Thomas Melville Dill
| Thomas Melville Dill | |
|---|---|
| Born |
23 December 1876 Devonshire Parish, Bermuda |
| Died | 7 March 1945 (aged 68) |
| Buried at | Devonshire Parish, Bermuda |
| Allegiance |
 United Kingdom Bermuda
|
| Service/branch |
 British Army
|
| Years of service | 1895-1928 |
| Rank | Lieutenant-Colonel |
| Unit | Bermuda Contingent, Royal Garrison Artillery (Bermuda Militia Artillery) |
| Battles/wars | First World War |
| Awards | Officer of the Order of the British Empire |
| Relations | Nicholas Bayard Dill, Diana Dill, Michael Douglas, Joel Douglas, Mary Lea Johnson Richards, John Seward Johnson II, Diana Firestone |
Lieutenant-Colonel Thomas Melville Dill OBE (23 December 1876 – 7 March 1945) was a prominent Bermudian lawyer, politician and soldier.
Dill was born in Devonshire Parish, in the British colony 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, which had been returning the last convict labourers from the Royal Naval Dockyard in Bermuda to Britain in 1863.
Thomas Dill entered the fledgeling Bermuda Volunteer Rifle Corps in 1895 as a rifleman, before transferring to the Bermuda Militia Artillery, a reserve of the Royal Regiment of Artillery, as a lieutenant. The British Army maintained a large Bermuda Garrison of regular and part-time artillery and infantry units to guard the Royal Naval Dockyard, Bermuda, and other strategic assets. By 1914, Major Dill was the Commanding Officer, but he handed that position to a subordinate in order to lead the unit's First Contingent to the Western Front. Serving as part of the larger Royal Garrison Artillery draft to the front, the Bermudian contingent was strongly praised by Field Marshal Douglas Haig. After the war, Major Dill returned to Bermuda, resuming his command of the BMA, from which he retired on the 21st of April, 1928 with the honorary-rank of lieutenant-colonel (substantive rank of major).
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