One-hundred-and-eighteen years ago, a rich and ambitious young man decided to build himself a castle on the banks of the Kalu Ganga. It was an ambitious project and would take him 10 years to complete, but driven by the desire to own a palace fit for a Maharajah, Padikara Mudali Nanayakkara Rajavasala Appuhamige Don Arthur Silva Wijesinghe Siriwardena did build himself a castle. This grand project which was one of a kind for the island nation was named Richmond Castle and was supposed to ensure that its owner’s name would be etched in history forever, but today few know of him and his castle is nothing more than a ruin that not even the neighbours know of.
What happened to Don Arthur Silva and his castle? The Public Trustee which now owns the castle and the Catholic Church which Silva closely associated with are now on a mission to bring back his lost glory.
On Wednesday (19), a commemorative event was held at the Public Trustee Department auditorium in Colombo with the participation of the Archbishop of Colombo, Malcolm, Cardinal Ranjith and a representative of the Silva family – his niece, Surangani Basnayake – to commemorate the memory of Don Arthur Silva.
A will ignored
“When I was the Kalutara Parish priest between 1983– 85, I visited Richmond Castle. It was like a palace, artistically constructed, according to various styles. There were many paintings depicting the incidents of his (Don Arthur’s) life, several antiques, and gold forks and spoons; so I thought to myself, this man has really lived a successful life,” said the Cardinal, addressing the gathering.
“I saw it and thought to myself, this is a very valuable house, this is part of our history. A fellow Sri Lankan built this and we hear he lived a good life and helped those in the area, and was also a good Catholic who had even met the Pope. So we need to protect this building which is crumbling, for the future. We should also have programmes to commemorate his life. When I looked into it, I saw that he had left a will which established a trust with the Public Trustee with other trustees, including two members of the Catholic Archdiocese, to look after it. So I was happy I could do something about it, but I was soon disappointed.”
The Cardinal was soon informed by the Church that it had been neglected for too long and the will of Don Arthur Silva long forgotten. “They had adopted a ‘let’s wash our hands off this’ attitude. But as the Archbishop now, I can do something. So I approached the Public Trustee to ask that we work together to fulfil the mandate of this man’s last will.”
The last will had also instructed that a boys’ home be established to help orphaned children, but in the decades since, the boys’ home was shoddily set up and only houses eight young boys today.
“We need to further improve and expand the boys’ home. More importantly, we need to open its door to boys of all races,” said the Cardinal.
The Cardinal has also suggested that the Church work together with the Public Trustee to refurbish the castle and turn it into a tourist attraction in the area which will help them earn more revenue. Further, they have also planned to turn some sections into a museum.
“Even schoolchildren in Kalutara do not know about the castle.”
The understanding reached between the Catholic Church and the Public Trustee was no easy one. In October 2014, the Cardinal filed a case against the Public Trustee in the Colombo High Court for failing to fulfil the mandate of Don Arthur Silva’s will.
“This was done rightfully as we had over the years failed to fulfil the mandate of the will as its executors. The case went on for four years with 23 hearings being held. The sad part was that we were using Don Arthur Silva’s own money to fight this case. So I met the Cardinal on November 10, 2017, and we were able to come to a settlement,” explained Public Trustee Sanath Weeratne.
So what does the will state?
Arthur’s story
Don Arthur Silva was born on November 12, 1889, to Paulis De Silva Siriwardena who was a wealthy businessman hailing from Baddegama in the South. Siriwardena senior owned vast estates of coconut, tea and rubber, which helped him curry favour with the British administration at the time, and Don Arthur, as was the fashion at the time, was sent to England to study. Here, he met the son of Maharajah Okraman of Calcutta. As chance would have it, Don Arthur happened to visit his friend in Calcutta and having fallen in love with his castle, he had asked the Maharajah for the name of the architect who built the castle.
“The Maharajah had snubbed him and said that this was not for him and that he would not be able to build such a castle himself. But Don Arthur, perhaps around 20 years old at the time, decided that he would go ahead and build it anyway,” said Weeratne.
Richmond Castle, eventually built on 42 acres of land, had 99 doors, 16 rooms and 38 windows and was designed in the style of Roman Dutch and Greek architecture. They also designed the castle to have cool air from the Kalu Ganga flow across the dance floor of the grand dining hall to keep it cool, a unique feature at that time.
Having built his mansion, he married Clarice Matilda Mode Suriyabandara in a wedding befitting royalty with many senior British officials in attendance.
The story goes that he lived in his castle for 32 years, but the couple could not bear any children. Disappointed in their marriage, eventually they separated – his wife left to a convent in Thimbirigasyaya, Colombo, and Don Arthur spent the final years of his life in a room in Queens Hotel, Kandy, where he died on July 8, 1947.
However, influenced by his contemporary, the late D.B. Jayatilaka, he penned his last will on July 4, 1941, and left all his wealth to be managed by the Public Trustee of Sri Lanka.
The will
The Public Trustee revealed that Don Arthur Silva left them the castle and his 91-acre coconut estate known as ‘Ira Handa Yawa’ which is an award-winning model coconut estate. The will also states that a trust be formed under De Silva Wijesinghe’s name to establish a home for orphaned boys between the ages of 6 and 16.
In addition, the Public Trustee was to give a monthly stipend to his wife and an annual donation of Rs. 1,000 (according to the time) to his old school, St. Joseph’s College, Colombo. The Trust was to be run by a board which was to have seven members: a chairman recommended by the Education Ministry, Rector of St. Joseph’s College (if willing), the Kalutara District Secretariat, the parish priest of the Roman Catholic Church in Kalutara, the Vice Chancellor of the University of Ceylon (Peradeniya), a member of the family and the Public Trustee.
“He had mentioned that the boys’ home be run in the model of St Bernados Homes in the UK,” said Weeratne.
However, it did not pan out as he would have wished. At present, the boys’ home is in a derelict state with only eight boys living there, but no Trust has been established. Further, neither his wife nor his old school got any money. According to the records of the Public Trustee, Rs. 9 million had been allocated eight years ago to refurbish the castle, but it remains the same. “I am not sure where the money went,” remarked Weeratne.
“In the past, even a montessori was run out of this castle, quite against the wishes of the Gate Mudaliyar.”
Fulfilling the mandate
Richmond Castle is the most iconic property in the repertoire of the Public Trustee at present and thus Weeratne is determined to set things right.
“We cannot say we have no money as we were left only assets, not liabilities. This is simply a case of us failing so badly in our administration that the Archbishop had to go to courts.”
The Public Trustee hopes in future to work with the Moratuwa University’s Architecture Department to refurbish the castle. “If we do not do anything now, the castle will collapse in another 10 years.”
He also hoped to hand over the running of the boys’ home to the Catholic Church, whilst the Public Trustee would continue to fund it through a new trust.
Seelawathi* who participated in the commemoration on Wednesday has been working for the Ira Handa Yawa estate for the last 50 years, “We used to have many people working there, but now we just have four managing 92 acres,” she said. A daily wage of Rs. 650 was no longer enough to attract workers to the estate, she added, but those who stayed did so because they had few other opportunities in the area.
When asked if she had ever heard of the former owner of the estate and his legacy, she said, “I have never heard of him. I just got to know who he was at the commemoration.”
The worst misfortune in life is not death, but to be forgotten, and despite all Don Arthur Silva’s efforts, such was the fate that befell him. By keeping to the final wishes of his will however, Weeratne hopes to, in some way, keep the memory of Don Arthur Silva alive through the 99 doors of Richmond Castle.
(*Name changed to protect identity.)
Padikara Mudali Nanayakkara Rajavasala Appuhamige Don Arthur Silva Wijesinghe Siriwardena (seated)-Don Arthur Silva's wedding.
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