Cheers Tallpaul - I've sent Gillian a polite e-mail asking for help in tracing them. I'll let you know how i get on. I have found several articles in newspapers on the national archives regarding an Edward Davies, collier in Rhondda who murdered his wife in 1893, but i have yet been unable to tie him to Thomas - the census for 1891 doesn't have a son called Thomas living with the family.