A Royal pocket watch unwinds a tale from the past
A gold pocket watch that was in the possession of the last king of Kandy, Sri Wickrama Rajasinha when he was captured by the British on February 18, 1815 tells an intriguing tale with links to the family of the country’s first Executive President J.R. Jayewardene.
The watch which is now on display at the Colombo National Museum is believed to have been a present to the Sinhalese King Kirti Sri Rajasinha from the King of Holland.
Mudaliyar Don Adrian Wijesinghe Jayewardene with his bodyguard and fan-bearer: 1803 sketch
The accession register at the Museum records the object as, ‘One gold watch presented by the Last King of Kandy to Mudaliyar Don Adrian Wijesinghe Jayewardene (Tamby Mudaliyar) for showing him and his queen clemency and kindness while conducting them to Colombo under captivity in 1815.’
Don Adrian, (1768-1830), the first paternal ancestor of J.R. Jayewardene about whom there is a record, had started out working for the Dutch East India Company (VOC) and later aligned himself closely with the British.
K.M. De Silva and Howard Wriggins in their biography of J.R. Jayewardene record that by the time the Kandyan campaign of 1815 came along, Don Adrian was the man in charge of intelligence agents, and one of the trusted aides of Sir John D’Oyly who masterminded the fall of the Kandyan kingdom by winning the backing of the disgruntled chiefs.
It can be ascertained from multiple sources that Don Adrian was present when Sri Wickrama Rajasinha was captured including from the diary of John D’Oyly and an eyewitness account of the capture of the King written by D.V. A. Dias, who served as interpreter at the scene. His account was published in a Sinhalese magazine entitled “Sinhala Sanghrawa” and names the ‘Tamby Mudaliyar’ (Don Adrian) among those who were in the party involved in the King’s capture.
Don Adrian was tasked with accompanying the captured king and his entourage to Colombo. It had taken several days to conduct the Royal captive and his household (his mother, four wives and retinue) under escort and in turn Don Adrian was rewarded with several gifts including the gold watch, reference to which is included in the book titled ‘The Life of Colonel T.G. Jayawardene’ by O.E. Martinus.
It states, ‘The Sinhalese King and his queens, who were not wont to treat captives with mercy, were struck with the clemency and kindness of the Mudaliyar who conducted them to Colombo, and presented him with a watch – a present to the Sinhalese King from the King of Holland – and several massive gold chains and other jewellery.” The book contains a black and white photograph of the exquisitely made timepiece with the caption -The Guide Mudaliyar’s gold watch (This watch shows the Sinhalese hours and Sinhalese numerals).
Former President J.R. Jayewardene, in a letter to the Editor published in the Island newspaper on 3.11.1993 refers to Don Adrian as someone who held important posts under the British. “Don Adrian was not only a friend of the British but was also a friend of King Sri Wickrama Rajasinha and after his capture, accompanied the King from Teldeniya to Colombo. A gold watch presented to him by the King can be seen in the Colombo Museum,” the former President wrote.
The watch passed down through several generations of the Jayewardene family was last in the possession of Col. T.G. Jayewardene, an uncle of J.R. After Col. T.G. Jayewardene passed away in 1945, his son T.F. Jayewardene had presented the watch to the Colombo Museum on 18.3.1948, Museum records show.
While it’s easier to trace the journey of the watch from the time it was gifted to Don Adrian till it made its way to its permanent home at the Colombo National Museum, tracing its origin is more complicated.
The name of the Dutch watchmaker inscribed inside the watch is ‘Kroese’.
The intricately designed pocket watch
The Sunday Times was able to obtain some information from the Rijksmuseum, the National Museum of the Netherlands, on the watchmaker whose name was J.P. Kroese (1702–1778). Available records show that he had been a master watchmaker originally from Wuppertal, Germany and had been active in Amsterdam from 1729, where he worked under the name J.P. Kroese & Son, his workshop was located on the Kalverstraat, a busy shopping street in Amsterdam. After 1775, the business operated solely under his son’s name.
The Rijksmuseum said that there is the possibility that the watch was made by the son but there is little known about junior Kroese except that he continued working in Amsterdam after his father passed away.
There are also some details on the gifting of watches to Sinhalese kings in the VOC archives. The Rijksmuseum found a reference in the VOC archives through Dr. Lodewijk Wagenaar, who has extensively studied the Dutch period history of Sri Lanka, to “six fine pocket watches with Sinhalese numerals” sent as gifts to the King of Kandy.
This document is dated November 11, 1762 and records it as the period when the gifts were sent to Ceylon but during this time, the VOC was at war with the King of Kandy Kirti Sri Rajasinha (1747-1783) and hence it is likely the gifts were handed over to the King after the Treaty of 1766 was signed to end hostilities. It is also possible that gifts were exchanged by the two sides as part of the peace negotiations and the gold watch was among the items presented to the King.
Rajadhi Rajasinha succeeded Kirti Sri Rajasinha who died in 1783 after a reign of nearly 35 years. Rajadhi Rajasinha ruled till 1798 and was succeeded by Sri Wickrama Rajasinha (1798-1815). The last King of Kandy inherited the Dutch pocket watch and had it with him when he was captured by the British.
More than two centuries have ticked by since the capture and exile of Sri Wickrama Rajasinha but a gold pocket watch which the King carried with him as he fled the palace in Kandy to escape advancing British troops has helped unwind a fascinating story of a bygone era.
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