Thomas was the fifth surviving and youngest son of Sampson Lloyd. Although the rules of primogeniture did not apply, especially because the wealth of the family was in capital rather than hereditary title to land, the older sons clearly had the advantage of being early comers.

Thomas’s early years and environment had some bumps and instability in them. In 1720, when he was twelve, his older brother John ran away from his apprenticeship and master. The sons’ father died in 1724, when Thomas was fifteen. By that time, John had run off to sea and was out of contact with the family.

In his will,2374 Sampson named his brother-in-law Thomas Pemberton and his son-in-law John Gulson of Coventry to have “guardianship and tuition” of his minor chlldren, including Thomas.2275 The signs are that John Gulson played a more active role. In his own will he provided that, if all of his own children died, his “brother-in-law” Thomas Lloyd would receive a share of the legacy,2275 while Thomas Pemberton’s will2387 does not mention Thomas Lloyd. As one of the unenumerated children of Mary née Crowley Lloyd, Thomas received a legacy of £20 from the 1713 will of her father, Ambrose Crowley.2278

At eighteen years old, Thomas Lloyd was in Coventry getting married to Mary Waight of that city. Mary’s parents and the larger Gulson family are shown in the records of the Friends Warwickshire Middle Monthly Meeting.2388 Thomas’s bride was sixteen and a relative. Evidently the marriage, an Episcopal rather than Friends rite, was an urgent one. The bondsman for the marriage was Henry Tissell, a saddler. It is plausible that Henry Tissell had business dealings with Thomas’s guardian John Gulson, who was a skinner and fellmonger (hide seller). Thomas’s occupation as reported on the marriage bond is not fully legible; it seems to be “grocer.”2379 That could have been connected the business of his grandmother’s cousin, William Gulson, also of Coventry, a grocer.2389

The doings of John and Thomas presumably tried the patience of the Lloyds, especially because the family included staunch and eminent Quaker leaders. But the family remained loyal to both sons, even though they were prodigal sons. Thomas named one of his own sons, perhaps the first, after his father, Sampson. Another son, Benjamin, was presumably named after his mother’s father, and Nathaniel after her uncle Nathaniel Newton.

In later life, Thomas Lloyd suffered from a lingering progressive illness, possibly tuberculosis. He was only 35 when he died.2371