1948 in Sri Lanka

* 1947
* 1946
* 1945
*   *

|  | 1948

Sri Lanka |

* 1949
* 1950
* 1951
*   *

|
|
|

Decades:|

*   *   * 1940s
*   *

See also:|

* Other events of 1948
* Timeline of Sri Lankan history

The following lists notable events that took place during 1948 in Sri Lanka. 1948 saw Sri Lanka, then known as British Ceylon, regain its independence from the British Empire, thus establishing the Dominion of Ceylon.

## Incumbents

[edit]

### British Ceylon (until 4 February)

[edit]

Main article: British Ceylon

* Governor
Henry Monck-Mason Moore (Until 4 February)

* Prime Minister
D. S. Senanayake

* Speaker of the Parliament
Alexander Francis Molamure

* Chief Justice
John Curtois Howard

* Leader of the Opposition
N. M. Perera

### Dominion of Ceylon (from 4 February)

[edit]

Main article: Dominion of Ceylon

* Governor-General
Henry Monck-Mason Moore (from 4 February)

* Prime Minister
D. S. Senanayake

* Speaker of the Parliament
Alexander Francis Molamure

* Leader of the Opposition
N. M. Perera

## Events

[edit]

### February

[edit]

* 4 February – British Ceylon is disestablished as Sri Lanka gains its independence as the Dominion of Ceylon.
* 23 February – The film Kapati Arakshakaya is released.

### March

[edit]

* 19 March – The Australian cricket team stops by in Ceylon, en route to England during their 1948 tour of England, where they played a one-day single-innings match—not limited overs—against the Ceylon national team at the Colombo Oval.[1][2][3]

### May

[edit]

* 22 May – The film Divya Premaya is released.

### June

[edit]

* 4 July – Several Ceylonese individuals are included in the list of British 1948 Birthday Honours.

### July

[edit]

* 29 July–14 August – Ceylon competes in the 1948 Summer Olympics for the first time in London, sending 7 athletes.
* 31 July – Ceylonese athlete Duncan White wins the silver medal in the Men's 400 metres hurdles, becoming the first Ceylonese athlete to win an Olympic medal.

### August

[edit]

* 20 August – The controversial Ceylon Citizenship Act is passed in parliarment.[4]

### November

[edit]

* 15 November – The Ceylon Citizenship Act becomes law, qualifying only about 5,000 Indian Tamils for citizenship. More than 700,000 people, about 11% of the population, are denied citizenship and rendered stateless.[5]

### December

[edit]

* 3 December – The film Veradunu Kurumanama is released.

## Births

[edit]

Lakshman Kiriella

Nirj Deva

Rukman Senanayake

Suminda Sirisena

### February

[edit]

* 2 February – Lakshman Kiriella, lawyer, politician
* 21 February – Sumana Amarasinghe, actress (d. 2022)

### April

[edit]

* 13 April – Arul Pragasam, activist, rebel (d. 2019)
* 24 April – Gangodawila Soma Thero, Buddhist monk (d. 2003)

### May

[edit]

* 11 May – Nirj Deva, Sri Lankan-British politician[6]

### June

[edit]

* 8 June – D. A. M. R. Samarasekara, admiral
* 12 June – Jayalath Manoratne, actor (d. 2020)
* 21 June – Rukman Senanayake, politician

### July

[edit]

* 4 July
* Wimal Kumara de Costa, actor (d. 2016)
* Suminda Sirisena, actor (d. 2023)
* 11 July – Duleep De Chickera, Anglican Bishop of Colombo
* 17 July – Cletus Mendis, actor
* 22 July – Chandran Rutnam, filmmaker, entrepreneur
* 24 July – K. Sri Dhammaratana, Buddhist monk

### October

[edit]

* 23 October – M. H. M. Ashraff, lawyer, politician, founder and leader of the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (d. 2000)

### Unknown date

[edit]

* Sabaratnam Arulkumaran, physician
* Maru Sira, criminal (d. 1975)

## Deaths

[edit]

* 6 February – Bernard Henry Bourdillon, 64, British colonial administrator (b. 1883)

## References

[edit]

1. ^ Donaldson, Michael (3 October 2002). "Jailbirds swell crowd at Colombo Test". ESPNcricinfo. Australian Associated Press. Retrieved 2020-12-19.
2. ^ "The Don's Island connection - Indian Express". Indian Express. 24 July 2010. Retrieved 2020-12-19.
3. ^ "Ceylon v Australians". CricketArchive. Retrieved 1 October 2009.
4. ^ Ethnic Conflict of Sri Lanka: Time Line - From Independence to 1999 Archived 2009-12-12 at the Wayback Machine, International Centre for Ethnic Studies
5. ^ Ethnic Conflict of Sri Lanka: Time Line - From Independence to 1999 Archived 2009-12-12 at the Wayback Machine, International Centre for Ethnic Studies
6. ^ "Sri Lankan History". OnThisDay.com.

* v
* t
* e

Years in Sri Lanka

British Ceylon period (1815–1948)

* 1815
* 1816
* 1817
* 1818
* 1819
* 1820
* 1821
* 1822
* 1823
* 1824
* 1825
* 1826
* 1827
* 1828
* 1829
* 1830
* 1831
* 1832
* 1833
* 1834
* 1835
* 1836
* 1837
* 1838
* 1839
* 1840
* 1841
* 1842
* 1843
* 1844
* 1845
* 1846
* 1847
* 1848
* 1849
* 1850
* 1851
* 1852
* 1853
* 1854
* 1855
* 1856
* 1857
* 1858
* 1859
* 1860
* 1861
* 1862
* 1863
* 1864
* 1865
* 1866
* 1867
* 1868
* 1869
* 1870
* 1871
* 1872
* 1873
* 1874
* 1875
* 1876
* 1877
* 1878
* 1879
* 1880
* 1881
* 1882
* 1883
* 1884
* 1885
* 1886
* 1887
* 1888
* 1889
* 1890
* 1891
* 1892
* 1893
* 1894
* 1895
* 1896
* 1897
* 1898
* 1899
* 1900
* 1901
* 1902
* 1903
* 1904
* 1905
* 1906
* 1907
* 1908
* 1909
* 1910
* 1911
* 1912
* 1913
* 1914
* 1915
* 1916
* 1917
* 1918
* 1919
* 1920
* 1921
* 1922
* 1923
* 1924
* 1925
* 1926
* 1927
* 1928
* 1929
* 1930
* 1931
* 1932
* 1933
* 1934
* 1935
* 1936
* 1937
* 1938
* 1939
* 1940
* 1941
* 1942
* 1943
* 1944
* 1945
* 1946
* 1947
* 1948

Sri Lanka (1948–present)

* 1948
* 1949
* 1950
* 1951
* 1952
* 1953
* 1954
* 1955
* 1956
* 1957
* 1958
* 1959
* 1960
* 1961
* 1962
* 1963
* 1964
* 1965
* 1966
* 1967
* 1968
* 1969
* 1970
* 1971
* 1972
* 1973
* 1974
* 1975
* 1976
* 1977
* 1978
* 1979
* 1980
* 1981
* 1982
* 1983
* 1984
* 1985
* 1986
* 1987
* 1988
* 1989
* 1990
* 1991
* 1992
* 1993
* 1994
* 1995
* 1996
* 1997
* 1998
* 1999
* 2000
* 2001
* 2002
* 2003
* 2004
* 2005
* 2006
* 2007
* 2008
* 2009
* 2010
* 2011
* 2012
* 2013
* 2014
* 2015
* 2016
* 2017
* 2018
* 2019
* 2020
* 2021
* 2022
* 2023
* 2024
* 2025
* 2026

Timeline of Sri Lankan history

* v
* t
* e

1948 in Asia

Sovereign states|

* Afghanistan
*   *   *   *   * Bhutan
*   * Burma (Myanmar)
*   *   * Ceylon
* China
*   * Egypt
*   * India
*   * Iran
* Iraq
* Israel
* Japan
* Jordan
*   *   * North Korea
* South Korea
*   *   *   * Lebanon
* Malaya
*   *   * Mongolia
*   * Nepal
* Oman
*   *   * East Pakistan
* West Pakistan
*   * Philippines
*   *   * Saudi Arabia
*   * Sikkim
*   * Soviet Union
*   * Syria
*   * Thailand
*   *   * Turkey
*   *   *   *   * North Vietnam
*   *   * North Yemen

States with limited
recognition

*   * Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic
* Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic
* Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic
* Estonian Soviet Socialist Republic
* Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic
* Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic
* Kirghiz Soviet Socialist Republic
* Latvian Soviet Socialist Republic
* Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic
* Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic
*   *   *   *   *   *   * Tajik Soviet Socialist Republic
* Tibet
* Turkmen Soviet Socialist Republic
* Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic

Dependencies, colonies
and other territories

* Bahrain
*   *   *   * Brunei
*   *   * Colony of Aden
* Cyprus
* Dutch East Indies
* French India
* French Indochina
*   * Kuwait
*   *   * Mandatory Palestine
*   * Taiwan

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