Henry De Mel
Sir Henry Lawson De Mel,, Chevalier was a Ceylonese industrialist, lawyer, philanthropist and politician. He was a member of the Legislative Council and founder of the H.L. De Mel & Co.
Henry De Mel was born 21 January 1877, the son of Jacob De Mel and Dona Helena née Ferdinando, a cousin of Sir Charles Henry de Soysa. He was one of fourteen children and was educated at S. Thomas' College and Royal College, Colombo.
In 1898, he started his legal career with the law firm Peiris & De Mel and was appointed to the Supreme Court in 1904. He married Elsie Jayawickrame, the daughter of Mudaliyar S. H. Jayawickrame of Kurunegala. He later gave up his legal career to concentrate on his plantation and mining interests and was also an avid motorist. De Mel was the producer and exporter of the world's highest quality graphite and supplied Dixon Ticonderoga Company.
In 1919, de Mel became the first Ceylonese CBE. In 1921 he was elected unopposed to the Legislative Council of Ceylon on behalf of the Low Country Products Association and at the same election his brother-in-law, Sir James Peiris, was also elected. In 1931 he was knighted for his services to the government of Ceylon.
His sons were the Right Reverend Lakdasa De Mel, the first Bishop of Kurunegala and R. S. F. de Mel, a former Mayor of Colombo. His daughter, Irene, married Dr. Percival Cholmondeley Chalmers de Silva, a renowned pediatrician.
On 8 May 1936 De Mel died of injuries sustained after being shot while trying to resolve a dispute between two workers on one of his vast coconut plantations.
