Sir Thomas Braddell CMG FRGS (30 January 1823 – 19 September 1891)[1] was an Irish lawyer, the first Attorney-General of the British Colony of Singapore.

Braddell, who was at that time stationed in Malacca, without the slightest assistance and without calling on the military, went out with all the police he could get together, attacked the Chinese, killed and wounded several of them, took the stockade, and summarily ended the riots, for which act he was publicly thanked by the Governor.

The pamphlet was a remarkable piece of constructive statesmanship, and showed his fitness for the high office to which he was appointed when his suggestions came to be put into practice.

[9] In addition to his multifarious duties, he found or made time to become a fine Malay scholar, to write innumerable articles in Logan's Journal, and to collect material for a history of Singapore, which, however, he never actually wrote, but which was the foundation of Charles Burton Buckley's An Anecdotal History of Old Times in Singapore, and indeed Braddell prompted Buckley to undertake that most valuable work.

To Thomas Braddell was due much of the success of the conference which concluded the Treaty of Pangkor in 1874, which Sir Andrew described as "the very best stroke of policy that has occurred since the British flag was seen in the Archipelago.

Being a very fine Malay scholar and having a most courteous manner, he was able to exert great influence with them, the following instance of which is given in Sir Andrew Clarke's diary.

The place was strongly fortified with big guns, and as Sir Andrew wrote in his diary, " the fort itself, both inside and outside, was covered with some hundreds of very villainous-looking Malays armed to the teeth."

Sir Andrew's diary then proceeds: "Braddell, my Attorney-General, then landed alone, smoking a cigar, as if for a stroll, lounged through the bazaar and town, passed the sentries, and stepped quietly into the Sultan's palace.

"[14] Towards the end of 1882, Braddell had a nasty carriage accident, and as a consequence had to retire; he was entertained before his departure at a farewell dinner given by the Bar and the Civil Service, at which the chief justice, Sir Thomas Sidgreaves, took the chair, and the governor was present as a guest.

[2] The Supreme Court assembled in Singapore to do honour to his memory, and speeches were made by the attorney-general, Jonas Daniel Vaughan, his old friend and colleague, and by the chief justice, Sir Edward L. O'Malley.

The Singapore Free Press, in an obituary notice, remarked that there were very few institutions in this place which did not in some way, to those who were acquainted with their history, recall him, and that that was especially the case among the Masonic fraternity.

Mr. Braddell had filled all the offices connected with Freemasonry in his day, save that of District Grand Master, which was held by his friend, the late Mr. William Henry Macleod Read, whose deputy he was.

Sir Thomas, while he was at the Bar, did not take any part in public affairs save when he acted as Attorney-General in 1898, and for a year or two prior to that as a Municipal Commissioner.

[16] Sir Thomas was a very good actor in his younger days, and was particularly successful as General Baltic in Turned up, by Mark Melford, and as Digby Grant in Two Roses, by James Albery.

He also stage-managed Iolanthe, which started an era of musical plays in October 1889, and the Crimson Scarf, a comic opera by H. B. Farnie and J. E. Legouix, in 1888; nor was he above giving an evening a week to coach the elder pupils of Raffles Girls' School in their Shakespeare.

"[17] Sir Thomas de Multon Lee Braddell was born in Province Wellesley on 25 November 1856,[18] and after leaving Oxford was called to the Bar at the Inner Temple on 25 June 1879.

Also " Bob " was an admirable caricaturist, much of his work being shown in illustrations herein, and under the nom de plume of "K.Y.D" had cartoons of Sir Cecil Smith, the Maharaja of Johore, and others published in the Vanity Fair series.

He won the Oxford University tournament in 1881, the same year he was also a losing finalist at the South of England Championships against Edgar Lubbock at Eastbourne .