George E. de Silva

George Edmund de Silva (8 June 1879 - 12 March 1950) was a Ceylonese lawyer and politician. He was the first Cabinet Minister of Industries, Industrial Research and Fisheries in independent Sri Lanka (then Ceylon) (1947–1948), a Member of Parliament and State Council.[1][2]

Hon.

George E. de Silva
George E. de Silva in the first Cabinet of Ministers of Ceylon
Minister of Industries, Industrial Research and Fisheries
In office
26 September 1947 – 1948
Prime MinisterD. S. Senanayake
Preceded byOffice created
Succeeded byG. G. Ponnambalam
Member of the Ceylon Parliament
for Kandy
In office
1947–1949
Preceded byConstituency created
Succeeded byTamara Kumari Ilangaratne
Personal details
Born
George Edmund de Silva

(1879-06-08)8 June 1879
Ceylon
Died12 March 1950(1950-03-12) (aged 70)
Ceylon
NationalityCeylonese
Political partyUnited National Party
Spouse(s)Agnes Marion Nell
ChildrenFredrick, Minnette, Anil
Alma materLorenz College Colombo, Ceylon Law College
Occupationjournalist, lawyer, politician

He started his career as a journalist in the Ceylon Independent and in The Times of Ceylon. Later he entered the Ceylon Law College and started a law practice in Kandy.

In 1915 de Silva and E. W. Perera carried a secret memorandum initiated and drafted by Sir James Peiris to the Secretary of State for the Colonies, pleading for the repeal of martial law and vindication of the reputations of those who had been falsely accused during the riots of 1915.

De Silva entered politics after he was elected to the Kandy Municipal Council in 1930. In 1931 he was elected to the State Council from the Central Province. Having been re-elected, he was appointed Minister of Health. In 1943 he was elected the President of the Ceylon National Congress. After Ceylon gained independence, de Silva was elected to the seat of Kandy, at the 1st parliamentary election, held between 23 August 1947 and 20 September 1947,[3] and appointed to D. S. Senanayake's cabinet as the first Minister for Industries and Fisheries.[4][5]

Together with his wife, Agnes Marion Nell, he is the father of Fredrick de Silva, MBE who was the Mayor of Kandy, Member of Parliament and Sri Lanka’s Ambassador in France. His grandson is Sir Desmond de Silva, former United Nations Chief War Crimes Prosecutor in Sierra Leone and former husband of Princess Katarina of Yugoslavia. George E. de Silva's daughter Minnette de Silva was the first Asian woman to qualify as an architect with the Royal Institute of British Architects. She worked on early experiments of tropical modernism in Sri Lanka. He is also grand-uncle to journalist Lasantha Wickrematunge.[6]

References
  1. "Hon. de Silva, George Edmund, M.P." Parliament of Sri Lanka. Retrieved 6 August 2018.
  2. Abeyaratne, L. B. "George E. De Silva — Champion Of The Poor". The Sunday Leader.
  3. "Result of Parliamentary General Election 1947" (PDF). Department of Elections, Sri Lanka. Retrieved 6 August 2018.
  4. Wickramasinghe, Wimal (18 January 2008). "Saga of crossovers, expulsions and resignations etc. Referendum for extention [sic] of Parliament". The Island.
  5. Rajasingham, K. T. "Chapter 12: Tryst with independence". Sri Lanka: The Untold Story.
  6. Wickrematunge, Raine (2013). And then they came for me: The Lasantha Wickrematunge Story. Author House. pp. 2–5. ISBN 1481789902.


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