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Concept
D. S. Senanayake
Summary
Don Stephen Senanayake (දොන් ස්ටීවන් සේනානායක,; டி. எஸ். சேனநாயக்கா; 21 October 1884 – 22 March 1952) was a Ceylonese statesman. He was the first Prime Minister of Ceylon having emerged as the leader of the Sri Lankan independence movement that led to the establishment of self-rule in Ceylon. He is considered as the "Father of the Nation".
Born to an entrepreneur from the village of Botale, Senanayake was educated at S. Thomas' College, Mutwal before briefly working as a clerk in the Surveyor General's Department. Joining the family business, he managed the family own estates and the Kahatagaha Graphite Mine. Long with his brothers, Senanayake became active in the temperance movement which grew into the independence movement following 1915 Sinhalese-Muslim riots, in which the Senanayake brothers were imprisoned without charges for 46 days. He was elected unopposed in 1924 to the Legislative Council of Ceylon from Negombo, becoming the Secretary of the unofficial members group of the Legislative Council. In 1931, he was elected to the State Council of Ceylon, where he served as Minister of Agriculture and Lands. He was elected to the first Parliament of Ceylon forming a government and serving as Ceylon's first Prime Minister from 1947 until his death in 1952.
Senanayake family
He was born in the village of Botale in the Hapitigam Korale (currently known as Mirigama) on 21 October 1884 to Don Spater Senanayake (1847–1907) and Dona Catherina Elizabeth Perera Gunasekera Senanayake (1852–1949). Spater Senanayake had made his fortune in graphite mining and at the time he was expanding into plantations and investments in the arrack renting franchise, later he would be awarded the title of Mudaliyar for his philanthropy. Stephen Senanayake had two elder brothers, Don Charles "D. C." Senanayake and Fredrick Richard "F. R." Senanayake; and one sister, Maria Frances Senanayake who married F. H. Dias Bandaranaike.
Brought up in a devout Buddhist family, he entered the prestigious Anglican school S. Thomas' College, Mutwal.
Official source
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