Colombo Town Guard officer Henry Pedris is executed in British Ceylon for allegedly inciting persecution of Muslims.

Colombo Town Guard was a regiment attached to the Ceylon Defence Force which was the predecessor to the Sri Lanka Army prior to 1949 when the Ceylon Army was formed. It was a volunteer (reserve) regiment was based in Colombo.

Duenuge Edward Henry Pedris was a Ceylonese militia officer and a prominent socialite. Pedris was executed for treason by the 17th Punjab Regiment of the British Indian Army under martial law during the 1915 Sinhalese-Muslim riots. Convicted in a three day Field General Court Martial under the terms of the Army Act, bypassing the local legal system, his execution was viewed as unjust by the local population and a warning to local leaders. It hastened the movement toward independence, providing motivation and a martyr for those who pioneered the movement.

British Ceylon, officially British Settlements and Territories in the Island of Ceylon with its Dependencies from 1802 to 1833, then the Island of Ceylon and its Territories and Dependencies from 1833 to 1931 and finally the Island of Ceylon and its Dependencies from 1931 to 1948, was the British Crown colony of present-day Sri Lanka between 1796 and 4 February 1948. Initially, the area it covered did not include the Kingdom of Kandy, which was a protectorate, but from 1817 to 1948 the British possessions included the whole island of Ceylon, now the nation of Sri Lanka.

The persecution of Muslims has been recorded throughout the history of Islam, beginning with its founding by Muhammad in the 7th century.