Lionel Beaumont-Thomas

Colonel Lionel Beaumont Thomas MC MP
Member of Parliament for Birmingham King's Norton
Preceded by	Robert Dennison
Succeeded by	Ronald Cartland
Personal details
Born	August 1, 1893 Lydney, Gloucestershire, England
Died	7 December 1942(1942-12-07) (aged 49) Caribbean area, Atlantic Ocean
Political party	Conservative
Relations	Richard Beaumont Thomas (father)
Alma mater	Rugby school
Occupation	Businessman British Army Officer Conservative MP, King's Norton, Birmingham

Colonel Lionel Beaumont Thomas MC (August 1, 1893 - December 7, 1942), was a Welsh businessman, British Army officer and politician, who served as Conservative Member of Parliament for Birmingham King's Norton, from 1929 to 1935.

Biography

The second child of industrialist Richard Beaumont Thomas and his wife Nora Anderson, Lionel was born on 1 August, 1893.

Educated at Rugby school, on leaving school in 1912 he was commissioned as Second Lieutenant (Special Reserve) in The Royal Artillery. He then spent two years touring Europe, gaining knowledge of pig iron and steel production, particularly the ARBED steelworks in Luxembourg where he lived.

World War One

On the outbreak of World War One, and now married, he was promoted to Lieutenant. Posted to the 14th Brigade, he served in the trenches. Promoted to Captain, for three years from August 1915 to August 1918, Beaumont-Thomas was adjutant to the 14th Brigade of the Royal Horse Artillery. He served in the Battle of the Somme in July 1916, where the division in which he served held ground around the village of Mametz. In January 1917, he was awarded the Military Cross for holding a stretch of ground after two of his companions had been killed.

Inter war period

Promoted in June, 1918, to Major in charge of the 76th Battery, Royal Field Artillery, he was tempted to stay on, but decided in light of the death of his father to rejoin the family business, Richard Thomas & Co Ltd. Rather than taking a board position, he took a working post to learn the business. He did however retain his military commission, appointed to command a Battery in the 83rd Welsh Brigade, the Territorial Army in Cardiff.

After resigning his commission in 1923, as well as his duties as Deputy Chairman of Richard Thomas & Co Ltd, he was a Justice of the Peace and a Conservative County Councillor in Herefordshire. In 1923, he stood unsuccessfully in Llanelli, and in 1924 again unsuccessfully for Pontypool.

MP for Birmingham King's Norton

Beaumont-Thomas was adopted as the Prospective Parliamentary Candidate for Birmingham King's Norton in 1925. He received great support from the ousted Conservative candidate of 1927, the car manufacturer and industrialist Herbert Austin, including the placement of posters in within his Longbridge car factory which was located within the constituency.

Beaumont-Thomas was elected to the seat of Birmingham King's Norton in 1929, ousting Labour's Robert Dennison. He took part in his first debate on 24 March, 1930, on disarmament. Two years later he showed his gratitude to his constituents, inviting 2,000 to tea at Lyons Corner House, followed by a tour of the Palace of Westminster. He arranged for the visit to be filmed, which is now stored in the National Film Archive. However, after the breakdown of his marriage, in spring 1933 he wrote to Neville Chamberlain to say that he would be standing down "for reasons of health." He subsequently divorce in 1933, due to his affair with Iseult Margery Hazlehurst. His final debate was on 1 May, 1935, on the subject of Pedal Cyclists.

After leaving Parliament, Beaumont-Thomas married his second wife Iseult, and returned to working in the family business. This involved getting involved in an early lock or viaduct based version of the Thames Barrier, to solve flooding of the lower reaches of the River Thames.

World War Two

At the outbreak of war, Beaumont-Thomas signed up to be reactivated, much as though his health was graded B1. In part due to his fluency on French, he was appointed to the command of the enemy armaments intelligence branch at the Ministry of Economic Warfare, a post he held until May 1940. After serving as a general staff officer, he joined Military Intelligence, and in early 1941 attended an eight week military politics course at Trinity College, Cambridge. Promoted to Colonel (Acting Lieutenant Colonel), he was to lead a mission proceeding to the Middle East.

The height of the Battle of the Atlantic, the MV Henry Stanley was scheduled to cross the Atlantic Ocean to the Caribbean, and then proceed south to Freetown, South Africa. Beaumont-Thomas would then travel onwards to Gibraltar. After leaving Liverpool on the November 28, 1942, 100 miles (160 km) from the coast of the West Indies, on the 7 December, 1942, the ship was torpedoed by U103. All hands and passengers made it to the four lifeboats, and started rowing to the Azores. The U-Boat resurfaced later that day, and took the captain prisoner. That night a gale blew up, and although the U-Boat commander decided to track the lifeboats, her engine took on water and flooded the engine room, ceasing the search. Nothing further was heard of the four lifeboats and their crews, and it was presumed that they lost their lives in the storm.

After being assumed dead the following year, his name was inscribed on the Brookwood Memorial, together with 3,500 other men and women of the land forces of the Commonwealth who died in action during the Second World War and have no known grave.

His family later learnt that Beaumont-Thomas was enroute to brief forces with regards the Battle of Crete, to recapture it from the Nazi's. His enjoyment in being involved in such a mission was that at the time of his departure, his son Nigel was a Prisoner of War in Italy.

Released as the allies undertook the Italian Campaign, Nigel Beaumont-Thomas (17 April, 1916 - 20 September, 1944), was second in command of the 4th Parachute Squadron within the 1st Airborne Division, when they parachuted into Arnhem, where he was killed in action.

MY Llanthony

During this period, in 1934 he commissioned Camper and Nicholson to build him the motor yacht Llanthony. She was requisitioned in 1939 by the Admiralty, and after transfer to Ramsgate was placed under the command of the recently retired Rear Admiral Robert Timbrell of the Royal Canadian Navy. Under his command, commissioned as a Sub Lieutenant in the Royal Navy, she was one of the Little Ships that took part in the Dunkirk evacuation. After the war, she was sold to Lord Astor of Hever Castle. Found languishing in Greece in 1995, she has since been restored and now forms part of the collection at Ardlamont Estate.

Personal life

On his tour he met Pauline Grace Marriott, the daughter of a former British Army officer attached to the Colonial Service in Fiji. A relationship disapproved of by his mother, the couple married in a Register office with the bride's mother was a witness. On visiting his mother, the couple told her of their marriage, and she insisted on them remarrying in a church, which they later did at Holy Trinity, Brompton. The couple lived at Great Brampton House, in Madley, Herefordshire, and had three children: Nigel, Paul and Pearl.

After he started an affair with the married Iseult Margery Hazlehurst, Pauline divorced him in 1933, and he subsequently decided to resign from Parliament. After standing down at the 1935 election, he married Iseult.

External links

• Entry at Hansard
• Entry at They Work For You
• Entry at Ancestry.com