Ivor Owen Thomas
Ivor Owen Thomas (5 December 1898 – 11 January 1982)[1] was a British trade unionist and Labour Party politician.
Thomas was the son of Benjamin L. Thomas from Briton Ferry in South Wales.[2] He was educated at Vernon Place School in Briton Ferry. He was employed as a barber's lather boy,[3] and then at Gwalia Tinplate Works from 1912 to 1919, and then as a tinplate cleaner on the Great Western Railway from 1921 to 1923.[2] He won a scholarship to the Central Labour College in London, where he studied from 1923 to 1925, then worked at the head office of the National Union of Railwaymen until 1945.[3]
Thomas was a Labour Party councillor on Battersea Metropolitan Borough Council from 1928[3] or 1929[2] to 1945.[2] At the 1945 general election he was elected as the Member of Parliament (MP) for The Wrekin in Shropshire.[4][5] He was re-elected in 1950[6] and 1951,[7] and held the seat until his defeat at the 1955 general election by the Conservative William Yates.[3]
He then returned to work at the NUR headquarters until 1958, and worked for British Rail at London Waterloo station from 1960 to 1965.
There is a road named after him in the village of St Georges, situated in Telford (formerly the Wrekin constituency).[citation needed]
Personal life
In 1929, Thomas married Beatrice Davis, daughter of William Davis.[3] They had one daughter.[3]
Beatrice died in 1978, and Thomas died in 1982, aged 83.[3]
References
- ^ Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "W" (part 5)
- ^ a b c d Stenton, Michael; Lees, Stephens (1981). Who's Who of British Members of Parliament: Volume IV, 1945–1979. Brighton: The Harvester Press. p. 365. ISBN 0-85527-335-6.
- ^ a b c d e f g "Obituary: Mr Ivor Owen Thomas". The Times. London. 16 January 1982. p. 8, col F. Retrieved 10 February 2011. (subscription required)
- ^ "No. 37238". The London Gazette. 24 August 1945.
- ^ Craig, F. W. S. (1983) [1969]. British parliamentary election results 1918–1949 (3rd ed.). Chichester: Parliamentary Research Services. p. 453. ISBN 0-900178-06-X.
- ^ "No. 38851". The London Gazette. 28 February 1950.
- ^ "No. 39372". The London Gazette. 30 October 1951.
External links
- Use dmy dates from February 2011
- 1898 births
- 1982 deaths
- Labour Party (UK) MPs
- Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for constituencies in Shropshire
- Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for English constituencies
- UK MPs 1945–50
- UK MPs 1950–51
- UK MPs 1951–55
- Members of Battersea Metropolitan Borough Council
- Labour Party (UK) councillors
- British trade unionists
- People from Briton Ferry
- Great Western Railway people