In 1952, a legend died at the Beaconsfield hospital, but few would know the name Frank Woodward.
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Variously described in Sri Lanka as a god, a phenomenon and a legend, by the time of his death Woodward was one of the world's leading Buddhist scholars, mostly achieved at his home on the Tamar.
He excelled as a sportsman, classical scholar and organist and earned an MA from Cambridge. He then became a teacher, regarding it as a noble service.
In 1903 he was invited to become principal of a small Buddhist school for boys in Galle, the capital of a province at the southern tip of Sri Lanka.
Under his stewardship Mahinda College grew in reputation, forcing relocation to larger premises he designed himself and worked with the masons to construct.
At the same time, he facilitated local student entries to Cambridge and lobbied the government for a Sri Lankan university to be established.
He memorised the names of hundreds of his students and personally prepared meals and washed the feet of visiting monks.
He retired to 'Chartley' homestead in Rowella in 1919, renting from a friend in Sri Lanka. In 1927 he bought a nearby orchard property 'Bhatkawa'.
He spent 30 years living quietly at Rowella, translating and compiling the earliest and most complete Buddhist scripture still extant - the Pali canon.
Oxford University Press had published 25 or more of his books.
Even today, Sri Lankans still make the occasional pilgrimage to his Rowella homes Chartley and Bhatkawa, and Carr Villa, where he was cremated.
Woodward was a whimsical man. A vegetarian who practised yoga and lived alone, surrounded by Buddhist scriptures on thousands of palm-leaves.
He revered life and was horrified when Mr Brady of Waterton Hall killed one of two snakes, living by their dam.
"Who was it," he asked in sorrow, "Horace or Percival?"
His neighbour John Clark described him as a popular eccentric: "Wearing a turban and smoking a pipe, he would stride along the Rowella road to the local shop, pick up milk and eggs at Leitch's dairy, continue along the road to the local shop owned by the Harris family, pick up groceries and mail then along Waterton Road and over the paddocks via Waterton dam home."
Known locally as the professor, or Woody, he lived frugally.
When his jumpers wore holes at the front, he just wore them back to front. His luxuries were tea delivered from Sri Lanka and pipe tobacco from South Africa.
Mahinda College was taken over by the government in 1962 and today has nearly 4000 students.
When Woodward died, a eulogy was broadcast on the BBC and the whole school assembled to quietly listen.
They revere Woodward's memory and a bust of him stands in the foyer of the school. His portrait is on the wall and every year they still celebrate his birthday.
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