Author: Thomas, George
Biography:
THOMAS, George (1786-1859: DWB)
It is possible, even likely, that Freedom: with Other Poems (1816) by George Thomas is not by George Thomas of Llandyssil, the author of several mock-heroic poems with Welsh themes. It is not mentioned in biographies; it was published uncharacteristically in London; and it is not the least bit funny. (Reviews were scathing.) But the date is right, the London printer has a Welsh name, and many of the earnest contents are in heroic couplets; furthermore there are no other obvious candidates. The author of The Otter Hunt (1817) and of Welsh Flannel (1820 but only 8 pages long), among other works, was born at Wollerton and baptised in the parish of Hodnet, Shropshire, on 22 Nov. 1786, the son of Margaret (Davies) and James Thomas. His father, a woolstapler and flannel manufacturer, moved to Shrewsbury where George attended Park’s School; and then settled in Wales at Welshpool, just across the border. George assisted his father in business and was employed as a clerk and/or accountant in the neighbourhood, particularly at Newtown. On 14 July 1817 at Llandyssil he married Bridget Stokes, with whom he had six children. In the 1840s he undertook the roles of postmaster and schoolmaster at Llandyssil, where he died and was buried in the churchyard of the parish church, St. Tyssil, on 29 Aug. 1859. His major mock-heroic poems besides those listed here were The History of the Chartists and the Bloodless Wars of Montgomeryshire (1840) and The Extinction of the Mormons, but of the latter no copy has been located. A painting of Thomas engaged in an otter hunt, by Thomas Weaver (1774-1843) is in the collections of the National Museum of Wales. (DWB 19 Aug. 2024; Powys Land Club, Collections Historical and Archaeological Relating to Montgomeryshire and Its Borders [1868], 52-44; ancestry.com 19 Aug. 2024; findmypast.com 19 Aug. 2024; “John Lloyd . . . and George Thomas of Llandyssil” museum.wales; British Critic 4 [1816], 440-1; MR 82 [1817], 102-3)