George Wall Memorial Fountain

George Wall Memorial Fountain
Photo credit: Google Street View

The George Wall Memorial Fountain is located in the middle of the Lipton Circus in Cinnamon Gardens in Colombo, Sri Lanka. It has been built in commemoration of George Wall (1821-1894), a British merchant, politician, and botanist.

History
Born in England, George Wall moved to Sri Lanka in 1846. He worked as the acting manager of the Ceylon Plantation Company in Kandy until he established his own business, George Wall and Company, Coffee Merchants and Estate Agents in 1954. With the success he achieved, Wall became the chairman of the Planters' Association of Ceylon and a member of the Legislative Council of Ceylon. However, following the outbreak of the coffee bright disease, Wall's business eventually suspended operations in 1879. His business, George Wall and Company was subsequently taken over by Bosanquet and Company (Wright, 1999).

After falling ill in 1894, Wall returned to England for treatment at St. Thomas' Hospital, where he died in December that year. In commemoration of Wall, his friends in Sri Lanka built a memorial fountain at the present location (Manathunga, 2016).

References
1) Wall, George (1821-1894) on JSTOR. Global Plants. Retrieved 21 August 2021.
2) Manathunga, S. B., 2016. Pauranika Sthana Saha Smaraka: Kolamba Distrikkaya (In Sinhala). Department of Archaeology (Sri Lanka). ISBN: 955-9159-39-9. p.54.
3) Wright, A. ed., 1999. Twentieth Century Impressions of Ceylon: Its History, People, Commerce, Industries, and Resources (first published in 1907). Asian Educational Services. p.435.

Location Map
This page was last updated on 4 September 2022
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