Constituency : King's Lynn 1892-1906 ( Conservative ), 1910
Thomas replaced the Liberal Unionist defector Carlyon Bellairs, who had stepped down.
Thomas was the illegitimate son of Thomas Milner Gibson who had been in Palmerston's Cabinet. His mother was a servant girl. He was educated in France and at Kings College London. His father supported him financially. He became a journalist , making his name with coverage of the Seige of Paris for the Morning Post . In 1868 he founded Vanity Fair and later The Lady He wrote the biographical notes that went with the famous caricatures in Vanity Fair under the pseudonym "Jehu Junior ".He was first elected to King's Lynn in 1892 as a Conservative. He fell out with his party over tariff reform and stood in the 1906 election as an Independent Conservative coming second and letting Bellairs in . The latter's subsequent defection while Thomas went the other way must have confused the voters.
Thomas was a strong supporter of naval expenditure.
Thomas lost the seat by 62 votes in December 1910.
In 1916, Thomas stood for Harborough as an Independent. He was really the candidate of the Northcliffe Press in their campaign against Asquith. the loca Unionists officially backed the Liberal candidate in line with the wartime truce but some local Tories campaigned for Thomas. The Liberals had an easy win.
Thomas was the maternal grandfather of the Mitford sisters. He had a number of illegitimate children himself.
He died in 1922, aged 81, in Spain and is buried in Gibraltar.
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