{{Short description|Ceylonese statesman, physician and banker (1864-1936)}} {{Infobox person | honorific_prefix = | name = Sir Marcus Fernando | image = H_M_Fernando.jpg | education = University College London<br>Colombo Academy<br>St Benedict's Academy | birth_name = Hilarion Marcus Fernando | birth_date = {{birth date|1864|10|21|df=y}} | birth_place = Colombo, Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) | death_date = {{death date and age|1936|12|18|1864|10|21|df=y}} | death_place = Colombo, Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) | occupation = Physician, public servant, planter, politician | spouse = Mary Frances née de Soysa }} '''Sir Hilarion Marcus Fernando''', FRCP (21 October 1864 – 18 December 1936) was a pre-independence Ceylonese statesman, physician and banker. He was a member of both the executive council and legislative council, as well as the chairman of the State Mortgage Bank of Ceylon.
==Education== Fernando was educated at St Benedicts Academy (later known as St Benedict's College Colombo) and the Colombo Academy (which was subsequently renamed Royal College Colombo). At the Colombo Academy, he won the Turnour Prize, Junior Cambridge Scholarship and the Mathematical Prize. He received a Ceylon Government Scholarship and Scholarship from the Gilchrist Educational Trust, enabling him to study medicine at University College London.<ref name=century>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eUF_rS8FEoIC&q=Hilarian+Marcus&pg=PA549|title=Twentieth century impressions of Ceylon: its history, people, commerce ... By Arnold Wright page 549-50|access-date=2011-09-03|isbn=9788120613355|last1=Wright|first1=Arnold|year=1999}}</ref><ref name=Oration>{{cite web|url=http://slma.lk/sir-marcus-fernando-memorial-oration/|title=Sir Marcus Fernando Oration|publisher= www.slma.lk |access-date=2011-09-03}}</ref> He graduated with a BSc, winning the Atchinson Scholarship and University of London Gold Medals in Physiology, Medicine, Forensic Medicine and Obstetrics. He graduated with an MB in 1888, an MD in 1889, and in 1890, was elected a Fellow of University College London.<ref>{{cite journal|url=http://www.bmj.com/content/1/3914/91.2.full.pdf|title=Sir H Marcus Fernand0 MD|journal=Br Med J |date=11 January 1936 |volume=1 |issue=3914 |pages=91 |publisher= www.bmj.com|doi=10.1136/bmj.1.3914.91-a |s2cid=220015914 |access-date=2011-09-03}}</ref><ref name=Saga>[https://books.google.com/books?id=d1Ow2SDVN0sC&dq=sir+marcus+fernando+independent&pg=PA51 The Sara Saga], Manicasothy Saravanamuttu (Areca) {{ISBN|9675719036}} pp. 51-3</ref>
==Medical career== On his return to Ceylon, he served as Registrar of the Ceylon Medical College and the Superintendent of the De Soysa Maternity Home and was appointed the first Consultant Physician to be appointed to the General Hospital Colombo.<ref name=century/><ref name=Oration/> He contributed to scientific discussions on a wide range of diseases, and is associated with a discussion on ''Diabetes in the Tropics'', where he is credited with the observation that it was more common among the affluent Ceylonese.<ref>Bose RKC. Diabetes in the tropics. BMJ 1907; ii: 1053-56.</ref> He was a member of the Ceylon Branch of the British Medical Association, was Secretary from 1891 to 1897, and President in the years 1905 and 1914. He was the founding Director of the Bacteriological Institute in Colombo, and Chemical Examiner to the Government of Ceylon.<ref name="MRI">[http://www.mri.gov.lk/en/home/history/ Medical Research institute, Sri Lanka: History (Official Website)] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141219211205/http://www.mri.gov.lk/en/home/history/ |date=2014-12-19 }} Retrieved 2015-02-25.</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.slma.lk/static/viewnl.php?Details=13|title=Sir Marcus Fernando – Knight in medical armour SLMA News September 2010 Volume 3 no 9|publisher=www.slma.lk|access-date=2011-09-30}}{{Dead link|date=March 2020 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>
==Political career== thumb|right|Sir Marcus Fernando At the age of 43, he resigned from the medical service to take up a career in business and politics. He contested unsuccessfully for the newly created seat (proposed by Sir James Peiris) in the 1911 legislative council election losing to the conservative, but well known retired government servant, Sir Ponnambalam Ramanathan,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ft.lk/columns/What-went-wrong-with-Sri-Lanka-Part-II/4-673732|title=What went wrong with Sri Lanka? (Part II) by Victor Ivan|publisher= Daily FT|access-date=2019-08-03}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cR89AAAAMAAJ&q=ramanathan+vellalar|title=Domestic Conflicts in South Asia: Economic and Ethnic Dimensions|last1=Phadnis|first1=Urmila|author-link1=Urmila Phadnis|last2=Muni|first2=Sukh Deo|last3=Bahadur|first3=Kalim|date=1986|publisher=South Asian Publishers|isbn=9788170030713|pages=128|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://rajivawijesinha.wordpress.com/2011/07/11/colombo-changes-9/|title=Colombo Changes|publisher=rajivawijesinha.wordpress.com|access-date=2011-09-03|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110916011309/http://rajivawijesinha.wordpress.com/2011/07/11/colombo-changes-9/|archive-date=2011-09-16|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.atimes.com/ind-pak/CH18Df04.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20010827083810/http://www.atimes.com/ind-pak/CH18Df04.html|url-status=unfit|archive-date=2001-08-27|title=SRI LANKA: THE UNTOLD STORY Beginning of British Rule By K T Rajasingham |publisher= www.atimes.com|access-date=2011-09-03}}</ref> but subsequently served on both the Executive Council and Legislative Councils. Fernando's manifesto had proposed a progressive programme towards industrialisation.<ref>{{cite journal|title=Technical Education in the Imagination of the Ceylonese Developmental State |last=Bandura Dileepa Witharana |publisher=SAGE Publishing |pages=178–9 |doi=10.1177/0972266120180208 |s2cid=200077621 }}</ref> He supported the Donoughmore Constitution enabling general elections with adult universal suffrage and was largely responsible for devising wider representation to the Northern Tamils and Eastern Muslims.<ref name=Saga/> Fernando was a former proprietor of ''The Ceylon Independent,'' when the editorial staff included Noel Gratiaen and Manicasothy Saravanamuttu.<ref name=Saga/>
In 1931 the State Mortgage Bank of Ceylon (the first state-owned bank) was established with Sir Marcus Fernando as its chairman.<ref name="Tea">[http://www.historyofceylontea.com/Articles/view/80 Ceylonese Participation in Tea Cultivation: Major constraint for Ceylonese entrepreneurs], by Maxwell Fernando: History of Ceylon Tea Website, Retrieved 5-12-2014</ref> He also assisted to create the Bank of Ceylon.<ref name=Oration/> He, along with Sir James Peiris and Sir Ponnambalam Arunachalam, were instrumental in the creation of the University of Ceylon. He was made a Knight Batchelor in the 1923 New Year Honours.<ref name=Oration/> In 1929, he co-founded the Rotary Club of Colombo.<ref>[http://www.thesundayleader.lk/archive/20031130/review-5.htm Seventy five years of Rotary] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304071508/http://www.thesundayleader.lk/archive/20031130/review-5.htm |date=2016-03-04 }}, ''The Sunday Leader'', Retrieved 8 January 2016</ref>
==Family== His father was Andrew Fernando Jr. and his grandfather Andrew Fernando Sr. was the Mudaliyer of Colombo.<ref name=century/><ref name=Oration/> In 1891 he married Mary Frances, second daughter of Charles Henry de Soysa and Lady de Soysa, they had two daughters and a son.<ref name=century/> Advocate Charles Matthew Fernando, the first Ceylonese Crown Counsel was his brother.<ref>[http://www.sundaytimes.lk/970817/plus5.html The History of the Ceylon Police] - The Sunday Times. Retrieved 2015-02-25.</ref><ref>[http://www.sundaytimes.lk/140209/sunday-times-2/how-kotelawala-snr-got-young-brother-in-law-killed-84856.html Revisiting Ceylon's first sensational murder trial more than 100 years ago] By Jayantha Gunasekera (Sunday Times). Retrieved 2015-02-25.</ref> His nephews were Chevalier C.H.Z. Fernando, a pioneer labour unionist Councillor and campaigner for universal suffrage, founding the Young Lanka League and the Ceylon Labour Party, the only Ceylonese to have met Lenin,<ref>[http://www.dailymirror.lk/101537/who-s-who-of-sri-lanka-the-lives-and-times-of-forty-eight-personalities Who’s Who of Sri Lanka: The lives and times of forty eight personalities], Gamini Akmeemana (Daily Mirror) Retrieved 8 January 2016</ref><ref>[http://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/newspapers/Digitised/Article/straitstimes19291113-1.2.40.aspx CEYLON'S BATTLE], The Straits Times (13 November 1929) Retrieved 2 November 2015</ref><ref name=History>[http://www.island.lk/index.php?page_cat=article-details&page=article-details&code_title=24263 Traversed new paths making History], Ananda E. Goonesinha (The Island) Retrieved 2 November 2015</ref><ref>[http://www.worldgenweb.org/lkawgw/ephraums4.html “Sons of the Soil and Strangers within the gates”], Joe Simpson (rootsweb) Retrieved 4 November 2015</ref> and C. M. Fernando, a founder member of the SLFP.<ref>[http://archives.sundayobserver.lk/2009/01/11/foc06.asp C.M. Fernando - Devout Catholic and founder member of SLFP], W. T. A. Leslie Fernando (Sunday Observer) Retrieved 8 January 2016</ref><ref>[http://archives.dailynews.lk/2009/11/16/fea03.asp Charting a new course for Sri Lanka’s success], S. S. Sahabandu (Daily News) Retrieved 8 January 2016</ref>
==Legacy== The Association Sri Lanka Medical Association commemorates his life through an endowed oration.<ref>Rosenheim ML. The first Sir Marcus Fernando Memorial oration. Ceylon Med J. 1970 Mar;15(1):3-9.</ref><ref name=Oration/> Orators include Surendra Ramachandran, Nimal Senanayake and Hithanadura Janaka De Silva. A hall of residence in the University of Peradeniya and a road in Colombo 7 are named after him in his honour.
== References == {{Reflist}}
{{Members of the 1921 Legislative Council of Ceylon}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fernando, Marcus}} Category:Members of the Executive Council of Ceylon Category:Members of the Legislative Council of Ceylon Category:Sinhalese people Category:Sri Lankan medical doctors Category:Sri Lankan bankers Category:Fellows of the Royal College of Physicians Category:Alumni of Royal College, Colombo Category:Alumni of University College London Category:People from British Ceylon Category:Ceylonese Knights Bachelor Category:Sri Lankan Christians Category:People associated with Ceylon Medical College Category:People from Colombo Category:1864 births Category:1936 deaths Category:Alumni of the UCL Medical School Category:Alumni of St. Benedict's College, Colombo Category:De Soysa family