Sydney de Zoysa

Last updated
Sydney de Zoysa
BornJanuary 15, 1909
Ceylon
DiedOctober 20, 1994
Sri Lanka
Police career
Allegiance Ceylon
Department Ceylon Police Force
Service years1937 - 1960
Rank Deputy Inspector-General of Police
Awards Ceylon Police Medal for Meritorious Service
Other work Permanent Secretary to the Ministry of Internal Security

Sydney Godfrey de Zoysa (January 15, 1909 - October 20, 1994) was a Sri Lankan senior police officer. A former Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIG) of Range II and Permanent Secretary to the Ministry of Internal Security, he was one of co-conspirators of the attempted military coup of 1962.

Contents

Early life and education

Born to Sir Francis de Zoysa, KC an advocate and member of the first State Council and Lady Ethel Perera Amarasekera Siriwardena, his brothers were Stanly de Zoysa, former Cabinet Minister of Finance and a Member of Parliament and A. C. "Bunty" de Zoysa, a prominent criminal lawyer. His uncle was Sir Ernest de Silva. He was educated at Royal College, Colombo and at Ceylon University College where he read economics and was an active sportsmen. [1]

Police career

In December 1931, he was appointed by the Governor as a Police Probationer Assistant Superintendent of Police in the Ceylon Police Force. Completing his service examinations, he was appointed Assistant Superintendent of Police, Colombo District (South) in December 1933 and there after of Colombo District (North) in August 1934. In May 1936, he attended the Senior Police Officers course at the Metropolitan Police. On his return, he was appointed Assistant Superintendent of Police, Tangalle in September 1936; Avissawella in July 1938; November 1940, Sabaragamuwa; March 1941, Northern Province. From 1942 to 1944, he was interdicted from service. In August 1944, he was appointed Assistant Superintendent of Police, Colombo Division (North); October 1944, Colombo Division; December 1944, Police Headquarters. In 1945, he was appointed Acting Director of the Police Training School and re-established it at Katukurunda, Kalutara in 1948. He was confirmed in March 1947 as the first Director of Training with the grade of Superintendent of Police serving till 1955. During this time he served as Superintendent of Police, Western Province (South) in addition to his duties. [2] During the Gal Oya riots, de Zoysa who had been promoted to Deputy Inspector-General of Police of Range II personally went to Gal Oya valley and threatened local politicians with arrest if they incited the mob to violence, even if they were Cabinet Ministers, thus bringing the situation under control.

During police serviced he received the Ceylon Police Medal for Meritorious Service, Defence Medal 1939-45, Ceylon Police Independence Medal and the Service Medal of the Order of St John.

Bandaranaike assassination

In 1959, he was serving as Deputy Inspector-General of Police of Range II, when at a May Day rally Minister Philip Gunawardena claimed that DIG Sydney de Zoysa was conspiring against the government along with his brother the Finance Minister Stanley de Zoysa and calls for their removal. Few days later on 18 May Gunawardena and two other minister resigns from the government. De Zoysa sue Gunawardena on charges of criminal deformation, yet the court ruled in Gunawardena's favor. [3]

On September 26, 1959 Bandaranaike was shot by an assassin at his home in Colombo. Shortly after the shooting De Zoysa comes to crime seen and orders that the wounded assassin who is in custody of the police to be taken to the harbor police station. This action together with underlying suspicions following his brother F.R. de Zoysa was arrested and remanded under suspicion of the assassination long with former minister Vimala Wijewardene on November 19, 1959, force the government to send him on compulsory leave. Other government ministers forced Stanley de Zoysa, the Minister of Finance to resign on November 22. F.R. de Zoysa was later released after no evidence was found against him. On November 26 government members of parliament called for the immediate retirement of DIG de Zoysa as a condition to vote against a no confidence vote by opposition in parliament. The government conceded and DIG de Zoysa was informed by the Public Service Commission on November 27, 1959 that he was to retire from the police service in March 1960. [4]

Ministry of internal security

In January 1960, he was appointed Permanent Secretary to the Ministry of Internal Security when Senator Layard Jayasundera was appointed Minister of Internal Security by Prime Minister Wijeyananda Dahanayake. He functioned in that capacity until March 1960 when Dahanayake was defeated in the general election and the ministry dissolved. [1]

Attempted military coup

As member of the Christian elite, who were being deprived of the influence they once had due to the Sinhalaisation process started by Prime Minister S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike and carried on by his widow Sirima Bandaranaike, several disgruntled Christian officers of the army, navy and police began to plot a coup similar to that of General Ayub Khan. He was a co-conspirator of it and has been claimed to be the architect of it. Arrested in January 1962, he was charged as one of the twenty four conspirators of the coup in June 1962 and was one of eleven convicted on June 3, 1963. On appeal to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, the conviction was overturned on December 21, 1965 and he was acquitted. [1]

Family

He married Dr Corrine Jackson. He had two sons Subodai and Shivaji, and two daughters Sydra and Sydol. [1]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike</span> 4th Prime Minister of the Dominion of Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) from 1956 to 1959

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wijeyananda Dahanayake</span> Sri Lankan politician

Wijeyananda Dahanayake was a Sri Lankan politician. He was the Prime Minister of Ceylon from September 1959 to March 1960.

Sir Oliver Ernest Goonetilleke was a Sri Lankan statesman. Having served as an important figure in the gradual independence of Ceylon from Britain, he became the third Governor-General of Ceylon (1954–1962). He was the first Ceylonese individual to hold the vice-regal post.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Philip Gunawardena</span> Sri Lankan politician

Don Philip Rupasinghe Gunawardena was a Sri Lankan Marxist politician and leftist. A founder of the Lanka Sama Samaja Party, the first political party in Ceylon which was known for having introduced Trotskyism, he later formed the Mahajana Eksath Peramuna and was called 'the Father of Socialism' and as 'the Lion of Boralugoda'. A member of the State Council of Ceylon and the Parliament of Ceylon, he served as the Minister of Agriculture and food under S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike from 1956 to 1959 and as Minister of Industries and Fisheries in the national government under Dudley Senanayake from 1965 to 1970.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Patrick de Silva Kularatne</span>

Patrick de Silva Kularatne was a Sri Lankan educationist and politician. He was a Member of the State Council of Ceylon (1942-1947) and Member of Parliament (1960-1965). He served as Principal of Ananda College and Dharmaraja College and established Nalanda College Colombo, Ananda Balika Vidyalaya, Moratuwa Vidyalaya and Dharmapala Vidyalaya. As a member of the executive committee on Education, he played an instrumental role in the realisation of free education from kindergarten to university.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fredrick de Saram</span> Sri Lankan lawyer, cricket captain, and military officer

Colonel Frederick Cecil "Derek" de Saram, OBE, ED was a Sri Lankan lawyer, a Ceylon cricket captain, and an officer of the Ceylon Army. He led the attempted military coup of 1962.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">T. B. Ilangaratne</span> Sri Lankan politician, writer, and dramatist (1913–1992)

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.

The 1962 Ceylonese coup d'état attempt was a failed military coup d'état planned in Ceylon. A group of Christian officers in the military and police planned to topple the government of Prime Minister Sirimavo Bandaranaike during the night of 27 January 1962. Organised by Colonel F. C. de Saram, Colonel Maurice De Mel,, Rear Admiral Royce de Mel, C.C. Dissanayake, Sydney de Zoysa and Douglas Liyanage, it was to take place in the night of 27 January 1962, but was called off as the government gained information in the afternoon and initiated arrests of the suspected coup leaders before the coup was carried out.

Cyril Cyrus "Jungle" Dissanayake, MVO was a Sri Lankan senior police officer. He was serving as Deputy Inspector-General of Police of Range I, when he was implicated as one of the leaders of the attempted military coup of 1962.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Richard Gotabhaya Senanayake</span> Sri Lankan politician

Richard Gotabhaya Senanayake was a Sri Lankan politician. He was Minister of Trade and Commerce during the period 1952-56 and 1956-60. He was elected a Member of Parliament from Dambadeniya in 1952 and in 1956 from Kelaniya, thus holding concurrent seats from two constituencies, while he retained his seat from Dambadeniya in 1960 and 1965. He was the eldest son of the freedom fighter Fredrick Richard Senanayake and was educated at the Royal College, Colombo and at Downing College, Cambridge and had become a barrister.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stanley de Zoysa</span> Sri Lankan politician (1907–1970)

Stanley de Zoysa was a Sri Lankan businessmen and politician. He was the former Cabinet Minister of Finance (1956–1959) in S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike's government, subsequently Minister of Interior (1959–1960) and Ceylon's Ambassador to Indonesia.

S. A. "Jingle" Dissanayake(16 September 1913 - 11 March 1982) was a former Sri Lankan Inspector-General of Police. He played a major role as Deputy Inspector-General of Police of the Criminal Investigation Department in stopping the attempted military coup of 1962. Later in 1971 during the 1971 JVP Insurrection he was appointed as Additional Secretary of the Ministry of External Affairs and Defence and coordinated military and police operations that crushed the insurrection in two months.

Charles Percival de Silva was a leading Sri Lankan politician and civil servant. He had served as the Minister of Finance, Minister of Lands, Land Development and Agriculture; and Minister of Power and Irrigation, and Chairperson of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party, and later joined as a senior member of the United National Party.

Manameldura Piyadasa de Zoysa was a Ceylonese politician.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">C. A. S. Marikkar</span> Sri Lankan politician

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.

Santiago Wilson Osmund De Silva was Ceylonese police officer. He was the thirteenth and the first Ceylonese career police officer to become Inspector-General of Police (1955–1959).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stanley Senanayake</span>

Don Stanley Ernest Perera Rajapakse Senanayake was the 18th Inspector General of the Sri Lanka Police (IGP) (1970–1978). Senanayake is the second longest serving IGP, after Sir Herbert Dowbiggin, remaining in the position for seven years.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Assassination of S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike</span> 1959 murder in Colombo, Sri Lanka

S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike, the fourth Prime Minister of Ceylon, was assassinated by the Buddhist priest Talduwe Somarama Thero on September 25, 1959, while meeting the public at his private residence, Tintagel, at Rosmead Place in Colombo. Shot in the chest, abdomen and hand, Bandaranaike died the following day at Merchant's Ward of the Colombo General Hospital. He was the first Sri Lankan national leader to be assassinated, which led to his widow Sirimavo Bandaranaike becoming the world's first female prime minister.

Morawakkorakoralege Walter Fonseka Abeykoon was a Ceylonese civil servant and served as the Inspector General of Police between 1959 and 1963.

John Wilhelmus Lucius Attygalle (1906–1981) was the 16th Inspector General of the Sri Lanka Police (IGP) (1966–1967).

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Sydney de Zoysa remembered
  2. ↑ The Ceylon Civil List 1954. Ceylon: The Government Press.
  3. ↑ "Philip Gunawardena's 118th birth anniversary falls today : Father of Left Movement and Statesman". Daily News. Retrieved 8 June 2021.
  4. ↑ 1960-61 Ferguson's Ceylon Directory. Ferguson's Directory. 1961. Retrieved 8 June 2021.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.