Rev. E. J. Perry (1889 – 1890)
For the first time since its inception, Trinity was fortunate in securing the services, as Principal, of a man who had been for a number of years a master in a public school. But the Rev. E. J. Perry had more than that to recommend him. He was a brilliant University Scholar and a man of the very finest type.
From the moment he arrived in October, 1889, he began his work with tremendous zeal and enthusiasm displaying a wide practical experience in dealing with boys. Mr. Fall, the Vice Principal of his time, said “Boys and masters alike seem to have been imbued with his spirit and under his inspiration new educational and recreational ventures were conceived and planned, and many put into working order. Already before Easter a good deal of this programme had been accomplished”.
In the Easter vacation of 1890, Mr. Perry, together with a master and a pupil, set off for Bintenne to contact, if possible, some of the Veddah community. Three miles out of Aluthnuwara on the second of April, he was accidentally shot dead by his own pupil and thus a life so full of promise came to an end. He was buried in the cemetery at Mahaiyawa.