J. H. Thomas
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The Right Honourable James Henry Thomas |
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|---|---|
 |
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| Secretary of State for the Colonies | |
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In office 22 January 1924 – 3 November 1924 |
|
| Monarch | George V |
| Prime Minister | Ramsay MacDonald |
| Preceded by | The Duke of Devonshire |
| Succeeded by | Leo Amery |
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In office 25 August 1931 – 5 November 1931 |
|
| Monarch | George V |
| Prime Minister | Ramsay MacDonald |
| Preceded by | The Lord Passfield |
| Succeeded by | Sir Philip Cunliffe-Lister |
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In office 22 November 1935 – 22 May 1936 |
|
| Monarch |
George V Edward VIII |
| Prime Minister | Stanley Baldwin |
| Preceded by | Malcolm MacDonald |
| Succeeded by | William Ormsby-Gore |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
3 October 1874 Newport, Monmouthshire |
| Died | 21 January 1949 (aged 74) London |
| Nationality | British |
| Political party |
Labour National Labour |
| Alma mater | None |
James Henry Thomas (3 October 1874 – 21 January 1949), sometimes known as Jimmy Thomas, was a British trade unionist and Labour (later National Labour) politician. He was involved in a political scandal involving budget leaks.
Thomas was born in Newport, Monmouthshire, the son of a young unmarried mother. He was raised by his grandmother and began work at twelve years of age, soon starting a career as a railway worker. He became an official of the Amalgamated Society of Railway Servants and in 1913 helped to organise its merger with two smaller trade unions on the railways to form the National Union of Railwaymen (now part of the RMT). Thomas was elected NUR general secretary in 1916, a post he held until 1931.
Thomas was general secretary during the successful national rail strike of 1919 that was jointly called by the NUR and ASLEF against proposed wage reductions. In 1921 Thomas played a leading role in the Black Friday crisis, in which rail and transport unions failed to come to the aid of the mineworkers, who were facing wage reductions. Before the 1926 General Strike the TUC asked Thomas to negotiate with Stanley Baldwin's Conservative Government, but the talks were unsuccessful and the strike went ahead.
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