Thomas Jones (missionary)
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Thomas Jones (1810 – September 16, 1849) was a Welsh missionary, best remembered for his work in recording the Khasi language in Roman script.
Jones, a carpenter's son from Montgomeryshire, became a Calvinistic Methodist minister in 1840, and shortly afterwards set out for India with his wife Anne. After their arrival in Calcutta, Anne gave birth to a child, which did not survive. The couple went on into the Khasia Hills, with the aim of converting the native people to Christianity. 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. 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 an alphabet and dictionary. In 1846 Anne Jones died in childbirth, and Thomas Jones married a 15-year-old girl, Emma Catell, an act which got him into trouble with the Missionary Society. 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, he was forced to leave the area, and contracted malaria, of which he died. He is buried in the Scottish Cemetery at Calcutta.
[edit] Sources
- Nigel Jenkins - Gwalia in Khasia (1995)
