# Dictionary of National Biography, 1927 supplement/Thomas, David Alfred

​THOMAS, DAVID ALFRED, first Viscount Rhondda (1856–1918), statesman, colliery proprietor, and financier, was one of seventeen children born to Samuel Thomas and his second wife, Rachel Joseph. Twelve of these children died in infancy; David was the third of those who survived. He was born at Ysgyborwen, close to Aberdare, 26 March 1856. His father welcomed the news of his birth with the exclamation, ‘Well, I see nothing for him but the workhouse’. This father was a remarkable man who had advanced his fortunes as a grocer in Merthyr Tydfil by dabbling in colliery speculations. Tight-fisted and despotic in the family circle, he was courageous to the point of daring in matters of business. He would sell sixpenny-worth of apples from his garden, would read the newspaper holding a candle in his hand, and would burn the garments of his young wife to punish her for extravagance: nevertheless he was ready to risk the savings of a hard and thrifty life whenever a speculation presented itself which promised fortune. At the time of his son's birth so desperate was his financial condition that had his bank known the true condition of his affairs he would have been ruined.
David Thomas was sent to a private school at Clifton, where he won two scholarships at Cambridge, one for Jesus College and another for Caius. He chose the second and went up to Cambridge in 1876, taking his B.A. degree four years later. He was slight and delicate, but notable for high spirits, a love of games, and a natural brilliance in mathematics. At Cambridge he learnt no more mathematics than he had easily acquired at school, and gave up almost all his time to rowing, boxing, and swimming. His scholarship, in consequence, was taken away from him. This love of games distinguished his character to the end of his life, giving him a certain charm of boyishness which quickly won for him the confidence and affection of men in all stations of life, from the great financial magnates of America to the most truculent of labour leaders in the South Wales coal-field. It is characteristic of him that he was still birds'-nesting as a Cabinet minister. In the year 1882 he married Sybil Margaret, daughter of George Augustus Haig, of Pen Ithon, Radnorshire, by whom he had one child, Margaret, afterwards Viscountess Rhondda. He became associated at this time with the Cambrian collieries in the Rhondda Valley. His skill in handling men and his ability in financial matters soon made him a power in South Wales, and he was returned, unopposed, as a Gladstonian liberal for Merthyr Tydfil in 1888. The elections of 1892, 1895, and 1900 found him in each case at the top of the poll, but he was ignored by the leaders of his party, even to the point of never once being asked to sit on a committee. Still at the top of the poll in 1906, and still ignored by his leaders, Thomas decided in 1910 to give himself up to business, relinquishing all the dreams he had sincerely cherished of rendering his country distinguished political service. The reason for his failure to make an impression on the House of Commons was said, falsely perhaps, to be that he was hard to get on with: a real bar to his political fortunes was the dullness of his speeches. In 1915 he was asked by ​Mr. Lloyd George, then minister of munitions, to go to the United States on the business of the ministry. For his brilliant services on that occasion he was created Baron Rhondda, of Llanwern, in 1916, being promoted viscount, with special remainder to his daughter, in 1918. Mr. Lloyd George said of him: ‘He organized a supply of munitions from the States and from Canada. He got the right men round him. He chose the right men, and he set things going. There were all sorts of quarrels and difficulties, but in every case he simply said, “I know only one thing: our need of guns and shells.” From that hour the supply of munitions never wavered. It was Rhondda who gave to America and the Allies a breathing space and a chance. That service of his cannot be overestimated.’ A few months before undertaking this mission he had been on board the Lusitania when it was sunk by the Germans.
Rhondda's next promotion was to be president of the Local Government Board, but it was not until 1917, when he succeeded Lord Devonport as food minister, that he became a popular figure. His success was almost entirely of a personal nature. He was accessible to the press and made many speeches up and down the country. Schemes of rationing were easily carried out under his influence. He had real genius in choosing the right man for a particular purpose, and communicated to the persons of his choice an enthusiasm akin to his own. He was a man of vision, not an organizer. He would sit up to all hours of the night covering sheets of paper with the small, scribbled figures of his calculations, but he left to others the difficult work of giving structure to his ideas. His grasp of a problem was complete, but the builder's work was too slow for his patience. However, the builder always worked the better for the inspiration of Rhondda's charm and boyish eagerness to score a success. He was accepted by the nation as a man of scrupulous honour and impartial justice. Every hardship which he called upon the people to bear was recognized as necessary and was seen to press equally on all classes. He enjoyed his popularity, spared himself no labour to carry the nation with him, and died at his home, Llanwern, under the strain of hard work, on 3 July 1918.
Lord Rhondda was a lovable man to those in whom he felt any interest. The centre of his character was an egotism without guile—the egotism of a schoolboy who loves success and is not ashamed to show it. He never lost his affection for field and hedgerow. His heart to the last was with his notable herd of white-faced Herefords at Llanwern. To the end of his days he was given to mild practical joking and to a jesting persiflage. He had no clear faith, but said his prayers every day. He surrounded himself with youthful people, calling them his ‘young germs’, and avoided close intimacy with the aged, believing that they were bad for his health. Clear-headed, far-sighted, ambitious, daring, and superstitious, he regarded life as a game to be played entirely for its own sake, and truly believed that money was merely the symbol of the real prize, which was success.
[D. A. Thomas: Viscount Rhondda, by his Daughter and others, 1921; personal knowledge. Portrait, Royal Academy Pictures, 1917.]
H. B-e.