June 13. On this date in 1902, Thomas Breakwell, the first Englishman to become a Bahá’í and the first to make a Bahá’í pilgrimage, died of tuberculosis at the age of 30, one year after having become a Bahá’í. Along with George Townsend and John Esslemont, Shoghi Effendi named him one of the "three luminaries of the Irish, English and Scottish Bahá'í communities."
In 1901, during a summer trip to Paris, Breakwell learned of the Bahá’í Faith from May Bolles (later May Maxwell, mother of Shoghi Effendi's wife Amatu'l-Bahá Rúhíyyih Khánum). After three days with May Bolles, Breakwell decided to visit ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, becoming the first Englishman to do so. On ‘Abdu’l-Bahá's request, Breakwell settled in Paris, where he died less than a year later from tuberculosis.
On hearing of his death, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá wrote a tablet in his honor...
O Breakwell! O my dear one! Where are thy beauteous eyes? Thy smiling lips? Thy princely cheek? Thy graceful form? O Breakwell! O my dear one! At all times do I call thee to mind, I shall never forget thee. I pray for thee by day and by night. I see thee plain before me, as if in open day. O Breakwell! O my dear one!…
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