A Crown Colony is established

Governor Frederick North

January 1, is a significant day in the history of the colonial administration of Sri Lanka, then known as Ceylon. On January 1, 1802, Ceylon was declared to be a Crown Colony of the British Empire. A Crown Colony was ruled directly by the imperial government through a Governor, acting as representative of the British monarch, and a Legislative Council. The members of the Council were nominated by the Governor and not elected by the people.

After the Dutch surrendered the island to the British on February 16, 1796, Madras civil servants were brought to Ceylon to carry on the civil government under the control of Robert Andrews, who was designated the Resident. He was also the Superintendent of Revenue and was paid a commission of 1¼ per cent of the net revenue in addition to a salary of £ 60 per month. The administration was under the British East India Company operating from Madras. There was a Governor in Madras, Lord Hobart.

Following the decision of the Colonial Office to administer Ceylon as a Crown Colony, Frederick North, described as a brilliant conversationalist well versed in at least six languages, was appointed Governor. He came over with nine officials from London.

North established the Ceylon Civil Service, the law courts and the fiscal system in Ceylon.
An year later he invaded Kandy without success.

North's term as Governor ended in 1805 and he was succeeded by Sir Thomas Maitland.

Rupees & Cents

The adoption of a decimal currency or the use of Rupees and Cents on the basis of 100 cents to the rupee happened on January 1, 1872. Earlier, the currency used was the same as what was used in England with pence, shillings and pounds.
The first cent denominations were direct conversions of pence into cents. A penny was calculated as four cents. Two shillings were equal to one rupee.

First English newspaper

An early issue of the 'Colombo Journal'

The first English newspaper in Ceylon – the 'Colombo Journal' – was started on January 1, 1832, three months after the arrival of Sir Robert Wilmot Horton as Governor. It was published under government auspices and with the encouragement of the Governor himself.

The newspaper was printed at the Government Press and edited by the Superintendent, George Lee. He was assisted by Henry Tuffnel, the Governor's Private Secretary and son-in-law. Governor Horton himself frequently wrote articles using different names – ' Timon', 'Pro Bono Publico' and 'Liber'.

After it had run for two years, the paper was discontinued on the orders of the Government in London.

A humorous newspaper

A copy of ‘Kavata Kathikaya’

'Kavata Kathikaya', the first humourous newspaper in Sinhala appeared on January 1, 1872. Its first editor was a 23-year- old lad named

G.D. Pelis Appuhamy. The paper was a four-page fortnightly and ridiculed the so called 'high society' and was very critical of the colonial administration. It became very popular among the readers and continued to be published for four decades.