Background
He was born in 1897 in Cefn Mawr, Wrexham, Wales, the son of a property owner who died the following year.
- Photos
- Works
- Photos
- Works
Miles Thomas
Edit Profile
Miles Webster Thomas, Baron Thomas, known as Sir Miles Thomas, or Lord Thomas, Distinguished Flying Cross was Managing Director of the Morris Motors, 1940–1947, Chairman of the British Overseas Airways Corporation, 1949–1956, Chairman of the merger broker Chesham Amalgamations, and President and Chairman of the National Savings Committee.
Career
He went to Bromsgrove School in Worcestershire, England. After school, during which time his major interests were engineering and transport, in World War I, he joined an Armoured Carolina Squadron. After fighting through the German East African Campaign, he transferred to the Royal Flying Corps qualifying for his wings in Egypt.
He was knighted in 1943.
He was chairman of BOAC during the de Havilland Comet crashes of 1954. In 1956 he resigned after a row with Harold Watkinson then Minister of Transport and Thomas was elected as chairman of the board of Monsanto Chemical Limited.
The company had just opened a new United Kingdom Head Office at Monsanto House (the name signs now covered over), 10-18 Victoria Street, London SW1H 0NB and had acquired a large chemical plant in Cefn Mawr, Thomas" birthplace. His Royal Highness Prince Phillip opened the building and a plaque still remains on the ground floor on what has been occupied by the Board of Trade partially since the late 1960s and wholly since Monsanto relocated its United Kingdom offices to Basingstoke in the late 1970s.
He later took other board appointments including Britannia Airways.
In 1962 he was invited to deliver the MacMillan Memorial Lecture to the Institution of Engineers and Shipbuilders in Scotland. He chose the subject "Air and Sea Transport-Friends or Foes?". His autobiography was published in 1964.
On 29 January 1971, Thomas was created a life peer as Baron Thomas, of Remenham, in the Royal County of Berkshire.
Achievements
Membership
After the First World War, he became associated with William Morris, Lord Nuffield and in 1941, became Chairman of the Cruiser Tank Production Group and a member of the Government"s Advisory Committee.
-
Born
-
Died
March 2, 1980 (aged 83) -
Nationality
United Kingdom