John Kotelawala facts for kids

Quick facts for kids General The Right Honourable Sir John Lionel Kotelawala CH KBE KStJ
Col. Sir John Kotelawala, c. 1951
3rd Prime Minister of Ceylon
In office 12 October 1953 – 12 April 1956
Monarch	Elizabeth II
Governor-General	The 1st Viscount Soulbury Sir Oliver Ernest Goonetilleke
Preceded by	Dudley Senanayake
Succeeded by	S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike
Minister of Defence and External Affairs
In office 12 October 1953 – 12 April 1956
Prime Minister	Himself
Preceded by	Dudley Senanayake
Succeeded by	S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike
Minister of Transport and Works
In office 26 September 1947 – 1954
Prime Minister	D. S. Senanayake Dudley Senanayake Himself
Succeeded by	Montague Jayawickrama
Member of the Ceylon Parliament for Dodangaslanda
In office 14 October 1947 – 5 December 1959
Succeeded by	A.U. Romanis
Personal details
Born	(1897-04-04)4 April 1897 British Ceylon
Died	2 October 1980(1980-10-02) (aged 83) Colombo, Sri Lanka
Political party	United National Party
Alma mater	Christ's College, Cambridge, Royal College, Colombo
Profession	Politician, Soldier, Planter
Signature
Military service
Allegiance	Ceylon
Branch/service	Ceylon Defence Force  Sri Lanka Army
Rank	General (Sri Lanka Army), Colonel (Ceylon Defence Force)
Unit	Ceylon Light Infantry
Commands	1st Battalion, Ceylon Light Infantry

General Sir John Lionel Kotelawala CH KBE KStJ PC (Sinhala: ශ්‍රිමත් ජෝන් ලයනල් කොතලාවල; 4 April 1897 – 2 October 1980) was a Sri Lankan statesman, who served as the 3rd Prime Minister of Ceylon (Sri Lanka) from 1953 to 1956.

Early life and education

Kotelawela's father, John Kotelawala Snr

Born to a wealthy landholding and mining family, Kotelawala had a difficult childhood with the untimely death of his father and the financial difficulties that followed. He was educated at Royal College, Colombo, representing the school in cricket, tennis, boxing and football. He played in the Royal–Thomian. He had to leave owing to involvements in the riots in 1915, embarking on a tour of Europe, with World War I raging. He remained in Europe for five years, spending most of that time in England and France, and attended Christ's College, Cambridge to study agriculture. Kotelawala was known as an aggressive and outspoken man who loved sports, horseback riding and cricket and, particularly as a young man, got into physical fights when he was insulted. He was fluent in Sinhala, English and French. After returning to Ceylon, he became a planter, running his family plantation estates and mines, which included the Kahatagaha Graphite Mine in Dodangaslanda. He served as a Justice of the Peace.

Military service

Kotelawala joined the Ceylon Defense Force as an volunteer officer in 1922. He progressed with promotions to lieutenant on 27 October 1924, captain on 23 August 1929 and major on 1 October 1933. On 1 July 1939, he was appointed second in command of the Ceylon Light Infantry and served till 1 September 1940. He was promoted to the rank of lieutenant colonel on 1 October 1940 and was posted to the reserve of the regiment.

With the outbreak of World War II in the Far East, the Ceylon Defence Force including the Ceylon Light Infantry was mobilized and expanded for wartime service with the British Army. Kotelawala as the Minister of Communications and Works, became a member of the Ceylon's War Council and served as the Commander-in-Chief of the Essential Services Labor Corp. He provided his home, Kandawala to function as the officers mess for the wartime RAF station at Rathmalana. He was promoted to honorary rank of colonel on 2 July 1942, the highest rank that a Ceylonese could achieve at the time in the Ceylon Defence Force.

Political career

Kotelawala as a member of the Board of Ministers of the Second State Council of Ceylon in 1936.

Being from a politically active family, he entered mainstream politics in 1931 having been elected to the State Council of Ceylon. He went on to serve as Minister of Communications and Works in the Second Board of Ministers of Ceylon.

With Ceylon gaining independence in 1948, he was elected to Parliament and became a member of the first Cabinet as Minister of Transport and Works. He was overlooked for the post of Prime Minister when his uncle, the first Prime Minister of Ceylon, D. S. Senanayake, died suddenly. A year later he succeeded his cousin, Dudley Senanayake, as the third Prime Minister of Ceylon, serving until his party lost the general election in 1956. Kotelawala retired from politics thereafter, going to self-imposed exile in Kent. Having donated his home, Kandawala, to the state to form a defense university, he was granted the rank of general on his deathbed.

Prime minister

Sir John Kotelawala meeting Dutch Prime Minister Willem Drees at The Hague in 1955.

His government partially retained the rice subsidy which led to the 1953 Hartal. An ardent anti-communist, he took a hardline stand against trade unions and left-wing parties. He formed the Ceylon Railway Engineer Corps and Post and Telegraph Signals to minimise the effects on transport and communication in the event of trade union action.

He hosted Queen Elizabeth II and the Duke of Edinburgh in Ceylon during their Royal Commonwealth Tour in April 1954.

As prime minister, Kotelawala led Sri Lanka into the United Nations and contributed to Sri Lanka's expanding foreign relations, particularly with other Asian countries.

Later life

Kotelawala retired from politics shortly after his electoral defeat. He bought the Brogues Wood estate at Biddenden in Kent, where he lived for several years. He eventually returned to Ceylon. When the post of Governor-General appeared vacant with the completion of William Gopallawa's first term, he was hopeful that he would be nominated to the post by the United National Party which was in the government at the time. However Dudley Senanayake in his second term as Prime Minister did not name a successor for Gopallawa and allowed him to have a second term.

Death

On 29 September 1980, he suffered a stroke at Kandawala and was taken to the cardiac unit of the Colombo General Hospital. On 1 October, President J. R. Jayewardene visited Kotelawala and conferred on him the honorary rank of a General of the Volunteer Force of the Army in recognition for his long service to the country, which was acknowledged by Kotelawala who was on his deathbed. The honor was planned to be awarded on 11 October at the ceremony establishing the proposed Defense Academy.

He died on 2 October 1980 at the Colombo General Hospital. On 5 October, Kotelawala's coffin which was kept at Kandawala was moved to Parliament House to lay in state, before final rites at Independence Square with full military honours.

Personal life

He married Effie Manthri Dias Bandaranaike, daughter of F. H. Dias Bandaranaike and Maria Frances Dias Bandaranaike nee Senanayake, sister of Don Stephen Senanayake. Although the marriage was not successful, ending in divorce, it produced a daughter, Lakshmi Kotelawala, who married Henry Gerald Kotalawala.

Kotelawala was known for his flamboyance and the company he kept. He would entertain guests at his home in Kandawala and his cottage in Nuwara Eliya. Even as Prime Minister he resided at Kandawala.

Legacy

In 1985 a national defence academy for the training of officers for all three Sri Lankan defence services was established at his estate Kandawala, which he had left to the country in his will for this purpose. It has been named General Sir John Kotelawala Defence University (KDU) is a defence university offering undergraduate and postgraduate study courses to officers of the defence services in Sri Lanka in various disciplines. Statues of Sir John Kotelawala have been erected in many parts of the island, including one at the Old Parliament Building, Colombo. Many schools, libraries and public buildings have been named in his honour. In 1993, the Sir John Kotelawala Museum was opened in Kandawala by the President.

Titles and honours

His Orders, Decorations, Medals and other memorabilia are on display at the General Sir John Kotelawala Defence University.

Appointments

• Member of the Privy Council (1954)

Honorary military appointments

• General of the Volunteer Force of the Army (1980)
• Colonel of the Ceylon Defense Force (1942)

Decorations and Medals

Ribbon	Name	Date awarded
	Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire (KBE)	1948
	Order of the Companions of Honour (CH)	1956
	Knight of Justice of the Most Venerable Order of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem (KStJ)	1965
	Defence Medal	1945
	War Medal 1939–1945	1945
	King George V Silver Jubilee Medal	1935
	King George VI Coronation Medal	1937
	Queen Elizabeth II Coronation Medal	1952
	Efficiency Medal (Ceylon) with clasp	1949
	Ceylon Armed Services Inauguration Medal	1955
	Knight Grand Cross of the Légion d´honneur	1954
	Order of the Rising Sun, 1st Class	1954
	Knight Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic	1954
	Knight Grand Cross 1st Class of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany	1955
	Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the White Elephant	1956
	Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Netherlands Lion	1956
	Ceylon Armed Services Long Service Medal	1980
	Republic of Sri Lanka Armed Services Medal	1980
	Sri Lanka Army 25th Anniversary Medal	1980

Educational

• LLD (honorary) – University of Ceylon
• LLD (posthumously) – General Sir John Kotelawala Defence University

Electoral history

Images for kids

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  The first Cabinet of Ministers of Ceylon

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  Sir John Kotelawala as Minister of Transport visiting at Amsterdam Airport Schiphol in 1951.

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  Sir John Kotelawala's Coat of Arms

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  An Official Letter to Harry Kotelawala