The background

When ‘JR’ and ‘Banda’ ‘batted’ together for Nomads Tennis Club in 1926. The famous Thuppahi’s Blog by renowned cricket writer and academic Michael Roberts calls this ‘A piece of social history’ and how right the assessment is.

What the photo reveals

A tennis gathering at Nomads in 1926 almost 96 years ago. Young J.R. Jayewardene is standing second from the left (facing) while young S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike is seated.

The above Blog wrote this quoting a note from Arun Dias Bandaranaike: “This image of SWRDB with his ‘golf cap’ and sports jacket et al, matches other pictures of him in that period shortly after his return to Ceylon from his sojourn at Oxford. In fact, there is in the family collection a photo of Solomon (or SWRD) in a group photo of 1935 as a member of the Nomads Tennis Club, assembled in the garden at the home of Walter Dias Bandaranaike which was on Silversmiths Street off Armour Street, Colombo 10.  The image there is pretty much the same as this, which appears to be taken either in Nuwara Eliya (most likely) or Bandarawela. The person who is standing two places away from ‘JRJ’ in that same row and in the centre of the picture dressed in a striped cardigan, seems to be George R. de Silva, who married Walter Dias Bandaranaike’s daughter Evelyn, and lived in Kotahena.

“Back row, second from left is a lady I surmise is Irene de Silva, the sister of George R. de Silva, who married Copleston Dias Bandaranaike. Irene and Copleston are the parents of Justice Tissa D. B., who served in the Supreme Court during Chandrika’s first tenure as President. Interestingly, Solomon was Copleston’s Best Man at his wedding to Irene.”

Analysis

Arun had continued: “The Nomads tennis matches were played in an around Colombo. There were courts in the Obeyesekere properties in Colombo-7, Mahanuga Gardens in Colombo-3 was also a venue. A careful examination of the photograph shows the venue to be a place other than the urban or suburban verity of Colombo. Why? In the frame of this picture one can see the tall umpires’ chair by the side of the tennis court. When one considers the vista beyond the copse of trees that is in the background to the tall chair, one sees what appears as a mountainous terrain in the distance. There is also a building (a house) which is partially hidden, but may be made out as being a building and one sees its roof as well. When analysing the perspective, it does seem that the house is on higher ground than the plane on which the tennis court is located. In other words, the house is on a rise or a hillock and not on the level with the tennis court. This sort of landscape suggests the hill country of Ceylon, rather than Colombo. While the gear worn by the people in the group suggests a more temperate climate than one would associate with the warm and humid circumstances common in Colombo. What is more, most wear hats! If they were shielding from the sun’s rays, would it be more likely that they were dressed that way to keep warm despite the sun’s shining down on them? Furthermore, SWRDB is wearing something like a cravat, in addition to his blazer and sports cap! It must have been cool and not humid. Mevan Pieris has suggested that the person named as JRJ could, in fact, rather be Mudaliyar Lee Dassenaike. In later years Lee Dassenaike was portly, but, in the early years of the 20th century he may have been as slim as is evident in the photograph. His facial features though, do match the image seen in this picture. If Mevan’s hunch is correct, then the person who is thought to be JRJ is not JRJ at all!

Photographer

Unknown.

An afterword

Listen to Arun again: “The one who … (is) at the right extreme of the middle row, has been identified as likely being Vernon de Livera-Tennekoon (half brother of Oscar de Livera and ‘Kit’ de Livera, Mrs. Lyn Dassenaike et al). I tend to agree with Mevan Pieris, that it could be he. If that is correct, then, this aggregation is quite likely made up of those who are members of the Nomads Tennis Club. Vernon did not exhibit a fantastic skill in tennis to have been considered ‘star class’ outside of the limited scope of the Nomads group. In this group, JRJ would not have been included.”