Wondering about this chap on 1911
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XWRK-4ST
Ancestry is showing me an extra option for him, listed in barracks in Charlton as part of the same battalion
The occupation as army driver fits being a mechanic, and there's a barracks in Cathays
Perhaps it was a bigamous marriage, then discovered and thus null and void, so Hilda could marry again as a single woman?
I have done a little research for this Thomas, I think he is the one who married Matilda Sarah Monk in Essex in Sep 1912. Sadly, he and his wife, and three of their children died in a bombing in Stratford, Essex on 1 Feb 1945. There is a Thomas registered in the right quarter (his bd is 25 Sep 1881), Dec 1881, in Malling district, Kent. A Thomas appears in E. Peckford in 1901, which is part of Malling, and on the 1911 he is listed as b. Tunbridge Wells, but there is no Thomas registered there, so might be an army clerical error, perhaps that's where he signed up, it is not far from E. Peckford.
I also checked the surname Holmwood, but no luck there either. Possibly Thomas was not of English/Welsh birth, I suppose.
Not sure about that
The soldier driver is b
Brenchley (and is married in 1911)
1891 shows 2 Thomases b c 1881 in Kent
Thomas 1: b East Peckham son of Thomas and Sarah Ann in Strood.
Thomas 2: b Pembrey, living in
Brenchley with grandparents John and Esther
1901
Thomas 1 b E Peckham is still at home in Strood
Thomas 2 - possible sighting in
Woolwich barracks, b Tunbridge.
Driver Note proximity to marriage of Thomas and Ada Page in 1902
1911
Thomas 1; single policeman, b E Peckham, police constable in West Ham. Note proximity to marriage to Matilda,
Thomas 2: b Brenchley. Driver. Married to Ada and two children b Woolwich
Thomas 1 can be followed as you note in the Essex area up to his death
Thomas 2 is more of a challenge. There's a possible for Ada on 1939 but no sign of him
I'm not sure who Thomas 2 is. His Homewood grandparents have a number of children, including a Thomas b c1861 who could be his father. He may have adopted the surname rather than be registered with it
