Skinner was born in
St. John's,
Newfoundland, on 22 May 1804, to William Thomas Skinner, a lieutenant-colonel in the
Royal Artillery, and his second wife Mary, daughter of Dr Monier of the Royal Artillery. In 1811, he moved to England with his father and studied in
Shaftesbury, Dorsetshire. Dissatisfied with education, he went to Ceylon in 1819 to visit his father who was stationed in
Trincomalee. There he was commissioned in
Ceylon Rifle Regiment as a second lieutenant. His first job was to carry a platoon of soldiers from Trincomalee to
Colombo, shortly after the
1818 rebellion that was not completely suppressed yet. Soon after, Skinner was appointed to the
public works department which is responsible for building the roads in the island. He gained his lifelong lasting fame for constructing the Colombo–
Kandy highway. He was appointed as head of the Colombo defence guard in 1825, lieutenant
quartermaster general and
surveyor general in 1833, and commissioner of highways in 1841. He is also noted for mapping previously uncharted parts of Ceylon. On 19 December 1838, he married Georgina, daughter of Lieutenant-General
George Burrell. == Bibliography ==