Thomas John Minty was born on 15 May 1887 in Llansamlet near Swansea. He was the son of Thomas and Susan Minty.

In 1891, Thomas’s family was living at 15 Brynmawr, Llansamlet. The Census reported that his father Thomas, from Devizes in Wiltshire, was working as a Colliery Labourer and his mother, Susan was from Birmingham.

By 1901, the family had moved to 8 Jersey Road, Swansea. His father had become a General Labourer and Thomas had started a trade, working as a Plaster’s Labourer.

Thomas married Mary Elizabeth May on 1 May 1909 in Neath and together they had 2 children, Doris Emily (born 18 November 1909) and Alfred Thomas (born 11 June 1911).

Thomas joined the Territorial Force at some point in 1908 and when War was declared on Germany in August 1914 he was embodied, leaving both his job and his family. Other than a few brief periods of leave in 1914 and 1915, he would have seen little of Mary and his children until he returned from the Middle East after the War.

Following the War, he rejoined the Territorials in June 1920. On his forms, he gave his address as 4 Morgans Road, Melin, Neath and his Trade as a Steelworker.

By 1939, the family were still at Morgans Road. Thomas was listed as a ‘Steelworker, 2nd hand (Heavy Worker)’ and was living with his wife and son, Alfred.

An article in Neath Guardian (8 May 1969) about their wedding anniversary gives much more detail:

"Tom and his wife Mary celebrated 60 years of married life. They have two children, seven grand-children and eleven great grand-children…." After talking about Tom’s military career, the article added: "His punctuality, necessary for military duties, became a feature of his work with the Briton Ferry steelworks, where he worked for 60 years. He was never late for work. Tom met his wife in Briton Ferry when she was working for the Eaglebush Tinplate works. He is the oldest member of the Briton Ferry Workingmens’s Club, on whose books he has been for 60 years".

His family concluded:

I remember Thomas Minty being a keen gardener after retiring and seeing him working on his allotment early in the morning when I passed on the bus going to work. They would spend Christmas Day locally with his son and family staying overnight.

We knew him as ‘Grampa Tommy’, and regularly went to his from school but never thought to ask him about the war.

Thomas John Minty passed away at the age of 83 in the summer of 1970.

Tom Minty joined the 1st Welsh (Howitzer) Brigade shortly after its formation in 1908. Unfortunately, his Service Record has not survived, but based on other remaining records it is possible to piece together much of what he did during the Great War.

Given his service number, Tom was one of the first wave of recruits into the Brigade at its time of formation, prior to the first summer camp in July 1908 (attended by 400 men). Also, given that he was 20 at the time he joined up, it is possible that he transferred from the old Glamorgan RGA volunteers.

Tom and his family lived in Neath, the home of the Left Section (2 guns) of the 2nd Glamorgan Battery. It is therefore likely that he was a member of this unit right through to the start of the War.

Along with the rest of the Brigade, Tom would have been mobilized at the start of the war, most likely travelling to Shrewsbury in late August 1914 and then to Northampton shortly after to continue training.

We can be certain that in September 1914, Tom volunteered for Imperial Service. Following the Haldane Reforms in 1907, members of the Territorial Force volunteered to protect the coast of Britain, freeing up the Regular Army to fight overseas. They therefore had to volunteer to serve abroad (known as Imperial Service).

Just before Christmas 1914, the Brigade moved to Cambridge where they remained until May 1915 when they moved to Bedford. Whilst there are no records confirming this, there is no reason to believe Tom did not move with the Brigade.

Tom’s Medal Index Card confirms that he did not travel to France with the rest of the Brigade in November 1915, it is not known why this was the case. However, it is certain that he rejoined the Brigade at a later date and served with them in Palestine. To date, no evidence has been found of men travelling directly from Swansea to Egypt, however on 3 February 1916, the War Diary does make mention of a Draft of 1 NCO and 20 Men from 3/1st Welsh (How) Brigade RFA joined 1st party of Brigade at Marseilles. shortly before the move to Egypt. It is possible that Tom was a member of this draft.

Given that Tom was given a new service number in 1917 from a batch of numbers associated with the Brigade, it is likely that he served with the Brigade throughout the Egypt campaign, being involved in Suez Canal Defences (1916), the 3 Battles of Gaza and march into Jerusalem (1917) and the subsequent push through Palestine until the defeat of the Turkish Armies (1918).

The article in the Neath Guardian from 1969 gives some further insight:

"Eighty-two year old Tom Minty will never forget his first encounter with a ‘flying machine’. Wearing R.F.C. medals, it came out of the blue as he and his mates of the Neath Artillery Battery were marching along a sunny road in Palestine in the first World War….. To our amazement, it suddenly dived on the column and machine-gunned us, running for cover. Tom remembers the searing pain from the shrapnel, which stayed with him until four years ago, when it was removed in an emergency operation."

It is therefore clear that Tom was still serving with the Neath Battery (later known as C/266 Bde) during 1918, so it is reasonable to assume he served with them throughout the War.

Following the War, 725030, Driver Tom Minty was discharged from the Army. He was initially awarded the British War Medal and Victory Medal for his service and was later awarded both the Territorial Force War Medal (recognizing that he volunteered for Imperial Service but was not eligible for the 1914/15 Star) and Territorial Force Efficiency Medal.

Tom re-enlisted in the Territorial Artillery on 18 June 1920 and served until 19 January 1923, for this period, he was given the new service number of 721836. He also served in the Home Guard in the Second World War.