fathers extensive business holdings. He worked as a planter, introducing the new commercial crop of rubber to the family plantations. He managed the Kahatagaha Graphite Mine which was owned by his brother F. R. Senanayake wife's family. F. R. Senanayake had married the youngest daughter of Mudaliyar Don Charles Gemoris Attygalle. He was a member of the Low-Country Products Association and of the Orient Club. In 1914, he was appointed as a member of a government commission sent to Madagascar to study and report on their graphite mining industry. Political career Early political activism The three Senanayake brothers were involved in the temperance movement formed in 1912. When World War I broke out in 1914 they joined the Colombo Town Guard. The brothers were arrested and imprisoned without charges during the 1915 riots. They faced the prospect of execution since the British Governor Sir Robert Chalmers considered the temperance movement as seditious. He was released on a bail bound after 46 days at the Welikada Prison without charges. The heavy-handed suppression of the riots by the British colonial authorities initiated the modern independence movement led by the educated middle class. Don Stephen and Don Charles were prominent members of the political party Lanka Mahajana Sabha. Fredrick Richard and Don Charles were committed supporters of the Young Men's Buddhist Association. D. S. Senanayake played an active role in the independence movement, initially in support of his brother Fredrick Richard. Legislative Council In 1924, Senanayake was elected unopposed to the Legislative Council of Ceylon from Negombo. He became the Secretary (similar to a whip) of the unofficial members group of the Legislative Council, activity engaged in proceedings with a particular interest in subjects related to agriculture, lands and irrigation. He questioned in the Legislative Council the biased policies of the colonial administration in the plantain industry; the cost overruns of the Batticaloa line and the Trincomalee line; the delays in the Norton Bridge Dam and advocated for the establishment of the first university in the island close to Kandy. In 1927, he acted on behalf of Gerard Wijeyekoon in the Executive Council. When his brother F.R. died on a pilgrimage to Buddha Gaya in 1925, Don Stephen assumed his leadership of the independence movement. State Council of Ceylon In 1931 he was elected to the newly formed State Council of Ceylon representing the Ceylon National Congress. At the first siting of the