Born: 4 October 1886 at Altofts, near Normanton, Yorkshire, England and baptised on 24 Nov 1886 at a local Wesleyan Methodist Chapel.
Parents: William Thomas 1846-c1905 and Jane Hardisty 1855-1935
Siblings: Half sister Sarah Thomas 1870-?
Married: Margaret “Gretta” Oram 1888-1967 on 7 Apr 1915 at Newport, Co Mayo, Ireland
Offspring: William Terence Thomas 1916-1929, Arthur Thomas 1922-1962, and Catherine Thomas 1925-2006
Died: 1970 in Melton Mowbray, Leicestershire, England and buried in the same grave as his mother Jane in Thorpe Road Cemetery, Melton Mowbray.
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Birth certificate
Sydney was born at Lee Brigg, Altofts in Yorkshire where his father William was an railway engine driver and many of the neighbours were also employed on the railways.
School Photograph,
Sydney is marked with an X
Sydney attended “The Grammar School” in Normanton, Yorkshire. He was a top student and we have a physics textbook (additional images here) he was awarded on completing the first year of his VI form.
Awarded to Thomas July 1903 Natural Philopophy, by A. Privat Deschanel
Between the 1901 and 1911 censuses Sydney’s father had died and by 1911 Sydney was living in Normanton with his mother while working ten miles away as a secondary school master in Morley.
Morley Tribute
Sydney’s mother Jane was living with Sydney and Gretta in Melton Mowbray when she died in 1939 .
Sydney at Home Guard Camp during the Second (1939-1945) World War
Gretta and Sydney in their garden
See Gretta’s entry for Sydney’s life after he left Morley Secondary School and moved to Melton Mowbray, Leicestershire.
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