Thomas Jones (24 January 1810 – 16 September 1849) was a Welsh Christian missionary, who worked among the

Khasi people The Khasi people are an ethnic group of Meghalaya in north-eastern India with a significant population in the bordering state of Assam, and in certain parts of Bangladesh. Khasi people form the majority of the population of the eastern part of M ...

Meghalaya Meghalaya (, or , meaning "abode of clouds"; from Sanskrit , "cloud" + , "abode") is a states and union territories of India, state in northeastern India. Meghalaya was formed on 21 January 1972 by carving out two districts from the state of As ...

and

Assam Assam (; ) is a state in northeastern India, south of the eastern Himalayas along the Brahmaputra and Barak River valleys. Assam covers an area of . The state is bordered by Bhutan and Arunachal Pradesh to the north; Nagaland and Manipur ...

in India and of Bangladesh. He recorded the

Khasi language Khasi () is an Austroasiatic language with just over a million speakers in north-east India, primarily the Khasi people in the state of Meghalaya. It has associate official status in some districts of this state. The closest relatives of Khasi ...

in Roman script, and the inscription on his gravestone calls him "The founding father of the Khasi alphabet and literature". In 2018, the state government announced that 22 June, the date of Jones's arrival at

Sohra Cherrapunji () or Sohra is a subdivisional town (Proposed District) East Khasi Hills district in the Indian state of Meghalaya. It is the traditional capital of ka ''hima'' Sohra (Khasi tribal kingdom). Sohra has often been credited as being t ...

, would be celebrated as "Thomas Jones Day" every year in the state of Meghalaya.

Biography

Thomas Jones, born in 1810, was a carpenter's son from

Berriew Berriew ( cy, Aberriw) is a village and community in Montgomeryshire, Powys, Wales. It is on the Montgomeryshire Canal and the Afon Rhiw, near the confluence (Welsh: ''aber'') with the River Severn (Welsh: Afon Hafren) at , 79 miles (128 km ...

(Aberriw),

Montgomeryshire Montgomeryshire, also known as ''Maldwyn'' ( cy, Sir Drefaldwyn meaning "the Shire of Baldwin's town"), is one of thirteen historic counties of Wales, historic counties and a former administrative county of Wales. It is named after its county tow ...

, Wales. He became a Calvinistic Methodist minister in 1840 and shortly afterwards set out for

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

, with his wife Anne. After their arrival in

Calcutta Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , List of renamed places in India#West Bengal, the official name until 2001) is the Capital city, capital of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of West Bengal, on the eastern ba ...

, Anne gave birth to a child, who did not survive. The couple went on into the Khasia Hills,

, with the aim of converting the Khasi people to Christianity. Thomas Jones succeeded better than the missionaries whom William Carey had sent to the hills in the 1830s. Jones's skills in carpentry and other crafts were valued by the Khasi community, and he learned their language by living among them. He opened a missionary school, and began preaching to the local people in their own language, with such fluency that they could not but marvel. In 1842 he produced a Khasi Reader, and translated a Welsh-language work, ''Rhodd Mam'', into Khasi; these were the first books written in the Khasi language. He also compiled a Khasi alphabet and dictionary. In 1846 Anne Jones died in childbirth, and Thomas Jones married Emma Cattell, an act which got him into trouble with the Missionary Society 'as she was only fifteen years old'. A son, Thomas Cattell Jones, was born posthumously. A failed attempt to set up his own mission at Pomreng led to further difficulties with the authorities, who abandoned him in 1847. As a result of his criticisms of a local industrialist, Harry Inglis, Jones was forced to leave the area. He contracted

malaria Malaria is a mosquito-borne infectious disease that affects humans and other animals. Malaria causes symptoms that typically include fever, tiredness, vomiting, and headaches. In severe cases, it can cause jaundice, seizures, coma, or death. S ...

, of which he died on 16 September 1849. He is buried in the Scottish Cemetery at Calcutta.

References

Sources

* Nigel Jenkins, ''Gwalia in Khasia'' (1995) * D. Ben Rees (ed.), ''Vehicles of Grace and Hope: Welsh Missionaries in India 1840-1970'' (2002) * Andrew J. May, ''Welsh Missionaries and British Imperialism: The Empire of Clouds in North-East India'' (2012) * David R Syiemlieh, "Thomas Jones' Injudicious Marriage?" Proceedings of the North East India History Association, Fifteenth Session, Doimukh, (1994) {{DEFAULTSORT:Jones, Thomas 1810 births 1849 deaths Welsh Methodist missionaries Methodist missionaries in India British people in colonial India