Lieutenant-Colonel Lieutenant colonel ( , ) is a rank of commissioned officers in the armies, most marine forces and some air forces of the world, above a major and below a colonel. Several police forces in the United States use the rank of lieutenant colonel. ...

Thomas Melville Dill OBE (23 December 1876 – 7 March 1945) was a prominent Bermudian lawyer, politician, and soldier.

Early life

Dill was born in

Devonshire Parish Devonshire Parish is one of the nine parishes of Bermuda. Originally named ''Cavendish Tribe'' and later Devonshire Tribe, for William Cavendish, 1st Earl of Devonshire (1552–1626). ''Devonshire Redoubt'', on Castle Island, one of the Castle Har ...

, in the British

Imperial fortress Imperial fortress was the designation given in the British Empire to four colonies that were located in strategic positions from each of which Royal Navy squadrons could control the surrounding regions and, between them, much of the planet. His ...

colony In modern parlance, a colony is a territory subject to a form of foreign rule. Though dominated by the foreign colonizers, colonies remain separate from the administration of the original country of the colonizers, the ''metropole, metropolit ...

of Bermuda, the son of Mary Lea (née Smith) and Thomas Newbold Dill. The Dill family had been established in Bermuda in the 1630s. Thomas Newbold Dill (1837–1910) was a merchant, a Member of the Colonial Parliament (MCP) for Devonshire Parish from 1868 to 1888, a Member of the Legislative Council and an Assistant Justice from 1888, Mayor of the City of Hamilton from 1891 to 1897, served on numerous committees and boards, and was a member of the Devonshire Church (Church of England) and Devonshire Parish vestries (the latter is now termed a ''Parish Council''). Thomas Melville Dill was named for his seafaring paternal grandfather, who had lost his master's certificate after the wreck of the Bermudian-built ''Cedrine'' on the

Isle of Wight The Isle of Wight ( ) is a county in the English Channel, off the coast of Hampshire, from which it is separated by the Solent. It is the largest and second-most populous island of England. Referred to as 'The Island' by residents, the Isle of ...

, which had been returning the last convict labourers from the Royal Naval Dockyard in Bermuda to Britain in 1863.

Military career

The First World War Bermuda Contingent of the Royal Garrison Artillery

Thomas Dill entered the fledgeling

Bermuda Volunteer Rifle Corps The Bermuda Volunteer Rifle Corps (BVRC) was created in 1894 as a reserve for the Regular Army infantry component of the Bermuda Garrison. Renamed the ''Bermuda Rifles'' in 1951, it was amalgamated into the Bermuda Regiment in 1965. Formation A ...

in 1895 as a rifleman, before transferring to the

Bermuda Militia Artillery The Bermuda Militia Artillery was a unit of part-time soldiers organised in 1895 as a reserve for the Royal Garrison Artillery detachment of the Regular Army garrison in Bermuda. Militia Artillery units of the United Kingdom and Colonies were int ...

, a reserve of the

Royal Regiment of Artillery The Royal Regiment of Artillery, commonly referred to as the Royal Artillery (RA) and colloquially known as "The Gunners", is one of two regiments that make up the artillery arm of the British Army. The Royal Regiment of Artillery comprises t ...

, as a lieutenant. The

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...

maintained a large

Bermuda Garrison The Bermuda Garrison was the military establishment maintained on the British Overseas Territory and Imperial fortress of Bermuda by the regular British Army and its local militia and voluntary reserves from 1701 to 1957. The garrison evolved fr ...

of regular and part-time artillery and infantry units to guard the

Royal Naval Dockyard, Bermuda HMD Bermuda ( Her/His Majesty's Dockyard, Bermuda) was the principal base of the Royal Navy in the Western Atlantic between American independence and the Cold War. The Imperial fortress colony of Bermuda had occupied a useful position astride ...

, and other strategic assets. By 1914, then-Captain Dill was the Commandant, but he handed that position to a subordinate to lead the unit's First Contingent to the Western Front, receiving a temporary regular commission as a Major. Serving as part of the larger

Royal Garrison Artillery The Royal Garrison Artillery (RGA) was formed in 1899 as a distinct arm of the British Army's Royal Regiment of Artillery serving alongside the other two arms of the Regiment, the Royal Field Artillery (RFA) and the Royal Horse Artillery (RHA) ...

draft to the front, the Bermudian contingent was strongly praised by Field Marshal

Douglas Haig Field marshal (United Kingdom), Field Marshal Douglas Haig, 1st Earl Haig, (; 19 June 1861 – 29 January 1928) was a senior Officer (armed forces), officer of the British Army. During the First World War, he commanded the British Expeditionar ...

. After the war, Major Dill returned to Bermuda, resuming his command of the BMA. His substantive rank was still Captain 'til he was promoted to substantive Major in 1921, though dated 12 November 1919. He retired on 21 April 1928 with the honorary-rank of lieutenant-colonel (substantive rank of major).

Legal and political careers

In addition to his role as a military officer, Dill pursued a legal career, becoming Bermuda's

Attorney General In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general or attorney-general (sometimes abbreviated AG or Atty.-Gen) is the main legal advisor to the government. The plural is attorneys general. In some jurisdictions, attorneys general also have exec ...

.Lloyd Mayer
''Colonel Tom Dill O.B.E.: Lawyer, Soldier & Statesman''
The Bermuda Book Stores, Hamilton Bermuda. Robert MacLehose & Company Ltd, University of Glasgow Press. 1964. He entered politics, and served as a Member of the Colonial Parliament (MCP) for

Devonshire Devon ( , historically known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South West England. The most populous settlement in Devon is the city of Plymouth, followed by Devon's county town, the city of Exeter. Devon is a ...

parish from 1904 until 1938. He was also appointed to the Executive Council. He was an avid historian, whose articles were published in the ''Bermuda Historical Quarterly''.

Personal life

Dill married Ruth Rapalje Neilson (1880–1973) on 15 October 1900, and they had several children, some of whom followed him to positions of prominence in Bermuda or abroad. Their children were Ruth Rapalje Dill (1901–1986), Thomas Newbold Dill (1903–1970), Sir Nicholas Bayard Dill (known as ''Bayard Dill'') (1905–1993), Laurence Dill (1907–1984), Helen Dill (1912–2004), Frances Rapalje Dill (1915–2009) and Diana Dill (1923–2015). Bayard Dill was an officer in the

Bermuda Volunteer Engineers The Bermuda Volunteer Engineers was a part-time unit created between the two world wars to replace the Regular Royal Engineers detachment, which was withdrawn from the Bermuda Garrison in 1928. History The Military Garrison in Bermuda From 1895 ...

, a founding member of the ''Conyers, Dill & Pearman'' law firm (that played an important role in Bermuda's development as an offshore business centre), and a prominent politician who was knighted in 1951. He also played a key role in negotiating the agreement with the USA for its military and naval bases in Bermuda during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. Ruth Dill was married to

John Seward Johnson I John Seward Johnson I (July 14, 1895 – May 23, 1983) was one of the sons of Robert Wood Johnson I (co-founder of Johnson & Johnson). He was also known as J. Seward Johnson Sr. and Seward Johnson. He was a longtime executive and director of Jo ...

, heir to the

Johnson & Johnson Johnson & Johnson (J&J) is an American multinational corporation founded in 1886 that develops medical devices, pharmaceuticals, and consumer packaged goods. Its common stock is a component of the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the company i ...

fortune. Their children included

Mary Lea Johnson Richards Mary Lea Johnson Richards (August 20, 1926 – May 3, 1990) was an American heiress, entrepreneur, and Broadway producer. She was a granddaughter of Robert Wood Johnson I (co-founder of Johnson & Johnson), and of Bermudan politician, soldier, an ...

John Seward Johnson II John Seward Johnson II (April 16, 1930 – March 10, 2020), also known as J. Seward Johnson Jr. and Seward Johnson, was an American artist known for ''trompe-l'œil'' painted bronze statues. He was a grandson of Robert Wood Johnson I, the co-found ...

, and Diana Firestone. Diana Dill moved to the US, becoming an actress. She was married to actor

Kirk Douglas Kirk Douglas (born Issur Danielovitch; December 9, 1916 – February 5, 2020) was an American actor and filmmaker. After an impoverished childhood, he made his film debut in ''The Strange Love of Martha Ivers'' (1946) with Barbara Stanwyck. Do ...

, with whom she had two sons, actor and producer

Michael Douglas Michael Kirk Douglas (born September 25, 1944) is an American actor and film producer. He has received numerous accolades, including two Academy Awards, five Golden Globe Awards, a Primetime Emmy Award, the Cecil B. DeMille Award, and the AF ...

, and producer

Joel Douglas Joel Andrew Douglas (born January 23, 1947) is an American film producer. The second son of Kirk Douglas (1916–2020) and Diana Douglas (1923–2015), he was born one day after his mother's 24th birthday. His paternal grandparents were Je ...

. His grandson, the Right Reverend Nicholas Dill (of the

Anglican Church of Bermuda The Anglican Church of Bermuda (as the Church of England in the British Overseas Territory of Bermuda was retitled in 1978) is a single diocese consisting of nine parishes and is part of the Anglican Communion, though not a part of an ecclesias ...

), was installed as Bishop of Bermuda on 29 May 2013."Movie stars congratulate new Bermuda bishop"
Anglicannews.org. 31 May 2013.

Death

Dill died of a heart attack on 7 March 1945, following injuries sustained during a fall in February. He was eulogised on the front page of The Royal Gazette.

References

External links

Roots Web: Portrait T.M. Dill

Review of Diana Dill's autobiography, "In The Wings"

Barnes & Noble Excerpt from Diana Dill's autobiography, "In The Wings"

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dill, Thomas Melville 1876 births 1945 deaths Bermudian politicians Bermudian soldiers British colonial army officers British Army personnel of World War I Military of Bermuda Royal Artillery officers Officers of the Order of the British Empire People from Devonshire Parish Bermudian people of World War II Dill family British Militia officers