 |
F.L.Woodward
 |
 |
|
F.L.Woodward
|
|
|
Frank Lee WoodwardF.L.Woodward (1871-1956) born in Saham in Norfolk, England as the son of a vicar of the Anglican religion, had an archetypal Victorian boyhood, attended a traditional English public school won scholarship to Cambridge, and later turned to teaching it secured him a deputy headmastership. He joined the London Theosophical Society and was a great friend of Olcott. So Col.Olcott offered him the principal ship of Mahinda College which he nursed for 16 years after that he left for Tasmania to devote the subsequent 33 years of his life to the task of editing and translating Buddhist texts to be published by the Pali Text Society, London. He died in 1956. From the day Mr. Woodward became the principal, the school had slowly but steadily progressed. By December 1903 with in 4 months after Mr. Woodward’s assumption of office as principal, the average attendance of the school had risen to 142 from 89. In the same month students had been sent for the Cambridge examination and in July 1904 a student of Mahinda, G.W.Perera had won the university scholarship. By 1905 there had been 246 boys on the roll. It was during that period that Col.Olcott visited the college twice in 1904 and 1906. 1907 had been a dark year for Mahinda. Both Col.olcott & Muhandiram Thomas Amarasooriya had died. On 25 June 1907 Mr. Henry Amarasuriya, the son of the later had been elected as the manager of the school. Mr.: A.D.Jayasinghe jointed to the staff in 1917. He was appointed headmaster and retired in 1938 after a great service. He died in 1968. In this time Mr. F.L.Woodward had been active with a plan to move the college to place with surroundings more conductive to its healthy growth. Mrs. D.F.de Silva of Minuwangoda donated a land called “DEVATAGAH WATTA” far from the madding crowd in a salubrious and elevated plot of land. It was a magical charming hillock with enlivening beauty of the central Highlands painted on its eastern sky had attracted the attention Mr. F.L.Woodward who had high sense of aesthetic beauty. The panoramic view of the siripada (Adam’s peak) also said that it is the most suitable place to a Buddhist school. On 15 January in 1908 at 2.14 pm Mr. Woodward had laid the foundation stone of Olcott hall. In July & October of the same year the foundation stones for the Amrasuriya block & Matara block had been laid by Mr.: H.Amarasuriya, E.S.Balasuriya and D.N.Weeratunga respectively. In the first of august 1912 the new building had been ceremonially opened. With the shifting of the school to its present abode the number of students had risen to 300. Woodward’s work included taking classes in English, Latin, Pali, Buddhism and art, in addition of the administrative duties associated with the position of principal of the school. His involvement went much further. He was the designer / architect of its buildings, personally supervised their construction, and often works alongside the masons. The first price giving commemorating the 21st anniversary of the inauguration of the school & ninth anniversary of Woodward’s arrival also celebrated in 1912.
___________________________________________________________________________________ Greetings to Mahinda From Mr. F.L. Woodward Dear Mahidians’ old and new, I send you these few lines of greeting and congratulations an what you are doing this festive years since I came to Galle and spent nine years in the old and cramped building in the fort. With about sixty boys and seven Assistant Masters to begin with. The changers that have since taken place are remarkable. From what I hear the whole site of the present college must be nearly covered with buildings, and more are in process of erection. Some of them due to the liberality of the Old Boys who have not forgotten their Alma mater. ___________________________________________________________________________________
|
