Mutu Banda Weerasekera Mediwake was a Sri Lankan educator and politician. [1] He served as the Minister of Local Government and Housing, Member of Parliament and Member of Senate of Ceylon.
Mediwake gained a Teachers' Training Certificate (First Class) in English and Sinhalese and went on the serve as the Principal of Vidyartha College, Kandy. During World War II, he served as the chief civilian liaison officer of the Headquarters of the Allied Land Forces South East Asia in Kandy. [2]
He was elected to the House of Representatives from the Minipe Electoral District in the 1956 general election. He was appointed Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Local Government and Cultural Affairs by S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike and in November 1959 he was appointed Minister of Local Government and Housing succeeding Vimala Wijewardene when she was dismissed from the cabinet of ministers following her arrest in connection to the Bandaranaike assassination. He served till March 1960 and was appointed to the Senate of Ceylon. [2] He established the Kandyan Scholarship Fund. [3]
Sirima Ratwatte Dias Bandaranaike, commonly known as Sirimavo Bandaranaike (මැතිනිය), was a Sri Lankan politician. She was the world's first female prime minister when she became Prime Minister of Sri Lanka in 1960. She chaired the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) from 1960 to 1994 and served three terms as prime minister, two times as the chief executive, 1960 to 1965 and 1970 to 1977, and once again in a presidential system from 1994 to 2000, governing under the presidency of her daughter Chandrika Kumaratunga.
William Gopallawa was the last Governor-General of Ceylon from 1962 to 1972 and the first and only non-executive President of Sri Lanka from 1972 to 1978, when Ceylon declared itself a republic and changed its name to Sri Lanka.
Solomon West Ridgeway Dias Bandaranaike, known by the Sri Lankan people as "The Silver Bell of Asia", was the fourth Prime Minister of the Dominion of Ceylon, serving from 1956 until his assassination in 1959, causing him to die in office. The founder of the left-wing and Sinhalese nationalist Sri Lanka Freedom Party, his tenure saw the country's first left-wing reforms.
Navaratne Rajakaruna Wasala Mudiyanselage Tikiri Bandara Ilangaratne, popularly as T. B. Ilangaratne, was a Sri Lankan politician, author, dramatist, and theater actor. He was a Member of Parliament for Kandy, Galaha, Hewaheta and Kolonnawa in Colombo district. He served as the Sri Lankan Cabinet Minister of Labour, Housing, Social Services, Finance, Commerce, Food, Trade and Shipping and in other government positions in a career spanning three decades. He established the Employees' Provident Fund, Ceylon Petroleum Corporation and Sri Lanka Insurance Corporation and the People's Bank while in office. As a writer, Ilangaratne is best known for writing Amba Yaluwo (1957), a popular children's novel.
Deshamanya Nissanka Parakrama Wijeyeratne, known as Nissanka Wijeyeratne, was a Sri Lankan politician, civil servant, diplomat and English language poet. He was also the Diyawadana Nilame of the Sri Dalada Maligawa, Kandy from 1975 to 1985. At the time of death he was serving as the chairman of The Law and Society Trust in Sri Lanka.
Sir Edwin Aloysius Perera Wijeyeratne, known as Edwin Wijeyeratne, was a Sri Lankan lawyer, politician, diplomat, and one of the founding members of the Ceylon National Congress and the United National Party. He was a Senator and Minister of Home Affairs and Rural Development in the cabinet of D. S. Senanayake. He thereafter he served as Ceylonese High Commissioner to the United Kingdom and Ceylonese High Commissioner to India
Major Edward "Eddie" Alexander Nugawela, ED was a Ceylonese lawyer, soldier and politician. He was the first Cabinet Minister of Education in independent Sri Lanka (1947–1954), later Cabinet Minister of Health (1954–1956), a Member of Parliament and State Council.
Mohottalage Dingiri Banda was a former Divisional Revenue Officer (DRO) and subsequently a Cabinet Minister and Member of Parliament in Ceylon.
Major General Deshamanya Alexander Richard Udugama, was a Sri Lankan soldier, politician and diplomat. Former Army Commander (1964–1966), he was elected as Member of Parliament for Matale from 1970 to 1977 and served as Sri Lankan Ambassador to Iraq from 1979 to 1982. He was accused of an alleged coup d'état in 1966.
Barnes Ratwatte was a Ceylonese colonial-era legislator and a headman. He was a member of the State Council and the Senate of Ceylon. He was appointed to the posts of Rate Mahatmaya of Balangoda and Dissawa by the British. He was the father of Sirimavo Bandaranaike, the first female Prime Minister in the world.
Uda Walawwe Bernard Herbert Aluwihare also known as Bernard Aluwihare was a Sri Lankan lawyer and politician who served in both the State Council of Ceylon and Parliament of Sri Lanka. He was a Sri Lankan Cabinet Minister and Member of Parliament from Matale. He became the Minister for Minister of Education and Cultural Affairs in Second Dudley Senanayake cabinet in 1960.
Casila Abdul Samed "Sinhala" Marikkar was a Sri Lankan politician. He served as Minister for Post, Broadcasting and Communication from 1956 until 1960 and the Minister of Cultural affairs from 1956 to 1960 in the S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike cabinet and Dahanayake cabinet, and was a member of parliament representing the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) from Kadugannawa.
The Bandaranaike family is a Sinhalese family prominent in Sri Lankan politics. The family includes three prime ministers and one President of Sri Lanka.
Ukku Banda Unamboowe was a Ceylonese politician.
Tikiri Banda Tennekoon was a Sinhalese politician. He served as a member of Parliament, representing the Dambulla electorate for five consecutive terms (1956–1977).
Punchi Banda Aloysius Weerakoon was a Ceylonese educator and politician.
Reginald Wilfred Tennekoon was a Ceylonese politician and businessman.
Jinadasa Don Weerasekera was a Ceylonese politician.