''The Times of Ceylon'' was an

English language English is a West Germanic language of the Indo-European language family, with its earliest forms spoken by the inhabitants of early medieval England. It is named after the Angles, one of the ancient Germanic peoples that migrated to the ...

daily newspaper in Sri Lanka published by Times of Ceylon Limited (TOCL). It was founded in 1846 as the ''Ceylon Times'' and was published from

Colombo Colombo ( ; si, කොළඹ, translit=Koḷam̆ba, ; ta, கொழும்பு, translit=Koḻumpu, ) is the executive and judicial capital and largest city of Sri Lanka by population. According to the Brookings Institution, Colombo m ...

. 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 newspaper was established to oppose ''

The Observer ''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. It is a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' and '' The Guardian Weekly'', whose parent company Guardian Media Group Limited acquired it in 1993. First published in 1791, it is the ...

'' and promote the mercantile 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. Capper returned to Ceylon and with the help of his son Frank A. Capper, a coffee planter from

Haputale Haputale ( si, හපුතලේ; ta, ஹபுதலே) is a town of Badulla District in the Uva Province, Sri Lanka, governed by an Urban Council. The elevation is 1431 m (4695 ft) above the sea level. The area has a rich bio-dive ...

, 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 A plantation is an agricultural estate, generally centered on a plantation house, meant for farming that specializes in cash crops, usually mainly planted with a single crop, with perhaps ancillary areas for vegetables for eating and so on. The ...

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 Associated Newspapers of Ceylon Limited (ANCL), also known as Lake House. It publishes three daily, three weekend, five weekly, two monthly and three annual publications in Sinhala, English and Tamil. Associated Newspapers of Ceylon Limited i ...

(ANCL) dominated the newspaper industry when Ceylon obtained independence from Britain in 1948. ANCL and TOCL were nationalised by the

Sri Lankan government The Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) ( si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා රජය, Śrī Lankā Rajaya; ta, இலங்கை அரசாங்கம்) is a parliamentary system determined by the Sri Lankan Constitution. It administers the isl ...

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 Wijeya Newspapers Limited (WNL) is a Sri Lankan media company which publishes a number of national newspapers and magazines. Formerly known as Wijeya Publications Limited, WNL was founded in 1979 by Ranjith Wijewardene, son of media mogul D. R. Wi ...

, 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