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).
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]
| Parliament of the United Kingdom | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Arthur Colegate |
Member of Parliament for The Wrekin 1945 – 1955 |
Succeeded by William Yates |