Cholomondeley Goonewardene Explained

Honorific-Prefix:The Honourable
Cholomondeley de Fonseka Goonewardene
Office1:Member of Parliament
Office2:Minister of Public Works
Term Start2:1964
Term End2:1965
Birth Date:1917 9, df=yes
Birth Place:Kalutara, Ceylon
Death Place:Kalutara, Sri Lanka
Party:Lanka Sama Samaja Party
Spouse:Udawattage Cecilin de Silva
Alma Mater:S. Thomas' College, Mount Lavinia
London School of Economics
Occupation:Lawyer
Blank1:Ethnicity
Data1:Sinhalese

Cholomondeley de Fonseka Goonewardene (චොල්මොණ්ඩලේ ද නොව චමලි ද නොව චම්ලි) (16 September 1917 – 25 November 2006) was a prominent Sri Lankan politician, Member of Parliament, and cabinet minister.[1]

Born in Kalutara to a local Muhandiram family, Goonewardene was educated at Holy Cross College, Kalutara and S. Thomas' College, Mount Lavinia. He later qualified as an advocate and started his legal practice in Unofficial Bar in Kalutara in 1946.[2] He was one of the early members of the Marxist Lanka Sama Samaja Party – the first political party in Sri Lanka- and founded its Kalutara Branch in 1937 and in 1940 he was elected to the Kalutara Urban Council.[3] Giving up his legal practice, Goonewardene took up full time political work. Representing the Lanka Sama Samaja Party he was the member of parliament on several occasions for the Kalutara electorate from 1947 to 1977 and between such terms he served as Chairman of the Kalutara Urban Council from 1954 to 1956 and again in the 1960s. In June 1964 he was appointed Minister of Works in the First Sirimavo Bandaranaike cabinet.[4] [5] He was the last surviving member to have served on the first Parliament of Ceylon.[6] He was a cousin of Leslie Goonewardene.

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Hon. Goonewardene, Cholmondeley de Fonseka, M.P.. Directory of Past Members. Parliament of Sri Lanka. 13 July 2017.
  2. News: Death of Cholomondeley Goonewardene . 14 July 2020 . Sunday Observer.
  3. Web site: Featur07 .
  4. Book: Rajasingham, K. T.. Sri Lanka: The Untold Story. https://web.archive.org/web/20011218081922/http://www.atimes.com/ind-pak/CL15Df05.html. unfit. 2001-12-18. Chapter 19: Anguish and pain.
  5. Asian Survey. 5. 1. 122. University of California, Berkeley. Institute of International Studies. University of California Press. January 1965.
  6. News: Cholmondeley passes away at 89. The Nation. 26 November 2006. 15 July 2017.