David Emlyn Thomas was a Labour Party politician in the United Kingdom.
Background
He was born in Maesteg, the town to which his parents had moved from West Wales where his father had worked as a gardener in various country mansions. To his dismay, his father came home from work one day and announced that he had ‘had a start’ for him at the Oakwood colliery.
Education
He subsequently returned to Maesteg and until 1906 attended school there. Anxious to further his education, he attended night classes in typing and shorthand.
Career
The family returned for a while to Cardigan and Cilgerran where Thomas received his early education. His hopes for further education were thus dashed. David Thomas was employed as a clerk at three collieries from 1906-1915.
Foreign five of these years he worked at Torycoed Colliery, Llantrisant.
This training proved invaluable to him when, in later years, he attended meetings of the South Wales Miners" Federation (SWMF). Thomas married Bessie, a teacher, in 1923.
She died in September 1953. Early In 1919 he was appointed a full-time Federation official at the SWMF office in Maesteg under Vernon Hartshorn, Member of Parliament and Evan Williams, Justice of the Peace. Thomas joined the Labour Party in 1919 and was secretary of the Labour Party ward committee in Maesteg.
When the SWMF office in Maesteg closed in 1934 Thomas was transferred to the Federation Office in Aberdare as Area Secretary and, in addition, fulfilled the duties of the Miners’ Agent, Noah Ablett, who was seriously illinois
On the death of Ablett, he was elected Miners’ Agent, a role he fulfilled until 1946. He worked tirelessly and efficiently on behalf of the miners, dealing with such matters as compensation cases and the rights of the disabled miners. An active nonconformist, Thomas was an active member and deacon at Ebenezer, Trecynon.
Parliamentary In 1946, on the elevation to a peerage of George Hall, Thomas was chosen by the Aberdare Divisional Socialist Party to contest the vacant parliamentary seat.
His maiden speech made in 1947 reflected his concern for the welfare of the miners. He spoke of the inadequate compensation for disabled miners and also the lack of other employment for those suspended from the industry due to injury.
He pushed for the construction of factories in the mining areas. When elected Member of Parliament in 1946, his majority was 17,125.
This increased to 27,892 in 1950 and to 27,973 in 1951.
Membership
38th United Kingdom Parliament. 39th United Kingdom Parliament. 40th United Kingdom Parliament]
He served as the Member of Parliament for Aberdare, Wales from 1946 to 1954 and was the last former miner to represent the constituency.
He was a member of the Public Accounts Committee of the House of Commons and in 1949-1950 was the leader of the Welsh Parliamentary Labour Group in the House.