Sir ''Sir'' is a formal honorific address in English for men, derived from Sire in the High Middle Ages. Both are derived from the old French "Sieur" (Lord), brought to England by the French-speaking Normans, and which now exist in French only as p ...

Don Henry Kotelawala was a

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 ...

ese politician. He was an elected member of the

Legislative Council of Ceylon The Legislative Council of Ceylon was the legislative body of British Ceylon, Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) established in 1833, along with the Executive Council of Ceylon, on the recommendations of the Colebrooke-Cameron Commission. It was the first f ...

and

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 ...

from the

Uva UVA most often refers to: * Ultraviolet A, a type of ultraviolet radiation * University of Virginia, a public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia, United States Uva or UVA may also refer to: Places * Uva, Missouri, an unincorpora ...

and

Badulla Badulla ( si, බදුල්ල, ta, பதுளை) is the capital and the largest city of Uva Province situated in the lower central hills of Sri Lanka. It is the capital city of Uva Province and the Badulla District. Geography Badulla is ...

for 28 years. Henry was the son of D. C. Kotelawala (1886–?) from Bandaragama and Sudu Menike Taldena Wijekoon. His father established himself as a businessman in the transportation sector in the

Uva Province Uva Province ( si, ඌව පළාත, Uva Paḷāta, ta, ஊவா மாகாணம், Uvā Mākāṇam) is Sri Lanka's second least populated Provinces of Sri Lanka, province, with 1,259,880 people, created in 1896. It consists of two dis ...

and was appointed

Muhandiram Muhandiram ( si, මුහන්දිරම්, ta, முகாந்திரம்) was a post in the native headmen system in the lower-country (coastal districts) of Ceylon (Sri Lanka) during the colonial era. It was awarded as a title o ...

by the British colonial administration. Henry continued his father's business ventures and in 1921 was elected to the Legislative Council representing the

. In 1931 the

Donoughmore Constitution The Donoughmore Constitution ( si, ඩොනමෝර් ආණ්ඩුක්‍රම ව්‍යවස්ථාව, translit=Ḍonamōr Āṇḍukrama Vyavasthāva; ta, டொனமூர் அரசியலமைப்பு, translit=Ṭo ...

replaced the Legislative Council with the

, to which Henry was subsequently elected. He was appointed a

Gate Mudaliyar Mudali (or Mudaliyar) was a colonial title and office in Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) which was part of the native headman system. The Portuguese colonials created the Mudaliyar class in the 17th century by enlisting natives of different castes from ...

and a

Justice of the Peace A justice of the peace (JP) is a judicial officer of a lower or ''puisne'' court, elected or appointed by means of a commission ( letters patent) to keep the peace. In past centuries the term commissioner of the peace was often used with the sa ...

by the

Governor of Ceylon {{Use dmy dates, date=November 2019 The Governor of Ceylon can refer to historical vice-regal representatives of three colonial powers: Portuguese Ceylon * List of Captains of Portuguese Ceylon (1518–1551) * List of Captain-majors of Portuguese ...

for his services including services rendered during the 1915 riots. He received a knighthood in the 1947 Birthday Honours for public services in Ceylon.The saga of the Kotelawala family
/ref> His nephew, Jack Kotelawala, was a

LSSP The Lanka Sama Samaja Party, often abbreviated as LSSP ( literally: Lanka Socialist Party, Sinhala: ලංකා සම සමාජ පක්ෂය, Tamil: லங்கா சமசமாஜக் கட்சி), is a major Trotskyist politic ...

Member of State Council and Parliament and later served as Ambassador to Russia. His cousin Sir

John Kotelawala General Sir John Lionel Kotelawala ( si, ශ්‍රිමත් ජෝන් ලයනල් කොතලාවල; 4 April 1897 – 2 October 1980) was a Sri Lankan statesman, who served as the 3rd Prime Minister of Ceylon (Sri Lanka) fro ...

, served as the third Prime Minister of Ceylon. Henry married Evelyn Bulathsinhala and they had three children, Gladwin, who served as a Member of Parliament from

Buttala Buttala (බුත්තල) is a town in Sri Lanka. It is located in Monaragala District of Uva Province, Sri Lanka. History The history of Buttala goes back to the time of King Dutugamunu in the 2nd century BC, when it was known as Guthala. The ...

, Christobel, who married Oliver Weerasinghe, a leading architect and city planner.

References

Members of the Legislative Council of Ceylon Members of the 1st State Council of Ceylon Members of the 2nd State Council of Ceylon Ceylonese Knights Bachelor {{UvaLK-politician-stub

See also

References