Adeline, Lady Molamure, CBE (née Meedeniya; 1890 – 1977) was the first female member of State Council of Ceylon, and therefore, the first elected female legislator in Sri Lanka. She was the Deputy President of the Senate of Ceylon.
Educated at Bishop's College, Colombo, she was the daughter of J.H. Meedeniya Adigar, member of the Legislative Council of Ceylon.[1]
She was elected to the State Council by election in 1931 from her father's electoral seat after his death. She was later elected to the Senate in 1947 and was appointed as a Deputy President of the Senate in 1955. She was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the 1955 Birthday Honours.
She was the daughter of J.H. Meedeniya Adigar, grandson of Humbadee Dissawa, who served under the last king of Kandy [2] and Cornelia Magdeline Senanayake, the daughter of Rev. Cornelius Senanayake, an Anglican priest and Corneliya Regina Obeysekere of Kataluwa Walawwa who was the sister of Lambertus Obeyesekere, Maha Mudaliyar.[citation needed]
Her sister was Alice Wijewardena who married D. R. Wijewardena (the founder of Lake House newspaper group) and her brother was Joseph Hercules Meedeniya who became the Rate Mahatmaya of Ratnapura, married Violet Ellawela. They had four children, which included Iranganie Serasinghe and Kamani Vitharana who married Professor Tissa Vitharana. Her sister's grandson Ranil Wickremasinghe would later become Prime Minister of Sri Lanka.[citation needed]
She was married to Sir Francis Molamure, the first speaker of the State Council and Parliament.[3][4][5] Their only daughter Seetha Molamure was appointed a member of the Senate of Ceylon. She married L. J. Seneviratne a civil servant who became the Secretary of the Treasury.[6]
See also
References
- ^ Lady Members Archived 26 November 2010 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Wright, Arnold, ed. (1907). Twentieth Century Impressions of Ceylon: Its History, People, Commerce, Industries, and Resources. Asian Educational Services. p. 898. ISBN 9788120613355.
- ^ Rajasingham, K. T. (22 September 2001). "Sri Lanka: The Untold Story". Asia Times. Archived from the original on 24 June 2009. Retrieved 1 July 2009.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link) - ^ "Molamure is elected Speaker of First Parliament". Sunday Times. 14 October 2007. Retrieved 1 July 2009.
- ^ "Speakers". Archived from the original on 25 July 2009. Retrieved 1 July 2009.
- ^ RAMBUKPOTHA SENEVIRAJA - Family #3117. Accessed 17 December 2022.
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