Thomas Heath was born the son of George and Mary Anne, in Ramsbury, Wiltshire in February 1824
He joined The Grenadier Guards at the age of 17 and would later serve as a sergeant in the Crimean war, for which he was decorated for services relating to HMS Vesuvius assault on Sebastopol. (Sept 1854-Sept 1855)
Thomas then left the Grenadier Guards (from which he received a Chelsea Pension) and moved to Windsor where he married Sarah Rixon in 1857.
His wife gave birth to a son (Thomas Crawford) in Windsor that same year but the family would later move to Wrexham where Thomas found work as a corn miller. He also joined The Denbighshire Militia Volunteers in November 1861, and was promoted to drill sergeant of No1 Company.
Sergeant Thomas Heath was named in a number of newspaper articles as a winner of military prizes in rifle shooting competitions throughout the 1860’s, and an article in the Wrexham Advertiser also reported that he received a silver watch in reward for his duties at an event in his honour at the Feathers Hotel in January 1863.
[No title]|1863-01-31|Wrexham and Denbighshire Advertiser and Cheshire Shropshire and North Wales Register - Welsh Newspapers Online
The following year his name appeared in a small article about a new football team which had been formed by The Denbighshire County Cricket Club, and who’s first game had taken place at The Racecourse Ground on the 22nd October 1864.
Thomas would have been very familiar with both the cricket club and The Racecourse Ground, as the cricket team was made up mostly of militia volunteers, and The Racecourse Ground itself was frequently used as a training ground and drill venue for the various military units based in Wrexham at that time. And so, at the age of 40, Sergeant Thomas Heath would be one of the 10 men who laced up their boots to become the founding players of Wrexham Football Club, in their first ever game against The Prince of Wales fire Brigade.
Thomas and his family lived in Gresford for a period of around 14 years, during which, Sarah Heath gave birth to 4 children (Charles Edward, Albert David, Sarah and Robert) before the family moved to Lambeth, South London, in 1873.
The couple would have 2 more children in Lambeth (Edwin Harries and Alice Mary), before moving again to Wycombe in Berkshire, where Thomas died in 1887 at the age of 63.
Thomas Heath 1824-1887