Thomas Levy was born around 1817 in Longparish, east of Andover in Hampshire. He worked as a cordwainer (shoemaker). When he was in his late twenties he married Emma Ann from Marlborough and together they had eight children; Stanley, Samuel, Frederick, Robert, Emma Ann, Edward, Thomas and Catherine who all received schooling paid for by their parents.
 

Thomas, the 6th child, became Clerk of the Court at Wallingford in Oxfordshire and fished regularly with Arthur Conan Doyle. He married Beatrice Maria Turton, daughter of a railway engineer/driver who was reputed to have been in charge of Queen Victoria’s Royal Train on a number of occasions. Thomas and Beatrice lived in Andover and together they had five children; Stanley James, Amy Louisa, Eva Beatrice, Margaret Catherine and Frank Thomas. The family then moved to Hungerford and they had a sixth child, Gladys Mary Victoria.
 

Thomas and Beatrice’s eldest son, Stanley became a chauffer for a family named Montifiore, and Stanley introduced his youngest sister Gladys to his employer's valet Percy Murphy. Gladys reputedly fell in love with Percy at first sight.
 

By 1911, the second eldest, Amy Louisa Levy had met Everard Edward Dutch, a very short man who had developed diphtheria as a child. Because of the objections of Amy's parents, the couple eloped to Corsham in north Wiltshire where they married and had the wedding reception at the 'Royal Oak Hotel'. Together they set up and ran a hardware store in the High Street.
 

.When the Great War came both Stanley Levy and Percy Murphy followed their employer to fight in the trenches with the Queens Own Westminster Rifles (the 16th London Regiment). Their employer was killed in action and after being gassed by the British, Percy and Stanley went to Egypt with the Royal Flying Corps.

When Percy returned from service in June 1921 he married Gladys Levy and they set up home in Hungerford, in a house named "Rossmore".