George E. de Silva

He was born at Matara to Weeradivakara Muhandieamage Cornelis de Silva, a rural ayurvedic physician. George de Silva initially worked as a reporter for the Ceylon Independent and ran a vegetable stall to make ends meet. Later he became a staff journalist of The Times of Ceylon. He studied at the Lorensz Tutory in Colombo, entered Ceylon Law College and passed his proctors' final exam in 1907 becoming a proctor. Moving to Kandy, de Silva established a lucrative legal practice in criminal law in the unofficial bar which was at the time dominated by Burger proctors. He established his legal firm De Silva & Karunaratne. His brothers Timothy and Gregory too became proctors. == Political career ==

In 1915, de Silva and E. W. Perera carried a secret memorandum initiated and drafted by Sir James Peiris to the Secretary of State for the Colonies, pleading for the repeal of martial law and vindication of the reputations of those who had been falsely accused during the riots of 1915. Parliament and Minister for Industries With Ceylon gaining independence, de Silva was elected to the seat of Kandy, at the 1st parliamentary election from the United National Party, held between 23 August and 20 September 1947, and appointed to D. S. Senanayake's cabinet as the first Minister for Industries and Fisheries. He lost his seat in parliament in 1948, following an election petition filled by his opponent T.B. Illangaratne which found him guilty and deprived him of his civic rights. == Personal life ==

He married Agnes Marion Nell in 1909 at St. Paul's Church, Kandy. The marriage was discouraged by the Nell family, with the vicar refusing to preside over their marriage ceremony. They had three children, two daughters and a son. The eldest was Anil de Silva, a journalist. Second was Fredrick de Silva, MBE who succeeded his father on the Kandy Municipal Council, becoming the Mayor of Kandy, Member of Parliament and Sri Lanka's Ambassador in France. His grandson, Sir Desmond de Silva, was the United Nations Chief War Crimes Prosecutor in Sierra Leone and husband of Princess Katarina of Yugoslavia. Their youngest child was Minnette de Silva the first Asian woman to qualify as an architect with the Royal Institute of British Architects. She worked on early experiments of tropical modernism in Sri Lanka. He is also grand-uncle to journalist Lasantha Wickrematunge. The home of de Silva in Kandy hosted many celebrities during the golden age in Hollywood, including Vivian Leigh, Peter Finch, Sir Laurence Olivier, David Lean, William Holden, Gregory Peck, Sir Alec Guinness, Mahatma Gandhi, Nehru Gandhi, and Indira Gandhi. He died on 12 March 1950, having suffered a stroke which was followed by two heart attacks while playing at the Peradeniya golf course. ==References==