Sri Lanka Sinhalese Family Genealogy
WICKREMASINGHE FAMILY #3892
Dharma Chandra Wickremasinghe Family of Malalagama, Koggala
Dharmachandra Wickremasinghe hailed from the
well known Wickremasinghe family of Malalagama, Koggala, was
a Landed Proprietor &; a cousin of the legendary
Martin Wickremasinghe, the famous writer/novelist from the
same village. He also was gazetted on many occasions to act
for his brother, who was the Registrar of
Births, Marriages &; Deaths for the Division.
His father was Lamahewage Don Daniel de Silva (Loku Opisara) of
Malalagama, Koggala, while the latter's brother,
Lamahewage Don Bastian de Silva (Punchi
Opisara) was the father of Martin Wickremasinghe. Read more about
them here
: https://www.facebook.com/KaravasriLanka/posts/koggala-malalagama-lama-
hewage-don-de-silva-ancestry
කොග්ගල-මලලගම-ළමාහේවගේ-ඩොන්-ඩ/764690362484175/
A "Police Opisara"; (Police Officer, Vidane , Arachchi) was
vested with limited police powers for crime prevention/detection,
&; appointments were usually hereditary &;
appointees were from influential families in the area with a good
education.
Don Daniel 's ancestral home appears to have been
demolished along with other houses in the area to make way for the
construction of the Koggala Airstrip prior to
the Second World War. The residents of the village were settled
elsewhere.
However, the ancestral home of his brother, Don Bastian
appears to have escaped the demolition process, possibly due the
intervention of his son, Martin
Wickremasinghe. It now houses the Wickremasinghe museum.
Read about Martin Wickremasinghe here :
Martin Wickramasinghe: About Author
Read about Martin Wickremasinghe’s family &; his ancestors
here :
(2) Facebook
මාටින් වික්රමසිංහගේ සීයා වූ කොග්ගල මලලගම ළමා හේවගේ දොන් ජුවානිස්
ඩි සිල්වා ( උපත
1830 පමණ) සහ ආච්චි වූ කුඩා විදානගේ දියුණු හාමි යන දෙපොළ පදිංචිව
සිටියේ කොග්ගල “ගිම්
පතලිය” නමැති පෙදෙසෙහිය. ඔවුන්ට දරුවෝ හතරදෙනෙක් වූහ.
* ළමා හේවගේ දොන් දානියල්ද සිල්වා, ( ලොකු ඔපිසර)
* ළමා හේවගේ දොන් බස්තියන් ද සිල්වා, ( උපත 1860 පමණ. පුංචි ඔපිසර)
* බබා හාමි හා
* කරොන්චි හාමිය.
ඔවුන් ඒ ගමේ පිළිගත් වැදගතුන් වූහ. තෝම්බුවල සඳහන් වන ආකාරයට ඉඩම්
හිමියන් වූ ඉහත
දෙ සොහොයුරෝ ව්යාපාරික කටයුතු වල ද යෙදුණහ. එකල වැදගත් නිලයක් වූ
" පොලිස් ඔපිසර ”
නිලයට ( ගම්මුලාදෑනි) තනතුරට දොන් දානියල් ද සිල්වා පත්කල අවස්ථාවේදී
ඔහු වික්රමසිංහ නම
ගත්තේ ය. නමුත් ඔපිසරකම දිගට ම කරගෙන යෑම සිය ව්යාපාරික කටයුතුවලට
අවහිරයක් වූ
බැවින් දොන් දානියල් වික්රමසිංහ පොලිස් නිලයෙන් ඉල්ලා අස්විය.
එයින් හිස් වූ ඔපිසරකමට පත් කරන ලද්දේ ඔහුගේ බාල සොහොයුරා ( සහ
මාටින් ගේ පියා ද වූ)
ළමා හේවගේ දොන් බස්තියන් ඩි සිල්වා ය.
එකල පොලිස් ඔපිසර කමට හෙවත් ගම්මුලාදෑනි තනතුරට රජයේ වැටුපක් හිමි
නොවීය. එ බැවින්
ම ඉංග්රීසි ආණ්ඩුව විසින් එකී තනතුරුවලට පත් කරන ලද්දේ වැටුපකින්
ජීවත් විය යුත්තන්
නොවන ගමේ ප්රභූ තත්ත්වයෙහි සිටි අයවලුන් ය.
දොන් බස්තියන් වික්රමසිංහ ගාල්ලේ බලපිටියේ ලියනගේ තොච්චොහාමි සමග
විවාහ විය. ඔවුන්ට
දරුවෝ දහ දෙනෙක් විය. මුල් අට දෙනාම ගැහැනු දරුවන් ය. දහ වැන්නාද
දැරියකි. 1890 මැයි 29
වෙනිදා ගිං පතලිය පුංචි ඔපිසර ගෙදර උපන් නව වැන්නා වූයේ මාටින්
වික්රමසිංහය.
1.ජයිසනෝනා
2 ලුසිනෝනා
3. සැසිරිනාහාමි
4. මැගි නෝනා
5.මැලි නෝනා
6. අර්ලිනානෝතා
7. ජේන්නෝනා
8. ජුලිනෝනා
9. මාර්ටින් වික්රමසිංහ
10. ලෝරා
දෙවන ලෝක සංග්රාමයේ දී ආණ්ඩුවේ නියෝග මත කොග්ගල අවට ජනයාට ගම් බිම්
අතහැර දමා
යෑමට සිදු විය. ඉංග්රීසි හමුදාව එහි ගෙවල් දොරවල් කඩා බිඳ දැමීය.
දොන් දානියල් වික්රමසිංහගේ
ආරච්චි ගෙදරද කැඩුණි. නමුත් පුංචි ඔපිසර ගෙදර ඉතුරු විය.
ලමා හේවගේ දොන් මාර්ටින් වික්රමසිංහ ලෙස කොග්ගල ජිංපතලිය ගමේ උපත
ලැබූ එතුමා, 1925
නොවැම්බර් මස තිස් වෙනිදා කතලුවේ, බාලගේ (බලගේ) ප්රේමා ඩි සිල්වා
කුල කුමරිය සමඟ
විවාහ විය. ඔවුන්ට දරුවන් හය දෙනෙක් ය:
https://www.facebook.com/share/p/RuQFXAEpirbUGxLa/?mibextid=oFDknk
Don Daniel's family:
1. Don Daniel de Silva Wickremasinghe, Police Opisara,
Malalagama, Katukurunda, Katukurunda, Koggala
+ Name Not Known
2.1 Samuel de Silva Wickremasinghe of
Koggala d. 1918, Landed Proprietor + Kriyabaduge
Mailenchihamy of Koggala
2.1.1 Eslin Wickremasinghe
2.1.2 Gunapala Wickremasinghe
2.1.3 Sebel Wickremasinghe
2.2 Darley Wickremasinghe of Malalagama &;
later 'Sigiri' , Hennatota, Dodanduwa ,
Proctor, Supreme Court + Kalupahanage Milly de Silva of Dodanduwa
Extract from The Village of Hennatota ( 1920 – 1940) by writer
Godwin Withana of Dodanduwa
"During the period mentioned above, the village consisted of a
little over hundred houses. The land area included four hilly
grounds and in between them in the valleys were a few patches of
paddy land
and vegetable plots. In this village were four prominent houses
called Kanda, Puwakwatta, Hena, and Udaha. The roofs of the houses
were mostly tiled while a few were thatched with cadjans. The
walls
were wattle and daub or made of earth and lime plastered and lime
washed. There was only one grandiose house namely Udaha(later
“Sigiri”), with it’s double parapet walls built according to the
contour of the land and two garages to house a car and a rubber
tyred Moratuwa Buggy cart. Here lived Proctor Darley
Wickramasinghe, a leading Lawyer of the Galle Bar, and an elder *
brother of the
celebrated author and socialist Martin Wickramasinghe. There was
no Buddhist temple at Hennatota but the Kumara Maha Vihayara at
Kumarakanda served the devotees in their religious observations.
(*Note : Darley Wickremasinghe was a cousin of Martin
Wickremasinghe)."
2.2.1 DS (Singh),
Attorney at Law
2.2.2 Sujatha
2.2.3 DP (Pathman)
2.3. Jacovis Wickremasinghe of Malalagama
, Registrar of Births, Marriages & Deaths (Gazette
No. 7,522, April 23, 1926 p.6 ) + ..... ..... Details not known
2.4 Dharma Chandra Wickremasinghe of Malalagama
, Landed Proprietor, Actg.Registrar of Births, Marriages
& Deaths, (Gazette No. 7863, Part 1, June 26 1931,
p 1108 etc) + Ellen .................. Details not known.
Early in life, on the death of his brother, Samuel de Silva
Wickremasinha in 1918, Dharma Chandra was saddled with the
responsibility of being the guardian of his
brother's three children & the Administrator of his
brother's estate. (Gazette No. 7041 Part II Legal p. 642 of Aug.
1, 1919).
He was a well respected person in the community in the area in
which he lived as he had a deep concern &; abiding interest in
the welfare of the less fortunate people
there .
Dharma Chandra Wickremasinghe's family
Dharma Chandra &; Ellen had 4 sons, all of whom were
educated at leading colleges
in Galle.
2.4.1 Reginald
(Rex) d.3.02.1996, Attorney at Law, well known for his civil
practice & large clientele, Justice of the Peace &;
Unofficial Magistrate , City Coroner in Galle for many years,
Committee Member of the Galle Gymkhana Club , Galle Tennis Club
YMBA , Vice President of the Incorporated Law Society of Sri
Lanka, 1971/72, etc.
He married Yasawathie de Silva , daughter of Mr & Mrs
HKA de Silva of
Batawala, Weligama. Her siblings : Wimaly, Gunawathie,
Karunawathie,
Karunaratne, Sugunawathie, Dayaratne, Wijeratne.
2.4.1.1 Geetha (B.A. Cey) + Dr DBK De Silva, MBBS (Cey), FRCS
(Ophthalmology ) UK. , Consultant Eye Surgeon UK &; SL, son of
Mr & Mrs DBR
De Silva of Magalle. His siblings were Alfred, Seela
Wijekulasuriya, Somachandra.
2.4.1.1.1 Dr Dinesh, Consultant, Eye Surgeon .
2.4.1.1.2 .................. Resident in the U S.
2.4.1.2. Sarath (M. Phil. B.Sc. Phy. Sc. Cey. ) + Sunila
.............., daughter of Mr. & Mr
Read an appreciation by Prof. G. T. Francis de Silva here :
Appreciations | The Sunday Times Sri Lanka
Appreciation
There was so much knowledge that he imparted to us -
Sarath Wickramasingha
Sarath Wickramasingha who had served the Moratuwa University for
over 50 years passed away recently after a brief illness. He
hailed from a reputed family of Galle – the eldest son of the
prominent
lawyer Rex Wickramasingha and Mrs. Wickramasinghe. Having had his
education at Mahinda College, in the early 60s, Sarath gained
admission to the University of Ceylon in Colombo. During his
varsity days he was fortunate to stay in Mount Lavinia with the
family of his grand uncle Martin Wickramasinghe.
Graduating with B. Sc. in Physical Science, he joined the then
Institute of Practical Technology (IPT), Katubedda, as a Lecturer
in Mathematics. Soon he was absorbed to the Technical Teacher
Training
Unit (TTTU), set up to train staff for technical education in the
country. He received a scholarship to obtain a qualification in
technical education from a British University.
I wish to state with gratitude as a Lecturer in the University of
Moratuwa to which the IPT had expanded to by then, I received the
knowhow in education psychology and teaching methods from a
workshop in which he and a British educationist were the resource
persons. This knowledge helped me in my career in later years.
On the removal of the TTTU, which is now the University of
Vocational Technology, Sarath was absorbed back to the Department
of Mathematics. Apart from his excellent teaching abilities he had
been serving the University for several years in the task of
selecting students for different courses, especially to the
National Diploma in Technology (NDT) course.
He served the university as a student counsellor and also as the
Chairman of the Sports Council.
I can recollect over 30 workshops that we conducted in the country
at the request of the Lions Club to bring computer awareness in an
era where technology was hardly known. It was a delight to watch
Sarath practically presenting to participants elements of
technology and what it can do. These applications included
introduction to word-processing, data bases, graphics, music,
hoisting the national flag, applications in agriculture and even
computer games and quizzes.
The passing away of his wife Sunila was a sad blow to Sarath which
he never got over. The couple will be remembered with gratitude by
his friends and the thousands of students he taught.
Both Sarath and Sunila were Buddhists to the core in all aspects.
May he attain the bliss of Nibbana.
Prof. GT Francis de Silva
Read his dissertation here:
https://www.google.com/url?q=http://dl.lib.uom.lk/bitstream/handle/123/1137/74540-1.pdf%3Fsequence%3D14%26isAllowed%3Dy&;sa=U&;ved=2ahUKEwi78-HaleGMAxVO4TgGHVYpKjY4ChAWegQIBhAC&;usg=AOvVaw3yQ9_K6atSR5GtJbyB8jrl
2.4.1.3 Dalmie (B.Sc. Cey.) + Padma (BA Cey) d. 31.01.1996 Deputy
Librarian,
Central Bank of Ceylon), daughter of Mr. &; Mrs. .............
Padma died under tragic
circumstances in the terrorist attack on the Central Bank of
Ceylon.
Dalmie graduated from the Agriculture Faculty of the University of
Ceylon &; joined
the Dept. of Agriculture. He held several senior positions until
retirement.
………………….
………………….
Extract from a News Item
https://www.sundaytimes.lk/021110/news/sreport.html
For Dalmie Wickremasinghe (63) from Boralasgamuwa, losing his wife
Padma was the worst tragedy.
Three days after hearing the shocking news, his father died.
"Padma (53),the Deputy Librarian at the Central Bank was
based in the mezzanine floor. I rushed to Colombo from my work
place in Kalutara, on hearing the incident. I had to search for
her at the National Hospital and then at the Eye hospital. I
really didn't want to find her at the eye hospital blind.
She once said she would rather end her life with a cyanide capsule
than losing her sight.
"Finally, I found her body at the morgue. I had to start life all
over again because of my two children who were aged 19 and 23 at
the time. Today, my eight month old grand daughter takes care of
my
loneliness, but the loss of my wife is a scar that will remain all
my life"
Asked about the High Court judgment Mr. Wickremasinghe said it was
a good judgment but added that since he believed that
"hatred cannot be conqured by hatred,& Prabhakaran
should be pardoned for the sake of peace. We should forget the
past and support the efforts made at bringing peace.
2.4.1.4 Neela + ............ son of Mr. &
Mrs. ........
…………………
…………………
2.4.1.5 Lalani Passed away in her teens.
2.4.1.6 Ramani + Sarath (Ananda) Fernando d. 10.06.2012 (
Entrepreneur ), son of Mr Manifred & Mrs Pearl Fernando of
Galle.His siblings are : Dhammika, Gamini
and Pushpa De Fonseka,
2.4.1.6.1 Lalith
2.4.1.6.2 Gayathra
2.4.1.6.3 Mahendra
2.4.1.7 ..........
2.4.2 Vincent
(Vinnie) - Details not known
2.4.3 Samson - Details
not known
2.4.4 Dr. Bertram
(Bertie), MBBS Cey. P. G. Diploma in Anaesthesia at St. Mary;s
Hospital, East London.d. 22.09.2019 Consultant Anaesthetist, was
for many years
attached to the Galle Hospital. He was a mentor &;
source of strength to many of the junior doctors who worked at the
hospital. He was a Founder Member of the Collge
of Anaesthesiologists of Sri Lanka. He worked till the age of 73
years , as there were no Anaesthetist to replace him at the Galle
Hospital.
Dr Bertie married Sita de Silva , d. ................, daughter of
Mr & Mrs Ginige Simon de Silva. Her siblings : Walter,
Beatrice, Violet, Shelton, Percy.
2.4.4.1 Aruna
2.4.4.2 Arjuna
2.4.4.3 Dileepa
2.4.4.4 Duminda
Read about “ Anaesthesia in Sri Lanka in the 1950s” written
by Dr. Bertie here :
Historical Vignettes – Anaesthesia in Sri Lanka in the 1950s
By B Wickramasinghe* Retired Consultant Anaesthetist, Founder
Member, College of Anaesthesiologists of Sri Lanka.
When the Second World War broke out the army ordered us out and
occupied our village of Koggala. I had just passed the London
Matriculation examination. My school education got
disrupted for nearly five years as we had to move to a village in
the interior of the Galle district. This delayed my entry to
Medical College. I passed out of Medical College in 1955 at
the age of 34 years. At that time there was no internship and my
first appointment was to Batticaloa Hospital. There were 3 house
officers. One for medical wards, one for surgical
wards and the third one for obstetrics. In addition, the three
house officers took turns to work in the out patient department. I
was looking after the medical wards with the DMO as
the acting physician but he never came to the wards. The surgeon
was a senior MBBS officer who had gained a lot of experience in
surgical work under a consultant surgeon. The obstetrician and
gynaecologist was an experienced officer with the Diploma in
Obstetrics & Gynaecology. Since all three House Officers were
new, a senior House Officer who was already in Batticaloa had his
transfer delayed by a few weeks so he could train us.
During operating sessions, the ward House Officer assists the
surgeon and one of the other House Officers had to be the
anaesthetist. I had had no training in anaesthesia at all. My
first experience as an anaesthetist was when I found a trolley
with a bottle of chloroform and a U-shaped mask with perforations
on top filled with gauze. With a measuring cylinder,
a dram of chloroform was measured and this was poured into the
mask until the gauze got soaked with the chloroform. Vaseline was
applied to the edge of the mask to prevent
irritation of the skin. The mask was then held over the nose and
mouth of the patient. The eye signs were observed. First the eye
lash reflex is lost. The pupils start dilating and then
gradually constrict. When the pupils are pin point, the surgeon
was asked to start operating.
By observing the eye signs more chloroform was poured into the
mask to keep the patient under anaesthesia till the end of the
operation. For post operative pain either pethidine or
morphine was administered.
Most of the cases were done under spinal analgesia. Lumbar
puncture was done between either L2/3 or L 3/4 interspace with the
patient seated on the operation table. Usually for a
laparotomy 7 to 8 ml of light nupercaine was injected. For
haemorrhoids, 1.5 ml of the heavy solution was injected.
My stay at Batticaloa was cut short by the communal troubles that
erupted in 1956. I was sent on relief duty to Inginiyagala
Hospital which at that time was staffed by American
doctors. The operation theatre was better equipped than even the
operation theatres at General Hospital, Colombo. After a short
time at Inginiyagala, I was transferred as HO
Anaesthesia Galle Hospital. I had no proper training in
anaesthesia and learnt what to do from Dr Abeysiriwardene the
House Officer who was in Galle. He has had two weeks
training in Colombo. There was a Boyle’s apparatus available at
Galle. The volatile agents available were diethyl ether and
trichloroethylene (trilene). One of the surgeons, Dr
Abeysundera encouraged me to continue in anaesthesia while the
others found fault with the Department of Health for sending an
untrained person as anaesthetist. The surgeon at
Galle got a heart attack and relief surgeons were sent to Galle.
One of them Dr HD Gunatilleke who had come from Kalutara asked me
to apply for post of relief HO
Anaesthesia at Kalutara.
I also remember that when I came to Galle from Batticaloa there
was an “Iron Lung” fixed in a room close to the operation theatre
at Galle. It had not been used and we were not
bothered about it. However, one day towards the end of the year,
we were informed that a man who had attempted suicide by hanging
was to be brought to the hospital. A few of the
medical officers rushed into the room where the Iron Lung was and
examined the machine.
No one knew how to operate the machine, so we tried moving various
knobs and handles and found the way to operate it. We put the
patient into the machine and started it. It
started functioning with a frightening noise. It was working
perfectly and we observed the chest movements which were perfect.
Sadly, there was no improvement in the patient’s
condition which was not surprising as a number of hours had
elapsed before he was brought to the hospital.
In 1964 I moved to Kalutara and I was made permanent HO
Anaesthesia there. Kalutara hospital was better equipped than
Galle hospital. Dr Gunatilleke used to perform major
surgery like laryngopharyngectomy and oesophagectomy at Kalutara.
He forced me to apply for postgraduate leave and arranged for me
to meet the Postgraduate Dean in London.
Together with my wife and baby son I left for London by boat in
1965. I was given a training post at Queen Mary Hospital in East
London. I was successful in the Diploma in Anaesthesia
examination and returned to Sri Lanka in 1966.
Dr Gunatilleke had by then been transferred to Galle and he
encouraged me to come to Galle. At that time there were some
internal problems at Galle between the surgeons and
anaesthetist and theatre work had come to a virtual standstill.
When I reported to the Department on my return I was given a
letter of appointment as the Consultant
Anaesthetist, Galle Hospital. I reported for duty and was able to
sort out the problems and ensure that surgery resumed. Dr Ranjen
Fernando, a past president of the College was my
first trainee in anaesthesia.The standard of anaesthesia in Galle
gradually improved.
Halothane was introduced around 1970. Monitoring was introduced in
1992. The Intensive Care Unit was started in 1995 but before this
patients were ventilated in the wards.
I reached 60 years of age in 1981 and was due to retire but no one
was prepared to come to Galle. The Director of Health Services
appealed to the Minister of Health who prepared a
cabinet paper and got approval for me to continue if I felt I was
fit. I retired at the age of 73 years. By then Galle Hospital had
become a Teaching Hospital and was a much changed
place from where I started work in 1956.
https://www.google.com/url?q=https://slja.sljol.info/articles/7027/files/submission/proof/7027-1-24963-1-10-20140627.pdf
Prepared by KK de Silva