''The Times of Ceylon'' was an English language daily newspaper in

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 ...

published by Times of Ceylon Limited (TOCL). It was founded in 1846 as the ''Ceylon Times'' and was published from Colombo. It ceased publication in 1985.

History

The ''Ceylon Times'' started on 11 July 1846 using the printing press of the defunct ''

The Ceylon Herald ''The Ceylon Herald'' was an English-language newspaper in Ceylon. After ''The Ceylon Chronicle'' closed down on 3 September 1837 Mackenzie Ross bought the printing press and started ''The Ceylon Herald'' on 7 September 1838. The newspaper opposed ...

''. The newspaper was established to oppose '' The Observer'' and promote the

mercantile Trade involves the transfer of goods and services from one person or entity to another, often in exchange for money. Economists refer to a system or network that allows trade as a market. An early form of trade, barter, saw the direct exchan ...

interests of British colonials. Initially it was published on Tuesdays and Fridays. John_Capper_Ceylon

In 1858 the paper's owners Wilson, Ritchie & Co. sold it to

John Capper Major-General Sir John Edward Capper (7 December 1861 − 24 May 1955) was a senior officer of the British Army during the late nineteenth and early twentieth century who served on the North-West Frontier of British India, in South Africa and ...

, a former sub-editor of '' The Globe''. Capper sold the paper to Alexander Allardyce in 1874 and returned to Britain. The paper's fortunes waned under the new owners and it went into

liquidation Liquidation is the process in accounting by which a company is brought to an end in Canada, United Kingdom, United States, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, Italy, and many other countries. The assets and property of the company are redistrib ...

. Capper returned to Ceylon and with the help of his son Frank A. Capper, a coffee planter from Haputale, took control of the paper, which was now called ''The Times of Ceylon'', in 1882. Capper's eldest son Herbert H. Capper also joined the running of the paper. The newspaper flourished and became the leading Ceylonese newspaper read by plantation owners and European residents. The newspaper became an evening daily in 1883. John Capper left Ceylon 1884, leaving the management of the paper in the hands of his two sons. In 1903, Arumugam Sangarapillai became sole proprietor of the newspaper, and later his son became managing director. TOCL and its rival Associated Newspapers of Ceylon Limited (ANCL) dominated the newspaper industry when Ceylon obtained independence from Britain in 1948. ANCL and TOCL were

nationalised Nationalization (nationalisation in British English) is the process of transforming privately-owned assets into public assets by bringing them under the public ownership of a national government or state. Nationalization usually refers to pri ...

by the Sri Lankan government in July 1973 and August 1977 respectively. The state-run TOCL faced financial and labour problems and on 31 January 1985 it and its various publications closed down. Ranjith Wijewardena, chairman of ANCL before nationalisation, bought the trade names and library of the TOCL publications. Wijewardena's company, Wijeya Newspapers, subsequently started various newspapers using the names of former TOCL publications.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Times of Ceylon, The 1846 establishments in Ceylon 1985 disestablishments in Sri Lanka Defunct daily newspapers published in Sri Lanka Defunct English-language newspapers published in Sri Lanka Defunct evening newspapers published in Sri Lanka Publications established in 1846 Publications disestablished in 1985 Times of Ceylon Limited