Sri Lanka Sinhalese
Genealogy Families
Don Davit de Silva – Family 3867
1 Abeydeera Wijewickrema
Punchihewage Don Davit de Silva of Ahangama / Gintota + Sister of K.C. Juanis
de Silva of Gintota
(First Wife)
2 Grace Abeydeera + Theodore Gunaratne - Weligama
3
Leena Gunaratne +
W. P. de Silva – Beruwela
4 None
3
Muriel Gunaratne + R. D. Perera - Galle
4 Drupa
4 Rukmani
3. Leonard Gunaratne +
Nellie ...................- Badulla
4. Amara
4. Senath
4. Srinath
3. Sylvester Gunaratne
+ Sita …………. – Colombo
4. Seelava
3. Richard Gunaratne,
+ Isla de Silva – Matara
4. Malinga
4. Indralal
3.
Felix Gunaratne + Charlotte ……….. – Badulla
4.
Chula
4.
Renuka
4.
Not
known
2.
Charles Abeydeera - Bachelor
Charles
Abeydeera was registered as a medical student in the
UK. However, he returned to Ceylon, without completing his medical studies, due
to a nervous breakdown
2.
Baron Abeydeera - Bachelor
Was General Manager for India of the firm of
Don Davit & Sons
2. Simon Abeydeera – Mt. Lavinia
Was
Manager of the Colombo Branch of the firm of Don Davit & Sons.
Simon Abeydeera + Not known (First Wife)
3.
Regina
Abeydeera (died young)
3.
Arthur Abeydeera
+ Daisy Selena Perera – Kalutara
4.
Chula
(died in her teens)
4.
Srinath
4.
Tilaka
4.
Sarath
3. Lily Abeydeera + Gratien de Silva – Matale
4.
Douglas
4.
Leelamani (2 children from Gratien
Silva’s first wife),
4.
Chitra
4.
Daya
4.
Sarath
4.
Shiral
4.
Srikanthi
Simon Abeydeera + Lilian de Siva (Second Wife)
3.
Vere Abeydeera + Olga de Silva – Colombo
4.
None
3.
Eric Abeydeera + Ranjani de Silva –
Galle
4. Roshan
4. Nalin
3.
Sita Abeydeera +
Peter Fernando – Panadura
4.
Ranli
4.
Buddhila
3.
Sandra
Abeydeera + Titus Fernando – Colombo
4.
Manel
4.
Tilak
4.
Shanthi
4.
Chappy
1.
Abeydeera Wijewickrema
Punchihewage Don Davit de Silva of Ahangama / Gintota + Ms. Ratnaweera
of Wackwella, Galle (Second Wife)
2.
Henry Abeydeera/Don David + Nora Peiris - Panadura
3.
Indrani Abeydeera +
Sena Wijeweera – Colombo
4. Not known
4. Not known
4. Not known
2.
Porolis
Abeydeera- Bachelor
Died in his teens
2.
Louisa Abeydeera
+
M. W. Martin de Silva - Galle
3 M.W.Graham de Silva + Not known - Singapore
4.
Allen
4.
Not
known
3.
M.W.Hector de Silva + Wimala
de Silva - Colombo
4.
None
3.
M.W.Roland de Silva + Not known - Colombo
4.
Gamini
4.
Anura
.
2.
Maggie Abeydeera
+ K. Paanis de
Silva - Dodanduwa
3.
K.
Nancy de Silva + K. Sam de Silva – Dodanduwa
4.
Kirthie
4.
Raja
4.
Ananda (died young - Gintota)
3.
K.
Bertie de Silva + Malini Peiris
– Egoda Uyana
4.
Ajith
4.
Dr. Shanaka
4.
Anil.
3.
K.
Leslie de Silva (died in his teens – Gintota)
2.
Muriel Abeydeera
+ M. Simon Salgado - Panadura
3.
Dr.
M. R. P. Salgado + Surangani
Amarasuriya - Colombo
4.
Ranmali
4.
Ruwan
4.
Ranil
3.
Dr.
M. S. L. Salgado + Chinthamani Gunaskera
– Galle
4.
Krishant
4.
Shamali
3.
Dr.
M. R. I. Salgado + Dr. Elizabeth Christie- Sydney
4.
David
4.
Maya
4.
Samantha
2.
Alfred Abeydeera + Alice Clark -
3.
Ivor Abeydeera (died in his teens)
3.
Maurice
Abeydeera + Justine Constance (Dolly) Menon - Kandy
4.
Ramesh
4.
Renuka
3.
Clifford
Abeydeera + Rita Gunasekera
– Badulla
4.
Not
known
4.
Not
known
4.
Not
known
3.
Nihal Abeydeera +
Not known
4.
Not
known
4.
Not
known
4.
Not
known
3.
Gloria
Abeydeera + P. K. Perera – Panadura
4.
Shavanthi
4.
Rajeev
4.
Ruvani
3.
Deanna
Abeydeera + T. Aloy Perera - Colombo
+ Gamini Jayasuriya – Colombo
4.
Chrisantha Perera
4.
Lasantha Perera
4.
Natasha
Jayasuriya
4.
Natalie
Jayasuriya
EXTRACT FROM TWENTIETH CENTURY IMPRESSIONS OF CEYLON
BY ARNOLD WRIGHT – 1907
Page 486
Don Davit & Sons
The firm of Don Davit & Sons was founded by A. W. P. Don Davit de Silva in 1875 at Galle, for the importation of spices and foodstuffs from India. At the commencement only a small trade was done but after four or five years the business (continued on page 489)
(Pages 487 and 488 contain photographs – see below)
Page 489 – (text continued from Page 486)
-became firmly established and the importation
of rice from Calcutta was also undertaken. By degrees the business was
extended, and soon the trade mark of the firm became well known all over the
country, and a very large trade was done in rice, imported from all Indian
ports, as well as from the Straits Settlements and the Federated Malay States.
Sugar, another article in which the firm deals largely, comes from Austria and
Hamburg; while flour is imported from
Victoria and Southern Australia, all kinds of grains and cereals from India,
and coconut oil is largely dealt in. Another commodity in which the firm does a
big trade is barbed wire for fencing purposes, and they have made a speciality in horse-food, of which they are the largest
importers. Some idea of the magnitude of this business can be gathered from the
fact that they import, on an average, 50,000 bags of rice a month and 40,000
bags of horse-food a year. In Galle High Street, Messrs. Don Davit have a rice depot and grocery store, and the general store
and head office are also situated in that town. They have branches at 49, 51,
and 69, Fourth Cross Street, Colombo and at Lower Chitpore
Rd. Calcutta, and also at Cocanada.
At Galle, the firm has a large yard
where coconut oil, which is bought up from various small dealers, is filtered
by special machinery, after which it is exported to England, the United States,
and the continent of Europe generally. Other articles of export dealt in by
this firm are desiccated coconut, citronella oil, cinnamon oil, coir yarn,
rope, poonac , fibres, and copra , principally
to Denmark, the United Kingdom, and the United States. At Hikkaduwa,
in the Southern Province, the firm owns a large coconut estate.
The founder of the firm was the son
of a local merchant , who started business with his
father at Tangalle, in the Southern Province. He is
an ardent Buddhist, and renewed and equipped the temple at Ahangama,
as well as the school at Gintota. He is a great
friend of the poor, and is ever ready to help deserving cases which call for
the exercise of charity. An admirable feature of the business is that there is
a benevolent fund made up from a certain percentage of the turnover, and every
year some 5,000 people are clothed and fed on a special almsgiving day. Mr. A.
W. P. Don Davit , the senior partner, presides over
the Galle house., Mr. A. W. P. Simon de Silva manages the Colombo branch, and
Mr. A. W. P. Baron de Silva is general manager for India. The junior partners,
who are smart business men, were educated at local colleges and Mr. Simon de
Silva is a member of the Theosophical Society ,
besides being a keen sportsman.
Page 487
Photographs of Don Davit, Simon de
Silva, Forage Works Colombo, The Family, Office Staff Colombo
Page 488
Photographs of The Bungalow at Gintota,
Galle; Fort Office Galle, Office Staff Galle, Coconut Oil Yard, Exterior of
Store Galle, Interior of Store Galle.
EXTRACT FROM AN ARTICLE IN THE WEEKEND NEWSPAPER OF
JUNE 24, 1968
MIGHTY MUDALALIS OF GALLE BY WILLIAM PEIRIS
Mighty
mudalalis flourished in Galle for about fifty years
from the last quarter of the 19th century. Their type was rare indeed elsewhere
in Ceylon.
Five
of them stood in a class by themselves. They neither spoke English nor did they
know their own language well. But they possessed great business acumen and made
big fortunes. Shady methods they detested. They were honest and honourable men.
The
entire import trade of the town was in their hands. Regular
importers of rice, each of their weekly shipments was 50,000 bags. Their
profit on a bag was 50 cents. Sugar , subsidiary
foodstuffs textiles, cement, and other building materials , drugs and all kinds
of consumer goods they imported in adequate quantities to meet the demand not
only of Galle and the district but beyond too. They were both wholesalers and
retailers of these commodities.
The
prince among them was Davith mudalali
(A.W.P. Don Davith). He had a branch establishment in
Colombo as well in 4th Cross Street. As many as a hundred bullock carts used to
call at his store each day for rice and other foodstuffs. A well
built man of commanding personality , he wore a
white cloth and coat and pair of leather sandals. He had his hair tied in a
knot and adorned with a bright tortoise-shell circular comb (nemipana). His well trimmed moustache added dignity to his handsome face.
He
did not have the mudalali trait of the closed fist . He spent lavishly and was generous to his friends and
relatives. He lived in grand style in a palatial mansion in Gintota
and kept a fine pair of horses and an elegant phaeton. When the motor car made
its appearance for the first time in the early years of the present century , he was among the first to purchase one. The first
class carriage in the train was then the exclusive preserve of the 'white
sahib' - the ruler of the land. But Davith mudalali refused to believe that he was inferior to the
white man. He always travelled first class , sitting
cheek by jowl with the European official and planter , much to the chagrin of
the latter. He died comparatively young. His younger son did not carry on the
business for long.
