Naming Reid Avenue

Reid

Buddy Reid

Mon, May 6, 3:14 PM (7 days ago)

Hello Philip, Would you know after whom Reid Avenue, by the side of Royal College was named. If you don't know, don't waste your time trying to find out. Thanks

Philip Veersingam

Mon, May 6, 7:26 PM (7 days ago)

Hello Buddy, Here is your answer. I hope this satisfies your curiosity. Philip

Mon, May 6, 7:36 PM (7 days ago)

to Buddy

Re­nam­ing roads: Why for­get Reid, Lionel Wendt and the YMCA?

• Sunday Times (Sri Lanka)
• 5 Aug. 2012
• Ti­lak Fer­nando

Many let­ters in the news­pa­pers have fo­cused on the re-nam­ing of roads. This was prompted when Ananda Coomaraswamy Mawatha was re­named Nelum Pokuna Mawatha.

In my view, there is no jus­ti­fi­ca­tion for re-nam­ing some of the roads in the city.

Did we have to change Reid Av­enue to Philip Gu­nawar­dene Mawatha? True, the late Mr. Gu­nawar­dene was one of the able lieu­tenants of the late S.W.R.D. Ban­daranaike, and sup­ported his so­cial and po­lit­i­cal rev­o­lu­tion of 1956. He also made sac­ri­fices to help us gain In­de­pen­dence. His mem­ory should be hon­oured. No one will dis­pute this.

But why re­move the name of Ma­jor H. L. Reid, who was Prin­ci­pal of Royal Col­lege, when the school moved to its present site in Colombo 7 on Oc­to­ber 10, 1923?

Ma­jor Reid was also in­stru­men­tal in ini­ti­at­ing the first Royal-Trin­ity Rugby Match, and he com­posed the school song for Royal Col­lege. How can such a man be for­got­ten? It is sur­pris­ing that nei­ther the Royal Col­lege Old Boys’ Union nor the school prin­ci­pal (who may be ex­cused as he is not an old boy of Royal) made any plea to let the name Reid Av­enue re­main.

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Buddy Reid 10 May 2019, 17:30 (3 days ago) to me Dear Philip, Thank you. You are the fount of all knowledge!  I was under the impression that HL's surname was spelt REED. That's what I saw in another  article and I was confused. It is logical that Reid avenue should to be named after the Principal of Royal. Another thing I was told is that REEDS are English and REIDS were Scottish.  I thought the Royal Principal was English. My ancestors were from Edinburgh (Reid) and arrived here in  around 1788 and settled initially in Matale. About 60 years ago a lady called  Matale Reid came to Sri Lanka to trace back her  ancestor of Sri Lanka. Apparantly a Reid must have gone back to Scotland but named his daughter  after his old home town. I did not know until the day after she left SL. My family tree indicates that H.L.Reid is no relation. With intermarriage, my genes are from  Scotland, Ireland, Portugal, Holland, Hungary,  Japan/China (uncertain) and Sri Lanka. I agree with the author that these street names should never be changed  because they  tell us history and heritage. New names should be for new roads. Thanks again Philip. Yours, Buddy