The first Principal of the Colombo Academy
was Rev. J.F.Haslam (1840). Rev. Joseph Marsh was designated
headmaster and not principal in the files of the Central
School Commission and the Ceylon Almanac.
•
In earlier official College records
the name of one Principal (though Principal only for
a short time) has been omitted, that of Rev. J.F.Haslam.His
name has just been mentioned twice by L.J.Gratiaen first
in a College Magazine of 1927 and again in his well
documented pamphlet COLOMBO ACADEMY UNDER MARSH &
BOAKE (1931). Haslams' name has not been in the College
records for the past 145 years. Nor have the names of
J.Brooke H.Bailey and Rev. A.Kessen joint permanent
Headmasters after Rev. Haslam.
•
J.Brooke H.Bailey was ordained as Rev.
Bailey in 1847
•
The Names and Dates on the panel above
have been complied after research into:
Files of the Central School Commission (1835
to 1869)
The Department of Public Instruction (1869
to 1892)
From the Government Blue Books (1835 to
1862)
From Civil list (1863 to 1945)
•
Some of the early Principals have their
date of appointment as from date they sailed from England.
Rev.Dr.Barcroft Boake pay is from April 1842- the month
he sailed from England
•
From 1946 to 1981 dates of Appointment
have been taken from Royal College Magazines
VICE - PRINCIPALS
/ DEPUTY PRINCIPALS
Month
Year
Name
Month
Year
October
1923
L.H.W. Sampson B.A.( Oxon ) F.R.G.S.
March
1932
March
1932
H.J. Wijesinghe
March
1938
September
1943
J.C.A. Corea M.A.( Lond )
December
1945
January
1946
M.M. Kulasekaram B.Sc., ( Lond )
June
1954
July
1954
C. Samarasinghe B.Sc., ( Lond )
December
1956
January
1959
B.G. Premaratne B.A. ( Lond ), M.A.
Ed
September
1966
Teachers College,Columbia University
NY.
1841
1967
S.E. Dias B.Sc., ( Lond )
1970
January
1971
W. Jinadasa ( Dy )
December
1971
January
1972
E.C. Gunasekera B.Sc., ( Lond )
1977
1978
E.C. Gunasekera ( Vice-Principal )
December
1984
V. Weerasinghe ( Dy. Middle School
)
Miss W. Ekanayake ( Dy. Lower School
)
PAST PRINCIPALS
Rev.J.F.
Haslam
Rev.J.F. Haslam, B. A. (Cantab).
Born 1811. Halifax Yorkshire. Died 19th March
1850 at Colombo. Educated at St. John's College,
Cambridge (B.A 9th Wrangler 1836) Principal. Church
Missionary Society Institute Cotta. Principal
Colombo Academy from July 1839 to March 1840.
Was subsequently Principal at Church Missionary
Society Institute, Cotta on resignation from the
post of Principal Colombo Academy.
The youngest Principal (28 years)
in the History of the College. First Principal
of the Colombo Academy, was of similar disposition
as Rev. Marsh. Mild and kind and greatly attached
to the religion. Haslam's appointement as Principal
was confirmed by the Schools Commission only on
18th January 1840. The Church of England Missionary
Society wanted Haslam back at Cotta and he retired
in March 1840. The Colombo Academy Miscellany
of 2nd September 1839 has a "Programme for
the Examinations" at the Academy on December
16th singed by J.F Haslam Principal.
The original arrangement was for
Haslam to go back to the Mission at Cotta after
5 years at the Colombo Academy, but it never happened
as the Church Missionary Society wanted him back
earlier. On Haslam's departure his pupils presented
him with a Pictorial Bible. An address was read
and speeches made. His suavity of manner kindness
of disposition and spiritual instruction were
recorder at his farewell.
Haslam arrived in Ceylon on 7th
January 1839. His 25 year old wife died in March
1839. His only child who was 8 months old died
in November 1839. Haslam entered into matrimony
a second time when he married Sophia, daughter
of Rev. Joseph Bailey of C.M.S. Cotta on 6th December
1842. She was the sister of Brooke Bailey, Headmaster
of Colombo Academy, later Rev. Brooke Bailey.
Haslam passed away at the age of 39 years.
Joseph Brooke Hailliley,
Bailey M.A. (Edin). Born 27th January 1822
in Ceylon. Died ..... First joined Colombo
Academy on 6th July 1838. Asst. to Rev.
Marsh, July 1838 to December 1838. Actg.
Headmaster from January 1839 to June 1839
and April 1840 to December 1841.
Headmaster (Joint) from January 1842 to
September 1842 with Rev. A. Kessen. Mathematics
Master 1843-1845. Inspector of Schools 1845
to 1860. Ordained 19th December 1847 at
St. Peter's Church Colombo, by Bishop James.
Official clergyman to troops from 1850-1851.
Secretary, Central Schools Commission from
22nd October 1855 to 31st December 1859,
and from 16th October 1862 to 1869 on a
salary of £200 per annum. Colonial
Chaplain - St Peter's Church Colombo from
16th December 1862 to April 1871.
Retired on 1st April 1871
on a pension of £380 per annum and
another £50 pension. He settled in
Tasmania and was Rector of St. Leonards
near Launceston from 1872-1875. Rector of
St John the Baptist Church, West Hobart
1875-1883. Commissionary for the Archdeaconry
of Hobart (1882). Cannon of St Davids Cathedral
Hobart-installed on 14th November 1883
A young man who supervised the Academy most
efficiently in the absence of Rev. Marsh
Bailey was considered too young and inexperienced
to be Principal by the Governor Sir Stewart
Mackenzie. In recognition of Bailey's services
to the Academy the Governor Sir Stewart
Mackenzie who succeeded Governor Horton
requested the Legislative Council to nominate
2 students from the Colombo Academy for
scholarships to Bishops College, Calcutta.
Said His Excellency Sir Stewart Mackenzie
Governor, "for though circumstances
have hitherto prevented me from placing
at the Head of that Institution a Principal
of more advanced age and experience, the
assiduity and attainments, beyond his years,
of Mr Brooke Bailey have well supported
the higher characteristics acquired by the
academy in such a short time."
In his Sixty years of Ceylon
Cricket (1924) S.P. Foenander says "hence
to three Cambridge men, Ashley Walker, Rev.
J.B. Bailey, Rev. Falkner both Royal and
St Thomas owe a great debt of gratitude
for the splendid foundation laid for the
game at these two institutions".
Bailey was a great friend
of famous poet W.B. Keats.5 Bailey married
Lucy Anne, daughter of Rev. W. Sawyer, Chaplain.
She died on 4/11/1854 and Bailey married
a second time when he took the heart of
Georgiana, daughter of Rev. William Henry
Simon, Colonial Chaplain, Kandy on 10th
December 1847.
Joseph Allanson Brooke Bailey
C.C.S., a son by Brooke Bailey's first wife,
served in various districts of the island
as Asst. Government Agent from 1863 to 1899
and played in the First Up-country-Low Country
Cricket Match (1872). Brooke Bailey was
the son of Rev. Joseph Bailey of Christian
Missionary Society, Cotta, (not to be confused
with Rev. Benjamin Bailey). Brooke Bailey's
sister married Rev. J.F. Haslam the First
Principal of the Colombo Academy. His brother
G.H. Bailey who had settled in Tasmania
earlier was a member of the First Australian
Team (1878) to tour England. In 1871 Brooke
Bailey's son Allanson Bailey was 2nd Assistant
Colonial Secretary.
Bailey
introduced : Cricket / Flogging to the Academy
Dr Barcroft Boake, B.A.; D.D.
(Dublin); TCD. Born ........ 1814. Died 9th September
1876, in Melbourne, Australia. Educated at Trinity
College, Dublin and University of Dublin.
Principal Colombo Academy - October 1842 to September
1870. Secretary Royal Asiatic Society (Ceylon)
Secretary Friend in Need Society (1869). Official
Clergyman to troops in Colombo (1859-1869). Parish
Priest, Panadura and Kalutara. Actg. Colonial
Chaplain - Holy Trinity Church. After retirement
Boake was Pastor, St. Kilda's Church, Melbourne,
where he passed away. He wrote two books "Brief
Account of the Origin and Nature of the Connexion*
(between) the British Government and the Idolatrous
Systems of Religion prevalent in the Island of
Ceylon" (1854), and "National Education
in the East and Ceylon in Patricular (1854)."
Retired on 1st October 1870 on a pension of £
412 per annum.
Boake the son-in-law of Rev. Joseph
Marsh was a personality sporting long side whiskers
and clergyman's cassock. Boake was appointed Principal
by the Secretary of State for Colonies. The date
of his appointment is given as 4th April 1842,
the date he sailed from England, and others from
10th October 1842 the date he assumed office.
Boake arrived in Ceylon on 19th September 1842.
Appointed on a salary of £500 per annum
and £150 contingencies allowance and allowed
to reside in school buildings.
An excitable Irishman who took
even well meant criticism as an attack on him
personally, and was in constant conflict with
the Central Schools Commission and later with
the Governor. Boake brooked no opposition. As
a forthright personality his head-on confrontation
almost brought about the abolition of the Colombo
Academy in 1851. Boake was a great scholar well
versed in Latin and Greek and bent on having higher
education at the Academy (again, something which
brought him in conflict with leading personalities
such as R.F. Morgan). Boake might be termed the
originator of the University of Ceylon of today.
The Academy produced excellent results at the
Calcutta University Examination. The changes in
his time were:
•
Instituted First in Arts Examination
•
He established a Boarding House
•
Affiliated Colombo Academy
with University of Calcutta (1859)
•
Started the second College
Magazine (Students Magazine) in July 1860
•
Started the First Debating Society
called the "Improvement Society"
•
Name of school changed to COLOMBO
ACADEMY and QUEENS COLLEGE (1859)
•
Renamed Colombo Academy (1869)
"Boake's authority was such
that the Academy was known as 'Boake's School'
or 'Boake Gedera' and not as a Government Institution.
Boake was a commanding personality. His pupils
raised Rs.7000/- as a parting gift. He made a
study of fresh water fish and wrote on their habits.
On the morning of his departure from Colombo,
all the students and many past pupils assembled
at 6.30 a.m. at Galle Face before he set off by
coach to Galle to board ship. It was a spontaneous
farewell from a multitude that adored him."
Some good came out of Boake's
constant quarrels with the Central Schools Commission
which included Church dignataries who never viewed
the Colombo Academy with favour. Due to Boake's
complaints against the Central Schools Commission
and its general handling of educational affairs
the Commission was abolished by the Governor and
the Department of Public Instructions established
in February 1869 with its Director appointed by
the Secretary of State. Boakes atttitude towards
Buddhism and Hinduism was very critical.
Boake was fond of using the "birch."
He carried a thick Malacca cane. His standard
punishment was 6 strokes on the hand followed
by 6 more on the back.
Boake first married Mary Catherine
Slade on 22nd March 1843 in Colombo. On her death
Boake married a second time, Agnes Jane, daughter
of Rev. Joseph Marsh (First Headmaster of the
Colombo Academy) on 27th August 1861. His son
W.J.S. Boake (of the Ceylon Civil Service) by
his first marriage was Police Magistrate Kalpitiya
(1869) and Asst. Government Agent in various Districts
in the island. Another son Rev. W.H.S. Boake served
as Pastor in a church in Melbourne, Australia.
