Though born and raised in England, Thomas strongly identified with his Welsh heritage, visiting Wales often and finding inspiration for many of his essays in its landscape, culture, and folkways.
A staff clerk at the Board of Trade, Philip Henry Thomas had raised himself through his own efforts. He was active in all manner of social and philanthropic causes, a high-minded and aggressive example of the rising middle class that the British bureaucracy had nurtured to carry out the mundane tasks of administering the empire. The elder Thomas conveyed a strong sense of social idealism to his son, but they were much different in temperament, with the father having little patience with Edward's more sensitive and introspective nature. Philip Thomas saw his son as too contemplative and impractical; the son saw his father as simplistic and overbearing. This conflict lasted all Edward Thomas's life.
Despite his poor relations with his father, Thomas's youth and education were not without some recompense. By means of his own energy and curiosity, as well as trips to the English and Welsh countryside, he developed the profound appreciation of nature that informs so much of his prose.
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