HISTORY OF THE S. THOMAS' COLLEGE OLD BOYS' ASSOCIATION (FOUNDED IN 1880)

The history of the OBA; like the history of Rome, has been an ever-growing tree. It had its roots in the Banyan groves of Mutwal, and later began to flourish spontaneously in the unfamiliar environment of Mt. Lavinia where now the Thomian impress has been fixed upon one and all.

The Old Boys' Association was started in 1886. The fons et origo was Warden Miller who, on the 19th day of April 1886, address a letter to A. d' A. Seneviratne, a distinguished Old Boy, who became an Advocate and lived right opposite of S. Thomas' College at Mutwal for many years.

Warden Miller's letter, which has been lost & found, and which is in the possession of Seneviratne's son, Proctor A. C. d' A. Seneviratne, is as follows, and speaks for itself.

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Warden Miller's letter

S. Thomas' College,
Colombo,
April 19, 1886.

My dear Seneviratne,

For some years past I have been possessed with a desire, which has lately become very strong, to see some sort of Society or Guild formed of Old Boys of S. Thomas' College. The idea is not an original one as it has been developed most successfully in England, primarily with a view to the strengthening of the ties which should bind a man to the place where, it is to be hoped, he has learned some of the most valuable lessons of life. Such a society in connection with S. Thomas' College would, I think, promote this desirable result, but it would have a further very beneficial effect. It would be a means of giving lads who find working Colombo a sort of rallying point. They would be more likely to come under good influence. They would be less liable to get lost sight of, as it is the case frequently at present.

Do you think such a plan a feasible one? If so, will you lend your name and assistants to its development and suggest the names of others who would be likely to enter warmly into the scheme?

The constitution of the society, the form which the general meeting should take, etc; are of course, details to be elaborated by those who may concern themselves in the initiation of the society. I do not think that it would be hard to provide a monthly concert, conversation or lecture in the College Library. I should however, deprecate the payment of any subscription except a merely nominal one, and I think a badge will be desirable.

You are the first person to whom I have communicated my idea in anything like a formal shape, and I will await your answer, before taking further steps. You, I consider, are the most representative Old Boys we can boast of.

Yours very sincerely,
E. F. Miller.

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The October 1886 issue of the magazine contains the following letter written on the wine-dark sea by another distinguished Old Boy who had also been smitten by the grand passion :-

Dear Mr. Editor,

I am not ashamed to tell you that it was with a suppressed tear I left S. Thomas' College on the 3rd of last July. For then I felt I was leaving a place where I had spent a most happy part of my life, a place which I held dearer even than home. I am sure this love for one's school is not peculiar to me, nor do I think that I have it in a larger measure than others. Every boy leaving S. Thomas', after a stay of some years bears a warm affection towards the dear place, and I should do wrong to many a loyal Thomian were I too say that this affection dies out with the flight of years. Yet it would be well for us to take advantage of every institution calculated to make our ties more binding, and therefore I suggest the established of an Old Boys' Club or a similar institution in connection with S. Thomas'. There is not much difficulty about it, and every one, I believe, would be delighted at the idea. I meant to have put forward this suggestion before leaving Ceylon but somehow it escaped my memory. I need not, however, regret my forgetfulness, as I know you would advocate the measure energetically.

I remain, dear Mr. Editor,
Yours faithfully,
J. G. C. MENDIS

S. S. Peshawur, Suez, Sept. 7th, 1886.

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These suggestions appear to have been well heeded. On 25th November 1886, a letter signed by forty-nine Old Boys was addressed to the Warden on the desirability of establishing an Old Boys' society, requesting him to convene a meeting of Old Boys to consider what steps should be taken towards carrying out such a scheme. The Warden accordingly summoned a meeting of Old Boys in the College Library on Saturday 4th December 1886, thirty-five years after the foundation of the College. Twenty-seven were present. The unfavorable weather had kept away many. The Warden was elected to the chair. Procter Samuel C. Obesekara proposed, and the Rev. C. David seconded the resolution, which was carried, for the formation of the Old Boys' Society to which past & present masters of the College should also be admitted. The following resolution, proposed by Richard H. Morgan and seconded by A. d' A. Seneviratne, was also carried : "that the objects of the Society be to increase the sense of fellowships in Old Boys both with one another and with the College, to promote the good works among them, and to afford guidance and encouragement to the younger generation." The first committee, consisting of the Rev. The Warden, Rev. G. Arndt, S. C. Obesekara, J. S. Drieberg, A. d' A. Seneviratne, H. L. Wendt, and W. A. Hallock was appointed to frame rules for the constitution of the society.

The first meeting of Old Boys, held in the College Library on 21st December 1886, was well timed, for it was S. Thomas' Day. Some seventy eight members were elected and the following resolutions of the committee were submitted by the Warden and adopted :-

1. That this society be called S. Thomas' College Old Boys' Association.
2. That the Lord Bishop of Colombo be requested to be Patron of the Association.
3. That the Rules of the Association be as follows (infra).
4. That the S. Thomas' College magazine be adopted as the organ of the Association.

All the available material points to one conclusion: since 21st December, 1886, the OBA has been an inspiring consecration to the College.
At a committee meeting held on 17th January 1887, Rev. Geo. Arnodt was appointed Honorary Secretary and treasurer of the Association. He was thus the first to hold this office which has grown in importance with the rolling years. The first of February 1887, saw the first Old Boys' Day when the College, past and present, gathered at a Garden Party under the Banyan trees whence they went to Chapel to hear the Bishop preach and the choir render the anthem, "Behold how good and joyful a thing it is, Brethren, to live together in unity." Kebel in his History has stated: "At the General Meeting which followed, the Secretary read his report announcing that there were eight honorary members and one hundred and two regular members of the Association. The new Committee and thirty eight new members were then elected." And from that time the Old Boys have gathered together and shared the joy of living together in unity.

On Old Boys' Day in 1888, Warden Miller preached a sermon in the course of which he dwelt on the bonds between school and life. Many of his remarks appear to be timeless in their application to the OBA:-

"For what is it which brings you here-men of different ages, pursuits, circumstances? Why have the Old Boys of the College seen fit to form themselves into a society? It is not merely, I believe, a sentimental attraction towards a place where your early years were spent; not merely an affection for those who were your companions in those years; not merely a wish to renew old associations. Am I wrong in attributing your attachment to this place to something more than this-to your consciousness that you gained something here which has been of priceless value to you throughout life? You gained some good here. Men with all the responsibility and cares of life upon them would never come together, as you have done today, unless the memories evoked by the occasion were memories of good received. Something you received when here, which has in varying degrees remained with you all through life, however the troubles or anxieties of life may have tended to obscured it-something which has helped you in your hour of need and care and trial, something which, however much you may have lost sight of it yourself, you long that your children should receive."

In 1889, the first Cricket match between Past and Present was played on Old Boys' Day.

On the Old Boys' Day in February 1897, Warden Buck appealed to the Old Boys to send their sons to the College so that the tradition of comradeship and corporate life, which pervaded the whole College, particularly from Warden Miller's time, might be kept alive.

The Old Boys' lunch, given by the Warden as the President of the OBA appears to have become a regular, annual event from 1897. The dry curry and the coconut sambol served on this occasion are to Thomians what roast beef is to Old England.

The first Old Boys' Dinner was held in 1901, the Jubilee year of the College, at the Bristol Hotel in Colombo when 211 diners sat at the festive board.

At the annual dinner in 1914, the new Ball Room of the Grand Oriental Hotel was found to be too narrow for the 200 diners with the result that some had to be accommodated in the corridor.

The dinner did not take place in the following year and in the March 1915 magazine mentioned "It would not be fitting and proper during the present period of national trouble to arrange such function. For the same reason, the celebrations today have been limited only to the cricket match and garden party."

Secretaries of the S. Thomas’ College OBA 1887 – 2009