Dudley Shelton Senanayake; 19 June 1911 – 13 April 1973now Sri Lanka.
Background
Dudley was born on 19 June 1911 as the eldest son to Molly Dunuwila and Don Stephen Senanayake, who would become the first Prime Minister of Ceylon and found the United National Party which is still one of the main political parties in Sri Lanka and of which Dudley would become a lifelong member.
Career
Dudley received his secondary education at the prestigious South. Thomas" College, where he excelled in his studies and sports. He became the Head Prefect, captained the college team at cricket at the Royal-Thomian and gained colours in Hockey, Boxing and Athletics. Senanayake then went on to Corpus Christi College, Cambridge to read for Natural Science Tripos and later was admitted to Middle Temple as a Barrister.
He succeeding his father as Minister of Agriculture in 1946 and held the post after Independence.
He was still serving as agriculture minister when his father died unexpectedly. The government became unpopular a year later, in 1953, when the price of rice was raised and subsidies were cut.
Though the UNP remained in power, Senanayake resigned as prime minister during the Hartal 1953 and left politics. He became the leader of the opposition and help force early elections in 1965 by persuading 14 supporters of Prime Minister Sirimavo Bandaranaike to defect.
Senanayake served his longest term as prime minister from March 1965 to May 1970.
His government has been credited with restoring the Sri Lankan economy. He and his allies were defeated in the 1970 elections. He remained active in politics until his death, which occurred after a long illness on 13 April 1973.
Politics
He returned to politics in 1957 when the UNP lost elections. His government originally consisted of six other parties and included both Tamil and Sinhalese nationalists.
Membership
After returning to Ceylon, Dudley was elected a member of the State Council while his father was Minister of Agriculture and served as a back-bencher for 10 years.