THOMAS, GEORGE (c. 1791-c. 1872), writer of mock-heroic and satiric verse dealing with events in Montgomeryshire;
b. c. 1791, son of James Thomas, wool stapler, Newtown, Mont. He received some education at Park's school, Shrewsbury, assisted his father in business at Welshpool, and set up a corn-grinding business in the same town. He was clerk to the families of Newtown Hall and Cilgwrgan (Abermule); he was also clerk to the Forden ‘House of Industry’ from c. 1820 until c. 1840. Eventually he was for many years schoolmaster and postmaster at Llandysil, Mont., whither he had moved in 1826 and where he d. c. 1872. His chief works are: (a) The otter hunt and the death of Roman, a well-known hound (Welshpool, 1817); (b) The Welsh flannel (of which there were six editions); (c) History of the Chartists and the Bloodless Wars of Montgomeryshire (including ‘History of Toolly Loolly,’ ‘Battle of Abermule,’ ‘Battle of Heniarth,’ ‘Battle of Caersws,’ and ‘Battle of Newtown and Llanidloes,’ 1840; these last satirized the Yeomanry; (d) The death of Rowton (a Llandysil eccentric); and (e) The Extinction of the Mormons.
Bibliography:
- Mont. Coll., xlix, 257 (with portrait of him as huntsman);
- R. Williams, Mont. Worthies.
Author:
John Davies Knatchbull Lloyd, M.A., F.S.A., O.B.E., Montgomery
