Victor A. Nicholas

Last updated

Lieutenant-Colonel Victor Albert Nicholas, MBE, (4 May 1897 - 1956) was the sixteenth Postmaster General of Ceylon, serving between 1951 and 1956, and the second Ceylonese to hold the post. [1]

Victor Albert Nicholas was born on 4 May 1897 in Badulla, the third child of Joseph Richard Nicholas and Rose née Anthony. He received his secondary education at Kingswood College, Kandy. He joined the Post and Telecommunications Department of Ceylon in 1915, at the age of 18. Following the outbreak of World War I he enlisted in March 1917, serving with the Royal Engineers on the Western Front and in German East Africa. [2] He was discharged from service in January 1920, whereupon he re-joined the Post Department. On 3 June 1922 he married Constance Mildred Fernando, the daughter of Alfred Michael Fernando (1870-1930) and Mabel Elsie née Bartholomeusz (1875-1901).

In the 1950 King's Birthday Honours he was made a member of the British Empire (Civil Division) for his services as assistant postmaster general of Ceylon. [3] He was appointed as the Postmaster General in 1951 and was responsible for initiating the numbering of the Colombo city suburbs: Colombo 01 (Colombo Fort), Colombo 02 (Slave Island); Colombo 03 (Kollupitiya); Colombo 04 (Bambalapitiya); Colombo 05 (Havelock Town); Colombo 06 (Wellawatta); Colombo 07 (Cinnamon Gardens) etc. [4]

He retired in early 1956 and on 1 April 1956 was appointed to the Commonwealth Telecommunications Board. [5] [6] He died in London in the same year, at the age of 59. [7]

Related Research Articles

William Gopallawa was the last Governor-General of Ceylon from 1962 to 1972 and became the first and only non-executive and ceremonial President of Sri Lanka when Ceylon declared itself a republic in 1972 and changed its name to Sri Lanka. From 1948 to 1972, the Dominion of Ceylon was a Commonwealth realm with Queen Elizabeth II as the head of state and Queen of Ceylon. He served as Governor-General during the tenure of different governments headed by Sirimavo Bandaranaike of the SLFP and Dudley Senanayake of the UNP.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sri Lanka Post</span>

The Department of Posts, functioning under the brand name Sri Lanka Post, is a government operated postal system in Sri Lanka. The postal headquarters is the General Post Office which is located in Colombo. The department itself comes under the purview of the Ministry of Information and Mass Media. It was formerly known as the Ceylon Post and Telecommunications Department and is one of the oldest Government departments in existence today.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Former General Post Office, Colombo</span> Protected monument in Sri Lanka

The former Colombo General Post Office, at 17 Janadhipathi Mawatha, Colombo Fort, was the headquarters of the Sri Lanka Post and the office of the Postmaster General for over one hundred years, from 1895 until 2000.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rugby union in Sri Lanka</span>

Rugby union in Sri Lanka is mainly played at a semi-professional and recreational level. It is a popular team sport with a history dating back to 1879. In 2012, according to International Rugby Board figures, there were over 103,000 registered rugby union players in Sri Lanka, making it the second largest rugby-playing nation in Asia, behind Japan.

Ceylonese recipients of British titles conferred on the advice of Her Majesty's Ceylon Ministers. This list includes all those who were born in, worked in or lived in Ceylon.

Cyril E. S. Perera, QC, was a former member of the House of Representatives (Ceylon), and in later life a leading businessman.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Louis Edmund Blaze</span> Sri Lankan educationist


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

Doctor Charles Edmund Godakumbura was the Commissioner of Archaeology in Ceylon from 1956 to 1967.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kandy General Post Office</span>

The Kandy General Post Office is the main post office in Kandy, Sri Lanka.

Punchi Banda Aloysius Weerakoon was a Ceylonese educator and politician.

Abdon Ignatius Perera JP, CBE was the first Ceylonese Postmaster General and Director of Telecommunications, serving in the position from 1947 to 1951.

Maurice Salvador Sreshta served as the Postmaster General of Ceylon from 1923 to 1928.

Henry Luttrell Moysey ISO was the ninth Postmaster General of Ceylon and Director of Telegraphs, serving from 1900 to 1906.

Thomas Edward Barnes Skinner was the Postmaster General of Ceylon, between 1871 and 1896.

Arthur Sampson Pagden CMG was an English civil servant, who was employed in the Ceylon Civil Service for forty years, between 1881 and 1920. During which time was elected as the Mayor of Colombo (1901-1905) and appointed as the Principal Assistant Colonial Secretary (1905-1906), the Postmaster General of Ceylon (1906-1913) and the Controller of Revenue (1913-1920).

Lieutenant-Colonel John Pringle Appleby was the Postmaster General of Ceylon for seven years, between 1940 and 1947.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Louis Sansoni</span>

Louis Sansoni served as the second Postmaster General of Ceylon, between 1816 and 1825.

George Lee was the first Superintendent of the Government Printing Office in Ceylon, between 1833 and 1835 and the Postmaster General of Ceylon between 1844 and 1859.

Harry Archibald Burden was a Ceylonese public servant and the thirteenth Postmaster General of Ceylon (1929-1933).

John Radley Walters was a British born Ceylonese public servant, who served as the 14th Postmaster General of Ceylon between 1934 and 1940.

References

  1. ↑ "Appreciations". The Sunday Times . 28 February 2021. Retrieved 16 May 2022.
  2. ↑ Blaze, Louis Edmund (1934). K. F. E., the Story of Kingswood, Kandy. Colombo Apothecaries Company. p. 106.
  3. ↑ Ceylon: "No. 38932". The London Gazette (Supplement). 2 June 1950. p. 2817.
  4. ↑ Jeganathan, Thomas Benjamin. "13th year remembrance of Mervyn St Clair Anthony Nicholas". Daily Mirror . Retrieved 2 August 2022.
  5. ↑ "Commonwealth Telecommunications Board - Fifth General Report". London. 1956. p. 4.
  6. ↑ Office of Commonwealth Relations (1957). The Commonwealth Relations Office Year Book. Vol. 6. H. M. Stationery Office. p. 42.
  7. ↑ "The Electrical Journal". 157. 1956: 1883.{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
Government offices
Preceded by Postmaster General of Ceylon
1951–1956		Succeeded by
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.