Vernon Abeysekera was a Sri Lankan civil servant. He was the former Postmaster General, Director of Radio Ceylon and Government Agent. [1]
He was educated at Royal College, Colombo and went to the University College Colombo, then an affiliated University of London. Thereafter he joined the Ceylon Civil Service and went on to serve as Government Agent of Polonnaruwa and Galle. Thereafter he was appointed as Director of Radio Ceylon and thereafter went on to serve five years in the Ceylon High Commission in London. On his return he was appointed as Government Agent of Jaffna. In 1969 he was appointed as Postmaster General and served until his retirement in 1970, after which he moved to Australia.
Radio Ceylon is a radio station based in Sri Lanka and the first radio station in Asia. Broadcasting was started on an experimental basis by the colonial Telegraph Department in 1923, just three years after the inauguration of broadcasting in Europe.
Karunaratne Abeysekera was one of Sri Lanka's most famous Sinhala broadcasters. He was also a poet and songwriter and was widely admired for his excellent command of Sinhala.
Neville Jayaweera was a member of the Ceylon Civil Service (1955-1972). He was handpicked by the Prime Minister of Ceylon, Dudley Senanayake, to be both Chairman and Director-General of the Ceylon Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) in 1967. Jayaweera drafted the legislation for setting up the CBC and headed the new Corporation for three years. Under his leadership the Ceylon Broadcasting Corporation followed very strictly the values and ethics of public service broadcasting. The CBC is now known as the Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation.
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.
Mapatunage James "M. J." Perera was a Sri Lankan civil servant with nine members in his family in Udumulla, Padukka. He created broadcasting history by being the first Ceylonese Director General of Radio Ceylon, the oldest radio station in South Asia, taking over the helm from John Lampson of the BBC.
Gunasena de Soyza, CMG, OBE was a Sri Lankan civil servant. He served as the Permanent Secretary to the Ministry of External Affairs and Defence before appointment as Ceylon's High Commissioner to the United Kingdom.
Neville Joseph Louis Jansz, MBE, CCS was a Sri Lankan civil servant and diplomat. He was the Ceylon's Ambassador to Australia and former Director General of the Department of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of External Affairs and Defence.
Major General Deshamanya Alexander Richard Udugama, MBE was a Sri Lankan military leader, 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.
George Turnour Jnr, CCS (1799–1843) was a British colonial administrator, scholar and a historian. A member of the Ceylon Civil Service, he served as a Government Agent, Assistant Colonial Secretary and Treasurer of the Colony. He is known for his translation of the Mahavamsa, the Great Chronicle of Sri Lankan history which was published in 1837. Along with James Prinsep and Captain Edward Smith, he began to decipher the inscriptions on the first discovered Pillar of Ashoka.
Sir Arthur Godwin Ranasinha, CMG, CBE, CCS was a Sri Lankan civil servant and statesmen. A career civil servant in the Ceylon Civil Service, he served as Secretary to the Treasury, Cabinet Secretary and Governor of the Central Bank of Ceylon before apportionment as a Cabinet Minister and Senator. He had also served as Ceylon's Ambassador to Italy.
Arumugam Arulpiragasam, OBE was a leading Ceylonese civil servant and Commissioner of Elections.
Irangani Manel Abeysekera is a Sri Lankan diplomat. Having served as Sri Lankan Ambassador in Germany and Thailand, she is known as Sri Lanka's first woman career diplomat.
Walwin Arnold de Silva, CCS was a Sri Lankan civil servant. He was the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Ceylon, Colombo and a Member of Parliament.
Ceylonese recipients of British titles conferred on the advice of Her Majesty's Ceylon Ministers. This list includes all those who were born in, worked in or lived in Ceylon.
Ridgeway Tillakaratne was civil servant of repute & a broadcaster in Sri Lanka. He was Chairman and Director-general of the then Ceylon Broadcasting Corporation
Abdon Ignatius Perera JP, CBE was the first Ceylonese Postmaster General and Director of Telecommunications, serving in the position from 1947 to 1951.
Maurice Salvador Sreshta served as the Postmaster General of Ceylon from 1923 to 1928.
Thomas Edward Barnes Skinner was the Postmaster General of Ceylon, between 1871 and 1896.
Merenna Francis de Silva Jayaratne, CCS was a Sri Lankan civil servant and diplomat. He was the Ceylonese Ambassador to the United States, Ceylonese Permanent Representative to the United Nations and Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Transport and Works.
John Radley Walters was a British born Ceylonese public servant, who served as the 14th Postmaster General of Ceylon between 1934 and 1940.