1202 David Thomas

Constituency : Merthyr  Tydfil  1888-1910,  Cardiff  1910

David  replaced  Charles  Thomas  who  had  resigned the  seat.

David  was  the  son  of  coal  owner  Samuel  Thomas, a  self-made  man. His  father  was  a  Welsh  Baptist  but  David  was  never  greatly  interested  in  religion.  He  was  educated  at  Manila  Hall, Bristol  and  Cambridge. He  became  an  Anglican  upon  marriage  in  1882. He  was  in  delicate  health  through  rheumatic  fever  but  enjoyed  rowing  , boxing  and  swimming  when  able.

David  supported  the  Cymru  Fydd   movement  but  led  the  resistance  to  its  merger  with  the South  Wales  Liberal  Federation  which  put  him  at  odds  with  Lloyd  George  who  wanted  a  national  federation.  He  supported  disestablishment  of  the  Welsh  Church  but  unlike  the  North  Welsh  MPs  wanted  the  revenues  allocated  on  a  population  basis. He  protested  at  Rosebery's  downgrading  of  the  policy  as  a priority  in  1894.

From  1900  he  shared  the  seat  with  Keir  Hardie, an  interesting  combination  since  David's  business  activities  didn't  endear  him  to  the  trade  unionists. However  David  had  intimated  that  his  supporters  should  give  their  second  vote  to  Hardie  rather  than  the  sitting  MP  William  Morgan .

 David  had  greatly  expanded  his  father's  business  and  become  a  rich  landowner.   In  1890  he  bitterly  opposed  the  inclusion  of  the  eight  hour  day for  miners  in  the  Newcastle  Programme.   In  1898 his  Cambrian  Collieries  worked  through  the  great  strike  of  that  year. From  1901  to  1906  he  took  a  back  seat  through  ill  health. In  1908  he  formed  the  Cambrian  Combine  merging  four  different  collieries  to  consolidate  and  regulate  the  trade. He  was  enraged  by  the strike  of  1910  and  his  actions  in  trying  to  break  it  led  to  the  Tonypandy  Riots  that  year. His  colleague  Stuart  Rendel  described  him  as  a  Tory  in  disguise.

David  surprisingly  stepped  down  in  January  1910  to  contest  marginal  Cardiff. Perhaps  he  didn't  expect  to  win  for  he  retired  from  politics  at  the  December  election.

In  1915  David  and  his  daughter  were  amongst  the survivors  of  the  sinking  of  the   H.M.S.  Lusitania. 

Despite  their  earlier  feuds  and  David's  pacifist  leanings, Lloyd  George  brought  him  back  into  politics  with  a  seat  in  the  Lords  as  Baron  Rhondda  in  1916.  Over  the  next  two  years  he  acted  as emissary  to  the  United  States, President  of  the  Local  Government  Board  and  Minister  of Food  Control  in  which  capacity  he  introduced  an  effective  rationing  system.

David  bought  estates  which  made  him  a  substantial  landowner  in  South  Wales  where he  hunted  and  bred  prize  cattle. In  contrast  to  his  reputation  as a  coal  owner  he  was  known  as  a  benevolent  landlord. In  his  personal  life  he  was  austere ; the  trade  unionist  William  Brace  said  of  him  "Rhondda  has  the  income  of  a  Duke  and  the  tastes  of  a  Peasant ".

David  was  upgraded  to  a  Viscount  in  1918  but  the  strains  of  his  war  role  took  their  toll  and  he did  not  see  the  end  of  it.  He  died  in  July  1918  aged  62.