Sir ''Sir'' is a formal honorific address in English for men, derived from Sire in the High Middle Ages. Both are derived from the old French "" (Lord), brought to England by the French-speaking Normans, and which now exist in French only as part ...

Paul Edward Pieris Deraniyagala Samarasinha Sriwardhana, (16 February 1874 – 1959; commonly known as Sir Paul E. Pieris) was a

Ceylonese Sri Lankan or Ceylonese may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the country of Sri Lanka ** Demographics of Sri Lanka * Sri Lankan people, or of Sri Lankan descent; this includes: ** Sinhalese people, the ethnic majority ** Sri Lankan T ...

civil servant and historian. He served as Ceylon's Trade Commissioner and a District JudgePIERIS DERANIYAGALA family
/ref> and held multiple appointments as president of the Royal Asiatic Society of Sri Lanka. Although his academic and early career was in the legal field, he is best known for being one of the country's foremost experts on the history of

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

an occupation of

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, also known historically as Ceylon, is an island country in South Asia. It lies in the Indian Ocean, southwest of the Bay of Bengal, separated from the Indian subcontinent, ...

Early life and education

Born to John Martinus Pieris Sriwardhana and Don Johannes Dias Bandaranaike, Pieris was educated at S. Thomas' College, Mutwal, and his studies characterised by numerous distinctions; in 1889 he was judged the most successful candidate at the Cambridge Local Junior Examination in the under-sixteen group, and was similarly distinguished in the next two years of study. Pieris won the University scholarship in 1891 and became the first Asian to be admitted to

Trinity College, Cambridge Trinity College is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1546 by King Henry VIII, Trinity is one of the largest Cambridge colleges, with the largest financial endowment of any ...

where he gained BA (which was later upgraded to a MA),

LLM A large language model (LLM) is a language model trained with Self-supervised learning, self-supervised machine learning on a vast amount of text, designed for natural language processing tasks, especially Natural language generation, language g ...

and Litt.D.(

Cantab Cantab may refer to: * ''Cantabrian'', a demonym for Canterbury, New Zealand * ''Cantabrigian'', a demonym for people from: ** Cambridge, England ***The University of Cambridge ** Cambridge, Massachusetts ***Harvard University * Cantabrigian Rowin ...

). He was

called to the bar The call to the bar is a legal term of art in most common law jurisdictions where persons must be qualified to be allowed to argue in court on behalf of another party and are then said to have been "called to the bar" or to have received "call to ...

as a

barrister A barrister is a type of lawyer in common law jurisdiction (area), jurisdictions. Barristers mostly specialise in courtroom advocacy and litigation. Their tasks include arguing cases in courts and tribunals, drafting legal pleadings, jurisprud ...

of the

Inner Temple The Honourable Society of the Inner Temple, commonly known as the Inner Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court and is a professional association for barristers and judges. To be called to the Bar and practice as a barrister in England and Wa ...

in 1895. Having passed the Civil Service exam in London, on his return to Ceylon, Pieiris was enrolled as an

advocate An advocate is a professional in the field of law. List of country legal systems, Different countries and legal systems use the term with somewhat differing meanings. The broad equivalent in many English law–based jurisdictions could be a ba ...

of the

Supreme Court of Ceylon The Supreme Court of Sri Lanka (; ) is the highest court in Sri Lanka and the final judicial instance of record. Established in 1801 and empowered to exercise its powers subject to the provisions of the Constitution of Sri Lanka, the Supreme C ...

and joined the

Ceylon Civil Service The Ceylon Civil Service, popularly known by its acronym CCS, was the premier civil service of the Government of Ceylon under British colonial rule and in the immediate post-independence period. Established in 1833, it functioned as part of th ...

in 1896.

Civil service career

In 1896, he was selected to the

and served until his retirement in 1935. Following his cadetship, he served as the office assistant to the Government Agent of the Southern Province. He had served mostly as a

District Judge District Judge may refer to: * A United States federal judge, appointed by the president and confirmed by the Senate * A judge in a state court (United States), where the state is divided into judicial districts * * A judge in the district courts ...

in the towns of Matara,

Kegalle Kegalle (; ) is a large town in Sabaragamuwa Province of Sri Lanka. It is located on the Colombo–Kandy road, approximately from Colombo, from Kandy, from Kurunegala and from Avissavella. It is the main town in the Kegalle District, which i ...

Kandy Kandy (, ; , ) is a major city located in the Central Province, Sri Lanka, Central Province of Sri Lanka. It was the last capital of the Sinhalese monarchy from 1469 to 1818, under the Kingdom of Kandy. The city is situated in the midst of ...

and

Kalutara Kalutara (, ) or Kalutota is a major city in Kalutara District, Western Province, Sri Lanka. It is also the administrative capital of Kalutara District. It is located approximately south of the capital Colombo. The city holds a unique posit ...

. During his tenure as District Judge of Kandy, in 1914 he preceded over the ''Gampola Perahera Case'' filled by a Basnayake Nilame. Pieris's judgement was referred to the

by the

Attorney General In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general (: attorneys general) or attorney-general (AG or Atty.-Gen) is the main legal advisor to the government. In some jurisdictions, attorneys general also have executive responsibility for law enf ...

and was set aside eventually leading to the 1915 riots. He served as Trade Commissioner for Ceylon in

Britain Britain most often refers to: * Great Britain, a large island comprising the countries of England, Scotland and Wales * The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, a sovereign state in Europe comprising Great Britain and the north-eas ...

and thereafter appointed the first

Public Trustee In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociological concept of the ''Öffentlichk ...

of Ceylon, from which he retired in 1935.

Scholarly work

It has been remarked that Pieris was never given a position in the Civil Service that was commensurate with his intellect and ability, and as such he turned his attention toward in depth historical research on the European occupation in Ceylon from the 16th Century onwards. Pieris carried out extensive historical research in Ceylon and he was several times elected the president of the Royal Asiatic Society of Ceylon having last held the role from 1932 to 1934. to whose journal he contributed frequently from 1904 to 1948. He further single-handedly edited the journal during the years of World War II when the society's functions were greatly disrupted by external factors.

Notable publications

* Notes on some Sinhalese Families in Ceylon (in 6 volumes from 1902 onwards) * Ceylon: The Portuguese Era (1913), II volumes, 1250 pp. * Ceylon and the Portuguese, 1505-1658 (assisted by R.B. Naish), 310 pp (1920). * Ceylon and the Hollanders, 1658-1796 (1918) * The Kingdom of Jafanapatam, 1645. ''From the Portuguese Foral.'' (1920) * Portuguese Maps and Plans of Ceylon, 1650 (1926) * The Prince Vijayapala of Ceylon, 1634-1654 (1927), 66 pp. * The Historic Tragedy of Ceilao, by Captain Joao Ribeiro, tr. 306 pp. * The Growth of Dutch Influence in Ceylon, 1602-1660, 326 pp. * The Dutch Power in Ceylon, 1602–1670. Edited by P. E. Pieris. 1929 * Ceylon and Portugal: Kings and Christians, 1539 - 1552. ''From the archives at Lisbon, P.E. Pieris and M.A.H. Fitzler'' (1927) * Portugal in Ceylon: ''Lectures at King's College, London'' * Letters to Ceylon, 1814-1824: Correspondence of Sir John D'Oyly 155pp. * Tri Sinhala, the Last Phase, 1796–1815 (1945) * The Ceylon Littoral, 1593 (1949) 88pp. * Sinhalē and the Patriots, 1815–1818 (1950)

Honours and awards

Pieris received numerous awards during his lifetime. These include; * The first Asian to receive a

Doctor of Letters Doctor of Letters (D.Litt., Litt.D., Latin: ' or '), also termed Doctor of Literature in some countries, is a terminal degree in the arts, humanities, and social sciences. In the United States, at universities such as Drew University, the degree ...

from the

University of Cambridge The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...

* King's Birthday Honours 1933 -

Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George The Most Distinguished Order of Saint Michael and Saint George is a British order of chivalry founded on 28 April 1818 by George, Prince of Wales (the future King George IV), while he was acting as prince regent for his father, King George I ...

(CMG) for service as Public Trustee * The Royal Asiatic Society Medal for distinguished service in 1946 * Queen's Birthday Honours 1952 -

Knight Bachelor The title of Knight Bachelor is the basic rank granted to a man who has been knighted by the monarch but not inducted as a member of one of the organised Order of chivalry, orders of chivalry; it is a part of the Orders, decorations, and medals ...

for social service.

Personal life

He married Hilda Obeyesekere, daughter of James Peter Obeyesekere I. Lady Hilda Obeyesekere Pieris was an active social worker, who endowed the ''Hilda Obeysekera Hall'', the ladies residency hall at the

University of Peradeniya The University of Peradeniya (, ) is a Public research university, public university in Sri Lanka, funded by the University Grants Commission of Sri Lanka, University Grants Commission. It is the largest university in Sri Lanka, which was origin ...

. His brothers-in-law included Donald Obeyesekere and Sir James Peter Obeyesekere II. They had three sons, the zoologist

Paules Edward Pieris Deraniyagala Paulus Edward Pieris Deraniyagala (1900–1976) was a Sri Lankan paleontologist, zoologist, and artist. Early life and education He was born in Colombo, the son of Paul Edward Pieris and Lady Hilda Obeyesekere Pieris. He had two younger brothe ...

; the painter, Justin Pieris Deraniyagala; civil servant Ralph St. Louis Pieris Deraniyagala and one daughter Miriam Pieris Deraniyagala, herself an artist, who married Robert de Saram. Sri Lankan cellist

Rohan de Saram Deshamanya Frank Rohan de Saram (9 March 1939 – 29 September 2024) was a British and Sri Lankan cellist who focused on contemporary music both as a soloist and as the cellist of the Arditti Quartet from 1979 to 2005. He learned both Western m ...

is their grandson. Following their retirement from the civil service, Sir Paul Pieris and Lady Obeyesekere Pieris, built the Nugedola Wallauwa in Pasyala,

Gampaha District Gampaha District ( ''gampaha distrikkaya'', ''Kampakai Māvaṭṭam'') is one of the 25 Districts of Sri Lanka, districts of Sri Lanka, the second level administrative division of the country. It is the second most populous district of Sri Lank ...

, where they spent their retirement.

References

External links

* Ceylon and the Hollanders, 1658-1796 (1918) {{DEFAULTSORT:Pieris, Paul Edward 1874 births 1955 deaths Sri Lankan civil servants Sinhalese people Sri Lankan lawyers Sri Lankan barristers Alumni of S. Thomas' College, Mount Lavinia Alumni of Trinity College, Cambridge Members of the Inner Temple Ceylonese Knights Bachelor Ceylonese Companions of the Order of St Michael and St George