Preamble

This document is a compilation of names and lives of various people descended from Rev. John Thomas, whose daughter, Mary Jane Dibb (nee Thomas), married a CMS missionary, Rev. Ashton Dibb a son of Emanuel Dibb. These people lived, worked, and died in five different countries across three continents.

The purpose of this compilation is to provide the younger generations with history and information of their ancestral heritage. It is not only that they may know about their ancestors, but that they may be inspired by their devotion, conviction, dedication, and courage, especially that of Rev. John Thomas and William Reginald Dibb. Rev. Thomas spent all his life serving the Tinnevelly (or Tirunelveli) community in South India with the Church Missionary Society. W.R. Dibb left a relatively peaceful life in northern Siam while in service of the Bombay Burmah Trading Corporation, a British forestry company, to return to England in order to join the Royal Field Artillery, a service in which he lost his life in France in 1918.

This compilation is also dedicated to the loving memory of my mother, Malee Wattananikorn (nee Dibb), W.R. Dibb’s youngest daughter. Malee spent half of her life accompanying her husband, Kiet, who was also a forester of a British forestry company, to various places that were mostly remote and far from civilization of the big town. Malee died on April 6^th, 2012 at the age of ninety-seven, in Bangkok, Thailand.

This anthology of family histories is a collective effort of the descendants of William Reginald Dibb who are now living in the USA, Australia and Thailand. Anyone who wishes to contribute more information to make this compilation complete is welcome to contact me via email. Please send any information or photographs to me at kwattananikorn@gmail.com

I wish to thank my friend, Dr. Iain Hutchison, a historian at the University of Stirling and the University of Glasgow, Scotland, for providing me with the English census enumerations for the years 1871, 1881 and 1891, the census of Canada for the year 1901, and other necessary information relating to WW1.

I would also like to thank Joseph Dibbayawan, the son of my eldest cousin, Willie Chitt Dibbayawan, who now resides in Sydney, Australia, for providing valuable information from various sources. Thanks also go to Stephen Reginald Dibb, a great-great-great grandchild of Emanuel Dibb who now resides in Worcestershire, England, for information of Emanuel Dibb’s family.

Special thanks go to Regina Dibb in Oregon, USA, the daughter of another cousin, Francis Wimolerd Dibb, who not only provided old photographs and documents, but also helped in proof reading the original manuscript with assistance from her nephew, Austin Dibb.

Prof. Kittichai Wattananikorn, Ph.D.

Chiang Mai, THAILAND

This website is the updated and replacement of www.kt-place.com/kittichai

February 7th., 2021

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