Lakshman Wickremasinghe (25 March 1927 – 23 October 1983) was one of the youngest

bishop A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ca ...

s in the

Anglican Communion The Anglican Communion is the third largest Christian communion after the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches. Founded in 1867 in London, the communion has more than 85 million members within the Church of England and other ...

and a

human rights Human rights are Morality, moral principles or Social norm, normsJames Nickel, with assistance from Thomas Pogge, M.B.E. Smith, and Leif Wenar, 13 December 2013, Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyHuman Rights Retrieved 14 August 2014 for ce ...

activist.

Early life and education

Born on 25 March 1927, he was the third son of Cyril Wickremesinghe of the

Ceylon Civil Service The Ceylon Civil Service, popularly known by its acronym CCS, was the premier civil service of the Government of Ceylon under British colonial rule and in the immediate post-independence period. Established in 1833, it functioned as part of the ...

and Esme Goonewardene. One of his brothers was the press baron, Esmond Wickramasinghe. Educated at

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 S Thomas' Gurutalawa, he achieved the best First in political science from the

University of Ceylon The University of Ceylon was the only university in Sri Lanka (earlier Ceylon) from 1942 until 1972. It had several constituent campuses at various locations around Sri Lanka. The University of Ceylon Act No. 1 of 1972, replaced it with the Univer ...

, then went to

Keble College, Oxford Keble College () is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. Its main buildings are on Parks Road, opposite the University Museum and the University Parks. The college is bordered to the north by Keble Road, to th ...

but did not finish his

Master's A master's degree (from Latin ) is an academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice.

. He then went to theological college at Ely. Following his ordination in 1952 he worked at

All Saints Church, Poplar All Saints' Church, Poplar, is a church in Newby Place, Poplar, London Borough of Tower Hamlets, and is the Church of England parish church of Poplar. It was built in 1821–3 to serve the newly created parish. The church was designated a Gra ...

, in the

East End of London The East End of London, often referred to within the London area simply as the East End, is the historic core of wider East London, east of the Roman and medieval walls of the City of London and north of the River Thames. It does not have uni ...

Career

In 1958 he returned to

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 ...

, where he undertook parish work in

Mutwal Modara ( si, මෝදර, translit=Mōdara; ta, முகத்துவாரம், translit=Mukattuvāram), also known as Mutwal ''(anglicised version)'', is a municipal ward of Colombo Colombo ( ; si, කොළඹ, translit=Koḷam̆ ...

for a few years before he became the Chaplain at

Peradeniya University The University of Peradeniya ( si, පේරාදෙණිය විශ්වවිද්‍යාලය, ta, பேராதனைப் பல்கலைக்கழகம்) is a public university in Sri Lanka, funded by the University ...

. Wickremasinghe was consecrated as Bishop of Kurunegala in the

Church of Ceylon The Church of Ceylon ( si, ලංකා සභාව) is the Anglican Church in Sri Lanka. It is an extra-provincial jurisdiction of the Archbishop of Canterbury, who serves as its Metropolitan. It was established in 1845 with the appointme ...

at the end of 1962, when he was just 35, the youngest in the Anglican Communion. He was the successor to

Lakdasa De Mel Most Rev. Lakdasa Jacob De Mel (1902–1976), MA was the first Bishop of Kurunegala, Sri Lanka and the last Metropolitan Archbishop of India, Pakistan, Burma and Ceylo Lakdasa De Mel was born on 24 March 1902 in Moratuwa, Sri Lanka, to a prom ...

who had become Anglican Metropolitan of all four former British colonies, India, Burma, Pakistan (then including East Pakistan, the future Bangladesh), and Ceylon.

Human rights

He was much involved in

activities from 1971 onwards, and became Chairman of the Civil Rights Movement, protesting against the authoritarianism of

J.R. Jayawardene Junius Richard Jayewardene ( si, ජුනියස් රිචඩ් ජයවර්ධන, ta, ஜூனியஸ் ரிச்சட் ஜயவர்தனா; 17 September 1906 – 1 November 1996), commonly abbreviated in Sri Lanka as ...

's government and in particular its attacks on Tamils. He suffered a heart attack in 1981 and was advised to take things slow and had a year in England, where he was in July 1983 when

Black July Black July ( ta, கறுப்பு யூலை, translit=Kaṟuppu Yūlai; si, කළු ජූලිය, Kalu Juliya) was an anti-Tamil pogrom that occurred in Sri Lanka during July 1983. The pogrom was premeditated,T. Sabaratnam, Pirapa ...

took place. He returned to Sri Lanka, and was one of the first leaders to go up to

Jaffna Jaffna (, ) is the capital city of the Northern Province of Sri Lanka. It is the administrative headquarters of the Jaffna District located on a peninsula of the same name. With a population of 88,138 in 2012, Jaffna is Sri Lanka's 12th most ...

, but all this caused another heart attack and he died in October that year. The character of Harry in

Rajiva Wijesinha Rajiva Wijesinha, MA, DPhil ( Sinhala: රජීව විජේසිංහ) (born 16 May 1954) is a Sri Lankan writer in English, distinguished for his political analysis as well as creative and critical work. An academic by profession for m ...

's 1985 novel '' Acts of Faith'' is based on him.

References

External links

An Asian Bishop - Lakshman Wickremesinghe after 25 years

Legacy of Lakshman Wickremesinghe, 30 years after
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wickremasinghe, Lakshman 1927 births 1983 deaths Sinhalese priests Alumni of Royal College, Colombo Sri Lankan Anglican bishops Sri Lankan Anglican priests 20th-century Church of England clergy University and college chaplains in Sri Lanka Anglican chaplains Alumni of Keble College, Oxford Alumni of the University of Ceylon (Colombo) English people of Sri Lankan descent Anglican bishops of Kurunegala

Lakshman Lakshmana ( sa, लक्ष्मण, lit=the fortunate one, translit=Lakṣmaṇa), also spelled as Laxmana, is the younger brother of Rama and his loyalist in the Hindu epic ''Ramayana''. He bears the epithets of Saumitra () and Ramanuja (). ...