Henry Pedris

Duenuge Edward Henry Pedris (; 16 August 1888 – 7 July 1915) was a Ceylonese militia officer and a prominent socialite. Pedris was executed for treason by the 17th Punjab Regiment of the British Indian Army under martial law during the 1915 Sinhalese-Muslim riots. Convicted in a three-day Field General Court Martial under the terms of the Army Act, bypassing the local legal system, his execution was viewed as unjust by the local population and a warning to local leaders. It hastened the movement toward independence, providing motivation and a martyr for those who pioneered the movement.

On 12 September 2024, the President of Sri Lanka posthumously pardoned Henry Pedris, 108 years after his execution. Both his father and uncle N. S. Fernando Wijesekara were leading businessmen of the time, and his family was among the wealthiest with ownership of graphite mines, plantations, real-estate and trading interests.

Pedris first attended Royal College situated in the Pettah. From there he joined St. Thomas' College where he excelled in sports and shone as a good cricketer, playing for the school's first eleven cricket team. After some time he returned to Royal College where he again played cricket and engaged in other sporting activities.

Attempts to stay the execution Having been sentenced to death under the terms of the Army Act, the death sentence had to be ratified by the Governor. The case of Pedris was not referred to the Governor by Brigadier General Leigh Malcolm. This was an omission that was protested by the Governor, and later cases were duly forwarded. Following his conviction, his family filed an application for "writs of certiorari and prohibition" in the Supreme Court of Ceylon, to which relief was denied by a bench comprising Chief Justice Sir Alexander Wood–Renton, Justice Shaw and Justice Thomas de Sampayo. The judgement was never published in the New Law Report. The only person who would have been able to intervene in this case was Sir Hector Van Cuylenberg, who was the elected representative in the legislature, but his representations were not taken seriously by the military. Many prominent citizens and educationists, both British and Ceylonese alike, appealed against the judgment without any impact. An appeal was made to King George V.

On 12 September 2024, President Ranil Wickremesinghe issued a presidential pardon posthumously to Henry Pedris, 109 years after his execution, through a Gazette extraordinary notification.

Legacy

Pedris’s death was also meant as a warning for other Ceylonese leaders who were leading the independence movement. After the execution the blood-soaked chair Pedris was sitting on during the execution was taken to the prison cells that contained many Sinhalese leaders including D. S. Senanayake and shown to them with the warning that they would be next.

Many claim the execution of Pedris by the colonial government marked the beginning of the Sri Lankan independence movement with many people specially from the educated middle class taking an active role in it. Their action resulted in Ceylon gaining independence in 1948.

Governor Chalmers was removed from the post and made Under-Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland Lord Wimborne. The powers of the Mudaliyars were abolished when the Native Department was closed down in 1938.

In 1916, D. D. Pedris built the Isipathanaramaya Temple in Havelock Town, Colombo in memory of his late son. Two statues of Pedris have been erected in Havelock Town and in his hometown Galle. The statue in Havelock was commissioned to the well-known sculptor Henry Dharmasena of Panadura. On the occasion of unveiling ceremony of the statue in Havelock Town, then Prime Minister Ranasinghe Premadasa stated that the adjacent sports grounds should be renamed in his memory. On 7 July 1987 the Edward Henry Pedris Stadium was declared open by Prime Minister Premadasa. D. D. Pedris built a pilgrims' rest in Polonnaruwa and named it the "Edward Henry Pedris Rest" which was maintained from income gained from lands owned by Pedris in Anuradhapura known as the Kuttampokunakele and the Basuwakkulamakele. Pedris's mother, Mallino Pedris gifted the land for the Mallikarama Temple in Dematagoda in 1920 in her son's memory.