Thomas Falkner

Thomas Falkner (6 October 1707 – 30 January 1784) was an English Jesuit missionary, active in the Patagonia region.

He was the son of Thomas Falkner, a Manchester apothecary, and had Calvinist, maybe Scottish heritage, but obtained his education at the Manchester grammar school. Later on, having studied medicine under Dr. Richard Mead, he became a surgeon and practised at his native place.

His own health being delicate, he was advised to take a sea-voyage, and being acquainted with a ship chaplain on board the Assiento, a vessel trading with Guinea and carrying slaves to Buenos Aires, he accepted an invitation to accompany the vessel as surgeon. This was in or about 1731. On reaching Buenos Aires he was so ill that the captain was compelled to leave him there in the care of Father Mahoney, the superior of the Jesuit College.

Here he recovered his health, and was received into the Roman Catholic Church. On 15 May 1732, he entered the Society of Jesus, becoming a member of the Paraguay province. Having spent some time at the Jesuit College of Cordoba del Tucumán in the city of Córdoba, he went as a missionary to the Puelches, near Rio Segundo. His knowledge of medicine and mechanics procured for him considerable influence among the native peoples.

In 1740 or soon after he was sent to assist Father Matthias Strobel in his mission to the Tehuelche people at Laguna de los Padres, 12 miles west of the present day city of Mar del Plata, the first human settlement in the region. For more than 30 years he worked among the Tehuelches. In 1768 the Jesuits were expelled from South America by Royal Decree of Charles III of Spain.

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