140 years of cadetting at Royal-By Admiral Ravindra C Wijegunaratne Source:Island (Retired from Sri Lanka Navy) Former Chief of Defence Staff A long time ago, on 01 April 1881, Royal College (then known as the Colombo Academy) in Mutwal, Principal Mr John B Cull started a School Cadet Platoon. The idea was to train students on drill so that they would be more disciplined. Mr Cull believed such students would become responsible and disciplined men when they grew up. He received unstinted support from the then British Lieutenant Governor and Commanding Officer of Ceylon Light Infantry (CLI) (Volunteers), which started in the same year and consisted of British Officers and largely Burghers as soldiers. Lieutenant Colonel John Scot Armitage was the first commander of CLI (V). Cadetting was introduced to other schools also, which included S. Thomas’ College, Mount Lavinia, Trinity and Kingswood, Kandy. When World War 1 started in ...

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