Edmund Meysey THOMAS

  General Notes:

BIOGRAPHY: He was educated at Cheltenham College and later went to Trinity College Dublin. He joined the Carlow Militia and when it was disbanded in 1908 he moved to The Royal Irish Rifles. He went with them to France in The Expeditionary Force in 1914 and spent the first months as mounted infantry - involved in cavalry skirmishes. He was invalided back from the Front later, but when recovered he returned there. After the War he returned to Ireland to run the Irish properties and take part in local affairs; this part of his life came to an end in 1932 when his father died and he decided to sell Belmont. In 1934 he married Eunice Margaret Newton, daughter John Newton, in St James Church Piccadilly London. They went to live at Hythe Kent, near his sister Idonea. Their three children were born-then. In 1940 after the German invasion of France their home, which had a particularly good view of the French coast, was requisitioned and the family had to move. He offered his services to the Army and at the age of 54 took on various administrative jobs, which involved the family in many moves via Surrey Wiltshire and Lanarkshire. At the end of the War the Hythe house was given back, but in a very poor state and materials for repairing were in short supply. So another house in Hythe was bought, but after a short period it was decided to go back to Ireland. The family stayed in Carlow (at Ballydarton ) until all three children were leaving school, Ann was getting married, and he was too elderly to continue running the farm.

Edmund married Eunice Margaret NEWTON, daughter of John NEWTON and Unknown, in 1934 in St. James Church, Picadilly, London. (Eunice Margaret NEWTON was born in 1911 and died in 2004.)