COPLESTON, Reginald Stephen. Barnes, London 26.12.1845 — Wandsworth, London 19.4.1925. Most Rev. British Priest in Sri Lanka and India. Son of Rev. Reginald Edward Copleston (1811–1878), Rector at Barnes, Surrey, and Anne Elizabeth Sharpe (d. 1898). Educated at Merchant Taylor’s school, studies from 1864 at Exeter or Merton College, Oxford…
COOMARASWAMY, Ananda Kentish (Kumārasvāmi). Colombo 22.8.1877 — Needham, MA 9.9.1947. Sri Lankan/British Art Historian and Indologist in the U.S.A. Son of Sir Mutu Coomaraswamy (1834–1879, a noted Sri Lankan Tamil lawyer and statesman) and Elizabeth Clay Beeby (1851–1939, she came from Kent, from thistle name “Kentish”), lost early his father…
COLES, Stephen. Ringwood, Hampshire 1837 — Sri Lanka 13.9.1901. Rev. British Missionary, member of Church Missionary Society in Sri Lanka. Son of farmer William Coles (1807–1861) and Harriet Mist (1808–1892). After Highbury Training College arrived in Ceylon as early as 1861 and remained there until his death. Married 1860 Elizabeth…
CODRINGTON, Humphrey William. Hambleden, Buckinghamshire 25.9.1879 — Kensington, London 7.11.1942. British Civil Servant and Scholar of Sri Lankan History and Ethnography. Son of the rear-admiral William Codrington (1832–1888) and Mary Auber Leach (1855–1930), nephew of —> Oliver Codrington (1837–1921). Educated at Winchester College and New College, Oxford (B.A.). In 1903…
CLOUGH, Benjamin. Bradford, Yorkshire bapt. 27.3.1791 — Southwark, Kent 13.4.1853. British Methodist Missionary and Pāli Scholar in Sri Lanka. Lost his father, the elder Benjamin Clough, a militia officer, when four. Mother Christina Balmfith or Balefith, an innkeeper. Joined the Methodists in the age of 17 and became a lay…
CHILDERS, Robert Cesar. Cantley, South Yorkshire 1838 — London 25.7.1876. British Indologist (Pāli scholar). Born in southern France as the son of Rev. Charles Childers (1806–1896), the English chaplain of Nice (then still part of the kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia), and Dulcibella Chester. Grew up in Nice. From 1857 studies of…
CHAPMAN, Isham J. 1??? — 1???. British Colonial Officer in Ceylon. Captain of Royal Artillery. Possible relatives in I.C.S. (see Buckland). The first article is based on field observations made in 1828, the second on information obtained from others. One Captain Isham Chapman died in 1852, but the rare name…
CHALMERS, Robert (1919 first baron of Chalmers of Northiam). Stoke Newington, London 18.8.1858 — Oxford 17.11.1938. Lord. British (Scottish) Civil Servant and Indologist (Pāli Scholar). Born in London in a Scottish family, son of John Chalmers and Julia Mackay. Educated at City of London School (under E. Abbott). From 1877…
CARTER, Charles Henry. Leicestershire 29.10.1828 — Auckland 6.7.1914. Rev. British Baptist Missionary in Sri Lanka. Son of Thomas Carter, a stonemason, and Anne Thomson, raised near Leicester. Worked first as miller, but found religion, became Baptist and from 1849 studied at Horton College, learning Hebrew and Greek. Arrived in the…
BOWDEN, Ernest Monnington. Rochford, Herefordshire bapt. 17.7.1859 — Ramsgate, Kent 3.4.1904. British Author and Inventor (Wikipedia calls him Irishman, which seems unlikely, his father was born in London). The youngest child of Rev. Ellis Treacher Bowden (1819–1896) and Maria Jones (d. 1875). After Malvern College studies at Pembroke College, Cambridge…