Mr. J de S Jayasinghe was ‘Uncle J’ to Everyone at Gurutalawa?

Mr. J de S Jayasinghe (1924-1991)

S Thomas’ College Gurutalawa is unique in many ways. It came up in a remote location in the Uva Province under a contingency plan when the school at Mt Lavinia was taken over by the military during WWII. It was the only component that did not go back to Mt Lavinia after the war. There were many instances when Warden De Saram called up Dr. Hayman to restart the college in Mt Lavinia in his capacity as sub-Warden but desisted from hurting Dr Hayman’s feelings and eventually Dr. Hayman got back to Gurutalawa to his preferred job as Headmaster in 1948. 

The greatest challenge that Dr Hayman had to face in running the school was to retain a dedicated staff in this remote location where basic amenities were limited and very informal in the early days. 

Dr Hayman persuaded many of the pioneering students to assist him with teaching at school in the aftermath of the war. Mr. Bradman Weerakoon, Mr. A.K. Chapman, and Mr. Oliver de Soyza of the pioneers were the first to join the staff, and of the later batches; Mr. Selvin Gunawardena, Mr. A. C. M. Laffir and Mr. J W Marasinghe joined the non-academic staff. These old boys were a committed lot and gave their whole life and time to the school. 

Further to these old boys, there were a few other persons that Dr. Hayman did select to serve in the tutorial staff, and they too embraced the boarding life under trying conditions. Among them, two persons are worth mentioning: Mr. J de S Jayasinghe and Mr. M. Chinniah. (This article is limited to the teachers in the Hayman Era) 

J de S and staff at leisure - Mr. Chinniah, Mr. Selvin Gunawardena, Mr. Oliver de Soyza, Mr. Laffir. 

Most staff in the Hayman Era were in their early twenties and lived single. Therefore, many did leave when it was time to start a family. However, some were married to the school… of them, J de S, Mr. Chapman and Mr. Marasinghe have been noted bachelors. Later Mr. Chapman and Mr. Marasinghe married and left the school, leaving J de S, the most eligible bachelor at Gurutalawa. 

Mr. Oliver de Soyza remembers J de S to be a senior staff member when he too joined the staff in 1954… “A Senior Master in whom Dr. Hayman and Cannon Foster placed a lot of trust, teaching Biology and General Science in the upper school in English and later in both English and Sinhala when the education medium changed to ‘Swabasha’ in 1963. This was at a time when the staff worked as a team under the leadership of Dr. Hayman.

Mr. Jayasinghe was a Southerner from Ahangama in the Galle district; a product of one of the great Buddhist schools in the South, Mahinda College, Galle, which speaks volumes of the Buddhist tradition of tolerance. He was one of its best products but spent forty years of his life in the service of S. Thomas’ College Gurutalawa, an Anglican Christian School. 

He was an outstanding sportsman at Mahinda College. The eldest of four brothers, all of whom attended Mahinda College and excelled in cricket, football, and athletics. He captained the Mahinda cricket team in the years 1944 and 1945, where he ably led Mahinda against Richmond in 1944 and bowled extremely well to return a bag of 13 for 53. 

At Gurutalawa he was the cricket coach and took charge of athletics organizing the annual sports meet regularly. As the athletic coach he took a lot of interest in the latest developments and attended a professional training course in India at his own expense says Mr. Oliver de Soyza. 

Gurutalawa in the 50s had been famous for drama and Mr. Jayasinghe is noted to have taken a leading role in producing the Ralahamy series of plays. “A versatile actor, he was mainly responsible to produce two of J de Lanerolle’s plays, ‘Ralahamy Rides Again’ and ‘The Return of Ralahamy’. They were superbly produced and performed both in Colombo and Gurutalawa. He played the role of Ralahamy and if I recall correctly, ‘Haddjiar’ was played by another member of the staff, John Marasinghe. It was a combined cast comprising students and members of the Staff with J de S as usual, leading from the front,” says Harish Nilaweera (1958) appreciating J de S.

When I joined Gurutalawa in 1967 Dr. Hayman had left and Fr Foster was no more, but the school was still run to its glorious standards by Mr. Chapman and J de S, under the Headmaster Mr. Frank Jayasinghe. 

He was the Master in Charge of De Saram House and was always accessible to everyone, boys, staff, and others. Many were those who went to him for advice, and none was ever turned away. I recall meeting him to discuss the De Saram house swimming team for the Interhouse Swimming meets when I was leading the house team after Alan Goodchild.

Book cupboard corner - now bare

J de S was always a teacher to the Upper Forms teaching Biology, General Science and Buddhism to the GCE Ordinary Level Classes. However, he did interact with all the students in the issuing of exercise books and school stationery to all classes from his large book cupboard located in the passageway to the dining hall from the Junior dormitories. 

Though he interacted with the senior boys his living quarters were in the junior dormitory block adjoining the Garnier Junior dormitory. Its main door opened to the beautifully laid Swimming Pool Garden while the rear door accessed the Garnier Junior dorm. Though he was the house master of De Saram it was mostly the Garnier junior boys who got punished by him for mischief-making and misbehaving, disturbing him in his quarters. 

He was a person who took extra time with his toiletry and dressed immaculately in white or beige, wearing crease ironed trousers and long-sleeved shirts, and always left a trail of ‘Old Spice’ fragrance where ever he went. 

His living quarters

I studied in the mathematics stream and therefore missed him in the classroom but was in his Buddhism class in the GCE Ordinary levels, and remember an incident where we had to sit a withdrawal examination before the OLs then. The Buddhism paper then had a standard format with six questions where one had to answer five questions and the last question on the ‘Dhammapada’ was mandatory. His advice to all was to byheart the twenty verses in the textbook and you were sure of a simple pass. There was this most disruptive element in the class who had passed the withdrawal paper and J de S was suspicious that he had copied and was about to interrogate the fellow when he burst out loudly narrating the twenty verses to everybody’s amusement. I do remember him organising a Sil Programme on a Esala Poya day in a temple close by and I’m sure that this was the first time many of us observed Sil in our life. 

An ardent supporter of the United National Party he loved the Senanayake. This was very well depicted by the only picture that hung in his living quarters that of Hon Dudley Senanayake in the college swimming pool when he visited the college during a campaign tour. 

Born in 1924 and joining STCG at the age of 25 in 1949 he devoted his life and time to teaching at Gurutalawa and never went Southbound until he retired in May 1989 at age 65. Though a product of Mahinda College he lived a Thomian to the highest traditions. He passed away in 1991 barely a year after his retirement, still a bachelor. Both Mahinda College and St Thomas’ Gurutalawa can be proud of this humble man. 

How did he become “Uncle J” to everyone? 

Ahangama was quite famous in Gurutalawa owing to two families: the Gunawardanes' (Boothayas) of Piyadigama  and the Gamamampilas' of Dikkumbura. 

When I hung my boots from an active engineering carrier and came back to my home in Galle during the Covid in 2020, my classmate Anil Gammampila, now domiciled in Australia inquired if I could assist him with the development work on his ancestral property in Dickumbura. 

During a visit to his home, I found this ancient wedding photograph of his parents which was still of remarkable quality and noticed a familiar figure standing alongside the couple as the best man. On close examination, I noticed it was none other than Mr. J de S Jayasinghe in his early 20 s. 

Anil's parents wedding photograph...J de S in dark suit on the right

Anil was here recently and he confirmed to me that it was J de S who was his father’s best friend at Mahinda College and had selected him as his best man for the wedding. 

Anil was yet to be born but his paternal uncle “Lokuthaththa” was already raising a family and the cousins Lionel, Nanada, Walter and later Sarath of our age group who were schooling at Richmond College Galle did affectionately call him ‘Uncle J’ the lovable family friend. 

Anil’s father had business interests in the hill-country and he happened to know of the school coming up under Dr. Hayman and Cannon Foster and suggests J de S join Gurutalawa under Dr. Hayman. Dr Hayman reading young J de S with his outstanding sporting achievements at Mahinda picks him as a prospective teacher that did go a long way as envisioned in their first meeting. 

J de S fell in love with the setting at Gurutalawa and suggests Anil’s uncle or ‘Lokuthaththa’ in enrolling the children at Gurutalawa; they were day scholars at Richmond College. This being accepted the two elder boys Lionel and Nanda Gammampila (S.C) entered Gurutalawa in the year 1954. When Lionel left in 1958 his younger brother Walter entered Gurutalawa. Finally, Sarath and Anil also entered Gurutalawa in 1966 leaving their friends at Mahinda College. 

Thus, it is these Gammampila siblings who did continue to call their father’s special friend, who was now their teacher at Gurutalawa “Uncle J” keeping to family habits. This humble human being Mr. J. de. S. Jayasinghe did not oppose the siblings continuing to call him Uncle J in school and so did the whole school. And it did continue so until his retirement. This was very unique at Gurutalawa and I’m sure there was no other teacher who carried such a lovable nickname throughout his time at Gurutalawa. 

A true gentleman with an exemplary existence of Buddhistic values who rendered his life and time to Gurutalawa never expecting anything in return.