1. Sir Edwin Aloysius Perera Wijeyeratne, known as Edwin Wijeyeratne, was a Sri Lankan lawyer, politician, diplomat, and one of the founding members of the Ceylon National Congress and the United National Party.
20 Facts About Edwin Wijeyeratne
1. 2.
Edwin Wijeyeratne's father was Gabrial Perera Wijeyeratne, a notary public and his mother was Catherina Wickremasinghe Jayasekera nee Tennekoon, daughter of Jayasekera Tennekoon, a notary from the Four Korales in Kegalle.
3.
Edwin Wijeyeratne was educated at St Mary's College, Kegalle, before completing his secondary education at St Joseph's College, Colombo where he passed the Cambridge Senior exam with Honours.
4.
Edwin Wijeyeratne won 15 prizes at his last school prize giving.
5.
Edwin Wijeyeratne then established his legal practice in the unofficial bar in his home town Kegalle, specializing in Civil law and Kandyan law, and in Buddhist ecclesiastical law till 1949.
6.
Edwin Wijeyeratne was an expert in Civil and Kandyan Law, and in Buddhist Ecclesiastical Law.
7.
Edwin Wijeyeratne was a founding member of the Ceylon National Congress was founded by Sir Ponnambalam Arunachalam and Sir James Peiris in 1919.
8.
Edwin Wijeyeratne was elected to the State Council of Ceylon in 1931 from Kegalle, where he served until 7 December 1935.
9.
Edwin Wijeyeratne did not stand for re-election at the State Council in 1936 and return to his legal practice.
10.
On 21 December 1940, Edwin Wijeyeratne was appointed President of the Ceylon National Congress.
11.
Senanayake had stationed Edwin Wijeyeratne bare-bodied, in a paddy field in Kegalle.
12.
In 1947, Edwin Wijeyeratne became a founding member of the United National Party and was appointed to the Senate of Ceylon which was a non-elected upper house of parliament.
13.
Edwin Wijeyeratne was a member of the Commission on the Death Penalty which first recommended the abolishing the death penalty from Ceylon in 1948.
14.
Edwin Wijeyeratne resigned as Minister and Senator in February 1951 paving the way for Sir Oliver Goonetilleke to succeed him and return to his former post on his return from London.
15.
In 1952, Edwin Wijeyeratne was appointed Ceylonese High Commissioner to the United Kingdom, succeeding Sir Oliver Goonetilleke in turn and was knighted the year after in the 1953 New Year Honours as a Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire by Queen Elizabeth II at Buckingham Palace.
16.
In 1954, Edwin Wijeyeratne was recalled home and Sir Claude Corea succeeded him as High Commissioner to the United Kingdom.
17.
Edwin Wijeyeratne married Leela Pethiyagoda from the Meewaladeniya Walauwa in Gampola and had three sons and a daughter.
18.
The eldest, Tissa Edwin Wijeyeratne was a Barrister at Law and served as the Additional Secretary to the Ministry of External Affairs and Defence, as Sri Lankan Ambassador to France and to Switzerland, and as Senior Advisor to Prime Minister Sirimavo Bandaranaike.
19.
The youngest son, Dr Cuda Edwin Wijeyeratne is a consultant psychiatrist.
20.
Sir Edwin Wijeyeratne died on 19 October 1968 in Kegalle.