A. J. R. de Soysa
Alfred Joseph Richard de Soysa, also known as A. J. R. de Soysa was a Ceylonese landed proprietor and politician.Biography
He was the second of eight sons of Sir Charles Henry de Soysa and Lady Catherine de Soysa. He was born at Brodie House, Bambalapitya and educated at S. Thomas' College, Prince of Wales' College and Royal College and completed his education at Highbury House School St Leonards-on-Sea, where he excelled as a sprinter and pursued a degree in music at Trinity Hall, Cambridge.
Following his father's unexpected death in August 1890 de Soysa returned to Ceylon to manage his father's extensive tea, rubber and coconut estates. In 1898 he was appointed to the Colombo Harbor Board and in 1911 he became the second member to be appointed to the Low Country Sinhalese seat of the Legislative Council of Ceylon. He was appointed to the 'Salaries Commission of 1912' and paid from his private funds when the government refused to pay wages for the week long railway strike.
De Soysa was a proprietor of the Ceylon Morning Leader newspaper. On 4 February 1892 he married Mary Margaret. In 1893 he built the Chevaliar Jusey de Silva ward at the Lady Ridgeway Hospital for Children and in 1913 inaugurated the Ceylon School for the Deaf and Blind, Ratmalana. In 1910 he built the stately mansion Lakshmigiri.
