Justin Kotelawala,

CBE 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 ...

, JP (22 August 1904 - 2 April 1973) was a

Sri Lanka 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 ...

n businessman and Senator. He was the former

Chairman The chairperson, also chairman, chairwoman or chair, is the presiding officer of an organized group such as a board, committee, or deliberative assembly. The person holding the office, who is typically elected or appointed by members of the grou ...

of the Ceylinco Group.

Early life and education

He was born to

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 ...

, a police inspector turned businessman and Alice Elisabeth Kotelawala, daughter of

Mudaliyar Thuluva Vellalar (Thondamandala Tuluva Vellalar), also known as Agamudaya Mudaliars and Arcot Mudaliars, is a caste found in northern Tamil Nadu, southern Andhra Pradesh and southern Karnataka, India. They were originally significant lando ...

Don Charles Gemoris Attygalle Mudaliyar Don Charles Gemoris Attygalle (8 September 1836 - 12 December 1901) was a Ceylonese, an entrepreneur and mine owner. He was a successful graphite mine owner and was given the titular title of Mudaliyar for social service by the British Go ...

, wealthy land and mine owner. His elder brother was

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 ...

, the third

Prime Minister of Sri Lanka The Prime Minister of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka is the head and most senior member of parliament in the cabinet of ministers. It is the second-most powerful position in Sri Lanka's executive branch behind the president, wh ...

and his sister was Freda Kotelawala, who married Dr C. V. S. Corea, a

Homeopathy Homeopathy or homoeopathy is a pseudoscientific system of alternative medicine. It was conceived in 1796 by the German physician Samuel Hahnemann. Its practitioners, called homeopaths, believe that a substance that causes symptoms of a dis ...

practitioner, their sons were Dr

Gamani Corea Deshamanya Gamani Corea (4 November 1925 – 3 November 2013) was a Sri Lankan economist, civil servant and diplomat. He was also the Secretary-General of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development and Under-Secretary-General of the ...

and

Vijaya Corea Vijaya Corea is a radio and television broadcaster and one of Sri Lanka's most well known media personalities. Corea is a household name in Sri Lanka, synonymous with broadcasting and show business for over four decades, and has often been refer ...

.A memorable evening with General Sir John Kotelawala PC, KBE, CH, K.StJ Prime Minister of Ceylon 1951-1956
/ref> The Kotelawalas lived in considerable comfort owing to the considerable land and mine holdings of his grandfather Mudaliyar Attygalle, which his father managed following the death of his grandfather. After he was forced out of the management of the Attygalle estates by the family, Kotelawala Snr started his own business ventures including the Ceylon-Japan Trading Company. In 1907, he was arrested and found guilty of conspiring to murder his brother-in-law, Francis Attygalle. While the murder trial was underway, Kotelawala Snr committed suicide by poisoning himself. Kotelawala was three years old when his father died and with this, the family fortunes declined after much funds were spent on the legal defence of his father. Alice Kotelawala who had converted to Christianity slowly built up the family wealth through careful management of their remaining land holdings and the share of the Kahatagaha graphite mine, which she received from her younger sister Ellen and brother-in-law,

Fredrick Richard Senanayake Fredrick Richard Senanayake (known to as F. R. Senanayake) (October 20, 1882 – January 1, 1926) was a Ceylonesen lawyer and independence activist. A leading member of the Sri Lankan independence movement, he was an elected member of the Colom ...

. With F. R. Senanayake taking a keen interest in the education of the Kotelawala children. He was educated at the

Royal College, Colombo Royal College, Colombo is a selective entry boys' school located in Cinnamon Gardens, Colombo, Sri Lanka. Started as a private school by Rev Joseph Marsh in 1835, it was established as the Colombo Academy by Sir Robert Wilmot-Horton in Janua ...

and at the

University of Cambridge , mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts. Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge. , established = , other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...

, where he gained a MA.

Business career

Kotelawala joined the mercantile sector, he served on the boards of Ceylon Insurance, Finance Company, Central Hospital, and Ceylon Tours and became the

of the Ceylinco Group. He was a council member of the Ceylon National Chamber of Commerce. In 1953, he was awarded a

in the

1953 Coronation Honours The 1953 Coronation Honours were appointments by Queen Elizabeth II to various orders and honours on the occasion of her coronation on 2 June 1953. The honours were published in ''The London Gazette'' on 1 June 1953.New Zealand list: The reci ...

for his services to commerce and had been appointed 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 ...

Political career

Kotelawala was elected as a member of the

Colombo Municipal Council The Colombo Municipal Council is the municipal governing body of Colombo, the largest city and financial centre in Sri Lanka. It consists of a directly elected executive Mayor of Colombo, current elect is Rosy Senanayake, and 119 elected 119 muni ...

from 1940 to 1944. In 1947, he was 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 ...

and served until 1954. He was a founding member of 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), ...

and served as its treasurer.

Family

He married heiress Millicent de Silva, the only child of Sir Arthur Marcelles de Silva and Lady Laura Elizabeth de Silva in 1931. They had three children, and only son

Deshamanya Deshamanya ( si, දේශමාන්‍ය, translit=Dēshamāṉya; ta, தேசமான்ய, translit=Tēcamāṉya; Pride of the Nation) is the second-highest national honour of Sri Lanka awarded by the Government of Sri Lanka as a ...

Lalith Kotelawala Deshmanya Deshabandu Jeewaka Lalith Bhupendra Kotelawala is a Sri Lankan businessman, who was the chairman of Ceylinco Consolidated and also was the founding chairman of Seylan Bank. He was listed in 2007 Sri Lanka Richest List. He was remand ...

and two daughters, the writer

Punyakante Wijenaike Punyakante Wijenaike (born Colombo, 1933- 8th March 2023) was a Sri Lankan writer. She has been described as "one of the most underestimated fiction writers currently at work in the English language." Work Wijenaike writes primarily in English, in ...

and Ayoma Wickremasinghe. He died in London in 1973.

References

External links