Thomas Lister Villiers

Sir Thomas Lister Villiers (31 October 1869 – 21 December 1959) was a British planter in Ceylon. He was appointed the European unofficial member of the Legislative Council of Ceylon from 1924 to 1931, appointed member of the State Council of Ceylon (1932) and chairman of George Steuart Group.^[1][2]

Born in Adisham to Rev. Henry Montagu Villiers, of the Villiers family, who was Prebendary of St Paul's Cathedral, daughter of Lord John Russell former British Prime Minister. He was educated at the Sherborne School and left to Ceylon to start a career as a planter apprenticing at the Elbedde Estate in Bogawantalawa. He left Ceylon and spend four years in Brazil, returning to Ceylon in 1900, he purchased a tea estate, the Dickoya Group. He joined the George Steuart Company in 1905 and in 1928 he became the Chairman of the George Steuart Company, a post he held until his retirement in 1949. In 1929 he began construction of Adisham Hall, his country house in Bandarawela which was completed in 1931. He left Ceylon after his retirement and died in Kent on 21 December 1959.

He married Evelyn Hope Walker in 1896, they had two sons, Henry Lister (b. 1897) and Thomas Hyde (b. 1902). Henry Lister served as a lieutenant in the British Army and was killed in action during World War I in 1917. Thomas Hyde served in the Royal Navy as a Lieutenant Commander in World War II and died in 1955. After the death of his first wife, he married Marjorie Glencora Keyt in 1953.

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← Members of the 1924 Legislative Council of Ceylon (1924 (1924)–1931) →

• President: Hugh Clifford (1924–27); Murchison Fletcher (1927–28); Herbert Stanley (1928–31); Bernard Henry Bourdillon (1931); Graeme Thomson (1931)
  
• Vice President: James Peiris (1924-1930); Don Baron Jayatilaka (1930–31)

Ex offico Members (5)

General Officer Commanding the Troops	Harold Higginson
Colonial Secretary	Cecil Clementi Murchison Fletcher Edward Bruce Alexander
Attorney General	Lancelot Elphinstone
Controller of Revenue	Edward Bruce Alexander Walter Ernest Wait
Colonial Treasurer	Wilfrid Wentworth Woods

Nominated Members (10)

Official Members (7)	Frank Arthur Stockdale Lachlan Macrae John Strachan James Frederick Edmund Bridger Francis Graeme Tyrrell Thomas Reid Maas Thajoon Akbar
Unofficial Members (3)	Hermann Albert Loos Gerard Wijeyekoon Kadiravalepillai Balasingham

Elected Members (34)

Territorial (24)

Colombo Town (North) (1) Victor Corea Colombo Town (South) (1) James Peiris Colombo District (1) Don Baron Jayatilaka Negombo District (1) D. S. Senanayake Kalutara Revenue District (1) E. W. Perera Western Province (Ceylon Tamil) (1) Arunachalam Mahadeva Central Province (Urban) (1) Gerard Wijeyekoon Central Province (Rural) (1) George E. de Silva Northern Province (Northern) (1) Ponnambalam Ramanathan Northern Province (Southern) (1) A. Canagaratnam Northern Province (Eastern) (1) T. M. Sabaratnam (from 19 Feb. 1925) Northern Province (Western) (1) Waithilingam Duraiswamy Northern Province (Central) (1) Suppiramaniam Rajaratnam Southern Province (Eastern) (1) V. S. de S. Wikramanayake Southern Province (Central) (1) Forester Augustus Obeyesekere Southern Province (Western) (1) C. W. W. Kannangara Trincomalee Revenue District (1) M. M. Subramaniam Batticaloa Revenue District (1) E. R. Tambimuttu North Western Province (Western Division) (1) C. H. Z. Fernando North Western Province (Eastern Division) (1) Godfrey Edward Madawala North Central Province (1) H. R. Freeman Province of Uva (1) Henry Kotelawala Kegalla Revenue District (1) Alexander Francis Molamure Ratnapura Revenue District (1) Arthur Hamilton Ekneligoda Molamure

Communal (10)

European (Urban) (1) Unfinished European (Rural) (1) Unfinished Commercial (1) Unfinished Burgher (2) George Alfred Henry Wille Nathaniel John Martin Muhammadan (3) Mohamed Macan Markar N. H. M. Abdul Cader T. B. Jayah Indian (2) I. X. Pereira S. R. Muhammad Sultan K. Natesa Iyer (from 11 Dec. 1925) Unknown Thomas Yates Wright Edwin James Hayward William Loring Kindersley Thomas Southorn (until 1925) George Thornton Alfred Henry Frank Clarke (from 26 Nov. 1924) W. A. de Silva (from 19 Feb. 1925) Punchi Banda Rambukwelle (from 19 Feb. 1925) Thomas Lister Villiers (from 19 Nov. 1925) Neill Graeme Campbell (from Mar. 1926)