Charles Alfred Ernest Corea

File:St. Thomas' College 2.jpg. He also played a prominent role in the STC Old Boys Association throughout the 1960s and 1970s.]]

File:Dr. James Alfred Ernest Corea.jpg

Corea was educated at the prestigious S. Thomas' College, Mount Lavinia.{{cite web|title=Death of Charles Alfred Ernest (Ernie) Corea - The St.Thomas' College Old Boys' Forum|url=http://www.tyretracks.co/showthread.php?t=442|accessdate=2011-07-27}}{{dead link|date=August 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} and went on to become an Attorney-at-Law in the town of Piliyandala in Sri Lanka. His step-brother was Reverend Canon Ivan Corea who was Rural Dean of Colombo of the Church of Ceylon and Examining Chaplain to the Bishop of Colombo. Corea built up a reputation as a man of integrity and was a respected lawyer in Piliyandala.

Charles Alfred Ernest Corea and his family are direct descendants of King Dominicus Corea who was also known as Edirille Rala.{{cite web |title=Chapter Seven: ' Marriage, Coronation and Betrayal,' Edirille Bandara (Domingos Corea) By John M. Senaveratna (1937)|url=http://ivan_corea.tripod.com/id29.html|accessdate=2011-07-25}} Dominincus Corea was crowned King of Kotte and Sitawaka by King Vimala Dharma Suriya of the Kandyan kingdom in 1596.{{cite web |title=Reference to Edirille Rala becoming King of Kotte and King of Sitawaka|url=http://konnapubandara.blogspot.com/2009/03/great-sinhalese-king-of-kandy-wimala.html|accessdate=2011-07-24}} Dominicus Corea rebelled against the Portuguese and fought many battles before he was captured and

executed on 14 July 1596.

Sri Lankan author Kumari Jayawardena, writing about the Coreas observed: 'Unconnected to the liquor trade but making their money on plantation ventures was the Corea Family of Chilaw, an influential goyigama group with a history going back to Portuguese rule when they were warriors to Sinhala kings. During Dutch and British rule, members of the family were officials serving the state in various ways and rewarded with titles. Some members of the family took to the legal and medical professions, most notably the sons of Charles Edward Corea (a solicitor), who were active in local politics and in the Chilaw Association which campaigned against British land policies - especially the Waste Lands Ordinance, and for political reforms. The most active of Corea's sons was C.E.(Charles Edgar) who spoke up for peasant rights and was militant in his stand against the government. He was President of the Ceylon National Congress in 1924. C.E.Corea's brother, Alfred Ernest, was a doctor (Ernie Corea's father) and the youngest Victor Corea was a lawyer who achieved fame for leading a campaign (and going to jail) in 1922 to protest the Poll Tax on all males; he was the first President of the Ceylon Labour Union led by A.E.Goonesinha and was active in the Ceylon Labour Party. While being professionals and political activists, the Coreas were also important landowners. ' {{cite web|title=Kumari Jayawardena in her book 'Nobodies to Somebodies - The Rise of the Colonial Bourgeoisie in Sri Lanka,' writes about the Coreas on page 194 (Sanjiva Books)|url=http://www.thesundayleader.lk/archive/20090628/review.htm|accessdate=2011-08-02|archive-date=28 November 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111128023823/http://www.thesundayleader.lk/archive/20090628/review.htm|url-status=dead}} Ernie Corea owned extensive land in Piliyandala.

He was a leading member of the Edirimanne Corea Family Union. The Corea family that hails from Chilaw and has produced freedom fighters, members of the Legislative Council, State Council, House of Representatives, the diplomatic corps, broadcasting and print media and professionals in many fields, are knit together by an active family union.{{cite web |title=Reference in the Sunday Times, Sri Lanka on 5th September, 2010 |url=http://sundaytimes.lk/100905/Plus/plus_30.html|accessdate=2011-07-27}}

Ernie Corea died in Piliyandala in June 2010.{{cite web|title=Obituary of Charles Alfred Ernest Corea published in the Daily Mirror, Sri Lanka |url=http://print.dailymirror.lk/other/obituaries/12761.html |accessdate=2011-07-27 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120330020857/http://print.dailymirror.lk/other/obituaries/12761.html |archivedate=30 March 2012 |df=dmy }}

• Dominicus Corea
• James Alfred Ernest Corea
• Edirimanne Corea Family Union
• Supreme Court of Sri Lanka
• Piliyandala
• List of political families in Sri Lanka

{{reflist|2}}

• The Mahavamsa - History of Sri Lanka, The Great Chronicle of Sri Lanka
• Ceylon and the Portuguese, 1505-1658 By P.E. Peiris (1920)
• The Conquest of Ceylon (Volumes 1–6) By Fr. Fernao de Queyroz, tr. Fr. S. G. Perera, Ceylon Government Press, (1930)
• Great Sinhalese Men and Women of History - Edirille Bandara (Domingos Corea) By John M. Senaveratna, (1937)
• A History of Sri Lanka By Professor K.M.De Silva (1981)
• The Fall of a Warrior - Edirille Bandara By Sarath Kumarawardane (2006)
• Twentieth Century Impressions of Ceylon: Its History, People, Commerce, Industries and Resources By A.W. Wright, Asian Educational Services, India; New Ed edition (15 December 2007)

• [https://web.archive.org/web/20120330020857/http://print.dailymirror.lk/other/obituaries/12761.html The Obituary on Charles Alfred Ernest (Ernie) Corea, Daily Mirror, Sri Lanka]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20110717102305/http://chilaw-and-gandhi.tripod.com/ Mahatma Gandhi and the Corea Family of Chilaw]
• [https://books.google.com/books?id=eUF_rS8FEoIC&pg=PA735 References to King Dominicus Corea in Twentieth Century Impressions of Ceylon by Arnold Wright]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20121021033234/http://www.dailynews.lk/2002/10/14/fea04.html The Family Gatherings of Sri Lankan Society By Dr. Mirando Obeysekere, Daily News, Sri Lanka]

{{DEFAULTSORT:Corea, Charles Alfred Ernest}}

Category:2010 deaths

Category:Sinhalese people

Category:Sri Lankan lawyers

Category:1920 births

Charles Alfred Ernest

Category:People from Chilaw