Miles Thomas

Miles Thomas

(William) Miles Webster Thomas, Baron Thomas, Lord Thomas of Remenham[1], known as Sir Miles Thomas, or Lord Thomas, DFC (2 March 1897[2] – 8 February 1980) was Managing Director of the Morris Motor Company, 1940–1947, Chairman of the British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC, later to become a constituent part of British Airways), 1949–1956,[3] Chairman of the merger broker Chesham Amalgamations,[1] and President and Chairman of the National Savings Committee.[4]

Contents

Early life

He was born in 1897 at Cefn Mawr, Denbighshire, Wales, the son of a property owner who died the following year. He went to Bromsgrove School in Worcestershire, England.

War service 1914-18

After school, during which time his major interests were engineering and transport, in World War I, he joined an Armoured Car Squadron. After fighting through the German East African Campaign, he transferred to the Royal Flying Corps qualifying for his wings in Egypt. He subsequently served with an operational squadron in Mesopotamia, Persia and south Russia, being awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for aerial combat and low ground strafing.

Post war

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. He was knighted in 1943.[5]

In 1956 he resigned the chairmanship of BOAC after a row with Harold Watkinson[6] then Minister of Transport and Thomas was elected as chairman of the board of Monsanto Chemical Ltd.[7] The company had just opened a new UK 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. HRH 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 UK offices to Basingstoke in the late 1970s. He later took other board appointments including Britannia Airways.[6]

His autobiography was published in 1964. He was chairman of BOAC at the time of the de Havilland Comet crashes of 1954.

On 29 January 1971, Thomas received a life peerage as Baron Thomas, of Remenham, in the Royal County of Berkshire.[8]

See also

  • Get Ahead - 1950s and 60s BBC television show.

References

  • Thomas, Miles (1964). Out on a Wing: An Autobiography. Michael Joseph, London. 

Notes

  1. ^ a b "The Story of Chesham Amalgamations". http://www.cheshamamalgamations.com/pdffiles/Archives/The%20Story%20of%20Chesham%20Amalgamations.pdf. Retrieved 20 June 2007. 
  2. ^ "Life Peerages". http://www.election.demon.co.uk/lifepeers.html. Retrieved 26 August 2007. 
  3. ^ "The History Of The British Airways Museum - 1987". http://www.bamuseum.com/museumhistory40-50.html. Retrieved 20 June 2007. 
  4. ^ "Janus: The Papers of Enoch Powell". http://janus.lib.cam.ac.uk/db/node.xsp?id=EAD%2FGBR%2F0014%2FPOLL%201%2F4%2F1. Retrieved 20 June 2007. 
  5. ^ "Thomas, Sir Miles, The Impact of the Jet in World Aviation". http://www.empireclubfoundation.com/details.asp?SpeechID=822&FT=yes. Retrieved 25 August 2007. 
  6. ^ a b Miles Thomas at the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography - subscription required
  7. ^ Corrosion Technology, May 1956
  8. ^ "thePeerage.com - Harry Bernard Taylor, Baron Taylor of Mansfield and others". http://www.thepeerage.com/p19190.htm. Retrieved 26 August 2007. 


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