R. Simmington, whose article bears another title
Sri Lanka has a special place in my heart because I lived here for a few
years in the early 1980’s and returned in 1986, armed with a camera.
Although the photographic phase of my life was short and sweet, I still have
all my negatives, which I can now convert into digital images. I hope this
piece, together with the photographs that accompany it,*** bring back some
happy memories for the members of this group. I realise that there will be
many who know this story, but there will be some that don’t, in any event, I
think it is worth sharing.
Amangalla exterior & front verandah
This fabulous slice of Victoriana, featured in the photographs, is the New
Oriental Hotel. It was originally two houses, built towards the end of the
17th century, as living quarters for officers of the Dutch East India
Company and when Ceylon became a British Crown Colony in 1802, it was used
to house British officers who made it their home.
A small group of British businessmen bought the building in 1863, and opened
it as a western style hostelry, which they named Oriental Hotel. By the late
1890’s, Galle was on the decline, many of the wealthy Burgher families that
had prospered under the Dutch and remained after the arrival of the British,
moved to Colombo. The great steamers that used to bring hundreds of
passengers at a time, no longer came and as a result, the British consortium
put it up for sale. An enterprising Burgher by the name of Albert Richard
Ephraums saw an opportunity, purchased it in 1902 for a song and re-named it
New Oriental Hotel.
When Albert Ephraums passed away, it was taken over by his son Richard, who
ran it for many years and this beautiful, family hotel was now in the hands
of Richard’s daughter, an elegant, lively old lady, called Nesta, whose hair
was as white as snow. Her English was impeccable, and she had a very soft
voice with an accent which would not have been out of place in Belgravia.
She was, as I later discovered, one of the last of the great Burgher
families still living there, her relatives, like all the others, now scattered around the world from Canada to Australia.
Nesta Ephraums Brohier and her staff (and dogs)
If walls could talk, these would certainly be worth listening to, but fortunately some of its stories from the Victorian era have been preserved by Norah Roberts, in her excellent book, Galle – As Quiet As Asleep, which was first published in 1993. For more than 40 years Norah was in charge of Galle library, founded in 1871, and during the course of her work she slowly compiled a history of Galle and its most prominent families.
Her book contains a wealth of amusing stories and anecdotes, some of which
relate to this historic establishment, whose own history forms an integral
part of this fortified city. In the middle of the 19th century, when Galle
was still Ceylon’s international port, ships belonging to the British Navy
would stop here for fresh water and provisions, and it was an opportunity
for the sailors to have a little shore-leave, which inevitably ended up in
drunken brawls.
One of Norah’s most endearing stories concerning this hotel, took place earlyin its life, when there were only a few lawyers in Galle. They used to meet every day for lunch at the hotel and on one occasion a note was put on their table, requesting donations to help a stranded lady who did not have the means to purchase a ticket home.
One of the lawyers, a prominent Muslim by the name of Mr. Ahamandu Bawa, summoned the manager and asked him what he knew about the circumstances surrounding the lady in question. He was informed that she had met an English planter who was in Europe on holiday, and after proposing marriage, he begged her to settle her affairs and come with all haste to Ceylon, where they would be married. Unfortunately, upon her arrival in Galle, she
discovered that the planter was already married, with three children. Mr.
Bawa requested a meeting with the lady, who he found to be most agreeable,
so much so that he told her that she should stay at the hotel for a week, at
his expense, during which time he hoped to win her love, and if at the end
of that period he failed to do so, he would pay for her ticket home.
It was an offer that Georgina Mathilda Ablet, the lady in question, could
not refuse and at the end of the week, she decided to stay and marry the
obviously charming Mr. Bawa, in spite of the fact that he himself was
already married. As a Muslim he was entitled by law to have a second wife,
but he promised the lady that he would pension off his present one and
devote himself entirely to her. The Honourable Mr. Bawa kept his word,
lavishing all his attention on his new bride and the marriage was a very
long and happy one.
Their eldest son, Benjamin Bawa followed in his father’s footsteps and
entered the legal profession and was eventually appointed Kings Council.
Their grandson Bevis served with distinction in the Ceylon Light Infantry
and their other grandson, Geoffrey Bawa, became one of Ceylon’s most famous
architects.
Nesta, who had been such a charming host, celebrated her 90th birthday in
1995 with a lavish party held at the hotel but sadly passed away shortly
afterwards, ending her family’s connection with this historic establishment.
Even the name has been changed and it is now known as the Amangalla, a
luxury boutique hotel and spa, with a price tag that only those with
unlimited resources can afford.
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Norah Roberts in her prime
ADDENDUM from Michael Roberts:
This article reached me indirectly and I do not have access to the associated photographs; though I am delighted that Simmington has negatives depicting the NOH aka Amangalla in its Brohier heyday. I trust that these photographs will soon be placed before the world.
I have taken the liberty of inserting a few illustrative photographs of the hotel –mostly from Joe Simpson’s wonderful essays — as embellishments for Simmington’s essay.
A passing tit-bit of historical interest would be the fact that Leonard Woolf stayed in the hotel when visiting Galle during the course of his stint as AGA in Hambantota.
The bibliography on the NOH aka Amangalla will be quite extensive and I hope to gather the information with help from Joe Simpson and other admirers of the ‘scenes’ surrounding the hotel and its history.
Being a Gallelean by descent I have nostalgic memories of the NOH in the Fort. In the 50s Galle had only 2 Hotels, the NOH and the Sydney. During Xmas holidays when we visited our ancestral home by Steam Engine powered trains which were named, ‘ inter-alia’, Royal College , warming the cockles of my 10 year old heart, we did visit our relatives in the Fort and after a walk around the Ramparts which then though was bereft of ‘oogling lovers’, a treat at the upmarket NOH was an integral part of every sojourn.
Interestingly until the late 60s, after the Government managed Rest House at Ambalangoda the next such Rest House was at Weligama thus providing little choice for lodging within the Southern Capital. Have only a faint memory of Closenberg Hotel upon which I cannot comment.
My memory clearly dictates that the NOH was patronised by the affluent whereas the Sydney was meant for the ‘hoi polloi’. As a kid, I had a perception, possibly emanating through folklore, that the NOH was ‘haunted’ and remember vividly visiting the toilets with great trepidation!!!!!
Wonderful anecdote, I recall Mrs Norah Roberts was the librarian at the building almost adjoining which had a sumptuous front room that served as a meeting place for locals, mostly government servants, courts, කච්චේරිය, PWD and Walkers motor car agents being nearby. The library was well stocked fiction not only by English but Russian authors as well. Folks sitting in the comfort of rattan chairs gossiped of coalition s forming and splitting in the political scene and continuing demands for tightening belts to preserve precious foreign exchange, with closure of Suez canal pushing our economy to another free fall