Thomas Powell

Who is Thomas Powell?

Rev Thomas Powell was a British missionary sent to Samoa by the London Missionary Society. In 1848 he went with John Geddie to Aneityum, in what is now Vanuatu, returning in 1849 in bad health to Samoa. He was suffering from malaria, but went against Geddie's wishes.

Also a botanist, Powell had special interests in bryophytes, fungi and lichens. Herbarium specimens collected by him in the south Pacific region between 1860 and 1890 have been indexed by the Linnean Society of London and a list of the material was published by the society in 2011

Powell helped George Pratt compile his dictionary of the Samoan language.