1899 was a busy year for Thomas Evans of Lampeter. After years of training as an apprentice, Thomas finally left home for the nearby town of Lampeter to open his butcher’s shop. [1] Whether he chose to become a butcher or it chose him, he was following in his father’s footsteps. His parents, Evan Evans and Elizabeth Jones, kept the Red Lion Inn in the parish of Trefilan. [2]

It was in 1899 that he also got married to Mary Anne Davies, the daughter of a middle-class Lampeter family and an assistant teacher at the local school.[3] Not long afterwards, they started a family: two daughters who both never married, but who went on to be teachers like their mother.

But between the work of running his new business and starting a family, Thomas still had time for heroism. On an otherwise peaceful night, August 4, 1899,[4] Thomas and his friend, William Davies, noticed a fire in the upstairs window of their neighbour’s house. Not taking the chance to alert the fire marshal, they rushed into the house themselves, up the stairs, and into a room where two young children were fast asleep. Thankfully, they managed to put out the fire before disaster struck.

Beyond the excitement of 1899, he seems to have lived a quiet life. He doesn’t appear in any of the social or political columns in the local newspapers until his early death. Just seven years after he arrived in Lampeter and two months after the birth of his second daughter, on December 19, 1906, Thomas died by suicide at the age of 31.[5] He was buried three days later at St. Peter’s graveyard,[6] where he was later joined by his wife and two daughters. His tombstone inscription reads, “Beloved in life, in death lamented.” Following the death of his wife many years later, the family inscribed on the tombstone the words, “They are not dead, whose memory lives in the hearts of those who know their worth,” a fitting reminder of the value in commemorating our ancestors and writing their stories.[7]

Supporting Older Adults

Older people face many challenges that increase the risk of death by suicide. This fact sheet offers ways to reduce risk and build resilience toward the changes we experience in life and as we age. There are also suggestions as to how to approach talking to your older loved ones about suicide.

If you are in immediate need of support, check HERE for helplines in your country.

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[1] 1906. Anonymous, “Tradesman’s Tragic End,” Welsh Gazette and West Wales Advertiser, December 27, 1906, p. 4, col. 4. Digital Images. National Library of Wales. https://newspapers.library.wales/view/3866866/3866870/38/

[2] 1881. England and Wales Census, 1881. Cardiganshire, Trefilan, ALL, District 7. Digital Images. Ancestry. Entry for Evan Evans, p. 1 (p. 2/13), entry 2.

[3] 1901. Cardiganshire Marriages and Banns. Lampeter. Digital Images. Ancestry. Entry for Thomas Evans and Mary Anne Davies, Dec. 3, 1901, p. 212, entry 423.

[4] 1899. Anonymous, “Fire,” Welsh Gazette and West Wales Advertiser, August 10, 1899, p. 8, col. 5. Digital Images. National Library of Wales. https://newspapers.library.wales/view/3863462/3863470/78/

[5] 1906. Anonymous, “Tradesman’s Tragic End,” Welsh Gazette and West Wales Advertiser, December 27, 1906, p. 4, col. 4. Digital Images. National Library of Wales. https://newspapers.library.wales/view/3866866/3866870/38/

[6] 1906. Cardiganshire Burials, Lampeter, p. 90 (p. 90/200). Digital Images. Ancestry. Entry for Thomas Evans, Dec. 22, 1906, no. 717.

[7] 2020. Cardiganshire Family History Society, “Lampeter Parish, Ceredigion, Monumental Inscriptions at St. Peter’s, Lampeter, & St. Mary’s, Maestir Churches as at 2003,” Row 101, entry 1155, p. 110.