Reginald Abraham de Mel (8 November 1894 – 1961) was a Ceylonese politician. Having served as the

Mayor of Colombo The Mayor of Colombo is the elected head of the Colombo Municipal Council. The post was created in 1866 when the Colombo Municipal Council was established by the Legislative Council of Ceylon. The mayor is assisted by the deputy mayor and a Munic ...

, he served as the Deputy Speaker and Chairman of Committees in the first parliament of Ceylon, until he was unseated by an

election petition An election is a formal group decision-making process whereby a population chooses an individual or multiple individuals to hold public office. Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative democracy has operate ...

Early life and education

De Mel received his education at Richmond College in

Galle Galle (, ; , ) (formerly ) is a major city on the southwestern tip of Sri Lanka, south of Colombo. Galle is the provincial capital and largest city of Southern Province, Sri Lanka and is the capital of Galle District. Galle was known as ''Gi ...

, where he represented the college cricket team. He qualified as a

proctor Proctor (a variant of ''wikt:procurator, procurator'') is a person who takes charge of, or acts for, another. The title is used in England and some other English-speaking countries in three principal contexts: # In law, a proctor is a historica ...

Political career

Having been elected to the

Colombo Municipal Council The Colombo Municipal Council is the municipal governing body of Colombo, the largest city and financial centre in Sri Lanka. It consists of a directly elected executive Mayor of Colombo, and elected 119 municipal councilors. The council was f ...

, he served as the

from 1944 to 1946. De Mel was elected to

parliament In modern politics and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

at the 1st parliamentary election, representing the

United National Party The United National Party (UNP; , ) is a Centre-right politics, centre-right political party in Sri Lanka. Founded in 1946, the party was one of Sri Lanka's two main parties for several decades. The UNP has served as the country's ruling party ...

(UNP), in the Colombo South electorate. He secured 6,452 votes (35.4% of the total vote), 640 votes ahead of

Paikiasothy Saravanamuttu Paikiasothy Saravanamuttu (,; 26 October 1892 – 28 May 1950; also known as P. Sara) was a Ceylonese civil servant and sports administrator. Early life and family Saravanamuttu was born on 26 October 1892. He was the son of Vetharniam Sar ...

, an

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in Pennsylvania, United States * Independentes (English: Independents), a Portuguese artist ...

candidate, who received 32% of the total vote. He was subsequently appointed the Deputy Speaker and Chairman of Committees in the first parliament of Ceylon. De Mel subsequently lost his seat in August 1948 after being found guilty of corrupt practices by aiding, abetting, counselling and procuring the offences of impersonation in an election petition filled by Saravanamuttu. Saravanamuttu contested the ensuing

by-election A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, or a bypoll in India, is an election used to fill an office that has become vacant between general elections. A vacancy may arise as a result of an incumben ...

held in Colombo South in November 1948 but again lost, this time to T. F. Jayewardene. The Duplication Road in Colombo was renamed R.A. De Mel Mawatha in his memory.

Family

He married Evelyn Fernando, daughter of Hethakandage Bastian Fernando. They had two children Laleeni and Irangani. C. H. Z. Fernando was his brother-in-law. He was a cousin of R. S. F. de Mel, former mayor of Colombo.

References

External links

* 1894 births 1961 deaths United National Party politicians Deputy speakers and chairmen of committees of the Parliament of Sri Lanka Members of the 1st Parliament of Ceylon Mayors of Colombo Ceylonese proctors Alumni of Richmond College, Galle People from Galle People from British Ceylon RA {{WesternLK-politician-stub