Charles Henry de Soysa was born in Moratuwa on the 3rd of March 1836. He was the only son of Mudliyar Jeronis de Soysa Dissanayake and Francesca de Soysa Lamaethani (née Cooray). Jeronis de Soysa, an Ayurveda physician, was one of the most successful merchants in Ceylon and established the largest native commercial enterprise of the era. Charles was educated at the leading institutions of his day and then joined the family enterprise.
In 1863 he married Catherine (1845-1914), the daughter of Chevaliar Jusey de Silva Deva Aditya (1816-1889) and Weerahennadige Weerabala Jayasuriya Patabendi Anna Fernando (1825-1877).
The island of Sri Lanka has a written history of over 2500 years and the legend of Charles Henry de Soysa is unique in that saga. It is the first recorded instance (or perhaps the second after his illustrious father), of a citizen becoming wealthy as a king through private enterprise in an unofficial capacity. Yet it is his magnanimous and humane foresight, that led many to refer to him as being generous to a fault, is his lasting legacy. The country's infant and maternal healthcare record that has been one of accomplishment in the region and in the wider world began with the establishment of the De Soysa Maternity Home in 1879. Likewise, the impetus he gave to free education, the education of girls and retirement schemes for employees is legion. But not all such endeavors were immediately successful, for instance in the sphere of native baking, improvements in agriculture and the economic independence and empowerment of the natives of Sri Lanka.
De Soysa was a pioneering tea planter which was usually the preserve of Europeans. When the coffee crash occurred in 1869 many European planters went back home. However, de Soysas' investments were not only in coffee, which enabled him to survive the coffee crisis and expand his plantations further. He planted tea in the former coffee estates and it fetched record prices at the Colombo and London auctions. Guru Oya, Marigold, Hapugasmulle and others, established in 1870, were among the earliest tea plantations of the country. He also cultivated coffee, citronella, coconut, cinnamon, cocoa, cotton rice and rubber in seven of the nine provinces of the Island. His other investments were in transportation, graphite mining, coir and oil mills, tea factories and the import-export trade.
25 авг 2024
