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TWEEDSIDE POET DIES

Mr Thomas Grey
 

Widespread regret will be expressed at the death, on Tuesday morning, of Mr Thomas Grey, Church Road, Tweedmouth, so well-known on Tweedside and further afield for his poetry, which for many years has appeared periodically in “The Advertiser”. Though Mr Grey has been more or less an invalid for 21 years, during the greater part of which time he has been confined to bed, his active and alert brain has been used continuously for the furtherance of anything to benefit Tweedmouth. He has kept in touch with all that has went on, and has taken, when able, a leading part in many of the activities that concerned the welfare of Tweedmouth.  For a long number of years he has  acted as correspondent of “The Advertiser”, the Tweedmouth notes coming from his pen, though perhaps he was only known to the reading public through his many poems published from time to time, and which bore the familiar signature “Thomas Grey”. 

It is just three years ago since Mr Grey had a serious illness which necessitated going to Edinburgh Infirmary, an Illness which aggravated his old-standing trouble of rheumatic pains, and which left him weaker. He has never quite regained his strength, and though able to go about a little, has for over a year been practically confined to his house, and nearly always to bed. He took a turn for the worse on Sunday, 5th August, and though he appeared to rally for a time, he got gradually  weaker and became unconscious on Monday, passing away quite peacefully on Tuesday at  7.30 a.m.  Had he lived another fortnight he would have been 65 years of age. 

The Old School House, Shoreswood. Shoreswood National School was built c.1836 for seventy pupils. It closed in 1962 and the seventeen pupils were transferred to a new county primary school at Horncliffe. Photo © Copyright JThomas  (cc-by-sa/2.0).

Born at Shoreswood, Mr Grey received his education in the school there under Mr John Logan, a Berwick man and brother of the late Ald. Adam Logan, a former Mayor of Berwick. He entered the service of the North Eastern Railway, and had risen to an engine-driver when his illness overtook him as a young man in his early forties. He had to give up work, his illness rendering him unfit for his old active life. Those were the days before National Health Insurance, and with a wife and a young family Mr Grey was faced with a dark future, the problem being to rear and maintain his family. No more devoted wife could be found that Mrs Grey, who shouldered the duty nobly of nursing her invalid husband in addition to looking after her family, of whom there were nine. How she managed it perhaps she herself could not say, but she just went on from day to day. Shortly after her husband took ill they lost one of their little boys, who had been an invalid for about four years. This has been the only break in the family, and the other eight – three sons and five daughters – have done well in the world. The three sons all served In the War, James the Navy, Arthur with the Cycling Corps, and Thomas with the Machine Gun Section of the 7th N.F.’s.  He attained the rank of Sergeant, and was on the eve of returning to this country in 1918 to take a commission when he was taken prisoner.  A few years ago he went out to Rhodesia to take up an appointment on the railway out there and is getting on very well indeed.  He was home about three years ago. The other sons are in this country, Arthur at Tweedmouth and James at Yarmouth. Three of the daughters are married, one at Yarmouth, one at Edinburgh, and one at Portobello. 

His Poems 

Thomas Grey poet circa 1899. Photo © Suzy Brown, great-granddaughter of Thomas Grey.

In 1906 Mr Grey published a little book of some 50 of his poems, the volume being entitled “Musings on the Footplate.”  They were not on railway subjects as the title may suggest, but very many of them took form on  the footplate in quiet moments when he was  engaged as an engine-driver and viewed Nature in her different aspects and moods.  It was always a matter of regret to Mr Grey that another volume his poems has never been published. The project has often been talked over and publishers approached, but the cost of the undertaking was always more than he could face. He must have written hundreds of poems, and on every imaginable subject.  When any event interested him, when any little kindness touched his heart, or when he felt that any injustice had been done to others he always expressed his thoughts in verse. His poetry was known in every home on Tweedside.  He wrote of the simple lives, the pleasures and sorrows of the working people and by his poems glorified their lives and cheered them on. From his room in  Church Road he spoke through his poems to thousands of readers, giving to them something of the cheerfulness and courage with which he himself faced the difficulties of life and overcame them.   He had many friends who visited him from time to time for a chat and friendly advice, and the influence he wielded was always for the best.  In 1916 his work received recognition when  he was honoured with being made a Fellow of the International Institute of British Poetry. In November of 1916 some of Mr Grey’s poems were printed Braille type for use of the blind, and he was thus able to bring interest and sunshine into the lives of those afflicted. 

In addition to his poems, Mr Grey also wrote articles on various subjects, many of which appeared in “The Advertiser” and others in the Railway Magazine.

Work for Tweedmouth

Photograph of the Tweedmouth War Memorial taken in the early 1900s, with the West End in the background prior to the completion of the Royal Tweed Bridge in 1928. A scene of Tweedmouth which would have been very familiar to Thomas Grey. Photo: source unknown.

September, 1918, Mr Grey was appointed sub-postmaster at Tweedmouth, but his health did not allow him to carry out the duties long.  He has acted as Chairman of the Tweedside Co-operative Society, was for many years honorary secretary of Tweedmouth Ratepayers’ Association, an active body which has done much to further the welfare of Tweedmouth.   Mr Grey was forced to resign owing to ill health. He gave ungrudging and noble service in the movement to commemorate Tweedmouth’s fallen in the Great War, and to his faithful discharge of duties of secretary in a great measure is due the beautiful war  memorial which stands at the end of the Old  Bridge and on which those commemorated were honoured by His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales placing a wreath there on 16th May when he opened the Royal Tweed Bridge. 

Mr Grey delighted in the honour paid in recent years to the memory John Mackay Wilson, the author of “The Tales of the Borders,” and last year, on the anniversary of the birthday of that author, was one of the little band of admirers who joined in the simple ceremony of laying a wreath on the grave in Tweedmouth Churchyard, which lies just opposite Mr Grey’s house. 

Mr Grey for many years served on the committee of the Old People’s Supper, and was a regular attender at the annual gatherings at Christmas time, qualifying in later years for an invitation as one of the “old folks”. He also took a keen interest in arrangements for the Tweedmouth Feast Regatta, serving on the committee for many years, though in recent years he has taken no active part. The funeral takes place on Saturday.