Alfred Thambiayah was educated at St Anthony's College, Kayts, St Patrick's College, Jaffna, St Benedict's College, Colombo and St Joseph's College, Colombo.
16 Facts About Alfred Thambiayah
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2.
Alfred Thambiayah began his business career aged 21 by leasing the Olympia Cinema.
3.
Alfred Thambiayah then went into business with Chittampalam Abraham Gardiner, establishing the successful Ceylon Theatres Ltd.
4.
Alfred Thambiayah acquired Cargo Boat Dispatch Company, a shipping company, in 1936 from Harry and John Cosmas.
5.
Alfred Thambiayah grew to control the majority of the business out of the Port of Colombo.
6.
Alfred Thambiayah stood as an independent candidate in Kayts at the 1947 parliamentary election.
7.
Kulasingham filed a legal petition stating that Alfred Thambiayah was disqualified from contesting the election as his Cargo Boat Dispatch Company had contracts with the state-owned Colombo Ports Authority.
8.
Alfred Thambiayah appealed and judges Wijeyewardene, Canekeratne and Windham over ruled Basanayake's judgement and re-instated Alfred Thambiayah as the MP for Kayts.
9.
Alfred Thambiayah was instrumental in the construction of road links to Velanaitivu from Jaffna peninsula and Pungudutivu.
10.
Alfred Thambiayah helped build schools, hospitals, roads, dispensaries and post offices on the island.
11.
Alfred Thambiayah was re-elected at the 1952 parliamentary election as an All Ceylon Tamil Congress candidate.
12.
The ACTC left the UNP government in 1953 but Alfred Thambiayah chose to remain with the UNP.
13.
Alfred Thambiayah's company suffered a set-back when the Port of Colombo was nationalised in 1958.
14.
Alfred Thambiayah started diversifying his business interests, turning his company into a shipping agency house, taking shareholdings in Hatton National Bank and establishing Hotel Renuka in Kollupitiya in 1970 after the government started offering tax incentives to the hospitality sector.
15.
Today Alfred Thambiayah's company is known as Renuka Holdings PLC and is one of Sri Lanka's largest conglomerates.
16.
Alfred Thambiayah died prior to October 2009, aged no older than 105.