Oliver Ernest Goonetilleke
| His Excellency Sir Oliver Goonetilleke GCMG, KCVO, KBE | |
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| 3rd Governor-General of Ceylon | |
| In office July 17, 1954 – March 2, 1962 | |
| Monarch | Elizabeth II |
| Preceded by | Herwald Ramsbotham, 1st Viscount Soulbury |
| Succeeded by | William Gopallawa |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 20 October 1892 Trincomalee, Ceylon |
| Died | 17 December 1978 (aged 86) Colombo Sri Lanka |
| Nationality |  Sri Lankan |
| Spouse(s) | Esther Goonetilleke (nee Jayawardena), Lady Phyllis Goonetilleke (nee Miller) |
| Children | Joyce Wijesinghe, Shiela Sathananthan and the late Ernie Goonetilleke |
| Profession | Civil Servant |
| Military service | |
| Allegiance |
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Sir Oliver Ernest Goonetilleke, GCMG, KCVO, KBE (Sinhala:ශ්රිමත් ඔලිවර් ගුණතිලක) (20 October 1892 – 17 December 1978) was an important figure in the gradual independence of Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) from Britain, and became the third Governor-General of Ceylon (1954-1962). He was the first Ceylonese individual to hold the vice-regal post.
Early life
Oliver Ernest Goonetilleke was born 20 October 1892, fifth child and only son of Alfred Goonetilleke, postmaster at Trincomalee in the northeast of Ceylon. He was educated at Wesley College, Colombo, and served there as an assistant teacher for a short time before joining a bank and there after joining government service of the crown colony of Ceylon as a railway auditor and then went on to become its Auditor-General. He served as Chairman of the Salaries and Cadres Commission also.
He was married to Esther (née Jayawardena) and had three children, Joyce, Shiela and Ernie.
Politics
By the 1930s Ceylon was increasingly self-governing in internal matters, and Goonetilleke rose through the administration. With the coming of World War II and the likelihood that Ceylon would face military threat from Japan, Goonetilleke was placed at the head of a new Civil Defence Department as Civil Defence Commissioner in the War Cabinet of Ceylon, a move that proved to be justified when air raids on Colombo and other cities began in the spring of 1942. Sir Ivor Jennings, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Ceylon, served as Goonetilleke's deputy, and the two worked closely with D. S. Senanayake, the minister of Agriculture and Lands. Those three, the brains trust of the Ceylon government in their time, were nicknamed "the Breakdown Gang" as they began to talk about much besides civil defence, including the steps that might be taken to move Ceylon to complete independence after the War. Eventually they were the leaders who brought the project to fruition, with independence for Ceylon on 4 February 1948, when Senanayake became Prime Minister.
In 1947 when the first cabinet of ministers was formed with Senanayake as Prime Minister, Sir Oliver, who had been appointed to the Senate of Ceylon after resigning from the public service, became the Minister of Home Affairs and Rural Development. He later resigned and was appointed the first High Commissioner of the United Kingdom. On his return to Ceylon he became the Leader of the Senate and the Minister of Food and Agriculture.
First Ceylonese Governor-General
Shortly after a visit by Queen Elizabeth II to Ceylon in April 1954, the decision was taken to appoint a Ceylonese native to the post of Governor-General, the mostly ceremonial head of state. Senanayake had died in 1952, and General Sir John Kotalawela was Prime Minister by the time Goonetilleke succeeded to the position and took up residence in Queen's House. He continued in office for eight years, through tumultuous times in Ceylon's history including the 1958 outbreak of ethnic violence, during which he was given credit for persuading the largely Sinhalese government to take action to protect the Tamil minority.
His willingness to take difficult or unpopular positions should not have been any surprise to those who had watched his work in civil defence fifteen years earlier, including steps to confiscate market stalls and even larger businesses whose owners had abandoned them in the face of the Japanese assault, and turn them over to others who were willing to reopen them. Similarly, he experienced criticism in 1960 for his decision when faced with the classic difficulty for a Governor-General, whether to dissolve Parliament, causing a new election, or call on a different faction to form a government when the Prime Minister (in this case Dudley Senanayake, son of his old friend) lost Parliament's confidence. He was a friend of the powerful philanthropist Sir Ernest de Silva who assisted him in the ascension to Governor-General.
He earned the respect of all parties and figures, including Solomon W. R. D. Bandaranaike, the leading figure of Ceylon's left wing in the 1950s and patriarch of future generations of such leadership. At one point some politicians protested that Bandaranaike had permitted Goonetilleke, no left-winger, to stay in office, and began a movement to cut his salary as a gesture of disapproval. "His Excellency has placed his knowledge, experience and constitutional powers at the full disposal of the present Government," Bandaranaike told Parliament, "and as constitutionally proper, been most helpful to the Government."
Later life
Sir Oliver Goonetilleke left the Governor-General's post on 2 March 1962 and led a retired life in London soon after an attempted military coup as some of the Crown witnesses tried to link him and former Prime Ministers, Dudley Senanayake and Colonel Sir John Kotelawala, with the conspiracy. Although this was never proven Sir Oliver Goonetilleke resigned and went into self-imposed exile in Britain. He also became both sufficiently affluent and sufficiently familiar with British business affairs to become an Underwriting Member of Lloyd's of London, the famous reinsurance house in London. He married Phyllis Miller, who was the secretary of the Soulbury Commission, whom he had befriended during the period of the Commission circa 1944, and lived near Marble Arch at 14, Albion Gate.
He died in Sri Lanka after a brief illness in 1978. A biography under the title 'OEG' was written by Charles Joseph Jeffries, and memorials to Goonetilleke include a six-foot bronze statue by sculptor Tissa Ranasinghe, commissioned by his family and installed in 1967 at a major roundabout in Colombo.
Honours
Throughout his life, Goonetilleke had close links with Britain, visiting the country many times on official business, and receiving a string of British honours:
- Knight Grand Cross of The Most Distinguished Order of Saint Michael and Saint George (GCMG)-1954 (KCMG: 1948; CMG: 1940)
- Knight Commander of the Royal Victorian Order (KCVO)-1951
- Knight Commander of The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (KBE)-1944
- Knight of the Most Venerable Order of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem
See also
- Sri Lankan Non Career Diplomats
References & External links
| Government offices | ||
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| Preceded by Sir Herwald Ramsbotham |
Governor-General of Ceylon 1954–1962 |
Succeeded by William Gopallawa |
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