ABSTRACT
Tomkins pere was installed as a minor canon at Gloucester Cathedral, and it would be easy to make the assumption that this was the year in which he had left St David's. St David's was losing the services of a distinguished organist, and possibly the chorister skills of Thomas Tomkins fils too. Aged 14, Thomas had, throughout his childhood, breathed Pembrokeshire air, probably accompanied his father around the peninsula on horseback, or on boat trips to Ramsey Island, and learnt the art of music at his father's side. Thomas Tomkins the elder died in March or April 1627. His will, proved on 19 April, is preserved among the Records of the Diocese of Gloucester. The availability to him of composers' autographs, easily accessible to the younger Tomkins, suggests that the latter may well have been a frequent visitor to Gloucester during the first three decades of the seventeenth century, bringing with him manuscripts from the Chapel Royal.
