Richard Thomas was an English tin plate manufacturer. He was the founder of Richard Thomas & Co., which later merged with Baldwins Ltd to become Richard Thomas and Baldwins

Richard Thomas and Baldwins

Richard Thomas and Baldwins Ltd was a major United Kingdom iron, steel and tinplate producer, formed in 1948 by the merger of Richard Thomas & Co Ltd with Baldwins Ltd. It was absorbed into British Steel in 1967...

, which in turn was absorbed into British Steel

British Steel

British Steel was a major British steel producer. It originated as a nationalised industry, the British Steel Corporation , formed in 1967. This was converted to a public limited company, British Steel PLC, and privatised in 1988. It was once a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index...

 in the 1960s.

Biography

Richard Thomas was born 1837 in Bridgwater

Bridgwater

Bridgwater is a market town and civil parish in Somerset, England. It is the administrative centre of the Sedgemoor district, and a major industrial centre. Bridgwater is located on the major communication routes through South West England...

, Somerset

Somerset

The ceremonial and non-metropolitan county of Somerset in South West England borders Bristol and Gloucestershire to the north, Wiltshire to the east, Dorset to the south-east, and Devon to the south-west. It is partly bounded to the north and west by the Bristol Channel and the estuary of the...

. His father was Richard Thomas, a Somerset shipowner and merchant. The younger Richard Thomas attended the Wesleyan Collegiate Institute

Queen's College, Taunton

Queen's College is a co-educational independent school located in Taunton, the county town of Somerset, England. It is a day/boarding school for children aged 2–18. The school incorporates Nursery, Pre-Prep, Junior and Senior schools. The current headmaster of the Senior School is Chris Alcock...

 in Taunton

Taunton

Taunton is the county town of Somerset, England. The town, including its suburbs, had an estimated population of 61,400 in 2001. It is the largest town in the shire county of Somerset....

 before starting work as a clerk in his uncle's draper

Draper

Draper is the now largely obsolete term for a wholesaler, or especially retailer, of cloth, mainly for clothing, or one who works in a draper's shop. A draper may additionally operate as a cloth merchant or a haberdasher. The drapers were an important trade guild...

's shop in Oxford

Oxford

The city of Oxford is the county town of Oxfordshire, England. The city, made prominent by its medieval university, has a population of just under 165,000, with 153,900 living within the district boundary. It lies about 50 miles north-west of London. The rivers Cherwell and Thames run through...

. He then worked at various jobs in the coal mining

Coal mining

The goal of coal mining is to obtain coal from the ground. Coal is valued for its energy content, and since the 1880s has been widely used to generate electricity. Steel and cement industries use coal as a fuel for extraction of iron from iron ore and for cement production. In the United States,...

 industry in Wales, including as a coal exporter, a commission agent, a works manager and an accountant. In 1863, he moved into the tin plate industry when he became accountant and sub-manager of an iron and tin plate works in Neath

Neath

Neath is a town and community situated in the principal area of Neath Port Talbot, Wales, UK with a population of approximately 45,898 in 2001...

. In 1871, he founded his own company: Richard Thomas & Co. He acquired tin plate works at Lydbrook

Lydbrook

Lydbrook is a civil parish in the Forest of Dean, a local government district in the English county of Gloucestershire. It comprises the districts of Lower Lydbrook, Upper Lydbrook, and Joys Green.-Introduction:...

 in Gloucestershire

Gloucestershire

Gloucestershire is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn, and the entire Forest of Dean....

 and Lydney

Lydney

Lydney is a small town and civil parish in the English county of Gloucestershire. It is located on the west bank of the River Severn, close to the Forest of Dean. The town lies on the A48 road, next to the Lydney Park gardens with its Roman temple in honour of Nodens.-Transport:The Severn Railway...

, and then the colliery at Lydbrook. Financial problems led Thomas to liquidate

Liquidation

In law, liquidation is the process by which a company is brought to an end, and the assets and property of the company redistributed. Liquidation is also sometimes referred to as winding-up or dissolution, although dissolution technically refers to the last stage of liquidation...

 his company in 1883, but it was relaunched as Richard Thomas & Co. Ltd in 1884, with the financial backing of the Barrow Hematite Steel Company.

Thomas married Anne Loveluck (1836/7–1914) in Cardiff

Cardiff

Cardiff is the capital, largest city and most populous county of Wales and the 10th largest city in the United Kingdom. The city is Wales' chief commercial centre, the base for most national cultural and sporting institutions, the Welsh national media, and the seat of the National Assembly for...

 on on 18 February 1859. They had four sons and a daughter. His son, Richard Beaumont Thomas

Richard Beaumont Thomas

Richard Beaumont-Thomas was the Managing Director of a major South Wales iron, steel and tinplate manufacturing company named Richard Thomas and Co Ltd which eventually merged with Baldwins to become Richard Thomas and Baldwins....

, succeeded him as managing director of Richard Thomas & Co. Ltd. Richard Thomas died in Bath on 28 September 1916. By this time, Richard Thomas & Co. Ltd and its associated companies employed over 11,000 in South Wales.