Morgan Thomas

The titular character of the series, Morgan is a lonely hillfarmer living alone at the family farm, Blainau, at the beginning of the story. At 47 years old, Morgan had never courted and made few friends besides those from the neighbouring farms. He left school at 14 in order to help his father run the farm. With the Old Lady having died only three months earlier and Morgan spent the Christmas holidays alone, he finally plucks up the courage to contact his estranged sister, Val, seeking company from his only remaining family.

## Physical Appearance

Morgan is a tall, sturdy man with greying brown curls. Although he often has a small amount of stubble showing, he is notably clean-shaven on Sundays for Church and other times when he is not on the farm, i.e. Tuesdays when he travels to  the markets, as well when he visits people such as Tom Duncan, his accountant, and when he picks up Lee and Louise in from the wine bar in Brecon in Episode 5.

## Personality and Habits

Morgan is a quiet man and often thought of as shy or even reclusive by others. Tom Griffiths especially notes that Morgan is a hard worker and very knowledgeable with sheep, but unwilling to to take risks (Episode 7) as he seems most comfortable as he is at Blainau.

Pugh Davies also notes to Lee that Morgan is a shy man and that he doesn't speak much, but he's a hard worker - reputedly able to work 3 to 4 sheep dogs at a time (pg41).

Most of what we know of Morgan from other characters is from Lee who, in the book, notes a number of things about Morgan including:

* Morgan is quiet in the mornings (pg106)
* "could always get an egg right" (pg109)
* is a loner, but not by choice (pg173)
* rarely drinks liquor; "only on Christmas, or when the cold's bad" (pg136, Episode 5).

(See Trivia below for more.)

## Religion

Throughout the show, we are shown scenes of Morgan at the Church in Llanelieu, and the first thing Morgan offers to Val after tea in Talgarth is the offer to take her and Lee to see their parents' grave.

In the book, it is noted: “Morgan’s faith was not complex: his attendance here each Sunday was as much the habit of a lifetime as an awareness of a God in his life. It was a link with the Old Lady and Gentleman who, even now, lay quietly near at hand. But, like them, Morgan believed in a life after death, a time when he would stand again with his mother and father -- as they had done with theirs -- and would be praised or blamed for what they had seen him do on earth. If Morgan’s Christian beliefs came closer to ancestor-worship than a study of Christ’s ways, he would have been confused to learn it.” (pg72-73).

Later, most notably in episodes 3 and 8, Morgan is shown to have moments of profound reflection in the Church where he seems to come to plot-altering decisions.

Judging by the crucifix in The Old Lady's room and the fact that St. Ellyws' Church has a vicar, it is assumed that Morgan is Anglican (Church of England).

## Early Life

Morgan was born in the Old Lady's room, presumably in 1936 (pg25). He went to "school in the village, left at 14" (presumed Talgarth) (pg 25, Episode 1), after which he worked full time on the farm with his parents. Based on Morgan's age and clues from the book, it can be assumed that this was the same year in which the Old Gentleman gave up killing of the pigs around Talgarth and surrounds. According to Morgan in Episode 6, his father wanted him to take over the job, be he was "too damned soft". In this same episode, Greener enquires further about the pigs and we learn that Morgan "broke up the [pigs'] knives and buried them out in the yard. In the book, we get further insight: "But he never did forgive me for not following on. "Too damned soft, boy" That's what he said" (pg163).
In Episode 8, Val mentions that Morgan still had scars on his body from his father's beatings. Without clear evidence to suggest otherwise, it may then be presumed that these scars were inflicted on Morgan as a result of his actions with pigs' knives in 1950 although this is not confirmed in either the show or the book.

The Old Gentleman died in 1970 when Morgan was 34 years old. Despite his age, the farm's tenancy was left to his mother and not Morgan directly. No direct reason is given for this, although Lee questions Morgan about the decision in Episode 7 and Tom Griffiths also notes: "When old Mr. Thomas died, the tenancy passed onto his wife, not Morgan. The Old Man must have wanted that. It's worth a thought".
When the Old Lady dies, the tenancy *does not* automatically pass on to Morgan, and although Morgan puts in for it to pass on to him after his mother's death in December 1983, because she had presumably not put it in her will, this leaves open a legal gap for the Estate to refuse succession to Morgan. As the tenancy agreement itself only lasts 50 years according to UK law at the time (citation needed), Morgan is also at the end of the lease (due to expire 17th September 1984) at the time in which he is trying to carry it on (pg59).

## Family

The Thomas family has lived in Blainau since the 18th of September, 1936, when the land lease was signed by Gwen and Ivor. Little is known about the extended Thomas family, and Morgan himself notes in Episode 1 that Val and Lee are the only family he has left, which insinuates that there are no other surviving members of his immediate family.

His mother, Gwen, is noted as having come from a farm near Rhayader in Powys, north of Breconshire (pg240). The origin of Ivor Thomas is unknown.

Estate records from Wales circa 1800s show a number of Thomases having lived in the Talgarth area in real life. While no records exist for any properties under the name "Blainau", several records do exist under alternative spellings including "Blaina", listed under the Ashburnham Estate records which can be found here.

## During the Show

### January

Morgan is living alone at Blainau in January when the show begins. He has been alone since his mother's passing the year before, and this loneliness is what compels Morgan to phone his sister Val early in the month. A week after this phone call, Morgan picks up Lee and Val from the Castle Inn coach stop at Pengenffordd and Lee's time in Wales begins.

## Death

Morgan dies in the afternoon on Friday the 1st of June 1984 of a self-inflicted gunshot wound. He takes his own life in the workshed attached to the house at Blainau, first shooting Cap and then himself.

## Trivia

* Drinks Courage Light Ale (Episode 1)
* Drives a 1959 Land Rover Series II SWB, license plate ADA128A
* Owns a powder blue 1964 Fordson Super Dexta tractor, license plate 4891DF

## References

1. ↑ ROWE, Alick, 1984, *Morgan's Boy*, Sphere Books Ltd., London