History of Galle School, Upgraded to Galle High School, Richmond College

A Hero Jayampathy Madigaseker who saved the Lives and the Train ..when Ditvah Cyclone was on..!

Air Ceylon Days

1979 September before joining Air Lanka, I was with Air Ceylon..since I left school.

With the Chairman Hemantha Gamage.

Galle City Center

යාපනේ පාසැල් ගුරුවරයෙක් අපට එවා තිබුණා 9 ශ්‍රේණිය ඉතිහාසය පොතේ දෙමළ භාෂාවෙන් 1814 රිච්මන්ඩ් විදුහල ආරම්භ කළ බව උගන්වන බව. ඉංග්‍රීසි මාධ්‍ය සිසුන්ට ඉංග්‍රීසි භාෂාවෙන් ඉතිහාසය උගන්වන්නේ නැති බවත් ඔවුන් ඉගෙන ගන්නේත් සිංහලෙන් හෝ දෙමළෙන් බවත් ඒ මහතා පැවසුවා

Richmond College oldest building built in the early 1700 and used by the Dutch Garrison..Later it was used by the Pioneers of the Methodist Missionaries who bought the Land used as their bungalow, which later became the Principals Bungalow. The last Principal lived was in 2016... ! The walls are living proof that of the Dutch Architecture. ( No Cement was used, but Lime, Sand and Mud was used.) This building is declared by the Dept. of Archialogy as a Protected Herritage building.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1w9PT34TQKwr9Bq0_HA7oQg0chdZZ4KH8/view?usp=drive_link

RICHMOND COLLEGE GALLE Final.mp4

With Galle City Center – I just got recognized as one of their top fans! 🎉

"Richmond College in Galle was established by the British (Wesleyan Methodist Missionaries) in 1814, but its initial premises, the "Doornberg" house, was built by the Dutch in 1712. While the school was founded during the British colonial era, it operated from this historic Dutch-built bungalow on Upper Dickson Road before moving to its current site on Richmond Hill.

The first missionaries from the Wesleyan Methodist Church to Ceylon were led by the Rev. Dr. Thomas Coke, and consisted of William Ault, James Lynch, George Erskine, William Martin Harvard, Thomas Hall Squance, and John Mckenny, leaving England on 30 December 1813. During their journey, Coke died at sea on 2 May. They reached Ceylon on 29 June 1814.[7]

They held an inaugural church service on 3 July 1814 at the Old Dutch Church at Galle Fort. Governor Robert Brownrigg, sent his brother-in-law, Rev Bisset, the senior colonial chaplain, to meet and confer with the missionaries, inviting the missionaries to establish schools for the Ceylonese.[8]

Following a conference on 11 July, Benjamin Clough (1791-1853) was elected to take charge of the Galle station. Subsequently, Clough was visited by the Maha Mudaliyár of Galle, Don Abraham Dias Abeysinghe Amarasekera, on 25 July 1814, who upon hearing that Clough was going to establish a school offered his deceased brother's house to be used for the school. The house, 'Doornberg', located on Upper Dickson Road, was built by the Dutch in 1712.

According to Clough's journal, which was archived in the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) at the University of London,[9] he notes -

“the Maha Mudaliyar Don Abraham Dias Abeysinha Amarasekere came in full regalia of a Mudaliyár to the Government House earlier in the day on 25th July 1814 and offered his deceased brother's residence ‘Doornberg’ to him. Having inspected the premises and rejoiced, Rev. Clough moved to the new dwellings on the same day”.[10]

Mission documents record,

“Mr. Clough, after acknowledging the liberal offer of the Mudaliyár, went to view the premises, which are about a mile from the Fort, and only a stone's-throw from the house of the generous proprietor. They are situated in a very retired and romantic spot; and appeared in most respects to be so eligible, that Mr. Clough did not hesitate to accept the liberal proposal. He immediately had his luggage removed; and was thus, without any expense to the Mission Fund, placed at once in a situation of comfort and respectability; and in circumstances of all others the best; calculated to promote his improvement in the language, and his usefulness among the natives. His school was soon commenced, and attended by some of the most intelligent boys on the island.”

[11]

The school had only five children and one adult, the Mudaliyár himself. It was initially an English school, the Galle School, and then subsequently became known as Galle Boys’ School or as Galle English School.[12]"

Richmond College, Galle - Wikipedia Richmond College (රිච්මන්ඩ් විද්‍යාලය) is a primary and secondary school in Galle, Sri Lanka which was established as the Galle High School in 1876.[4][5] The founder of the school was the Wesleyan Missionary George Bough. The first principal of the school was Rev...