Merle Oberon’s Burgher Genealogical Lineage …

An Item passed on by Jayantha Somasundaram of Canberra, June 2025 … with highlights imposed by The Editor, Thuppahi

 Merle Oberon (born Estelle Merle O’Brien Thompson; 19 February 1911 – 23 November 1979) was raised as the daughter of Arthur Terrence O’Brien Thompson, a Welsh mechanical engineer from Darlington who worked in Indian Railways, and his wife, Charlotte Selby (whose full name was Constance Charlotte Thompson, according to her 1937 obituary), who was born in Sri Lanka (then Ceylon) and was a Burgher from British Ceylon.

Hollywood actress Merle Oberon had to hide her South Asian origins in 1930s London and America, in order to work in movies and remain in America.

Listen to the story of her life which starts at 30 minutes 40 seconds on this audio clip:  …………………………………………………………………. https://www.abc.net.au/listen/programs/latenightlive/national-security-andrew-preston-merle-oberon-mayukh-sen/105304378

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SOME EDITORIAL THOUGHTS

A: An initial search of JP Lewis, List of Inscriptions on Tombstones…. 1993 Navrang edn, did not yield pertinent results for the surnames Thompson and Selby.

B: The sketchy details on the familial origins in this account prompts me to ask if this  lineage may not have been considerd “Anglo-Indian” rather than “Burgher” in the ethnic nomenclature that was in force in British Ceylon in the late 19th and early 20th centuries…… SEE

“Anglo-Ceylonese”: A Missing Dimension in British Ceylon

See more

A Brief History of the Anglo-Indians

See more