Thomas Amarasuriya was born on 17 June 1907 at Amaragiri Walauwa to the wealthy Amarasuriya family in Unawatuna, Galle. His father Henry Mahendrapala Amarasuriya was a proprietor, shipping merchant and an independence activist. His mother was Caroline de Silva.
Amarasuriya attended Mahinda College, Galle, his grandfather being one of its founders, and later joined Ananda College. He studied agriculture at Wye College, England and took over the management of some of the extensive plantations of his parents.
At Ananda he played soccer and tennis for the school and was a leading light in the debating team The Amarasuriya"s were pioneers of low country tea. During this period he was instrumental in moving for the establishment in 1939 of a Vagrants Home in Galle.
In 1942 Amarasuriya became the Vice President of the Moratuwa Maha Jana Sabha.
He allocated funds for extension work to the Princess Louise Hospital that had been gifted by Sir Charles Henry de Soysa. On 5 November 1963 he was unanimously elected President of the Senate which post he held till his retirement in 1965.
In 1956 the Planters Association of Ceylon broke a 102-year-old tradition to elect Senator Thomas Amarasuriya as the first Ceylonese Chairman. He died on 5 May 1979 at the age of 72.
From 1932 he took to politics and was elected to the Galle Municipal Council which he served for 10 years. Earlier a member of the United National Party, Senator Amarasuriya resigned from that party in 1959 and joined the Sri Lanka Freedom Party and late Mr. South. West. R. Doctorate. Bandaranaike.
He was a member of the State Council of Ceylon and President of the Senate of Ceylon. He was a member of the Executive Committee of the Ceylonese Merchants Chamber and of the Lanka Mahajana Sabha. He was a Member of the board of management of the Galle Industrial Institute and the President of the YMBA and also a member of the Friend-in-Need Society, Galle.
In 1953 he was elected a member of the Senate of Ceylon.
