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Sir Oliver Ernest Goonetilleke ( si, ශ්‍රිමත් ඔලිවර් ගුණතිලක) (20 October 1892 – 17 December 1978) was a Sri Lankan statesman. Having served as an important figure in the gradual independence of Ceylon (now
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 ...
) from Britain, he became the third
Governor-General of Ceylon The Governor-General of Ceylon was the representative of the Ceylonese monarch in the Dominion of Ceylon from the country's independence in 1948 until it became the republic of Sri Lanka in 1972. History There were four governors-general. S ...
(1954–1962). He was the first Ceylonese individual to hold the vice-regal post.


Early life and education

Oliver Ernest Goonetilleke was born 20 October 1892 in
Trincomalee Trincomalee (; ta, திருகோணமலை, translit=Tirukōṇamalai; si, ත්‍රිකුණාමළය, translit= Trikuṇāmaḷaya), also known as Gokanna and Gokarna, is the administrative headquarters of the Trincomalee Dis ...
in the northeast of Ceylon. He was the fifth child of eight and only son of Alfred Goonetilleke and Emily Jayasekera. His father who served in the Ceylon Postal Service was the
postmaster A postmaster is the head of an individual post office, responsible for all postal activities in a specific post office. When a postmaster is responsible for an entire mail distribution organization (usually sponsored by a national government), ...
of Trincomalee at the time of his birth. He was educated at Wesley College in
Colombo Colombo ( ; si, කොළඹ, translit=Koḷam̆ba, ; ta, கொழும்பு, translit=Koḻumpu, ) is the executive and judicial capital and largest city of Sri Lanka by population. According to the Brookings Institution, Colombo me ...
where he won many prizes and scholarships including the Hill Medal and the Gogerly Scholarship. After completing his secondary education, Goonetilleke joined the teaching staff of Wesley College as an assistant teacher. He later earned a
Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four yea ...
degree from the
University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degr ...
as an external student.


Early career

After gaining his degree, he left his teaching post after he was passed over for scholarship to the
College of Agriculture, Pune The College of Agriculture, Pune is a college for studies and research in the field of Agriculture situated in Pune, India. It is constituent college of Mahatma Phule Krishi Vidyapeeth. History The Department of Agriculture was establish ...
. He joined O. B. Wijeyesekera's Bank of Colombo as a sub-accountant, which closed down a few years later following a run on the bank. He was then hired by D. R. Wijewardena as the manager of the Ceylon Daily News, which was one of two papers he owned at the time. He was an honorary
Lieutenant A lieutenant ( , ; abbreviated Lt., Lt, LT, Lieut and similar) is a commissioned officer rank in the armed forces of many nations. The meaning of lieutenant differs in different militaries (see comparative military ranks), but it is often ...
in the Ceylon Cadet Corps.


Public service career

In 1921, Goonetilleke joined the government service having been appointed the Assistant Auditor for Railway in the Audit Office and was thereafter promoted as the Assistant Colonial Auditor.


Auditor General

Goonetilleke was the first Ceylonese to be appointed as Colonial Auditor of the crown colony of Ceylon on 25 June 1931. With the implementation of the
Donoughmore Constitution The Donoughmore Constitution ( si, ඩොනමෝර් ආණ්ඩුක්‍රම ව්‍යවස්ථාව, translit=Ḍonamōr Āṇḍukrama Vyavasthāva; ta, டொனமூர் அரசியலமைப்பு, translit=Ṭo ...
, the title of the head of the Audit Office was changed to Auditor General of Ceylon and Goonetilleke became the first to hold the new appointment on 7 July 1931 and served in this capacity till February 1946. As the Colonial Auditor he was an ex-officio member of the
Executive Council of Ceylon The Executive Council of Ceylon was the Executive Council created in Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) by the British colonial administration on the recommendations of the Colebrooke-Cameron Commission along with the Legislative Council of Ceylon in March 18 ...
in 1931. He took on additional duties as Chairman of the Salaries and Cadres Commission, Civil Defense Commissioner and Food Commissioner. He was appointed a
Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George The Most Distinguished Order of Saint Michael and Saint George is a British order of chivalry founded on 28 April 1818 by George IV, Prince of Wales, while he was acting as prince regent for his father, King George III. It is named in honour ...
(CMG) in the
1941 New Year Honours The 1941 New Year Honours were appointments by King George VI to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of the United Kingdom and British Empire. They were announced on 31 December 1940.United Kingdom and Britis ...
for services as Auditor General.


Civil Defense Commissioner

With the onset of
World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...
in the
Far East The ''Far East'' was a European term to refer to the geographical regions that includes East and Southeast Asia as well as the Russian Far East to a lesser extent. South Asia is sometimes also included for economic and cultural reasons. The t ...
and the likelihood that Ceylon would face a military threat from
Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the n ...
, Goonetilleke was given the additional duty as Civil Defence Commissioner in the cabinet of Ceylon, heading the newly formed Civil Defence Department to undertake
civil defense Civil defense ( en, region=gb, civil defence) or civil protection is an effort to protect the citizens of a state (generally non-combatants) from man-made and natural disasters. It uses the principles of emergency operations: prevention, mit ...
preparations. Some civil defence works such as knocking down buildings to create fire breaks in Colombo proved unpopular, but proved to be justified when the
Imperial Japanese Navy The Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN; Kyūjitai: Shinjitai: ' 'Navy of the Greater Japanese Empire', or ''Nippon Kaigun'', 'Japanese Navy') was the navy of the Empire of Japan from 1868 to 1945, when it was dissolved following Japan's surrender ...
carried out air raids on Colombo and other cities in the spring of 1942. In this capacity, Ivor Jennings, Principle of the Ceylon University College, served as Goonetilleke's deputy, and the two worked closely with D. S. Senanayake, the Minister of Agriculture and Lands. This group was known as "the Breakdown Gang" as they began to talk about much besides civil defence, including the steps that might be taken to move Ceylon to complete independence after the war.Today is his 24th death Anniversary : Sir Oliver Goonetilleke - first Ceylonese Governor-General
/ref> He was knighted in 1944 with a KBE for his services as the Civil Defense Commissioner in the
New Year Honours The New Year Honours is a part of the British honours system, with New Year's Day, 1 January, being marked by naming new members of orders of chivalry and recipients of other official honours. A number of other Commonwealth realms also mark this ...
. However, on 18 December 1946, questions were raised in the
House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. T ...
by
Douglas Dodds-Parker Sir Arthur Douglas Dodds-Parker (5 July 1909 – 13 September 2006) was a British imperial administrator, a wartime soldier involved in irregular warfare, and Conservative politician. Between the wars, he served in the Sudan, in the prestigi ...
on irregularities in the Auditor-General's Report on Civil Defence Expenditure for 1943–44 and 1944–45.


Negotiations for independence

In 1943, a declaration was made for grant of government for all the matters of civil administration in Ceylon. The Senanayake, Goonetilleke and Jennings drafted a constitution, known as the "Ministers' Draft", and submitted it to British Government in February 1944. At this time Goonetilleke who was appointed the Commissioner of Food went to Britain to discuss an urgent food supplies. There he met Lord Soulbury who had been appointed to lead a Commission to Ceylon, pressing his case for self-rule. Goonetilleke was thereafter advised Senanayake on approaching the members of the Soulbury Commission when they arrived in Ceylon in December 1944. Goonetilleke became an "unofficial secretary" to the commission and significantly influenced it.


Financial Secretary

With the war drawing to a close and the closure of the Civil Defence Department, Goonetilleke left his post of Colonial Auditor which he held since 1931 to take up appointment as Financial Secretary of Ceylon in February 1946. The Financial Secretary was head of the Treasury and responsible for all financial policy of the colony. As the Financial Secretary, Goonetilleke sat in the Board of Ministers. He was the first Ceylonese to hold the post of Financial Secretary. He held the position until his resignation in September 1947. He was awarded KCMG in the 1948 New Year Honours for his service as Financial Secretary, Ceylon.


Political career


Minister of Home Affairs and Rural Development

With Ceylon gaining
dominion The term ''Dominion'' is used to refer to one of several self-governing nations of the British Empire. "Dominion status" was first accorded to Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Newfoundland, South Africa, and the Irish Free State at the 1926 ...
status within the
British Commonwealth The Commonwealth of Nations, simply referred to as the Commonwealth, is a political association of 56 member states, the vast majority of which are former territories of the British Empire. The chief institutions of the organisation are the Co ...
, in 1947 the first cabinet of ministers was formed with Senanayake as Prime Minister after the 1947 general elections. Goonetilleke was appointed as the Minister of Home Affairs and Rural Development on 26 September 1947. He had been appointed to the newly formed upper house of parliament, 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 Coun ...
and became the Leader of the Senate when both houses were ceremonially opened by the
Duke of Gloucester Duke of Gloucester () is a British royal title (after Gloucester), often conferred on one of the sons of the reigning monarch. The first four creations were in the Peerage of England and the last in the Peerage of the United Kingdom; the curre ...
, marking the independence of Ceylon on 4 February 1948. His term as a Cabinet Minister did not last long as he resigned as Minister and Senator on 22 July 1948, and was succeeded by
Edwin Wijeyeratne Sir Edwin Aloysius Perera Wijeyeratne ( Sinhala: ශ්‍රිමත් එඩ්වින් ඇලෝසියස් පෙරේරා විජයරත්න) (8 January 1889 – 19 October 1968), known as ''Edwin Wijeyeratne'', was a Sr ...
.


High Commissioner to the United Kingdom

Goonetilleke was thereafter appointed the first Ceylonese High Commissioner to the United Kingdom and served till February 1951.


Minister of Home Affairs and Rural Development

He returned to Ceylon in early 1951, to resume his cabinet position as Minister of Home Affairs and Rural Development and Leader of the Senate in March 1951 succeeding
Edwin Wijeyeratne Sir Edwin Aloysius Perera Wijeyeratne ( Sinhala: ශ්‍රිමත් එඩ්වින් ඇලෝසියස් පෙරේරා විජයරත්න) (8 January 1889 – 19 October 1968), known as ''Edwin Wijeyeratne'', was a Sr ...
and served till April 1952.


Minister of Finance

Following the Prime Minister
Dudley Senanayake Dudley Shelton Senanayake ( Sinhala: ඩඩ්ලි ශෙල්ටන් සේනානායක: ta, டட்லி சேனநாயக்கா; 19 June 1911 – 13 April 1973), was a Sri Lankan statesman who served as Prime Min ...
's resignation after the
Hartal 1953 1953 வேலைநிறுத்தம் The Hartal 1953 ( si, 1953 වර්ජනය, translit=Varjanaya) was a country-wide demonstration of civil disobedience and strike, commonly known as a hartal, held in Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) on 12 Au ...
, Sir John Kotelawala succeeded him. Goonetilleke was appointed by Kotelawala to his cabinet as Ministry of Finance and the Treasury on 14 October 1953, while holding the post of Leader of the Senate. Once again his ministerial tenure was brief, lasting only till June 1954. During this time he served as the Minister in Attendance to the Queen during her Royal visit to Ceylon.


Governor-General

Shortly after a visit by
Queen Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 1926 – 8 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until her death in 2022. She was queen regnant of 32 sovereign states during ...
to Ceylon in April 1954, the decision was taken to appoint a Ceylonese native to the post of
Governor-General Governor-general (plural ''governors-general''), or governor general (plural ''governors general''), is the title of an office-holder. In the context of governors-general and former British colonies, governors-general are appointed as viceroy t ...
, succeeding Lord Soulbury. D. S. Senanayake had died in 1952, and
Colonel Colonel (abbreviated as Col., Col or COL) is a senior military officer rank used in many countries. It is also used in some police forces and paramilitary organizations. In the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, a colonel was typically in charge ...
Sir John Kotalawela was Prime Minister when Goonetilleke succeeded to the position and took up residence in Queen's House. He was a friend of the powerful philanthropist Sir Ernest de Silva who assisted him in the ascension to Governor-General. He remained in office after the election of the left-wing
S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike Solomon West Ridgeway Dias Bandaranaike ( si, සොලොමන් වෙස්ට් රිජ්වේ ඩයස් බණ්ඩාරනායක; ta, சாலமன் வெஸ்ட் ரிட்ஜ்வே டயஸ் ப� ...
as Prime Minister defeating Sir John Kotalawela in the 1956 general elections. Bandaranaike was pressured to remove Goonetilleke, and reduce the pay of the Governor-General by members of his left-wing coalition.


1958 communal riots

On 24 May 1958 Communal riots erupted, Prime Minister Bandaranaike did not make a formal response. With violence spreading throughout the island, Goonetilleke declared a
state of emergency A state of emergency is a situation in which a government is empowered to be able to put through policies that it would normally not be permitted to do, for the safety and protection of its citizens. A government can declare such a state du ...
on 27 May 1958 and deployed the armed forces to quell the rioting, while Bandaranaike allowed Goonetilleke to take control of the situation and issue orders to the armed forces to suppress the rioting with force. Goonetilleke authorized the armed forces to shoot rioters, and the armed forces restored order in a few days.


Bandaranaike assassination

Goonetilleke once again was forced to take decisive action, on 25 September 1959 when Prime Minister Bandaranaike was shot at his home at Rosmead Place while meeting the public. Goonetilleke was at Queens House accepting letters of credence of the Italian Ambassador Count Paolo di Michelis di Sloughhello, when he was informed about the assassination attempt he stopped the ceremony and rushed to Rosmead Place. He informed parliament to continue and at 11 AM declared a state of emergency, bringing the military to full readiness and mobilizing reservists. Bandaranaike, who was rushed to hospital and into emergency surgery, died twenty-two hours after he was shot. Bandaranaike had been scheduled to go to New York to attend the UN General Assembly in late September 1959. The Leader of the House C. P. de Silva was in London undergoing treatment and Bandaranaike had sent a letter to the Governor General recommending that he appoint Wijeyananda Dahanayake, Minister of Education as acting Prime Minister during his absence. With this letter present, Goonetilleke appointed Dahanayake as Prime Minister on September 26, 1959, and was later confirmed by Parliament.


Political turmoil

Following the assassination of Bandaranaike, the country faced a period of political instability. The Premiership of Dahanayake lasted only one year, and during that time many changes to his cabinet took place. Fresh elections were called, but the elections in March 1960 were indecisive in their outcome, as Dudley Senanayake formed a government for a brief period. Goonetilleke had a difficult decision when faced with the classic difficulty for a Governor-General, whether to dissolve Parliament, causing a new election, or call on a different faction to form a government when the Prime Minister (in this case Dudley Senanayake, son of his old friend) lost Parliament's confidence. In the event he dissolved the parliament and called for fresh elections. He briefly held the portfolio of Minister of Finance from 21 March 1960 to 23 April 1960. Bandaranaike's widow Sirima Bandaranaike was selected by his party, the Sri Lanka Freedom Party as its leader and won elections in July 1960. Goonetilleke called on Mrs Bandaranaike to form a government, and thus she became the world's first female Prime Minister.


1962 attempted military coup

In January 1962, the information surfaced of an attempted military coup against the government of Mrs Bandaranaike. Felix Dias Bandaranaike, Parliamentary Secretary for Defence and External Affairs (and the Prime Minister's nephew), stated in Parliament on 18 February that Goonetilleke had been cited in the investigations as having been involved in the conspiracy. Goonetilleke, while denying that he had played any such role, indicated that he had no objection to being questioned by the police. But this was not enough for Mrs Bandaranaike, who was determined to force him out of office if she could.
Bradman Weerakoon Deshamanya Robin Bradman Weerakoon, CCS (born 20 October 1930) is a Sri Lankan civil servant. As a senior bureaucrat of the Sri Lankan government, he served nine Sri Lankan heads of state in a career spanning half a century.David, Marianne (inte ...
, the Prime Minister's secretary, was dispatched to London in person, there to convey to the Queen Mrs Bandaranaike's request that a new Governor-General be appointed. On 26 February, Radio Ceylon announced that the Queen had accepted the Prime Minister's recommendation that William Gopallawa be made the new Governor-General, his term to take effect on 20 March. Gopallawa was Mrs Bandaranaike's uncle, and she hoped that he would be more subservient to her than Goonetilleke had ever been. Meanwhile Goonetilleke quietly vacated Queen's House on 2 March and afterwards left the country. His tenure had lasted eight years and had included the reigns of five prime ministers.


Later life

Goonetilleke settled into a retired life in London, in a self-imposed exile. In the investigation into the attempted military coup, some of the crown witnesses tried to link him and former Prime Ministers,
Dudley Senanayake Dudley Shelton Senanayake ( Sinhala: ඩඩ්ලි ශෙල්ටන් සේනානායක: ta, டட்லி சேனநாயக்கா; 19 June 1911 – 13 April 1973), was a Sri Lankan statesman who served as Prime Min ...
and
Colonel Colonel (abbreviated as Col., Col or COL) is a senior military officer rank used in many countries. It is also used in some police forces and paramilitary organizations. In the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, a colonel was typically in charge ...
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 ...
, with the conspiracy; this was never proven. In his retirement in London, Sir Oliver with his considerable accumulated wealth became an underwriting member of
Lloyd's of London Lloyd's of London, generally known simply as Lloyd's, is an insurance and reinsurance market located in London, England. Unlike most of its competitors in the industry, it is not an insurance company; rather, Lloyd's is a corporate body gove ...
and moved in the social circles of the day. He was also an avid horse racing enthusiast and horse owner with his horses racing at
Epsom Epsom is the principal town of the Borough of Epsom and Ewell in Surrey, England, about south of central London. The town is first recorded as ''Ebesham'' in the 10th century and its name probably derives from that of a Saxon landowner. The ...
and Ascot. In 1964, he was accused by Philip Gunawardena of moves against the Bandaranaike government. Goonetilleke also faced many accusations of exchange fraud, for taking considerable sums of money out from Ceylon.


Exchange control offences conviction

In 1972, he was tried in absentia and sentenced to four years rigorous imprisonment and a fine of Rs 950,000 ($125,000) for exchange control offences by the Criminal Justice Commission. He was not extradited, his daughter Sheila Sathananthan was given a two‐year suspended sentence and fined $72,000 and her husband Coomaraswany Sathananthan was jailed for two years and fined $35,000. Following the defeat of Bandaranaike in the 1977 general election, the newly elected Prime Minister J. R. Jayewardene, repealed the ''Criminal Justice Commissions Act'' and released all who were jailed under the provisions of the Act with an amnesty declared. This allowed Goonetilleke to return to Sri Lanka, where he died after a brief illness in 1978.


Legacy

A statue of Goonetilleke was erected by members of the public at Kanatte crossroads in
Borella Borella is the largest suburb in Colombo, Sri Lanka represented by divisional code 8. Demographic Borella is a multi-religious and multi-ethnic area. The major ethnic communities in Borella are Sinhalese and Tamils. There are also various other ...
. The Government of Sri Lanka issued a commemorative stamp in 1982, to mark the 4th death anniversary of Sir Oliver Goonetilleke. A biography under the title 'OEG' was written by Charles Joseph Jeffries, and memorials to Goonetilleke include a six-foot bronze statue by sculptor Tissa Ranasinghe, commissioned by his family and installed in 1967 at a major roundabout in Colombo.


Personal life

Oliver Goonetilleke first married Esther (née Jayawardena), sister of
Brigadier Brigadier is a military rank, the seniority of which depends on the country. In some countries, it is a senior rank above colonel, equivalent to a brigadier general or commodore, typically commanding a brigade of several thousand soldiers. ...
Christopher Allan Hector Perera Jayawardena Brigadier Christopher Allan Hector Perera Jayawardena (1898-1986) was a Ceylonese forest conservator, military officer and socialite. He was a Senior Assistant Conservator of Forests, Equerry to Queen Elizabeth II, Aide-de-camp to the Governor-G ...
. They had three children, Joyce Wijesinghe, Shiela Sathananthan and Ernie Goonetilleke. Esther Goonetilleke died of an illness when the three children were very young and before Goonetilleke entered the civil service. During his self-imposed exile in London, Goonetilleke married Phyllis Miller, who was the secretary of the Soulbury Commission, whom he had befriended during the period of the Commission circa 1944, and lived near Marble Arch at 14, Albion Gate, Hyde Park Place, London W2 prior to his death in 1978. He was a Director of the
YMCA YMCA, sometimes regionally called the Y, is a worldwide youth organization based in Geneva, Switzerland, with more than 64 million beneficiaries in 120 countries. It was founded on 6 June 1844 by George Williams in London, originally ...
and held several high positions in the Diocese of the Anglican Church of Ceylon.


Honours

Goonetilleke received several honors and medals during his public service as the Auditor General, wartime service as Civil Defense Commissioner and in the later political career.


See also

*
Sri Lankan Non Career Diplomats This is a list of Sri Lankan non-career diplomats, who have been appointed by Government of Sri Lanka as Ambassadors and High Commissioners, but are not Career diplomats by profession, meaning they are not from the Sri Lanka Foreign Service, but ...


References


External links


Amara Samara in Sinhala
{{DEFAULTSORT:Goonetilleke, Oliver Ernest 1892 births 1978 deaths Governors-general of Ceylon Finance ministers of Sri Lanka Home affairs ministers of Sri Lanka Agriculture ministers of Sri Lanka Members of the Senate of Ceylon Members of the 2nd State Council of Ceylon High Commissioners of Sri Lanka to the United Kingdom Auditors General of Sri Lanka Alumni of University of London Worldwide Alumni of the University of London People from Trincomalee Ceylonese people of World War II Sri Lankan Cadet Corps officers Sinhalese civil servants Ceylonese Knights Grand Cross of the Order of St Michael and St George Ceylonese Knights Commander of the Royal Victorian Order Ceylonese Knights Commander of the Order of the British Empire Knights of the Order of St John