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Thank you for your message - I am replying online as perhaps it might help other members who are stuck looking for someone.   As your grandfather had such a distinctive name, Garnet THOMAS, and as his occupation as a Minister of Religion was given in the 1939 Register I wondered whether the newspapers might have mentioned him.  I used the British Newspaper Archive which is also available, if you have a subscription, on Find my Past. The first article I found was this one, which surprised me as Aberdeen is a long way from Weston!

There were several other articles including this one which was earlier when I thought he was in Weston.

He sounded a remarkable man and the Pontypridd newspapers also reported that Garnet THOMAS from Weston-super-Mare frequently spoke in Wales and had visited America on several occasions I realised that there was a lot more to this man!  Not being able to find Mervyn's birth in England or Wales I thought I'd try Scotland and Hey Presto - Scotlandspeople came up with the answer.

Should you feel motivated I'm sure that Sue Maguire, the editor of our Journal, Buckets and Spades, would be delighted to have a short resume of this remarkable man's life. Just looking at the newspaper obituary in 1940 tells me that this resident of Weston needs to be more widely known. 

The reason I found this birth in Scotland was because by looking at the newspapers for mentions of Garret THOMAS, his father, I found several articles about him preaching in Scotland around the 1920s and I wondered whether Mervyn might have been born in Scotland. 

Although you cannot see the details of his birth certificate online (because it's less than 100 years ago) you can send for it.  https://www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk/certificate-search?record_type=nrs_stat_births

Like you, I found his birth difficult to find. But he was born in 1923 in Scotland! https://www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk/ 

...great tip, Pat!

Thanks Pat, now I know what you meant about him having a checkered past!