Anton Muttukumaru

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Anton Muttukumaru
High Commissioner to Australia, Pakistan and
Ambassador to Egypt

Sri Lankan Army), a post he held from 1955 to 1959. He also served as Ceylon's High Commissioner to Australia, New Zealand, Pakistan and Ambassador to Egypt.[1]

Early life and education

Born to Mary Mount Carmel Alles, a Colombo Chetty,[2] and Dr. Philip Marian Muttukumaru, a Jaffna Tamil,[citation needed] he and his siblings were brought up by their mother after the early death of their father. Educated at home by an English governess and then at St. Joseph's College, Colombo, he then entered Ceylon University College and in 1928, he left for Jesus College, Oxford to read Philosophy, Politics and Economics. After completing his degree, he read for the Bar and was called by Gray's Inn to become a barrister. He returned to Ceylon, took his oaths as an Advocate of the Supreme Court of Ceylon and started his legal practice.[3]

Military career

Ceylon Defence Force

After returning from England, in 1934 he joined the

captain on 29 November 1940 and major in 1942. On 1 November 1943 he was promoted lieutenant colonel and appointed commanding officer, 2nd Battalion CLI, in which appointment he continued to serve until the general demobilisation which took place after the end of the war in January 1947. He led Ceylon's contingent in the London victory parade in 1946.[3]

Following the war, Muttukumaru worked once again as a lawyer representing the

Attorney General, in a variety of cases but soon gave up law to function as Officer in Charge, Administration in the Ceylon Defence Force Headquarters, where he assisted in the initial plans for the formation of a new Ceylon Army, including the drafting of the Army Act.[3]

Ceylon army

When the Ceylon Army was formed in 1949, he was one of three lieutenant colonels commissioned into the regular force with the serial no O/50001. There he served as the

Field Marshal Montgomery and befriended future Israeli Defence Minister, Brigadier Moshe Dayan. He led the Ceylon contingent of soldiers to London on ceremonial duties for the funeral of George VI in 1952, and for the Queen's coronation. There his men mounted guard at Buckingham Palace. He was subsequently attached to the British Army in West Germany, serving at the Headquarters of the British Army of the Rhine.[3]

On 1 January 1954, he was promoted to the rank of colonel and took over as commanding officer of the 1 Battalion, Ceylon Light Infantry and Officer Commanding Troops, Panagoda. Under his command the battalion undertook its first live fire exercise Ex TYRO. On 19 July 1954, he was appointed aide-de-camp to the Queen. On 8 February 1955, he relinquished command of the Ceylon Light Infantry.

Army Commander

On 9 February 1955, he was promoted to the rank of

Solomon Bandaranaike asked him to stay on.[3][4]

Later years

After leaving the army, Muttukumaru was appointed

High Commissioner to Australia and New Zealand
from 1963 to 1966. Later in 1966, Muttukumaru became Ambassador to Egypt, concurrently he was Ambassador to Jordan, the Sudan and Yugoslavia. He permanently retired in 1969.

Honors and decorations

During his service in the Ceylon Defence Force, he received the King George V Silver Jubilee Medal in 1935, appointed an officer of the Order of the British Empire (Military Division) in the 1946 Birthday Honours and awarded the Efficiency Decoration. For wartime service, he had earned the Defence Medal and the War Medal 1939–1945 in 1945; for service in the Ceylon Army, he received the Ceylon Armed Services Inauguration Medal in 1955.[3]

In 1996, the

ISBN 81-7013-046-8). General Muttukumaru died in Australia in 2001 at the age of 93.[3]

Family

Muttukumaru married Margaret Vasanthi Ratnarajah in 1944. They had three sons: Anton Vasantha Muttukumaru, Philip Rajkantha Muttukumaru and Christopher Peter Jayantha Muttukumaru, CB, DL.[3]

See also

  • Sri Lankan Non Career Diplomats

References

  1. ^ "Past Army Commanders". Sri Lanka Army. Archived from the original on 30 August 2012. Retrieved 17 September 2014.
  2. ^ "Sri Lanka Colombo Chetty Family Genealogy Alles". Retrieved 30 December 2023.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h Athukorala. "A man among men". Island. Retrieved 30 August 2019.
  4. ^ "Racist remarks; Son of Queen's former Sri Lankan aide-de-camp comes to defence". themorning.lk. Retrieved 13 March 2021.

External links

Military offices
Preceded by Commander of the Ceylon Army
1955–1959 		Succeeded by
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Anton_Muttukumaru&oldid=1219813620"