The beginnings of modern Nuwara Eliya were essentially British. Uninhabited when the British came to Ceylon, it was accidentally discovered by Dr. John Davy, brother of Sir Humphrey Davy, the famous chemist while on a hunting party in 1818, and was made into a health resort and sanatorium for British officials in 1828 by Sir Edward Barnes, the Governor of the Island at the time. Barnes incidentally built a mansion for himself. “Barnes Hall”, which today, after considerable alterations, exists as the Grand Hotel. The town itself did not extend beyond some amenities for the military and a few residential and other buildings until the arrival in 1847 of Sir Samuel Baker. Baker was an explorer and entrepreneur who established a settlement in Nuwara Eliya and went to the extent of importing all the appurtenances of an English country town.
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