Louis Edmund Blaze

Louis Edmund Blaze, JP, OBE, BA (Calcutta), (29 September 1861 – 4 August 1951) was a Sri Lankan educationist and the founder and the first principal of Kingswood College, Kandy (1891–1923).

Biography Louis Edmund Blaze was born on 29 September 1861 in Kandy, the fifth child and fourth son of Louis Ezekiel Blaze (1827–1894), a coffee merchant, and Henrietta Charlotte née Garnier (1833–1899). His grand parents, John Henry Blaze and Margareta Caroline née de Joodt, were headmaster and headmistress of schools in Paiyagala in the Kalutara District. and became a lecturer in law and editor of the newspaper, Ceylon Examiner. One of his other brothers, Robert Ezekiel (1863–1916), was the crown proctor of Badulla. Whilst at Trinity he produced a school magazine, which appeared in manuscript form, on 15 May 1876, even naming the four houses at the school: Eton; Harrow; Winchester and Rugby. As the school did not qualify for government assistance, Blaze had to hand over the struggling institution to the Wesleyan Mission in July 1894. having learnt the game and the rules whilst he was teaching in India, he started coaching his pupils in the sport from the year the school was established. In 1900 he wrote a textbook, History of Ceylon, the first comprehensive school textbook on the history of Sri Lanka and the prescribed history textbook for middle school until the late 1930s (with ten editions being published in that time). In 1902 the school had the distinction of appointing the first lady teacher to the staff of a Boys School in the country. In 1914 he authored The Story of Lanka, another detailed history of the island, which became the Middle School school text for history (it was re-printed six times). During the first sixty years of the institution, the school eventually became one of the most prominent Public Schools in Kandy. Before his retirement he planned the removal of the school from the small premises it occupied in Brownrigg Street relocating it, in 1925, as well as being an active member of Historical Association, the Royal Asiatic Society and the Ceylon Geographical Society, who honoured him by electing him a life member. This was followed in 1936 by a book of verse, In Praise of Ceylon.

Personal On 16 December 1891 he married Alice Maud née Avery (8 March 1865 – 1 March 1912) in Negombo.

Following his retirement he was made a Justice of the Peace for the Kandy district.

Blaze died on 4 August 1951, a few days after he had helped Kingswood College celebrate its Diamond Jubilee.