James Thomas, 1st Viscount Cilcennin
The Viscount Cilcennin | |
---|---|
First Lord of the Admiralty | |
In office 31 October 1951 – 2 September 1956 | |
Monarch | George VI Elizabeth II |
Prime Minister | Winston Churchill Sir Anthony Eden |
Preceded by | The Lord Pakenham |
Succeeded by | The Viscount Hailsham |
Personal details | |
Born | 13 October 1903 |
Died | 13 July 1960 | (aged 56)
Nationality | British |
Political party | Conservative |
Alma mater | Oriel College, Oxford |
James Purdon Lewes Thomas, 1st Viscount Cilcennin, PC (pronounced "Kilkennin"; 13 October 1903 – 13 July 1960), sometimes known as Jim Thomas, was a British Conservative politician. He served as First Lord of the Admiralty between 1951 and 1956.
Background and education[]
James was the son of John Lewes Thomas, JP, Caeglas, Llandilo, Carmarthenshire, and Anne Louisa, daughter of Commander George Purdon RN of Tinerana House, County Clare and Anne Caulfield. He was educated at Rugby and Oriel College, Oxford.[1]
Political career[]
James Purdon Lewes Thomas was private secretary to Stanley Baldwin, the leader of the Conservative Party, between 1929 and 1931.[1] The latter year he was elected Member of Parliament for Hereford.[1][2] He was Parliamentary Private Secretary (PPS) to the Dominions Secretary, James Henry Thomas, between 1932 and 1935, to the Colonial Secretary, Thomas and from 1936 William Ormsby-Gore, between 1935 and 1937, and to the Foreign Secretary, Anthony Eden, between 1937 and Eden's resignation in 1938. He entered the government as a Lord of the Treasury under Neville Chamberlain in 1939, an office he retained when Winston Churchill became Prime Minister in May 1940. In 1940 he was also PPS to the War Secretary.
In 1943 Churchill appointed James Purdon Lewes Thomas Financial Secretary to the Admiralty, which he remained until 1945.[1] When Churchill returned as Prime Minister in 1951, Thomas was sworn of the Privy Council and appointed First Lord of the Admiralty.[3] He left the House of Commons in 1955 and was raised to the peerage as Viscount Cilcennin, of Hereford in the County of Hereford, in early 1956 (the title was pronounced "Kilkennin").[4] He continued as First Lord of the Admiralty until September 1956, when he resigned.[1] In 1957 he was appointed Lord-Lieutenant of Herefordshire,[5] a post he held until his early death three years later.
Personal life[]
Lord Cilcennin never married. He died in July 1960, aged 56, when the title became extinct.[1]
Arms[]
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References[]
- ^ Jump up to: a b c d e f thepeerage.com James Purdon Lewes Thomas, 1st and last Viscount Cilcennin
- ^ "leighrayment.com House of Commons: Haslemere to Herefordshire". Archived from the original on 29 October 2010. Retrieved 17 September 2010.CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
- ^ "No. 39382". The London Gazette. 13 November 1951. p. 5919.
- ^ "No. 40689". The London Gazette. 20 January 1956. p. 419.
- ^ "No. 41171". The London Gazette. 10 September 1957. p. 5287.
- ^ Burke's Peerage. 1959.
External links[]
- 1903 births
- 1960 deaths
- Admiralty personnel of World War II
- Alumni of Oriel College, Oxford
- Conservative Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies
- First Lords of the Admiralty
- Lord-Lieutenants of Herefordshire
- Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom
- Ministers in the Churchill wartime government, 1940–1945
- People educated at Rugby School
- UK MPs 1931–1935
- UK MPs 1935–1945
- UK MPs 1945–1950
- UK MPs 1950–1951
- UK MPs 1951–1955
- UK MPs 1955–1959
- UK MPs who were granted peerages
- Viscounts in the Peerage of the United Kingdom
- Ministers in the Churchill caretaker government, 1945
- Ministers in the third Churchill government, 1951–1955
- Ministers in the Eden government, 1955–1957
- Peers created by Elizabeth II