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The first-ever social club in Ceylon and the life of H.A Marshall-its builder – by Hugh Karunanayake Source:-island.lk When the Portuguese and Dutch occupied the maritime provinces of Ceylon from the 16 th Century to the end of the 18th century, it was more or less a military occupation with the ever present danger of the coastal government being overrun by the monarch who ruled the Kandyan Kingdom. That imminent possibility was mitigated to some degree with the annexation of the maritime provinces by the British East India Co; which occurred during the wars of the French revolution. When the Netherlands came under French control the British made its move to oust the Dutch from Ceylon. The Dutch surrendered the island(or more precisely its maritime areas) to the British in 1796 after some half hearted resistance. In 1802 Ceylon was made a crown colony and it was clear that the ...