Sunday Times 2
Eminent lawyer, outstanding politician and man of valour
It will always be a matter of pride and gratification to the people of Sri Lanka that the struggle for political emancipation was launched, supported and sustained by a long line of patriots. One such pioneer was Charles Edward Victor Senewiratne Corea of “Sinhapura”, Chilaw.
An Advocate of the Supreme Court, Victor Corea was the youngest son of Charles Edward Bandaranaike Corea, a leading Proctor of the Supreme Court and a descendant of Dominicus Corea Edirimanasuriya Vikramasinghe Bandara also known as Edirille Rala. The Coreas settled down in Chilaw towards the end of the Portuguese era in Ceylon.
Charles Edward Bandaranaike Corea was a leading solicitor practising in the Chilaw Bar. He had a young family made up of Charles Edgar, Ernest, Agnes, Evangeline and Victor. He died when Victor was only a year old. The young family of three boys and two girls had to depend on their mother Henrietta, a young widow of 21 for their early educational training.
Entering Royal College C.E. Corea had a brilliant career, passed out as a Proctor of the Supreme Court and joined the Chilaw Bar and soon rose to the top of his profession. As President of the Ceylon National Congress (1924-1925), he led a delegation from the Congress Executive Committee to Jaffna in an endeavour to heal the Sinhalese-Tamil split on the question of reserving a seat for the Tamils in Colombo. It was a mission quite in character with his lifelong role as an uncompromising opponent of communalism.
At S. Thomas’ College Victor Corea was acknowledged as a brilliant debater. He entered Law College and passed out as an Advocate of the Supreme Court.In keeping with family tradition, Victor Corea went out of his way to help the needy and gave his services free of charge to clients who could not afford to pay his fees. His two brothers too did the same.
Victor Corea was proud of his nationality and as a Sinhalese won the hearts of the minority races with his steadfast belief that unity was the key to the country’s progress!
Pro-Sinhala
Although he was proud to be a Sinhalese he was known to treat minority races with utmost respect and regarded every inhabitant as an important member of one country, one land and one family. He was of the firm belief that the Sinhalese, Muslims and Tamils must unite for the country’s progress for the sake of present and future generations. C.E. Corea was the only Sinhalese elected President of the Jaffna Citizens Association.
Victor named his residence “Sinhapura” and set up the infra-structure to fight against anything that was unjustly imposed on the people. The Independence Day Supplement published on February 4, 2013 and 2014 referred to Victor Corea as “a fearless fighter together with his older brother Charles Edgar Corea.
Young Lanka League
Victor Corea was of the firm belief that the youth of his country should be trained to play a significant role in nation building.
He was the founder President of the Young Lanka League and in order to reach out to them he invested a large sum of his personal funds in setting up a printing press that helped to launch the journal Lanka Tharuna Handa and through it created a young force that had the interests of the country foremost in their minds.
During the Sinhalese-Muslim riots Victor Corea fought shoulder to shoulder with his brother for the release of the fighters of the Temperance Movement and fought for the Reform of the Constitution in order that Ceylon could free herself from imperial rule and bondage. Together, the two Corea brothers protected the Muslims in the Chilaw area from the wrath of the embittered Sinhalese. They were widely acknowledged for completely exonerating the people of Chilaw from paying damages which was a penalty imposed on all the citizens of Ceylon.
First President – Ceylon Labour Union – 1920
When A.E. Goonesinha formed the Ceylon Labour Union to fight for the rights of Ceylonese workers he was determined to have a President endowed with courage and the will to give the union a fearless and astute leadership. The popular choice was Victor Corea.
Poll Tax – 1922
As a politician, Victor Corea challenged the might of the British Government when he opposed the iniquitous Poll Tax in 1921. He was arrested and put in jail. The Times of Ceylon carried the following article…
“Fifty years ago today the Tower Hall in Maradana was the scene of an electrifying drama. But Annie Boteju and Marshall Perera were not the star attractions. The occasion was a political meeting. It was the climax of a Day of National Mourning in remembrance of the declaration of Martial Law on June 4, 1915. As this story unfolds, the Speaker on the platform is Mr. C.E. Victor S. Corea….”
Mr. Corea had just come out of jail for he underwent the experience of imprisonment rather than accept the iniquitous Poll Tax. He used the occasion to warn the British that their days in Ceylon were numbered and began by relating his experiences in jail.
Being a man of wealth, he was offered the choice of a European diet or a native diet. Being a patriot he chose the native diet, but the food was so badly prepared that he starved for his first 42 hours in jail. Victor Corea explained to his supporters that if he had chosen the European diet, even in the secrecy of a prison cell, it would have been implied an admission of the inferiority of the Ceylonese and the superiority of the British.
Victor Corea could not betray his countrymen and so he declined the offers of special diet, special clothes and other privileges. He donned the coarse prison garb. Having chosen to be treated like all other prisoners, Victor Corea spent his month in jail beating coconut husks and twisting coir rope. On his second day in jail, the doctor ordered that Victor Corea be given a pound of bread and a little sugar daily. He spurned the sugar as a luxury and lived on a diet of plain bread just as the other prisoners did. At night he could not sleep on the hard bug-infested planks with no pillow. Victor Corea’s determined stand to abolish the Poll Tax created such a sensation and gained so much of support from the common masses that the Government decided to release him from jail and abolish the Poll Tax.
Although a Christian, it was Victor Corea who rose against the orders sent out to the Diyawadana Nilame by the Government Agent, Kandy, a Britisher, to stop forthwith the beating of Hewisi in the Dalada Maligawa because it was a nuisance to his wife. Victor Corea asked the G.A. to remove his wife to any place he liked – that the Hewisi in the Maligawa must continue in accordance with tradition. If the Diyawadana Nilame was not prepared to continue the beating of Hewisi, he vowed that he would come to the Maligawa and beat the Hewisi himself. Since Victor Corea, by that time was known to be a man of action, the G.A. withdrew his order, fearing that there would be unrest in the country. The beating of Hewisi has continued ever since.
Legislative Council of Ceylon – 1924
Victor Corea contested E.W. Jayewardene (a relative) in 1924 for the Colombo North seat in the Legislative Council of Ceylon and was able to defeat him by an overwhelming majority.
He was a founder member of the Ceylon National Congress along with his brother C.E. Corea, E.W. Perera, Sir Ponnambalam Ramanathan, Sir P. Arunachalam, Francis De Zoysa and others. It was the greatest political force in the country at the time, inspired by its counterpart in India, the Indian National Congress.
Mahatma Gandhi’s tribute
Mahatma Gandhi, before visiting Ceylon in 1927 accepted an invitation from the two Corea brothers, C.E. Corea and Victor Corea to be their guest at “Sigiriya”, a stately residence that belonged to the Corea family in Chilaw. At a lavish banquet given by the Corea brothers in his honour, Gandhi, paying a glowing tribute to Victor Corea presented him with a 15″ x 20″ coloured poster captioned ‘Fighters for swaraj’ in which all the Indian patriots were individually featured. What was unique in this poster was that Victor Corea’s photograph was included along with India’s freedom fighters, in appreciation of the campaign he had launched in Ceylon.
Religious amity
Good judgment based on fairness was the hallmark of Victor Corea’s character. Although a Christian, he played a major part in promoting religious harmony. He was responsible for the construction of a Buddhist temple and pirivena in Chilaw and in addition obtained from the British government the site for the Buddhist shrine in Fort. He was by tradition closely associated with the Munneswaram Temple and also handled its legal affairs, free of charge. The Bishop of Chilaw, Rt. Rev. Edmund Peiris also consulted Victor Corea whenever he needed advice on legal matters.
Villagers turn to Victor Corea
The villagers of Merawela in Chilaw earned their living through the limestone business. Without any warning the business was vested with the British government. The seniors marched to “Sinhapura” and pleaded for Victor Corea’s intervention. Being well known to be the Champion of the Common Man he fought his way and forced the government to cancel the move.
After he passed away, C.P. de Silva (Leader of the House) moving a vote of condolence in Parliament said, “The late Mr. Corea was a veteran politician and statesman who was in the forefront of the political struggles of the day. He was a pioneer in the field of politics, particularly as President of the Young Lanka League and in the campaign against government taxation. He was popular and won the love and goodwill of all.”
Speaker R.S. Pelpola representing Prime Minister Sirimavo. Bandaranaike at the funeral at the Chilaw cemetery said, “Chilaw had the distinction of producing two stars who brought honour and fame to their hometown. They were the two brothers, Victor Corea and C.E. Corea. The whole country is indebted to them for their relentless fight for our country’s independence.”