Sri Lanka is a country that has a very rich history and is enriched with a unique culture. We have unique rituals and food items. Even unique attires. And unique behaviours… Especially being a Sri Lankan female come up with a lot of expectations. Society expects a home to bring up a girl. But moulding her to a lady is entirely the school’s responsibility. Hillwood College is one of the girls’ schools that are in the process of moulding young talented ladies into Sri Lankan society. https://www.hillwoodcollege.com/
Moulding sophisticated young ladies are not something that happens overnight. Hillwood College has been producing shaped up and polished young ladies for over decades. Miss Bellerby, the founder of the school laid a stronger foundation. After Miss Bellerby Miss Mary Dorothy Rigg became the principal in the college. She was already the vice principal in the school. And after Miss Bellerby’s departure, she was promoted to the principal’s position.
The mindset towards educating young girls
The Sri Lankan society was very simple and primitive. The utter goal of sending the girls to schools was to educate them in a manner to fit the marriage. Future career planning was never on the list by that time. So that secondary education was never an option. When Miss Rigg started her work there were hundred and seventy borders in the school.
Getting married at a very young age was a key task by that time. So many girls left the school without completing their education. But few girls managed to complete the necessary education and even to go further in their careers. For instance, Amy Rathwatte became the first proud Hillwoodian to enter to Teacher training college. Hilda Halangoda and Leela Amunugama were able to complete their training as nurses and got appointments at the Civil Hospital in Kandy.
Hostels and Kindergarten
By her time the hostel facilities and also the fourth guide company expanded. The Middlewood and Netherwood senior and junior dormitories became home to many Hillwoodians. The Matrons in these hostels did their job to the maximum to keep the Hillwood boarders clean and well-disciplined. Seven per cent of the Hillwoodians were boarders by that time.
The Hillwood College Kindergarten was a very popular institution. Lovely Miss Teacher took care of kindergarten at the beginning. Later on, trained teaches like Miss Ryan took care of it with the excellent assistance of their fellow teachers. And this made this institution uplift the standards. Many British who were working in Sri Lankan organizations sent their children here. The main reason was that Hillwood College Kindergarten laid a sufficient and solid educational foundation for young children.
The legacy of great teachers
Miss Muriel Jayasinghe
Miss Muriel Jayasinghe was a memorable teacher in Hillwood College history. She was a teacher who managed to manner the girls in a kind and tender way. She is also the teacher who taught Tennis and Stoolball as extra-curricular activities. But unfortunately, she left this world in Nineteen Ninety.
Miss Uranee Fernando
Another famous teacher was Uranee Fernando who is mostly known as Rance Fernando. She joined the school in Nineteen Thirty-Nine soon after she completed her teacher training. Miss Uranee started to teach subjects like Maths, Science, English and Netball as an extra-curricular sport. She is also the teacher who initiated an annual play that helped to raise funds for the Building Fund. And also provided free maths classes for the students on every Saturday who are sitting for Matriculation, SSC, and Senior Cambridge Exams in the Nineteen Forties.
Miss Mackay
Miss Mackay is another idol in Hillwood teaching history. She managed to polish the Hillwoodians’ talents towards Music and Drama. And also, created annual Shakespearean plays like Romeo and Juliet, The Merchant of Venice and also Merry Wives of Windsor. She left schooling a legacy in Hillwood history. Hers and Mr Joseph Ruthven’s wedding was the first-ever wedding commenced in the Hillwood College Chapel.
Miss Rigg always had a passion for Science. And the science lab was starting to cover up with cobwebs. So she hired Miss Ena Jonklaas for Botany and Chemistry. The seniors learnt Geology from Mr Leiter who was teaching at Trinity College Kandy.
Miss Rigg’s outstanding decisions
In Nineteen Forty-Three, Miss Rigg started University Entrance classes with two freshly graduated teachers. Miss Rigg always believed that Hillwood girls must have sound knowledge and must be thorough in Sinhala. Even Though Hillwood College has a Christian background, knowing and carrying out the heritage of the country was always a priority. There were two separate teachers for upper school and lower school to teach Sinhala. The two teachers were Miss Lena Abeykoon and Mr Ariyachandra.
Embedding with the mother tongue and Sinhala culture
Miss Rigg is a principal who wanted to embed the Sinhala culture with her life. And always wanted to be a part of it. She even sat for the SSC Sinhala examination after attending the classes that Mr Ariyachandra taught. She always wanted to give the finest education and make the students thorough in every field. Learning Sinhala became a great advantage for her since she was able to communicate with students and parents more conveniently and efficiently.
She was the teacher for English (language), English literature, Latin, History as well as piano and organ. Miss Rigg was the type of teacher who will teach any subject without hesitation if there is an absence in teaching that particular subject.
The rules and fees
The rules played a vital role in a Hillwoodian’s lifestyle. There were strict rules that day scholars and boarders should obey. These rules helped to mould the discipline of the young ladies. The school fees at that time were less than 50 rupees.
The Hillwoodian’s generosity
Hillwood College is a place where generosity keeps flooding. As students, we all know that we don’t get a large sum of money. It will always be a small amount which we call “pocket money”. This amount is enough to buy some snacks and candy or to buy some small items that we will need for school. It was like that when we were schooling and it was the same in earlier days. The thought of ‘if we split this then I won’t have enough money to buy that candy bar’ never crossed a Hillwoodian’s mind. They were always delighted to share with others.
The students used to give a small donation every term to support the deaf children in Miss Carter’s school for the deaf located in Rathmalana. Also, they were generous enough to contribute things that were worth a pound every July 26th for the Evelyn nursery.
Developments through Obstacles.
Miss Rigg’s principalship period was filled with obstacles. In the Nineteen Thirties, Sri Lanka suffered from Malaria. The students who got sick from the disease were taken to the annexe and Miss Rigg was kind enough to visit them every single day with a little toy to console their hearts and souls. The sick children became Miss Amarasekara’s and Annex ayah’s responsibility and they did it to the maximum.
Fortunately, Hillwood College got a trained nurse called Miss Lily Silva in Nineteen Thirty-Nine. She was working at Dr Carr’s Hospital in Jaffna before coming to Hillwood. She was the Florence Nightingale in Hillwood College who took care of thousands of sick Hillwoodians for so many years.
New buildings that got added
In Nineteen Thirty-Seven another floor in the hostel got added. And in Nineteen Thirty-Eight a classroom with two floors and a bathroom wing got added behind the hostel. The need for an expansion in the sick room became very urgent. And Miss Rigg decided to expand the capacity where they can take care of infectious disease patients separately. In Nineteen Forty the covered way to Netherwood was extended.
The Golden Jubilee of Hillwood College
The year Nineteen Forty was significant mainly because of the 50th anniversary of the school. There was a big celebration and it started with a play from a story in Mahabaratha. There was a thanksgiving service on 26th July which was Miss Chapman’s birthday and a Na tree was planted to memorialize the event. July 27 was another memorable day. It was the day that the first magazine was issued. The cover design is a great artwork done by one of the greatest artists of Hillwood College Premi Halangoda.
Through the War Years
The early Nineteen Forties was a critical period for Sri Lanka due to World War II. The food and the other essential items were limited and had to consume with care. Miss Rigg is a lady with an outstanding visionary. She wanted to handle the situation in the most efficient way. She decided to take the harvest instead of cash as the school fee from the parents who had paddy fields.
Moreover, Hillwood College bought all the textbooks and then gave the students for free. And at the end of the year, the students must return the books of that particular grade. The next new batch of students will get these books. And this system was convenient and both parents and students were delighted with the system.
Creating the fun atmosphere
Miss Rigg even organized concerts, bazaars and different events to raise funds to upgrade and expand the existing infrastructure facilities. She was planning to expand the hall with the assistance of H T Jackson, a Ceylon army command. But suddenly the militaries were called off and she couldn’t execute the plan.
The war was getting more severe. Even Colombo was bombed in Nineteen Forty-One. Some students came to Hillwood from Colombo due to this attack. Miss Rigg had to protect the borders in the school from air raids and it caused major issues. Worst came to worse when European teachers started to return back to England. This created a scarcity of qualified teachers.
The initiation of the University of Ceylon
In Nineteen Forty-Two, the University College became the University of Ceylon. And they also started to offer their own degrees and conduct their own university entrance examination. But people were suffering from many financial issues. They were unable to send the sons to obtain a university education. And obtaining a university education by a girl was a real mirage.
But Miss Rigg never gave up. She started university entrance exam classes. Along with her, two other graduate qualified teachers took care of this class. They were Miss K M Chapman and Mrs Innes.
The authority held the Senior Cambridge examination for the last time in Nineteen Forty-Two. They had to carbon copy the answer sheets due to the side effects of the war that was going on. And they send the two scripts in two different ships to London.
In Nineteen Forty-Three, the first Hillwood batch sat for the Local Senior Schools Certificate examination. After that Miss Rigg initiated a university entrance class. The only student in this class was Lalitha Witanachchi. And after a couple of months, four new students joined the class.
The departure of Miss Rigg
By Nineteen Forty Four Miss Rigg was exhausted with working back and forth for the betterment of the Hillwoodians. So the governing body asked her to get a furlough by going to India or her home town. And she decided to go to her hometown; Preston in England. She said goodbye to the school at the end of the second term in Nineteen Forty Four.
At the end of August, the school was welcoming students back with their new principal Miss Foss. She was the appointed principal until the return of Miss Rigg. And no one expected it to be the last time that they saw Miss Rigg. The first week of September Nineteen Forty Four brought the news that silenced Hillwood College for a while. The ship that Miss Rigg sailed has been torpedoed and took our beloved Miss Rigg’s life.
All the teachers and students got broken-hearted and could not believe the news. And they were shocked by the news. The atmosphere filled with sobs and the chapel bell’s death knell.
Even at the time of death, she has put others’ comfort first. All the passengers were sleeping and only six people managed to jump overboard. Even though Miss Rigg could save her life she has decided to be with Miss Jocelyn who couldn’t jump.
Tributing her service
There was a special service at the school chapel to pray for Miss Rigg’s soul. All the attendees had bowed heads praying Miss Rigg’s soul to rest in peace through silent sobs.
She was a great teacher and a principal who contributed her entire youth and her good time for the betterment of the school. And her guidance made the school become a legendary school that is rising in pride on top of the hills in the Kandyan Kingdom. Even now the Hillwoodians owe her sincere gratitude for her dedication to make the school what it is today. https://alpanthiya.lk/hillwood-memoirs-and-milestones-part-2/
Hillwood Memoirs and Milestones – Part 1
Hillwood Memoirs and Milestones – Part 2
