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My father HAROLD
Damayanti Peiris looks back on the life of this patron of the arts on the eve of his birth centenary
My father, Charles Jacob Harold Peiris, was born on July 22, 1905, the only child of Charles Peiris (younger brother of the more famous Sir James) and of his wife, Maude de Mel. He was educated at Royal College until his matriculation at 16 years and thereafter at St. John’s College, Cambridge where he obtained an upper-second Law Degree in 1926.

Man of the world
Harold Peiris eventually became an extremely erudite person, conversant in at least nine languages and able to read, write and speak three or four fluently. He was widely read and had a good knowledge of literature, history and philosophy. Yet he wore his learning lightly and never spoke or acted in a pedantic or overbearing manner. He became a Sanskrit and Pali scholar, read and studied Buddhist writings and had an abiding interest in Buddhist hilosophy.

He was a great admirer of Canon Lucien Jansz, who was conversant with fourteen languages and who was his first Sanskrit teacher. It was Canon Jansz who initially aroused his interest in the Indo-Aryan family of languages and directed him towards the study of Comparative Philology. Harold translated the Gita Govinda of Jayadeva, and in collaboration with L.C.van Geyzel also translated most of the poems and plays of Kalidasa, though very few of their translations appeared in print. Among the few which were published were three poems, “The Seasons”, “The Ornament of Love” and “The Broken Pot” (1961) and several contributions to “An Anthology of Sinhala Literature to 1815” edited by Christopher Reynolds (published by George Allen & Unwin, 1970).

Self -restraint
Harold embodied within himself a mass of contradictions: the capitalist owner of a disproportionate amount of inherited wealth, he was by conviction a Marxist, a would-be communist and fellow-traveller.

Though nominally a Christian, having had a very strict Anglo-Catholic upbringing, he would privately admit to really being an agnostic and Buddhist at heart; this may have been due to the early influence of his devoutly Buddhist paternal grandmother, Apollonia de Soysa, founder of the Gothami Vihare in Borella.

Though born into a wealthy family and brought up in the lap of luxury, Harold possessed innate qualities of moderation and self-restraint. He was a person of extremely simple tastes and habits; he never smoked, drank or became addicted to gambling, ate with great moderation and could never ever be persuaded to take a second helping of food.

Harold Peiris married twice. His first marriage in 1928 to Leah, daughter of S.W. Dassenaike, a retired P.W.D. engineer and a member of the Legislative Council of Ceylon, lasted twelve years. They had two daughters, myself and Indumati. After the failure of his first marriage he married Constance Alicia (Peggy) Keyt, sister of the artist George Keyt. They married in 1940 and the marriage lasted until his death in 1981.

They were well suited to each other temperamentally, both being very extrovert and sociable, extremely devoted to promoting the arts, generous and hospitable. They kept their house open and their lavish hospitality became a by-word in all the homes they lived in, whether in Kandy, Nuwara Eliya, Boralesgamuwa or latterly, at Alfred House in Kollupitiya.

There were two sons from the marriage, Paul and Lionel. They suffered a tragic loss when Paul, the elder son was run over and killed in an accident while hitch-hiking in Germany.

True friend
Harold had a remarkable talent for making and retaining friendships, many of which lasted his whole life long. He was fortunate in that, having been a contemporary and good friend of Harry Wendt at Cambridge and having known L.C. van Geyzel both at Royal College and at Cambridge, he belonged naturally in the inner circle of friends that surrounded Lionel Wendt, the Sri Lankan described by the Nobel Prize-winning Chilean poet, Pablo Neruda as “the central figure of the cultural life” of those times. Lionel Wendt, a many-sided genius (pianist, photographer, critic and cinematographer) was a most unusual character with a magnetic and compelling personality who set very high standards of excellence and integrity in the world of art and whose influence (according to E.F.C. Ludowyke) “seemed to be pervasive among the elite of the thirties and forties in Sri Lanka”.

In memory of Wendt
For Harold, his membership of this inner circle determined the course of his life. When Lionel died suddenly in 1944 and Harry followed him exactly one year later, Harold and Len van Geyzel and a group of like-minded individuals dedicated the rest of their lives to perpetuating Lionel’s memory and fulfilling Harry’s dream of building the Lionel Wendt Memorial Art Centre and Theatre. It was Harold who threw himself most enthusiastically into the project, devoting all his energy, his money and resources.

Harold’s outstanding quality was undoubtedly his generosity of spirit – he was lavish, generous to a fault, and totally unassuming. He loathed publicity and was a person who always shunned the limelight. He would surely have opposed the present Lionel Wendt Board of Trustees’ decision in 2000 to name its new gallery after him!

Disarming nature
He was also a person who never did things by halves – if he befriended an individual, sponsored a cause or took up a hobby, he would plunge into the activity wholeheartedly, expending time, money and energy unstintingly and without reservation.

It was his generosity and unfailing support that enabled George Keyt to pursue a life devoted to art and free of worldly cares. After the break-up of George's marriage, Harold and Peggy uncomplainingly took upon themselves the burden of supporting and caring for his family.

They, together with Lionel Wendt, bought some land in Gunnepana, built him a house and continued to provide financial support whenever it was needed, until he achieved fame and recognition. Harold and Peggy also gifted a house to George Keyt's estranged wife, Ruth. They took charge of her two young children, Diana and Flavia, and brought them up as their own. Similarly, without a murmur, they later took on the care and nurture of George Keyt's grand-daughter, Galina, after the break-up of her mother, Diana's first marriage.

Harold had a child-like and disarming quality about him which caused even the left-wing friends of his youth whom he drew away from under the influence of his second wife, Peggy, and whose feelings must have been hurt, to always retain some affection for him personally and to regard him without bitterness.
The description of Thayer by his friend the poet, E.E.Cummings, could well have applied to Harold, albeit in the somewhat narrower context of Sri Lanka, as “a luminary, a true mover and shaker in the world of art, a person of courage and courtesy, taste and intelligence, prodigious patience and incredible generosity”.

Caring parent
To me personally Harold was the kindest, most considerate and caring parent that has ever been. My infancy and early childhood were spent totally enveloped in his loving care; for me those years have left a glow of warmth and happiness that have lasted throughout my life.

He was gentle, considerate, forbearing and endlessly patient. I did fairly well in school and he became tremendously ambitious on my behalf, envisaging a brilliant academic career for me; even though I disappointed him by failing to fulfil those dreams, he never reproached me for it but continued to be a caring and supportive parent to the end. I feel truly proud and privileged to have been born as the eldest daughter of such a wonderful, understanding and affectionate person.

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