James Herwald Ramsbotham, 2nd Viscount Soulbury (21 March 1915 – 12 December 2004) was the elder son of the Rt Hon

Herwald Ramsbotham, 1st Viscount Soulbury Herwald Ramsbotham, 1st Viscount Soulbury (6 March 1887 – 30 January 1971) was a British Conservative politician. He served as a government minister between 1931 and 1941 and served as Governor-General of Ceylon between the years 1949 and 195 ...

, British Conservative politician.

Army and marriage

At the outbreak of World War II he signed up with the

REME The Corps of Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers (REME ) is a corps of the British Army that maintains the equipment that the Army uses. The corps is described as the "British Army's Professional Engineers". History Prior to REME's for ...

, rapidly mastering the professional techniques, meanwhile continuing his work with groups in England. He married Anthea Margaret Wilton on 5 April 1949 (she died 26 June 1950).

Life in Sri Lanka

From the late 1950s he lived in Ceylon (

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...

), where his father had been Governor-General, as a Hindu yogi under the name Santhaswami. Although he ran the Sivathondan Nilayam at Chenkalady in

Batticaloa Batticaloa ( ta, மட்டக்களப்பு, ''Maṭṭakkaḷappu''; si, මඩකලපුව, ''Maḍakalapuwa'') is a major city in the Eastern Province, Sri Lanka, and its former capital. It is the administrative capital of the B ...

, he also spent much time amongst the

Veddas The Vedda ( si, වැද්දා , ta, வேடர் (''Vēḍar'')), or Wanniyalaeto, are a minority indigenous group of people in Sri Lanka who, among other sub-communities such as Coast Veddas, Anuradhapura Veddas and Bintenne Vedd ...

, aboriginal tribal peoples. He used to go off for long periods to their strongholds deep in the jungles and forests. Inevitably one newspaper or another would "scoop" the story of his death. He would subsequently emerge again from one of these forays, wondering what all the fuss was about. He then moved to Kaithadi Ashram at Jaffna, where he lived until 1986.

Publications

Yoga Swami: The Sage of Lanka

Arms

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Soulbury, Ramsbotham, James Ramsbotham, 2nd Viscount 1915 births 2004 deaths Viscounts in the Peerage of the United Kingdom British Army personnel of World War II People of British Ceylon English Hindus