Savouring the many joys of life

The Colombo Club in Galle Face was built with entertainment in mind and the beautiful views only made it more popular among the British

In the good old days when British rule had just commenced, people of all walks of life in Colombo were reported to have been uncommonly pleasant and lived together in the most friendly and familiar manner. The society of Europeans was not so large as to be divided into many parties. James Cordiner says in his time (1807) that the “the English circle at Colombo comprised about one hundred men with twenty ladies. Other European families altogether consisted of approximately three hundred persons.”

The Colombo Club and the Galle Face Hotel

“There were two weekly clubs,” says Cordiner, “established in Colombo and contributed eminently to the promotion of social pleasures in the town.” The oldest one was called ‘Coco-nut or Whist-club’ at which playing cards was the principal amusement. It was commonly called Bungaloe situated a few miles off north-east of Colombo, overlooking the mouth of the Kelani river.

The name Whist referred to above is the misspelling of the name of the Dutch Governor Petrus Vuijst (1726-29), who built this villa as his country residence. It was later called ‘Whist Bungalow’ and renovated recently and renamed ‘Pradeepa Hall’ and exists at present along Aluth Mawatha in the northern extremity of Colombo.

The other club was constituted for the purpose of playing ‘quoits,’a game at which a heavy flattish sharp-edged iron ring was thrown to encircle an iron peg stick in the ground or come as close to it as possible. This club assembled in the south of Colombo at the starting point of the road leading to Point de Galle or what we now call Galle Face. This quoits club had 20 members to which a number of others could be invited weekly for the entertainment, the maximum being between 14 and 24.

In the first three years, they met at half-past five in the morning, played quoits until eight and had breakfast. Some who did not have specific work remained the whole day.

In 1804 they did away with the breakfast and started playing quoits under the shades in the coconut trees in the grove nearby. Between 12 and one o’clock some others repaired to the bungaloe, (bangalava in Sinhala) and played cards, engaged in reading or otherwise enjoying the refreshing breeze. The participants wore white cotton jackets, amply suited to the tropical climate. They distinguished themselves by a badge with a silver ‘quoits’ about the size of a large coin, which hung from the neck by a green rib-band engraved ‘Quoits Club’ round it. The dinner was served at quarter to four and they left the table at five to play quoits again. The compatriots who played quoits met together in the easiest and friendly terms.

These two clubs dined together in the quoits club bungaloe on January 1, 1804 having more than 80 gentlemen assembled. Ladies did not attend the common meetings of any of these clubs. However, entertainments to suit them were arranged in residences in Fort. The bungaloe and apartments were decorated with unusual splendour and dancing always formed part of the amusements.

A successor to the ‘Quoits Club’ was formed about half-a-century later with the European population having almost trebled in Colombo in the 1870s. At the time the ‘Colombo Club’ played a major role in providing hospitality to visitors. The cadjan-thatched original club building, which was then called bungaloe, was an unmistakable landmark in Galle Face.

When horse racing became a popular pastime after the 1830s, it overshadowed all the other entertainments in Colombo. The Colombo Assembly Rooms Company established in 1869, pioneered the erection of a permanent building to be available for the use as the Grand Stand during race meets. The proposed building was expected to serve several purposes namely as the Grand Stand and the Ball Room, and for public functions and entertainments.

In the proposed site there was an ancient building constructed by the Dutch to house one of their schools. It was called a mandoe or maduwa, which was demolished to build the bungaloe.

When renovations took place a Dutch inscription bearing ‘Voortsplanting van hervormde kinderen’ (Propagation of the Dutch Reformed Children) was discovered in the old building, which was later transferred to the National Museum, and is now seen at the Dutch Period Museum in Prince Street, Pettah.

It would be interesting to know the events leading to the formation of the ‘Colombo Club.’ The old Dutch school room was modified as the Grand Stand in the race meets, and in the late 1860s converted to a club building at a considerably higher cost than the promoters expected. The newspapers of the day recorded that the accommodation afforded by the spacious verandahs were so arranged as to form a Grand Stand.

The idea of the formation of the Colombo Club originated on St. Andrew’s Day that fell on November 30, 1870, at the Turf Club Ball attended by 90 Scotsmen, who sat down to dinner in the upper floor of the Grand Stand building in Galle Face. The discussion there was focussed on the difficulty of finding a building suitable for the entertainment of a large number of people for dinner, but this year there had been no difficulty in the new Assembly Rooms in Galle Face, although the building had somewhat of an unsightly appearance. This resulted in varied sarcasm from the lips of passers-by. Within a period of twelve months the building had assumed a definite shape and the cadjan roof gradually made way for a bright red one. Favourable remarks such as “It is no longer an eyesore in the spacious green,” aroused hopes among the gathering for a new entertainment centre.

The problem of location for the Colombo Club was solved incidentally, and a few prominent residents of Colombo held an informal meeting in early February, 1871 to get the idea off the ground, and decided to invite all heads of departments, both civil and military, the two senior officers, surgeons of each regiment, all partners of the European mercantile firms in Colombo to attend the meeting scheduled for March 4, 1871 to constitute themselves into a Club as ‘Original Members’.

Among other things discussed at this informal gathering were mainly the need for immediate requirements to furnish the building with a two-table billiard room, and a room with necessary furniture, glass, crockery, linen and sundries merely for refreshments. The estimated cost was around £ 600. The annual subscription of £ 500 was earmarked for the rent, newspapers, periodicals and servants’ wages. The observations suggested that the profits on wines, refreshments, billiard and cards would be more than sufficient to keep up the establishment, and eventually to add dining and supper rooms with other comforts which may be impossible to attempt at present.

It was not an easy task to infuse enthusiasm among the residents of Colombo for such a venture of a congregation of men. Certain attractions were suggested at the meeting held on March 4, 1871 to expand the category of ‘Original Members’ and advertise it with the objectives. Therefore it was resolved, “That a Club be formed for the purpose of establishing and maintaining reading, billiard, card and refreshment rooms in Colombo for the benefit of the members and generally for the carrying out of all purposes incidental to social clubs of the above description and that the Club be cited ‘The Colombo Club’.” This motion was proposed by R. Cayley and seconded by Lt. Col. J. G. Jervois.

The attendance of the first meeting was scanty. Accordingly all members of the senior and junior branches of the Ceylon Civil Service, officers occupying senior positions in the legal, ecclesiastical, medical, educational, scientific, public works and miscellaneous departments were also enclosed to the category of the ‘Original Members.’

Those Original Members who could be elected before July 1, 1871 were to pay an entrance fee of £ 6, and a quarterly subscription of £ 1. The military officers were to be enrolled as honorary members on payment of the quarterly subscription without an entrance fee. The prospective members who were not resident in Colombo had to pay an entrance fee of £ 6 and a quarterly subscription of five shillings.

Then this new venture had to deal with the problem of equipment. The decision arrived in this regard was to purchase a billiard table, glass, crockery and linen sufficient to start the Club. The building belonged to the Assembly Rooms Company of Colombo, and its Director Alfred Wise promised to lease it to the Colombo Club with a proviso that the premises should be available for use as a Grand Stand during the Colombo Races.

The final meeting in connection with the establishment of the Colombo Club was held on the April 5, 1871, which assured the successful launching of the Club. Sixty of those invited had intimated their desire to become Original Members. The then Governor of Ceylon, Sir Hercules Robinson was elected Patron/President and Major Gen. H. Renny was invited to be the Vice President.

The Colombo Club was ceremonially opened on the October 5, 1871 and gradually became the most popular resort of entertainment in Colombo. An anonymous writer under the pseudonym ‘Book-worm’ wrote to a popular newspaper in Colombo, and made an emphatic protest against a possible invasion of the Club by the fair sex. “There were some,” he wrote, “who could appreciate the project for which a club has been instituted and who understood that the many who make use of such institutions do so with the desire of withdrawing from the society of ladies, and not of being brought into contact with them, but the latter appears to be the object upper most in the minds of the present members of this Club, as I hear that a resolution was yesterday passed at the general meeting, by a large majority, allowing ladies introduced by the members the entrée of the Club once a week.”

It is interesting to note that the Club was soon enriched with attractive ladies in Colombo, despite newspaper grumbles.