Thomas Bilbe (1803 – 28 November 1884) was an English shipbuilder and shipowner based in

Rotherhithe Rotherhithe () is a district of south-east London, England, and part of the London Borough of Southwark. It is on a peninsula on the south bank of the Thames, facing Wapping, Shadwell and Limehouse on the north bank, as well as the Isle of D ...

. He built

tea clippers Tea is an aromatic beverage prepared by pouring hot or boiling water over cured or fresh leaves of '' Camellia sinensis'', an evergreen shrub native to East Asia which probably originated in the borderlands of southwestern China and north ...

and was involved in the

opium trade Opium (or poppy tears, scientific name: ''Lachryma papaveris'') is dried latex obtained from the seed capsules of the opium poppy ''Papaver somniferum''. Approximately 12 percent of opium is made up of the analgesic alkaloid morphine, which i ...

with China. Thomas was born in Sheerness, Kent and married Eliza Ann Chappell 30 January 1826, St. John's, Horsleydown.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bilbe, Thomas 1811 births 1896 deaths Drug dealers British shipbuilders Ship owners People from Sheerness 19th-century English businesspeople People from Rotherhithe