Grave of Thomas James Galloway Garrett

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Thomas James Galloway Garrett was a Manchester doctor, born in Exeter, who had rich clients but also provided a clinic for poor people. He and his wife Catherine moved from the city to Conwy in 1916 for the sake of his own health. They are pictured here courtesy of Conwy Archive Service.

conwy_grave_thomas_james_galloway_garrettHe set aside some of the rooms in his house Minydon, in the Morfa area of Conwy, for poor children who were bedevilled by the smog of Manchester and other cities. The clean, coastal air was beneficial to their health. Funds were raised to buy several more houses in the vicinity, to form what was initially known as the Minydon Home for Convalescent Children.

Portrait of Catherine and Thomas GarrettDr Garrett died in September 1923, aged 63. Hundreds of people lined his funeral route. Mourners included “prominent public men from all parts of Lancashire”.

Also buried here is his Irish wife Catherine (nee Fry), who died in 1938 after continuing to run the home. The couple had married in 1890. She worked for the Red Cross in Moss Side, Manchester, during the First World War. She and Thomas served on their local boards of Guardians, which ran workhouses for the poor.

Photo of Dr Garrett's grave before vandalismCatherine bequeathed the home to Manchester City Council. It helped thousands of children who had suffered from poverty, neglect, illness and other difficulties before its closure in 1989. You can read more about the home and see photos of it on our page about the site, where a road is now named Dr Garrett’s Drive.

The gravestone included elaborate stone carvings of children. It is pictured here, courtesy of Conwy Archive Service, before the carvings were decapitated sometime after September 1973, when the memorial was cleaned and restored to mark the 50th anniversary of Thomas’ death.

His brother George designed and built one of the world’s earliest powered submarines, which lies on the seabed near Rhyl.

Return to St Agnes Cemetery page

More information about Dr Garrett’s Memorial Home – Conwy Archive Service