Robert Knox Memorial – tribute to a British Traveler

By Arundathie Abeysinghe

Located at Eladatte in Lagundeniya about 12 kilometers from Gampola town, this memorial is a tribute to *Robert Knox who lived in *Ceylon for almost 20 years as a captive of *King Rajasinghe II, the ruler of the Kandyan Kingdom. 

Robert Knox was an English Sea Captain who served in the British East India Company. In 1659, when the ship he was sailing had a malfunction and landed in Ceylon, he was captured by King Rajasinghe II along with 15 other sailors and they were prisoners of the Kandyan Kingdom till he finally escaped to England (present United Kingdom) in 1680. Although, he was in captivity, the King had treated him well and he had been given land as well as houses to live in various places with almost unrestricted mobility within the Kandyan Kingdom. He had also been treated with respect than an average person.

According to some scholars, from 1670 – 1679, Robert Knox had lived in the village of Eladetta, peddling knitted caps and cultivating paddy to earn a living. During Christmas and Easter festivals, he had entertained other English captives.

During his voyage to England, Robert Knox had written “An Historical Relation of the Island Ceylon”, an account of his experiences in Ceylon which was published in 1681. According to scholars, this book had become a bestseller at that time similar to Daniel Defoe’s “Robinson Crusoe”. Robert Knox’s book had been one of the earliest and most detailed European accounts of life in Ceylon during that period. At present, it is considered as a valuable record of the island during the 17th century with detailed descriptions.

As Knox has described, he had been sent to Lagundeniya after a Dutch invasion of the area he was living. According to him, this was one of the miserable and gloomy places he had seen with four to five houses at the top of this mountain:  

“We all four were brought up together into a Town on the top of a Mountain called Laggendenny. Where I and my dear Friend and fellow Prisoner, and fellow Batchelor Mr. John Loveland lived together in one House”. 

“At our first coming into this Town, we were very much dismayed, it being, one of the most dismal places that I have seen upon that Land. It stands alone upon the top of a Mountain, and no other Town near it, and not above four or five Houses in it. And oftentimes into this Town did the King use to send such Malefactors as he was minded suddenly to cut off. Upon these accounts our being brought to this place could not but scare us, and the more, because it was the King’s special Order and Command to place us in this very Town”

Although, the house where Knox lived in Lagundeniya does not exist at present, there is a plaque at the place he lived which had been placed in 1908 as a tribute to Knox. It reads as follows:

HERE LIVED
AD
1667-1670
ROBERT KNOX
JOHN LOVELAND
JOHN BERRY
WILLIAM DAY
ERECTED 1908

When he returned to England, he wrote about Ceylon and its inhabitants. 

• Ceylon – Sri Lanka gained Independence from British Colonials in 1948. In 1972, Ceylon became a republic within the Commonwealth and Ceylon was thereafter known as Sri Lanka.
• King Rajasinghe II – He was also known as Rajasinghe II of Kandy and was the third king of the Kandyan Kingdom. He reigned from 1635 – 1687. King Rajasinghe II was the son of King Senerath (1604-35) and Kusumasana Devi (also known as Dona Catherina, the daughter of Karaliyadde Bandara who ruled the Kandyan Kingdom from 1552 to 1582). King Rajasinghe II sought the assistance of the Dutch to expel the Portuguese from the island and he was successful in his attempt and the Dutch were expelled in 1665.
• Robert Knox – Born at Tower Hill in London, he was an English Sea Captain and traveler who served British East India Company. He spent most of his childhood in Surrey. Robert Knox was the son of another sea captain who was also named Robert Knox.  

Image courtesy: vymaps.com