R. A. de Mel

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Hon.
Reginald Abraham de Mel
Deputy Speaker of the Parliament
In office
14 October 1947 – 23 August 1948
Prime MinisterD. S. Senanayake
Preceded byposition created
Succeeded byH. W. Amarasuriya
Member of the Ceylon Parliament
for Colombo South
In office
20 September 1947 – August 1948
Preceded byseat created
Succeeded byT. F. Jayewardene
Personal details
Born(1894-11-08)8 November 1894
Died1961
NationalityCeylonese
Political partyUnited National Party
Spouse(s)Evelyn née Fernando
ChildrenLaleeni, Irangani
ResidenceD'Eyn Court, Kollupitiya, Colombo
Alma materRichmond College, Galle
ProfessionProctor

Reginald Abraham de Mel (8 November 1894 – 1961) was a Ceylonese politician.[1][2]

Early life and education[]

De Mel received his education at Richmond College in Galle, where he represented the college cricket team.[3] He qualified as a proctor.

Political career[]

Having been elected to the Colombo Municipal Council, he served as the Mayor of Colombo from 1944 to 1946.[4]

De Mel was elected to parliament at the 1st parliamentary election, representing the United National Party (UNP), in the Colombo South electorate.[5] He secured 6,452 votes (35.4% of the total vote), 640 votes ahead of Paikiasothy Saravanamuttu, an independent candidate, who received 32% of the total vote.[6] He was subsequently appointed the Deputy Speaker and Chairman of Committees in the first parliament of Ceylon.[7] De Mel subsequently lost his seat in August 1948 after being found guilty of corrupt practices by aiding, abetting, counselling and procuring the offences of impersonation.[8][9] The Duplication Road in Colombo was renamed R.A. De Mel Mawatha in his memory.

Family[]

He married Evelyn Fernando, daughter of Hethakandage Bastian Fernando. They had two children Laleeni and Irangani. C. H. Z. Fernando was his brother-in-law. He was a cousin of R. S. F. de Mel, former Mayor of Colombo.

References[]

  1. ^ "Hon. de Mel, Reginald Abraham, M.P." Parliament of Sri Lanka. Retrieved 26 October 2017.
  2. ^ Jātika Rājya Sabhāva. Pustakālaya (1972). Members of the Legislatures of Ceylon: 1931-1972. National State Assembly Library. p. 31.
  3. ^ History of Richmond Cricket Club Archived 4 May 2014 at the Wayback Machine
  4. ^ Past Mayors of Colombo Archived 20 August 2014 at the Wayback Machine
  5. ^ "University of Ceylon Review". 6. University of Ceylon. 1948: 169. Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  6. ^ "Result of Parliamentary General Election 1947" (PDF). Department of Elections, Sri Lanka. Archived from the original (PDF) on 24 September 2015.
  7. ^ Deputy Speaker and Chairman of Committees
  8. ^ "He gave of his best, but died a disillusioned man". The Sunday Times (Sri Lanka). 28 May 2000. Retrieved 26 October 2017.
  9. ^ www.lawnet.gov.lk (PDF). National Law Reports https://www.lawnet.gov.lk/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/143-NLR-NLR-V-49-P.-SARVANAMUTTU-Petitioner-and-R.-A.-DE-MEL-Respondent.pdf. Retrieved 4 August 2020. Missing or empty |title= (help)

External links[]


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