STEELE, Thomas. Walton near Brampton, Cumberland 27.5.1834 — Walton 29.12.1895. British Civil Servant in Sri Lanka. Son of William Steele, a poet. Joined the Ceylon service in 1856. Worked in Kurunegala, Galle and Kandy, then Assistant Government Agent in Hambantota (1869 there). Translator, after retirement in 1876 lived in Carlisle, Cumberland. Married twice: 1865 with Elizabeth Katherine Jolly (d. 1875), then with Hellen Stavert, children.
Publications: Transl. An eastern love-story. Kusa Jatakaya, a Buddhist Legend… from the Sinhalese poem of Alagiyavanna Mohattala. 12+260 p. L. 1871.
– A collection of poetry, Under the Palms: A Volume of Verse. 12+196 p. L. 1871.
Sources: J. Penry Lewis, List of inscriptions on tombstones and monuments in Ceylon, of historical or local interest, with an obituary of persons uncommemorated. Colombo 1913, 213f.; J.R. Toussaint, Journal of the Dutch Burgher Union of Ceylon 23, 1934, 128; briefly in C. Reilly, Mid-Victorian Poetry, 1860-1879. L. 2000, 436.
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