Lewin , Thomas Herbert , 1839-1916 , Lieutenant Colonel , colonial administrator

Thomas Herbert Lewin was born in London on 1 Apr 1839, and was educated at Littlehampton and Addiscombe Military College. In 1857, Lewin traveled to India as a lieutenant and was involved in several campaigns to put down the Indian Mutiny. He became the District Superintendent in Police at Rampur Bandleah, 1861-1864, later taking up the same post at Noacolly, South Bengal and Chittagong, 1864-1866. In March 1866, he was promoted to Captain, and appointed first as Temporary Superintendent and later permanent Deputy Commissioner and Political Agent for the unregulated Chittagong Hill Tracts - a post that he held until 1875. In 1874, Lewin returned to England due to ill health, was made an honorary Lieutenant Colonel and received a Colonel's pension. He returned to India in 1875 to take up the post of Deputy Commissioner of Cooch Behar, and later became Deputy Commissioner of Darjeeling, where he remained until his retirement in 1879. In 1885, Thomas Herbert bought Parkhurst, a house in Abinger, near Dorking, Surrey where he lived until his death in 1916. Lewin was the author of several works on India and Indian languages.