Vincent Stuart de Silva Wikramanayake, was born on 18 December 1876, the youngest son of Charles Edward Wikramanayake (1843-1936) and Emilia Beth Sooriarachchi née Amarasekara.
At the fourth Legislative Council election held on 27 September 1924 he was elected as an unofficial member of the Legislative Council of Ceylon, representing the Southern Province East. He defeating G. K. W. Perera, a barrister from Colombo. Perera won the initial vote but demanded a recount as he believed he had secured a greater majority of votes only to lose to Wikramanayake by 17 votes.[4]
At the first State Council election in 1931, the election for the seat of Hambantota was held on the 13 June 1931 with only two candidates. Wikramanayake won with 15,384 votes defeating retired Mudaliyar, H. Jayawardene who received 4,467 votes, by a 10,917 vote majority.[4]