Christopher Allan Hector Perera Jayawardena


Christopher Allan Hector Perera Jayawardena was a Ceylonese forest conservator and volunteer officer. He was a Senior Assistant Conservator of Forests and Aide-de-camp to the Governor-General.

Public service

Having graduated from the University of Oxford, with a MA, Jayawardena joined the Forest Department as an Assistant Conservator of Forests. He became the Senior Assistant Conservator of Forests before his retirement in 1949. He was a Justice of the peace for the western province.

Military service

Jayawardena was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the Ceylon Light Infantry, as a volunteer officer in the Ceylon Defense Force in 1925. He was mobilized for war service during World War 2, with the rank of Lieutenant Colonel. With the formation of the Ceylon Army in 1949, he transferred to the Ceylon Volunteer Force Reserve with the rank of Colonel and was appointed extra Aide-de-camp to the Governor-General in 1950, holding the appointment till 1959. He served as the commanding officer of the Home Guard Regiment when it was formed in 1955. On his retirement from the army in 1959, he was promoted to the honorary rank of Brigadier, the first volunteer officer to be promoted to the rank.

Honors

He was awarded the Efficiency Decoration, appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire, an Officer of the Order of St John, a Member of the Royal Victorian Order in 1954 and Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George in the 1956 New Year Honours.

Family

He married to Sylvia Dorothy Samarasinghe.