Edirimanne Corea Family Union

"Such was the sad end of Domingos Corea, Edirimana Suriya Bandara, the greatest Sinhalese of his day," said Sri Lankan historian John M. Seneviratna.

'Great Warriors like Mayadunne, Veediya Bandara, Seethawaka Rajasinghe, Vimaladharmasuriya I, Senarath, Rajasinghe II, Nikapitiye Bandara and Edirille Rala who fought the Portuguese to preserve our territorial integrity and kept the Portuguese at bay despite all odds,' wrote Janaka Perera in the Asian Tribune.

[3] Kumari Jayawardena, the Sri Lankan author, 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.

[5] 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.

[7] A recent Annual General Meeting of the Edirimanne Corea Family Union and Members' Day-Out was held at the Leisure Lounge of the 'Ambalama' in Hanwella and the old and the young took their chance to meet, greet, unwind, relax and carry home memories of the warmth and intimacy of a family legacy.

The great Mahatma Gandhi visited the Corea Family in Chilaw in 1927 and stayed with them in a Corea home called 'Sigiriya.'
Sri Lankan music Superstar, Annesley Malewana , talks about the Corea Family at the Edirimanne Corea Family Union Sing-A-Long charity event held in the Grand Ballroom of the Galadari Hotel in Colombo, Sri Lanka in November 2011.
The Corea family hail from the west coast town of Chilaw in Sri Lanka. The wider family have played a key role in this town. Both Shirley Corea and Harindra Corea have represented the people of Chilaw in the Parliament of Sri Lanka .
John F. Kennedy who was a United States Senator in 1960 visited Sir Claude Corea, President of the United Nations Security Council in his apartment in New York City , during the U.S. presidential race.