| Sir Velupillai Coomaraswamy | |
| Honorific-Suffix: | CMG |
| Office1: | Ceylonese High Commissioner to Canada |
| Birth Date: | 25 September 1892 |
| Profession: | Civil servant |
| Blank1: | Ethnicity |
| Data1: | Ceylon Tamil |
Sir Velupillai Coomaraswamy, CMG (25 September 1892 – 13 November 1972) was a Ceylonese civil servant and diplomat. He served as the Ceylonese High Commissioner to Canada and Ceylonese Envoy to Burma.
Coomaraswamy was born on 25 September 1892.[1] He was the son of Velupillai from Vaddukoddai in northern Ceylon.[1] Coomaraswamy passed the London Interscience Examination after school.[1]
Coomaraswamy married Thayalnayaki, daughter of M. Sinnathamby.[1] After Thayalnayaki's death he married Nesamani, daughter of J. T. Bartlett.[1]
Coomaraswamy worked as teacher before joining the Ceylon Civil Service in 1913.[1] As a cadet, he served in the Puttalam Kachcheri and the Anduradhapura Kachcheri. He was Police Magistrate and District Judge in Puttalam, Negombo, Kegalle and Panadura, thereafter served as the District Judge, Kegalle.[2] He was then Assistant Government Agent in Kegalle, Puttalam and Hambantota.[2] He was assigned to the State Council of Ceylon, serving as Clerk of the State Council and Secretary to the Board of Ministers from 1932 to 1933.[2] In 1933, he was posted as Acting Government Agent, Eastern Province.[2] He was then appointed Additional Registrar General, Registrar General, acting Commissioner of Lands, acting conservator of Forests, Food Controller, Controller of Import, Exports and Exchange, Government Agent, Eastern Province in 1945.[2] In late 1945, he served as of representative of the Government of Ceylon in Malaya.[2] He was the Government Agent for the Western Province from January 1946 to December 1947.[2] He was appointed Permanent Secretary to the Ministry of Home Affairs and Rural Development.[1] [3] He was the first native Government Agent of the Western province.[4] [2]
Coomaraswamy served as the Deputy Ceylonese High Commissioner in London in 1948.[1] [5] [2] In 1953, he was appointed Ceylonese Minister and Envoy Extraordinary in Rangoon and thereafter he was appointed Ceylonese High Commissioner in Ottawa in 1958.[1] [6] [7] Coomaraswamy died on 13 November 1972.[2]
Coomaraswamy was made a Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George (CMG) in the 1947 Birthday Honours.[8] He was knighted in the 1952 New Year Honours as a Knights Bachelor.[9] [10]