Coordinates: 6°54′16″N 79°51′40″E / 6.90444°N 79.86111°E / 6.90444; 79.86111

Royal College Colombo
Latin: Disce aut Discede ("Learn or Depart") Latin: Floreat ("Flourish")
Location
Colombo Sri Lanka
Information
Type	National
Established	1835
Founder	Sir Robert Wilmot-Horton, 3rd Baronet
Principal	Upali Gunasekara
Grades	Class 1 - 13
Gender	Boys
Age	6 to 19
Enrollment	8000
Colour(s)	Blue and gold
Publication	Royal College Magazine, The Royalist
Former pupils	Old Royalists
Website	www.royalcollege.lk

Royal College^[1] is a selective entry school in Colombo, Sri Lanka. Founded in January 1835, the college's full official name is Royal College Colombo, it is usually referred to simply as "Royal" in Sri Lanka.^[2] It is considered to be the leading public school in Sri Lanka.^[3]

The oldest public school in the country,^[4] it was founded in the British public school tradition and was one of the first schools to be designated as a National School by the Sri Lankan Government. As a national school it is funded by the central government as opposed to the provincial council providing both primary and secondary education. Royal College is often referred to as the Eton of Sri Lanka^[5] and it was selected as one of best innovative colleges in the world by Microsoft in 2009.^[6]

Royal College has produced many distinguished alumni, among whom are presidents of two countries,^[7] a sultan,^[8] and three prime ministers.^[7]

College name [edit]

The school is referred as Royal College in Sri Lanka or simply as "Royal".^[1] Local newspapers also refer to it as "Royal College, College 7" and "Colombo Royal College".^[9] whilst current students of Royal are called "Colombo Royalists"^[10][11]

College [edit]

Royal College Building

Location [edit]

Situated in a quiet residential suburb of Colombo known as the Cinnamon Gardens, it occupies an area of 37 acres (150,000 m²) (with the Sports Complex) along the Rajakeeya Mawatha, boarded by Reid Avenue to the east; Kumarathunga Munidasa Mawatha (formally Thurstan Road) to the west and to the south its former premises which now houses Department of Mathematics of the University of Colombo. Located in close proximity is

Administration [edit]

The college is funded by the Ministry of Education, which appoints its Principal. The Principal is the head of the administration of the College and is assisted by a Vice Principal. The school is divided into three sections: the primary school (the former Royal College Preparatory School), middle school and the upper school, each coming under a deputy principal (the head of the primary school is known as the Headmaster/Headmistress). The college educates close to 9100 students in both secondary and primary education. Administration of the college hostel is carried out by the Warden under supervision of the Principal and is assisted by a Sub-warden.

Since its establishment the main medium of education had been English; however with Sinhala becoming the official language along with Tamil, the medium of education was changed to Sinhala and Tamil. Since 2002 English has been reintroduced as a medium of education at the College. Students may select one of the three mediums in which to conduct their studies.

Admission [edit]

Admission to the school is very competitive. It gets its highest number of applications for admission to grade 1 and the best 250 students from all over the country enter the school in year 5 via the grade 5 scholarship examination.^[12]

Grounds [edit]

The J.R. Jayawardene Pavilion at the main cricket grounds.

The school is located in an area of 37 acres (150,000 m²) where the primary school, the middle school and the upper school are located. It is equipped with facilities such as lecture halls, science and computer laboratories, auditoriums etc. This includes the 'College Hall' and the Navarangahala which is a national theatre. The school hostel is located within the school grounds and it accommodates students from outside Colombo, with around 230 hostelers.

Sport plays a major part in Royal College's activities. The school's facilities include a swimming pool,^[13] cricket and athletics grounds, tennis courts, basketball courts, indoor cricket nets within the school premises. The Royal College Sports Complex and the rugby grounds are located a short distance from the college. The international standard sports complex, built in 2000, hosts national and school sporting events all year round.

War Memorial [edit]

Situated in front of the main building, between the center Boake Gates and the College Main Hall, is the memorial to Old Royalists who died in the two World Wars and the Sri Lankan civil war. The war memorial is located in front of the school's main building. Another memorial plaque is displayed in the entry way to the Navarangahala bearing the names of 47 Old Royalists who were killed in action in the civil war.^[14]

History [edit]

Old College Building (1911-1921), now the University of Colombo

Joseph Marsh, the acting colonial chaplain at St. Paul's Church established a school named the Hill Street Academy in 1835, as a private institution with 20 students, mainly from the upper class community situated at Hill Street, Pettah.

The following year in 1836, Sir Robert Wilmot-Horton, the British Governor of Ceylon, based on the recommendations of the Colebrooke Commission re-established it, as the Colombo Academy,^[15] an English public school modeled on Eton College, with Marsh continuing as Head master. The oldest public school on the island with the governor as its patron, it gave to the children of leading Ceylonese an education which would make them fit to be citizens of the British Empire and serve as the principal public school and a model for other government schools that were to be built in Ceylon.^[16] In 1836 the school was moved to San Sebastian Hill, Pettah, (prior to which it was at Maradana, next to Hulftsdorp) it would stay there for another 75 years before being shifted to Thurstan Road. Even though the college had close ties to Anglicanism at its early years, since 1836 it has remained a secular school. In 1859 it was renamed Colombo Academy and Queens College and affiliated to the University of Calcutta. In 1865 the Morgan Committee of inquiry into education recommended that it be reorganized and that scholarships should be awarded to study in University of Oxford.^[15] It became the Colombo Academy once again in 1869.

The Quadrangle.

The first hostel of the Colombo Academy was established in San Sebastian in 1868, establishing it as one of the first boarding schools in Ceylon.

In 1881 it was renamed Royal College Colombo with the royal consent of Queen Victoria. The Gazette Notification giving Her Majesty's approval to change the name of the school appeared on July 31, 1881. The same year the first cadet battalion in Ceylon was formed at the College, attached to the Ceylon Light Infantry. The Royal College Union was formed in 1891 as the first alumni society in the country.

On August 27, 1913 the school was moved to its new building at Thurstan Road (which is now the main building of the University of Colombo).^[17] Ten years later on October 10, 1923 the school moved once again, this time to the newly built Victorian styled building on Reid Avenue, which it still occupies. This move was due to the suggestion made by a higher education committee in 1914, which suggested that Royal College should be converted into a University College. Due to the objections made by members of the Royal College Old Boys Union, especially by the speeches made by Frederick Dornhorst, KC, the then Governor of Ceylon, Lord Chalmers instead created a separate University College named University College Colombo, at the schools former premises which became the University of Colombo in the later years. With the introduction of free education in Ceylon in 1931, Royal stopped charging fees from its students thus proving education free of charge to this day.

The oldest building in school, the former hostel now houses the Grade 7 section.

In 1940 the school was again on the move this time due to the onset of World War II. The school was ordered to move out and the British Army moved in establishing a military hospital in the school buildings by 1941. Principal E.L. Bradby made sure the education of the students was carried on unhindered by moving the students into four private villas (known as bungalows in Ceylon) at Turret Street, Colombo which were the Turret House, Carlton Lodge, Sudarshan House and Firdoshi House. In 1942 the 1-3 forms were shifted to Glendale bungalow in Bandarawela where it was there till 1948. After the war the school was relocated to its old home on Ried Avenue, Colombo.

In August 1977 the Royal Preparatory School was amalgamated to Royal College forming the school's primary school, with it came the county's only national theatre at the time the Navarangahala.

Five years earlier on May 22, 1972 the members of the House of Representatives of the Dominion of Ceylon met at the Royal Primary School Hall (Navarangahala) enacted the Republican Constitution that established the Republic of Sri Lanka.^[18]

School traditions [edit]

Royal College motto on top of the main building

The College motto is "Disce aut Discede", meaning "Learn or Depart" in Latin. The motto is associated with the high academic standard maintained at the school for over hundred and seventy five years. First mentions of the motto appearer during the tenure of Principal George Todd (1871–1878). "Floreat", meaning "Flourish" also in Latin has been a motto associated with school since the founding of the Colombo Academy in 1836. Derived from "Floreat Etona", the motto of Eton College on which the academy was modeled on at its formation. Although the school had affiliations with the Anglican Church, it is a secular school with students of all faiths admitted.

College song [edit]

The College song is "School of Our Fathers", which is sung at the start of the school day and on important occasions. The words of the song were written by Major H.L.Reed, a Principal of the school in 1927. The music was later revised by S. Schmid.

In 1968, a shorter version of the college song in Sinhala was composed on the instructions of the Principal by the same combination which composed the first song (Messrs W.A. Wickramasena and S.J.F. Dissanayake). It is sung at the end of the school day.

Prefectorial system [edit]

In addition to the teachers, four categories^[19] of senior boys are entitled to maintain school discipline. Boys who belong to any of three categories of prefects, are entitled to wear a silver college crest on their uniform and dress in an all white uniform.

• Senior Prefect:, the most senior prefectorial group, who makes up the Prefects Council. Selected on academics, sports and extra-curricular achievements, they are appointed on a probationary basis after completing the final exams at school (GCE Advanced Level). Of these only a handful are appointed as Senior Prefects. Since they have completed the final exams there are in fact older than any of the other students and effectively stay an extra year at school, their disciplinary powers extend to all students of the school. From amongst the Senior Prefects are chosen the Head Prefect to lead all prefects of the college and the Prefects' Top Board, which consists of the Head Prefect (HP), the Senior Deputy Head Prefect (SDHP) and three or four Deputy Head Prefects (DHP). Notable head prefects include: J. R. Jayewardene, Sepala Attygalle, Ranjan Madugalle & Neville Kanakeratne.
• Steward: selected from students in grade 12, assist the senior prefects to exercise discipline in Upper School (grades 10, 11).
• Junior Prefect: selected from students in grade 9 (grade 8, until 1998), their disciplinary powers are limited to the students of Middle School (grades 6, 7, 8 & 9).
• Primary Prefect: selected from students in grade 5, their disciplinary powers are limited to the students of the Primary School (grades 1, 2, 3, 4 & 5).^[20]

Houses [edit]

One of the Boake Gates, adorn with the pre-1954 crest.

The students are divided into five houses. Formally four houses were established in 1918 by Principal Hartley with the names Cinnamon Gardens, Bambalapitiya North and South and Colpetty. They were renamed in 1921 with names are derived from past headmasters and principals of the college by Principal Major H. L Reed. In 1970 the fifth house was established in memory of Principal Reed. The houses are led by House Captains, competing in all major games to win the inter-house games and house colours are awarded winners. The houses are:

Hartley House

• Colours :Pink & Blue
• Established :1918

Harward House

• Colours :Pink & Grey
• Established :1918

Marsh House

• Colours :Pink & Brown
• Established :1918

Boake House

• Colours :Red & Black
• Established :1918

Reed House

• Colours :Red & White
• Established :1970

Awards [edit]

Interior of the Royal College Main Hall, listing the Panel Prizes on its walls.

There are 165 endowed prizes and awards. The College Main Hall carries the names of those students who have won the Panel Prizes. The most coveted prize at Royal is the Dornhorst Memorial Prize, awarded (since 1930) to the most popular student each year, in the memory of Frederick Dornhorst, KC, followed by the Lalith Athulathmudali Memorial Prize for the most outstanding Royalist of the year. The Turnour Prize awarded since 1846 is the oldest of the panel prizes. Prizes are awarded at the prize-giving under the patronage of the President of Sri Lanka (earlier under the patronage of the Governor of Ceylon).

The Royal Crown, the most prestigious award a sportsman can achieve at Royal, is awarded each year at the Colours Night to a sportsman who has made outstanding achievements in his field of sports while Colours are awarded to other players who have made significant contributions in the sporting arena.

Scholarship and prizes [edit]

Trophies and sports scholarships [edit]

• Col. T.G. Jayawardena Memorial Shield
• Maalin Dias Sports Scholarship
• E L Bradby - J C A Corea Prize
• Grp. Capt. D.S. Wickremasinghe Memorial Prize

Endowments [edit]

Sports [edit]

Sport is a major part of Royal College, with over 21 different sports played. Taking center stage of the annual sporting calendar are the Royal-Thomian (Big Match), the Bradby and the Regatta.

Other sports played at Royal include;

Royal-Thomian [edit]

A Royal flag at the 128th Royal Thomian

Cricket has been played at the school since 1838 and the Royal College Cricket Club was formed in 1878 by Ashley Walker. The annual cricket match, The Big Match played against the school's traditional rival, S. Thomas' College, Mt Lavinia is the second longest uninterrupted cricket match series in the world.^[21] The original match was played between the Colombo Academy and St Thomas' College in 1879, with schoolmasters participating as well as schoolboys. From 1880 onwards, only schoolboys were allowed to play in the match.^[22]

Until 2006 the tally stands with both schools winning 33 each and 61 drawn. This is preceded by the Cycle Parade which usually happens on the day before the big match, with the official objective of visiting the captain's house to encourage him.

Royal-Trinity Bradby Shield Encounter [edit]

The annual rugby encounter against friendly rival Trinity College, Kandy is the Blue Riband of schools' rugby in Sri Lanka. Rugby was introduced at Royal in 1916, and the first historic match against Trinity was played in 1920. The Bradby Shield was first presented in 1945 by the departing Principal of Royal College, E. L. Bradby. Since 1945, two matches have taken place each year, one in Kandy and the other in Colombo. The Shield is awarded to the school that gets the highest aggregate of points in the two match series.

The Centenary match between the two schools was the second leg encounter played in 1983 - the Chief Guest was Mr E.L Bradby himself. The 2008 second leg match will be the 150th match between the two schools.

The 2002 Bradby encounter was the highest scoring encounter for Royal, led by Zulki Hamid, winning a record (39-00) in the first leg held in Colombo and winning the second leg (44-00) in Kandy, thus winning the Bradby Shield with a record aggregate of 83 - 00.

The 2009 Bradby first leg was won by Royal (23 - 12) in Kandy. The second leg was also won by Royal (31 - 15) in Colombo. Thus Royal wins the Bradby for 2009 with an aggregate of 53 - 27.

Royal-Thomian Regatta [edit]

Royal (nearside) winning the Junior Pairs 2007 in a record time.

Royal was the first school to start its own rowing program in 1953. The Regatta is the annual regatta between Royal College and S. Thomas' College, Mt Lavinia. The Boat Race which is a coxed fours event began in 1962. By 1966, it broadened out to give rise to the regatta having a card of six events, made up of 2 Single Sculls, 2 Coxless Pairs and 2 Coxed Fours. The events take place at the Beira lake (alongside the Colombo Rowing Club) in Colombo around October each year with the T. N. Fernando Trophy awarded to the overall winner.

In 2007, under the captaincy of Maalik Aziz, Royal won the regatta with a record 40 points to nil, for the first time in its history. The Royal College Crew created records in all six events including a record for the Boat Race with a timing of 3 mins 11 secs (elapsing the previous record of 3mins 19secs).

Extra-curricular [edit]

Clubs and societies [edit]

The college magazine and the library started in 1837. Today there are over 60 clubs and societies.

Some of these are;

Expeditions [edit]

Organized by the Adventure Club, students have undertaken several expeditions;

• 1996 Himalayas
• 2001 Gokio Peak^[23]

Music [edit]

Entrance to the Navarangahala.

The college as a strong association with the study of music, both western and oriental. The College Choir and the Royal College Orchestra which is part of the Western Music Society (formally the Royal College Music Society) has a long and rich history. Performances are held at the College Hall and at the Navarangahala, the later designed specifically for oriental performance and in recent times at the newly constructed Nelum Pokuna Performing Arts Theatre. There are several marching bands including the Senior Cadet Band Platoon, Middle School Western Band, Junior Western Band and the Oriental Band.

The annual musical festival SAGA organized by the School Development Society with the assistance of alumni has become an important event on Colombo's cultural calendar.^[24]

Drama [edit]

Many plays are put on every year at Royal, organized by the English Drama Society (formally the Royal College Dramatic Society) and the Sinhala Drama Society. Sinhala and Tamil drama productions are hosted at the college's main theatre; the Navarangahala which is specially designed for local drama and music which required open air type auditorium in accordance to Natya Shastra. English language productions are hosted at the Lionel Wendt which is situated in close proximity to the school. The school has a smaller theatre, called the 'Little Theatre' which is currently in use by the Royal College Film Society screening of classical and contemporary films.^[25] Productions are staged regularly by alumni, organized by the Old Royalists Association of Dramatists and the Royal College Union.^[26]

Cadet Contingent [edit]

The Royal College Cadet Corps is the oldest school cadet contingent in Sri Lanka. It was the first cadet battalion to be formed in a school in Ceylon in 1881, attached to the Ceylon Light Infantry soon after its own formation that year. Later named the Royal College Volunteer Corps, it was attached to the Ceylon Volunteers by the Volunteer Gazette of 1905. 1979 a Senior Cadet Band Platoon was added and in 2007 Royal was one of two schools to establish the first Air Force Cadet platoons in the country.

Both the Cadet Contingent and Senior Cadet Band Platoon have performed well, gaining claim as two of the finest units in the country. Over the years the Cadet Contingent has won the Hermanloose Trophy on many years annually and Senior Cadet Band Platoon has won the Lt.Gen. T.I. Weerathunga Trophy ten times.

School magazines [edit]

The college magazine dates back to 1837^[27] when The Colombo Academy Miscellany and Juvenile Repository was published on a monthly basis^[27] during the time of headmaster Rev. Joseph Marsh. The Royal College Magazine the official school magazine was first published in 1893 and was printed at the Times of Ceylon Press, its first editor was E. W. Perera. The magazine was published till the 1970s by the school press,^[27] edited by boys at the school. Its publication resumed in 1993 and has continued since. ^[27][28] Its editors include J. R. Jayawardene, Christopher Weeramantry, Lalith Athulathmudali, M. C. Sansoni, N. E. Weerasooriya, F. C. de Saram, Pieter Keuneman, Lakshman Wickremasinghe, Neville Kanakeratne and B St. E de Bruin.^[29]

The Royalist is the school paper, published every quarter.

Principals and head masters [edit]

The Principal's Bungalow.

The Rev. J.H. Marsh, Snr served as the first Head Master of the Colombo Academy. With the appointment's of J.F. Haslam in 1948 the post of the head of the Academy was renamed as Principle, which continues to this day. J.C.A. Corea became the first Ceylonese (Sri Lankan) Principal when he took office in 1946.

Alumni [edit]

Past pupils of Royal College Colombo are known as Old Royalists, they include many distinguished figures. The school has produced the first Executive President of Sri Lanka J. R. Jayewardene; the longest serving President of the Maldives Maumoon Abdul Gayoom;^[7] the last Sultan of the Maldives Muhammad Fareed Didi^[8] and also three Prime Ministers of Sri Lanka, including General Sir John Kotalawela and Ranil Wickremasinghe.

Many of the prominent leaders of the independence movement in the early twentieth century including Anagarika Dharmapala, E.W.Perera, Sir James Peiris, Sir Ponnambalam Arunachalam, Sir Ponnambalam Ramanathan and C.A. Hewavitharne were educated at the Colombo Academy.

The school's alumni also include Shirley Amerasinghe (President of the United Nations General Assembly), Gamani Corea (Secretary-General of the UNCTD), Christopher Weeramantry (Vice President of the International Court of Justice), Sir Nicholas Attygalle (First Sri Lankan Vice Chancellor), V. K. Samaranayake (Founder of the UCSC), Mohan Munasinghe (Vice Chairman of the IPCC) and General Deshamanya Sepala Attygalle (First Sri Lankan Four-star General).

Royal College Union [edit]

The Royal College Union (RCU) is the alumni society (old boys association) for the college and was founded in 1891 and as such it is the oldest such alumni society in Sri Lanka. The Royal College Union was set up to further the interests of the College and its past and present members, and to keep former pupils in touch with each other and with the school. Annually the RCU organizes many sporting events including the Royal-Thomian, the Bradby Shield Encounter, the Royal Thomian Regatta as well as national initiatives such as EDEX and carry out development projects for the college.

Royal and other schools [edit]

Royal College's maintains a century old rivalry with S. Thomas' College, Mount Lavinia as well as close ties with Trinity College, Kandy. Royal has long had a familial relationship with C.M.S. Ladies' College, Colombo : several families who chose to send their sons to Royal also chose to send their daughters to Ladies College, and many Old Royalists over the years have married alumni of C.M.S. Ladies' College, Colombo.

In 1945, Minister of Education C. W. W. Kannangara began the establishment of central colleges (Madhya Maha Vidhyala) as part of the Free Education policy to provide secondary education for the rural masses, he modeled these schools on the general structure of Royal College Colombo.

Although there are several schools in parts of the island that have adapted the name Royal College in the post-independence era even after Sri Lanka became a republic in 1972; none have links to Royal College Colombo.

In popular culture [edit]

• In Martin Wickramasinghe's novel Kaliyugaya which was made into a film by Lester James Peries, the character Allan is an old Royalist.
• In the last part of Carl Muller's trilogy Once Upon a Tender Time, the central character Carlaboy von Bloss of the final story studies at Royal.^[30]
• In Nihal De Silva's novel The Giniralla Conspiracy, a protagonist, Mithra Dias had studied at Royal College as well as the antihero Kumudu Prasanna.
• In Martin Wickramasinghe's novel Yuganthaya which was made into a film by Lester James Peries, the character Malin is an old Royalist.

Notable incidents [edit]

• On the May 22, 1972 the House of Representatives of the Dominion of Ceylon met at the Royal Primary School Hall (now known as the Navarangahala) to finalize and approve the Republic Constitution, thereby proclaimed establishment of the Republic of Sri Lanka.
• During construction of the school's new building it was hit by an aircraft that was trying the establish the record for the first flight over Ceylon in November 1911.^[31][32]

Lineage [edit]

See also [edit]

• Education in Sri Lanka
• National Cadet Corps
• List of Ceylonese organizations with royal prefix

Publications [edit]

• Perera, S.S., History of Royal College
• Fernando, M.L., History of Royal College – 1985 to 2010^[33]
• Seneviratne, D.L., The Royal College "School of our Fathers" (Colombo, Lake House)

References [edit]

External links and sources [edit]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Royal College, Colombo

Official

• Royal College
• Royal College student information

Publications

• Royal College Magazine

Library

• Royal College Library

Alumni

• Royal College Union

Sports

• Royal College Rowing Club

Student Society

• The official web site of the 42nd Colombo "Royal College" Scout Group
• Royal College Radio Club website
• FMRoyal Website (The official radio station of Royal College)
• Media Unit of Royal College
• Youtube channel of Royal College
• Royal College Library Readers Association
• Royal College Tamil Literary Association

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