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."

 

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!…