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Hugh Karunanayake

HOMES ON THURSTAN ROAD/ CAMBRIDGE PLACE 75 YEARS AGO-by Hugh Karunanayake Regina Walawwa now College House Source:Island Seventy five years ago, the Thurstan Road/ Cambridge Place thoroughfare was one of the most picturesque in Colombo. It was lined on either side by gigantic specimens of flamboyant, or flame of the forest tree (poinciana regia), the saman tree (samanea saman) and the kaha mal or cassia fistula. The tree lined avenues provided a restful and shady canopy over the road. During the months of April and May when the avenues were in full bloom this stretch of road was most colourful and attractive, and indeed a magnificent spectacle – a remarkable living legacy from the spacious days of the city in the past. Those were the days when Colombo was renowned the world over as the “garden city of the East.” The trees were planted around 1920, following a report by Professor Patrick Geddes, ...

Apr 4, 2023 Posted by In Articles, Hugh Karunanayake Tagged , ,
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The early years of Dickmans Road and its environs-by Hugh Karunanayake Source:Island Dickmans Road in Bambalapitiya was given its name at the end of the 19th century. The road itself connecting Galle Road to Havelock Road (then called Bambalapitiya Road) existed even before the 1880s and at the time was one of the few roads linking the western seaboard with Colombo’s hinterland, but in its early years did not have a name. There is no information available on how the road got its name. It was possibly after Cornelius Dickman a descendant from the Dutch who compiled and published a Manual of the Ceylon Civil Service. He was appointed to the Civil Service in 1868 and was Assistant Auditor General for 18 years before he retired in 1886. He however lived most of his life in Dematagoda, so there is a question mark against that possibility. ...

Feb 14, 2023 Posted by In Articles, Hugh Karunanayake Tagged ,
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The Lost Boy From Ceylon SWRD’s sister who vanished from Ceylon with her adopted son-by Hugh Karunanayake Source:Island Anna Florentina Dias Bandaranaike was the elder daughter of the wealthy Sir Solomon Dias Bandaranaike and was born at the turn of the 20th Century in June 1900, one and a half years after the birth of her elder brother S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike, later to be Prime Minister of Ceylon. Anna’s mother Daisy Ezlynne was the daughter of Sir Christoffel Obeyesekera, and was herself an heiress. The Bandaranaike children were to inherit extensive wealth in the form of coconut estates and house property in Colombo. Both SWRD and his sister Anna were born in Elie House, Mutwal, a stately home of which Sir Solomon’s family were the last occupants, before it was acquired by the Government for building a reservoir on its grounds. Anna was surrounded by wealth, and her early years were ...

Dec 7, 2022 Posted by In Articles, Hugh Karunanayake Tagged ,
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