Shenton Thomas
Shenton Thomas GCMG GCStJ | |
---|---|
21st Governor of the Straits Settlements | |
In office 1945–1946 | |
Preceded by | Japanese occupation |
Succeeded by | Position abolished |
In office 1934–1942 | |
Preceded by | Sir Cecil Clementi |
Succeeded by | Japanese occupation |
Governor of the Gold Coast | |
In office 1932–1934 | |
Monarch | George V |
Preceded by | Geoffrey Northcote (acting) |
Succeeded by | Geoffrey Northcote (acting) |
Governor of Nyasaland | |
In office 1929–1932 | |
Preceded by | Sir Hubert Winthrop Young |
Succeeded by | Wilfred Bennett Davidson-Houston |
Personal details | |
Born | Thomas Shenton Whitelegge Thomas 10 October 1879 Southwark, London, UK |
Died | 15 January 1962 London, UK | (aged 82)
Nationality | British |
Spouse(s) | Lucy Marguerite (Daisy) Montgomery
(m. 1912) |
Children | Mary Bridget Thomas (daughter) |
Occupation | Colonial administrator |
Sir Thomas Shenton Whitelegge Thomas GCMG GCStJ (10 October 1879 – 15 January 1962), commonly known as Sir Shenton Thomas, was the last Governor of the Straits Settlements. He served from 1934 to 1942, during which time the Second World War broke out, and again from September 1945 to April 1946, when the Straits Settlements was dissolved.
Life[]
Shenton Thomas was born on 10 October 1879, in Southwark, London to The Rev Thomas William Thomas and his wife Charlotte Susanna (Susie) née Whitelegge.[1][2][3] He was educated at St. John's School, Leatherhead[4] and Queens' College, Cambridge.[5] He taught at Aysgarth School in Yorkshire prior to entering the Colonial Service. Before he went to Malaya as the colonial administrator, Thomas was the Governor of Nyasaland from 1929 to 1932. He was made a Knight Grand Cross of the Most Distinguished Order of Saint Michael and Saint George (GCMG) in 1930.
Thomas was a prisoner-of-war during the Japanese occupation of Singapore (15 February 1942 – 15 August 1945) having decided to stay in Singapore during the war. He was imprisoned in Cell 24 of Changi Prison along with Ernest Tipson. Thomas helped established the King George V National Park in Malaya (later renamed the Taman Negara). Shenton Way, located in Singapore's business district, is named after him. After the war, Thomas remained as the 11th British High Commissioner in Malaya (9 November 1934 – 1 April 1946), until the Malayan Union was established and succeeded the British administration in the Straits Settlements (except for Singapore, which was created a separate colony), Federated Malay States and Unfederated Malay States, where the post of was created. Thomas died on 15 January 1962, at his home in London. He was 82.
Family[]
He married Lucy Marguerite (Daisy) Montgomery (1884-1978) daughter of James Montgomery[6] on 11 April 1912 at St Jude's Church, Kensington, London,[3] with issue:
- Mary Bridget Thomas (1914 - 1998), born in Nairobi, Kenya, who married 1st, in 1936 (divorced 1954)[7] Lt-Col Jack Leslie Larry Lotinga, MC of the Royal Fusiliers[8] and married 2nd in 1965 Nicholas Eliot, 9th Earl of St Germans.
Legacy[]
Shenton Way, a major road in Singapore's central business district, was named after him.
He is associated, in this role of Governor, with the loss of Malaya and Singapore and his civilian administration’s apparent failures to properly assess the growing Japanese threat and make appropriate defences.[9][page needed]
See also[]
- Elizabeth Choy - Singaporean educator and WWII resistance worker
References[]
- ^ 1881 UK Census: Aged 1 of St John Villas, Park Lane, Heigham, Norfolk - RG11/1951 f.9 p.11 - Thomas Shenton Whitelegge Thomas born Southwark
- ^ 1901 UK Census: Aged 21 of The Vicarage, St Barnabas Road, Cambridge - RG13/1530 f.32 p.14 - Thomas Shenton W. Thomas born London
- ^ Jump up to: a b GRO Register of Marriages: JUN 1912 1a 348 KENSINGTON - Thomas S. W. Thomas = Lucy M. Montgomery
- ^ 1891 UK Census: Pupil, aged 10, of St John's School, Leatherhead Surrey - RG12/549 f.98 p.8 - Thomas Shenton Thomas born St Bride's London
- ^ "Thomas, Thomas Shenton Whitelegge (THMS898TS)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
- ^ "Lucy Marguerite (née Montgomery), Lady Thomas". National Portrait Gallery.
- ^ Burke's Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Peerage, Baronetage, and Knightage, 101st edition, ed. L. G. Pine, Burke's Peerage Ltd, 1956, p. 2644
- ^ "SUPPLEMENT TO THE LONDON GAZETTE, n JULY, 194" (PDF) (PDF).
- ^ Ronald McCrum (28 February 2017). The Men Who Lost Singapore, 1938-1942. NUS Press. ISBN 978-981-4722-39-1.
External links[]
- Governors of the Straits Settlements
- Administrators in British Singapore
- Administrators in British Malaya
- 1879 births
- 1962 deaths
- Alumni of Queens' College, Cambridge
- Knights Grand Cross of the Order of St Michael and St George
- British World War II prisoners of war
- World War II political leaders
- People from Southwark
- People educated at St John's School, Leatherhead