Thomas was born on Boxing Day 1864 at Glascoed, the son of John and Sarah Pitt.

His father died when Thomas was only seven months old, so he would not have remembered him. I believe that the family left Glascoed for a time after John’s death, to Gelligaer parish in Glamorgan. His mother, Sarah, re-married when Thomas was 2 years old - to James Williams and at this time she was living at Penpedairheol near Hengoed, Glamorgan. Her new husband also had links to Glascoed (his father Walter was one of the Glascoed rioters) so it would be interesting to find out the story as to how and where they met, and what the exact link with Gelligaer parish was (were they both living there, or was it a temporary arrangement for the purposes of getting married?). Thomas kept his surname Pitt, in spite of the re-marriage.

He never appeared on a Glascoed census. He was with his Aunt and Uncle (Thomas and Ann Davies) at the time of the 1871 census in Gwaun-yr-allt, Hengoed and also in 1881. I assume that Ann was his natural Aunty, since she was born in Llansawel, Carmarthenshire (the same place of birth as Thomas’ mam). It appears as though Thomas was brought up by his Aunty and Uncle, since on the 1881 census, he is listed as being Thomas J Davies, born at Glascoed, the only child living with the couple. At this point he was working as a pupil teacher.

By 1891 he had moved to England, working as an Officer of the Inland Revenue (must have been popular - a tax man!) at Cambridge.

By 1901 he was married to Unity Jane Devine, of Whitstable, Kent, was working as a labourer at Woolwich Arsenal (London), living at 371 Woolwich Road in Charlton. They had six children:

Gwladys Elizabeth Pitt, born 27th February 1897, at 21 Crawford Buildings, Homer Street, W. London, died 8th February 1968 at Runcorn Cottage Hospital). Gwladys married Sydney Vincent Fairall on 26th June 1920 at Woolwich Registry Office.

Alice Edith Pitt, born 17th January 1899 at 2 Springbank Road, Hither Green, Lewisham, SE London. Alice died on 14th March 1922 at 71 Ceres Road, Plumstead.

William Charles Pitt, born 29th May 1901 at 371 Woolwich Road, Charlton, SE London. He married Florence Hassal. William died at Joyce Green Hospital, Dartford.

Ellen Pitt, born 17th March 1903 at 31 Dicey Street, Woolwich, SE London. She married Fredrick Johnson at Bedwellty, Monmouthshire in 1925. Ellen died on 10th July 1966 at Maple Avenue, Runcorn, Cheshire.

Violet Lilian Pitt, born 30th August 1905 at 76 Cedar Grove, Charlton, SE London. She died 3 days later on 2nd September 1905 at the same address.

James Devine Pitt, born 25th October 1906 at 12 Trinity Street, Woolwich, SE London. He married to a lady named Muriel. He died on 17th January 1966 at 16 Guildford Grove, Greenwich, SE London.

Thanks to Evelyn Hayes (nee Fairall) for most of this information. She also provided this insight into Thomas from family oral history:

“Thomas left home as a very young man after a row. My mother thought it had been his father's funeral but perhaps it was his mother's. He did go back and he and his sons William and James worked in the mines. They lived at Markham and my Grandmother (Unity Devine) died there in April 1928 . . . Thomas was I believe rather a hot headed man did not like bosses, and I only found out from a cousins wife my Aunt had told him he only returned to Wales as he was in trouble for being involved in the Unions in Woolwich.”