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'William Gopallawa' (September 17 1897 - January 31 1981) was the last Governor General of Ceylon from 1962 to 1972 and became the first President of Sri Lanka when Ceylon became Sri Lanka when it became a republic in 1972. Till 1972 Ceylon was a Dominion Republic with the Queen of England as the head of state with the title of Queen of Ceylon.
Before assuming office as the president Gopallawa served in many positions in the government from Municipal Commissioner Kandy during world war 2, where he acquitted himself for efficiency during the floods. He was known as an austere, nonpartisan and statesmanlike figure who commanded the respect of all political parties. He was the first to establish a spartan Buddhist Shrine room at the Queen's House.
His role as Governor General of Ceylon was to be the representative for the Queen of England as the Head of State of Ceylon at that time. He represented an era where politics was conducted with a dignified aura and he had a reputation as being a man of integrity and humility. He served as Governor General under different governments headed by the SLFP led regime of Mrs. Sirimavo Bandaranaike and the UNP led regime of Mr. Dudley Senanayake. He upheld the law and the constitution to the letter and won respect and admiration of all political parties.
His constitutional decision to invite the UNP which won the majority of Parliamentary seats in the 1965 general election, (but not enough for an absolute majority) is heralded as a landmark moment where he respected the nation's constitution and its people's wishes more than the wishes of the defeated SLFP government (that appointed him as GG) which wanted him to delay inviting the winning party to form the government. It averted a major crisis of leadership.

Contents

Early life

Political life

References

External links

Early life

William Gopallawa was born on September 17, 1897 at the Dullewa Maha Walauwa, Dullewa in the Matale District of Sri Lanka. He is related to Dullewa Maha Adikaram, a signatory on behalf of the Sinhalese to the Kandiyan Convention of 1815, by his mother Tikiri Kumarihamy Dullewa. William lost his Father, Tikiri Banda Gopallawa when he was three.
He received his primary education at the Dullewa village school and at St. John's College, Kandy. He continued his secondary education at Dharmaraja College, Kandy and later moved to St. Anthony's College, Kandy After having sat the Cambridge Senior Certificate Examination in 1917 he returned to his home town Matale and joined as the tutorial staff of Vijaya College, Matale (then Buddhist English School) and was also instrumental in setting up a library and a scout troop for the benefit of the students. In 1920 William joined the Ceylon Law College, Colombo and was enrolled as a Proctor/Attorney at Law in American terms, and Notary Public in 1924. He was in active practice at Matale, Dumbara and Kandy from 1924 until he took up duties as Municipal Commissioner, Kandy in 1939.

Political life

In 1926 Gopallawa contested and won in the Matale Urban Council Elections and served continuously in the council for a period of 13 years 1926 - 1939. He served as the chairman of the Matale Urban Council for 5 years, at his office he was the youngest chairman in the in Sri Lanka at that time. In 1936 Gopallawa unsuccessfully contested for the Matale seat at the State Council Elections in 1936. In 1939 the Kandy Municipal Council was established and Gopallawa was appointed as the first Municipal Commissioner. He served in that capacity until his appointment as Colombo Municipal Commissioner in 1951. He retired as the Colombo Municipal Commissioner in 1957.
On June 18, 1958 When S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike's government started diplomatic relations with People's Republic of China Gopallawa was posted as the Ambassador. September 7, 1961 when is he was serving in China he was called back and posted as the Ambassador to Kennedy's court U.S.A. he served there until 1962. In 1962, he was called back to Ceylon and appointed as the Governor-General of Ceylon. He served as the Governor-General of Ceylon until 1972. When Ceylon became the Republic of Sri Lanka in 1972, Gopallawa became the President. He retired in February 1978 when Prime Minister Junius Richard Jayewardene had the constitution changed to make the Presidency an elective position with more powers, and Jayewerdene became President.
He was survived by 4 children out of 5. One died early on while he was still working in Kandy. His oldest daughter Chandrika Iranganie married Dr.Mackie Ratwatte, a brother of the first woman prime minister of the world. His oldest son Asoka is a highly successful entrepreneur businessman, and his youngest son who died in 2005 was a very popular member of parliament and an affable minister in the government of President Chandrika Kumaratunge.
William Gopallawa was also the first Buddhist Governor General of Ceylon in a nation where the British chose to appoint Christian Minorities before he was nominated by Mrs. Sirimavo Bandaranaike in 1962. While he was a devout Buddhist, he respected all faiths and never failed to attend the annual Vel Hindu ceremony and never failed to host Christmas caroling and also attended various Moslem ceremonies in his role as titual head of state; he was acutely cognizant of his role as a uniter of all Sri Lankans during his tenure.

References

★ A dignified symbol of the nation Daily News on the 104th birth anniversary

★ William Gopallawa, the first President The 31st anniversary of Presidency

★ New York times news on Death

External links

★ Sri Lanka Government Web site

★ William Gopallawa's presidential Flag on crwflags.com