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Lieutenant-Colonel '''Thomas Fiott de Havilland''' (April 1775 – 23 February 1866) was a British Army officer and engineer in the Madras Presidency. He later served as a justice and member of the legislature of Guernsey.<br />
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De Havilland was born in April 1775 at [[Havilland Hall]], Guernsey, the son of [[Peter de Havilland|Sir Peter de Havilland]], [[Bailiff of Guernsey]] from 1810 to 1821, and his wife Cartaretta, daughter and heir of the Rev. Thomas Fiott.<ref name="DNB">{{cite DNB |wstitle=Havilland, Thomas Fiott de|volume=25 |url=https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Havilland,_Thomas_Fiott_de_(DNB00) |accessdate=21 October 2019}}</ref> The family coat of arms includes three triple-turretted towers with the motto ''Dominus fortissima turris''. De Havilland served in Colombo in 1795-96 alongside [[Colin Mackenzie]], in Trichy against Tipu in 1799 and in Egypt in 1801 where he was captured by the French. He was released in 1802. In 1814 he was appointed civil engineer and architect for the [[Madras Presidency]] and remained in post until his retirement from the service in April 1825.<ref name="DNB" /> He became chief engineer at Madras in 1821 and was promoted to lieutenant-colonel in 1824.<ref name="DNB" /> He wrote a report on the roles of the Engineers, Pioneers, Sappers and Miners which drew much ire.<ref>{{cite book |author=Sandes, E.W.C. |url=https://archive.org/details/engineer1/page/228/mode/1up |title=The Military Engineer in India. Volume I. |publisher=Institution of Royal Engineers |year=1933 |place=Chatham |page=228}}</ref> He constructed a sea wall in Madras, design and built St. Andrew's Church and at Srirangapatnam he built a demonstration arch of 110 feet with ordinary bricks to support a proposal that a five arch bridge could be built across the Kaveri river. The arch collapsed in July 1936.<ref>{{cite book|page=143 | url = https://archive.org/details/MysoreState/page/n161/mode/1up| title= Mysore State| author=Swamy, G.L.| place= Mysore| publisher= Tourism Bureau |year=1942}}</ref> At Madras he established a benchmark for the mean sea level.<ref>{{cite book |author=Vibart, H.M. |title=The Military History of the Madras Engineers and Pioneers, from 1743 Up to the Present Time, Volume 2 |publisher=W.H. Allen & Company |year=1883 |pages=1-20}}</ref><br />
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After he retired de Havilland returned to Guernsey and bought the Vauxquiédor estate and became a justice and member of the legislature.<ref name="DNB" /><br />
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In 1808 he married Elizabeth Saumarez (1782-1818, Madras), daughter of Thomas Saumarez, and they had two sons (Thomas de Havilland, a captain in the 55th foot (d. 1843), and Charles Ross de Havilland, a clergyman, who also died before his father) and two daughters.<ref name="DNB" /> After his return to England he married Harriet Gore in 1828. He died at Beauvoir, Guernsey, on 23 February 1866, at the age of 90.<ref name="DNB" /><br />
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==References==<br />
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== External links ==<br />
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* [https://www.priaulxlibrary.co.uk/articles/article/autobiography-thomas-fiott-de-havilland-engineer-and-architect Autobiography]<br />
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[[Category:1775 births]]<br />
[[Category:1866 deaths]]<br />
[[Category:De Havilland family]]<br />
[[Category:People from Saint Peter Port]]<br />
[[Category:British East India Company Army officers]]<br />
[[Category:Members of the States of Guernsey]]<br />
[[Category:British military personnel of the French Revolutionary Wars]]<br />
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