Archdeacon Thomas Dealtry (3rd March 1825 – 1882)

Although Thomas Dealtry was born in Rotherhithe, his family comes from Yorkshire originally. His father Thomas was born in Knottingley and his grandfather James lived near Wakefield and is buried in Wressle. Thomas studied at Cambridge university gaining a Bachelor of Divinity in 1846 and a doctorate in Divinity in 1849. He was ordained in Norwich Cathedral on 24th February 1850. On the 29th November of the same year he married Lucy Bagshaw in St Margaret’s, Westminster.

On being appointed chaplain to the East India Company in 1851, Thomas and Lucy left for India where they worked extensively throughout the diocese of Madras (Chennai), visiting places as far away as Bangalore and Ootacamund. The South of India is not only extremely hot but also, at the time, unforgiving in terms of the common diseases. This had a direct effect on Thomas’s life. Sadly, Lucy and her 3 day old baby both died in March 1852.

On 26th April 1855 Thomas married Harriet Wing in Walcot church in Bath and the couple travelled back to India shortly afterwards. Their first daughter, Amy, was born in Madras in October 1856 but died a little less than 4 years later. The couple went on to have four more children who happily did survive: Ethel, Mabel Harriett, Percy Stovin and Arthur Arbuthnot, all except Mabel Harriett being born in Madras. In 1861, Thomas was appointed Archdeacon of Madras.

In Mabel Harriet’s memoirs she tells the story of how her father, on leave in Europe, preached a sermon one Sunday which brought him to the attention of the future Kaiser Wilhelm’s parents Victoria (eldest daughter of Queen Victoria) and Prince Frederick William of Prussia. They engaged Thomas to teach Wilhelm and his younger brother English. Mabel Harriett also tells how, when she was walking on the beach at Madras with her father, he explained to her that she should never mock the little clay idols in the fishermen’s huts as it was important to respect other people’s religious beliefs.

On 3rd May 1871, Thomas retired from the East India Co, probably for reasons of ill health which had plagued him for many years, the result of his travels around rural India*.

From 1872 to 1878 he was the Rector of St Mary’s Swillington. He was also elected as a guardian for Swillington in April 1874. The custom of throwing confetti at weddings originates from the time when Thomas was at Swillington. He is credited with the introduction here, of the Hindu custom of throwing rice over the bride and groom at a wedding. The rice later became confetti. Our Bridal Gate is very popular for photographs of the bride and bridegroom.

In 1878 he was moved to the parish of All Saints Maidstone where he served as rector until 1882. Harriett died, aged 50 on 30th September 1881 of consumption, probably contracted during her time in India. Thomas survived until 30th November 1882 when he died, in his vicarage, of thoracic encephaloid meningitis. He was 57. Both Thomas and Harriett are buried in Maidstone cemetery, their grave marked by a simple cross.

*Note

Thomas and family did not leave India as a result of the collapse of the East India Company in 1858 as is often suggested. His father continued his ministry until 1861 when he died of an infected foot. Thomas’s ill health resulted in him spending time at various European spas when on leave from India in an effort to recover. As he was not wealthy, he worked at these venues during his stay, hence his presence at the same spa as the German royal family in Mabel Harriett’s story.