List of Ceylonese executive councils

This is a list of Ceylonese executive councils from its inception on 13 March 1833 until the creation of the Board of Ministers in 1931.

The Executive Council created in British Ceylon by the British colonial administration on the recommendations of the Colebrooke-Cameron Commission along with the Legislative Council of Ceylon as the legislative body.

At its creation the Executive Council was headed by the Governor, along with five members appointed by the Governor. These five members were officials who held the posts of the Colonial Secretary, the Attorney General, the Auditor-General, the Treasurer and the General Officer Commanding, Ceylon. The Council exercised executive power and advised the governor. As a result of the First Manning Reforms three non-officials were elected to the executive council.

Robert Wilmot-Horton
James Emerson Tennent
Arthur Hamilton-Gordon
Reginald Edward Stubbs
Andrew Caldecott

Executive Councils

Date Monarch Head of Government Executive Council
1833 William IV
(1833-1837)
Queen Victoria
(1837-1837)		 Robert Wilmot-Horton Wilmot-Horton executive council of Ceylon
1837 Queen Victoria James Alexander Stewart-Mackenzie Stewart-Mackenzie executive council of Ceylon
1841 Colin Campbell Campbell executive council of Ceylon
1847 Viscount Torrington Torrington executive council of Ceylon
1850 George William Anderson George William Anderson executive council of Ceylon
1855 Henry George Ward Ward executive council of Ceylon
1860 Charles Justin MacCarthy MacCarthy executive council of Ceylon
1865 Hercules Robinson Robinson executive council of Ceylon
1872 William Henry Gregory Gregory executive council of Ceylon
1877 James Robert Longden Longden executive council of Ceylon
1883 Arthur Hamilton-Gordon Hamilton-Gordon executive council of Ceylon
1890 Arthur Havelock Havelock executive council of Ceylon
1896 Queen Victoria
(1896-1901)
Edward VII
(1901-1903)		 West Ridgeway Ridgeway executive council of Ceylon
1903 Edward VII Henry Arthur Blake Blake executive council of Ceylon
1907 Edward VII
(1907-1910)
George V
(1910-1913)		 Henry Edward McCallum McCallum executive council of Ceylon
1913 George V Robert Chalmers Chalmers executive council of Ceylon
1916 John Anderson John Anderson executive council of Ceylon
1918 William Manning Manning executive council of Ceylon
1925 Hugh Clifford Clifford executive council of Ceylon
1928 Herbert Stanley Stanley executive council of Ceylon
1931 Graeme Thomson Thomson executive council of Ceylon
Board of Ministers of Ceylon (1931-1947)
1931 George V First Board of Ministers of Ceylon
1936 Edward VIII
(1936)
George VI		 Guy Stanley Wodeman (1940–42)
Robert Drayton (1942-?)		 Second Board of Ministers of Ceylon

Dissolution

With enactment of the new constitution of the Dominion of Ceylon in 1947 the Board of Ministers was replaced by a National Cabinet.

See also

References