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Thanks for your contributions - This is the info I have

Thomas William Cleary came over from "Ireland" married Gladys Ann Wynn in Walsall in 1918
On the 1901 Census Gladys was "boarding" at Norton Canes (South Staffs) born in 1900 and the head of that household was

Thomas and Gladys had three children between 1918 and 1931 but Thomas then disappeared, maybe died.  Gladys married Alfred Perry in 1936 and in the 1939 register they are listed as

Alfred Perry
Gladys Perry
Dorothy Cleary - pencilled through Boden whom she later married
Percy Cleary
Winifred Cleary - pencilled through Boden who she later married

By an extreme quirk both Dorothy and Winifred married unrelated Bodens although one is sometimes listed as Leonard Baden not Boden

So Gladys's timeline was b 1900,  m 1918, widowed after 1931 (Winifred born) then m again to Alfred Perry in 1936


 

I have just discovered Thomas was "hiding in plain sight" born in 1895 and living in Walsall with his dad Kogger and mum Kale with the surname Clarey. Obviously spelling is an issue but thanks all for your assistance on this.

Case closed  !!!!
 

 

Thanks Shaun J for that link - perhaps something I should explore in connection with my father. I believe he suffered some mental problems around 1962 (my birth year) and was apparently sent to Hatton for some Electric shock therapy. How long he was in there for I have no idea and noone in the family wanted to mention it.

I am guessing this "therapy" which sounds pretty brutal to me was administered in the same facility or grounds of the asylum at Hatton.
Does anyone know  ?

Wow !!!  Thanks very much all
Much appreciated
Cheers
Phil

Oh Wow !!!!  Thanks for much for responding Ricky and confirming some of my suspicions at least.  I have Gladys as born in Conwy  on 31st August 1897 then moving to Warmington with her brother and their dad after 1919. Gladys met Rowland Pullen in Warmington and they married in Oundle in April 1920, and Glenys arrived 4th March 1921.  Walter James arrived 13th April 1922, and I presume they moved down to Sussex shortly afterwards, because the sibling Peter was born there as you say.

Apologies if the Salloum marriage came as a shock but I am interested to know whether Edward Salloum was linked to the other wedding in Hove involving Hilda who married another Salloum.  They surely must have been related with such a rare name for Sussex at least.

I would like to recount the rest of the Welsh story here which includes a huge slice of irony. My father was a very keen railway enthusiast and was often hanging around railways when he could, particularly of the LMS railway.  He told me once how he and his brother went to Deganwy very near Conwy to stay at Auntie Gertie's BNB. While he was there there was a terrible rail disaster when the up Irish Mail from Holyhead to Euston collided with a locomotive at Penmaenmawr - a location just across the estuary from where he was staying, and he said he heard the terrible noise from the collision. Several hours late he remembered the wrecked locomotives being hauled onto Llandudno Junction loco shed to clear the line.

Well it turns out that a chap name Charles Whitmill had started work as a teenager i nthe loco sheds at Willesden, then gradually moved up the ranks via Watford Jn and Crewe to become locomotive superintendent at Llandudno Jn where he retired. Charles wife died and he befriended a lady named Gertude - remember that name !!!

Walter Rimes, after seeing both of his children Robert and Gladys settled in Warmington moved to Birmingham and met a lady name Gertrude from Smethwick. they married and lived in Edgebaston for a while before moving to Conwy where Walter had lived previously.  Walter died in a nursing home there leaving Gertrude a widow.  After Charles' wife died he and Gertrude became friendly and married, but he wasn't long for this world and he eventually passed away in the same nursing home   
that Walter saw his days out in.

Twice widowed Gertrude kept the B&B at Deganwy and thus my father and his family stayed there those years later. What was disappointing for me given his love of railways was that he unknowingly stayed with Aunty Gertie who was married to the locomotive superintendent of the shed there. I am sure he would have been totally in awe had he known.

One of those fascinating twists of family history we all love.

Thanks again Ricky for helping with the story.  Much appreciated.   
 

Just thought I would let you know so I can box this one off. Jus received Barbara's birth cert from the GRO.  As suspected, her mother was one of the two women in the 1939 register.  Nellie Gaunt was her mother and as suspected, the father's box was blank.

So Barbara's father will remain a mystery !!

Thanks all for your help.