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Fredrick de Silva | |
|---|---|
| Ceylon Ambassador to France and UNESCO | |
| Member of theCeylon Parliament forKandy | |
| In office 1954–1956 | |
| Preceded by | E. L. Senanayake |
| Succeeded by | Piyasena Tennakoon |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Edmund Fredrick Lorenz de Silva 1912 (1912) |
| Died | 1993 (aged 80–81) |
| Nationality | Ceylonese |
| Political party | United National Party |
| Children | Sir Desmond de Silva QC |
| Profession | Barrister |
Edmund Fredrick Lorenz de Silva,MBE (1912–1993) was a Ceylonese lawyer and politician. He was theMayor of Kandy, Member ofParliament and Sri Lanka's Ambassador to France.[1]
Born toGeorge E. de Silva, a prominent proctor and legislator, he was educated at Hillwood Girls' School (Hillwood College, Kandy);Trinity College, Kandy andS. Thomas' College, Mount Lavinia, where he was classmates withDudley Senanayake. He returned to Trinity College for his final year. In 1931, he won the Open Law Scholarship toCeylon Law College and became aproctor in 1935 and started his practice at his father's firm De Silva & Karunaratne. In 1950, he became anadvocate and was called to bar at theGray's Inn in 1959 as abarrister. He also played rugby union for theCeylonese Rugby & Football Club and theKandy Sports Club and was the president of the KandyYMCA.
De Silva, joined his father when he was elected to theKandy Municipal Council in 1939 and was electedMayor of Kandy in 1947. His father who was the first Minister of Industries, lost his parliamentary seat less a year into his tenure due to anelection petition filed by his rivalT.B. Illangaratne, which stripped his father of his civic rights. In theby-election that followed, Fredrick de Silva contested from theUnited National Party and lost to Illangaratne. He was appointed aMember of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) for his social services during the 1947 floods in the1952 Birthday Honours. Contesting the by-election in 1954 for theKandy electorate as an independent, de Silva was elected the Member of Parliament and held the post till 1956.
From 1968 to 1971 he served as Ceylon's ambassador to France and was the head of Sri Lanka's delegation toUNESCO from 1968 to 1971. He was elected to the governing body (executive board) of the UNESCO. He was thechancellor of the University of Peradeniya from 1990 to 1993.
His son isSirDesmond de Silva, former United Nations chief war crimes prosecutor in Sierra Leone.
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