, the road commemorates much of the life and times of a
bygone era, and hopefully its name would remain unchanged.
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From The Ceylankan No.11 (Vol.III No.3)
July 2000
I’ve been having a ball over the last few
months researching both my family line and its extensions, and those of
many others. Recently digging into my Ceylon family name of Barber, I
made a startling discovery. I had reached a point in time where there was
no evidence of the family prior to that date. The earliest Barber I could
find was a Michael Barber, who had a son born to himself and Isabella
Agnita Ferdinands (Ferdinandus), named Johannes Koenrath Barber (now
there’s a good set of English names!!), in December 1782. Shortly
after establishing this fact, I was perusing the DRC Wolvendaal registers
and stumbled across a Michael Parbe who married Isabella Agnita Ferdinands
in February 1782. Surely this was too much of a coincidence (10 months
after the marriage date a son!! 2 people with almost the same name!!) for
them not be the same people. Michael Parbe must have become Michael
Barber!!
But why would this be?
 The records stated Michael Parbe was a
soldier from Frankenberg,
Germany.
Parbe would be pronounced in German, "Parber".
I was told that the Barbers originated in
England,
yet the son’s name and subsequent grandchildren had German/Dutch
Christian names rather than English.
My research into English records
couldn’t find a match or possible match to this person.
If he was English why was he on the Island before the "English Period"?
A likely scenario is that Michael Parbe changed
his surname to Barber not just for better pronunciation but also to
anglicise his family name. In doing so he would be able to assimilate into
the English circles and gain acceptance. From all the history and data I
have obtained on the Barbers in Ceylon, this anglicising of the family was
done with great success, so much so that position, social standing and land
possession in Ceylon & England, were obtained by the Barber family.
This may be a little premature thinking, as the Brits had not even got to
the Island at that time.
But perhaps a more likely possibility is the
re-writing of the church records after the advent of the Brits. A S. Mottau
typed the Wolvendaal records up long after the English take over in 1796.
To my knowledge the typewriter was not in general use until the late 1800s.
By that time, Parbe had become Barber to all and sundry, so it is only by
careful scrutiny, particularly of dates, that changes of names can be
identified with accuracy. (Later... it looks likely that Mr Mottau wrote
the records in the 1960s and ‘70s!!! this would explain the free use
of the typewriter)
My understanding of names and surnames in Ceylon
as grown in leaps and bounds. New avenues and lines of research have opened
where previously dead ends would occur. I already was aware of the common
practice for first names like Johannes Henricus to be anglicised to John
Henry now I can search for similar surname changes.
I have listed some of the many surname changes
found thus far and the reasons being many, varied, and even unexplainable.
Jongklaas became Jonklaas; Micheaux – Misso;
de Vry – de Fry; Ferdinandsz – Ferdinands – Ferdinand;
Honter – Hunter; de Zilva – de Zilva-van Twest (marriage to van
Twest) – van Twest; Speldewinde – de Boer; Cook – Cooke;
Danielsz – Daniels; Gaenger – Ginger.
Editor’s note.....In my own research I found one of my early
forebears was a Schultz(e). This name happened to be the pseudonym of Count
Von Ranzow who had left his German homeland under some sort of cloud, went
to Ceylon
in the 1700s and worked for the Dutch authorities and married under the
name of Schultz. Of course his progeny became Schultzs. Von Ranzow later
went back to Germany
and married Baroness Breckenburg and had two more sons.- David Goodrich
More on this......
It appears that Joost Kelaar and his children changed their name
from Kelaar to Kelaart. The children are entered in the DRC Wolvendaal
Registry as Kelaar (Kelaart) and what was listed as Salem is actually Solomon. The entry at
the top of the list has the heading KELAART (KELAAR). In the marriage
registry the children of Joost are listed as Kelaar. It would be right to
say that a surname change took place around 1745.
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