Charles Matthew Fernando

Charles Matthew Fernando (1866 - 9 June 1909) was a Ceylonese lawyer and scholar. He was the first Ceylonese Crown Counsel.[1]

Early life and education

Charles Matthew Fernando was born in 1866 in Colombo, the son of Andrew Fernando Jr. and the grandson of Andrew Fernando Sr., the Mudaliyer of Colombo. He was the brother of Sir Marcus Fernando.[1]

Educated at the St Benedicts Academy (later known as St Benedict's College Colombo) and at Royal College, Colombo, where he won the Turnour Prize, Shakespeare Prize and the Junior Cambridge Scholarship. Taking his matriculation, he was the first Ceylonese student to pass the Intermediate in Arts of the University of London. He attended St John's College, Cambridge where he completed law tripos in 1886 gaining a BA and LLB degrees, he was called to the bar as a barrister from the Lincoln's Inn in 1888.[1]

On his return to Ceylon in 1889, he was enrolled as an Advocate and started his legal practice. In 1897, he was appointed acting District Judge of Kurunagala and thereafter moved to Kandy as Crown Advocate. In 1901, he was appointed Acting Crown Counsel, Colombo and was confirmed in 1903. He led the prosecution in many of the major criminal cases including the Attygalle murder case.[2][3] He served as the Senior Crown Counsel and Assistant Attorney General of Ceylon. He was one of the founders of the Ceylon Law Students Union.[1]

He was also a member of the Colombo Municipal Council, the Kandy Municipal Council and the Road Committee of the Western province.[1]

Academic career

In 1908 he made English translations of the Rajaveliya and the Nikaya Sangarava.[1][4] C. M. Fernando's writings are some of the oldest written accounts on the subject of Ceylonese dance music forms such as baila.[5]

Family

Fernando married Jane Maria Caroline, third daughter of Charles Henry de Soysa and Lady de Soysa in 1901. They had a daughter and a son,[1] Chevalier C.H.Z. Fernando, the pioneer labour unionist Councillor who was responsible for submitting a motion in the Legislative Council of Ceylon to abolish the Poll Tax in 1922 and co-founded the Young Lanka League (1915) and the Ceylon Labour Party, being the only Ceylonese to have met Lenin,[6][7][8] His wife and daughter Christobel, were notably the only two among the urbanised elite to be in saree for their portrait in the Twentieth Century Impressions of Ceylon by Arnold Wright.[1]

Fernando died on 9 June 1909 in Béziers, France.[9]

References
  1. Wright, Arnold (1999). Twentieth century impressions of Ceylon: its history, people, commerce ... By Arnold Wright page 11, 105, 548-50. ISBN 9788120613355.
  2. Dep, A.C. "The Attygalle murder case". Sunday Times. Retrieved 15 October 2019.
  3. Gunasekera, Jayantha. "How Kotelawala (Snr) got young brother-in-law killed". Sunday Times. Retrieved 15 October 2019.
  4. N. E. Weerasooria (2006). Ceylon and Her People. University of Michigan. pp. 256, 341 & 352. ISBN 9555993858.
  5. "Stepping back in time with Baila". Wijeya Newspapers Ltd. Retrieved 6 December 2015.
  6. Who’s Who of Sri Lanka: The lives and times of forty eight personalities, Gamini Akmeemana (Daily Mirror) Retrieved 8 January 2016
  7. CEYLON'S BATTLE, The Straits Times (13 November 1929) Retrieved 2 November 2015
  8. Cumaranatunga, PN (2005). Patriots of Lanka. p. 120. ISBN 9559505947.
  9. The Eagle. St John's College, Cambridge. 1910. p. 240.
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