Ezlynn Deraniyagala
Ezlynn Isabel Améliè Deraniyagala was a Sri Lankan lawyer and feminist, who was the first female barrister in the country.
Ezlynn Isabel Améliè Obeyesekere was born in 1908, the only daughter and second child of Forester Augustus Obeysekera, the speaker of the State Council of Ceylon and a member of the Legislative Council of Ceylon, and Anna Isabella née Sykes. She attended Hillwood College, Kandy before finishing her secondary schooling at St. Bridget's Convent, Colombo.
She then attended St Anne's College, Oxford, where she was president of the Geldart Society. In 1934 she obtained her degree and was called to the bar at the Inner Temple.
In 1935 she was appointed as an Advocate in the Supreme Court of Ceylon, becoming the first female barrister in Ceylon.
She married Ralph St. Louis Pieris Deraniyagala, a lawyer, who became the Clerk of Parliament and was awarded an MBE in 1948.
She was elected as the first President of the Ceylon Women Lawyers’ Association. Deraniyagala served as the long-time president of the All-Ceylon Women's Conference. Deraniyagala served as the Vice President of the International Alliance of Women from 1952–1955, becoming its 5th president from 1958–1964, presided over the Alliance’s 19th Congress in Ireland in 1961 and its 20th congress in Italy in 1964.
