Mr.
DAVID ALFRED THOMAS, Saloon Class Passenger
image: D.
A, Thomas Viscount Rhondda,
1921. Courtesy Mike Poirier.
David Alfred Thomas, 59, was born in Ysgyborwen, Glamorgan,
Wales on 26 March 1856 as the son of Welsh coal magnate Samuel Thomas
of Aberdare. He was educated at Caius College, Cambridge, and
returned to Wales to become the senior parter in the Cardiff-based Thomas
and Davey. This company owned several collieries in the Rhondda
Valley. Despite being born into wealth and privilege, D. A.'s needs
were simple. A Labour politician had even commented, "There goes
Thomas -- with the income of a duke and the tastes of a peasant."
Subsequently, D. A. Thomas married Sybil Haig, and their only
child, Margaret Haig Thomas, later
Lady Humphrey Mackworth and even later Viscountess Rhondda, was born
in 1883. D. A. educated his daughter in matters of business and
she became a champion for women's equality everywhere. As D. A.
would say of her daughter, "Margaret and I are not like father and daughter.
We're buddies."
D. A. Thomas was elected Member of Parliament (MP) as a Liberal
for Merthyr Tydfil in 1888. He subsequently became MP of Cardiff
as well, and he held these positions until the 1910 General Election.
Although Thomas was reputedly an agnostic, he was a supporter
of Nonconformity in his constituency. He even laid the foundation
stone of of Soar Welsh Calvinistic Church, Cwmaman, and many others.
When the First World War broke, David Lloyd George sent D. A.
Thomas to arrange the supply of munitions for the British armed forces.
In April of 1915, D. A. Thomas and his daughter Margaret, who
was now her personal assistant and proxy, went to take a look at Thomas'
interests in the Pennsylvania coal mines. He also was launching
a new barge service on the Mississippi and planning extensions of Canada’s
railroad system. His secretary, Arnold Rhys-Evans, also came along.
To end their trip abroad, they had booked passage on the Lusitania.
His saloon class cabin was B-88.
Aboard the Lusitania, D. A. Thomas and his daughter had
befriended Dr. Howard Fisher and nurse
Dorothy Conner, Fisher's sister-in-law.
Dorothy had often commented on the lack of excitement on the voyage
and was often teased by D. A. Margaret had also found the voyage
rather dull, but as her father was having fun she decided to keep her mouth
shut.
On the afternoon of 7 May, D. A., Margaret, Arnold, Dorothy,
and Howard all sat down to lunch with the foghorn blaring. Margaret
remarked, "Home tomorrow! Aren't you pleased, father?"
"I would be more pleased, my dear," D. A. remarked, "if I believed
that wretched siren hasn't given our whereabouts away."
Margaret and D. A. left the saloon and left Howard and Dorothy to
finish lunch by themselves. The father and daughter stood waiting
for the elevator with Frederick Tootal and
Albert Byington. D. A. then joked with
his daughter, saying, "You know, Margaret, I think we might stay up on deck
tonight. Just to see if you get your thrill."
Before Margaret could respond, they felt the torpedo rock the ship
with "a dull thudding sound." They were already partially inside
the elevator, but instinctively, they stepped back, a move that would
save their lives. D. A. ran over to a porthole to see what had happened;
Margaret went upstairs to grab lifebelts, and they were separated.
Some time later, D. A. tried to get back to his cabin, but he found
the stairs to be too crowded. A steward gave him an inflatable lifebelt,
but it wouldn't work. He was finally able to get to his cabin and
retrieve one from the wardrobe. On deck, he saw the ship overwhelmed
by "absolute confusion" and "an entire absence of discipline" among the crew.
Back outside, he saw that the water was almost level with the deck
and a woman with a small child hesitating to get into a lifeboat. D.
A. shoved them both into the boat, #11, before he jumped in himself. Oliver Bernard, also in the boat,was amused
by the "rather worried and puzzled expression on" on the Welshman's face.
His secretary, Arnold Rhys-Evans, was also in #11, but had gotten in before
D. A. did. Being one of the last boats to leave, #11 was still close
enough to the Lusitania when she foundered that they were in danger
of being crushed by the funnels.
Lifeboat #11 was spotted by the trawler Wanderer of Peel and
the boat took on the survivors. After four hours of being cold and
miserable, Oliver asked D. A., "Exciting day, Mr. Thomas?"
"Outrageous. Simply outrageous." D. A. growled.
"They certainly made a job of it."
"Didn't you see what happened at the lifeboats? Deplorable. The
standard of human efficiency is far below what we are entitled to expect
-- today it was ghastly."
"Of course," Bernard said, "it's got to start at the top. You
can't expect efficiency from the crew if you don't set an example on the
bridge."
"What do you imagine the percentage of average efficiency to be?" Thomas
asked.
"Fifty per cent?"
"Nonsense, young man. Any employer who gets an average of ten
per cent efficency all around is doing extremely well."
As the Wanderer was becoming overcrowded, the skipper, Ball,
had to have many of the rescued transferred. Bernard and Thomas was
taken aboard the trawler Flying Fish.
At Queenstown, he was looked after by a Catholic priest who treated
D. A. to dinner and brandy, despite D. A.'s protests. By the time
he returned to the Queenstown quay to await news of his daughter, he
was a bit tipsy.
Margaret was aboard the Bluebell, the same boat that
saved Captain Turner. Upon their reunion, the father and daughter
checked into the Queen's Hotel to put an end to their ordeal. Dorothy
visited Lady Mackworth the next morning to check up on her and to say
that Howard was safe. Lady Mackworth and D. A. Thomas went home
to Wales; Dorothy and Howard continued on to work on the battlefields
of France.
The 8 May 1915 New York Times, page 4 ran this: “Mr. Thomas
declined to relate his experience, saying that he had too easy a
time to be interesting. Just as a boat was being lowered on
the starboard side an officer ordered him to take a vacant seat. This
boat got away without any trouble and was one of the first to be picked
up.”
One of the more interesting headlines detailing D. A.'s survival
read: GREAT NATIONAL DISASTER. D. A. THOMAS SAVED. Despite
his survival, the Lusitania left a lasting impression:
"The thought of crossing the Atlantic frightens me. I
can't get the Lusitania out of my mind. I dream of it."*
D. A. Thomas was awarded the title of Baron Rhondda in 1916.
From 1916 to 1917, he was President of the Local Government Board.
When he was appointed Minister of Food in June of 1917, he introduced
food rationing to Great Britain. Another title, Viscount, came
to D. A. in June of 1918. He was only able to enjoy his title for
one month, as he died on 3 July 1918 in Llanwern, Monmouthshire. His
title and peerage, by special remainder, were inherited by her daughter
Margaret. Margaret wrote about him in her 1933 autobiography, This
Was My World.
* Sauder and Marschall, page
47.
Contributors:
Michael Poirier
References:
Ballard, Dr. Robert D. with Spencer Dunmore. Exploring
the Lusitania. Warner Books, Inc., 1995.
"David Alfred Thomas," Spartacus Educational. Online.
<http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/PRrhondda.htm>.
"Gareth." "Glamorgan Snippets." Online.
<http://home.clara.net/tirbach/HelpPagepearlsGLA4.html>.
Hickey, Des and Gus Smith. Seven Days to Disaster.
G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1981.
Hoehling, A. A. and Mary Hoehling. The Last Voyage
of the Lusitania. Madison Books, 1956.
Preston, Diana. Lusitania: An Epic Tragedy.
Berkeley Books, 2002.
Ramsay, David. Lusitania: Saga
and Myth. W. W. Norton & Company, 2001.
Sauder, Eric and Ken Marschall with Bill Sauder. R.
M. S. Lusitania: Triumph of the Edwardian Age. Waterfront
Publications, 1993.
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