Mallory Evan Wijesinghe

Who was Mallory Evan Wijesinghe?

Mallory Evan Wijesinghe, KStJ was a Sri Lankan engineer and entrepreneur. He served as the Chairman of the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce and the Bartleet Group and was the founding Chairman of the state-owned Ceylon Hotels Corporation.

Educated at the Royal College Colombo, Wijesinghe obtained his B.Sc. degree from King's College London, and joined the Public Works Department in 1941 as a civil engineer. In 1956, he decided to leave his career in the public sector and join a privately held company involved in the tea trade.

In November 1958, Wijesinghe was appointed the first Ceylonese Director of Bartleet and Co. Ltd., and in the 1960s he became the company's first Ceylonese Managing Director. In 1972, he led a trade delegation from Sri Lanka to Bangladesh and Pakistan.

In 1973, Wijesinghe was appointed the Honorary Consul-General of the Netherlands to the Republic of Sri Lanka and of the Maldives and was later honoured by her Majesty Queen Beatrix by being made an Officer in the Order of Orange Nassau in 1985.