Jeronis Pieris Letters in Coffee Table Book: Insights into 19th Century Ceylon


F
acets of Modern Ceylon History through the Letters of Jeronis Pieris … originally published in 1976 by Hansa  [on Bandaranaike era paper] and now presented as a coffee table book with  a host of striking photographs that recapture the mid-nineteenth century era of capitalist expansion with all its pluses and minuses.

Cost is Rs 6400 via the website www.pererahussein.com using VISA or MASTERCARD. The Registered Airmail postage rate to different countries in the world is calculated automatically by the website and added to the cost of the book. Foreign currency rates will thus be equivalent to the Rupee price but will vary slightly depending on the daily Forex rate. Foreign currency rates will thus be equivalent to the Rupee price but will vary slightly depending on the daily Forex rate.

ISBN = 978-955-1723-49-1 .…………….The book is available at : Barefoot, Cargills book city, Sarasavi, Vijitha Yapa, JamFruitTree, Kalaya, Pendi and Urban Island.
 
Jeronis in mid life … & Alfred House in its Prime in mid-19th century

CONTENTS                                       FACETS OF MODERN CEYLON HISTORY

Introduction                                                                                  3

  1. Kith, Kin and Career                                                        7

III.  Background of Social Change and Elite Formation in Nineteenth Century Ceylon                                                                                                                15

  1. Western Orientations                                                                                        28
  2. The Highland Scene: Coffee Plantations vs Village Land                           77
  3. Buffaloes, Cattle and Paddy Cultivation in the Central Highlands          82

VII.  Epilogue                                                                                                                       1

THE LETTERS OFJERONIS PIERIS

  1.  List of letters
  2. The Letters, 1853 -1856 118

III.  Translation of a Letter in Sinhala fromJeronis Pieris to his

sister and mother-in-law                                                           17 September 187714

Appndices

Appendix A:Jeronis Pieris’s Cash Crop Plantation Properties as listed in Ferguson’s Ceylon Directories, 1871-91                                                                                     14

Appendix B: Translation of the Memorial Presented by the Kandyan Chiefs  and People Calling for Reform of their Marriage Customs, late 1858                          146

Appendix C: Photographs of Selected Letters

Letter No.  3:Jeronis Pieris to George Pride, Naranhenne, Kandy, 17 December 1853                                                                                                                                        148

Letter No. 23:Jeronis Pieris toW. H. Wright, 12June 1856                                                                                                                                                                                        149

Letter No. 10:Jeronis Pieris to S. C. Perera, Grand Pass, Colombo, 25 July 1854                                                                                                                                                150

Letter No. 25:Jeronis Pieris to Mrs. S. Soysa, Grand  Pass, Panadura, 7 September 1877                                                                                  152

Appendix D: Genealogy of the Hannadige Pieris Family                                                                                       156

Appendix E: Genealogy of the Warusahannadige de Soysa Family                                                                                       156

Appendix F: Extended Genealogy of the Hannadige Pieris Family                                                                                       157

Appendix G: Extened Genealogy of the Warusahannadige de Soysa Family                                                                                       166

Appendix H: Map of the Hanguranketa-Kandy-Hewaheta Localities                                                                                       191

Bibliography for the works cited                                                                                      192

Bibliography for the Pictorial Clusters                                                                                      198

Index                                                                                       199

xii

PLATES

vii       Hannadige Jeronis Pieris, 1829-94

viii      Photograph of Letter No.1:Jeronis to Louis Pieris, 30 October 1953

CLUSTER ONE – between pages 12-13

  1. Hanniidige Jeronis Pieris, 1829-94, seen here in mid-life
  2. Vintage Photograph Album in the possession of the Pieris lineage
  3. Jeronis Pieris as schoolboy
  4. Jeronis Pieris in his youth

CLUSTER TWO -between pages 42-43

  1. Richard Steuart Pieris, 1858-1918
  2. Heruy A. Pieris, 1862-1919
  3. Gate Mudaliyar Warusahannadige Jeronis de Soysa, 1797-1862
  4. Mrs.Jeronis de Soysa nee Coorey: hand painted photographic portrait
  5. Francesca Cooreywhen widow ofJeronis de Soysa (d.1882)
  6. Gate Mudaliyar Warusahanniidige Susew de Soysa, 1809-81
  7. Engeltina Pieris, wife of Susew de Soysa, 1825-93
  8. Susew de Soysa and six of his seven brothers
  9. Mrs.Jeronis Pieris
  10. Hannadige Louis Pieris
  11. C. H. de Soysa’s Wedding in 1863
  12. Charles Henry de Soysa, with his bride Catherine and his best man, Louis Pieris
  13. The Wedding of Louis Pieris & Cecilia de Fonseka
  14. Charles Henry de Soysa, 1836-90
  15. Lady Catherine de Soysa
  16. De Soysa Walauwwa,Moratuwa
  17. Natal House, Idama
  18. Panadura Walauwwa
  19. Bagatelle House
  20. Alfred House in grand exterior
  21. Hanguranketa Walauwwa
  22. Hanguranketa Church
  23. Hanguranketa Mission School
  24. St.John’s School, Panadura
  25. Hospital at Panadura
  26. St. Stephen’s Church, Marawila
  27. Marawila Hospital
  28. Church of St.John the Evangelist in Panadura
  29. Prince of Wales’College, Moratuwa
  30. Holy Emmanuel Church, Moratuwa
  31. De Soysa lying in home (now De Soysa Maternity hopsital for women)
  32. De Soysa Medical Institute &Museum
  33. Princess Louise Hospital, Lunawa also known as De Soysa Memorial Hospi
  34. The Bacteriological Institute, Colombo
  35. Susew &Engeltina de Soysa
  36. Selby House at Mutwal
  37. Hiinnadige Louis Pieris in London
  38. Louis Pieris: photographic portrait
  39. Revd.Joseph Marsh
  40. Revd. Barcroft Boake
  41. Sir Richard Morgan
  42. Charles Ambrose Lorenz
  43. James Alexander Dunuwille
  44. Interior of Alfred House
  45. Prince Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh
  46. Alfred House gold crockery
  47. Whist Bungalow
  48. Lakshmigiri
  49. Regina l#zlauwwa,better known today as “College House”
  50. The Firm ofS. C. Fernando &Bros., Kandy

40-=Bullock Cart Transport

CLUSTER THREE- between pages 54-55

  1. View of Colombo Harbour from Mutwal: Capt. O’Brien’s Lithograph, 1864
  2. Ships in Colombo Harbour, 1866
  3. The Dutch Fort &Moat, Colombo, 1864
  4. Bridge of Boats over the Kelani Ganga
  5. Bridge of Boats: Another Scene
  6. Hard Yards on Rough Tracks
  7. A Caravan of Carts
  8. Blasting the “Lion’s Mouth” … and along the way
  9. Hard Yards in Railway Construction in the Hill-Country
  10. “Sensation Rock”
  11. The Colombo Fort Terminus in the 1860’s
  12. A Train chugs out of the Fort Station
  13. Satinwood Bridge at Peradeniya
  14. Clearing Land for Coffee Plantations: European Imaginings
  15. A Felled Forest Clearing at Maskeliya
  16. Peacock Hill Coffee Estate in Capt. O’Brien’s Sketches, 1864
  17. The Aluvihare Coffee Estate Bungalow in Domestic Calm, 1868
  18. A Bungalow depicted by W.L. H. Skeen, 1878
  19. A Coffee Planter with a Body of Estate Workers
  20. Julia Margaret Cameron’s Image of Plantation Workers in the 1870’s
  21. Coffee Plants and A Coffee Plucker
  22. Coconut Pluckers
  23. Possibly an estate in the Low Country
  24. Working Women – Pounding Coffee on an Estate
  25. Working Women- Drying Coffee in Factory Yard in Colombo
  26. Sorting Coffee
  27. More Working Women (Coffee Pickers)
  28. Tamil Tea Estate Workers
  29. Working Men -A Coopering Factory
  30. Working Men -A Ferryman
  31. Workers baling cinnamon
  32. A “Native Bar”
  33. A Working Class Street in Colombo
  34. Chatham Street
  35. Lower Chatham Street
  36. Overview ofKandy Lake and Town in the 1880’s
  37. Kandy Lake
  38. A Street Scene, Kandy

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