Sir Waithilingam Duraiswamy (; 8 June 1874 – 12 April 1966) was a Ceylon Tamil lawyer, politician and speaker 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 ...

Early life and family

Duraiswamy was born on 8 June 1874 in Velanaitivu, an island in the north of

Ceylon 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, ...

. He was the son of Ayampillai Waithilingam, an engineer from Malaya. He was educated at Jaffna College and Jaffna Central College. After school he joined

University of Calcutta The University of Calcutta, informally known as Calcutta University (), is a Public university, public State university (India), state university located in Kolkata, Calcutta (Kolkata), West Bengal, India. It has 151 affiliated undergraduate c ...

, from where he graduated with a double honours degree. He then qualified as an

advocate An advocate is a professional in the field of law. List of country legal systems, Different countries and legal systems use the term with somewhat differing meanings. The broad equivalent in many English law–based jurisdictions could be a ba ...

from the Ceylon Law College. Duraiswamy was married to Rasammah from Maathakal, Jaffna. Duraiswamy had four sons ( Yogendra, Rajendra, Mahendra and Devendra) and four daughters (Maheswari, Nadeswari, Parameswari and Bhuvaneswari).

Career

Ministers of the Second State Council of Ceylon with the Speaker in 1936

After qualifying Duraiswamy worked as an advocate, becoming a crown advocate and leader of the Jaffna Bar. Duraiswamy contested the 1921 Legislative Council election as a candidate in Northern Province and was elected to the

Legislative Council A legislative council is the legislature, or one of the legislative chambers, of a nation, colony, or subnational division such as a province or state. It was commonly used to label unicameral or upper house legislative bodies in the Brit ...

. He contested the 1924 Legislative Council election as a candidate in Northern Province West and was re-elected unopposed. He was a leading member of the Jaffna Youth Congress which advocated the boycott of the 1931 State Council elections. The boycott ended in 1934 but Duraiswamy did not contest the ensuing by-elections. He did however contest the 1936 State Council election as a candidate in Kayts and was elected to the State Council unopposed. Duraiswamy was elected Speaker of the State Council on 17 March 1936. He held this position until the State Council was replaced in 1947. Duraiswamy was knighted by King George VI in London in the 1937 Coronation Honours. Duraiswamy contested in Kayts at the 1947 election but failed to get elected to the new

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 ...

after coming fourth. A wave of Tamil nationalism represented by the Tamil Congress had swept away the old guard of the legislature at the 1947 elections. Duraiswamy was one of the founders of the Hindu Board of Education and served as its president in 1923. He helped establish more than 150 Hindu schools. He was a founder and president of the Tamil Union. He was also president of the Vivekananda Society and a leading member of the Saiva Paripalana Sabhai.Muttucumaraswamy, V; Founders of Modern Ceylon (Sri Lanka): Eminent Tamils, Volume 1; Uma Siva Pathippakam; 1973

Death

Duraiswamy died on 12 April 1966. A commorative postage stamp in honour of Duraiswamy was issued on 14 June 1982.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Duraiswamy, Waithilingam 1874 births 1966 deaths Alumni of Ceylon Law College Alumni of Jaffna Central College Alumni of Jaffna College Ceylonese advocates Ceylonese Knights Bachelor Members of the Legislative Council of Ceylon Members of the 2nd State Council of Ceylon People from Northern Province, Sri Lanka People from British Ceylon Place of death missing Speakers of the Parliament of Sri Lanka Sri Lankan Tamil people Sri Lankan lawyers Tamil politicians University of Calcutta alumni