Background
She was born in the coastal town of Nalluruwa, Panadura to an old aristocratic family. Her father was Pattinihennadige Warnadeepthia Kurukulasuriya Salaman Rodrigo and her mother was Mahawaduge Madalena Perera.
She was born in the coastal town of Nalluruwa, Panadura to an old aristocratic family. Her father was Pattinihennadige Warnadeepthia Kurukulasuriya Salaman Rodrigo and her mother was Mahawaduge Madalena Perera.
She was the third in a family of seven girls and two boys. They were proprietors of coconut property, distillers, renters and exporters of arrack, one of the few avenues open to natives for growth and enterprise during the early colonial period. They were also pioneers in the rubber and the hotel industry.
They had eight children.
Harry, Lillian, Arthur Vincent, Edmund Wilson, Adeline, Ellen, Rosalind and Charles. What is not quite so famous is that the Weslyan chapel was also built by the Rodrigo family and Mathaes Swaris Rodrigo Goonewardane, the churchwarden on whose land the church was built invited the parties for a debate.
In 1917, she established Visakha Vidyalaya, Colombo. The funds for setting up the school were derived from the profits from a rubber estate in Matugama: Good Hope Estate.
Rs 100,000 was put on trust to set up the school, Rs 50,000 to acquire land and the remaining Rs 50,000 was to be used for its upkeep.
The family also gifted the Kethumathi Maternity Hospital, Panadura. She was a former President of the Panadura Association and a chief patron-custodian of the Rankot Viharaya, Panadura and Vajiraramaya, Bambalapitiya. The innumerable religious and social service activities initiated by her have helped a large number of organizations to fulfill their objectives.
She is widely regarded as the pioneer lady/female entrepreneur and philanthropist of the island.
She died on March 26, 1933. She is a grandaunt of Mahesh Rodrigo and Aravinda de Silva.
