Vol. LXV1I January - December 1993 Nos. 1 - 4 "Eenifracht Maakt Macht" CONTENTS PAGE Editors Note 01 THE DUTCH BURGHER UNION COMMEMORATES 84TH FOUNDER'S DAY 02 FURTHER INFORMATION CONCERNING THE EXAMINER by Francis Bevan 04 4. CEYLON IN 1864 by L. E. Blaze 07 5. DR. LUCIAN DE ZILWA by Percy Colin-Thome 10 VANGEYZEL — CEYLON'S FIRST OLYMPIC ATHLETE — by S. S. Perera 16 7. Addendum Family of HeiTt of Ceylon 21 8. Dutch Burgher Union of Ceylon, General Committee 22 Boys' Industrial Home, Wellawatte. Journal of the Dutch Burgher Union of Ceylon Vol. LXVI1 JANUARY - DECEMBER, 1993 Nos. 1-4 EDITOR'S NOTE The DBU notes with deep regret the recent death of Miss M. W. Jurriaanse who for several years used her expertise to assist the Government Archivist, Mr. J. H. O. Paulusz and his deputy, Mr. S. A. W. Mottau, in catalogu• ing the archives of the Dutch Central Government in Ceylon. Her invaluable services, which were requested by the Govern• ment of Ceylon, were amply fulfilled with the pubhcation of her monumental Catalogue of the Archives of the Dutch Central Government of Coastal Ceylon (1640-1796) in 1943. During her stay in Ceylon she kept in touch with the DBU and befriended many of the members of the Union. Her death is a sad loss to The Netherlands and Sri Lanka, One of the main functions of the DBU today is its social service work. We help 132 pensioners. Last Christmas 112 pensioners received Rs. 1050/- each while 20 received Rs. 1200/- each, thanks largely to the generous contribution of the Burgher Welfare League of Western Australia and contributions by members of the DBU. St. Nicholaas' Home has a new look today thanks to the drive of our President Mr. Harold Speldewinde aided by generous contributions mainly from our friends in Australia. The quality of the meals at the Home has improved dramati• cally and the garden is 'a thing of beauty'. The main building of the DBU in Reid Avenue has also received a new coat of paint and with several improve• ments made inside the building, especially in the office room, it looks a building worthy of our community. 3 anniversary celebrations was the Governor, the late THE DUTCH BURGHER UNION Sir Andrew Galdecott. Sir Andrew Galdecott replying COMMEMORATES 84TH FOUNDER'S DAY to the toast by the President indicated that it was a matter of great pride to be among the Dutch Burgher The President of the Dutch Burgher Union, Mr. Harold community and in fact he was very elated when he was Speldewinde recounted the great achievement of Richard invited. He said he believed that common interest is the Gerald Anthonisz in founding the Dutch Burgher Union on great leveller of men, and this he found in abundance at the 18th January 1908. He served as Secretary of the Union Dutch Burgher Union. from 1908 until 1916, in which year he became the President and served until he passed away on 3rd January 1930. The President further went on to state that those who followed Richard Anthonisz in Office as Presidents of the There were 3 men who helped Richard Anthonisz in Union always maintained the objectives of the Founder and the founding of the Dutch Burgher Union, and they were that was to look after the old and infirm and the young and M/s. H. P. Beling, W. de Rooy and E. H. Vanderwall who needy of the community and to live in harmony with all were convinced that communal harmony could be achieved communities. This is more evident today than it has ever by founding a Union through bonds of friendship amongst been. At the monthly get-together the members and their the community. guests experience the warmth of the Institution. Mr. Beling said of Richard Anthonisz "if he had not The transformation of St. Nikolaas' Home into one of the achieved his objective no one would have. His life was one best Homes in the Country stands out as one of the many of service to others, be it rich or poor. He always shared achievements of the Union over the past few years. his anecdotes with his guests and led a life which was an inspiration to others". The President further went on to state that today we are in this building which would not have been possible if His Son, Mauritz, followed his father's footsteps and not for the pioneering work of Mr. de Rooy whose untiring did everything possible to help the Union. efforts made it possible for this building with its elegant architecture to have been built 79 years ago. We must Mr. Speldewinde went on to mention that in the 1920s preserve this Institution for posterity. He urged the mem• and 1930s the founding of the Dutch Burgher Union was bers to continue to uphold the traditions of this great Insti• commemorated in the months of January or February each tution in the years ahead. year until the year 1943 when the [late Mr. Kenneth de Kretser was President, and it was decided that Founder's At the conclusion of the President's speech, Mrs. Babs Day should be on the day that Richard Anthonisz was born, Speldewinde cut the anniversary cake. A typical Dutch which was the 22nd of October. Since then Founder's dinner followed, whilst Peter Prins provided the music until Day has been commemorated on the 22nd of October each late into the night. year. In 1938 when the late Dr. R. L. Spittel was President of the Dutch Burgher Union, the Chief Guest at the 30th 5 FURTHER INFORMATION CONCERNING Queen's Advocate (or Attorney-General) of the island. THE EXAMINER The subscription list, however, continued to be limited, though the paper commanded considerable influence. Early Francis Beven1 in 1859 it passed from the hands of Mr. Selby, on his ap• pointment to the District Judgeship of Colombo, to those of a ..The Examiner started in Colombo in January, 1846, syndicate of lawyers, at the head of which was Mr. C. A. and the Times, which made its bow on July 1st in the same Lorenz, then a brilliant young lawyer of thirty, with a lead• year, both lived considerably longer [than the Ceylon Ad• ing practice in the Colombo Courts and a seat in the Legis• vertiser and General Intelligence], and did excellent service to the lative Council as Burgher Member. The other holders of public and the country. shares were Mr. (afterwards Sir) Henry Dias; Mr. C. L. Ferdinands, who died while District Judge of Colombo; The Examiner was intended to be a mercantile organ, Mr. Advocate James de Alwis, the great Oriental scholar; and was first owned by a few Colombo merchants. It and Mr. J. A. Dunuwille, the distinguished Kandyan ad• evidently had to battle against difficulties from the outset. vocate. The first authentic information available in regard to this journal is that in 1848 it passed into the hands of Mr. R. E. After a short period during which Mr. Louis Nell, his Lewis, of the firm of Parlett, O'Halloran and Co., who had brother-in-law, acted as editor, Mr. Lorenz himself assumed arrived in the island in 1841 as a young man of twentyfour. the editorship, with Mr. (afterwards Sir Samuel) Grenier as He advanced his savings on the security of the paper, and sub-editor. On Mr. Grenier's appointment in 1866 to the was obliged to take it over in satisfaction of the debt. He secretaryship of the Colombo Municipality, just established, edited and conducted it himself for five years in the mer• Messrs. Leopold Ludovici and Francis Beven-presently cantile interest, with a special feature in the advocacy of acting as Burgher Member in the Legislative Council - Free Trade, then a new platform. In 1853 he sold the succeeded him, dividing the duties of sub-editorship; and paper to three friends, two of whom were Mr. Cuffe, Regis• they remained in office until 1871, when, on Mr. Lorenz's trar of the Supreme Court, and Mr. John Selby - and left death, they succeeded to his shares in the Examiner under the for England in November of that year. Returning to special terms of his will, and thenceforth for a time con• Ceylon in 1855, Mr. Lewis joined the firm of Darley, Butler ducted the paper jointly as editors. When Mr. Beven moved and Co. After many vicissitudes, he finally left the island to Kandy in 1873 to practise his profession there, he trans• in 1870. He was hale and hearty in England to the end of ferred his interest in the paper to Mr. Ludovici, who thus 1899, but died at Anerley in March, 1990, at the age of became sole editor and proprietor. The paper fell on evil eighty-two. Mr. Lewis's successor as editor of the Examiner times in the later seventies, towards which the financial was Mr. John Selby, an advocate of the Supreme Court, depression caused by the collapse of the coffee industry and brother of Mr. Henry Collingwood Selby, at that time mainly contributed; and after Mr. Ludovici's death it was acquired by a joint-stock company, which included the leading members of the Burgher, Sinhalese, and Tamil 1. This extract is taken f-om an article entitled "The Press" in Twentieth Century communities. Mr. Beven, who retired from the legal pro• Impressions of Ceylon. Compiled by Arnold Wright, London: 1907, pp- 301- fession owing to deafness, then accepted the editorship once 19, the extract being on Page 304.