ARTHUR JOHN THOMAS - Tea plantation manager/owner in Ceylon

[rkive82]

Hello there,
  My great uncle, Arthur John Thomas, born in Newport, Pembrokeshire, Wales in 1847, managed and owned a tea plantation in Ceylon in the late 1800s and early 1900s. He married Louisa Maria Aslett in Colombo in 1874, but she died in Lambeth, London in 1883.
  In the will of his brother Aneurin Howell Thomas, also a plantation owner in Ceylon, written in 1920 he is referred to as "my late brother." Aneurin also provides for the illegitimate children of Arthur.
  In the History of Ceylon Tea, there is mention of Arthur up to 1917, so it seems he died somewhere between 1917 and 1920.
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  Can we find a death record somewhere and perhaps the next of kin. They lived close to Kandy in Ceylon.
*
  Any information about Arthur or Aneurin will be much appreciated.
Thanks
Richard PJ

[Lynntony]

Hi Richard,

Have you checked out the following?

http://kabristan.org.uk/kabristan-indexes/sri-lanka-indexes

I found four Thomas entries under St Paul's Church, Kandy. Burials 1875- 1949 - Arthur, Clarence, Gloria, and Sidney. Unfortunately only the names are listed, no dates.

Tony

[rkive82]

Thanks Tony.
  I found two other members of the Thomas family in these indexes a while ago and purchased the info. I don't know if the Arthur Thomas could be our Arthur John Thomas.
  I wonder if that means that if you don't see a person in the Kabristan indexes, they don't have any info about them.
  Welsh Newspapers online gave some information about relatives in Ceylon, but I haven't discovered anything about Arthur John Thomas.
Richard

[rkive82]

UPDATE:
  21st March 1919 is the date that is recorded for the death of Arthur John Thomas by Robert Moseley Bryce Thomas (RMBT) in his "Family and Temple Record Book of Col. Robert Moseley Bryce Thomas, family in England and India." It was filmed by the Genealogical Society of Utah in 1957 and is available on microfilm only at the moment. It is #21885.
  I wonder if that helps with searching for an official record. RMBT does not give a place of death, but I'd be very surprised if it weren't Ceylon. Who were Arthur's partner/2nd wife and children?
Richard PJ

[barryd]

I checked any reference to Arthur John Thomas and did find his 21 March 1919 death date in other sources but no date/place in the same source. I checked for a Will in England/Wales as many of the British did leave money in Britain. No luck. There is a possibility that he has an obituary in the London Times which requires a subscription to view.

Ceylon is fairly unique in the British Colonial era for most counties as I have never found a working class European there. Most are Judges, Civil Servants, Senior Police Officers, Doctors, Tea Planters, Merchants, etc..

[rkive82]

Thanks Barry,
Yes. The Thomas family had a few plantation owners among them.
I do believe that information crops up eventually, so I'll keep an eye out for more records being digitised. I found his brother Aneurin Howell Thomas' obituary (he died in Ceylon) in an Australian paper!
Richard PJ

[brionne]

Expect you may have already come across this,but in case you have not,would just like to mention the following.

   Ceylon had an Influenza Pandemic in 1918 and 1919,resulting in over 90,000 deaths.

[DRG]

A.J. Thomas died at Pallai, which appears to be modern day Pachchilapalli.

[barryd]

Is there any reference/evidence you can give us that A. J. Thomas died in  Pachchilapalli.  Pallai/Pachchilapalli.is in Northern Ceylon not too far from Jaffna. My only guess would be he died in either Dodangaslanda or Peradeniya. (Kandy). He was last recorded as being  in these two places. But I have no solid evidence that he died in either.