The Boer War
occurred in South Africa between Great Britain and the Dutch colonist of
the Transvaal and the Orange Free State in the years 1899-1902. As a
result the British transferred many of their prisoners to various
countries and colonies under their domain in South and South East Asia.
One of these countries that they brought their prisoners too was Sri
Lanka (Ceylon). A batch of these prisoners is believed, was brought in
the ship "HMS FOX" On one such occasion, when the HMS FOX had
docked in Ceylon the Captain and the crew having come to Diyatalawa in
1913 had struck up the idea of having their ships insignia displayed on
a hillock in Diyatalawa.
The Captain and the crew of HMS FOX having gone up the hillock, had
been able to get the Boers to assist them to place white stones to
depict a FOX and below it the name of the ship HMS FOX followed by the
year 1913.
This gave rise to the particular hill being called the Fox Hill and
to this day this hillock is called the Fox Hill.