Arumugam Canagaratnam (; 1873–1929) was a

Ceylon Tamil Sri Lankan Tamils ( or ), also known as Ceylon Tamils or Eelam Tamils, are Tamils native to the South Asian island state of Sri Lanka. Today, they constitute a majority in the Northern Province, form the plurality in the Eastern Province an ...

lawyer and member of the

Legislative Council of Ceylon The Legislative Council of Ceylon was the legislative body of Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) established in 1833, along with the Executive Council of Ceylon, on the recommendations of the Colebrooke-Cameron Commission. It was the first form of represe ...

Early life and family

Canagaratnam was born in 1873. He was the son of Visuvanathan Arumugam. Canagaratnam was educated at

Jaffna Central College Jaffna Central College ( ''Yāḻppāṇam Mattiya Kallūri'', JCC) is a national school in Jaffna, Sri Lanka. Founded in 1816 by British Methodist missionaries, it is one of Sri Lanka's oldest schools. History In 1813 the Methodist's British ...

and

Wesley College, Colombo Wesley College popularly known as "Wesley" or "The Double Blues", is a Methodist school providing primary and secondary education in Sri Lanka since 1874. History In 1858, Rev. Joseph Rippon wanted to establish a superior educational instit ...

. He had his higher education in

Calcutta Kolkata, also known as Calcutta (List of renamed places in India#West Bengal, its official name until 2001), is the capital and largest city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of West Bengal. It lies on the eastern ba ...

. Canagaratnam's nephew C. Sittampalam was a government minister.

Career

Canagaratnam joined the legal profession after finishing his education. Canagaratnam became chairman of the Rural Education Development Board in the 1920s. He was also chairman of the Jaffna Local Board and Jaffna Urban Council. He was elected to the

as the member for the Northern Province South at the 1924 election. Canagaratnam campaigned for the establishment of the

University of Ceylon The University of Ceylon was the only university in Sri Lanka (earlier Ceylon) from 1942 until 1972. It had several constituent campuses at various locations around Sri Lanka. The University of Ceylon Act No. 1 of 1972, replaced it with the Univ ...

and edited a nationalist journal called ''The Ceylon Patriot''. He built Stanley College, which was later renamed Canagaratnam Maha Vidyalayam, using his own funds. Canagaratnam Road is also named after him.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Canagaratnam, A. 1873 births 1929 deaths Alumni of Jaffna Central College Alumni of Wesley College, Colombo Local authority councillors of Sri Lanka Members of the Legislative Council of Ceylon People from Northern Province, Sri Lanka People from British Ceylon Sri Lankan journalists Sri Lankan Tamil people Sri Lankan lawyers Tamil politicians