Ivor Bulmer-Thomas
Encyclopedia
Ivor Bulmer-Thomas CBE
FSA
, originally Ivor Thomas (30 November 1905 – 7 October 1993) was a British
journalist and author who served eight years as a Member of Parliament
(MP). His career was much influenced by his conversion to the Church of England
in his youth, and he became a pious
believer on the Anglo-Catholic
wing of the Church.
A brilliant scholar and champion athlete while at university, Bulmer-Thomas wrote biographies and worked as a sub-editor on The Times
during his early life. His experience in wartime Italian
propaganda
led him to doubt its value. Serving in the Attlee
Labour Party
government in junior roles made him resent the influence of the Labour left; he fell out with party policy on nationalisation and moved to the Conservative Party
. He was a workaholic and after leaving politics he became a leading layman in the Church of England
; an interest in historic buildings led him to set up the Friends of Friendless Churches
group which campaigned to prevent Churches falling into disuse.
, Monmouthshire
; his father A.E. Thomas, was working class. He went to West Monmouth School
in Pontypool
, where he abandoned his father's Baptist
faith in favour of the Anglo-Catholic
wing of the Church of England
, a decision that was to affect his future career profoundly. Although a pious
believer, his personal piety was described by Robin Denniston in his Guardian obituary as "always gentle and humble".
to St John's College, Oxford
where he studied both Mathematical Mods.
and Literae Humaniores
(known unofficially as 'Greats' and as 'Classics' at other Universities), obtaining Firsts in both. He then turned to study divinity, but fell into dispute with the President of the college and moved instead to Magdalen College
where he became Senior Demy in Theology. He was the Liddon Student in 1928, the Ellerton Essayist in 1929, and the Junior Denyer and Johnson Scholar in 1930.
Thomas' achievements at Oxford were not confined to academic life; he also became a competitive cross country runner
. He represented Oxford
in varsity match
es against Cambridge
from 1925 to 1927, in which year he won the three miles race. In 1926 he had represented his country, Wales
, in international cross-country running. But for an injury he would have stood a good chance of selection in the Great Britain team for the 1928 Summer Olympics
in Amsterdam
.
in Hawarden
, the residential library founded at William Ewart Gladstone
's former house. The product of his research there was a book on Gladstone's son, published under the title "Gladstone of Hawarden" in 1936. This book was preceded into print by a biography of Lord Birkenhead
, published in 1930 (the year its subject died). Thomas had come to know Birkenhead through his interest in university athletics and the book has been described as witty and entertaining; it was dedicated to "my creditors".
newspaper in 1930, where he served in the sub-editors' room
. He also wrote occasional leader columns
and specialist articles on scientific subjects as well as being a sports correspondent for a brief period. He married Dilys Llewelyn Jones in 1932, who bore him a son.
In 1935, owed some leave from The Times, Thomas took it to coincide with the general election
for which he had been chosen as Labour Party
candidate for Spen Valley
in July. The sitting Member of Parliament was Sir John Simon
, the Home Secretary
and the contest was a high-profile one; although Simon was elected, his margin of 642 votes was closer than expected and was said to have given him a fright.
in 1937 as chief leader writer, finding the time to write a biography of Welsh industrialist David Davies
which was published the following year. However, tragedy struck with the death of his wife in childbirth in the same year. Thomas' reaction was to write "Dilysia", a threnody
which combined his increasing love of Italian literature
(especially Dante
) with a Christian philosophical analysis of suffering and bereavement. In later life Thomas was to identify it as his favourite piece of writing, and it was republished in 1987. Thomas needed only four hours sleep, and kept volumes of Dante in the original mediaeval Italian
by his bedside to read at night.
threatened, Thomas enlisted in 1938 in a Territorial battalion of the Royal Fusiliers as a Fusilier, equivalent in rank to a Private
. In 1940 he was commissioned into the Royal Norfolk Regiment
. While in the Army, he wrote a two-volume work "Selections Illustrating the History of Greek
Mathematics" which was published by the Loeb Classical Library
; he was promoted to Captain in 1941.
speaker, Thomas was drafted into the psychological warfare department of the Foreign Office
and Ministry of Information
with a brief to develop propaganda
for use against Mussolini's
Italy
. Thomas wrote a 1942 book for Penguin Books
called "Warfare in Words" which criticised British propaganda efforts, and defined the term as an act of "sabotage leading to revolution".
area. In January 1942, he was chosen as Labour Party candidate for the Keighley byelection caused by the death of Hastings Lees-Smith
. The political parties had agreed an electoral truce, and a threatened Independent
candidacy by B. D. Margerison of Wibsey
in Bradford
came to nothing when Margerison decided not to stand (despite having issued an election address). Thomas was therefore elected unopposed on 13 February.
on 12 March concerned pensions, during which he argued that the means test
was "a blot on our national honour". He described the principle of supporting those unable to work as "the iron ration of citizenship". In his early period in Parliament he concentrated on propaganda concerns, in which he disagreed with Stephen King-Hall
's call for it to be treated on the same level as the three services. Thomas argued that this was an "entirely false perspective" and that propaganda was a "valuable but ancillary weapon
".
and an all-party group of Members of Parliament to put down a motion opposing British co-operation with Admiral Darlan
in French North Africa. He was also active on domestic issues, supporting the movement to allow Sunday opening of theatres, and for his stance he was denounced by the Lord's Day Observance Society
. At a meeting of the society in February 1943, one prayer asked God to "deal with Ivor Thomas as he dealt with Saul of Tarsus". (Saul is said in Acts
9:4 to have been converted hearing a voice from Heaven saying "Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?")
Thomas became a very active Member of Parliament, intervening in many debates on diverse subjects both domestic and foreign. In January 1945 he was also a speaker at the inaugural meeting of the League for European Freedom, a group which worked to restore the sovereignty of all "lesser European Powers existing in 1937" and for democratic government throughout Europe. With the end of the war in sight, in April 1945 Thomas drew attention to a speech by Ernest Bevin
which called for Government and Opposition to share common ground on foreign policy and defence by sharing information.
Thomas was easily re-elected. When he saw the list of Government Ministers appointed by Clement Attlee
, Thomas took the unusual step of writing to the new Prime Minister to ask why his own name had not appeared on it. Attlee decided to find Thomas an appointment, and made him Parliamentary Secretary
to the Ministry of Civil Aviation
on 10 August 1945. He was the Ministry's spokesman in the House of Commons as the Minister was Lord Winster
. Thomas took over responsibility for the building of London Heathrow Airport
, then known as 'Heath Row', which had been started by the Royal Air Force
during the war.
Thomas felt that he could only truly understand his job if he obtained a Private Pilot's Licence
, and took up flying until he passed. In 1946 he had responsibility for taking the Civil Aviation Bill through the House of Commons; the Bill was controversial in that it nationalised
air transport into three corporations which were originally intended to have commercial freedom. Winster and Thomas were forced by left-wing pressure within the Labour Party to revisit the plans and make the corporations public monopolies. Some Labour Members were concerned that Thomas, still a young man with little experience of the heavy work of Parliament, was in charge of such an important Bill. Despite a gruelling passage, including an all day Standing Committee session, the Bill was enacted on schedule on 1 August.
for the Colonies
, a shift which he later ascribed to an act of weakness by Attlee in giving in to left-wing pressure after the dispute over the Civil Aviation Bill. With this appointment he was also a delegate to the General Assembly
of the United Nations
. He negotiated at the United Nations over continued British administration of the colonies of Tanganyika
, Togoland
and the Cameroon
s, against attempts by the Soviet Union
to limit the extent of control. Early the next year he intervened in a strike
in Singapore
, helping to persuade 7,000 municipal labourers to return to work. The Colonies Office also had responsibility for Palestine
under the British mandate, in which he followed government policy of resisting illegal immigration (which was predominantly Jewish).
. In March 1948 he spoke at an Italian election rally for the moderate Italian Socialist Party calling for a federation of Europe; when it was revealed that left-wing Labour Members of Parliament had sent a telegram of support to Pietro Nenni
, leader of the rival left-wing Italian Socialists, Thomas signed a motion calling for a Select Committee to investigate.
On 13 October 1948 Thomas wrote to The Times to urge the government to "drop all contentious legislation" in the forthcoming Parliamentary session, specifically the Parliament Bill
and the Steel Bill, prompting considerable debate. Immediately after the King's Speech
in which both Bills were included, Thomas wrote to Attlee announcing his resignation from the Labour Party. He said he had been "particularly disturbed by the growing concentration of power in the hands of the State" and accused the government of surrendering "to its more extreme members and supporters".
intervened in his speech to ask whether he would stand for re-election immediately under his new colours; Thomas replied that he had consulted the precedent of Tom Horabin
who had moved from the Liberals
to Labour without so doing. When Thomas declared that the Labour slogan reversed the Christian declaration 'What is mine is thine' to say 'What is thine is mine', Morgan shouted at him "You are a dirty dog!". The Speaker
ordered Morgan to withdraw the words. In his conclusion, Thomas implicitly praised the leadership of Winston Churchill
.
During the rest of the Parliament, Thomas was treated by Labour Members as a pariah. He formed an unofficial group of two with Alfred Edwards
who had also left Labour over the nationalisation of steel, and in the new year he formally announced he had joined the Conservative Party
; simultaneously it was announced that he had been adopted as Conservative Party candidate for Newport (Monmouthshire)
, near his birthplace. However, he did not receive the Conservative Whip
until Whitsun
. Thomas made an attacking speech at the 1949 Conservative Party conference: referring to Harold Wilson
's remark that half the children in his class never had any boots, Thomas gibed that "if ever he went to school without any boots it was because he was too big for them". He wrote a book called "The Socialist Tragedy" which was published that year.
came round, Thomas found himself with a formidable task in trying to win Newport. Thomas had family connections and his stance on steel nationalisation was thought to be popular, but he found the voters not very interested. Thomas was defeated by the heavy margin of 9,992 votes.
desert. He then returned to journalism, becoming a reviewer for The Times Literary Supplement
and writing obituaries
for The Times. His contributions were anonymous in print but he is known to have been responsible for many important obituaries including that of Bertrand Russell
. From 1953 to 1954, he was acting deputy editor of The Daily Telegraph
.
By this time, he had changed his surname. In 1940 he had married (at Hereford Cathedral
) Joan Bulmer, from Hereford
, by whom he had a son and two daughters; in April 1952 he took the additional surname 'Bulmer-' by deed poll
to acknowledge her. His son by his second marriage is Victor Bulmer-Thomas
, formerly Director of Chatham House
.
4 million trust for the preservation of historic Churches.
The Historic Churches Preservation Trust achieved its desired funding and persuaded the Church Assembly to pass the Inspection of Churches Measure, to properly assess the condition of old Churches every five years. Bulmer-Thomas' obituary in The Independent commented that "more than any other single Act, this modest Measure has prevented many of those sudden 'repairs crises' which carry off too many fine churches".
s to persuade them not to demolish unwanted Churches which had lost their congregations. Other trustees, allied with the Archbishop of Canterbury
, Geoffrey Fisher
, thought that local autonomy should be preserved. When Bulmer-Thomas failed to persuade the Trust to adopt his policy, the Trust was dissolved and a new executive committee set up in which he was not involved.
At the Church Assembly on 15 November 1956, Bulmer-Thomas attacked Fisher, saying that he "held a pistol to my face while the Dean of Gloucester plunged his dagger into my back", which shocked some listeners. Bulmer-Thomas went away and made his own plans.
", with himself as acting Chairman and honorary secretary; he stressed that the group "is in no sense a rival to any existing body". The Friends followed the policy Bulmer-Thomas had hoped the Trust would adopt, opposing any suggestion of the demolition of a Church. He saw some considerable success but became an even more controversial figure with those who saw new uses of old Churches as being an inevitable development.
By the time of Bulmer-Thomas' death, it was estimated that the Friends had by their own efforts actively saved 17 Churches, and helped to rescue many more; They had become the guardians of 21 separate Churches. While many disagreed with Bulmer-Thomas' approach, his commitment was clear and in 1969 he was made the first Chairman of the Redundant Churches Fund
, an official body of the Church of England. This body grew to have hundreds of Churches in its care. Bulmer-Thomas was in charge of it for seven years.
from 1958; he served on the Society's Council for more than 30 years and was its Chairman from 1975 to 1990. In 1970 he became a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London
. In addition he became a Churchwarden
at St. Andrew-by-the-Wardrobe
in the City of London
, where he conducted an "Advanced Sunday School"; he had a special bond to the Church, having fought to have it rebuilt after bomb damage in the Second World War. His interest in journalism and connection to the Church led him to get involved in the Society of the Faith and the Faith Press, which it owned as a specialist printing firm.
, although he was not active. He was a hard worker, but in 1985 he stood down from the General Synod
after 35 years membership of it and its predecessor. He received several honours, including an honorary Fellowship of St John's College Oxford, and the CBE
for his work in preserving Churches in 1984, which Bulmer-Thomas quipped stood for "Churches Before Evangelism".
He received two honorary degrees, that from the University of Warwick
in 1979 being at the insistence of the Mathematics Department. On his 80th birthday, the Ancient Monuments Society published a 'Festschrift' in his honour, paying tribute to the diversity of his interests.
Bulmer-Thomas was reported to have been working "literally till a few minutes before his death" on a letter to the Daily Telegraph, which was published on the same day as his obituary appeared.
Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...
FSA
Society of Antiquaries of London
The Society of Antiquaries of London is a learned society "charged by its Royal Charter of 1751 with 'the encouragement, advancement and furtherance of the study and knowledge of the antiquities and history of this and other countries'." It is based at Burlington House, Piccadilly, London , and is...
, originally Ivor Thomas (30 November 1905 – 7 October 1993) was a British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
journalist and author who served eight years as a Member of Parliament
Member of Parliament
A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...
(MP). His career was much influenced by his conversion to the Church of England
Church of England
The Church of England is the officially established Christian church in England and the Mother Church of the worldwide Anglican Communion. The church considers itself within the tradition of Western Christianity and dates its formal establishment principally to the mission to England by St...
in his youth, and he became a pious
Piety
In spiritual terminology, piety is a virtue that can mean religious devotion, spirituality, or a combination of both. A common element in most conceptions of piety is humility.- Etymology :...
believer on the Anglo-Catholic
Anglo-Catholicism
The terms Anglo-Catholic and Anglo-Catholicism describe people, beliefs and practices within Anglicanism that affirm the Catholic, rather than Protestant, heritage and identity of the Anglican churches....
wing of the Church.
A brilliant scholar and champion athlete while at university, Bulmer-Thomas wrote biographies and worked as a sub-editor on The Times
The Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
during his early life. His experience in wartime Italian
Italian language
Italian is a Romance language spoken mainly in Europe: Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City, by minorities in Malta, Monaco, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Libya, Eritrea, and Somalia, and by immigrant communities in the Americas and Australia...
propaganda
Propaganda
Propaganda is a form of communication that is aimed at influencing the attitude of a community toward some cause or position so as to benefit oneself or one's group....
led him to doubt its value. Serving in the Attlee
Clement Attlee
Clement Richard Attlee, 1st Earl Attlee, KG, OM, CH, PC, FRS was a British Labour politician who served as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1945 to 1951, and as the Leader of the Labour Party from 1935 to 1955...
Labour Party
Labour Party (UK)
The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after...
government in junior roles made him resent the influence of the Labour left; he fell out with party policy on nationalisation and moved to the Conservative Party
Conservative Party (UK)
The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...
. He was a workaholic and after leaving politics he became a leading layman in the Church of England
Church of England
The Church of England is the officially established Christian church in England and the Mother Church of the worldwide Anglican Communion. The church considers itself within the tradition of Western Christianity and dates its formal establishment principally to the mission to England by St...
; an interest in historic buildings led him to set up the Friends of Friendless Churches
Friends of Friendless Churches
Friends of Friendless Churches is a registered charity active in England and Wales. It campaigns for and rescues redundant historic churches threatened by demolition, decay, or inappropriate conversion. To that end, as of August 2010, it owns 43 former churches or chapels, 23 of which...
group which campaigned to prevent Churches falling into disuse.
Family and faith
Thomas was born in CwmbranCwmbran
Cwmbrân is a new town in Wales. Today forming part of the county borough of Torfaen and lying within the historic boundaries of Monmouthshire, Cwmbrân was established in 1949 to provide new employment opportunities in the south eastern portion of the South Wales Coalfield. Cwmbrân means Crow...
, Monmouthshire
Monmouthshire (historic)
Monmouthshire , also known as the County of Monmouth , is one of thirteen ancient counties of Wales and a former administrative county....
; his father A.E. Thomas, was working class. He went to West Monmouth School
West Monmouth School
West Monmouth School is a state-funded and non-selective secondary school in Pontypool, Torfaen, south Wales.-Admissions:Pupils who attend the generally live in the Pontypool area...
in Pontypool
Pontypool
Pontypool is a town of approximately 36,000 people in the county borough of Torfaen, within the historic boundaries of Monmouthshire in South Wales....
, where he abandoned his father's 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...
faith in favour of the Anglo-Catholic
Anglo-Catholicism
The terms Anglo-Catholic and Anglo-Catholicism describe people, beliefs and practices within Anglicanism that affirm the Catholic, rather than Protestant, heritage and identity of the Anglican churches....
wing of the Church of England
Church of England
The Church of England is the officially established Christian church in England and the Mother Church of the worldwide Anglican Communion. The church considers itself within the tradition of Western Christianity and dates its formal establishment principally to the mission to England by St...
, a decision that was to affect his future career profoundly. Although a pious
Piety
In spiritual terminology, piety is a virtue that can mean religious devotion, spirituality, or a combination of both. A common element in most conceptions of piety is humility.- Etymology :...
believer, his personal piety was described by Robin Denniston in his Guardian obituary as "always gentle and humble".
Oxford
Performing well at school, Thomas won a scholarshipScholarship
A scholarship is an award of financial aid for a student to further education. Scholarships are awarded on various criteria usually reflecting the values and purposes of the donor or founder of the award.-Types:...
to St John's College, Oxford
St John's College, Oxford
__FORCETOC__St John's College is a constituent college of the University of Oxford, one of the larger Oxford colleges with approximately 390 undergraduates, 200 postgraduates and over 100 academic staff. It was founded by Sir Thomas White, a merchant, in 1555, whose heart is buried in the chapel of...
where he studied both Mathematical Mods.
Mathematics
Mathematics is the study of quantity, space, structure, and change. Mathematicians seek out patterns and formulate new conjectures. Mathematicians resolve the truth or falsity of conjectures by mathematical proofs, which are arguments sufficient to convince other mathematicians of their validity...
and Literae Humaniores
Literae Humaniores
Literae Humaniores is the name given to an undergraduate course focused on Classics at Oxford and some other universities.The Latin name means literally "more humane letters", but is perhaps better rendered as "Advanced Studies", since humaniores has the sense of "more refined" or "more learned",...
(known unofficially as 'Greats' and as 'Classics' at other Universities), obtaining Firsts in both. He then turned to study divinity, but fell into dispute with the President of the college and moved instead to Magdalen College
Magdalen College, Oxford
Magdalen College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. As of 2006 the college had an estimated financial endowment of £153 million. Magdalen is currently top of the Norrington Table after over half of its 2010 finalists received first-class degrees, a record...
where he became Senior Demy in Theology. He was the Liddon Student in 1928, the Ellerton Essayist in 1929, and the Junior Denyer and Johnson Scholar in 1930.
Thomas' achievements at Oxford were not confined to academic life; he also became a competitive cross country runner
Cross country running
Cross country running is a sport in which people run a race on open-air courses over natural terrain. The course, typically long, may include surfaces of grass and earth, pass through woodlands and open country, and include hills, flat ground and sometimes gravel road...
. He represented Oxford
University of Oxford
The University of Oxford is a university located in Oxford, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest surviving university in the world and the oldest in the English-speaking world. Although its exact date of foundation is unclear, there is evidence of teaching as far back as 1096...
in varsity match
Varsity match
A varsity match is a sporting fixture between two university rivals; in its original and most common form, it is used to describe meetings between Oxford University and Cambridge University.-Popular British and Irish Varsity matches:*University of Oxford v...
es against Cambridge
University of Cambridge
The University of Cambridge is a public research university located in Cambridge, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest university in both the United Kingdom and the English-speaking world , and the seventh-oldest globally...
from 1925 to 1927, in which year he won the three miles race. In 1926 he had represented his country, Wales
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...
, in international cross-country running. But for an injury he would have stood a good chance of selection in the Great Britain team for the 1928 Summer Olympics
1928 Summer Olympics
The 1928 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the IX Olympiad, was an international multi-sport event which was celebrated in 1928 in Amsterdam, Netherlands. Amsterdam had bid for the 1920 and 1924 Olympic Games, but had to give way to war-victim Antwerp, Belgium, and Pierre de...
in Amsterdam
Amsterdam
Amsterdam is the largest city and the capital of the Netherlands. The current position of Amsterdam as capital city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands is governed by the constitution of August 24, 1815 and its successors. Amsterdam has a population of 783,364 within city limits, an urban population...
.
Author
On leaving Oxford, Thomas became the Gladstone Research Student at St Deiniol's LibrarySt Deiniol's Library
Gladstone's Library, known until 2010 as St Deiniol's Library , is a residential library in Hawarden, Flintshire, Wales.The library was founded by the Victorian statesman and politician William Ewart Gladstone ....
in Hawarden
Hawarden
Hawarden is a village in Flintshire, North Wales. Hawarden forms part of the Deeside conurbation on the Welsh/English border. At the 2001 Census, the population of Hawarden Ward was 1,858...
, the residential library founded at William Ewart Gladstone
William Ewart Gladstone
William Ewart Gladstone FRS FSS was a British Liberal statesman. In a career lasting over sixty years, he served as Prime Minister four separate times , more than any other person. Gladstone was also Britain's oldest Prime Minister, 84 years old when he resigned for the last time...
's former house. The product of his research there was a book on Gladstone's son, published under the title "Gladstone of Hawarden" in 1936. This book was preceded into print by a biography of Lord Birkenhead
F. E. Smith, 1st Earl of Birkenhead
Frederick Edwin Smith, 1st Earl of Birkenhead GCSI, PC, KC , best known to history as F. E. Smith , was a British Conservative statesman and lawyer of the early 20th century. He was a skilled orator, noted for his staunch opposition to Irish nationalism, his wit, pugnacious views, and hard living...
, published in 1930 (the year its subject died). Thomas had come to know Birkenhead through his interest in university athletics and the book has been described as witty and entertaining; it was dedicated to "my creditors".
Journalism
Thomas joined the staff of The TimesThe Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
newspaper in 1930, where he served in the sub-editors' room
Copy editing
Copy editing is the work that an editor does to improve the formatting, style, and accuracy of text. Unlike general editing, copy editing might not involve changing the substance of the text. Copy refers to written or typewritten text for typesetting, printing, or publication...
. He also wrote occasional leader columns
Editorial
An opinion piece is an article, published in a newspaper or magazine, that mainly reflects the author's opinion about the subject. Opinion pieces are featured in many periodicals.-Editorials:...
and specialist articles on scientific subjects as well as being a sports correspondent for a brief period. He married Dilys Llewelyn Jones in 1932, who bore him a son.
In 1935, owed some leave from The Times, Thomas took it to coincide with the general election
United Kingdom general election, 1935
The United Kingdom general election held on 14 November 1935 resulted in a large, though reduced, majority for the National Government now led by Conservative Stanley Baldwin. The greatest number of MPs, as before, were Conservative, while the National Liberal vote held steady...
for which he had been chosen as Labour Party
Labour Party (UK)
The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after...
candidate for Spen Valley
Spen Valley (UK Parliament constituency)
Spen Valley was a parliamentary constituency in the valley of the River Spen in West Yorkshire. It returned one Member of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom.-History:...
in July. The sitting Member of Parliament was Sir John Simon
John Simon, 1st Viscount Simon
John Allsebrook Simon, 1st Viscount Simon GCSI GCVO OBE PC was a British politician who held senior Cabinet posts from the beginning of the First World War to the end of the Second. He is one of only three people to have served as Home Secretary, Foreign Secretary and Chancellor of the Exchequer,...
, the Home Secretary
Home Secretary
The Secretary of State for the Home Department, commonly known as the Home Secretary, is the minister in charge of the Home Office of the United Kingdom, and one of the country's four Great Offices of State...
and the contest was a high-profile one; although Simon was elected, his margin of 642 votes was closer than expected and was said to have given him a fright.
Bereavement
Thomas moved to the News ChronicleNews Chronicle
The News Chronicle was a British daily newspaper. It ceased publication on 17 October 1960, being absorbed into the Daily Mail. Its offices were in Bouverie Street, off Fleet Street, London, EC4Y 8DP, England.-Daily Chronicle:...
in 1937 as chief leader writer, finding the time to write a biography of Welsh industrialist David Davies
David Davies (industrialist)
David Davies was a Welsh industrialist and Liberal politician who sat in the House of Commons between 1874 and 1886. Davies was often known as David Davies Llandinam , in order to differentiate him from others of the same name.Davies was the son of David Davies and his wife Elizabeth...
which was published the following year. However, tragedy struck with the death of his wife in childbirth in the same year. Thomas' reaction was to write "Dilysia", a threnody
Threnody
A threnody is a song, hymn or poem of mourning composed or performed as a memorial to a dead person. The term originates from the Greek word threnoidia, from threnos + oide ; ultimately, from the Proto-Indo-European root wed- that is also the precursor of such words as "ode", "tragedy", "comedy",...
which combined his increasing love of Italian literature
Italian literature
Italian literature is literature written in the Italian language, particularly within Italy. It may also refer to literature written by Italians or in Italy in other languages spoken in Italy, often languages that are closely related to modern Italian....
(especially Dante
Dante Alighieri
Durante degli Alighieri, mononymously referred to as Dante , was an Italian poet, prose writer, literary theorist, moral philosopher, and political thinker. He is best known for the monumental epic poem La commedia, later named La divina commedia ...
) with a Christian philosophical analysis of suffering and bereavement. In later life Thomas was to identify it as his favourite piece of writing, and it was republished in 1987. Thomas needed only four hours sleep, and kept volumes of Dante in the original mediaeval Italian
Italian language
Italian is a Romance language spoken mainly in Europe: Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City, by minorities in Malta, Monaco, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Libya, Eritrea, and Somalia, and by immigrant communities in the Americas and Australia...
by his bedside to read at night.
Wartime service
As the Second World WarWorld War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
threatened, Thomas enlisted in 1938 in a Territorial battalion of the Royal Fusiliers as a Fusilier, equivalent in rank to a Private
Private (rank)
A Private is a soldier of the lowest military rank .In modern military parlance, 'Private' is shortened to 'Pte' in the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth countries and to 'Pvt.' in the United States.Notably both Sir Fitzroy MacLean and Enoch Powell are examples of, rare, rapid career...
. In 1940 he was commissioned into the Royal Norfolk Regiment
Royal Norfolk Regiment
The Royal Norfolk Regiment, originally formed as the Norfolk Regiment, was an infantry regiment of the British Army. The Norfolk Regiment was created on 1 July 1881 as the county regiment of Norfolk...
. While in the Army, he wrote a two-volume work "Selections Illustrating the History of Greek
Ancient Greece
Ancient Greece is a civilization belonging to a period of Greek history that lasted from the Archaic period of the 8th to 6th centuries BC to the end of antiquity. Immediately following this period was the beginning of the Early Middle Ages and the Byzantine era. Included in Ancient Greece is the...
Mathematics" which was published by the Loeb Classical Library
Loeb Classical Library
The Loeb Classical Library is a series of books, today published by Harvard University Press, which presents important works of ancient Greek and Latin Literature in a way designed to make the text accessible to the broadest possible audience, by presenting the original Greek or Latin text on each...
; he was promoted to Captain in 1941.
Propaganda work
As a fluent ItalianItalian language
Italian is a Romance language spoken mainly in Europe: Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City, by minorities in Malta, Monaco, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Libya, Eritrea, and Somalia, and by immigrant communities in the Americas and Australia...
speaker, Thomas was drafted into the psychological warfare department of the Foreign Office
Foreign and Commonwealth Office
The Foreign and Commonwealth Office, commonly called the Foreign Office or the FCO is a British government department responsible for promoting the interests of the United Kingdom overseas, created in 1968 by merging the Foreign Office and the Commonwealth Office.The head of the FCO is the...
and Ministry of Information
Minister of Information
The Ministry of Information , headed by the Minister of Information, was a United Kingdom government department created briefly at the end of World War I and again during World War II...
with a brief to develop propaganda
Propaganda
Propaganda is a form of communication that is aimed at influencing the attitude of a community toward some cause or position so as to benefit oneself or one's group....
for use against Mussolini's
Benito Mussolini
Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini was an Italian politician who led the National Fascist Party and is credited with being one of the key figures in the creation of Fascism....
Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
. Thomas wrote a 1942 book for Penguin Books
Penguin Books
Penguin Books is a publisher founded in 1935 by Sir Allen Lane and V.K. Krishna Menon. Penguin revolutionised publishing in the 1930s through its high quality, inexpensive paperbacks, sold through Woolworths and other high street stores for sixpence. Penguin's success demonstrated that large...
called "Warfare in Words" which criticised British propaganda efforts, and defined the term as an act of "sabotage leading to revolution".
Election
After leaving propaganda work, Thomas was appointed as intelligence officer in the CambridgeCambridge
The city of Cambridge is a university town and the administrative centre of the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It lies in East Anglia about north of London. Cambridge is at the heart of the high-technology centre known as Silicon Fen – a play on Silicon Valley and the fens surrounding the...
area. In January 1942, he was chosen as Labour Party candidate for the Keighley byelection caused by the death of Hastings Lees-Smith
Hastings Lees-Smith
Hastings Bertrand Lees-Smith PC was a British Labour politician who was briefly in the cabinet as President of the Board of Education in 1931...
. The political parties had agreed an electoral truce, and a threatened Independent
Independent (politician)
In politics, an independent or non-party politician is an individual not affiliated to any political party. Independents may hold a centrist viewpoint between those of major political parties, a viewpoint more extreme than any major party, or they may have a viewpoint based on issues that they do...
candidacy by B. D. Margerison of Wibsey
Wibsey
Wibsey is a ward in the Metropolitan Borough of the City of Bradford in West Yorkshire, England. Wibsey is named after Wibsey village which makes up the main part of the ward...
in Bradford
Bradford
Bradford lies at the heart of the City of Bradford, a metropolitan borough of West Yorkshire, in Northern England. It is situated in the foothills of the Pennines, west of Leeds, and northwest of Wakefield. Bradford became a municipal borough in 1847, and received its charter as a city in 1897...
came to nothing when Margerison decided not to stand (despite having issued an election address). Thomas was therefore elected unopposed on 13 February.
Maiden speech
Thomas' maiden speechMaiden speech
A maiden speech is the first speech given by a newly elected or appointed member of a legislature or parliament.Traditions surrounding maiden speeches vary from country to country...
on 12 March concerned pensions, during which he argued that the means test
Means test
A means test is a determination of whether an individual or family is eligible for help from the government.- Canada :In Canada means tests are used for student finance , and "welfare" . They are not generally used for primary education and secondary education which are tax-funded...
was "a blot on our national honour". He described the principle of supporting those unable to work as "the iron ration of citizenship". In his early period in Parliament he concentrated on propaganda concerns, in which he disagreed with Stephen King-Hall
Stephen King-Hall
Sir William Stephen Richard King-Hall, Baron King-Hall of Headley was a British naval officer, writer, politician and playwright. -Life:...
's call for it to be treated on the same level as the three services. Thomas argued that this was an "entirely false perspective" and that propaganda was a "valuable but ancillary weapon
Ancillary weapon
An ancillary weapon is a weapon used for secondary or auxiliary purpose, such as a bayonet. Such weapons are usually equipped with less firepower than the primary weapon. The usage of ancillary weapons most frequently occurs when the primary weapon becomes inoperable or ineffective due to shortage...
".
Activity
In November 1942, Thomas worked with Aneurin BevanAneurin Bevan
Aneurin "Nye" Bevan was a British Labour Party politician who was the Deputy Leader of the Labour Party from 1959 until his death in 1960. The son of a coal miner, Bevan was a lifelong champion of social justice and the rights of working people...
and an all-party group of Members of Parliament to put down a motion opposing British co-operation with Admiral Darlan
François Darlan
Jean Louis Xavier François Darlan was a French naval officer. His great-grandfather was killed at the Battle of Trafalgar...
in French North Africa. He was also active on domestic issues, supporting the movement to allow Sunday opening of theatres, and for his stance he was denounced by the Lord's Day Observance Society
Lord's Day Observance Society
Day One Christian Ministries is a Christian organisation based in the United Kingdom that lobbies for no work on Sunday, the day that many Christians celebrate as the Sabbath, a day of rest — a position based on the fourth of the Ten Commandments.Originally founded in 1831 as the Lord's Day...
. At a meeting of the society in February 1943, one prayer asked God to "deal with Ivor Thomas as he dealt with Saul of Tarsus". (Saul is said in Acts
Acts of the Apostles
The Acts of the Apostles , usually referred to simply as Acts, is the fifth book of the New Testament; Acts outlines the history of the Apostolic Age...
9:4 to have been converted hearing a voice from Heaven saying "Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?")
Thomas became a very active Member of Parliament, intervening in many debates on diverse subjects both domestic and foreign. In January 1945 he was also a speaker at the inaugural meeting of the League for European Freedom, a group which worked to restore the sovereignty of all "lesser European Powers existing in 1937" and for democratic government throughout Europe. With the end of the war in sight, in April 1945 Thomas drew attention to a speech by Ernest Bevin
Ernest Bevin
Ernest Bevin was a British trade union leader and Labour politician. He served as general secretary of the powerful Transport and General Workers' Union from 1922 to 1945, as Minister of Labour in the war-time coalition government, and as Foreign Secretary in the post-war Labour Government.-Early...
which called for Government and Opposition to share common ground on foreign policy and defence by sharing information.
Ministry of Civil Aviation
At the 1945 general electionUnited Kingdom general election, 1945
The United Kingdom general election of 1945 was a general election held on 5 July 1945, with polls in some constituencies delayed until 12 July and in Nelson and Colne until 19 July, due to local wakes weeks. The results were counted and declared on 26 July, due in part to the time it took to...
Thomas was easily re-elected. When he saw the list of Government Ministers appointed by Clement Attlee
Clement Attlee
Clement Richard Attlee, 1st Earl Attlee, KG, OM, CH, PC, FRS was a British Labour politician who served as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1945 to 1951, and as the Leader of the Labour Party from 1935 to 1955...
, Thomas took the unusual step of writing to the new Prime Minister to ask why his own name had not appeared on it. Attlee decided to find Thomas an appointment, and made him Parliamentary Secretary
Parliamentary Secretary
A Parliamentary Secretary is a member of a Parliament in the Westminster system who assists a more senior minister with his or her duties.In the parliamentary systems of several Commonwealth countries, such as the United Kingdom, Canada and Australia, it is customary for the prime minister to...
to the Ministry of Civil Aviation
Air Ministry
The Air Ministry was a department of the British Government with the responsibility of managing the affairs of the Royal Air Force, that existed from 1918 to 1964...
on 10 August 1945. He was the Ministry's spokesman in the House of Commons as the Minister was Lord Winster
Reginald Fletcher, 1st Baron Winster
Reginald Thomas Herbert Fletcher, 1st Baron Winster PC was a British Liberal then Labour politician. He was Minister of Supply under Clement Attlee between 1945 and 1946 and Governor of Cyprus between 1946 and 1949....
. Thomas took over responsibility for the building of London Heathrow Airport
London Heathrow Airport
London Heathrow Airport or Heathrow , in the London Borough of Hillingdon, is the busiest airport in the United Kingdom and the third busiest airport in the world in terms of total passenger traffic, handling more international passengers than any other airport around the globe...
, then known as 'Heath Row', which had been started by the Royal Air Force
Royal Air Force
The Royal Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Formed on 1 April 1918, it is the oldest independent air force in the world...
during the war.
Thomas felt that he could only truly understand his job if he obtained a Private Pilot's Licence
Pilot licensing in the United Kingdom
Pilot licensing in the United Kingdom is regulated by the Civil Aviation Authority under the auspices of the Joint Aviation Authorities and European Aviation Safety Agency. Each member nation in the EU has responsibility for regulating their own pilot licensing...
, and took up flying until he passed. In 1946 he had responsibility for taking the Civil Aviation Bill through the House of Commons; the Bill was controversial in that it nationalised
Nationalization
Nationalisation, also spelled nationalization, is the process of taking an industry or assets into government ownership by a national government or state. Nationalization usually refers to private assets, but may also mean assets owned by lower levels of government, such as municipalities, being...
air transport into three corporations which were originally intended to have commercial freedom. Winster and Thomas were forced by left-wing pressure within the Labour Party to revisit the plans and make the corporations public monopolies. Some Labour Members were concerned that Thomas, still a young man with little experience of the heavy work of Parliament, was in charge of such an important Bill. Despite a gruelling passage, including an all day Standing Committee session, the Bill was enacted on schedule on 1 August.
Colonies Office
On 4 October 1946 Thomas was moved to be Under-SecretaryParliamentary Under-Secretary of State
A Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State is the lowest of three tiers of government minister in the government of the United Kingdom, junior to both a Minister of State and a Secretary of State....
for the Colonies
Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies
The Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies was a junior Ministerial post in the United Kingdom government, subordinate to the Secretary of State for the Colonies and, from 1948, also to a Minister of State....
, a shift which he later ascribed to an act of weakness by Attlee in giving in to left-wing pressure after the dispute over the Civil Aviation Bill. With this appointment he was also a delegate to the General Assembly
United Nations General Assembly
For two articles dealing with membership in the General Assembly, see:* General Assembly members* General Assembly observersThe United Nations General Assembly is one of the five principal organs of the United Nations and the only one in which all member nations have equal representation...
of the United Nations
United Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
. He negotiated at the United Nations over continued British administration of the colonies of Tanganyika
Tanganyika
Tanganyika , later formally the Republic of Tanganyika, was a sovereign state in East Africa from 1961 to 1964. It was situated between the Indian Ocean and the African Great Lakes of Lake Victoria, Lake Malawi and Lake Tanganyika...
, Togoland
Togoland
Togoland was a German protectorate in West Africa from 1884 to 1914, encompassing what is now the nation of Togo and most of what is now the Volta Region of Ghana. The colony was established during the period generally known as the "Scramble for Africa"...
and the Cameroon
Cameroon
Cameroon, officially the Republic of Cameroon , is a country in west Central Africa. It is bordered by Nigeria to the west; Chad to the northeast; the Central African Republic to the east; and Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, and the Republic of the Congo to the south. Cameroon's coastline lies on the...
s, against attempts by the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
to limit the extent of control. Early the next year he intervened in a strike
Strike action
Strike action, also called labour strike, on strike, greve , or simply strike, is a work stoppage caused by the mass refusal of employees to work. A strike usually takes place in response to employee grievances. Strikes became important during the industrial revolution, when mass labour became...
in Singapore
Singapore
Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...
, helping to persuade 7,000 municipal labourers to return to work. The Colonies Office also had responsibility for Palestine
Palestine
Palestine is a conventional name, among others, used to describe the geographic region between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River, and various adjoining lands....
under the British mandate, in which he followed government policy of resisting illegal immigration (which was predominantly Jewish).
Crossing the floor
Despite thoughts that Thomas might be 'leadership material', Attlee dropped him from the government on 7 October 1947, a dismissal which was unexpected. The reason was Thomas' increasing disillusion with socialismSocialism
Socialism is an economic system characterized by social ownership of the means of production and cooperative management of the economy; or a political philosophy advocating such a system. "Social ownership" may refer to any one of, or a combination of, the following: cooperative enterprises,...
. In March 1948 he spoke at an Italian election rally for the moderate Italian Socialist Party calling for a federation of Europe; when it was revealed that left-wing Labour Members of Parliament had sent a telegram of support to Pietro Nenni
Pietro Nenni
Pietro Sandro Nenni was an Italian socialist politician, the national secretary of the Italian Socialist Party and lifetime Senator since 1970. He was a recipient of the Stalin Peace Prize in 1951...
, leader of the rival left-wing Italian Socialists, Thomas signed a motion calling for a Select Committee to investigate.
On 13 October 1948 Thomas wrote to The Times to urge the government to "drop all contentious legislation" in the forthcoming Parliamentary session, specifically the Parliament Bill
Parliament Act 1949
The Parliament Act 1949 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom.This Act must be construed as one with the Parliament Act 1911...
and the Steel Bill, prompting considerable debate. Immediately after the King's Speech
Speech from the Throne
A speech from the throne is an event in certain monarchies in which the reigning sovereign reads a prepared speech to a complete session of parliament, outlining the government's agenda for the coming session...
in which both Bills were included, Thomas wrote to Attlee announcing his resignation from the Labour Party. He said he had been "particularly disturbed by the growing concentration of power in the hands of the State" and accused the government of surrendering "to its more extreme members and supporters".
Stormy speech
When Thomas rose to speak in the debate the following day, it became clear that leaving the Labour Party had cost him many friendships. Hyacinth MorganHyacinth Morgan
Hyacinth Bernard Wenceslaus Morgan was a Labour Party politician in the United Kingdom. He was a Member of Parliament from 1929 to 1931, and 1940 to 1955....
intervened in his speech to ask whether he would stand for re-election immediately under his new colours; Thomas replied that he had consulted the precedent of Tom Horabin
Tom Horabin
Thomas Lewis Horabin was a British Liberal Party politician who defected to the Labour Party. He sat in the House of Commons from 1939 to 1950.- Early life :Horabin was born in Merthyr Tydfil...
who had moved from the Liberals
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...
to Labour without so doing. When Thomas declared that the Labour slogan reversed the Christian declaration 'What is mine is thine' to say 'What is thine is mine', Morgan shouted at him "You are a dirty dog!". The Speaker
Speaker of the British House of Commons
The Speaker of the House of Commons is the presiding officer of the House of Commons, the United Kingdom's lower chamber of Parliament. The current Speaker is John Bercow, who was elected on 22 June 2009, following the resignation of Michael Martin...
ordered Morgan to withdraw the words. In his conclusion, Thomas implicitly praised the leadership of Winston Churchill
Winston Churchill
Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill, was a predominantly Conservative British politician and statesman known for his leadership of the United Kingdom during the Second World War. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest wartime leaders of the century and served as Prime Minister twice...
.
During the rest of the Parliament, Thomas was treated by Labour Members as a pariah. He formed an unofficial group of two with Alfred Edwards
Alfred Edwards (politician)
Alfred Edwards was a British politician who served for fifteen years as a Member of Parliament . His origins were as a company director in the foundry industry in Middlesbrough, which led him into conflict with the Labour Party when it proposed to nationalise the iron and steel industries;...
who had also left Labour over the nationalisation of steel, and in the new year he formally announced he had joined the Conservative Party
Conservative Party (UK)
The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...
; simultaneously it was announced that he had been adopted as Conservative Party candidate for Newport (Monmouthshire)
Newport (Monmouthshire) (UK Parliament constituency)
Newport was a borough constituency in Monmouthshire from 1918 to 1983. It returned one Member of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, elected by the first past the post system....
, near his birthplace. However, he did not receive the Conservative Whip
Whip (politics)
A whip is an official in a political party whose primary purpose is to ensure party discipline in a legislature. Whips are a party's "enforcers", who typically offer inducements and threaten punishments for party members to ensure that they vote according to the official party policy...
until Whitsun
Whitsun
Whitsun is the name used in the UK for the Christian festival of Pentecost, the seventh Sunday after Easter, which commemorates the descent of the Holy Spirit upon Christ's disciples...
. Thomas made an attacking speech at the 1949 Conservative Party conference: referring to Harold Wilson
Harold Wilson
James Harold Wilson, Baron Wilson of Rievaulx, KG, OBE, FRS, FSS, PC was a British Labour Member of Parliament, Leader of the Labour Party. He was twice Prime Minister of the United Kingdom during the 1960s and 1970s, winning four general elections, including a minority government after the...
's remark that half the children in his class never had any boots, Thomas gibed that "if ever he went to school without any boots it was because he was too big for them". He wrote a book called "The Socialist Tragedy" which was published that year.
Defeat
When the general electionUnited Kingdom general election, 1950
The 1950 United Kingdom general election was the first general election ever after a full term of a Labour government. Despite polling over one and a half million votes more than the Conservatives, the election, held on 23 February 1950 resulted in Labour receiving a slim majority of just five...
came round, Thomas found himself with a formidable task in trying to win Newport. Thomas had family connections and his stance on steel nationalisation was thought to be popular, but he found the voters not very interested. Thomas was defeated by the heavy margin of 9,992 votes.
Return to journalism
Thomas' first action on losing his seat was to go with a group of friends to drive across the SaharaSahara
The Sahara is the world's second largest desert, after Antarctica. At over , it covers most of Northern Africa, making it almost as large as Europe or the United States. The Sahara stretches from the Red Sea, including parts of the Mediterranean coasts, to the outskirts of the Atlantic Ocean...
desert. He then returned to journalism, becoming a reviewer for The Times Literary Supplement
The Times Literary Supplement
The Times Literary Supplement is a weekly literary review published in London by News International, a subsidiary of News Corporation.-History:...
and writing obituaries
Obituary
An obituary is a news article that reports the recent death of a person, typically along with an account of the person's life and information about the upcoming funeral. In large cities and larger newspapers, obituaries are written only for people considered significant...
for The Times. His contributions were anonymous in print but he is known to have been responsible for many important obituaries including that of Bertrand Russell
Bertrand Russell
Bertrand Arthur William Russell, 3rd Earl Russell, OM, FRS was a British philosopher, logician, mathematician, historian, and social critic. At various points in his life he considered himself a liberal, a socialist, and a pacifist, but he also admitted that he had never been any of these things...
. From 1953 to 1954, he was acting deputy editor of The Daily Telegraph
The Daily Telegraph
The Daily Telegraph is a daily morning broadsheet newspaper distributed throughout the United Kingdom and internationally. The newspaper was founded by Arthur B...
.
By this time, he had changed his surname. In 1940 he had married (at Hereford Cathedral
Hereford Cathedral
The current Hereford Cathedral, located at Hereford in England, dates from 1079. Its most famous treasure is Mappa Mundi, a mediæval map of the world dating from the 13th century. The cathedral is a Grade I listed building.-Origins:...
) Joan Bulmer, from Hereford
Hereford
Hereford is a cathedral city, civil parish and county town of Herefordshire, England. It lies on the River Wye, approximately east of the border with Wales, southwest of Worcester, and northwest of Gloucester...
, by whom he had a son and two daughters; in April 1952 he took the additional surname 'Bulmer-' by deed poll
Deed poll
A deed poll is a legal document binding only to a single person or several persons acting jointly to express an active intention...
to acknowledge her. His son by his second marriage is Victor Bulmer-Thomas
Victor Bulmer-Thomas
Victor Bulmer-Thomas is a British academic who has specialised in Latin America and the Caribbean. Born in London, his first experience of the Americas was as a V.S.O. in Belize , where he taught several of the current leaders of the country....
, formerly Director of Chatham House
Chatham House
Chatham House, formally known as The Royal Institute of International Affairs, is a non-profit, non-governmental organization based in London whose mission is to analyse and promote the understanding of major international issues and current affairs. It is regarded as one of the world's leading...
.
Church of England
In the same year as losing his Parliamentary seat, Bulmer-Thomas had found a seat in the House of Laity of the Church Assembly. There, as he had at Westminster, he intervened frequently in debate with some extravagant and controversial speeches The issue which had become the most pressing for Bulmer-Thomas on the Church Assembly was the care of the fabric of Churches. In 1951 he was appointed Chairman of the London Diocesan Advisory Committee on the care of Churches, and in June of that year he successfully moved a motion in the Church Assembly to set up a £Pound sterling
The pound sterling , commonly called the pound, is the official currency of the United Kingdom, its Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, British Antarctic Territory and Tristan da Cunha. It is subdivided into 100 pence...
4 million trust for the preservation of historic Churches.
The Historic Churches Preservation Trust achieved its desired funding and persuaded the Church Assembly to pass the Inspection of Churches Measure, to properly assess the condition of old Churches every five years. Bulmer-Thomas' obituary in The Independent commented that "more than any other single Act, this modest Measure has prevented many of those sudden 'repairs crises' which carry off too many fine churches".
Dispute with the Archbishop
On 13 July 1956 long-running tensions within the Historic Churches Preservation Trust came out in the open. Bulmer-Thomas wanted the Trust to save every threatened Church, which included intervening with DioceseDiocese
A diocese is the district or see under the supervision of a bishop. It is divided into parishes.An archdiocese is more significant than a diocese. An archdiocese is presided over by an archbishop whose see may have or had importance due to size or historical significance...
s to persuade them not to demolish unwanted Churches which had lost their congregations. Other trustees, allied with the Archbishop of Canterbury
Archbishop of Canterbury
The Archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and principal leader of the Church of England, the symbolic head of the worldwide Anglican Communion, and the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of Canterbury. In his role as head of the Anglican Communion, the archbishop leads the third largest group...
, Geoffrey Fisher
Geoffrey Fisher
Geoffrey Francis Fisher, Baron Fisher of Lambeth, GCVO, PC was Archbishop of Canterbury from 1945 to 1961.-Background:...
, thought that local autonomy should be preserved. When Bulmer-Thomas failed to persuade the Trust to adopt his policy, the Trust was dissolved and a new executive committee set up in which he was not involved.
At the Church Assembly on 15 November 1956, Bulmer-Thomas attacked Fisher, saying that he "held a pistol to my face while the Dean of Gloucester plunged his dagger into my back", which shocked some listeners. Bulmer-Thomas went away and made his own plans.
Friends of Friendless Churches
On 12 August 1957 Bulmer-Thomas announced the formation of "The Friends of Friendless ChurchesFriends of Friendless Churches
Friends of Friendless Churches is a registered charity active in England and Wales. It campaigns for and rescues redundant historic churches threatened by demolition, decay, or inappropriate conversion. To that end, as of August 2010, it owns 43 former churches or chapels, 23 of which...
", with himself as acting Chairman and honorary secretary; he stressed that the group "is in no sense a rival to any existing body". The Friends followed the policy Bulmer-Thomas had hoped the Trust would adopt, opposing any suggestion of the demolition of a Church. He saw some considerable success but became an even more controversial figure with those who saw new uses of old Churches as being an inevitable development.
By the time of Bulmer-Thomas' death, it was estimated that the Friends had by their own efforts actively saved 17 Churches, and helped to rescue many more; They had become the guardians of 21 separate Churches. While many disagreed with Bulmer-Thomas' approach, his commitment was clear and in 1969 he was made the first Chairman of the Redundant Churches Fund
Churches Conservation Trust
The Churches Conservation Trust, which was initially known as the Redundant Churches Fund, is a charity whose purpose is to protect historic churches at risk, those that have been made redundant by the Church of England. The Trust was established by the Pastoral Measure of 1968...
, an official body of the Church of England. This body grew to have hundreds of Churches in its care. Bulmer-Thomas was in charge of it for seven years.
Other activity
Bulmer-Thomas had other involvement in the field of heritage, being Secretary of the Ancient Monuments SocietyAncient Monuments Society
The Ancient Monuments Society is a registered charity in England and Wales, founded in 1924 "for the study and conservation of ancient monuments, historic buildings and fine old craftsmanship".-National Amenity Societies:...
from 1958; he served on the Society's Council for more than 30 years and was its Chairman from 1975 to 1990. In 1970 he became a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London
Society of Antiquaries of London
The Society of Antiquaries of London is a learned society "charged by its Royal Charter of 1751 with 'the encouragement, advancement and furtherance of the study and knowledge of the antiquities and history of this and other countries'." It is based at Burlington House, Piccadilly, London , and is...
. In addition he became a Churchwarden
Churchwarden
A churchwarden is a lay official in a parish church or congregation of the Anglican Communion, usually working as a part-time volunteer. Holders of these positions are ex officio members of the parish board, usually called a vestry, parish council, parochial church council, or in the case of a...
at St. Andrew-by-the-Wardrobe
St. Andrew-by-the-Wardrobe
St. Andrew-by-the-Wardrobe is a Church of England church located on Queen Victoria Street, London in the City of London, near Blackfriars station.-History:...
in the City of London
City of London
The City of London is a small area within Greater London, England. It is the historic core of London around which the modern conurbation grew and has held city status since time immemorial. The City’s boundaries have remained almost unchanged since the Middle Ages, and it is now only a tiny part of...
, where he conducted an "Advanced Sunday School"; he had a special bond to the Church, having fought to have it rebuilt after bomb damage in the Second World War. His interest in journalism and connection to the Church led him to get involved in the Society of the Faith and the Faith Press, which it owned as a specialist printing firm.
Honours
He never attempted to return to politics, but he did write "The Growth of the British Party System" in two volumes in 1965; it was poorly received. In 1981 he became a member of the Social Democratic PartySocial Democratic Party (UK)
The Social Democratic Party was a political party in the United Kingdom that was created on 26 March 1981 and existed until 1988. It was founded by four senior Labour Party 'moderates', dubbed the 'Gang of Four': Roy Jenkins, David Owen, Bill Rodgers and Shirley Williams...
, although he was not active. He was a hard worker, but in 1985 he stood down from the General Synod
General Synod
-Church of England:In the Church of England, the General Synod, which was established in 1970 , is the legislative body of the Church.-Episcopal Church of the United States:...
after 35 years membership of it and its predecessor. He received several honours, including an honorary Fellowship of St John's College Oxford, and the CBE
Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...
for his work in preserving Churches in 1984, which Bulmer-Thomas quipped stood for "Churches Before Evangelism".
He received two honorary degrees, that from the University of Warwick
University of Warwick
The University of Warwick is a public research university located in Coventry, United Kingdom...
in 1979 being at the insistence of the Mathematics Department. On his 80th birthday, the Ancient Monuments Society published a 'Festschrift' in his honour, paying tribute to the diversity of his interests.
Bulmer-Thomas was reported to have been working "literally till a few minutes before his death" on a letter to the Daily Telegraph, which was published on the same day as his obituary appeared.