[1] He was the son of Samuel Vairamuttu Gardiner and Salomapillai Bastiampillai.

[1] The Gardiner family were originally from Achchuvely and Manipay in northern Ceylon but later moved to Colombo.

[2][3][4] He controlled several leading businesses in Colombo and had interests in others including Cargills and Millers.

[2] Gardiner was made a Knight of St. Sylvester in 1947 for his services to the Roman Catholic Church.

[5] Gardiner was a Rotarian and made a number of large charitable endowments.