J. H. Thomas | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Secretary of State for the Colonies | |
| In office 22 November 1935 – 22 May 1936 | |
| Prime Minister | Stanley Baldwin |
| Preceded by | Malcolm MacDonald |
| Succeeded by | William Ormsby-Gore |
| In office 25 August 1931 – 5 November 1931 | |
| Prime Minister | Ramsay MacDonald |
| Preceded by | The Lord Passfield |
| Succeeded by | Sir Philip Cunliffe-Lister |
| In office 22 January 1924 – 3 November 1924 | |
| Prime Minister | Ramsay MacDonald |
| Preceded by | The Duke of Devonshire |
| Succeeded by | Leo Amery |
| Secretary of State for Dominion Affairs | |
| In office 5 June 1930 – 22 November 1935 | |
| Prime Minister |
|
| Preceded by | The Lord Passfield |
| Succeeded by | Malcolm MacDonald |
| Lord Privy Seal | |
| In office 7 June 1929 – 5 June 1930 | |
| Prime Minister | Ramsay MacDonald |
| Preceded by | The Marquess of Salisbury |
| Succeeded by | Vernon Hartshorn |
| Personal details | |
| Born | James Henry Thomas (1874-10-03)3 October 1874 |
| Died | 21 January 1949(1949-01-21) (aged 74) London |
| Nationality | British |
| Political party | Labour National Labour |
| Alma mater | None |
James Henry ThomasPC (3 October 1874 – 21 January 1949) was aWelshtrade unionist and politician. He was involved in apolitical scandal involving budget leaks.
Thomas was born inNewport, Monmouthshire, the son of a young unmarried mother. He was raised by his grandmother and began work at twelve years of age, soon starting a career as a railway worker. He became an official of theAmalgamated Society of Railway Servants and in 1913 helped to organise its merger with two smaller trade unions on the railways to form theNational Union of Railwaymen (now part of theNational Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers). Thomas was elected NUR general secretary in 1916,[1] a post he held until 1931.
Thomas was general secretary during the successfulnational rail strike of 1919 that was jointly called by the NUR andAssociated Society of Locomotive Engineers and Firemen against proposed wage reductions. In 1921 Thomas played a leading role in theBlack Friday crisis, in which rail andtransport unions failed to come to the aid of theNational Union of Mineworkers, who were facing wage reductions. Before the1926 General Strike theTrades Union Congress asked Thomas to negotiate withStanley Baldwin'sConservative Government, but the talks were unsuccessful and the strike went ahead.
Thomas began his political career as aLabour Party localcouncillor forSwindon. He was elected toParliament in 1910 as the Member of Parliament (MP) forDerby, replacingRichard Bell. He was re-elected in the1918 general election and was considered as a potential candidate for the role of Chairman of theParliamentary Labour Party and by extensionLeader of the Opposition. He declined in order to focus on running the NUR, and the post went toWilliam Adamson.[2]
He was appointedSecretary of State for the Colonies in the incomingLabour government of 1924 underRamsay MacDonald. In the second Labour government of 1929 Macdonald wanted to appoint Thomas asForeign Secretary, but the post was already desired byArthur Henderson. Thomas was madeLord Privy Seal with special responsibility for employment. He rejected the Mosley Memorandum issued by junior ministers led byOswald Mosley proposingpublic works programmes and the expansion ofImperial Preference into anautarkic trade bloc to resolveinterwar unemployment and poverty in 1930. Mosley subsequently resigned from the Cabinet, and in the ensuing reshuffle Thomas was reassigned to the post ofSecretary of State for the Dominions.[3]
Thomas retained that position in MacDonald'sNational Government (1931–1935). As a result of joining the National Government he was expelled from the Labour Party and the NUR. For the first few months of the National Government in 1931 he also served as Colonial Secretary once more. One of the problems he had to cope with was the Australian cricketbodyline affair, which he said was one of the most difficult he faced.
Thomas served asSecretary of State for the Colonies once more from 1935 until May 1936, when he was forced to resign from politics. He was accused of leaking Budget secrets to his stockbroker son, Leslie Thomas, and Alfred Cosher Bates, a wealthy businessman. In a Judicial Tribunal set up by the government, Bates admitted giving Thomas £15,000 but claimed it was an advance for a proposed autobiography. This high sum for an autobiography, not yet written, only increased suspicion of the two men's relationship, and Thomas was forced to resign from the government and House of Commons.[4] However, his son was cleared of wrongdoing.[5]
Thomas was made a Freeman of Newport in 1924. In May 2011 a casket given to him to celebrate the occasion was purchased at auction forNewport Museum.[6]
Despite his humble origins he had a reputation for mixing well with all levels of society. Among the Labour ministers he was a favourite withGeorge V.[1] It was from laughing at a bawdy joke Thomas told the king that the latter split apost-operative wound fromlung abscess surgery, delaying his recovery to near the1929 General Election.[7]Winston Churchill is said to have been in tears during Thomas's resignation speech as Colonial Secretary;[8] and KingEdward VIII recalled Thomas saying, as he returned his seals of office to the king, 'Thank God your oldDad never got to hear of this'.[9] Thomas was known as a natty dresser, and was caricatured by the cartoonistDavid Low as "Lord Dress Suit".[10]
After leaving parliament, Thomas served as company chairman of the British Amalgamated Transport Ltd.
He died in London, aged seventy-four, in 1949. After cremation atGolders Green Crematorium, his ashes were buried at Swindon.[1] His sonLeslie Thomas became a Conservative Member of Parliament.
Thomas is mentioned inHave His Carcase, a 1932 detective novel byDorothy L. Sayers. Thomas's custom of wearing a dress suit is cited as an apparent certainty that could fail unlike thesecond law of thermodynamics, which appears to govern the case in a metaphorical way.
InLord Peter Wimsey, the 1975BBC One production ofDorothy L. Sayers' 1931 novelFive Red Herrings, Thomas is mentioned in a snatch of background dialogue. A Scottish railway porter bursts out in an angry tirade: "You call this a Socialist Government? Things are harder than ever for a working man, and as for Jimmy Thomas, he has sold himself, lock, stock and barrel, to the capitalists!"
He is referred to in the comic song of 1932 byNorman Long, "On the Day that Chelsea went and won the Cup". In a dream setting out the outlandish and impossible things that might happen on such an unusual day, the line is used "andde Valera put a statue of Jim Thomas on his lawn, on the day that Chelsea went and won the cup".
He is mentioned inNo Mean City by A. McArthur and H. Kingsley Long, "Now he insisted on reading extracts from a speech by J. H. Thomas, declaring, moreover, that the railwaymen had never had abler leader".[11]
InNgaio Marsh'sTied Up in Tinsel (1972), a self-made man who clings to his cockney accent says defiantly, "They tell you George V took a shiner to Jimmy Thomas, don't they? Why? Because hewas Jimmy Thomas and no beg yer pardons. If 'e forgot 'imself and left an aitch in, 'e went back and dropped it. Fact!"[12]
| Parliament of the United Kingdom | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Member of Parliament forDerby January 1910–1936 With:Sir Thomas Roe to 1916 Sir William Collins 1916–1918 Albert Green 1918–1922 Charles Roberts 1922–1923 William Raynes 1923–1924 Sir Richard Luce 1924–1929 William Raynes 1929–1931 William Allan Reid from 1931 | Succeeded by |
| Trade union offices | ||
| Preceded by | Assistant Secretary of theAmalgamated Society of Railway Servants 1910–1913 | Position abolished |
| New post | Assistant General Secretary of theNational Union of Railwaymen 1913–1916 With: Samuel Chorlton Walter Hudson Thomas Lowth | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | General Secretary of theNational Union of Railwaymen 1916–1931 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | President of the Trades Union Congress 1920 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | President of theInternational Federation of Trade Unions 1920–1924 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Trades Union Congress representative to theAmerican Federation of Labour 1921 With:James Walker | Succeeded by |
| Political offices | ||
| Preceded by | Secretary of State for the Colonies 1924 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Lord Privy Seal 1929–1930 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Secretary of State for Dominion Affairs 1930–1935 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Secretary of State for the Colonies 1931 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Secretary of State for the Colonies 1935–1936 | Succeeded by |
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