James Muttiah Handy (1869 — 8 November 1920) was a prominent Sri Lankan medical doctor who had an extensive practice in Singapore.
He travelled to England in 1917 to attend the University of Durham, where he obtained his M.D..[1][2] After graduating from college, he served in the Ceylon Medical Department for a few years.
He became the proprietor of the St. Mary's Dispensary and the president of both the Ceylon Tamil's Association and the Indian Christian Association, and was a member of the Straits Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, the Raffles Centenary College Committee and the St. Andrew's Medical Mission.
[1][2][3][4] He was the president of the Singapore Family Benefit Society, a Visitor to the Lunatic Asylum, a member of the Rice Advisory Board, a lay reader of the St. Peter's Church and the director of the firm Proctor Brothers Ltd..[5] He built the Handy's Library at St. John's College in memory of his late brother, Rev.
[6] His second wife, Bridget Catherine Beatrice Chelvanathan Handy, was the founder of the Singapore Women's Club.