Fredrick Richard Senanayake

Fredrick Richard Senanayake (known to as F. R. Senanayake) (October 20, 1882 – January 1, 1926) was a Ceylonesen lawyer and independence activist. A leading member of the Sri Lankan independence movement, he was an elected member of the Colombo Municipal Council. F.R Senanayake, who would go on to lead Sri Lanka's independence movement, becoming a Barrister of independent Sri Lanka in 1947. Early life & education He was born in the village of Botale in the Hapitigam Korale on October 20, 1882, to Don Spater Senanayake (1847–1907) and Dona Catherina Elizabeth Perera Gunasekera Senanayake (1852–1949). Spater Senanayake had made his fortune in graphite mining and at the time he was expanding into plantations and investments in the arrack renting franchise, later he would be awarded the title of Mudaliyar for his philanthropy. F. R. Senanayake had an elder brother, Don Charles "D. C." Senanayake; a younger brother Don Stephen Senanayake and one sister, Maria Frances Senanayake who married F. H. Dias Bandaranaike. Educated at S. Thomas' College, Mount Lavinia, Royal College, Colombo and Downing College, Cambridge, where he gained a BA and an LL.B. degree. Thereafter he became a barrister from the Lincoln's Inn, London in 1905.