49-520: Duenuge Edward Henry Pedris ( Sinhala : හෙන්රි පේද්රිස් ; 16 August 1888 – 7 July 1915) was a Ceylonese militia officer and a prominent socialite . Pedris was executed for treason by the 17th Punjab Regiment of the British Indian Army under martial law during the 1915 Sinhalese-Muslim riots . Convicted in a three day Field General Court Martial under the terms of the Army Act , bypassing
98-631: A Field General Court Martial at the Headquarters of the General Officer Commanding, Ceylon in Malay Street, Slave Island on 1 July 1915. The Court Martial Board was made up of British officers of 17th Panjab Regiment and Pedris was defended by Advocate L. H. de Alwis. He was accused of "treason by levying war against Our Lord, the King" by means of "levying war by firing two revolver rounds into
147-783: A supposed former abundance of lions on the island. According to the chronicle Mahāvaṃsa , written in Pali, Prince Vijaya of the Vanga Kingdom and his entourage merged in Sri Lanka with later settlers from the Pandya kingdom . In the following centuries, there was substantial immigration from Eastern India, including additional migration from the Vanga Kingdom (Bengal), as well as Kalinga and Magadha . This influx led to an admixture of features of Eastern Prakrits. The development of Sinhala
196-653: A Dravidian origin for this word. ), dola for pig in Vedda and offering in Sinhala. Other common words are rera for wild duck, and gala for stones (in toponyms used throughout the island, although others have also suggested a Dravidian origin). There are also high frequency words denoting body parts in Sinhala, such as olluva for head, kakula for leg, bella for neck and kalava for thighs, that are derived from pre-Sinhalese languages of Sri Lanka. The oldest Sinhala grammar, Sidatsan̆garavā , written in
245-427: A decision of the colonial government. A three-member committee was established established to examine the details of his court-martial, execution, study the relevant matters, and submit a report with recommendations. On 12 September 2024, President Ranil Wickremesinghe issued a presidential pardon posthumously to Henry Pedris, 109 years after his execution, through a Gazette extraordinary notification. Pedris’s death
294-753: A family claimed its roots to the Kotte Kingdom who had fled in face of the Portuguese. His father was Gabrial Perera Wijeyeratne, a notary public and his mother was Catherina Wickremasinghe Jayasekera née Tennekoon, daughter of Jayasekera Tennekoon, a notary from the Four Korales in Kegalle. The eldest in the family, he grew up in the Buddenipola Walauwa in Kegalle . Wijeyeratne received his primary education at
343-463: A good cricketer , playing for the school's first eleven cricket team. After some time he returned to Royal College where he again played cricket and engaged in other sporting activities. Pedris was a teetotaler and was an active member in the Colombo society. Joining the family business, his father hoped that Pedris take over his business enterprises and become a leader in the commercial sector. With
392-614: A group of Muslims and had incited people to march to the city of Colombo from Peliyagoda. Based on these accusations, he was swiftly arrested. Following his arrest the British, fearing open rebellion, imprisoned more than 80 prominent Sinhalese leaders. Among those imprisoned were D. S. Senanayake , D. R. Wijewardena , Edwin Wijeyeratne , Dr. Cassius Pereira, E. T. De Silva, F. R. Dias Bandaranaike, H. W. Amarasuriya , A. H. Molamure and several others. Following his arrest, Pedris brought before
441-780: A journalist, Wijeyeratne studied law at the Ceylon Law College and qualified as an Advocate in 1929 at the age of 30. He then established his legal practice in the unofficial bar in his home town Kegalle, specializing in Civil law and Kandyan law , and in Buddhist ecclesiastical law till 1949. He was an expert in Civil and Kandyan Law, and in Buddhist Ecclesiastical Law. During his early days in journalism, Wijeyeratne became political secretary to Sir Ponnambalam Ramanathan and
490-722: A period of prior bilingualism: "The earliest type of contact in Sri Lanka, not considering the aboriginal Vedda languages, was that which occurred between South Dravidian and Sinhala. It seems plausible to assume prolonged contact between these two populations as well as a high degree of bilingualism. This explains why Sinhala looks deeply South Dravidian for an Indo-Aryan language. There is corroboration in genetic findings." In addition to many Tamil loanwords , several phonetic and grammatical features also present in neighbouring Dravidian languages set modern spoken Sinhala apart from its Northern Indo-Aryan relatives. These features are evidence of close interactions with Dravidian speakers. Some of
539-608: A prominent part in the independence movement. Wijeyeratne was a founding member of the Ceylon National Congress was founded by Sir Ponnambalam Arunachalam and Sir James Peiris in 1919. He was elected to the State Council of Ceylon in 1931 from Kegalle, where he served until 7 December 1935. He did not stand for re-election at the State Council in 1936 and return to his legal practice. On 21 December 1940, Wijeyeratne
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#1732876277610588-473: Is a conspicuous example of the linguistic phenomenon known as diglossia . Sinhala ( Siṁhala ) is a Sanskrit term; the corresponding Middle Indo-Aryan ( Eḷu ) word is Sīhala . The name is a derivative of [[[:wikt:सिंह|siṁha]]] Error: {{Transliteration}}: transliteration text not Latin script ( help ) , the Sanskrit word for 'lion'. The name is sometimes glossed as 'abode of lions', and attributed to
637-584: Is an Indo-Aryan language primarily spoken by the Sinhalese people of Sri Lanka , who make up the largest ethnic group on the island, numbering about 16 million. Sinhala is also spoken as the first language by other ethnic groups in Sri Lanka, totalling about 2 million speakers as of 2001. It is written using the Sinhala script , which is a Brahmic script closely related to the Grantha script of South India. Sinhala
686-479: Is divided into four epochs: The most important phonetic developments of Sinhala include: According to Wilhelm Geiger , an example of a possible Western feature in Sinhala is the retention of initial /v/ which developed into /b/ in the Eastern languages (e.g. Sanskrit viṁśati "twenty", Sinhala visi- , Hindi bīs ). This is disputed by Muhammad Shahidullah who says that Sinhala Prakrit branched off from
735-412: Is one of the official and national languages of Sri Lanka, alongside Tamil . Along with Pali , it played a major role in the development of Theravada Buddhist literature. Early forms of the Sinhala language are attested as early as the 3rd century BCE. The language of these inscriptions, still retaining long vowels and aspirated consonants, is a Prakrit similar to Magadhi , a regional associate of
784-700: The Middle Indian Prakrits that had been used during the time of the Buddha . The most closely related languages are the Vedda language (an endangered, indigenous creole still spoken by a minority of Sri Lankans, mixing Sinhala with an isolate of unknown origin and from which Old Sinhala borrowed various aspects into its main Indo-Aryan substrate), and the Maldivian language . It has two main varieties, written and spoken, and
833-576: The UNESCO National Commission of Ceylon According to Wilhelm Geiger , Sinhala has features that set it apart from other Indo-Aryan languages. Some of the differences can be explained by the substrate influence of the parent stock of the Vedda language . Sinhala has many words that are only found in Sinhala, or shared between Sinhala and Vedda and not etymologically derivable from Middle or Old Indo-Aryan. Possible examples include kola for leaf in Sinhala and Vedda (although others suggest
882-464: The 13th century CE, recognised a category of words that exclusively belonged to early Sinhala. The grammar lists naram̆ba (to see) and koḷom̆ba (fort or harbour) as belonging to an indigenous source. Koḷom̆ba is the source of the name of the commercial capital Colombo . The consistent left branching syntax and the loss of aspirated stops in Sinhala is attributed to a probable South Dravidian substratum effect. This has been explained by
931-461: The 17th Panjab Regiment. His body was buried in an unmarked grave, in keeping with military tradition of a burial of a traitor, against the wishes of his family. However, D. D. Pedris had people spy on the transport and burial of the body, and the British had actually chosen a cemetery where the Pedris family owned several plots. One of those plots was chosen for the interment, and only one or two members of
980-649: The Ceylonese High Commissioner, Wijeyeratne was involved in strengthening diplomatic relations between Britain and Sri Lanka. Wijeyeratne and his wife were visited at their residence in London on three occasions by Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip . In 1954, Wijeyeratne was recalled home and Sir Claude Corea succeeded him as High Commissioner to the United Kingdom. In 1955, he was appointed Ceylonese High Commissioner to India , where he served till 1957 and
1029-685: The Commission on the Death Penalty which first recommended the abolishing the death penalty from Ceylon in 1948. While Minister of Home Affairs and Rural Development, Wijeyeratne served as the Chairman of the select committee to select the National Anthem for Sri Lanka. Namo, Namo, Matha was subsequently selected as the country's national anthem. He resigned as Minister and Senator in February 1951 paving
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#17328762776101078-625: The District Court of Colombo and District Judge Wadsworth dismissed the action, uploading the contention of the insurance company. An appeal was made by Benjamin Bawa , and Eugene Wilfred Jayewardene to the Supreme Court and it was taken up before, Chief Justice Sir Alexander Wood–Renton C.J. and Justice Shaw. The decree of the District Judge was set aside the case was sent back for further inquiries,
1127-700: The Eastern Prakrits prior to this change. He cites the edicts of Ashoka , no copy of which shows this sound change. An example of an Eastern feature is the ending -e for masculine nominative singular (instead of Western -o ) in Sinhalese Prakrit. There are several cases of vocabulary doublets , one example being the words mæssā ("fly") and mækkā ("flea"), which both correspond to Sanskrit makṣikā but stem from two regionally different Prakrit words macchiā (Western Prakrits) and makkhikā (as in Eastern Prakrits like Pali ). In 1815,
1176-427: The Pedris family knew the exact location. In 1987, Pedris’s suspected grave was unearthed, and the remains were verified as his and reburied. D. D. Pedris had gained a life insurance for his son at the amount of Rs 25,000, a substantial sum in 1915. The insurance company, Manufacture’s Life Insurance Co., refused payment on the grounds that Pedris was lawfully executed. The administrator of Pedris estate filled action on
1225-728: The adjacent sports grounds should be renamed in his memory. On 7 July 1987 the Edward Henry Pedris Stadium was declared open by Prime Minister Premadasa. D. D. Pedris built a pilgrims' rest in Polonnaruwa and named it the "Edward Henry Pedris Rest" which was maintained from income gained from lands owned by Pedris in Anuradhapura known as the Kuttampokunakele and the Basuwakkulamakele. Pedris's mother, Mallino Pedris gifted
1274-476: The air!". The Field General Court Martial quickly found Pedris guilty of the charge of treason and sentenced to death. The date of the execution was set for 7 July 1915 without any form of appeal. Having been sentenced to death under the terms of the Army Act , the death sentence had to be ratified by the Governor. The case of Pedris was not referred to the Governor by Brigadier General Leigh Malcolm. An omission that
1323-670: The beginning of the Sri Lankan independence movement with many people specially from the educated middle class taking an active role in it. Their action resulted in Ceylon gaining independence in 1948. Governor Chalmers was removed from the post and made Under-Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland Lord Wimborne . The powers of the Mudaliyars were abolished when the Native Department
1372-608: The delegates. In 1947, Wijeyeratne became a founding member of the United National Party and was appointed to the Senate of Ceylon which was a non-elected upper house of parliament. There he served as acting Leader of the Senate. He subsequently succeeded Sir Oliver Goonetilleke as Minister of Home Affairs and Rural Development in D. S. Senanayake's cabinet in July 1948. He was a member of
1421-719: The features that may be traced to Dravidian influence are: ඒක ēka it අලුත් aḷut new කියලා kiyalā having-said මම mama I දන්නවා dannavā know ඒක අලුත් කියලා මම දන්නවා ēka aḷut kiyalā mama dannavā it new having-said I know "I know that it is new." ඒක ēka it අලුත් aḷut new ද da Q කියලා kiyalā having-said මම mama I දන්නේ Edwin Wijeyeratne Sir Edwin Aloysius Perera Wijeyeratne KBE ( Sinhala : ශ්රිමත් එඩ්වින් ඇලෝසියස් පෙරේරා විජයරත්න) (8 January 1889 – 19 October 1968), known as Edwin Wijeyeratne ,
1470-590: The island of Ceylon came under British rule . During the career of Christopher Reynolds as a Sinhalese lecturer at the School of African and Oriental Studies, University of London , he extensively researched the Sinhalese language and its pre-1815 literature. The Sri Lankan government awarded him the Sri Lanka Ranjana medal for his work. He wrote the 377-page An anthology of Sinhalese literature up to 1815 , selected by
1519-434: The island. The British Governor of Ceylon , Sir Robert Chalmers , feared he might lose control of the colony and, on the advice of Brigadier General Malcolm, utilized a heavy-handed response towards the riot. Chalmers declared martial law on 2 June 1915, and ordered the police and the army to shoot without trial anyone who they deemed a rioter. With the escalation of the violence, looting broke out within Colombo. Pedris, who
Henry Pedris - Misplaced Pages Continue
1568-536: The land for the Mallikarama Temple in Dematagoda in 1920 in her son's memory. Sinhala language Sinhala ( / ˈ s ɪ n h ə l ə , ˈ s ɪ ŋ ə l ə / SIN -hə-lə, SING -ə-lə ; Sinhala: සිංහල , siṁhala , [ˈsiŋɦələ] ), sometimes called Sinhalese ( / ˌ s ɪ n ( h ) ə ˈ l iː z , ˌ s ɪ ŋ ( ɡ ) ə ˈ l iː z / SIN -(h)ə- LEEZ , SING -(g)ə- LEEZ ),
1617-527: The local legal system, his execution was viewed as unjust by the local population and a warning to local leaders. It hastened the movement toward independence , providing motivation and a martyr for those who pioneered the movement. On 12 September 2024, the President of Sri Lanka posthumously pardoned Henry Pedris. Henry Pedris was born in Galle in the southern part of Ceylon, as the youngest of five children and
1666-540: The only son of Duenuge Disan Pedris and Mallino Fernando Pedris, daughter of Peace Officer Margris Fernando of Karandeniya. Both his father and uncle N. S. Fernando Wijesekara were leading businessmen of the time, and his family was among the wealthiest with ownership of graphite mines, plantations, real-estate and trading interests. Pedris first attended Royal College situated in the Pettah . From there he joined St. Thomas' College where he excelled in sports and shone as
1715-529: The outbreak of World War I , the British government mobilized the Ceylon Defence Force and raised the Colombo Town Guard , a militia unit of volunteers to defend Colombo from potential German raids. Pedris opted to join the Colombo Town Guard as a private and was the first Sinhalese to be enlisted to the new regiment. He soon became an excellent marksman and due to his excellent horsemanship
1764-472: The plaintiff having to proved although convicted, Pedris did not commit treason. Back in the District Court, Manufacture’s Life Insurance settled the matter with a full payment, presumably under pressure from the colonial government. On 11 December 2023, the Cabinet of Ministers approved a proposal by President Ranil Wickremesinghe to re-open the investigation into the killing of Henry Pedris, 108 years ago, by
1813-743: The village school in Rambukkana. When nine years old, he transferred to Handessa Village School in Gampola , where he stayed at the home of his future wife, Leela Pethiyagoda. He was subsequently educated at St Mary's College, Kegalle, before completing his secondary education at St Joseph's College, Colombo where he passed the Cambridge Senior exam with Honours. He won 15 prizes at his last school prize giving. After completing school, he taught at Lorenz Tutory whilst pursuing an early career in journalism, where he worked under Armand de Souza . While working as
1862-539: The way for Sir Oliver Goonetilleke to succeed him and return to his former post on his return from London. In 1952, Wijeyeratne was appointed Ceylonese High Commissioner to the United Kingdom , succeeding Sir Oliver Goonetilleke in turn and was knighted the year after in the 1953 New Year Honours as a Knight Commander (Civil Division) of the Order of the British Empire by Queen Elizabeth II at Buckingham Palace . As
1911-489: Was a Sri Lankan lawyer, politician, diplomat, and one of the founding members of the Ceylon National Congress and the United National Party . He was a Senator and Minister of Home Affairs and Rural Development in the cabinet of D. S. Senanayake . He thereafter he served as Ceylonese High Commissioner to the United Kingdom and Ceylonese High Commissioner to India Born on 8 January 1889 in Rambukkana , Sri Lanka to
1960-468: Was able to intervene in this case was Sir Hector Van Cuylenberg , who was the elected representative in the legislature, but his representations were not taken seriously by the military. Many prominent citizens and educationists, both British and Ceylonese alike, appealed against the judgment without any impact. An appeal was made to King George V . On 7 July 1915, Pedris was stripped of his rank and executed by firing squad made up of Punjabi soldiers from
2009-413: Was also meant as a warning for other Ceylonese leaders who were leading the independence movement. After the execution the blood-soaked chair Pedris was sitting on during the execution was taken to the prison cells that contained many Sinhalese leaders including D. S. Senanayake and shown to them with the warning that they would be next. Many claim the execution of Pedris by the colonial government marked
Henry Pedris - Misplaced Pages Continue
2058-539: Was appointed President of the Ceylon National Congress. His Joint Secretaries were Dudley Senanayake and JR Jayawardene . During this period he was chosen to lead the Ceylon National Congress delegation to London. A famous story at the time was in 1944 when the Soulbury Commission was on their way to Kandy , D. S. Senanayake had stationed Wijeyeratne bare-bodied, in a paddy field in Kegalle. There, he
2107-676: Was closed down in 1938. In 1916, D. D. Pedris built the Isipathanaramaya Temple in Havelock Town , Colombo in memory of his late son. Two statues of Pedris have been erected in Havelock Town and in his hometown Galle. The statue in Havelock was commissioned to the well-known sculptor Henry Dharmasena of Panadura. On the occasion of unveiling ceremony of the statue in Havelock Town, then Prime Minister Ranasinghe Premadasa stated that
2156-578: Was introduced to the commissioners as a typical Sinhala farmer and who spoke in English to the commissioners and impressed on them the need for Ceylon to obtain self-government. A special invitation was thereby sent to Ceylon by Jawaharlal Nehru and the Indian Congress to visit India for a discussion regarding the independence of Ceylon. Wijeyeratne, D. S Senanayake, George E. De Silva, J. R. Jayawardene , Sir Claude Corea and H. W. Amarasuriya were among
2205-509: Was made a commissioned officer in the administrative (mounted) section. Within a year, he was promoted to the rank of captain. This, along with his immense wealth, resulted in Pedris being much envied by many. The Sinhalese Muslim Riots (known as the 1915 riots), which began in Kandy when a group of Muslims belonging to the Indian community attacked a Buddhist pageant with stones, soon spread across
2254-611: Was one of the co-founders of a political group, the Young Lanka League. He was arrested by the British colonial authorities during the 1915 riots , accused of subversive writings and activities due to his agitation for self-rule Others who faced imprisonment without charges included F. R. Senanayake , D. C. Senanayake, D. S. Senanayake , Baron Jayatilaka , Dr C. A. Hewavitarne , W. A. de Silva , Arthur V Dias , John Silva, Piyadasa Sirisena and A. E. Goonesinha who went on to play
2303-417: Was protested by the Governor, and later cases were dully forwarded. Following his conviction his family, filed an application for "writs of certiorari and prohibition" in the Supreme Court of Ceylon , to which relief was denied by a bench comprising Chief Justice Sir Alexander Wood–Renton , Justice Shaw and Justice Thomas de Sampayo . The judgement was never published in the New Law Report. The only person who
2352-491: Was responsible for the defense of the city, successfully managed to disband several rioting groups after peaceful discussions. The jealousy felt towards Pedris and his family by both the British administration and their Sinhalese agents, led by Solomon Dias Bandaranike the Maha Mudaliyar (chief native interpreter and adviser to the Governor), culminated in false charges being drawn up against Pedris which eventually led to his court-martial . The charges were that Pedris shot at
2401-488: Was succeeded by Sir Richard Aluvihare . Wijeyeratne married Leela Pethiyagoda from the Meewaladeniya Walauwa in Gampola and had three sons and a daughter. The eldest, Tissa Wijeyeratne was a Barrister at Law and served as the Additional Secretary to the Ministry of External Affairs and Defence , as Sri Lankan Ambassador to France and to Switzerland , and as Senior Advisor (Foreign Affairs) to Prime Minister Sirimavo Bandaranaike . His second son, Dr Nissanka Wijeyeratne ,
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