William Francis Dawson

Captain William Francis Dawson (???? – 29 March 1829) was a prominent road builder in British Ceylon (present-day Sri Lanka).^[1] An Engineer attached to the Royal Engineers, he was given the task of building the Colombo - Kandy Road linking Colombo and Kandy. The job took its toll on Dawson, who died before it was completed.^[2] It would be the first modern highway on the island. In memory of Captain Dawson, the Dawson Tower was erected at Kadugannawa in the Kadugannawa Pass.^[3]

References

1. Somarathna, Ellepola H.M. (2006). Lankawe Panas Wasak (in Sinhala) (2nd ed.). Visidunu Publishers. ISBN 955-9170-89-9.
2. Manjula, H.A.K.L. (2019). "Dawson Tower, Monument of Captain William Francis Dawson". Lanka Pradeepa.
3. Peer, L.H. (2018). Transgressive Romanticism. Cambridge Scholars Publishing. p. 66.