Colonial injustice corrected, Henry Pedris pardoned after 109 years

• Pedris was court-martialed and sentenced to death without the right to appeal

By J. Induruwage   

The late Capt. Diyunuge Edward Henry Pedris who had been  sentenced to death and executed on July 07, 1915, by the British rulers  in Sri Lanka received a Presidential pardon 109 years after his  death. 

 
President Ranil Wickremesinghe has declared it by Gazette Extra Ordinary on Thursday (12)

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Captain Henry Pedris had been sentenced to death by British  Governor Roberts Chalmers on the charge of involving in Sinhala – Muslim  communal riots in 1915.   

Born on August 16, 1888, in Galle, Henry Pedris had been a  leading social worker and a senior military official. He had been court-martialed and executed.   

However, his execution has been considered a miscarriage of justice.   

Henry Pedris was the youngest and the only son in the  family of Disan Pedrick and Melino Pedris Educated at the Colombo  Academy, (Present Royal College) and St. Thomas’s College, he had earned a reputation as a cricketer.   
During the World War I, he joined the Colombo City Security  Force, and he was the first Sinhala young man to join that volunteer  force. A skilful horse rider and a marksman, Henry Pedris was elevated  to the position of a commissioned officer and was destined to be  promoted to the position of Captain in a short time.   

When martial law was enforced on June 02, 1915 due to the  communal clashes, the police and the army was ordered to shoot dead  anyone suspected of involvement in the riots. Thousands of Sinhala  people were subject to summary executions.   

Capt. Henry Pedris performing his duty in his official  capacity attempted to control the tense situation through talks with the  mob.   

It is said the Gate Mudaliyar Solomon Dias Bandaranaike,  who had been a close confidante of Governor Robert Chalmers had advised  the governor with allegations against Henry Pedris that resulted in his  interdiction.   
The main allegation against him was that he shot a group of  Muslims and lured the Sinhalese rioters to stage a march from  Peliyagoda to Colombo. This resulted in the arrest of Henry Pedris. 

 
Later he was court-martialed before a panel of three  military officials who found him guilty and sentenced him to death  without leave to appeal.   

Governor Chalmers ordered the execution to be carried out on July 07, 1915.   
His father, who had amassed wealth and means, offered to donate to the government, gold equal to the weight, but to no avail.   

Henry Pedris made five requests to the government before  executing the death sentence. He requested for permission to see his  parents, make a Pooja to the Buddhist monks, to accord a tea party to  his friends in the army, to deploy a Punjab soldier to fire the shot,  and to bury his body in the family burial ground.  All his requests  excluding the fifth had been granted.   

When his eyes were covered with a black cloth before  execution, he protested against it. Fulfilling his request, a Punjab  soldier fired the shot that put Henry Pedris to death, depriving the  country of a patriotic young man at 27 years of age.   

Even of late, this miscarriage of justice has been rectified  and acquitted Henry Pedris of the false allegations of the British  rulers.