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The Paint Brush in Rebellious Stroke: The 43 Group from British Colonial Ceylon-by Uditha Devapriya Source:Thuppahis The Island, 7 May 2023, where the title reads thus “Some Reflections on the 43 Group” On August 29, 1943, the 43 Group was formed in Lionel Wendt’s house at 18 Guildford Crescent, Cinnamon Gardens. There are conflicting accounts of who took part in the first meeting and who did not. Lester James Peries remembered seeing George Keyt, Justin Daraniyagala, Geoffrey Beling, and Manjusri, while Richard Gabriel remembered coming across Daraniyagala, Beling, Lester Peries, Harry Pieris, and Ivan Peries. The minutes of the meeting, however, do not mention Keyt, Daraniyagala, Beling, and Manjusri, while Gabriel pointedly denied seeing Manjusri there. Citing official records, Neville Weeraratne records that seven people attended the meeting: Ivan and Lester Peries, Aubrey Collette, George Claessen, Richard Gabriel, Harry Pieris, and Lionel Wendt. The meeting formed a committee, consisting of Wendt, ...

May 24, 2025 Posted by eLanka admin In Articles Tagged Ananda Coomaraswamy Society, British colonial Ceylon, Ceylon Society of Arts, Royal College

British Colonial Socio-Political Distinctions via Stace’s Revelation of Life in Galle, 1910 et seq – By Michael Roberts Sourcs:- thuppahis Walter Terence STACE was a British man born in Ireland in 1886 who entered the British colonial service after a university education and was assigned to Sri Lanka in 1910. He married a Burgher lady, MM Beven in 1928 – is second marriage this – and then resigned in 1932 and moved on to USA where he pursued a successful university teaching career in Philosophy. Following his retirement, he composed an autobiography in 1964 with the intriguing title FOOTPRINTS ON WATER. This work has been edited by Bernd Pflug with an excellent and readable “Critique” at the end of the autobiography and presented in Sri Lanka in a slim volume of 218 pages by the Perera Hussein Publishing House. Walter Stace’s reflections are presented in a lucid and clinical manner that should be ...

Feb 24, 2025 Posted by eLanka admin In Articles, Michael Roberts Tagged Amangalla Galle history, British clubs in Ceylon, British colonial Ceylon, British colonial Galle, British colonial service Sri Lanka, Burgher community Sri Lanka, Dutch Burghers vs Portuguese Burghers, Footprints on Water book, New Oriental Hotel Galle, Sri Lanka Colonial History, Sri Lanka race relations history, Stace autobiography, Walter Terence Stace

BLANCHE BEVEN The surviving Beven siblings with their parents – Blanche is standing, second from right. An often asked question in the spirit of fun is ‘if you had the choice to invite three people, in history, to a dinner party who would they be?’ It would be reasonable to assume that at the top of many peoples lists would be ‘Albert Einstein, Mahatma Gandhi maybe thrown in Robert Oppenheimer, how about Bertrand Russell? how about ……………………Hugh Hefner? Well, in a story straight from a Hollywood movie, there was a Ceylonese Burgher girl from the foothill coconut plantations near Negombo who can claim to have partied (or near enough) with all of the above. Meet Blanche Bianca Beven, born in 1897, the daughter of Arthur ‘Willie’ Beven and Eleanor Newman. Both families came from English soldier stock, the patriarchs who after serving in Ceylon for the British army, laid down ...

Aug 23, 2024 Posted by eLanka admin In Articles Tagged 60s California rock n roll, Albert Einstein dinner party, Bertrand Russell connections, Blanche Beven, British colonial Ceylon, Burgher community in Sri Lanka, Ceylonese Burgher history, Colombo Mayor history, Footprints on Water book, Frank Zappa performances, Hugh Hefner playboy mansion, Jennifer Stace autobiography, Princeton University professor, Walter Terence Stace