Collection of Stamps for Sri Lanka (& Ceylon before 1972). Collectors items related to Bishops College. Bishop's College in Colombo, Sri Lanka was founded by the Church of England in Ceylon in February 1875. Located in colombo 3, Sri Lanka, it was one of the earliest mission schools of the Church of England in Ceylon. The college was first known as Bishopsgate School. The Bishop of Colombo, the Rt.Revd. James Chapman (1845-1862) was instrumental in setting up Bishopsgate School. Bishop's College is the sister school of S.Thomas' College Mt.Lavinia and this influence has had a great impact in maintaining the discipline and quality of Bishop's College. The current principal is Mrs. Hemamali Bibile. Bishop's College with the postal address of No. 15 Boyd Place Colombo 3, celebrates its 125th Anniversary in the year 2000.
1875 is the official date from which the count begins but there is an earlier connection. Mrs. Frances Chapman wife of Bishop Chapman had set her heart on setting up a school for Christian girls with funds collected while in Furlough in England. She established a school in 1857, a school in their own residence in Mutwal called Bishopsgate, with 20 pupils she desired. The Principal was Mrs. Long, who had served earlier at the Church Missionary School in Nallur, Jaffna. In May 1859 Mrs. Chapman returned to England due to ill health, and Mrs. Long passed away in 1861. The school had to be temporarily closed and no reference to its reopening is available in the Diocesan Archives. So Bishop's College dates her new beginnings to 1875, when the school with 13 pupils was established at Fairfield House in Darley Road, under the same name - Bishopsgate school. Fairfield House is the present site of Link Holdings Ltd. Even today the words 'Bishopsgate' stands engraved at the entrance to the building. The first Principal to come out was Miss. Down., who on marriage became Mrs. Henry Drew. Among the first girls enrolled were Minnie Von Possner, Hilda Obeysekera, Dorah Aserappah and Caroline Peiris. The first boys to enter the kindergarten were James and Donald Obeysekera and Leslie de Saram. Monthly expenses in running the school were about Rs. 300/= which included rent, salaries, and the hire of a piano.
The income in fees in the first month totaled Rs. 302/50! In 1887, three Sisters from St. Margrets Convent in East Grinstead, England had come out to Ceylon on missionary work. Theirs was a sorority founded by Dr. John Mason Neale in 1855, which had now expanded to overseas mission. After a short location at Greenpath, they established their Convent at Polwatta, Colpety. One of them, Sister Joanna Mary, was asked to help in the running of the school. Principals and teachers who came out to Ceylon to fulfil the goals of Christian Mission, often had to leave due to ill health, the rigors of the tropical climate or p+D2ersonal reasons. The answer seemed to be with the Sister of St. Margaret, and Sister Angela was the first Sister to be Principal of Bishopsgate school. The school was to be an institution to promote educational advancement, and also a finishing school for the daughters of Christian families. Subjects taught directed them to the Cambridge local examination: French, Drawing, Singing, and piano playing were also on the curriculum. In 1890, then Bishop of Colombo, Bishop R.S. Copleston, purchased the Maradatin Cinnamon Gardens bordering on Boyd Place, Colpety. The school moved from Darley Road to these premises in 1892, and was renamed as Bishop's College.
Although the Sisters of St. Margaret had by now for some years been associated with the running of the school, it was now with this shift that the school was passed into their care. Proximity to St. Margaret's Convent at Polwatte, was of great significance. For an unbroken period of sixty years from 1895-1955 these Sisters guided the students of Bishop's College, not only in their mental development but in the levels of charity, community spirit and public service and upholding of he school motto 'Non Sibi Sed Omnibus' |
