- Queen Elizabeth II
Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary Windsor; born 21 April 1926) is Queen of sixteen sovereign states, holding each crown and title equally. However, she is more directly involved with the United Kingdom, where the Royal Family resides, and the Monarchy is historically indigenous. Apart from the United Kingdom, Elizabeth II is also Queen of Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Jamaica, Barbados, the Bahamas, Grenada, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, Saint Lucia, … - Sarah Jane Ceylon
Sarah Jane Ceylon (born July 22, 1982), is an American fetish and bondage model. - Lakshman Kadirgamar
Sri Lankabhimanya Hon. Lakshman Kadirgamar PC (April 12, 1932 - August 12, 2005) was a Sri Lankan politician. After a distinguished career as a lawyer and international humanitarian, he was appointed as foreign minister of Sri Lanka in 1994 by President Chandrika Kumaratunga. He achieved international prominence in this position due his wide ranging condemnation of the LTTE and his efforts to have then banned internationally. - Mahinda
Mahinda was a Buddhist monk who brought Buddhism to Ceylon (now Sri Lanka). He was the son of Emperor Ashoka and Devi of the Mauryan empire, who after conquering the subcontintent, had embraced Buddha's teachings. Mahinda grew up at Vidisha, the residance of his mother and became a monk at the age of 20 with Moggaliputta-Tissa, his father's spiritual teacher, guiding him and was well-versed with the Tripitaka. - Robert Knox
Robert Knox (1641-1720) was an English sea captain in the service of the British East India Company. He was the son of another sea captain, also called Robert Knox. The two Knoxes were driven ashore on Ceylon, now Sri Lanka in a storm in 1659 while on their way home from Fort St George (now Madras). They were captured in the name of the King of Kandy near Mooduthora (Mutur), Trincomalee along with 17 other members of the crew by the Sultan of Ceylon, … - Solomon Bandaranaike
Solomon West Ridgeway Dias Bandaranaike was the fourth Prime Minister (1956-1959) of Ceylon (later Sri Lanka). He was the husband of Sirimavo Bandaranaike, who became the first female prime minister in the world following his assassination. He was father of Chandrika Kumaratunga, who was subsequently Prime Minister and President of Sri Lanka; Sunethra Bandaranaike and Anura Bandaranaike. - Samuel Baker
Sir Samuel White Baker (8 June 1821 - 30 December, 1893) was an English explorer. - George Smith
George Smith (19 June 1815 - 14 December 1871) was a missionary in China and the Anglican bishop of Victoria (Hong Kong) from 1849 to 1865, the first of this newly established diocese. Smith was born in Wellington, Somerset on 19 June 1815. He obtained a BA in classics from Oxford in 1837 (and an MA in 1843 and DD in 1849) and was ordained as a deacon in 1839 and a priest in 1840. - Vernon Corea
Vernon Corea was a pioneer radio broadcaster with 45 years of public service broadcasting both in Sri Lanka and the UK. He joined Radio Ceylon, South Asia's oldest radio station, in 1957 and later the Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation. During his time he presented some of the most popular radio shows in South Asia, including "the Maliban Show", "Dial-a-Disc", "Holiday Choice", "Two For the Money", and "Old Folks at Home". - Joseph Vaz
Blessed Joseph Vaz (April 21, 1651 at Benaulim - January 16, 1711, Kandy) was a Catholic Jesuit priest from Goa. He is known as "Apostle of Ceylon". He arrived in Sri Lanka at a time of strong Calvinistic propaganda going on in the island, and the Catholic religion proscribed and under persecution. He traveled through out the island and preached to Catholics. He rebuilt many churches. - Walpola Rahula
The venerable Prof Walpola Sri Rahula Maha Thera (1907-1997) was a Buddhist monk, scholar and writer. He is considered to be one of the top Sri Lankan intellectuals in the 20th century. In 1964, he became the Professor of History and Religions at Northwestern University, thus becoming the first bhikkhu to hold a professorial chair in the western world. - James Emerson Tennent
Sir James Emerson Tennent, 1st Baronet (7 April 1804-6 March 1869), born James Emerson, was an English politician and traveller. The third son of William Emerson, a merchant of Belfast, he was born there in 1804. He was educated at Trinity College, Dublin, of which he afterwards became LL.D. He took up the cause of Greek independence, and travelled in Greece, publishing a "Picture of Greece" (1826), "Letters from the Aegean" (1829), … - Clement Attlee
Clement Richard Attlee, 1st Earl Attlee, KG, OM, CH, PC (3 January 1883 - 8 October 1967) was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland from 1945 to 1951. The Labour Party under Attlee won a landslide election victory over Winston Churchill immediately after Churchill had led Britain through World War II. He was the first Labour Prime Minister to serve a full Parliamentary term and the first to have a majority in Parliament. - Ponnambalam Ramanathan
Sir Ponnambalam Ramanathan was a tamil political leader of Ceylon. He was the founder of Uduvil Ramanathan Girls College and Parameshwara College of Jaffna which was formed as the University of Jaffna later. He was the brother of Sir Ponnambalam Arunachalam.He was born on 15th April 1851, and died on 30th November 1930. - Ameer Ali
Ameer Ali is the ex-President of the Australian Federation of Islamic Councils, an umbrella group for various Islamic groups or councils in Australia. In 2006, he was the chairman of the Australian Muslim Community Reference Group, which was an advisory body to the federal government from mid 2005 to mid 2006. Ali was educated at the University of Ceylon in Sri Lanka, the London School of Economics, … - Faxian
Faxian (also romanized as "Fa-Hien" or "Fa-hsien") (ca. 337 - ca. 422) was a Chinese Buddhist monk, who, between 399 and 412 travelled to India and Sri Lanka to bring Buddhist scriptures. His journey is described in his work "A Record of Buddhistic Kingdoms, Being an Account by the Chinese Monk Fa-Hien of his Travels in India and Ceylon in Search of the Buddhist Books of Discipline". - Ivor Jennings
Sir William Ivor Jennings, KBE, (May 16, 1903 - December 19, 1965) educated at Bristol Grammar School, was a British lawyer, and educator who went to Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) in 1942 with a mandate to create a university for that land, then a Crown colony. The institution, on the model of Oxbridge, was dubbed the University of Ceylon and was first established in Colombo, the capital city, then transferred in 1952 to a purpose-built campus in Peradeniya. - Ponnambalam Arunachalam
Sir Ponnambalam Arunachchalam CCS (September 14, 1853- January 9, 1924) was a tamil political leader of Ceylon. - Sir Edward Barnes
Sir Edward Barnes (1776-1838), British soldier who became governor of Ceylon. Barnes joined the 47th Regiment of Foot in 1792, and quickly rose to field rank. He was promoted to lieutenant-colonel in 1807, and colonel in 1810, and two years later went to the Peninsula to serve on Wellington's staff. His services in this capacity gained him further promotion, and as a major-general he led a brigade at Vittoria and in the Pyrenean battles. - James Stuart
James Stuart, general, frequently confounded with another general of that name (→James Stuart (d. 1793)), was the third son of John Stuart of Blairhall in Perthshire, by his wife Anne, daughter of Francis, earl of Murray, and was born at Blairhall on 2 March 1741. He was educated at the schools of Culross and Dunfermline. In 1757 he proceeded to Edinburgh to study law, but, abandoning the project, entered the army, and served in the American war of independence. - Duncan White
Duncan White (March 1, 1918, Lathpandura - Jul 3 1998, Warwickshire) was the first Sri Lankan athlete to win a medal for his country in an Olympic event. He won a silver in the 400-metre hurdles at the 1948 Summer Olympics in London, England. White was born on March 1, 1918 in Lathpandura near Kalutara, in the then British-ruled Ceylon, the second of four children of John Bernard White and Cecilia Hawk White. - Walter Mondale
Walter F. Mondale 's record of public service includes: vice president of the United States, U.S. ambassador to Japan, and U.S. senator and attorney general for the State of Minnesota. He was also the Democratic Party's nominee for U.S. president in 1984. He is currently a partner with the law firm of Dorsey & Whitney LLP, headquartered in Minneapolis with 16 offices worldwide. He serves as chair of the firm's Asia Law Practice Group. - Robert Brownrigg
Sir Robert Brownrigg, 1st Baronet GCB (1759 (Ireland)-27 April 1833 near Monmouth) was a British statesman and soldier. He was appointed Military Secretary to the Duke of York in 1795, and accompanied him to Holland in 1799. In July 1809, he was Quartermaster general in the expedition to the Schelt. In 1813, he was appointed Governor of Ceylon, and held the position until 1820. In 1815, he conquered the kingdom of Kandy, in the interior of the island, … - Edward Harper
Edward Harper was an engineer who travelled to Colombo in 1921 to work in the Ceylon Telegraph Department. Harper was appointed Chief Engineer. He had an innovative mind and his passion was broadcasting. - John Davy
John Davy (1790-1868) was a British doctor and amateur chemist, and brother of the noted chemist Sir Humphry Davy, and cousin of Edmund Davy. John Davy was born in Penzance, Cornwall. He assisted his older brother Humphry at the Royal Institution of Great Britain for two years before heading to Edinburgh University, where he earned his degree in medicine in 1814. Davy is perhaps most noted for his discovery of phosgene in 1812, and which name he coined. - James Lancaster
Sir James Lancaster (1554(?)-May 1618) was an English navigator, statesman, and pioneer of the British Indian trade and empire. In his early life, he fought and traded in Portugal. On the 10th of April 1591 he started from Plymouth, with Raymond and Foxcroft, on his first great voyage to the East Indies; this fleet of three ships is the earliest of English oversea Indian expeditions. - Lourenço de Almeida
Lourenço de Almeida (died 1508), son of Francisco de Almeida, acting under him, distinguished himself in the Indian seas, and made Ceylon tributary to Portugal. He made the first Portuguese voyage to that Sri Lanka in 1505 and established the settlement there. He fell in a naval act off Calicut. - Ma Huan
Ma Huan, courtesy name Chung-dao 宗道, pen name Mountain-woodcutter, born in Hui Ji county of Zhejiang province. He was a Muslim voyager and translator who accompanied Admiral Zheng He on three of his seven expeditions to the Western Oceans. In the 1413 expedition (the 3rd), he visited Champa, Java, Sumatra, Palembang, Siam, Kochi and Hormuz. In the 1421 expedition, he visited Malacca, Aru, Sumatra, Ceylon, Kochi, Calicut, … - Marianne North
Marianne North (October 24, 1830 - August 30, 1890), English naturalist and flower-painter, was born at Hastings, the eldest daughter of a Norfolk landowner, descended from Roger North. She trained as a vocalist under Madame Sainton-Dolby, but her voice failed, and she then devoted herself to painting flowers. After the death of her mother in 1855 she constantly travelled with her father, … - Leonard Birchall
Air Commodore Leonard Joseph Birchall, CM, OBE, DFC, O.Ont, CD (July 6, 1915 - September 10, 2004), "The Saviour of Ceylon" Leonard Joseph Birchall was born on July 6, 1915, in St. Catharines, Ontario. He graduated from the Royal Military College of Canada in Kingston, Ontario, student #2364 in 1933. After serving in the Royal Canadian Corps of Signals he joined the Royal Canadian Air Force in 1937 to train as a pilot. - Austen Henry Layard
The Right Honourable Sir Austen Henry Layard (pronounced 'laird', not, as now commonly, 'lay-ard') (5 March, 1817 - 5 July, 1894) was a British traveller, archaeologist, cuneiformist, art historian, draughtsman, collector, author and diplomatist, best known as the excavator of Nimrud. He was born in Paris. The Layards were of Huguenot descent. His father, Henry PJ Layard, of the Ceylon Civil Service, was the son of Charles Peter Layard, dean of Bristol, … - Susantha Ratnayake
Susantha Chaminda Ratnayake ia Sri Lankan businessman. At age 47, he became the youngest-ever Chairman of Sri Lanka's foremost conglomerate, John Keells Holdings, when he succeeded Vivendra Lintotawela on January 1, 2006. Ratnayake studied at Trinity College, Kandy, until he finished his O levels and finished his secondary education at Royal College, Colombo. - Clements Markham
Sir Clements Robert Markham KCB FRS (20 July 1830 - 30 January 1916) was a British explorer, author and geographer. As President of the Royal Geographical Society in the late nineteenth century, Markham was instrumental in financing British exploration of the polar areas. His attempts to have the British be the first to reach the poles, however, ultimately ended in failure. - Nury Vittachi
Nury Vittachi (born 2 October 1958 in Ceylon) is an Asian author and journalist. One of his most well known works is the comedy-crime novel series The Feng Shui Detective, which has been translated into French, German, Portguese, Italian, Indonesian and other languages. He has had regular slots in more than a dozen publications, and several television channels. He is also noted for playing a key role in founding the Asia Literary Review, … - Neville Jayaweera
Neville Jayaweera is a distinguished civil servant of Sri Lanka. He was handpicked by the Prime Minister of Ceylon, Dudley Senanayake and the Minister of Broadcasting, Ranasinghe Premadasa to be both Chairman and Director-General of the Ceylon Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) in 1967. Under his leadership the brand name of the Ceylon Broadcasting Corporation was strengthened. - Ivan Corea
Reverend Canon Ivan Corea was a highly respected clergyman of the Church of Ceylon. Born in Chilaw, Ceylon, he was the son of Dr. James Ernest Corea. Canon Corea was appointed Rural Dean of Colombo, for the Church of Ceylon. He was Vicar of St.Luke's Church Borella for over 25 years. Canon Ivan Corea and his wife Ouida Corea, … - Nicolas Bouvier
Nicolas Bouvier (March 6, 1929 - February 17 1998) was a 20th-century Swiss traveller and writer as well as an iconograph and photographer. His travels all over the world incited him to recount his experiences and adventures, the most famous works being "L'Usage du monde" and "Le Poisson-scorpion". His work is marked by a commitment to report what he sees and feels, shorn of any pretence of omniscience, leading often to an intimacy bordering on the mystical. - Medhankara
Medhankara is the name of several distinguished members, in medieval times, of the Buddhist order. The oldest flourished about A.D. 1200, and was the author of the "Vinaya Artha Samuccaya", a work in the Sinhalese language on Buddhist Canon law. Next after him came Arannaka Medhankara, who presided over the Buddhist council held at Polonnaruwa, then the capital of Ceylon/Sri Lanka, in 1250. - Henry Monck-Mason Moore
Sir Henry Monck-Mason Moore, GCMG, (born 1887), was British Governor of Sierra Leone, Kenya and Ceylon. The son of Rev. Edward William Moore, he was educated at King's College School and Jesus College, Cambridge, graduating in 1909. He married Daphne, daughter of William John Benson in 1921. In World War I, he was a Lieutenant in the Royal Garrison Artillery based in Salonika from 1916 to 1919. After serving as Governor of Sierra Leone from 1934 to 1937, … - Lokanatha
The Venerable Lokanatha (1897-May 25, 1966) was an Italian Buddhist missionary. Lokanatha was born in Italy in 1897 in the celebrated family of Cioffi and given the name of Salvatore, meaning the Savior. Brought up in an atmosphere of talented culture, he had his education in New York in Columbia University, from where he had his B.Sc. degree in 1922. He also worked at Cooper Institute and attended to biological and medical research at the Rockefeller University.
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