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Thomas Jones (civil servant)

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Thomas (Tom) Jones, CH (27 September 1870 – 15 October 1955) was a British civil servant and educationalist, once described as "one of the six most important men in Europe", and also as "the King of Wales" and "man of a thousand secrets".[citation needed]

Early life

Thomas Jones was born on 27 September 1870, at 100 High Street, Rhymney, Monmouthshire. He was the first of nine children to David Benjamin Jones and Mary Ann Jones.[1] His family was Welsh speaking but by the time he was school age, the family usually spoke English except for Sunday School and the chapel.[2] Welsh was banned at school and Jones later wrote that "outside the chapel, I never had a lesson in Welsh".[3] His fluency in Welsh in later life was hindered by this but his command of English was excellent.[4] He as educated at the Upper Rhymney School and Lewis School in Pengam. Jones had failed to win a scholarship at Lewis but his father could afford the school fee.[5]

Civil service

He became familiarly known as "T.J." He was Deputy Secretary to the Cabinet under four Prime Ministers: Lloyd George, Andrew Bonar Law, Stanley Baldwin and Ramsay MacDonald. His 3-volume Whitehall Diary (1969, 1971) threw much light on politics "behind the scenes", including the Irish Treaty, the 1926 General Strike, the meetings between Lloyd George and Adolf Hitler, the Cliveden Set, and so on. In 1914 he had started the magazine Welsh Outlook to promote social progress in Wales.

A friend of many rich and influential people including the Astors, Jones excelled at extracting money from rich people for worthwhile causes, notably adult education: he founded Coleg Harlech in Gwynedd in 1927, was secretary, trustee and chairman of the Pilgrim Trust from 1930, and was instrumental in the founding of Newbattle Abbey College in Midlothian in 1937.

Later life

He was Chairman of Gregynog Press throughout its existence, and also helped set up CEMA, the Committee for the Encouragement of Music and the Arts (forerunner of the Arts Council) as well as the Army Bureau of Current Affairs (designed to 'supply mental stimulant' to British troops during the Second World War).

Towards the end of his life Jones became President of the University of Wales, Aberystwyth, and was awarded the Gold Medal of the Honourable Society of Cymmrodorion, as well as finally agreeing to become a Companion of Honour.

He died in London on 15 October 1955.

Jones' daughter, Eirene White, became a Labour politician and minister.

Works

  • A Theme with Variations (1933)
  • Rhymney Memories (1938)
  • Cerrig Milltir (1942)
  • Leeks and Daffodils (1942)
  • The Native Never Returns (1946)
  • Welsh Broth (1950)
  • Lloyd George (1951)
  • The Gregynog Press (1954)
  • A Diary with Letters 1931-1950 (1954)
  • Whitehall Diaries, Vol I and II (1969)
  • Whitehall Diaries, Vol III (1971)

Offices held

Academic offices
Preceded by President of the University College of Wales Aberystwyth
1944-1954 		Succeeded by

Notes

  1. ^ Ellis, p. 5.
  2. ^ Ellis, p. 12.
  3. ^ Thomas Jones, A Diary with Letters. 1931-1950 (London: Oxford University Press, 1954), p. 367.
  4. ^ Ellis, p. 12.
  5. ^ Ellis, p. 10, 14.

References

  • Ellis, Ted (1992). T.J.: A Life of Dr Thomas Jones, CH. Cardiff: University of Wales Press. ISBN 0-7083-1138-5. {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)

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