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SECTION A: CEYLON

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 December 2014

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Extract

‘Anecdotes of D.S.’, c.1952

‘Notes on the formation of a new Government, March 1952’

Note of proposal to dismiss Sir John Kotelawala, 15 September 1952

‘The Queen of Ceylon’, c.1953

Notes on the royal visit to Ceylon, 1954

Type
Research Article
Information
Royal Historical Society Camden Fifth Series , Volume 46: CONSTITUTION-MAKER: SELECTED WRITINGS OF SIR IVOR JENNINGS , December 2014 , pp. 19 - 37
Copyright
Copyright © Royal Historical Society 2014 

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References

1 Don Stephen Senanayake, commonly referred to as ‘D.S.’. First Prime Minister of Ceylon, 1948–1952; founder-leader of the United National Party (UNP).

2 Sir Oliver Ernest Goonetilleke, leading Ceylon administrator and minister, who was a friend and colleague of Jennings; Governor-General, 1954–1962. Often referred to as ‘O.E.G.’.

3 Government-owned housing.

4 Britain appointed the Soulbury Commission in 1944 to recommend constitutional reforms for Ceylon. The Commission's report laid the foundations for the first constitution of Ceylon. The head of the Commission was Herwald Ramsbotham, Baron (later Viscount) Soulbury. He later served as Governor-General of Ceylon, 1949–1954.

5 A friend of both Jennings and D.S. Senanayake.

6 The official Colombo residence of the Governor (and, after independence, Governor-General) of Ceylon.

7 Official Secretary to the Governor (and later Governor-General) of Ceylon.

8 Legal officer in Ceylon; Attorney-General, 1947–1951; Chief Justice, 1951–1955.

9 Sir Henry Monck-Mason Moore, Governor of Ceylon, 1944–1948; Governor-General of Ceylon, 1948–1949.

10 Dudley Shelton Senanayake, eldest son of D.S. Senanayake; UNP Prime Minister of Ceylon, 1952–1953, 1960, 1965–1970.

11 Chief Secretary of Ceylon, 1942–1947.

12 Legal Secretary of Ceylon, 1945–1947.

13 Legal draftsman in the Ceylon civil service; later Cabinet secretary.

14 The official residence of the Prime Minister of Ceylon.

15 A prominent Ceylonese jurist and former solicitor-general.

16 Senior Ceylon civil servant; later Cabinet secretary.

17 Officer administering the Government.

18 Claire Dewing, Jennings’ elder daughter.

19 Sir John Kotelawala, nephew of D.S. Senanayake and UNP Prime Minister, 1953–1956.

20 The United National Party (UNP) was founded by D.S. Senanayake in 1946.

21 Junius Richard Jayewardene, senior UNP minister; Prime Minister, 1977–1978; Executive President of Sri Lanka, 1978–1989. Often referred to as ‘J.R.’.

22 Solomon West Ridgeway Dias Bandaranaike, Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) Prime Minister, 1956–1959.

23 Not long after independence in August 1947, India had formally announced its intention to become a republic, but its desire to remain in the Commonwealth. At the 1949 Commonwealth Prime Ministers’ Meeting, the ‘London Declaration’ allowed republics to be members of the Commonwealth, which had hitherto been made up only of Dominions, which held the British monarch as head of state. The meeting also created a new role for George VI as ‘the symbol of the free association of its member nations, and as such Head of the Commonwealth’, which is now held by his daughter by consent of all Commonwealth members. The office of Head of the Commonwealth has no constitutional powers over any member state.

24 An agreement between the Kandyan nobles and the British in March 1815 that replaced the Kandyan monarchy with the British one and completed British rule over the whole island.

25 Burma became an independent republic in January 1948 and did not seek membership of the Commonwealth.

26 The Indian President is elected by the Electoral College, consisting of members of both houses of Parliament and of the state legislatures.

27 Indian National Congress, a leading Indian political party, founded in 1885.

28 Also known as the Lok Sabha.

29 First President of India, 1950–1962.

30 Quoted from Charles Dickens’ Oliver Twist.

31 The Statute of Westminster (1931) confirmed that Dominion parliaments, upon ratification, were independent legislatures and discontinued the imperial parliament's ability to legislate for them without consent.

32 Ceylon became an independent Commonwealth realm in February 1948.

33 This refers to South Asian independence movements from the late nineteenth century that drew upon South Asian culture.

34 A term that refers to use of indigenous languages.

35 Founded by S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike in 1951, as noted above.

36 Leftist party founded in 1935 and often referred to as the LSSP.

37 Sir John Kotelawala.

38 The election was actually held in 1956. The SLFP under Bandaranaike won a landslide.

39 The abbreviation UNP was satirically said to stand for Uncle Nephew Party on account of the multiple kinship ties within the party.

40 LSSP leader and Leader of the Opposition.

41 De Silva, Wickremasinghe, and Keuneman were all major Leftist leaders and members of the Ceylon House of Representatives.

42 Indigenously trained physicians.

43 British imperial honours – GCMG: Knight Grand Cross of the Order of St Michael and St George; GCVO: Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order. The latter is given at the discretion of the Sovereign, while the former is given on the advice of the Prime Minister.

44 G.G. Ponnambalan, former Cabinet minister and Tamil Congress Leader. Often referred to as ‘G.G.’.

45 Former Cabinet minister.