Tom Lewis

Bryntowy, Rhandirmwyn.

(1878 – 1950)

Thomas Wyndam Lewis was born at Bryntowy on the 13^th December 1879 a son to William and Elizabeth.  He spent his childhood in Rhandirmwyn and passed many hours on the river bank where he learnt to fish which became one of his great pleasures throughout his life.

At the age of 17 years Tom left his beloved village to find work.  He initially went to Cardiff and started his vocation as a draper starting off as an apprentice.  There is no doubt he was successful and was soon taken on by the larger stores at both Cardiff and Swansea as a buyer.  It was at this time that Tom began to take great interest in photography.  He attended night school and became very proficient at his craft.

Tom eventually moved to London where he had his own drapery business.

On Christmas eve 1919 he married Joyce.  She was a nurse and her family were originally from Fishguard.  She was very beautiful and appeared  in many of Tom’s photographs, dressed in beautiful dresses and usually in a large brimmed hat.  They had two daughters Monica and Myfanwy. 

Tom never forgot his roots and often returned to Rhandirmwyn with his wife and daughters to visit his family.  Monica recollects the long arduous journeys, sometimes 10 to 12 hours from London to Bryntowy in their bull nose Morris car, arriving sometimes in the dead of night.  She says that it was worth every minute as Rhandirmwyn was such a magical place.

She recollects her father regularly leaving Bryntowy with his fishing rod over one shoulder and his camera and tripod over the other, heading for the river bank and eventually his favourite place, Cerrig Tywi and the Doethie valley.  It is obvious from his photographs that this is where he truly felt at home.

Tom being a businessman was a very resourceful person.  At this time his family at Bryntowy had a small shop where they sold sweets and small food items.  Many of his photographs showing views of Rhandirmwyn and the surrounding area were made into postcards and they were sold in the shop.  In so doing he compiled a pictorial history of the landscape and people of the upper Tywi valley during the early 1900’s.  These postcards went all over the world, in particular America where many people from the Rhandirmwyn area, including his brother, emigrated and eventually settled.  

Tom’s contribution to the recording of the social history of the upper Tywi valley has never been recognised.  Not only did he take photographs of Rhandirmwyn, but he also took many of Cilycwm and the Llandovery area. 

He left a wonderful legacy and I hope that this article will go some way in recognising this.   

He died in 1950 and is buried in North Finchley, London.

I am greatly indebted to Monica Barnes, Tom’s daughter for providing most of these photographs and allowing me to display them on the website.

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