School of Our Fathers

"School of Our Fathers" is the school song of Royal College Colombo.[1][2][3] It is sung at the start of every school day except for Monday,when the National Anthem is sung, and on other important occasions. The words of the song were written by Major H.L.Reed, a Principal of the school in the third term of 1927.[4] The music was later revised by S. Schmid.

It was first performed on 13 July 1928. That year Royal College Colombo won the Meaden Shield in the schools singing competition for the eighth year in succession. "School of Our Fathers" was presented at the competition.

Lyrics of the song

Thy spirit first to life awoke, In eighteen hundred and thirty five, Beneath the sway of Marsh and Boake, Thenceforth did lanka’s learning thrive

Refrain: School where our fathers, learnt the way before us, Learnt of books and learnt of men, through thee we’ll do the same. True to our watchword “Disce Aut Discede”, We will learn of books and men, and learn to play the game

Within thy shade our fathers trod, The path that leads to man’s estate; They have repaid the debt they owed; They kept thy fame inviolate.

Refrain

And we their loyal sons now bear, The torch, with hearts as sound as oak; Our lusty throats now raise a cheer, For Hartley, Harward, Marsh and Boake.

Refrain

The Sinhala version

A Sinhala version of the college song was composed in 1968 on the request of the Principal Messrs W.A. Wickramasena and S.J.F. Dissanayake, who were masters of the school and had been part of the combination which composed the first song.

See also
  • Royal College Colombo

References
  1. Royal college salutes the Royalist war heroes, The Island
  2. The Royal class of 1949 Archived 2008-07-05 at the Wayback Machine, The Island
  3. Royalists to remember their war dead, Sundaytimes
  4. "A brief history of Royal College". Archived from the original on 2008-05-16. Retrieved 2009-07-12.
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