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He was the Governor of the Central Bank of Ceylon. Born to a peasant family in the village of Musnewa, Anuradhapura District. His father was Dissanayake Mudiyanselage Kirihamige Tikiri Banda, a paddy farmer and his mother was Wijekoone Mudiyanselage Ranmenika. He was the second child of three children, born on 28 August 1937.
With Ceylon gaining self-rule and dominion status with the creation of Dominion of Ceylon in 1948, this office was replaced by the Governor-General, who represented the British monarch as the head of state. The office of Governor-General was itself abolished in 1972 and replaced by the post of President when Sri Lanka became a republic.
Upon Ceylon's independence, he was asked to become the first Ceylonese Governor General (representative of the King in Ceylon, i.e. de facto head of state), an honour he declined for personal reasons. [4] De Silva was at the pinnacle of upper-class society and, as the wealthiest Ceylonese of his generation, he defined the island's ruling class.
In 1986, he returned to the Central Bank as its Deputy Governor and was later appointed Secretary to the Ministry of Industries, Scientific Affairs. In 1994, he was appointed Chairman of the Bank of Ceylon and shortly took over as Secretary of the Treasury, a post he would hold until 1995. In 1998, he was appointed Governor of the Central Bank ...
From 1948 to 1972, under the Ceylon Independence Act 1947 (11 & 12 Geo. 6. c. 7), the monarch the served as the Head of state of Sri Lanka (then known as Ceylon), and was represented in the country by a governor-general. Ceylon became a republic under the Constitution of 1972, and the monarch was replaced by a ceremonial president.
Real legislative and executive responsibilities rested with the elected representatives of the people. During several periods when a state of emergency was declared the governor-general used his reserved powers. In the absence of the governor-general, the chief justice of Ceylon became acting governor-general.
Bank of Ceylon (BOC) was founded in 1939, with Sir Ernest de Silva as its first chairman. At the time, Ceylon was a British colony and the then governor Sir Andrew Caldecott ceremoniously opened the bank on 1 August. The British government introduced the banking arm for its government-oriented businesses.
William Gopallawa MBE (Sinhala: විලියම් ගොපල්ලව, Tamil: வில்லியம் கோப்பல்லாவ; 17 September 1896 – 31 January 1981) was the last Governor-General of Ceylon from 1962 to 1972 and the first and only non-executive President of Sri Lanka from 1972 to 1978, when Ceylon declared itself a republic and changed its name to Sri Lanka.