Sir ''Sir'' is a formal honorific address in English for men, derived from Sire in the High Middle Ages. Both are derived from the old French "" (Lord), brought to England by the French-speaking Normans, and which now exist in French only as part ...

Jayatilaka Cudah Ratwatte

Adigar The Mahâ Adigâr () (also known as Adikārama, Adikār) was a Great Officer in the Amātya Mandalaya, or Sinhalese Council of State, in the Sinhala Kingdom, Sinhalese Kingdoms of monarchical Sri Lanka. The office was second in power and dignity ...

(15 March 1880 – 27 March 1940) was a

Ceylonese Sri Lankan or Ceylonese may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the country of Sri Lanka ** Demographics of Sri Lanka * Sri Lankan people, or of Sri Lankan descent; this includes: ** Sinhalese people, the ethnic majority ** Sri Lankan T ...

colonial-era politician and headman. He was a member of the

State Council of Ceylon The State Council of Ceylon was the unicameral legislature for Ceylon (now Sri Lanka), established in 1931 by the Donoughmore Constitution. The State Council gave universal adult franchise to the people of the colony for the first time. It ...

(1931–1933), the first elected

Mayor of Kandy The mayor of Kandy is the mayor and head of the Kandy Municipal Council. The post was created in 1866 when the Kandy Municipal Council established by the ''Municipalities Ordinance of 1865''. The offices of the mayor are at the Kandy Town Hall. ...

(1939–40), the first person from Kandy to be awarded a

knighthood A knight is a person granted an honorary title of a knighthood by a head of state (including the pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the church, or the country, especially in a military capacity. The concept of a knighthood ...

from the

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

and was appointed to the post of

. Born to Abeyratne Banda Ratwatte Basnayake and Thalgahagoda Lewke Punchi née Kumarihamy, he was educated at

Trinity College, Kandy Trinity College, Kandy is a private Anglican boys' school located in Kandy, Sri Lanka. It offers both day and boarding facilities. It was founded in 1872 by British Anglican missionaries of the Church Missionary Society, modelled on Britis ...

. His brothers were

Barnes Ratwatte Barnes Ratwatte (known as Barnes Ratwatte Dissawa; 1883 – 20 September 1957) was a Ceylonese colonial-era legislator and a headman. He was a member of the State Council and the Senate of Ceylon. He was appointed to the posts of Rate Mahatmaya ...

Dissawa and Harris Leuke Ratwatte both members of the

. He was the uncle of

Sirimavo Ratwatte Dias Bandaranaike Sirima Ratwatte Dias Bandaranaike (; ; ; 17 April 1916 – 10 October 2000), commonly known as Sirimavo Bandaranaike, was a Sri Lankan politician. She was the world's first female prime minister when she became Prime Minister of Sri Lanka (th ...

. In 1908 he married Chitravo Katugaha née Kumarihamy, with whom he had ten children including his eldest son,

A. C. L. Ratwatte Abeyratne Cudah Leonard Ratwatte, Order of the British Empire, MBE (29 January 1909 – 11 July 1971) was a Sri Lanka, Ceylonese politician. He was the Mayor of Kandy, Ceylon's High commissioner (Commonwealth), High Commissioner in Ghana and Ceylon ...

MBE (1909–1971), who also served as the Mayor Kandy (1948), Ceylon's High Commissioner in

Ghana Ghana, officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It is situated along the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, and shares borders with Côte d’Ivoire to the west, Burkina Faso to the north, and Togo to t ...

(1965) and Ceylon's Ambassador to Malaysia, Stanley Ratwatte and J. C. Ratwatte II. Cudah Ratwatte served as the Shroff of the Mercantile Bank of Kandy. On 4 May 1931, Ratwatte was elected unopposed to the

1st State Council of Ceylon The 1st State Council of Ceylon was a meeting of the State Council of Ceylon, with the membership determined by the results of the 1931 state council election held between 13 and 20 June 1931. The parliament met for the first time on 7 July 193 ...

, representing

Balangoda Balangoda is a town in Ratnapura District, Sabaragamuwa Province, Sri Lanka, governed by an urban council located away from Colombo and from Ratnapura on Colombo - Batticaloa Highway(A4). It is one of the largest towns of the Sabaragamuwa Pro ...

. He resigned from the State Council on 1 August 1933 due to ill-health. In 1939 he was granted a

Knight Bachelor The title of Knight Bachelor is the basic rank granted to a man who has been knighted by the monarch but not inducted as a member of one of the organised Order of chivalry, orders of chivalry; it is a part of the Orders, decorations, and medals ...

in the

New Year Honours The New Year Honours is a part of the British honours system, with New Year's Day, 1 January, being marked by naming new members of orders of chivalry and recipients of other official honours. A number of other Commonwealth realms also mark this ...

list for public services in Ceylon. At the first meeting of the

Kandy Municipal Council The Kandy Municipal Council is the local council for Kandy, the second largest city of Sri Lanka. The council was formed under the Municipalities Ordinance of 1865 and first met in 1866. The municipal council is the second oldest and largest lo ...

on 17 June 1939 Ratwatte was elected the

, a position he retained for a year. Ratwatte died on 27 March 1940 after a short illness.

External links

The Ratwatte Ancestry

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ratwatte, Cuda 1880 births 1940 deaths Sri Lankan Buddhists Adigar Knights Bachelor Alumni of Trinity College, Kandy Mayors of Kandy Members of the 1st State Council of Ceylon Cudah

See also

External links

References