When the English took possession of Kandy, Tickery Banda and two or three brothers, children of the first minister of the King of the Kandians, were taken and educated in English by the then Governor of the island. Tickery afterwards became manager of some coffee plantations, and was so employed on the arrival of a Siamese mission of priests in 1845, who came to see Buddha's tooth. It seems that he met the mission returning disconsolate, having spent some 5,000 rupees in presents and bribes in a vain endeavour to obtain a sight of the relic. Tickery learned their whole story, and at once ordered them to unload their carts and wait for three days longer, and that he would in due time obtain for them the desired view of the holy tooth. He had a cheque on a bank for L200 in his hands at the time, and this he offered to leave with the priests as a guarantee that he would fulfil his promise. He did not say whether the cheque was his own or his master's, or whether it was handed over or not; perhaps it was this cheque for the misappropriation of which he found his way to the convict lines of Malacca. The Siamese priests accepted his undertaking and unloaded their baggage, agreeing to wait for the three days. Tickery immediately placed himself in communication with the then Governor, and represented, as he says, forcibly, the impositions that must have been practised upon the King of Siam's holy mission, when they had expended all their gifts and had not yet obtained the desired view of the tooth. The Governor, who, Tickery says, was a great friend of his, appreciated the hardships of the priests, and agreed that the relic should be shown to them with as little delay as possible. It happened, however, that the keys of the temple where the relic was preserved were in the keeping of the then Resident Councillor, who was away some eight miles elephant shooting. But this difficulty was not long allowed to remain in the way, for Tickery immediately suggested that it was very improbable that the Resident Councillor would have included these keys in his hunting kit, and insisted that they must be in the Councillor's house. He therefore asked the Governor's leave to call upon Mrs. ----, the Resident Councillor's wife, and, presenting the Governor's compliments, to request that a search be made for the keys. Tickery was deputed accordingly, and by dint of his characteristic tact and force of language, carried the keys triumphantly to the Governor. The Kandy priests were immediately notified that their presence was desired, as it was intended to exhibit the great relic, and that their guardian officer would be necessary. Accordingly, on the third day, the temple was opened, and in the building the Siamese priests and worshippers were assembled, with Tickery on the one side, and the Kandy or guardian priests on the other side, with the Governor and the Recorder in the centre.