Thomas Lewis Ingram

Thomas Lewis Ingram (1807 – 1868) was a British merchant who served as the acting colonial governor of the Gambia on five occasions.

Early life and education Ingram was born in Dublin, Ireland, the son of a linen draper, and brought up in London. He first traveled to West Africa in 1822, working in Senegal as a shop boy before moving to Bathurst, the Gambia.

Merchant and government career Ingram initially worked in Bathurst for a British merchant, Edward Bocock. However, he soon entered colonial service as first writer in the colonial secretary's office in 1826. He returned to trade, initially with success, but by the early 1830s he had fallen into debt and returned to government employment. In April 1834, he was appointed as director of the Liberated Africans Department. He returned to the Gambia, finally leaving in 1866. He died in 1868. He was called to the bar in England in 1867, and went on to serve as a successful barrister in West Africa and India. He was a barrister of Middle Temple and in 1909 married Lilian Donnithorne. His third child was James Skinner Ingram, who also became a barrister of Middle Temple. In 1909, he married Loveday Isabel Donnithorne, the sister of Lilian. In 1912, his daughter, Victoria Catherine Ingram, married Harold Edward Donnithorne, the brother of Lilian and Loveday. Thomas Lewis Ingram, as a captain in the Royal Army Medical Corps, was killed in France on 16 September 1916. He had been awarded the Military Cross and the Distinguished Service Order.