F. R. Senanayake: Professional duty above family or social obligation

Illustrious older brother of Ceylon’s first Prime Minister, D. S. Senanayake, F. R. Senanayake was born on the 22nd of October, 1882. As a matter of fact, D. S. rode into politics on the immaculate reputation of brother F. R., though D. S. proved his own mettle later.

Here are a few not so well-known stories about F.R., who may be referred to as the Honest Abe (after Abraham Lincoln of America) of Sri Lanka, when honesty in public life today is conspicuous by its absence.

One morning, a villager of Halgampitiya, in the Siyane Korale, was rudely awakened to find that, of all creatures, a camel, had got into his vegetable plot and was wrecking it.

The angry and frightened villager took his gun and shot at the strange animal, inuring it.

The animal had escaped from the private zoo at Horagolla Waluwwa, whose laird at the time was the formidable Sir Solomon Dias Bandaranaike, and Sir Solomon filed action against the hapless villager in the Magistrate’s Court of Gampaha.

The poor villager desperately sought legal assistance, but no member of the Gampaha Bar was willing to appear for him, for they feared to incur the wrath of the great and powerful Sir Solomon. He rushed frantically to Colombo, but there too he failed, for even the Colombo lawyers fought shy of antagonising the Maha Mudhyar.

F. R. Senanayake had just returned to Ceylon after qualifying as a Barrister-at-Law in England, and the helpless villager’s predicament came to his ears. He promptly sent for the man, and said he would appear for him and the story goes that he waived his fee, for all his life, justice and fair play was more important to F. R. Senanayake than all the money in the world. He appeared for the villager and got him acquitted.

On an earlier occasion, when he was still a fledgling advocate, F. R. was assigned to appear for an accused in a murder case that was to be heard in the Assize court of Colombo. The case was taken up on the exact day of F. R’s only sister’s wedding, and F.R., who had left home early that morning for court, was able to come back only after the wedding ceremony was over. To him, his professional duty was far more sacred than any family or social obligation.

When F. R. was called to the Bar in England, his name was proposed by none other than the Lord Chief Justice of England, Lord Alverstone, whom F.R. knew very well as His Lordship’s son had been with him at Cambridge.

On his return home, as a gesture of gratitude, F.R. named his newly built house at Nuwara Eliya ‘Alverstone’ in his sponsor’s honour.

Before long F.R. Senanayake joined the select band of England-educated Barristers like D.R. Wijewardene, A. Mahadeva, E.T. de Silva and so on; men who sacrificed their professional practice and the vast wealth they could have made from it, to devote their lives (and their money), to win freedom for their country. But even among these peerless men, F. R. was the outstanding figure.

Sinhala newspapers of the time referred to F.R. as ‘Desabandu’, a lover of his country. On his death, on the 1st of January, 1926, some newspapers in India referred to him as ‘Ceylon’s Gandhi’, and indeed, it wasn’t inapt, for there were many similarities between the two great men.

Soon after his death, a statue of the dead patriot was erected beside Victoria Park (today Viharamahadevi Park), with the then Governor. Sir Herbert Stanly presiding over the unveiling ceremony. And even today, 94 years after his death, a grateful people pay homage to one of the greatest Sri Lankans ever.