D. A. Thomas

David Alfred Thomas, 1st Viscount Rhondda
Born	Template:Birth date Wales
Died	July 3, 1918(1918-07-03) (aged 62) Llanwern, Wales
Occupation(s)	Industrialist, Politician
Years active	1888–1918
Known for	Coal industry magnate; Member of Parliament for Merthyr Tydfil and Cardiff; Food Controller during WWI

David Alfred Thomas, 1st Viscount Rhondda, PC (26 March 1856 – 3 July 1918), was a prominent Welsh industrialist and Liberal Party politician. He represented Merthyr Tydfil as a Member of Parliament (MP) from 1888 until January 1910, after which he served as MP for Cardiff until December 1910. Subsequently, he withdrew from political life to dedicate himself entirely to his business ventures. In 1916, he was appointed to the Privy Council and later assumed the role of Food Controller within Lloyd George’s wartime coalition administration.

Early life

David Thomas was the son of Samuel Thomas, a coal mine proprietor from Ysguborwen, who significantly expanded his industrial holdings. Samuel, known for his stern disposition, famously commented at David’s birth during a thunderstorm, "Well, I see nothing for him but the workhouse."

The family residence, Ysguborwen in Aberdare, constructed in 1855, reflected the status of an emerging industrial magnate. Samuel Thomas was a trailblazer in Wales’s coal industry and governed his household with a rigorous Protestant work ethic while serving as High Constable of Merthyr.

Rachel, David’s mother, offered a nurturing balance to Samuel’s strictness. Initially, the household communicated exclusively in Welsh; however, recognizing the commercial advantages of English, they employed an English nurse to introduce the children to the language. By 1859, the family shifted their religious attendance from a Welsh Baptist chapel to an English Baptist one, signaling their Anglo-Welsh social ambitions.

Thomas experienced a structured Victorian upbringing that shaped both his commercial and political pursuits. Trade unionist William Brace later observed that Rhondda possessed "the income of a Duke and the tastes of a Peasant."

Educated at Manila Hall in Clifton, Bristol, Thomas secured a scholarship to Gonville and Caius College at Cambridge University, where he pursued mathematics and engaged in rowing and boxing activities. An earlier bout with typhoid had prevented him from attending Jesus College under another scholarship offer. He departed Cambridge in 1880 following his father’s passing.

Personal life

In an era heavily influenced by religion, D. A. Thomas exhibited notable indifference toward it. Though brought up as a Baptist and later Congregationalist, he converted to Anglicanism upon marrying Sybil Margaret Haig in 1882; their ceremony took place at her family’s residence. The couple had one daughter named Margaret, born in 1883.

His detachment from organised religion may be traced back to his father’s disputes with church ministers, which prompted Samuel Thomas to withdraw his family from formal worship services and hold religious meetings at home instead. This background likely contributed to D. A. Thomas’s own ambivalence about religious institutions.

Despite being raised with strict Congregationalist principles, Thomas was not baptized during infancy—reflecting his father’s persistent Baptist convictions. While attending school in Bristol, he frequented Highbury Congregational Chapel where his uncle served as minister.

Thomas actively supported the Disestablishment movement, campaigning for church endowments to be redistributed according to population size for public benefit—an approach that caused friction with some MPs from North Wales. His biographer noted that he seldom discussed religion openly.

Throughout his life, Thomas contended with rheumatic fever but maintained robust health and vitality; during his college years he excelled in rowing, boxing, and swimming. On one occasion, he saved a boy from drowning in Hirwaun Pond and received commendation from the Humane Society. His swimming abilities also played a crucial role in surviving the Lusitania disaster.

Early career

Thomas initiated his professional journey at Osborn Henry Riches, working in sales at the Cambrian Collieries. He subsequently transferred to Clydach Vale to acquire expertise in mine management. Immersing himself in the mining environment, he gained practical knowledge by working underground alongside miners. In 1882, David Alfred Thomas relocated to London to take a position in a stockbroker's office on Cornhill. However, following Mr. Riches' passing, he returned to Cardiff to oversee operations at the Cambrian Collieries.

Business interests

Upon inheriting his father’s enterprise, Thomas restructured it as a limited liability company to facilitate capital acquisition for growth, all while maintaining an active role in its management. During the coal strike of 1898, he chose not to align with coal owners’ associations; the Cambrian Collieries remained operational throughout, which benefited its shareholders. In 1910, Thomas faced a strike at Ely Pit in Penygraig, which he regarded as an act of treachery. His attempts to suppress the strike culminated in the significant and violent Tonypandy riots. Between 1901 and 1906, health issues compelled him to pause his business engagements. In 1915, he assumed directorship of the firm that acquired The Cambrian News newspaper.

Llanwern

Prior to his parliamentary career, in 1887 Thomas leased Llanwern House near Newport, Monmouthshire, adopting the lifestyle of an unconventional rural squire and breeding award-winning Hereford cattle. He purchased Llanwern House outright in 1900 and subsequently acquired the adjacent Pencoed estate with plans to gift Pencoed Castle to his daughter Margaret. Despite his industrialist image, Thomas was esteemed as a landowner; local tenants actively encouraged him to acquire Pencoed, making him Monmouthshire’s second-largest landholder after Lord Tredegar. Llanwern House remained his main home—an 18th-century mansion noted for its distinctive Chinese-inspired interior design.

Political career

D. A. Thomas won election as MP for Merthyr Tydfil during an 1888 by-election and retained the seat until he stood for the marginal constituency of Cardiff in January 1910. Regularly leading in votes, he gained recognition as a just employer despite his commercial background.

An early advocate of the Cymru Fydd movement, Thomas opposed its amalgamation with the South Wales Liberal Federation, which estranged David Lloyd George and contributed to the movement’s downfall. Serving as President of the South Wales Liberal Federation from 1894 to 1897, he contended that Glamorgan and Monmouthshire—housing over half of Wales’ population—would suffer under a unified national federation. He also resisted disestablishment of the Church in Wales unless church revenues were redistributed according to population size. Alongside Lloyd George and others, he challenged the Rosebery Government’s approach to Disestablishment in 1894. In 1900, he demanded a comprehensive inquiry into the Jameson Raid, questioning the fairness of previous investigations.

Feeling sidelined from governmental office following the Liberal triumph in 1906—unlike peers Herbert Lewis and Lloyd George—Thomas became disenchanted and exited Parliament at the December 1910 election. His early political promise remained unrealized; Stuart Rendel described him as "a Tory in disguise." His most significant political impact occurred later during the wartime coalition.

"Coal Magnate"

Following his political disappointments after 1906, Thomas redirected his efforts toward business ventures. In 1908, he played a key role in establishing the Cambrian Combine by uniting Glamorgan, Naval, Britannic Merthyr, and Cambrian Collieries—forming a powerful coal industrial conglomerate that subsequently grew even larger. Aware of the impending decline of Welsh coal’s peak era, he sought to streamline the industry to reduce harmful rivalry.

Before the First World War, Thomas expanded his coal portfolio internationally by acquiring vast undeveloped coal properties in North America.

In recognition of his expertise in coal trade patterns, he was awarded the Guy Medal by the Royal Statistical Society in 1904 for his 1903 publication The Growth and Direction of our Foreign Trade in Coal (1850–1900).

First World War

Having accumulated considerable wealth as proprietor of the Cambrian Collieries, Thomas re-entered politics as David Lloyd George's envoy to the United States. His contributions earned him the peerage titles Baron Rhondda in 1916 and subsequently Viscount Rhondda in 1918.

In May 1915, he and his daughter Margaret survived the sinking of the RMS Lusitania. A regional newspaper wittily described the event as "Great National Disaster. D. A. Saved," highlighting his fortitude.

Appointed President of the Local Government Board in 1916, he later took on the role of Minister of Food Control during the war’s final phase, where he successfully introduced a rationing system that aided wartime supply management.

Final years

The strain of public duties took a toll on his health, culminating in his death at Llanwern on 3 July 1918 at age 62. He was cremated at Golders Green, with his ashes laid to rest at St Mary's Church, Llanwern, beside family members. His memorial there stands prominently, bearing the inscription, "He counted his life not dear to himself."

While the Rhondda Barony ceased with his passing, the Viscountcy was inherited by his daughter Margaret through a special remainder—a clause he had insisted upon. After his death and following the enactment of the Sex Disqualification (Removal) Act 1919, she attempted to claim his seat in the House of Lords. Although initially accepted, her petition was ultimately denied due to alterations within the committee.

His widow, Sybil, Viscountess Rhondda (1857–1941), was appointed a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1920.

Legacy

Thomas invested heavily in coalfields located along the Peace River in northern Alberta, Canada. In tribute to him, the largest riverboat on the Peace River was named D.A. Thomas in 1916.

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)
• Tony Judge, J. R. Clynes: A Political Life (London, 2016)
• 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 M.A. Thesis)
• D. A. Thomas Memorial, churchyard of St. Mary's Church, Llanwern
• 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