Clodagh Jayasuriya, MBE, (née Jayewardene) was a Ceylonese politician and the first female to be elected to the Senate of Ceylon.
Clodagh Jayewardene was the only child of John Adrian St. Valentine Jayewardene (1877-1927), a lawyer and Supreme Court judge, and Ethel Charlotte Irene née Dissanayake, daughter of Mudaliyar Francis William Tillekeratne Dissanayake.[1]
In 1945 she married Bernard Jayasuriya, a member of the State Council of Ceylon between February 1943 and 1947,[2] who contested the seat of Avissawella at the 1st parliamentary election held in late 1947. He was unsuccessful in his attempt, losing to Philip Gunawardena by almost 12,000 votes.[3]
Following Bernard's death, Coldagh entered local politics becoming the chair of the Hanwella Peruwa Village Council.[2][4] At the 2nd parliamentary election in 1952, she ran in the Avissawella electorate as the United National Party candidate, where she narrowly lost to Gunawardena's wife, Kusumasiri by 929 votes.[5]
Jayasuriya was elected to the Senate of Ceylon in October 1953 and resigned her seat in 1956.[6] In January 1956 she was awarded a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE).[7] Jayasuriya ran again in the subsequent 1956 parliamentary elections for Avisssawella, where she lost to Philip Gunawardena by 22,252 votes.[8]
References
edit- ^ "Jayewardene, Don Adrian Wijesinghe (Tombi Mudaliyar) - Family #3002". Rootsweb. Retrieved 22 August 2017.
- ^ a b Wijesekera, Chitra (1995). Women in Our Legislature. Sarvodaya Vishva Lekha. pp. 241–242. ISBN 9789559579700.
- ^ "Result of Parliamentary General Election 1947" (PDF). Department of Elections, Sri Lanka. Retrieved 22 August 2017.[permanent dead link]
- ^ Kiribamune, Sirima (1999). Women and Politics in Sri Lanka: A Comparative Perspective. International Centre for Ethnic Studies. p. 52. ISBN 9789555800433.
- ^ "Result of Parliamentary General Election 1952" (PDF). Department of Elections, Sri Lanka. Retrieved 21 June 2017.[permanent dead link]
- ^ "Parliamentary Debates". 24. Parliament of Ceylon. 1956: 12.
{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires|journal=(help) - ^ Ceylon list: "No. 40672". The London Gazette (Supplement). 30 December 1955. pp. 47–48.
- ^ "Result of Parliamentary General Election 1956" (PDF). Department of Elections, Sri Lanka. Retrieved 21 June 2017.[permanent dead link]
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