Gate Mudaliyar James Edward Corea was a Ceylonese colonial-era headman. Early life Corea was born in Chilaw, on the west coast of Sri Lanka, on 2 December 1865. His father was Johannes Christoffel Corea who was a Mudaliyar of the Chilaw District. In the 1870s Corea was educated at one of the leading educational institutions in the country, the Colombo Academy. In 1888 he married Frances Eleanor Terentia, daughter of D. C. Ameresekera, Proctor of the Supreme Court, Kurunegala and they had ten children. They came from an Anglican Christian background. Roper Lethbridge in 'The Golden Book of India'; a genealogical and biographical dictionary of the ruling princes, chiefs, nobles, and other personages, titled or decorated, of the Indian empire, with an appendix for Ceylon, written in 1900, mentions James Edward Corea: 'COREA, Abhayaratna Gunasekara Wi-kramasundara Wijayasekere, James Edward, Gate Mudaliyar; born 1866. His father was Mudaliyar Johannes Christopher Corea, Mudaliyar of Chilaw, who was son of Mudaliyar Abraham Corea, brother of Mudaliyar Simon Corea.' The Corea family J.E.Corea was a member of the Corea Family who grew in influence as a result of being wealthy land owners. The 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 govigama 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.' The writer Kumari Jayawardena goes on to state that: 'While being professionals and political activists, the Coreas were also important landowners.' Descendant of King Dominicus Corea James Edward was a direct descendant of King Dominicus Corea, who was also known as Edirille Rala. He was crowned King of Kotte and Sitawaka. His coronation was arranged by Vimala Dharma Suriya, King of Kandy, in 1596. Dominicus Corea often switching allegiances fought for all the opponents and finally changed sides and fought the Portuguese Army, he was captured and executed in Colombo on July 14, 1596. Dominicus Corea was hailed as a 'war hero' in the Mahavamsa, the ancient chronicles of Sri Lanka. Landed proprietor and planter James Edward Corea owned vast coconut estates and paddy fields in and around the Chilaw area. Arnold Wright, writing in 1907 in his book Twentieth Century Impressions of