Paul Family of Colombo

Sri Lanka Tamil Family Genealogy

Paul Family #5067

The Paul Family Genealogy

by Avinder Paul

The Paul family of Colombo Sri Lanka, and formerly of Jaffna in old Ceylon and now scattered all over the globe, started with Dr William Thillayampalam Paul of Jaffna, Ceylon. William Paul’s mother was an early Christian American missionary convert and went around town preaching the bible to people. She gave up her son at a young age to the American missionaries who were in Jaffna. As such her son was renamed William Paul, and he was enrolled into the Green Medical School in Jaffna which was set up by American Missionary Doctor Dr Samuel Fiske Green.

William Paul was one of the earliest Ceylonese qualified medical doctors in the Island of Ceylon. He had many children, and, his eldest daughter married Chanmugam, whose descendants were famed as were many other descendants of his daughters or granddaughters, all of who have that Paul origin but carry a different name, some examples being Lakshman Kadirigamar, Mano Chanmugam, Dr HW Thambiah, Indira Samarasekera, Dr Rajah Cooke to name but a few.

William Paul had a famed son he named after his guru Samuel Chellar Paul known as Dr S C Paul. Dr S C Paul born 1872 qualified as a doctor MBBS Madras obtaining a first class. He then commenced work at the General Hospital Colombo. He was educated at Jaffna Central College, Wesley College, Colombo and St Thomas’ College, Mt Lavinia. He later passed his First in Arts Examination from Presidency College, Madras. He then went on to study medicine at Madras Medical College from where he obtained a first class MBBCh degree. Later he went to Kings College, London from where he obtained the FRCS qualification in 1901. He was the first Ceylonese to gain the FRCS qualification.

Dr SC Paul MBBCh, FRCS

While he was working there as a young doctor he was invited to the home of Dr Simon De Melho Aserappa around the corner of the General Hospital at Ward Place in Cinnamon Gardens or Colombo 7, as it is now known. Dr Aserappa had his home at the corner of Ward Place and Kynsey Road in his mansion known as “Chateau Jubilee”, with an adjoining land in extent of 8 acres. Interestingly he purchased this land in 1870 for the princely sum of Rupees 1498 /-.

So, the young Dr Paul comes to the Aserappa dinner party and his roving eye sees the 19 year old damsel daughter of Dr Aserappa. Dr Aserappa also had a son Colin who had predeceased a few years back succumbing to a pistol accident. So the Daughter Dora Elenor was his only surviving child at 19 years, Dr Aserappa, at the time was in his 70s.

The young Dr Paul was too shy to approach the young heiress, but the next day he wrote her a letter saying he had fallen in love with her and asked for her permission to speak to her father. Obviously she said yes as did the father, as the marriage took place in 1899 at his home in Ward Place.

In 1900 they were blessed with the first born Milroy who became the eminent Colombo surgeon and first professor of surgery Dr Milroy Aserappa Paul. Milroy qualified medicine at Kings College London and was FRCS and MRCP a rare combination. He had a erudite career in England and Ceylon and was a surgeon of international fame. Milroy lived his life in the Paul family mansion he inherited called “Rao Mahal” at 81 Ward Place Colombo. He was famous for driving around to and from the general hospital in his sleek Riley cars. He first married his cousin Winifred whose mother was a sister of Dr S C Paul and who was orphaned at a young age and brought up in the Paul family household. They had one son Wakeley Paul (1930 to 2009) who was a Cambridge and Stanford qualified Lawyer who worked in Ceylon and later in the USA.

Wakeley in turn was named after Milroy’s Guru in England the famous surgeon Sir Cecil Wakeley. Wakeley Paul first married Diana Keyt daughter of artist George Keyt they had one daughter Galina who has 3 children all now in USA. Wakeleys second wife was Sandra Stiebitz an American lady they had one son Dayan who has two sons all in the USA. Milroy’s wife passed away in 1944 and in 1945 he married Irma Tampoe Philips who was the sister of renowned Ceylon Union Leader Mr Bala Tampoe.

Dr Milroy Paul

By this marriage Milroy had 4 children Sivanta (1946 ) who is a medical doctor in USA who has two sons, Shikhandini Joseph (1948) who is a medical physician in Australia who has two daughters, Amarjit (1951) a dental surgeon in Australia who has two daughters one a medical doctor, and Avinder (1957 ) in Australia who has 3 children two daughters medical doctors and a son. Dr S C Paul’s second born was a son 1902 known as Dr W R C Paul agriculture PhD from Cambridge who was Deputy Director of Agriculture, and later resided in Kandy after selling his Ward Place homes to Miriam de Saram.

In Kandy Dr WRC Paul, was for many years, the managing director of the Queens Hotel Kandy and built a house at Aniewatte in Kandy where his two brothers Milroy and Jayarajan also built houses on one hill cut into three slabs. He first married Leila Hensman when at Ward Place they had 3 daughters Susheela who married aitken Spence chairman Chari de Silva they have 2 sons and a daughter Sharmini wife of cricketer Sidath Wettimuny. The second daughter Marlathy married world bank executive Rajan Chanmugam they have 3 children. The third daughter Rathnendri married Ronald Berenger and went to USA.

WRC Paul’s second wife was Muthumalar Snell they had two children Priya now in Australia with 3 children and Dilo now in USA with 2 daughters. The third child of Dr SC Paul a daughter Lolita 1903 -1988 married Dr G Cooke MD London who was a gynaecologist in Colombo. They had 4 children the first son died young, the second son Dr Rajah Cooke was a famous cancer surgeon he had 3 sons, 2 in Australia one remains in Sri Lanka the second child a daughter Balasundari married Dr AC Arulpragasam and they had two daughters a doctor Aiyesha in UK and engineer Dr Indira Samarasekera of Canada. The 4th child of Lolita is Mohini who was childless and married Kuttien Crossette Thambiah deputy chairman Baur and company Colombo. Lolita inherited the large estate known as fairy hall at 77 ward place where she lived her whole life.

The 4th child of Dr SC Paul was a daughter Kamala 1905 known as Totsy. Totsy inherited the sprawling estate at 56 kynsey Road and married Raseratnam who was a surveyor general. They had 5 children a son Rudra who became a surgeon with a English accent, unmarried and died in Sri Lanka. The second Dru was a famous caterer was unmarried and died at the family home 2018. The third Sundari married Dr Viswa Navaratnam anatomy professor, they live in Cambridge England had two daughters one was keshini a BBC TV presenter. The fourth Sulochana known as Sweetie married Ajit Saravanamuttu son of the famous P Sara, they had no children. The fifth was Anandan a ship pilot who moved on to USA and had two sons.

The 5th child of Dr SC Paul was Emily Ranitta b 1907 known as Emy. She had the sprawling estate at 62 Kynsey Road. She married RR Crossette Thambiah who was Solicitor General of Ceylon and QC. They had two children called Malli and Akki both had no issue and both passed away Malli at the same family home in 2022.

The 6th child of Dr SC Paul was Egerton b 1908 he qualified in law and economics at Cambridge and became Director of commerce in Ceylon and later in the UN in Iraq and Bahamas. He inherits the mansion chateau jubilee corner of kynsey road and ward place which he later sold and built a house at 7 Cambridge place where he lived and died with his British wife June. They had no children.

The 7th child of Dr S C Paul was Robert who died in a bicycle accident at Laurie’s Road as a teenager.

The 8th child of Dr S C Paul was Marcus Jayarajan b 1910 later known as Paul Jayarajan. He was a Cambridge qualified lawyer with a 2:1 degree. He joined the Indian Civil service and married a deposed Maharajas daughter Tara. He later was Assistant Governor central bank of Ceylon and finally was Attorney General of Uganda. He inherited property in ward place no 83 and 70 kynsey road but chose to build a large house in Cambridge terrace now owned by his grandson who lives in USA. The son Anand died in a car accident in Uganda and he had a posthumous son Mahen.

The 9th child of Dr SC Paul was Arthur Terrence called Titty to family and who was known as Dr ATS Paul. Born 1915 ATS was the only child of SC Paul to receive tertiary education in Ceylon.

All the boys attended Royal college and the 3 girls went to Bishops college which had been the school attended by their mother Dora Aserappa who later founded the Womens’ International Club in Colombo 7. ATS Paul joined the Ceylon Medical College as it was during WWII and travelling to England was not possible. ATS Paul then went on to qualify with the singular honour of obtaining triple FRCS from England Ireland and Scotland. He became a renowned pioneering thoracic surgeon and Pioneered open heart surgery in Sri Lanka and developed the first heart lung machine in Sri Lanka. After retiring from General hospital Colombo he worked as a heart surgeon in Nairobi Kenya.

He inherited property at Ward Place and Kynsey Road but chose to buy a large home at Kensington Gardens Colombo 4 where he lived his life. He was an artist and an avid grower of rose plants at his home. ATS Paul married Marie Baptista an Anglo Indian theatre sister he met while working in India during the latter ww 2 years. ATS had two sons the elder Suren 1946 known also as Jo Jo was a batch mate of Prince Charles in Cambridge and went on to do Medicine at Kings and FRCS and lives in England where he worked as a surgeon. He has two children one in uk one in USA. ATS Paul’s second son died young unmarried.

Dr S C Paul left his large land holding in Ward Place and Kynsey Road which he had inherited, to all his children. In addition, he became the largest single land owner in Jaffna having purchased a 1,500 acre property in Palay and a large land holding in Keerimalai beach front property and a mansion in Manipay. In addition, he had a large beach front estate in Hendala inherited from Aserappa, and purchased a lake front house in Kandy and a large tea estate with bungalow in Diyatalawa. He founded Colonial motors with some others the Fiat automobile agents, and also founded the Ceylon Insurance Company (Ceylinco) with Justin Kotelawala. He was also a chairman of the planters’ association.

Fairy Hall, built in 1880 on Ward Place in Colombo 7, the original home of Dr Simon de Melho Aserappah and his wife Emily Wake. It was part of the large homestead on which twenty years later Rao Mahal and other homes were constructed by the family of Dr SC Paul who married Dr Aserappah’s daughter Dora. Rao Mahal, (on May 8, 1899, in the home at Ward Place in Colombo 7), built by Dora & SC Paul.

Dr AC Arulpragasam ENT Surgeon and Dr Rajah Cooke both from the extended Paul family lived at No 77 as part of the large landholding adjacent to the Paul home “Rao Mahal “. Rao Mahal was built by Dr Simon De Melho Aserappah one of the first overseas qualified doctors who returned from England in the 19 th Century. Dr Gunaratnam Cooke lived at 77 Ward Place, and Egerton Paul another son of Dr SC Paul lived at No 85.

000 Ampalavanar Vinayakar circa 1660 + d/o Murugar circa 1665

00 Vinayagar Ramanathar + d/o Punyiamoorthy

0 daughter + Kathirgamar Velauthar, s/o Ramar Kathirgamar & Ms Mailakannakar

1 Velauthar Sinnathamby

0 Ramanathar Velauthar + Ms Kailayar

1 Velauthar Suppar

2 Suppar Arumugam + Ms Arugumaththar

3 Arumugam Muthuthamby + Ms Marimuttu

0 2^nd spouse of Ramanathar Velauthar + d/o Udaiar Vethar Kailaya & d/o Kanagasundera

1 Velauthar Karthipillai + d/o Nagendrar of Uduvil , Christian American missionary convert from Hinduism

2 Dr William Thillaiyampalam Paul of Jaffna, Ceylon 1840-1900 + Ambrosia Ponnamma Kathirgamar, d/o Sampanthar Kadirgamar of Vaddukkoddai

3 Albert Paul

3 Victor Ariyanayagan Paul

3 Charles Duraiyyah Paul

3 Thangamma Paul

3 Mary Ratnamma Paul

3 Chellammah Paul

3 Julia Pakiam Paul

3 Muttamma Paul

3 Nallamma Paul

3 Lilian Nesammah Paul

3 Dr Samuel Chellar Paul b:1872, qualified as an MBBS from Madras obtaining a first class + Dora Aserappa

4 Dr Milroy Paul, eminent Colombo Surgeon + Winifred Hanah Ponmani, d/o William H Ponniah Kanagasabai, Kachcheri Officer & the daughter of Dr SC Pauls’ sister in 1926, d:1944

5 Wakeley Paul 1930-2009, Cambridge and Stanford qualified Lawyer + Diana Keyt, daughter of artist George Keyt

6 Galina Paul + Name Not Known

7 three children, al in USA

5 second spouse of Wakeley Paul 1930-2009: + Sandra Stiebitz (USA)

6 Dayan Paul + Anna Sheila

7 Aryck Paul

7 Aiken Paul

4 second spouse of Dr Milroy Paul: + Irma Tampoe Philips, sister of renowned Ceylon Trade Union Leader, Mr Bala Tampoe

5 Sivanta Paul (1946) who is a medical doctor in USA + Suba Rajendran

6 Stefan Paul

6 Alain Paul

5 Shikhandini Paul (1948) who is a medical physician in Australia + Wijeyen Joseph

6 Dinusha Joseph + John Tesarch

6 Shirin Joseph + Schacter

5 Amarjit Paul (1951) a dental surgeon in Australia + Shyamala Rockwood

6 Thanya Paul + Dr Warwick Clarke

6 Amaryah Paul + Jasper Hedges

5 Avinder Paul (1957) + Nirupa Jayaratnam d/o Albert Jayaratnam of Chilaw and Mary’s Road, Bambalapitiya (Australia)

6 Tarini Paul, medical doctor

6 Ethan Paul, medical doctor

6 Jerusha Paul

4 Dr W R C Paul (1902) agriculture PhD from Cambridge + Leila Hensman

5 Susheela Paul + Chari de Silva, Chairman, Aitken Spence & Company

6 Chandan de Silva + Nadini Alles d/o Elmo and Mano Alles

6 Romesh de Silva + Sepali

6 Sharmini de Silva + Sidath Wettimuny

5 Marlathy Paul + Rajan Chanmugam, World Bank Executive

6 Arjun Chanmugam, medical doctor at Johns Hopkin

6 Teruni Chanmugam

6 Tamara Chanmugam

5 Rathnendri Paul + Ronald Berenger (USA)

4 second spouse of WRC Paul + Muthumalar Snell

5 Priya Paul (Australia) + Name Not Known

6 Darshini + Scott Ayton

6 Nimmi + Trevor

6 Shehara + Luke .

5 Dilo Paul + Naomi

6 Daughter

4 Lolita Paul 1903-1988 + Dr G Cooke MD London, Gynaecologist

5 son, deceasd young

5 Dr Rajah Cooke

6 Neil Cooke, Colombo Son. Roy Australia Son Australia, Australia

6 Roy Cooke

6 son

5 Balasundari Cooke + Dr AC Arulpragasam

6 Aiyesha Arulpragasam + Rajan Muthuveloe in UK

6 Dr Indira Arulpragasam + Harinfra Samarasekera in Canada

7 son

7 daughter

6 Amal Arulpragasam

6 Ajit Arulpragasam

5 Mohini Cooke + Kuttien Crossette Thambiah, Deputy Chairman A Baur & Company Colombo.

4 Kamala Paul 1905 aka Totsy + Raseratnam, Surveyor General

5 Rudra Raseratnam, Surgeon

5 Dru Raseratnam, Caterer

5 Sundari Raseratnam + Dr Viswa Navaratnam, Anatomy Professor, Cambridge England

6 Pratheeva Navaratnam

6 Keshini Navaratnam, BBC TV anchor

5 Sulochana Raseratnam aka Sweetie + Ajit Saravanamuttu, son of the famous P Sara

5 Anandan Raseratnam, a ship pilot who moved on to USA

6 son

4 Emily Ranitta Paul b1907 aka Emy + RR Crossette Thambiah, Solicitor General of Ceylon and QC

5 Malli

5 Akki

4 Egerton Paul b1908, qualified in law and economics at Cambridge and became Director of Commerce in Ceylon and later in the UN in Iraq and Bahamas + June (UK)

4 Robert Paul died in a bicycle accident at Laurie’s Road as a teenager.

4 Marcus Jeyarajan Paul aka Paul Jeyarajan, creator of the Jaran System of Bidding in Bridge and author of a book on Bridge describing the new system based on the short club bidding method. Cambridge qualified lawyer with a 2:1 degree. Assistant Governor Central Bank of Ceylon and finally was Attorney General of Uganda + Tara, d/o a deposed Maharaja

5 Anand Paul, died in a car accident in Uganda

6 Mahen Paul (born posthumously)

4 Arthur Terrence Paul aka Titty and was known as Dr ATS Paul. Born 1915 ATS was the only child of SC Paul to receive tertiary education in Ceylon + Marie Baptista, an Anglo Indian theatre sister he met while working in India during the latter WWII years

5 Suren Paul, b:1946 aka Jo Jo, was a batch mate of Prince Charles in Cambridge and went on to do Medicine at Kings and FRCS and lives in England where he worked as a surgeon + Rose Nathaniel

6 Anthony Paul

7 Anushka Paul

5 son died young, unmarried

4 Ellalasingham Paul

1 Velauthar Sanmugam + Ms Murugesar

2 Muttupillai Sanmugam + Murugesar Kanthar

3 Kandappar Vythialingam

4 Vythialingam Muttukumarasamy

4 Annapoornay Vythialingam

4 Vythialingam Sivasubramaniam

4 Vythialingam Sivajothi

4 Sithaledchumy Vythialingam