Sir Robert Thomas, 1st Baronet

Sir Robert Thomas

Sir Robert John Thomas, 1st Baronet (23 April 1873 – 27 September 1951) was a Welsh businessman and Liberal Party politician, who was twice elected to Parliament.

Thomas was a ship and insurance broker.^[1] In 1918 he was created a Baronet, of Garreglwyd in the County of Anglesey.^[2][3]

Politics

He was elected at the 1918 general election as the Member of Parliament (MP) for the new constituency of Wrexham. Standing as a Liberal, with the official backing of the David Lloyd George led Coalition Government, he faced only a Labour Party opponent and won 76% of the votes.

General Election 1918: Wrexham [4]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Sir Robert John Thomas	20,874	76.3	n/a
	Labour	Hugh Hughes	6,500	23.7	n/a
Majority			14,374	52.6	n/a
Turnout				69.7	n/a
	Liberal win

At the 1922 general election he stood as a National Liberal Party candidate for Anglesey, losing by a margin of 9% to the sitting Labour MP Sir Owen Thomas.

1922 General Election: Anglesey[5]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Sir Owen Thomas	11,929	54.2	+3.8
	National Liberal	Sir Robert John Thomas	10,067	45.8	-3.8
Majority			1,862	8.4	+7.6
Turnout				80.5
	Labour hold		Swing	-3.8

However, Owen Thomas died in January 1923, and at the resulting by-election in April Robert Thomas won a 3-way contest with 53% of the votes, and a 23% majority over the second-placed Labour candidate.^[6]

Anglesey by-election, 1923 [7]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Sir Robert John Thomas	11,116	53.3	+7.5
	Labour	Edward Thomas John	6,368	30.5	-23.7
	Unionist	Richard Owen Roberts	3,385	16.2	n/a
Majority				22.8
Turnout				76.4
	Liberal gain from Labour		Swing	+15.6

He was returned unopposed at the general election in December 1923. He was returned by a majority of 28% over his Labour opponent at the election in 1924.

General Election 1924: Anglesey[8]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Sir Robert John Thomas	13,407	63.9
	Labour	Cyril O Jones	7,580	36.1
Majority			5,827	27.8
Turnout				74
	Liberal hold		Swing

He stood down from Parliament at the 1929 general election.

References

1. Kidd, Charles; Williamson, David (editors). Debrett's Peerage and Baronetage (1990 edition). New York: St Martin's Press, 1990,
2. The London Gazette: no. 30876. p. 10173. 30 August 1918.
3. Leigh Rayment's list of baronets
4. F W S Craig, British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949; Political Reference Publications, Glasgow 1949
5. F W S Craig, British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949; Political Reference Publications, Glasgow 1949
6. F W S Craig, British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949; Political Reference Publications, Glasgow 1949
7. F W S Craig, British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949; Political Reference Publications, Glasgow 1949
8. F W S Craig, British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949; Political Reference Publications, Glasgow 1949

Further reading

• Richards, Emlyn. Syr Robert John Thomas, y Garreglwyd (Sir Ifor Williams Memorial lecture.) Given in Anglesey, 31 October 1997

External links

• Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by Sir Robert Thomas