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Thomas was the youngest son of Francis Edward Smith and Frances Sarah Morgan. Francis was born in Hull, Yorkshire and his wife in Bath, Somerset. They were married in Bath in 1893 and they had four sons: Walter (b.1894 in Bath), twins Roderick and Frank (b. 1896 in West Ham, Essex) and Thomas. Thomas was born on 24 September 1899 at the school in Wonastow, Monmouthshire, where his family was living at the time. His father was a Master Mariner with the merchant marine and he was often away from home, and his mother was a certificated teacher. At the time of the 1911 census the family was living in Withycombe, Somerset.
1899 Sep 24. . Born Wonastow, Monmouthshire
1901 census at Wonastow School, Monmouthshire where his mother is the teacher. His father does not appear in either census. He is probably in RN or MMR
1911 census at Withycombe, Carhampton, Somerset
Thomas joined the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve, possibly as early as 1913.
1918 May 18. Commissioned Midshipman and over the next few months he served and trained on at least four different ships - the Venerable, the Imperial Queen (a trawler), the President and the Implacable. He also spent three weeks on the Victory, a naval shore establishment. He trained in the use of hydrophones, which were underwater listening devices used to detect submarines.
1919 Apr 14. Demobilised from RN
1920 Oct 20. Joined ADRIC with service no 798. Posted to I Coy. His entry notes "hydrophones"
1920 Nov 2 Car crash in Dublin
1920 Dec 21 to 3 Jan on Leave
He was fined £2 by Coy Commander at some point.
1921 Feb 24 Admitted Stevens Hospital
1921 Jul 15 to 28 Jul on Leave
1922 Jan 17. Discharged on demobilisation of ADRIC
1922 Mar 25. Arrived in Canada from UK
After a short time in Brandon, Manitoba he settled in the town of Kenora in northwestern Ontario.
1922 Oct 14. He was married in Kenora to 20-year-old Lillian Sanna. Lillian was born in Chicago in January 1902, the daughter of Charles Frank Sanna and Anna Lillian Blaha. Her family had moved to Kenora (known as Rat Portage at the time) when she was a baby. Thomas worked as a machinist at the paper mill in Kenora
1928 he and Lillian moved to Fort William. They had four children: William (b. 1931), David who died as an infant, and daughters Cammie and Ann-Rae. Thomas worked for the railway for awhile and during the Second World War he was employed at the Canada Car plant.
1950s he was a civil servant with the Board of Grain Commissioners. He was a life member of the Canadian Legion in Fort William and his son William served with the Royal Canadian Army Service Corps.
1964 Thomas retired
1967 Mar 4. Died in the hospital in Fort William on 4 March 1967, at age 67. He is buried in a military plot at Mountain View Cemetery. Lillian died in February 1989.