David Alfred Thomas
Encyclopedia
David Alfred Thomas, 1st Viscount Rhondda PC
(26 March 1856 – 3 July 1918), sometimes known as D. A. Thomas, was a Welsh
industrialist and Liberal
politician. He was UK Member of Parliament (MP) for Merthyr Tydfil
from 1888 until the January 1910 general election, then MP for Cardiff
until the December 1910 general election, when he left politics
to concentrate on his business interests. He was made a member of the Privy Council
in 1916.
, David Thomas was a second-generation industrialist. His energy and flair for innovation swiftly led him to build a commercial empire larger than his father's. Samuel, a man not noted for a cheerful temperament, is said to have remarked on the day of his son's birth (during a thunderstorm), "I see nothing for him but the workhouse."
Although tradition cited D. A. Thomas' birthplace as being an old white-walled cottage in Aberdare
, this is unlikely, given that the family home, Ysguborwen (also Aberdare), was completed in 1855. This house was built as a suitable residence for a rising industrial entrepreneur, and sets Samuel Thomas' gloomy remark in context. Samuel Thomas was one of the pioneers of the Welsh Coal business.
Samuel Thomas was a hard man, perhaps the secret of his business success, and his tastes were simple. He could never forget the hardships through which he had had to pass, and as the above quotation indicates, he was unable to shake off the fear of failure. A Welsh Baptist
, he managed his household according to the "Protestant work ethic
". This seems to have been its own reward, for Samuel attained civic office as High Constable of Merthyr, then the roughest town in Wales.
D.A. Thomas' mother, Rachel, is described as a contrast to the sometimes miserly, always prudent Samuel. She gave young David the love that he needed, nurturing the more sensitive side that D. A. Thomas' daughter, Margaret, was to cherish.
The family home, Ysguborwen, seems to have been a fairly typical Welsh home. At first, only the Welsh language
was spoken there. After all, it was the language of both of David's parents. However, Mrs. Thomas, like many Welsh parents before and since, realising that the language of the business world was English, engaged an English nurse to get her children used to speaking English. In 1859, the family moved from Calfaria Welsh Baptist Chapel to Carmel, the English Baptist Chapel opposite. English was becoming the language of the valleys, and the language of respectability. Accordingly, the upwardly moble Thomases were going to be Anglo-Welsh.
D. A. Thomas' upbringing was stern and Victorian, teaching him discipline, mediated through love. That discipline remained with Thomas, in business and in politics. Towards the end of Thomas' life, William Brace, the Trade Union leader commented that 'Rhondda has the income of a Duke and the tastes of a Peasant.'
Thomas was educated at Manila Hall, Clifton
, Bristol
, before going up to Cambridge University Initially, Thomas was to have gone to Jesus College
on a scholarship originally intended for the sons of Anglican Ministers. Since Samuel Thomas was neither an Anglican nor a minister, it would be interesting to know exactly how D. A. Thomas obtained such a scholarship. An attack of Typhoid fever, contracted in Clermont-Ferrand
meant that Thomas was unable to take up the scholarship. As it was, Thomas obtained a scholarship to Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, where he studied mathematics, and would have finished top of his year, if it had not been for his indifferent health. Even so, Thomas was in the University Rowing and Boxing teams. Thomas left Cambridge in 1880, on the death of his father.
In an age of religion, D. A. Thomas was that rarity, a man honestly uninterested in religion. That said, Thomas does not appear to have been an atheist, but to have found the religious sectarianism that marked the life of Wales at that time distasteful. Although brought up a Baptist (and later Congregationalist), he was received into the Anglican Church upon his marriage to Sybil Margaret Haig in 1882 and was baptised at St. Andrew's Church, near Barry. The wedding took place in a billiard-room at her parents' house. A daughter, Margaret, was born in 1883, the only issue to the couple.
Perhaps Thomas' estrangement from organised religion is due to the religious controversies of the day, or the way in which his father managed to alienate himself altogether from organised religion. After moving to Carmel English Baptist Church, Samuel Thomas appears to have become embroiled in an argument with Rev. Thomas Price, the second minister. This appears to have been over no more than personalities, for Samuel had supported the man's predecessor, and the move to Tabernacle English Congregational church ended similarly, when the minister was replaced. Samuel Thomas took it upon himself to un-church his family and conduct worship at home. Such rancour cannot have endeared organised religion to the young David.
Grigg describes Thomas' upbringing as 'Strict Congregationalist, yet D. A. Thomas was not baptised, suggesting that Samuel Thomas never abandoned his Baptist views. As a schoolboy at Bristol D. A. Thomas attended Highbury Congregational Chapel, Clifton, where his uncle, David Thomas, was minister.
Although D. A Thomas was heavily involved in the Disestablishment controversy and was an advocate of Disestablishment, this appears to have sprung from the belief that the endowments of the church should be used for the general good He advocated the allocation of church endowments on a population basis, which alienated many of the North Wales MPs. The Rev. J. Vyrnwy Morgan
, Thomas' earliest biographer writes that: '...religion was a subject concerning which he spoke less than he thought.'
Despite attacks of rheumatic fever
, which plagued him for much of his life, D. A. Thomas was no shrinking violet. At college, he rowed and boxed enthusiastically, and his obituary in the South Wales Daily News spoke of him being seldom happier than 'when romping with children.' In 1881, D. A. Thomas rescued a boy who fell through the ice on Hirwain Pond, Aberdare, an act for which he received an award from the Humane Society
. In this, and in his later survival of the wreck of the Lusitania
, D. A. Thomas' prowess in swimming, another college sport in which he excelled, holding a medal in the long-dive, stood him in good stead.
, later moving to Clydach Vale
to learn the management of the mines themselves. In the course of this work, which went on for more than a year, he descended the pit with the workers and remained underground until four in the afternoon.
David Alfred Thomas moved to London in 1882, where he worked in a Stockbroker's Office in Cornhill. There he had an attack of rheumatic fever, a complaint which had plagued him since his youth. After the death of Mr. Riches, he returned to Cardiff to manage the Cambrian Collieries.
House, just outside Newport
, Monmouthshire
, where he lived the life of a somewhat unconventional country squire, riding to hounds and breeding prize Hereford cattle. He bought the house in 1900, and acquired the neighbouring Pencoed estate shortly before his death, with the intention of presenting Pencoed Castle to his daughter. Despite his fearsome reputation as an industrialist, D. A. Thomas appears to have been a genuinely well-loved landowner, the tenants of Pencoed actively lobbying Thomas to buy the estate. This purchase left Thomas the largest landowner in Monmouthshire after Lord Tredegar.
Despite his fortune, D. A. Thomas was quite content to retain the mansion at Llanwern
, a large square house on a hilltop overlooking the village of Llanwern. The house, dating to 1760, was old-fashioned in its appearance, but that appearance concealed a delicate and beautiful interior, reflecting Chinese influence. Perhaps it was the fact that there was more to the house than met the eye which attracted Thomas.
at a by-election in 1888, and represented the seat until he stepped down in order to fight the marginal seat
of Cardiff
in January 1910. Thomas consistently topped the poll, not even Keir Hardie
was able to topple him from his perch. Although an employer, he was felt to be a fair man, and was genuinely respected by the voters of Merthyr.
He was an early supporter of the Cymru Fydd
movement, but opposed its integration with the South Wales Liberal Federation, thus making an enemy of David Lloyd George
, being largely responsible for that movement's demise. As President of the South Wales Liberal Federation from 1894-7, Thomas believed that the southern counties of Glamorgan and Monmouthshire, which together contained over half the Welsh population, would suffer under the proposed scheme for a single national federation. He held similar views on the disestablishment of the Church in Wales
, believing that the revenues wrested from the church should be distributed to the counties on the basis of population. With David Lloyd George
, Francis Edwards
and Herbert Lewis
, Thomas revolted against the Rosebery
Government's perceived downgrading of Disestablishment in 1894.
D. A. Thomas was much disappointed when he was not offered Government office after the Liberal election victory of 1906. Unlike Herbert Lewis and Lloyd George, more had been expected from Thomas in 1894, and his actions in joining the revolt had not endeared him to the Liberal leadership. Thomas became increasingly disillusioned with politics, and left parliament at the December 1910 General Election, apparently a political failure. Certainly, his early promise had not been vindicated.
In the pre-war years Thomas acquired tracts of coal-bearing land in North America which was not fully developed (see Steamboats of the Peace River
).
to the United States, for which purpose he was created Baron Rhondda in 1916 and later Viscount Rhondda
in 1918.
In May 1915 he was on the RMS Lusitania
when she was torpedo
ed. He and his daughter, Margaret were among the survivors. A humorous story, related by D. A. Thomas, was that local newspaper placards carrying news of the sinking read "Great National Disaster. D. A. Saved". Allen Clement Edwards, MP, related the story of an aged collier who, on being informed that Thomas had been in the ship when it had gone down, declared, "I will wait till tomorrow. He always comes out on top, and I promise you this: he will come to the top of the water again with a big fish in each of his hands."
In 1916, he became President of the Local Government Board
. As Minister of Food Control during the latter part of World War I
, he was very successful, introducing an efficient system of rationing
.
, but his ashes were returned to Llanwern
, where they lie alongside the bodies of previous squires of Llanwern (although D. A. Thomas' monument is by far the largest - "on a recent visit to Llanwern, it took me two circuits of the churchyard to find the tomb, since I had initially mistaken it for the War memorial", in the words of one D. A. Thomas Scholar), his wife and daughter. His epitaph reads, 'He counted his life not dear to himself.'
While the Rhondda Barony died with him, the title of Viscount Rhondda passed to his daughter by special remainder, something Thomas had insisted on when he was offered the honour.
Thomas's widow, Sybil, Viscountess Rhondda (1857–1941) was created a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1920.
Privy Council of the United Kingdom
Her Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council, usually known simply as the Privy Council, is a formal body of advisers to the Sovereign in the United Kingdom...
(26 March 1856 – 3 July 1918), sometimes known as D. A. Thomas, was a Welsh
Wales
Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...
industrialist and Liberal
Liberal Party (UK)
The Liberal Party was one of the two major political parties of the United Kingdom during the 19th and early 20th centuries. It was a third party of negligible importance throughout the latter half of the 20th Century, before merging with the Social Democratic Party in 1988 to form the present day...
politician. He was UK Member of Parliament (MP) for Merthyr Tydfil
Merthyr Tydfil (UK Parliament constituency)
Merthyr Tydfil was a parliamentary constituency centred on the town of Merthyr Tydfil in Glamorgan. From 1832 to 1868 it returned one Member of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, and in 1868 this was increased to two members...
from 1888 until the January 1910 general election, then MP for Cardiff
Cardiff (UK Parliament constituency)
Cardiff was a parliamentary constituency centred on the town of Cardiff in South Wales which returned one Member of Parliament to the House of Commons from 1542 until it was abolished for the 1918 general election.- MPs 1542-1645 :- MPs 1645–1832 :...
until the December 1910 general election, when he left politics
Politics of Wales
Politics in Wales forms a distinctive polity in the wider politics of the United Kingdom, with Wales as one of the four constituent countries of the United Kingdom....
to concentrate on his business interests. He was made a member of the Privy Council
Privy Council of the United Kingdom
Her Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council, usually known simply as the Privy Council, is a formal body of advisers to the Sovereign in the United Kingdom...
in 1916.
Early life
The son of coal owner Samuel Thomas of YsguborwenYsguborwen
Ysguborwen is a 19th century house in Aberdare, in the county borough of Rhondda Cynon Taff, Wales.Ysguborwen was built by Samuel Thomas, one of the pioneers of the Welsh coal trade....
, David Thomas was a second-generation industrialist. His energy and flair for innovation swiftly led him to build a commercial empire larger than his father's. Samuel, a man not noted for a cheerful temperament, is said to have remarked on the day of his son's birth (during a thunderstorm), "I see nothing for him but the workhouse."
Although tradition cited D. A. Thomas' birthplace as being an old white-walled cottage in Aberdare
Aberdare
Aberdare is an industrial town in Rhondda Cynon Taf, Wales, situated at the confluence of the Rivers Dare and Cynon. The population at the census was 31,705...
, this is unlikely, given that the family home, Ysguborwen (also Aberdare), was completed in 1855. This house was built as a suitable residence for a rising industrial entrepreneur, and sets Samuel Thomas' gloomy remark in context. Samuel Thomas was one of the pioneers of the Welsh Coal business.
Samuel Thomas was a hard man, perhaps the secret of his business success, and his tastes were simple. He could never forget the hardships through which he had had to pass, and as the above quotation indicates, he was unable to shake off the fear of failure. A Welsh Baptist
Baptist
Baptists comprise a group of Christian denominations and churches that subscribe to a doctrine that baptism should be performed only for professing believers , and that it must be done by immersion...
, he managed his household according to the "Protestant work ethic
Protestant work ethic
The Protestant work ethic is a concept in sociology, economics and history, attributable to the work of Max Weber...
". This seems to have been its own reward, for Samuel attained civic office as High Constable of Merthyr, then the roughest town in Wales.
D.A. Thomas' mother, Rachel, is described as a contrast to the sometimes miserly, always prudent Samuel. She gave young David the love that he needed, nurturing the more sensitive side that D. A. Thomas' daughter, Margaret, was to cherish.
The family home, Ysguborwen, seems to have been a fairly typical Welsh home. At first, only the Welsh language
Welsh language
Welsh is a member of the Brythonic branch of the Celtic languages spoken natively in Wales, by some along the Welsh border in England, and in Y Wladfa...
was spoken there. After all, it was the language of both of David's parents. However, Mrs. Thomas, like many Welsh parents before and since, realising that the language of the business world was English, engaged an English nurse to get her children used to speaking English. In 1859, the family moved from Calfaria Welsh Baptist Chapel to Carmel, the English Baptist Chapel opposite. English was becoming the language of the valleys, and the language of respectability. Accordingly, the upwardly moble Thomases were going to be Anglo-Welsh.
D. A. Thomas' upbringing was stern and Victorian, teaching him discipline, mediated through love. That discipline remained with Thomas, in business and in politics. Towards the end of Thomas' life, William Brace, the Trade Union leader commented that 'Rhondda has the income of a Duke and the tastes of a Peasant.'
Thomas was educated at Manila Hall, Clifton
Clifton, Bristol
Clifton is a suburb of the City of Bristol in England, and the name of both one of the city's thirty-five council wards. The Clifton ward also includes the areas of Cliftonwood and Hotwells...
, Bristol
Bristol
Bristol is a city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, with an estimated population of 433,100 for the unitary authority in 2009, and a surrounding Larger Urban Zone with an estimated 1,070,000 residents in 2007...
, before going up to Cambridge University Initially, Thomas was to have gone to Jesus College
Jesus College, Cambridge
Jesus College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge, England.The College was founded in 1496 on the site of a Benedictine nunnery by John Alcock, then Bishop of Ely...
on a scholarship originally intended for the sons of Anglican Ministers. Since Samuel Thomas was neither an Anglican nor a minister, it would be interesting to know exactly how D. A. Thomas obtained such a scholarship. An attack of Typhoid fever, contracted in Clermont-Ferrand
Clermont-Ferrand
Clermont-Ferrand is a city and commune of France, in the Auvergne region, with a population of 140,700 . Its metropolitan area had 409,558 inhabitants at the 1999 census. It is the prefecture of the Puy-de-Dôme department...
meant that Thomas was unable to take up the scholarship. As it was, Thomas obtained a scholarship to Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, where he studied mathematics, and would have finished top of his year, if it had not been for his indifferent health. Even so, Thomas was in the University Rowing and Boxing teams. Thomas left Cambridge in 1880, on the death of his father.
Personal life
Perhaps Thomas' estrangement from organised religion is due to the religious controversies of the day, or the way in which his father managed to alienate himself altogether from organised religion. After moving to Carmel English Baptist Church, Samuel Thomas appears to have become embroiled in an argument with Rev. Thomas Price, the second minister. This appears to have been over no more than personalities, for Samuel had supported the man's predecessor, and the move to Tabernacle English Congregational church ended similarly, when the minister was replaced. Samuel Thomas took it upon himself to un-church his family and conduct worship at home. Such rancour cannot have endeared organised religion to the young David.
Grigg describes Thomas' upbringing as 'Strict Congregationalist, yet D. A. Thomas was not baptised, suggesting that Samuel Thomas never abandoned his Baptist views. As a schoolboy at Bristol D. A. Thomas attended Highbury Congregational Chapel, Clifton, where his uncle, David Thomas, was minister.
Although D. A Thomas was heavily involved in the Disestablishment controversy and was an advocate of Disestablishment, this appears to have sprung from the belief that the endowments of the church should be used for the general good He advocated the allocation of church endowments on a population basis, which alienated many of the North Wales MPs. The Rev. J. Vyrnwy Morgan
J. Vyrnwy Morgan
Morgan, John Vyrnwy: was a Welsh Congregationalist minister and author. Usually known as J. Vyrnwy Morgan.-Early life:...
, Thomas' earliest biographer writes that: '...religion was a subject concerning which he spoke less than he thought.'
Despite attacks of rheumatic fever
Rheumatic fever
Rheumatic fever is an inflammatory disease that occurs following a Streptococcus pyogenes infection, such as strep throat or scarlet fever. Believed to be caused by antibody cross-reactivity that can involve the heart, joints, skin, and brain, the illness typically develops two to three weeks after...
, which plagued him for much of his life, D. A. Thomas was no shrinking violet. At college, he rowed and boxed enthusiastically, and his obituary in the South Wales Daily News spoke of him being seldom happier than 'when romping with children.' In 1881, D. A. Thomas rescued a boy who fell through the ice on Hirwain Pond, Aberdare, an act for which he received an award from the Humane Society
Humane Society
A humane society may be a group that aims to stop human or animal suffering due to cruelty or other reasons, although in many countries, it is now used mostly for societies for the prevention of cruelty to animals...
. In this, and in his later survival of the wreck of the Lusitania
Lusitania
Lusitania or Hispania Lusitania was an ancient Roman province including approximately all of modern Portugal south of the Douro river and part of modern Spain . It was named after the Lusitani or Lusitanian people...
, D. A. Thomas' prowess in swimming, another college sport in which he excelled, holding a medal in the long-dive, stood him in good stead.
Early career
Thomas joined Osborn Henry Riches in the sales department of the Cambrian CollieriesCambrian Colliery
The Cambrian Colliery was a large coal mine that operated between 1872 and 1967 near Clydach Vale in the Rhondda Valley, south Wales. It is notable for its huge production and for two infamous explosion disasters, in 1905 and 1965, in which a total of 64 miners were killed...
, later moving to Clydach Vale
Clydach Vale
Clydach Vale is a village adjoining Tonypandy in the county borough of Rhondda Cynon Taf, within the Rhondda Valley, Wales. It is named for its situation on the Nant Clydach, a tributary of the River Taff.-Integration of villages:...
to learn the management of the mines themselves. In the course of this work, which went on for more than a year, he descended the pit with the workers and remained underground until four in the afternoon.
David Alfred Thomas moved to London in 1882, where he worked in a Stockbroker's Office in Cornhill. There he had an attack of rheumatic fever, a complaint which had plagued him since his youth. After the death of Mr. Riches, he returned to Cardiff to manage the Cambrian Collieries.
Business interests
Not long after inheriting his father's business, Thomas assessed the state of the company. In order to expand the business, D. A. Thomas converted the company from private ownership into a limited liability company, securing the capital to expand operations. The sale of shares was not a means for the heir to become an idler, for D. A. Thomas continued to take an active part in the management for the company. In the great coal strike of 1898, D. A. Thomas refused to take the side of the coal-owners' organisation. The Cambrian Collieries continued to work through the strike, an action that made a great deal for the collieries' shareholders. In 1910, D. A. Thomas was involved in a coal strike begun at the Ely Pit in Penygraig, an action that infuriated him. He saw the strike as a betrayal, and his actions at attempting to break the strike turned into one of the most important and violent events in Rhondda history, the Tonypandy Riots. From 1901 to 1906, ill-health forced Thomas to take a break from his business activities.D. A. Thomas and Llanwern
In 1887, a year before his election to Parliament, D. A. Thomas took the lease of LlanwernLlanwern
Llanwern is an electoral ward and community in the urban-rural fringe of the City of Newport, South Wales. Llanwern ward is bounded by the M4 and Langstone to the north, Ringland, Liswerry and the River Usk to the west, the River Severn to the south and the city boundary to the east...
House, just outside Newport
Newport
Newport is a city and unitary authority area in Wales. Standing on the banks of the River Usk, it is located about east of Cardiff and is the largest urban area within the historic county boundaries of Monmouthshire and the preserved county of Gwent...
, Monmouthshire
Monmouthshire (historic)
Monmouthshire , also known as the County of Monmouth , is one of thirteen ancient counties of Wales and a former administrative county....
, where he lived the life of a somewhat unconventional country squire, riding to hounds and breeding prize Hereford cattle. He bought the house in 1900, and acquired the neighbouring Pencoed estate shortly before his death, with the intention of presenting Pencoed Castle to his daughter. Despite his fearsome reputation as an industrialist, D. A. Thomas appears to have been a genuinely well-loved landowner, the tenants of Pencoed actively lobbying Thomas to buy the estate. This purchase left Thomas the largest landowner in Monmouthshire after Lord Tredegar.
Despite his fortune, D. A. Thomas was quite content to retain the mansion at Llanwern
Llanwern
Llanwern is an electoral ward and community in the urban-rural fringe of the City of Newport, South Wales. Llanwern ward is bounded by the M4 and Langstone to the north, Ringland, Liswerry and the River Usk to the west, the River Severn to the south and the city boundary to the east...
, a large square house on a hilltop overlooking the village of Llanwern. The house, dating to 1760, was old-fashioned in its appearance, but that appearance concealed a delicate and beautiful interior, reflecting Chinese influence. Perhaps it was the fact that there was more to the house than met the eye which attracted Thomas.
Political career
D. A. Thomas was elected MP for Merthyr TydfilMerthyr Tydfil (UK Parliament constituency)
Merthyr Tydfil was a parliamentary constituency centred on the town of Merthyr Tydfil in Glamorgan. From 1832 to 1868 it returned one Member of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, and in 1868 this was increased to two members...
at a by-election in 1888, and represented the seat until he stepped down in order to fight the marginal seat
Marginal seat
A marginal seat, or swing seat, is a constituency held with a particularly small majority in a legislative election, generally conducted under a single-winner voting system. In Canada they may be known as target ridings. The opposite is a safe seat....
of Cardiff
Cardiff (UK Parliament constituency)
Cardiff was a parliamentary constituency centred on the town of Cardiff in South Wales which returned one Member of Parliament to the House of Commons from 1542 until it was abolished for the 1918 general election.- MPs 1542-1645 :- MPs 1645–1832 :...
in January 1910. Thomas consistently topped the poll, not even Keir Hardie
Keir Hardie
James Keir Hardie, Sr. , was a Scottish socialist and labour leader, and was the first Independent Labour Member of Parliament elected to the Parliament of the United Kingdom...
was able to topple him from his perch. Although an employer, he was felt to be a fair man, and was genuinely respected by the voters of Merthyr.
He was an early supporter of the Cymru Fydd
Cymru Fydd
The Cymru Fydd movement was founded in 1886 by some of the London Welsh, including J. E. Lloyd, O. M. Edwards, T. E. Ellis , Beriah Gwynfe Evans and Alfred Thomas. Initially it was a purely London-based society, later expanding to cities in England with a large Welsh population...
movement, but opposed its integration with the South Wales Liberal Federation, thus making an enemy of David Lloyd George
David Lloyd George
David Lloyd George, 1st Earl Lloyd-George of Dwyfor OM, PC was a British Liberal politician and statesman...
, being largely responsible for that movement's demise. As President of the South Wales Liberal Federation from 1894-7, Thomas believed that the southern counties of Glamorgan and Monmouthshire, which together contained over half the Welsh population, would suffer under the proposed scheme for a single national federation. He held similar views on the disestablishment of the Church in Wales
Church in Wales
The Church in Wales is the Anglican church in Wales, composed of six dioceses.As with the primus of the Scottish Episcopal Church, the Archbishop of Wales serves concurrently as one of the six diocesan bishops. The current archbishop is Barry Morgan, the Bishop of Llandaff.In contrast to the...
, believing that the revenues wrested from the church should be distributed to the counties on the basis of population. With David Lloyd George
David Lloyd George
David Lloyd George, 1st Earl Lloyd-George of Dwyfor OM, PC was a British Liberal politician and statesman...
, Francis Edwards
Francis Edwards
Sir Francis Edwards, 1st Baronet , commonly known as Frank Edwards, was a British Liberal Party politician....
and Herbert Lewis
Herbert Lewis
Sir John Herbert Lewis GBE, PC was a British Liberal politician.-Background and education:Born at Mostyn Quay, Flintshire, Lewis was one of five sons of Enoch Lewis and Elizabeth Roberts. He was educated at McGill University and Exeter College, Oxford.-Political career:Lewis was the first Chairman...
, Thomas revolted against the Rosebery
Rosebery
-People:*Earl of Rosebery - several people including:**Archibald Primrose, 5th Earl of Rosebery, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and**Hannah Primrose, Countess of Rosebery his wife-Places:In Australia:...
Government's perceived downgrading of Disestablishment in 1894.
D. A. Thomas was much disappointed when he was not offered Government office after the Liberal election victory of 1906. Unlike Herbert Lewis and Lloyd George, more had been expected from Thomas in 1894, and his actions in joining the revolt had not endeared him to the Liberal leadership. Thomas became increasingly disillusioned with politics, and left parliament at the December 1910 General Election, apparently a political failure. Certainly, his early promise had not been vindicated.
"Coal King"
After D. A. Thomas' expectations of high office were disappointed following the 1906 General Election he concentrated once more on business. In 1908 the Cambrian Combine was formed, with the merger of the Glamorgan, the Naval and the Britannic Merthyr collieries with the Cambrian Collieries. This great industrial combine would later take in further collieries. As Thomas came to realise that the golden age of the Welsh coal trade would not continue. Thomas sought to organise the Welsh coal trade in order to prevent destructive competition.In the pre-war years Thomas acquired tracts of coal-bearing land in North America which was not fully developed (see Steamboats of the Peace River
Steamboats of the Peace River
The Peace River, which flows from the Rocky Mountain in British Columbia to Peace-Athabasca Delta and Lake Athabasca in Alberta, was navigable by late nineteenth and early twentieth century steamboats from the Rocky Mountain Falls at Hudson's Hope to Fort Vermilion, where there was another set of...
).
First World War
Having made a fortune as owner of the Cambrian Collieries, he would return to politics as David Lloyd George's emissaryEmissary
Emissary may refer to:* Ambassador* Apostle* Diplomat* The Subspace Emissary, the single-player Adventure Mode in the video game Super Smash Bros...
to the United States, for which purpose he was created Baron Rhondda in 1916 and later Viscount Rhondda
Viscount Rhondda
Viscount Rhondda, of Llanwern in the County of Monmouthshire, was a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created in 1918 for the Welsh businessman and Liberal politician David Alfred Thomas, 1st Baron Rhondda, with special remainder to his daughter Margaret and her heirs male...
in 1918.
In May 1915 he was on the RMS Lusitania
RMS Lusitania
RMS Lusitania was a British ocean liner designed by Leonard Peskett and built by John Brown and Company of Clydebank, Scotland. The ship entered passenger service with the Cunard Line on 26 August 1907 and continued on the line's heavily-traveled passenger service between Liverpool, England and New...
when she was torpedo
Torpedo
The modern torpedo is a self-propelled missile weapon with an explosive warhead, launched above or below the water surface, propelled underwater towards a target, and designed to detonate either on contact with it or in proximity to it.The term torpedo was originally employed for...
ed. He and his daughter, Margaret were among the survivors. A humorous story, related by D. A. Thomas, was that local newspaper placards carrying news of the sinking read "Great National Disaster. D. A. Saved". Allen Clement Edwards, MP, related the story of an aged collier who, on being informed that Thomas had been in the ship when it had gone down, declared, "I will wait till tomorrow. He always comes out on top, and I promise you this: he will come to the top of the water again with a big fish in each of his hands."
In 1916, he became President of the Local Government Board
President of the Local Government Board
The President of the Local Government Board was a ministerial post, frequently a Cabinet position, in the United Kingdom, established in 1871. The Local Government Board itself was established in 1871 and took over supervisory functions from the Board of Trade and the Home Office, including the...
. As Minister of Food Control during the latter part of World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
, he was very successful, introducing an efficient system of rationing
Rationing
Rationing is the controlled distribution of scarce resources, goods, or services. Rationing controls the size of the ration, one's allotted portion of the resources being distributed on a particular day or at a particular time.- In economics :...
.
Last years
The work took a terrible toll on his constitution, however, and he died at Llanwern on the morning of Wednesday, July 3, 1918, aged sixty-two. He was cremated at Golders GreenGolders Green
Golders Green is an area in the London Borough of Barnet in London, England. Although having some earlier history, it is essentially a 19th century suburban development situated about 5.3 miles north west of Charing Cross and centred on the crossroads of Golders Green Road and Finchley Road.In the...
, but his ashes were returned to Llanwern
Llanwern
Llanwern is an electoral ward and community in the urban-rural fringe of the City of Newport, South Wales. Llanwern ward is bounded by the M4 and Langstone to the north, Ringland, Liswerry and the River Usk to the west, the River Severn to the south and the city boundary to the east...
, where they lie alongside the bodies of previous squires of Llanwern (although D. A. Thomas' monument is by far the largest - "on a recent visit to Llanwern, it took me two circuits of the churchyard to find the tomb, since I had initially mistaken it for the War memorial", in the words of one D. A. Thomas Scholar), his wife and daughter. His epitaph reads, 'He counted his life not dear to himself.'
While the Rhondda Barony died with him, the title of Viscount Rhondda passed to his daughter by special remainder, something Thomas had insisted on when he was offered the honour.
Thomas's widow, Sybil, Viscountess Rhondda (1857–1941) was created a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1920.
Sources
- J. Vyrnwy Morgan: Life of Viscount Rhondda (London, 1919)
- Margaret Rhondda (ed.): D. A. Thomas: Viscount Rhondda (London, 1921)
- Margaret Rhondda: This Was My World (London, 1933)
- 'A Gentleman with a Duster': The Mirrors of Downing Street (London, 1922)
- John Grigg: Lloyd George: War Leader(London,2002)
- Kenneth O. Morgan, 'D. A. Thomas: The Industrialist as Politician' in Modern Wales: Politics Places and People (Cardiff 1995)
- Thomas lloyd: Lost Houses of Wales (London, 1987)
- Gerard Charmley: 'D. A. Thomas Versus Lloyd George' (Unpublished Cardiff University MA Thesis)
- D. A. Thomas Memorial, Llanwern Churchyard.
- National Library of Wales, D. A. Thomas Papers.
- National Library of Wales, Herbert Lewis Papers.
- National Library of Wales, William George Papers.
- National Library of Wales, Lloyd George Papers.
- South Wales Daily News
- Western Mail