Family Life
Thuraisingham, while at Cambridge, married Ethel Mary Huggins in December 1920 and they had twin girls, Rani and Joan. Their marriage was a sad one because it was difficult for a Ceylonese Barrister to practice law in England at that time and, if they returned, difficult for an English woman married to a Ceylonese lawyer in Colonial Malaya. And so they reluctantly parted, Thuraisingham returning to Malaya in 1925.
Later Thuraisingham married Pearl Sayampanathan, a teacher at St. Mary's School for Girls, Kuala Lumpur. He met her at a friend's house in Singapore in 1929. With the imminent Japanese occupation of Singapore, Thuraisingham then moved with Pearl to Kuala Lumpur in 1942 and set up home at 7B Treacher Road. He had three children with Pearl - Balendra, Patmalar and Thevendra. Pearl's death in 1947 from a medical mishap devastated him; she had a severe asthma attack and was unable to get timely medical help. This happened at a time when the politics of race was complicating the vision of Dato Onn for an independent multiracial Malaya. Typically, Thuraisingham managed to juggle family life with the many demands of his political endeavours and legal career.
Sometime later Thuraisingham married Thayamany Muthuvelu, a widow with a daughter Gowri, and between them they had three children - Raja, Chandramani and Meenachi. Together they raised seven children in a house often filled with visiting relatives, friends and political allies.
Datin Lady Thayamany Thuraisingham was a devoted wife to Dato Thuraisingham. She also nursed him lovingly during his ailing years at their home in Bukit Travers.
Read more about this topic: E. E. C. Thuraisingham
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