Sir John Kotelawala was from a rich family.
His father, John Kotelawala Snr, was an inspector in the Ceylon Police Force.
His mother was Alice Attygalle.
John Kotelawala Snr committed suicide when his son was 11.
The family were in ruins, Alice Attygalle converted to Christianity from Buddhism.
He attended the same Royal College, Colombo, but dropped out after independence riots in 1915.

Thereafter he took a trip to Europe after leaving school, which was very dangerous because World War I was being fought there.
He stayed in Europe for five years, spending most of that time in England and France and attending  Christ's College, Cambridge, University of Cambridge to study farming.

Kotelawala was known as a strict man who loved sports, horseback riding, cricket and particularly as a young man, got into fights when he was made fun of.
He knew Sinhala, English and French.
After returning to Ceylon, he took up managing his family's "farm" and mines.
Sir John Kotelawala was from a rich family. His father, John Kotelawala Snr, was an inspector in the Ceylon Police Force. His mother was Alice Attygalle. John Kotelawala Snr committed suicide when his son was 11. The family were in ruins, Alice Attygalle converted to Christianity from Buddhism. He attended the same Royal College, Colombo, but dropped out after independence riots in 1915.
Thereafter he took a trip to Europe after leaving school, which was very dangerous because World War I was being fought there. He stayed in Europe for five years, spending most of that time in England and France and attending  Christ's College, Cambridge, University of Cambridge to study farming.
Kotelawala was known as a strict man who loved sports, horseback riding, cricket and particularly as a young man, got into fights when he was made fun of. He knew Sinhala, English and French. After returning to Ceylon, he took up managing his family's "farm" and mines.
John Kotelawala