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“OLD HENRY POLE WHO GOT THE WORK IN THE MATARA COURTS IN A MESS ‘ – By HUGH KARUNANAYAKE The words above were expressed by Mr Edward Elliott  Government Agent of the Southern Province in 1860. Henry Pole was  in the Ceylon Civil Service for 26 years.It was an age where Civil Servants (mainly British)were appointed to Judicial positions. He was Police Magistrate Mulaitivu in  1845, then at Galle for a couple of years each in different judicial capacities then as District Judge Matara, and finally District Judge Batticaloa from where he retired in 1971. Henry Pole who served in the Ceylon Civil Service from 1845 to 1871, married the 18 year old daughter of Joseph Price also of the Ceylon Civil Service on 2 February 1853. Pole was himself in his fifties when he married his eighteen year old bride. Henry Pole was Police Magistrate Mulaitivu when he married. ...