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

Facets 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.

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

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

40-=Bullock Cart Transport

CLUSTER THREE- between pages 54-55

55. View of Colombo Harbour from Mutwal: Capt. O’Brien’s Lithograph, 1864
56. Ships in Colombo Harbour, 1866
57. The Dutch Fort &Moat, Colombo, 1864
58. Bridge of Boats over the Kelani Ganga
59. Bridge of Boats: Another Scene
60. Hard Yards on Rough Tracks
61. A Caravan of Carts
62. Blasting the “Lion’s Mouth” … and along the way
63. Hard Yards in Railway Construction in the Hill-Country
64. “Sensation Rock”
65. The Colombo Fort Terminus in the 1860’s
66. A Train chugs out of the Fort Station
67. Satinwood Bridge at Peradeniya
68. Clearing Land for Coffee Plantations: European Imaginings
69. A Felled Forest Clearing at Maskeliya
70. Peacock Hill Coffee Estate in Capt. O’Brien’s Sketches, 1864
71. The Aluvihare Coffee Estate Bungalow in Domestic Calm, 1868
72. A Bungalow depicted by W.L. H. Skeen, 1878
73. A Coffee Planter with a Body of Estate Workers
74. Julia Margaret Cameron’s Image of Plantation Workers in the 1870’s
75. Coffee Plants and A Coffee Plucker
76. Coconut Pluckers
77. Possibly an estate in the Low Country
78. Working Women – Pounding Coffee on an Estate
79. Working Women- Drying Coffee in Factory Yard in Colombo
80. Sorting Coffee
81. More Working Women (Coffee Pickers)
82. Tamil Tea Estate Workers
83. Working Men -A Coopering Factory
84. Working Men -A Ferryman
85. Workers baling cinnamon
86. A “Native Bar”
87. A Working Class Street in Colombo
88. Chatham Street
89. Lower Chatham Street
90. Overview ofKandy Lake and Town in the 1880’s
91. Kandy Lake
92. A Street Scene, Kandy