# List of Ceylonese executive councils

This is a list of Ceylonese executive councils from its inception on 13 March 1833 until the creation of the Board of Ministers in 1931.
The Executive Council created in British Ceylon by the British colonial administration on the recommendations of the Colebrooke-Cameron Commission along with the Legislative Council of Ceylon as the legislative body.
At its creation the Executive Council was headed by the Governor, along with five members appointed by the Governor. These five members were officials who held the posts of the Colonial Secretary, the Attorney General, the Auditor-General, the Treasurer and the General Officer Commanding, Ceylon. The Council exercised executive power and advised the governor. As a result of the First Manning Reforms three non-officials were elected to the executive council.

## Executive Councils

| Date | Monarch | Head of Government | Executive Council |
| 1833 | William IV (1833-1837) Queen Victoria (1837-1837) | Robert Wilmot-Horton | Wilmot-Horton executive council of Ceylon |
| 1837 | Queen Victoria | James Alexander Stewart-Mackenzie | Stewart-Mackenzie executive council of Ceylon |
| 1841 | Queen Victoria | Colin Campbell | Campbell executive council of Ceylon |
| 1847 | Queen Victoria | Viscount Torrington | Torrington executive council of Ceylon |
| 1850 | Queen Victoria | George William Anderson | George William Anderson executive council of Ceylon |
| 1855 | Queen Victoria | Henry George Ward | Ward executive council of Ceylon |
| 1860 | Queen Victoria | Charles Justin MacCarthy | MacCarthy executive council of Ceylon |
| 1865 | Queen Victoria | Hercules Robinson | Robinson executive council of Ceylon |
| 1872 | Queen Victoria | William Henry Gregory | Gregory executive council of Ceylon |
| 1877 | Queen Victoria | James Robert Longden | Longden executive council of Ceylon |
| 1883 | Queen Victoria | Arthur Hamilton-Gordon | Hamilton-Gordon executive council of Ceylon |
| 1890 | Queen Victoria | Arthur Havelock | Havelock executive council of Ceylon |
| 1896 | Queen Victoria (1896-1901) Edward VII (1901-1903) | West Ridgeway | Ridgeway executive council of Ceylon |
| 1903 | Edward VII | Henry Arthur Blake | Blake executive council of Ceylon |
| 1907 | Edward VII (1907-1910) George V (1910-1913) | Henry Edward McCallum | McCallum executive council of Ceylon |
| 1913 | George V | Robert Chalmers | Chalmers executive council of Ceylon |
| 1916 | George V | John Anderson | John Anderson executive council of Ceylon |
| 1918 | George V | William Manning | Manning executive council of Ceylon |
| 1925 | George V | Hugh Clifford | Clifford executive council of Ceylon |
| 1928 | George V | Herbert Stanley | Stanley executive council of Ceylon |
| 1931 | George V | Graeme Thomson | Thomson executive council of Ceylon |
| Board of Ministers of Ceylon (1931-1947) ||||
| 1931 | George V | | First Board of Ministers of Ceylon |
| 1936 | Edward VIII (1936) George VI | Guy Stanley Wodeman (1940–42) Robert Drayton (1942-?) | Second Board of Ministers of Ceylon |

## Dissolution

With enactment of the new constitution of the Dominion of Ceylon in 1947 the Board of Ministers was replaced by a National Cabinet.