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The Founders Of Kandy Girls’ High School

The Rev.Samuel Langdon and Mrs.Langdon were the founders of Kandy Girls’ High School. Rev.Langdon came out to Sri Lanka in 1873 at the age of 25 years. In 1876 he was transferred from Wesley College, where he was Assistant to Rev. Samuel Wilkin, to Richmond College as its first Principal. He was accompanied by his wife who, we are told, conducted the Galle Circuit Sunday School.

After three years they were transferred to the Kandy Circuit and it was not long before steps were taken by them to open a High School for Girls’ there. Rev. Langdon was a keen educationist and piorneered Science teaching in Sri Lanka. He also wrote many popular articles on Scientific subjects in the Methodist Magazine of his day. “The Ceylon Friend,” of which he was Editor for a number of years. Some of his publications are “Rome and Romanism,” “Notes on Science Teaching,” “Appeal to the Serpent,” “Punchi Nona,” “My Mission Garden,” “The Happy Valley” and the “Unworldly Kingdom.”

Mrs. Langdon shared his interest in education and acted as Principal of the new school at Kandy from its opening in May 1879 until Miss Payne came out from England in July.

HISTORY

The Girls’ High School, Kandy, is certainly prestigious and one of the oldest schools in Sri Lanka – now 140 years of age. It owes its inception to the Methodist Missionary Society of London, and to Rev. and Mrs. S Langdon who set up the school close to the Kandy Methodist Church down Yatinuwara weediya, in 1879. A subsequent bubonic plague scare had the school shifting to its present site in Katukelle.

The beginning of the school in this far- flung outpost of the empire and in a provincial town is remarkable, since even in England there were not that many high schools for girls in the latter decades of the 19th century.

The school song advises us to think of ‘times olden’. Not even the oldest old girl living can go that far back in memory but, fortunately, the ‘dim, distant years’ and the achievements thereof are recorded for us.

The many firsts of the school are well known and documented. Right from its beginning, it is certain the school grew in scope, curriculum, and number on roll and impact on sleepy Kandy. All nationalities were represented in its student body-Sinhalese, Tamil, Moors and Malays, Burghers, Chinese and Eurasian. This spreads to its staff as more and more local teachers joined the faculty of British, Irish and Scots missionary educators. KHS certainly influenced other schools through the several innovatory activities it ventured into.

In the 1920s when females had to be modest and cabined, cribbed, confined in conservative homes and equally conservative schools , KHS girls played tennis and netball and even ventured forth to Colombo , Badulla and Jaffna for inter-school matches. The first such match was between Ladies College, Colombo and the Kandy team during the principalships of Miss Opie and Miss Mallet respectively.

The school song refers to debates in the school hall. Again in the 1920s, a debate was organized between KHS and Trinity College. Fluttering of young hearts would surely have occurred with parental heart burn consequent to his bold move!

Drama was soon introduced to the school and on record is the fact that at the turn of the 20th century a production of the Merchant of Venice held an audience spellbound for a whole three hours. A request to A Milne for permission to dramatize his The Toad of Toad Hall had him waving aside royalties and wishing the young dramatists all luck.

After being exclusive English educating girls’ school for around 75 years, KHS fell in line with government education policies and introduced Sinhala and Tamil streams to the school. The first Sri Lankan principal was Grace Paul, followed by such distinguished educators as Erica LaBrooy, Hema Jayasinghe, Chitra Abayaratne, Tikiri Ekanayake, and Mallika Amunugama etc.,

Down the years other games, extracurricular activities and subjects to the curriculum were added. But most of all the school continued to give its girls a unique persona, a special aura that made them recognizable as products of Girls’ High School, Kandy.

 

Highlights of Khs Firsts

  • First Lady Doctor Nelly R. Jardine (1898)
  • First Lady Graduate In The Island – Priscilla Marshall (1898)
  • First Guide Company To Be Formed In Sri Lanka (1917)
  • First Brownie Company To Be Formed In Sri Lanka (1918)
  • First School To Introduce The House System (1921)
  • First School To Have A School Song (1921)
  • First School To Introduce The School Badge (1921)
  • First Ranger Company To Be Formed In Sri Lanka (1921)
  • First Sri Lankan Guide Captain – Gladys Vanderstraaten (1921)
  • First School To Introduce The School Uniform (1922)
  • First School To Introduce The School Tie (1922)

 

 

List of khs firsts

  • First Lady Graduate in the island – Priscilla Marshall (1898)
  • First Lady Doctor to obtain the L.R.C.P. & S.(Edinburgh) Nelly R. Jardine (1898)
  • First Guide Company to be formed in Sri Lanka – (1917)
  • First Brownie Company to be formed in Sri Lanka – (1918)
  • First Ranger Company to be formed in Sri Lanka – (1921)
  • First Sri Lankan Guide Captain – Gladys Vanderstraaten (1921)
  • First Guide in Sri Lanka to obtain the ‘All round cord’- Gladys Vanderstraaten (1921)
  • First Malay girl to matriculate in Sri Lanka – Moodah Chunchie (1925)
  • First Chinese girl to Graduate – Dorothy Angie (1925)
  • First girl in Sri Lanka to be awarded the University Scholarship – Lily Fernando (1926)
  • First Kandyan Lady Graduate and the first to win the ‘Tripos’ of the Cambridge University -Soma Seneviratne (1927)
  • First girl in Sri Lanka to be trained in Physical Education at Lady Willingdon College – Nora Perera
  • First Sri Lankan Lady to get a Masters Degree in BioChemistry – Ratnabai Arulanaadham (1953)
  • First and only Sri Lankan to obtain a Ph.D. in Human Genetics – Eugene Jayasekera(1968)
  • First Sri Lankan Lady to become a Fellow of the Royal College of Dental Surgeons – Nalini Ekanayake(1976)
  • First Sri Lankan to be elected Secretary of a Y.W.C.A – Margueratie Piachaud
  • First Home Science Inspectress – Lynda Oorloff
  • First Sri Lankan Lady Draughtsman – Stella David
  • First Sri Lankan Lady Auctioneer – Matilda de Silva
  • First Sri Lankan to be trained in the Montessori System of education and also to establish the first Montessori School in the island and to obtain a Doctorate in Montessori Method – Lena Wickremaratne
  • First Sri Lankan Catholic Journalist Nun – Rev. Sister Norberta Wickremaratne
  • First girl accepted from Sri Lanka to the Y.M.C.A College of Physical Education – Flora Rajapakse (1947)
  • First Lady to be President of a Multi Purpose Co-operative Society – Anula Ellepola Udalagama (1970) – to serve on the National Sports Council, – to serve on the University Council, Peradeniya
  • First Deputy Director/Administration, Department of Animal Production and Health – Lalitha Dissanayake (1979)
  • First School to introduce Science to the School Curriculum (early 1920s)
  • First School to introduce Domestic Science to the School Curriculum (early 1920s)
  • First School to introduce the House System (1921)
  • First School to introduce the School uniform (1922)
  • First School to introduce the School Tie (1922)
  • First School to introduce the School Badge (1921)
  • First School to introduce Kandyan Dancing to the School Curriculum (1952)