# Who Was Thomas Breakwell?

*Exported from [Holy-Writings.com](https://www.holy-writings.com/) on 2026-06-20 — 1 clipping.*

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> Source: Bahá'í Library Online (bahai-library.com), curated by Jonah Winters. Used by permission of the curator. Original citation: Robert Weinberg, Who Was Thomas Breakwell?, bahai-library.com.
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> 
> Who Was Thomas Breakwell?
> 
> Robert Weinberg
> 
> published in Bahá'í Journal (UK)
> 
> 1997-08
> 
> The first Englishman to declare his faith in
> Bahá'u'lláh...
> 
> 'Abdu'l-Bahá loved him dearly...
> 
> Discovering the Bahá'í Faith changed his life for ever...
> 
> Imagine if you will a young woman living in Paris at the start of the
> 20th Century. A beautiful young American woman who, following the
> instructions of her beloved Master 'Abdu'l-Bahá, is staying on in the
> great French capital, thousands of miles from home, angering her
> mother, who has gone away on holiday. A young woman who, thanks to a
> generous friend who loans her an apartment, is staying on in the city
> because her heart's desire, 'Abdu'l-Bahá, whom she had met on the
> first ever pilgrimage from the west in 1898, has specifically
> requested that she remain on in the great cultural centre of Europe,
> Paris.
> 
> Thus we discover May Ellis Bolles, 31 years old, later to become the
> immortal May Maxwell, mother of 'Amatu'l-Baha Ruhiyyih Khanum, alone
> in Paris awaiting some instruction from the Master that she might
> leave and rejoin her mother.
> 
> Imagine one summer's day, a knock at the door reveals two people - an
> old friend from America and a young man whom she has never seen
> before. A young man on whom her attention is riveted, of medium
> height, slender and graceful with intense searching eyes and an
> indescribable charm. Thus May discovers Thomas Breakwell, a young man
> who is destined to go down in history as the first ever Englishman to
> declare his faith in Bahá'u'lláh. He was in his twenties.
> 
> A chance meeting across the Channel
> 
> Thomas Breakwell, although English, lived in the southern states of
> America holding an important position in a cotton mill. He always
> spent his summer vacations in Europe and it was on a boat crossing the
> Channel in the summer of 1901 that he had met May Bolles' friend, Mrs
> Milner, who told him of May and her friends in Paris, although she did
> not mention the Faith. As May talked to Thomas on the beautiful
> summer's day in 1901, she discovered a rare person of high standing
> and culture, simple, natural, and intensely real in his attitude
> towards life and humanity.
> 
> Although at that first meeting no mention was made of the Revelation
> of Bahá'u'lláh, Breakwell studied May with a searching gaze and asked
> if he might see her the following day.
> 
> "My heart was aflame with love..."
> 
> He arrived the next morning in a strangely exalted mood. May wrote,
> "His eyes burned with a hidden fire and looked at me earnestly, he
> asked if I noticed anything strange about him. Seeing his condition I
> asked him to sit down and reassured him, saying he looked very happy!
> 
> 'When I was here yesterday,' Breakwell said, 'I felt a power, an
> influence that I had felt once before in my life when for a period of
> three months I was continually in communion with God. My heart was
> afire with love for the supreme Beloved - I felt at peace, at one with
> all my fellow men. Yesterday when I left you, I went alone down the
> Champs-Elysees. The air was warm and heavy, not a leaf was stirring
> when suddenly a wind struck me and whirled around me, and in that wind
> a voice said, with an indescribable sweetness and penetration, Christ
> has come again! Christ has come again!'." With wide startled eyes he
> looked at May and asked if she thought he had gone crazy. "No," she
> said smiling, "You are just becoming sane."
> 
> Over the next few days Breakwell became drunk with love for the Faith
> of Bahá'u'lláh. May told him about the Bab and thousands of martyrs
> who shed their blood so that the Faith might be established, of His
> Holiness Bahá'u'lláh who had given to mankind the law of God for this
> age, and of 'Abdu'l-Bahá who was still at that time a prisoner in
> Akka.
> 
> Breakwell's heart was filled with such longing that he gave up his
> journey, cancelled his plans, and became determined to go and gaze
> upon the face of the Master. Having met another young American Bahá'í
> who was on his way to Akka, Breakwell sat down and wrote a brief but
> poignant message:
> 
> "My Lord, I believe, forgive me.
> 
> Thy servant, Thomas Breakwell."
> 
> Meeting 'Abdu'l-Bahá in Akka
> 
> The two of them set off for Port Said in Egypt to await the Master's
> reply. That evening May went to the entrance of her apartment and
> discovered a cablegram from 'Abdu'l-Bahá. It read "You may leave Paris
> at any time." Thus she was able to rejoin her mother and brother,
> having completed her mission - a mission of which she had had no
> previous knowledge - the induction of a rare soul, Thomas Breakwell,
> into the Faith of Bahá'u'lláh.
> 
> When Thomas and his companion arrived in Akka they were ushered into a
> spacious room at one end of which stood a group of men in oriental
> clothing. Breakwell suddenly felt ill and weak, thinking that he had
> failed to recognise 'Abdu'l-Bahá. His mind buzzed with confusion - why
> had he come here? Why had he given up his vacation to come to a remote
> prison seeking... whatever. He became desperate and depressed.
> 
> Suddenly a door opened and in the opening he saw what seemed to him
> the rising sun. So intense wand brilliant was this light that he
> sprang to his feet and saw approaching him from out of this light the
> figure of 'Abdu'l-Bahá.
> 
> The days in Akka were spent wrapt in the Master's loving care and
> attention. Breakwell literally burned away with love. When he informed
> 'Abdu'l-Bahá that the cotton mills he worked in used young children as
> workers, 'Abdu'l-Bahá looked at him sadly and said "Cable your
> resignation." Breakwell obeyed immediately and in doing so severed all
> ties with his old life.
> 
> The guiding star for the Paris Bahá'ís
> 
> Returning to Paris, Breakwell became like the candle which
> 'Abdu'l-Bahá had often mentioned, which wept away its life drop by
> drop in order that it might give out light. He became the guiding star
> for the Paris Bahá'ís, his calmness and strength, his simplicity and
> powerful speech quickened the souls of all who heard him. One day, May
> recalls they were crossing a bridge over the River Seine when Thomas
> noticed an old woman laboriously pushing an apple cart over the
> bridge. He immediately climbed down off the bus and joined the old
> woman in the most natural way, helping her with her load over the
> bridge.
> 
> The Bahá'í Revelation had penetrated his soul, giving his real insight
> into human needs, an intense sympathy and genuine love for all. Those
> afflicted with sorrows were drawn to him like a magnet and would leave
> his presence uplifted and revitalised. He was the first westerner to
> pay Huququllah and he lived in a cheap and distant part of Paris,
> walking miles to the meetings in order to save his money to give to
> the fund. He was particularly kind to May's mother and knew the value
> of imparting happiness.
> 
> Thomas Breakwell, however, was a sick man who suffered from
> tuberculosis. His life was far too short and within just a year of
> learning of the Faith, which had set his heart aflame and would, in
> turn, transform the entire planet, Thomas lay dying in his apartment
> in Paris. Even at this stage he wrote to 'Abdu'l-Bahá asking if he
> could possibly leave Paris in case one of his parents in England
> became sick. His parents, however, arrived in Paris to try to take him
> back. Breakwell was faithful to 'Abdu'l-Bahá's instructions though,
> and so impressed his father that he too embraced the Faith of
> Bahá'u'lláh. Breakwell died a few months later. In his last letter to
> 'Abdu'l-Bahá's secretary he wrote, "Suffering is a hardy wine. I am
> preparing to receive that bounty which is the greatest of all.
> Torments of the flesh have enabled me to draw much nearer to my
> Lord... I wish life to endure longer, so that I may taste more of
> pain. That which I desire is the good pleasure of my Lord. Mention me
> in His presence."
> 
> Heartbroken at the passing of Thomas Breakwell, although miraculously
> no-one had told him it had happened, 'Abdu'l-Bahá revealed the most
> moving and inspiring Tablet, telling his translator to translate it so
> that all who read it would weep:
> 
> 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!
> 
> A year later 'Abdu'l-Bahá received a letter from Breakwell's father.
> It was a small violet. On the card was written: "He is not dead. He
> lives on in the Kingdom of God... This flower was picked from
> Breakwell's grave. Praise be to the Lord that my son left this world
> for the next with the recognition and love of 'Abdu'l-Bahá. "
> 
> " ...so shall your powers and blessings be."
> 
> Imagine if you will a young man, shining as the brightest
> example to the youth of Europe. A young man who clearly proved that
> such detachment, that such a depth of faith and devotion to the
> covenant of Bahá'u'lláh is possible and can be achieved. The spirit of
> Thomas Breakwell - the courage to fight battles for the Army of Light
> and win triumphant victories despite the poorest physical health - is
> a spirit which lives on among us here, now. In the words of the Master
> As ye have faith, so shall your powers and blessings be... This is
> the balance. This is the balance. This is the balance.
> 
> See the UK Bahá'í Heritage Site Picture Gallery of Early British Bahá'ís for a photo of Breakwell.
> 
> METADATA
> 
> Views20270 views since posted 1997; last edit 2025-07-28 03:48 UTC;
> 
> previous at archive.org.../weinberg_thomas_breakwell;
> URLs changed in 2010, see archive.org.../bahai-library.org
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> Shortlink: bahai-library.com/478
> Citation: ris/478
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> — *Who Was Thomas Breakwell? (Used by permission of the curator)*