David Emlyn Thomas

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David Emlyn Thomas was the Member of Parliament (MP) in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom for the Aberdare constituency from December 1946 until his death in July 1954.

[edit] Early life

He was born in Maesteg, the town to which his parents had moved from West Wales where his father had worked as a gardener in various country mansions. The family returned for a while to Cardigan and Cilgerran where Mr Thomas received his early education. He subsequently returned to Maesteg and until 1906 attended school there. To his dismay, his father came home from work one day and announced that he had ‘had a start’ for him at the Oakwood colliery. His hopes for further education were thus dashed.

David Emlyn Thomas was employed as a clerk at three collieries from 1906-15. For five of these years he worked at Torycoed Colliery, Llantrisant, lodging in the village there from Monday until Saturday, and cycling to and from Maesteg. Anxious to further his education, he would cycle from Llantrisant to the Trefforest School of Mines to attend night classes in typing and shorthand. This training proved invaluable to him when, in later years, he attended meetings of the South Wales Miners’ Federation (SWMF). During the Second World War he was proud to have been able to give a verbatim report to the executive in Cardiff of Churchill’s speech at the Battle of Coal Conference in London, urging the miners to keep up the production of coal.

In 1919 he was appointed a full time Federation official at the SWMF office in Maesteg under Vernon Hartshorn, MP and Evan Williams, JP. Vernon Hartshorn served in the first two Labour Cabinets of 1924 and 1929, and thus became the first Welsh miner to attain Cabinet status. When Mr Thomas was later nominated as a candidate for the post of Miners’ Agent in Aberdare, he acknowledged the valuable experience he had received working with such a prominent figure. He joined the Labour Party in 1919 and was secretary of the Labour Party ward committee in Maesteg.

When the SWMF office in Maesteg closed in 1934 Mr Thomas was transferred to the Federation Office in Aberdare as Area Secretary and, in addition, fulfilled the duties of the Miners’ Agent, Mr Noah Ablett, who was seriously ill. On the death of Mr Ablett, he was elected Miners’Agent, a role he fulfilled until 1946. He worked tirelessly and efficiently on behalf of the miners, dealing with such matters as compensation cases and the rights of the disabled miners.

[edit] Political career

In 1946, on the elevation to a peerage of Mr George Hall, Mr Thomas was chosen by the Aberdare Divisional Socialist Party to contest the vacant parliamentary seat. His maiden speech reflects his concern for the welfare of the miners, when he speaks of the inadequate compensation to disabled miners and also the lack of other employment for those suspended from the industry as the result of their disablements. He urges the erection of factories in the mining areas. His hard work was obviously appreciated and the increase in his majority at each election reflects this. In the last election he fought, his was the second highest majority of the Welsh Labour members, the highest being that of the Right Hon. James Griffiths. When elected MP in 1946, his majority was 17,125; this increased to 27,892 in 1950 and to 27,973 in 1951. He was a member of the Public Accounts Committee of the House of Commons and in 1949-50 was the leader of the Welsh Parliamentary Labour Group in the House.

When he entered Parliament in 1946, David Emlyn Thomas was faced with many of the post war problems, such as a shortage of housing and the resettling of young men returning from the services, to name just a few. As the editor of the Aberdare Leader said in his tribute to Mr Thomas, ‘He was industrious, conscientious, persistent and never too busy to take on another task..’ He was a Welsh-speaking Welshman and was a keen supporter of the Juvenile Eisteddfod and the OAP Eisteddfod as well as many other cultural movements in the valley. Whatever his commitments, he was a faithful deacon at Ebenezer Welsh Congregational Church, Trecynon. As his minister, Mr William Morse, said, ‘He was a man who could not be interpreted apart form his religion and “he drew his inspiration from deep springs.” ’

[edit] Family and legacy

Throughout his career, Mr Thomas was lovingly supported by his wife, Bessie, a teacher in Maesteg after their marriage in 1923. Her death in September 1953 affected him deeply.

This tribute from an Echo columnist reflects the high regard in which Mr Thomas was held:

‘I have met no man, in or out of the House of Commons, whose memory I shall honour more.’