Clodagh Jayasuriya
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Clodagh Jayasuriya,
MBE Mbe may refer to: * Mbé, a town in the Republic of the Congo * Mbe Mountains Community Forest, in Nigeria * Mbe language, a language of Nigeria * Mbe' language, language of Cameroon * ''mbe'', ISO 639 code for the extinct Molala language Molal ...
, (née Jayewardene) was a Ceylonese politician and the first female to be elected to the
Senate of Ceylon The Senate was the upper chamber of the parliament of Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) established in 1947 by the Soulbury Commission. The Senate was appointed and indirectly elected rather than directly elected. It was housed in the old Legislative Counci ...
. Clodagh Jayewardene was the only child of John Adrian St. Valentine Jayewardene (1877-1927), a lawyer and
Supreme Court A supreme court is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts in most legal jurisdictions. Other descriptions for such courts include court of last resort, apex court, and high (or final) court of appeal. Broadly speaking, the decisions of ...
judge and Ethel Charlotte Irene née Dissanayake. In 1945 she married
Bernard Jayasuriya Bernard Jayasuriya was a Ceylonese businessman and politician. Bernard Jayasuriya was the son of D. C. D. Jayasuriya, a rubber plantation and graphite mine owner. He received his education at S. Thomas College and St. Joseph's College, Colombo, ...
, a member of the
State Council of Ceylon The State Council of Ceylon was the unicameral legislature for Ceylon (now Sri Lanka), established in 1931 by the Donoughmore Constitution. The State Council gave universal adult franchise to the people of the colony for the first time. It r ...
between February 1943 and 1947, who contested the seat of Avissawella at the 1st parliamentary election held in late 1947. He was unsuccessful in his attempt to get elected losing to Philip Gunawardena by almost 12,000 votes. Following Bernard's death Coldagh entered local politics becoming the chair of the Hanwella Peruwa Village Council. At the 2nd parliamentary election in 1952, she ran in the Avissawella electorate as the
United National Party The United National Party, often abbreviated as UNP ( si, එක්සත් ජාතික පක්ෂය, translit=Eksath Jāthika Pakshaya, ta, ஐக்கிய தேசியக் கட்சி, translit=Aikkiya Tēciyak Kaṭci), ...
candidate, where she narrowly lost to Gunawardena's wife, Kusumasiri by 929 votes. Jayasuriya was elected to the Senate of Ceylon in October 1953 and resigned her seat in 1956. In January 1956 she was awarded a
Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...
. Jayasuriya ran again in the subsequent 1956 parliamentary elections for Avisssawella, where she lost to Philip Gunawardena by 22,252 votes.


References

Year of birth missing United National Party politicians Members of the Senate of Ceylon Ceylonese Members of the Order of the British Empire Year of death missing {{SriLanka-politician-stub