Born this day 1910 in Quebec (his mother was Welsh),
Thomas Firbank author, farmer, soldier and engineer.
Following his father's death, he was raised among his mother's hill farming community in the Berwyn Mountains of North Wales. His first book, an autobiography “I Bought a Mountain” became a major international best-seller. It describes how aged only 21, he bought Dyffryn Mymbyr farm, and painstakingly learnt how to farm, while portraying the beauty of Snowdonia. Firbank was a keen mountain walker, and the book includes a hair-raising account of how he and his two companions were possibly the first to ascend all of the Welsh 3000s, in less than 9 hours. At the outbreak of World War II enlisted and saw action in North Africa, Italy and Arnhem, being awarded the Military Cross.
After his marriage ended, he generously gave his ex-wife Esme the farm in 1947, enabling her to remain there with her new partner. In 1967, she became an important founder member of the Snowdonia Society and after her death the farm was donated to the National Trust.
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