Colonel Colonel ( ; abbreviated as Col., Col, or COL) is a senior military Officer (armed forces), officer rank used in many countries. It is also used in some police forces and paramilitary organizations. In the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries, a colon ...

Theodore Godfrey Wijesinghe Jayewardene, VD, JP,

CLI CLI may refer to: Computing * Call Level Interface, an SQL database management API * Command-line interface, of a computer program * Command-line interpreter or command language interpreter; see List of command-line interpreters * CLI (x86 instruc ...

(June 17, 1872 – 1945; also known as T. G. Jayewardene) was a Ceylonese (

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, also known historically as Ceylon, is an island country in South Asia. It lies in the Indian Ocean, southwest of the Bay of Bengal, separated from the Indian subcontinent, ...

n) engineer, military officer and later politician. 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 ...

, he was the first Ceylonese

commanding officer The commanding officer (CO) or commander, or sometimes, if the incumbent is a general officer, commanding general (CG), is the officer in command of a military unit. The commanding officer has ultimate authority over the unit, and is usually give ...

of the

Ceylon Light Infantry Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, also known historically as Ceylon, is an island country in South Asia. It lies in the Indian Ocean, southwest of the Bay of Bengal, separated from the Indian peninsula by ...

Early life and education

Born to James Alfred Jayewardene, 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 ...

who was the Deputy

Coroner A coroner is a government or judicial official who is empowered to conduct or order an inquest into the manner or cause of death. The official may also investigate or confirm the identity of an unknown person who has been found dead within th ...

of Colombo, his brothers were

Hector Alfred Jayewardene Hector Alfred Wijesinghe Jayewardene (22 July 1870 – 16 October 1913) was a Ceylonese (Sri Lankan) politician and a prominent lawyer. He was active in the political movement in Ceylon. He was an elected member of the Colombo Municipal Counci ...

Justice In its broadest sense, justice is the idea that individuals should be treated fairly. According to the ''Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy'', the most plausible candidate for a core definition comes from the ''Institutes (Justinian), Inst ...

Eugene Wilfred Jayewardene Eugene Wilfred Jayewardene, KC ( Sinhala:යුජින් විල්ෆ්‍රඩ් ජයවර්ධන; 11 June 1874 – 23 November 1932) was a Ceylonese (Sri Lankan) judge, lawyer and politician. He was a Judge of the Supreme Cour ...

, KC and Justice

John Adrian St. Valentine Jayewardene John Adrian St. Valentine Wijesinghe Jayewardene (1877–1927) was a Ceylonese (Sri Lankan) lawyer who became a judge of the Supreme Court of Ceylon. Early life and education A son of James Alfred Jayewardene (a Proctor who was the Deputy Cor ...

. Jayewardene was educated at the

Royal College, Colombo Royal College, Colombo also known as; Royal Colombo, Colombo Royal College or Colombo Royal) is a Single-sex education, boys' school located in Cinnamon Gardens, Cinnamon Gardens, Colombo, Sri Lanka. Started by Joseph Marsh (priest), Joseph Mar ...

.J.R. Jayewardene of Sri Lanka, By K. M. De Silva, William Howard Wriggins
/ref>

Career

After becoming an engineer, he joined the Public Works Department in 1895 as an assistant engineer and in 1900 became a fully qualified

Civil Engineer A civil engineer is a person who practices civil engineering – the application of planning, designing, constructing, maintaining, and operating infrastructure while protecting the public and environmental health, as well as improving existing i ...

. He was elected to the

in 1933 from the

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 ...

seat and held it till 1936.

Military service

He joined the

, a reservist regiment of the

Ceylon Defence Force The Ceylon Defence Force (CDF) was established in 1910 by the Ceylonese legislation ''Ceylon Defence Force Ordinance'', which reformed the Ceylon Volunteer Force (CVF) that existed previously as the military reserve in the British Crown colony ...

, in 1889 as a private. However he was later commissioned and quickly rose through the ranks, becoming a

major Major most commonly refers to: * Major (rank), a military rank * Academic major, an academic discipline to which an undergraduate student formally commits * People named Major, including given names, surnames, nicknames * Major and minor in musi ...

in 1908. In 1921 he was appointed as the

intelligence officer An intelligence officer is a member of the intelligence field employed by an organization to collect, compile or analyze information (known as intelligence) which is of use to that organization. The word of ''officer'' is a working title, not a r ...

of the Ceylon Defence Force. Promoted to lieutenant colonel, he served as the first Ceylonese

of the Ceylon Light Infantry from August 1919 to August 1923. He reached the rank of

colonel Colonel ( ; abbreviated as Col., Col, or COL) is a senior military Officer (armed forces), officer rank used in many countries. It is also used in some police forces and paramilitary organizations. In the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries, a colon ...

, the highest rank a Ceylonese could achieve in the colonial era and was awarded the

Volunteer Officers' Decoration The Volunteer Officers' Decoration, post-nominal letters VD, was instituted in 1892 as an award for long and meritorious service by officers of the United Kingdom's Volunteer Force (Great Britain), Volunteer Force. Award of the decoration was di ...

Family

In 1905, he married Lena Attygalle, daughter of

Mudaliyar Thuluva Vellalar, also known as Agamudi Mudaliar or Arcot Mudaliars, is a caste found in northern Tamil Nadu, southern Andhra Pradesh and southern Karnataka. They were an elite and dominant land-owning community. Etymology The earliest occu ...

Don Charles Gemoris Attygalle Mudaliyar Don Charles Gemoris Attygalle (8 September 1836 - 12 December 1901) was a Ceylonese entrepreneur and mine owner. He was a successful graphite mine owner and was given the title of Mudaliyar for social service by the British Governor of C ...

When the 'nobodies' made their mark
/ref> with whom he had a son

Major Major most commonly refers to: * Major (rank), a military rank * Academic major, an academic discipline to which an undergraduate student formally commits * People named Major, including given names, surnames, nicknames * Major and minor in musi ...

Theodore Frederick, who was elected to the Parliament in 1948. His daughter Margie Jayewardene married A. F. Wijemanne, who was a senator and Minister of Justice (1965-1970). His brothers-in-law were

Fredrick Richard Senanayake Fredrick Richard Senanayake (known to as F. R. Senanayake) (October 20, 1882 – January 1, 1926) was a Ceylonesen lawyer and independence activist. A leading member of the Sri Lankan independence movement, he was an elected member of the Colom ...

and

John Kotelawala Sr John Kotelawala (also known as John Kotelawala Sr; 4 November 1864 – 20 April 1907) was a Ceylonese police officer and businessmen. He was known for the murder of Francis Dixon Attygalle, one of the first sensational murder trials in Ceylon. ...

. One of

Colombo Colombo, ( ; , ; , ), is the executive and judicial capital and largest city of Sri Lanka by population. The Colombo metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of 5.6 million, and 752,993 within the municipal limits. It is the ...

's primary roads, ''Colonel T. G. Jayewardene Mawatha'', has been named in his honor.

References

External links

The JAYEWARDENE Ancestry
1872 births 1945 deaths Sinhalese people Sri Lankan engineers Ceylonese military personnel Ceylon Light Infantry officers Sri Lankan intelligence operatives Alumni of Royal College, Colombo Members of the 1st State Council of Ceylon Ceylonese military personnel of World War I Sri Lankan justices of the peace

Theodore Theodore may refer to: Places * Theodore, Australian Capital Territory, Australia * Theodore, Queensland, Australia * Theodore, Saskatchewan, Canada * Theodore, Alabama, United States * Theodore Reservoir, in Saskatchewan People * Theodore (gi ...