Alfred Leo Saverimuthu Thambiayah ( ta, அல்பிரட் லியோ சவரிமுத்து தம்பிஐயா; (November 10, 1903 - October 1, 2009) was a

Ceylon Tamil Sri Lankan Tamils ( or ), also known as Ceylon Tamils or Eelam Tamils, are Tamils native to the South Asian island state of Sri Lanka. Today, they constitute a majority in the Northern Province, live in significant numbers in the Eastern Pr ...

businessman, centenarian, politician and Member of Parliament.

Early life and family

Thambiayah was born on 8 November 1903 in

Karampon Karampon (also known as ''Karampan'') ( ta, கரம்பொன்) is a village located in Kayts, Velanai Island, off the Jaffna Peninsula, Northern Sri Lanka. The majority of the people are Hindus along with a minority of Christians C ...

on the island of

Velanaitivu Velanai Island ( ta, வேலணை), also known as ''Leiden'' in Dutch, is a small island off the coast of Jaffna Peninsula in the North of Sri Lanka. There are number of villages within the island such as Allaipiddy, Mankumpan, Velanai, Sa ...

in northern

Ceylon Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...

. His father was a ship owner in

Kayts Kayts ( ta, ஊர்காவற்துறை, translit=Ūrkāvaṟtuṟai'','' ), is one of the important villages in Velanai Island which is a small island off the coast of the Jaffna Peninsula in northern Sri Lanka. There are number of oth ...

. He was educated at St. Anthony's College, Kayts, St. Patrick's College, Jaffna,

St. Benedict's College, Colombo St. Benedict's College ( Sinhala: සාන්ත බෙනඩික් විදුහල, Tamil: புனித ஆசீர்வாதப்பர் கல்லூரி) is a Catholic school located in the Kotahena area of Colombo, Sri ...

and

St. Joseph's College, Colombo , motto_translation = In Knowledge and Virtue , location = T. B. Jayah Mawatha, Colombo 10 , country = Sri Lanka , coordinates = , caption = School Facade , pushpin_m ...

. Thambiayah married Rajeswari, daughter of Adigar Sellamuttu. They had two sons (Shivantha and Ravi) and two daughters (Subodhini and Indumathi Renuka).

Career

Thambiayah began his business career aged 21 by leasing the Olympia Cinema. He then went into business with

Chittampalam Abraham Gardiner Sir Chittampalam Abraham Gardiner (6 January 1899 – December 1960) was a Ceylon Tamil businessman and member of the Senate of Ceylon. Early life and family Gardiner was born on 6 January 1899. He was the son of Samuel Vairamuttu Gardiner a ...

, establishing the successful Ceylon Theatres Ltd. Later on Ceylon Theatres bought Cargills & Millers and Thambiayah served as chairman/managing director of the latter. Thambiayah acquired Cargo Boat Dispatch Company, a shipping company, in 1936 from Harry and John Cosmas. The company grew to control the majority of the business out of the

Port of Colombo The Port of Colombo (known as Port of Kolomtota during the early 14th Century Kotte Kingdom) is the largest and busiest port in Sri Lanka and the Indian Ocean. Located in Colombo, on the southwestern shores on the Kelani River, it serves as an ...

. Thambiayah stood as an

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independ ...

candidate in

at the 1947 parliamentary election. He won the election and entered

Parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

. His opponent A. V. Kulasingham filed a legal petition stating that Thambiayah was disqualified from contesting the election as his Cargo Boat Dispatch Company had contracts with the state-owned Colombo Ports Authority. Judge Basanayake found in favour of Kulasingham and declared the Kayts election void. Electoral law didn't allow appeals against the judgement so the United National Party dominated government hurriedly passed the Election Petition Appeal Act No. 1 of 1948. Thambiayah appealed and judges Wijeyewardene, Canekeratne and Windham over ruled Basanayake's judgement and re-instated Thambiayah as the MP for Kayts. Thambiayah was instrumental in the construction of road links to Velanaitivu from Jaffna peninsula and

Pungudutivu Pungudutivu or Pungai Idu Tivu ( ta, புங்குடுதீவு si, පුවඟු දිවයින) is a small island composed of number villages that is just west of the Jaffna Peninsula in Sri Lankan Tamil dominated Northern Pr ...

. He also helped build schools, hospitals, roads, dispensaries and post offices on the island. Thambiayah was re-elected at the 1952 parliamentary election as an

All Ceylon Tamil Congress All Ceylon Tamil Congress ( ta, அகில இலங்கைத் தமிழ்க் காங்கிரஸ்), is the oldest Tamil political party in Sri Lanka. History The ACTC was founded in 1944 by G.G. Ponnambalam. Ponnambalam ask ...

candidate. The ACTC left the UNP government in 1953 but Thambiayah chose to remain with the UNP. Thambiayah, like many Tamil UNP politicians, left the UNP in 1956 over its support of the

Sinhala Only The Official Language Act (No. 33 of 1956), commonly referred to as the Sinhala Only Act, was an act passed in the Parliament of Ceylon in 1956. The act replaced English with Sinhala as the sole official language of Ceylon, with the exclusion ...

policy. Thambiayah stood for re-election in the constituency at the

1956 Events January * January 1 – The Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, Anglo-Egyptian Condominium ends in Sudan. * January 8 – Operation Auca: Five U.S. evangelical Christian Missionary, missionaries, Nate Saint, Roger Youderian, Ed McCully, Jim ...

and March 1960 parliamentary elections but on each occasion was defeated by the Illankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi (Federal Party) candidate

V. A. Kandiah Velupillai Ambalavanar Kandiah (3 September 1891 – 4 June 1963) was a Ceylon Tamil lawyer, politician and Member of Parliament. Early life and family Kandiah was born on 3 September 1891. He was from the island of Velanaitivu in northern ...

. Thambiayah's company suffered a set-back when the Port of Colombo was nationalised in 1958. Thambiayah started diversifying his business interests, turning his company into a shipping agency house, taking shareholdings in

Hatton National Bank Hatton National Bank PLC (commonly abbreviated as HNB) is a private bank in Sri Lanka with 255 branches and 794 ATMs. The bank traces its origin to 1888 when Hatton Bank commenced its operations in Hatton, Sri Lanka. See also * List of banks in ...

and establishing Hotel Renuka in

Kollupitiya Kollupitiya, also known as Colpetty is a major neighbourhood of Colombo, Sri Lanka. The name Kollupitiya comes from the name of a chief from Kandy who had unsuccessfully attempted to dethrone the last king of Kandy. During the period of British a ...

in 1970 after the government started offering tax incentives to the hospitality sector. Today Thambiayah's company is known as Renuka Holdings PLC and is one of Sri Lanka's largest conglomerates. Thambiayah's daughter Indumathi Renuka Rajiyah is the company's chairperson and his grandson Shamindra Vatsalan Rajiyah is the executive director. He died prior to October 2009, aged no older than 105.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Thambiayah, Alfred 1903 births All Ceylon Tamil Congress politicians Alumni of St. Benedict's College, Colombo Alumni of Saint Joseph's College, Colombo Alumni of St. Patrick's College, Jaffna Members of the 1st Parliament of Ceylon Members of the 2nd Parliament of Ceylon People from Northern Province, Sri Lanka People from British Ceylon Sri Lankan Tamil businesspeople Tamil politicians United National Party politicians Year of death missing