Constituency : Spen Valley 1892-1919
Thomas took over from Joseph Woodhead at Spen Valley.
Thomas was educated at Huddersfield College and became a hardware salesman at 16. He later moved into journalism and re-located to London. He was chairman and managing director of the Life Assurance Institution.
Thomas was a strong temperance advocate who advocated reform of the licensing laws. he was a member of the Royal Commission on Licensing from 1896 to 1899. He was also a Liberal Imperialist.
In 1906 Thomas was knighted. He supported the Trade Disputes Bill.
In 1908 Thomas chaired a Select Committee on Home Work which led to the Trade Boards Act of 1909 giving the Board of Trade powers to fix minimum rates in trades where wages were exceptionally low.
Thomas was critical of the People's Budget as he felt the taxation measures would erode small investors' savings in industrial and provident societies.
In 1912 Thomas was dismissive of the Unionist threats over Ulster; "They said the same thing forty-four years ago when we disestablished the Irish Church. They were going to lay down their lives, and instead they went to bed."
In 1914 Thomas published a book on Land taxation which debunked the arguments of Liberals in favour of a Single Tax including the proposition that poverty was the result of lack of access to land.
Thomas was made chairman of the Select Committee on Parliamentary Procedure in 1914. In 1915 he led a plan to buy American securities held in London. In 1916 he headed a Royal Commission on the Importation of Paper to tackle paper shortages. He asserted that wartime controls had destroyed socialism's credibility.
Thomas was a Lloyd George supporter. He held the support of the local Liberal Association and received the "coupon" in 1918. He was appointed to the reunion committee at the meeting called by George Lambert.
Thomas died in 1919 aged 69 prompting a famous by-election, won by Labour due to John Simon splitting the Liberal vote.
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