Thomas Cullinan

Life & Legacy

Sir Thomas Major Cullinan (12 February 1862 – 23 August 1936) was a South African diamond magnate. He is known as the namesake of the Cullinan Diamond, the largest diamond ever discovered, and as owner of the Premier Mine, now renamed the Cullinan Mine, from which the famous gem was extracted on 26 January 1905. He also gave his name to the nearby South African town of Cullinan. He was honoured by the African Methodist Episcopal Church in Tembisa which named their church after him (Sir Thomas Cullinan AME Church).