Alec Garden Fraser - Trinity College, Kandy, Sri Lanka (formerly Ceylon)

Trinity College, Kandy, Sri Lanka (formerly Ceylon)

Rev. Fraser was born in Scotland in 1873. He was ordained and eventually became a renowned educationist and missionary. Prior to joining Achimota School, he was the Principal of the Trinity College, Ceylon, for the 20-year period from 1904 to 1924. Rev. Fraser is described as the greatest principal of Trinity College. To quote,

“Rev. A.G. Fraser brought the school from a mere provincial school to a national college. In his day (1904-1924), Trinity College became a multi-faceted educational institution, equal to that of any leading school in the British Commonwealth. In the days of Fraser, 17 different nationalities made use of the all-round education Trinity provided. He was an inspiring personality and yet truly self-sacrificing. All his best years were given to Trinity and all his efforts bore fruit. He had the power of persuasion, which he used to inspire brilliant men from Oxford and Cambridge to serve as Anglican missionaries at Trinity College. The decisions of Mr. Fraser were daring but far sighted. It was he who introduced the mother tongue and broke away from conventional subjects mostly imported from England. He introduced a diversified system of education with a strong bias towards national needs. Agriculture was introduced when it was not the practice in any other local school.”

Rev. Fraser and the then vice principal of Trinity College are credited for the College Chapel’s open design. The design is similar to Achimota’s Aggrey Memorial Chapel that is also an open chapel.

The grand old principal of Trinity College, Rev. A.G. Fraser, took the school from a mere provincial school to a national college. It was in his day that Trinity became the multi-faceted educational institution it is today. Since then, students from over 17 different nations have made use of the all round education provided at Trinity. Fraser was an inspiring personality and yet truly self-sacrificing. All his best years were given to Trinity and all his efforts bore fruit. He had the power of persuasion, which he used to inspire brilliant men from Oxford and Cambridge Universities to serve as Anglican missionaries at Trinity College. Walter Senior was one such person who came to serve as Vice Principal under Fraser. He is best known as the Bard of Lanka. The decisions of Mr. Fraser were daring but far sighted. It was he who introduced the mother tongue and broke away from conventional subjects mostly imported from England. He introduced a diversified system of education with a strong bias towards national needs. Trinity was the first school in Ceylon to introduce Sinhala language in to its curriculum. Agriculture was introduced when it was not the practice in any other local school. The story of Mr. Fraser is voluminous, for he was not merely a Principal but a stalwart among head masters. He had on his staff a brilliant man Gaster, who was responsible for planning the buildings of the time. Two buildings, one known as the "Gaster Block" and the other was The Chapel which continues to be admired today and bears testimony to the wisdom of Fraser and Gaster. The chapel is unique among churches in Sri Lanka. Architecturally one could see the best of Sinhala Architecture, with designs and carvings similar to those one could see in Polonnaruwa, an ancient capital of Sri Lanka. It was the first open chapel in the world, when all the others were of gothic type. During his years as Principal, Mr. Fraser obtained a lease of a land from the Asgiriya Temple and leveled it to create a playing field, which was later to become the Asgiriya Stadium. In his time the school games brought much honour and glory to the school from the innumerable victories in Cricket and Rugby. Rev. Fraser left in 1924 to head a school in Gold Coast, namely Achimota School, the great college of that country.