Thomas Maitland ( British Army officer ) Lieutenant - General Sir Thomas Maitland , GCB , GCH ( 1759 – 1824 ) was a British soldier and colonial governor . He also served as a Member of Parliament for Haddington from 1790 – 96 , 1802 – 06 and 1812 – 13 . He was made a Privy Councillor on 23 November 1803 . He was the third son of James Maitland , 7th Earl of Lauderdale and younger brother of James Maitland , 8th Earl of Lauderdale . Maitland never married . Military service . Maitland was commissioned into the Edinburgh Light Horse , shortly after his birth , but did not take up his commission until he joined the 78th Foot as a Captain in 1778 . He transferred to the 72nd Foot , and then to the 62nd Foot as a Major in 1790 . He was promoted Lieutenant - Colonel in 1794 and Colonel and Brigadier - General in 1798 . Gubernatorial service . Maitland served as Governor of Ceylon ( Sri Lanka ) during 1805 to 1811 . In early 1812 , Arthur Wellesley , Earl of Wellington began the campaign that resulted in his victory at the Battle of Salamanca on 22 July . To prevent Marshal Louis Gabriel Suchet from sending French reinforcements from the east coast of Spain , Wellington requested that Lord William Bentinck launch a diversionary operation using the British garrison of Sicily . At first Bentinck agreed to send 10 , 000 of his soldiers , but in March he reversed himself . After much persuasion , he allowed the operation to go forward and on 7 June he put 8 , 000 men aboard naval transports under the command of Maitland . The fickle Bentinck changed his mind again on 9 June , stopping the expedition . At last on 28 June Maitland sailed for Minorca . The fleet first picked up 6 , 000 Spanish troops at Minorca and landed on 31 July at Palamós , northeast of Barcelona . He wisely decided that Barcelona was too strong to attack , but he also refused to try to capture weakly - held Tarragona . Maitland soon received news that Joseph O ' Donnell ' s Army of Murcia had been routed at the Battle of Castalla on 21 July . Without the support of O ' Donnell , Maitland decided he could not accomplish anything . He re - embarked his expeditionary force and sailed to Alicante instead , joining his troops with the garrison to form an army of 15 , 000 men . Because of the disaster at Salamanca , the French were forced to evacuate both Madrid in central Spain and Andalusia in the south . Their combined forces joined Suchet in the province of Valencia . In close proximity to 80 , 000 French soldiers , Maitland declined to move from Alicante . Maitland asked to be relieved in September 1812 due to illness . Maitland was appointed governor of Malta during 1813 - 1824 , where he became known as " King Tom " by the Maltese . He also served as Lord High Commissioner of the Ionian islands during 1815 to 1823 , while the islands were a British protectorate between 1814 and 1864 . The seat of administration was at Corfu . Love story at Ceylon . While at Ceylon , Maitland was attracted to a place at " Galkissa " ( Mount Lavinia ) and decided to construct his palace there . During this time , Maitland fell in love with a half - caste dancing - girl named Lovina , who had been born to Portuguese and Sinhalese parents . During the construction of the palace , Maitland gave instructions for the construction of a secret tunnel to Lovina ' s house , which was located close to the governor ' s palace . One end of the tunnel was inside the well of Lovina ' s house and the other end was in a wine cellar inside the governor ' s palace . When the governor came to reside there , he would often use the tunnel to meet Lovina . The Sinhalese village that surrounded the Governor ’ s mansion developed into a modern city named " Galkissa " . Later the city was renamed " Mount Lavinia " in honour of Lovina . In 1920 the tunnel was sealed up . The bicentenary celebration of the Mount Lavinia Hotel was held in 2005 . Some of Sir Thomas Maitland ' s relatives living in the UK attended the ceremony .