V. Coomaraswamy

Sir V. Coomaraswamy
CMG CCS
Ceylonese High Commissioner to Canada
Personal details
Born (1892-09-25)25 September 1892
Profession Civil servant
Ethnicity Ceylon Tamil

Sir Velupillai Coomaraswamy, CMG, CCS (born 25 September 1892) was a Ceylonese civil servant and diplomat.

Early life and family

Coomaraswamy was born on 25 September 1892.[1] He was the son of Velupillai from Vaddukoddai in northern Ceylon.[1] Coomaraswamy passed the London Interscience Examination after school.[1]

Coomaraswamy married Thayalnayaki, daughter of M. Sinnathamby.[1] After Thayalnayaki's death he married Nesamani, daughter of J. T. Bartlett.[1]

Career

Coomaraswamy worked as teacher before joining the Ceylon Civil Service in 1913.[1] He was Police Magistrate and District Judge in Puttalam, Negombo, Kegalle and other places.[1] He was then Assistant Government Agent in Hambantota before moving to Colombo where he held a number of positions including Permanent Secretary.[1] He was Government Agent for the Western Province from January 1946 to December 1947 and again from February 1948 to October 1949.[2] He was the first native Government Agent of the province.[3]

Later life

Coomaraswamy served as the Deputy Ceylonese High Commissioner in London in 1948.[1][4] He was later the Ceylonese High Commissioner in Ottawa and Ceylonese Minister and Envoy Extraordinary in Rangoon.[1]

Coomaraswamy was made a Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George in June 1947.[5] He was knighted in the 1952 New Year Honours.[6][7]

Coomaraswamy died in the 1960s.[1]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Arumugam, S. (1997). Dictionary of Biography of the Tamils of Ceylon. p. 44.
  2. ↑ "Name List of The Government Agent's". Colombo District Secretariat.
  3. ↑ "Book Review: 'There's No Place Like Home'". The Island (Sri Lanka). 5 November 2000.
  4. ↑ "Third Supplement". The London Gazette (39844): 2504. 1 May 1953.
  5. ↑ "Second Supplement". The London Gazette (37977): 2576. 6 June 1947.
  6. ↑ "Fourth Supplement". The London Gazette (39424): 45. 28 December 1951.
  7. ↑ "London Gazette". The London Gazette (39594): 3748. 11 July 1952.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.