ABSTRACT
It is a simplification of a far more complex imaginary, in which transnationalist thinking and behaviour are more accurately considered within a more opaque, multi-layered and yet equally organic, formulation that is founded on frames of mind and purpose, rather than the actuality of existence in one location or another. In searching for patterns of transnational behaviour and experience throughout family history, two distinct yet interdependent patterns emerge: the willingness and desire. The ways in which the character of British colonial administration in Ceylon created the conditions of governmentality that were necessary for those aims to be created and enacted, especially in the context of religion and education. The transnationality of the Great War family generation was reflected more in their determination to use education as a means of improvement rather than any desire to detach themselves from British colonial identity.
