My friend, you would not tell me with such high zest
To children ardent for some desperate glory
The old lie: Dulce et decorum est
Pro patria mori.
These are the lines from Great War poet Wilfred Owen who lamented the ultimate sacrifices made by the youth during the First World War which certainly was a calamity. Like any war, the First World War made an appeal to the youth around the world to join troops for the sake of glory and their bravery was mustered up by giving them a hallowed status under the guise of patriotism.
Indeed, it was fairly acceptable for the direct players in the war as their youth experienced the misery of war as part and parcel of reality. But, it remains a riddle in the history of what forces galvanised the countless youth from the British Empire to volunteer for a war fought in someone’s territory. Perhaps, the answer lies in the public-school system espoused by the British missionaries around the colonies in Asia and Africa based on Victorian ethos, which stimulated both the moral and intellectual perfection of the native students.
Rev. A. G. Fraser
The fascinating story of Trinity College, Kandy as one of the premier schools in the empire that sent a larger number of voluntary soldiers to the Western Front is a pure reflection of the Victorian values introduced by the British missionaries.
From its obscure beginnings, which is traced back to 1857, Trinity gained its legitimacy as a proper public school in 1872 when Rev. Collins took over the administration. Albeit Sri Lanka stayed away from the centre of gravity due to its distant geography, its inhabitants played a role in the war.
By 1917, the Times of Ceylon estimated that 12,500 volunteers registered for the overseas service, which included student volunteers from public schools in Ceylon. Rev. Fraser, the principal who navigated Trinity during the war years epitomised the virtues of an ideal missionary who indigenised the school by inculcating “Christ-like “values among the boys.
In the vision that Rev. Fraser set up for Trinity, he states, “To train Christians in Ceylon to present Christ through their lives; that their hearers may realise [Christ] not as a foreigner, but as the real and true fulfilment of all that is best and highest in their own aspirations and of their past.
The 73 volunteers who went to the battlefield of Somme or trenches in Flanders may have been emboldened by Frazer to die for the king and the country. From the 72 volunteers, 13 Trinitians lost their lives on the Western Front and young Raj Aiyadurai was the only Jaffna Tamil to sacrifice his life while serving for the British army.
He was the head boy of Trinity and the winner of the Ryde Gold medal. After his demise, his superior officer in France admired his gallantry on the battlefield. Apart from the boys from Trinity, a teacher too went to the battlefield. An Englishman called Captain N.P. Campbell was a science teacher at Trinity College, who later joined the overseas service and got killed in action.
Ajith Rudra, Richard Aluvihare (Senior Prefect of the school and a cricket Lion) Albert Halangode (a Rugger Lion), Francis Drieberg and an Indian studying at the school, Ajit (Jick) Rudra left an impression deal example for camaraderie developed under the British public school traditions as four of them stood firm and unbowed together in the battlefield of Somme in 1918.
Somme offence
The Somme offence, which began on July 1, 1916 was the largest battle initiated by the British. The British Army in a triumphant mood pushed its infantry to launch an onslaught over German trenches, which resulted in an unmitigated disaster of losing soldiers.
In his diary, Rudra recalls, “As soon as we had scrambled up and began our charge, we began to be mowed down by enemy machine guns. Rather than being killed, the Germans had been sheltering in deep bunkers and were able to man their weapons to maul the advance.”
The lessons on friendship nurtured within the Trinity walls manifested their very best on the killing fields as these four boys were zealous in helping one another for their survival.
When Aluvihare was wounded, it was Rudra who carried him to the carter and their friend Driengerg was not lucky on that day as he gave his life along with the other 19,240 soldiers. Both Halangoda and Aluvihare returned from the Great War while Rudra continued his soldiering career to become an officer finally. He gleefully recalled the jubilation of the masses in Europe after the end of the war in 1918.
“A uniform was the passport to all amenities. We paid for nothing and were hugged and kissed by numerous girls. Joyous crowds gathered at Piccadilly Circus celebrating the end of a long, terrible war.”
From four friends, only three survived at the end of the Great War and the whereabouts of Halangoda faded into oblivion while both Rudra and Aluvihare excelled themselves in public life as distinguished Trinitians.
Sir Richard Aluvihare became the first Ceylonese Inspector General of Police and Rudra joined the independent Indian Army to become one of its foremost Generals. He never forgot Sri Lanka and his childhood alma mater Trinity College, Kandy. In 1949, he attended the Trinity College prize-giving with his school friend Sir Richard Aluvihare. When General Rudra died in 1993, Trinity College, Kandy conducted a special service at the college chapel, where the then Indian High Commissioner in Sri Lanka delivered a eulogy.
Alien Perera and J.W. Bertholameuz earned their merits as officers to earn high military decorations. In fact, the enthusiasm of the young Trinitians to join the British defence forces arose from Frazer’s inspiration to the boys as Fraser himself went to the Western Front and his example undoubtedly ignited the boys of Trinity to emulate their legendary mentor.
German machine gun
Three other schools in Ceylon sent their sons to the Great War, in even greater numbers than in some cases, yet it alone of all rest was signaled out by the British King George for a war trophy.
A captured German machine gun presented by the H.M to Trinity graces her precincts as a priceless monument unveiling Trinity’s tryst with the Great War.
In presenting the German machine gun to Trinity in 1919, then Governor Manning said, “To me, Trinity has a record and a roll of honour of which it may be justly proud. I find that 65 masters, men and boys gave their service overseas during the war and of their service overseas during the war and of these 65, there were no fewer than 33 casualties – 13 killed, 18 wounded, and two taken prisoners by the Germans. It is a record, I repeat again of which Trinity may well be proud of a record.”
On the whole, Trinity’s yeoman service to the British empire was a fruit of British missionary activities that took a paternal interest in moulding the youth under the watchword of “Masculine Christianity” perpetuated by 19th-century British essayists like Thomas Arnold. The spirit of the friendship, loyalty and partial eccentricities these boys learnt under Fraser’s tutelage continued until the end of their journeys.
– The writer is the Joint Secretary of the Royal Asiatic Society of Sri Lanka.
