George Thomas, 1st Viscount Tonypandy

The Right Honourable The Viscount Tonypandy PC
Thomas, c. 1955
Speaker of the House of Commons of the United Kingdom
In office 3 February 1976 – 15 June 1983
Monarch	Elizabeth II
Prime Minister	Harold Wilson James Callaghan Margaret Thatcher
Preceded by	Selwyn Lloyd
Succeeded by	Bernard Weatherill
Deputy Speaker of the House of Commons Chairman of Ways and Means
In office 12 March 1974 – 3 February 1976
Speaker	Selwyn Lloyd
Preceded by	Robert Grant-Ferris
Succeeded by	Oscar Murton
Secretary of State for Wales
In office 6 April 1968 – 19 June 1970
Prime Minister	Harold Wilson
Preceded by	Cledwyn Hughes
Succeeded by	Peter Thomas (no relation)
Minister of State for Commonwealth Affairs
In office 7 January 1967 – 6 April 1968
Prime Minister	Harold Wilson
Preceded by	Judith Hart
Succeeded by	Malcolm Shepherd
Minister of State for Wales
In office 6 April 1966 – 7 January 1967
Prime Minister	Harold Wilson
Preceded by	Goronwy Roberts
Succeeded by	Eirene White
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department
In office 20 October 1964 – 6 April 1966
Prime Minister	Harold Wilson
Preceded by	Mervyn Pike Montague Woodhouse
Succeeded by	Maurice Foley Dick Taverne
Member of the House of Lords Lord Temporal
In office 11 July 1983 – 22 September 1997 Hereditary peerage
Preceded by	Peerage created
Succeeded by	Peerage dissolved
Member of Parliament for Cardiff West Cardiff Central (1945–1950)
In office 5 July 1945 – 13 May 1983
Preceded by	Ernest Bennett
Succeeded by	Stefan Terlezki
Personal details
Born	Thomas George Thomas (1909-01-29)29 January 1909 Port Talbot, Wales
Died	22 September 1997(1997-09-22) (aged 88) Cardiff, Wales
Political party	Labour (1945–1976) Speaker (1976–1983) Crossbench (1983–1997)
Alma mater	University College, Southampton
Profession	Teaching

Thomas George Thomas, 1st Viscount Tonypandy, PC (29 January 1909 – 22 September 1997) was a British politician who served as a member of parliament (MP) and Speaker of the House of Commons from 1976 to 1983. He was elected as a Labour MP.

Born in Port Talbot, South Wales, he initially worked as a teacher in both London and Cardiff. A MP from 1945 to 1983, he held office in Harold Wilson's 1964–1970 Labour administration, notably as Secretary of State for Wales from 1968 to 1970. As a junior minister at the Welsh Office, he was one of the first on the scene of the Aberfan disaster (21 October 1966), and was later involved in the controversial government decision to use money from the Aberfan Charity Fund to clear remaining National Coal Board waste tips from around the village.

In 1976 Thomas was elected Speaker, in which role the first broadcasting of parliamentary proceedings brought him unprecedented public attention. He is the most recent Speaker to have served as a government minister before becoming Speaker. He retired from Parliament in June 1983 and, on 11th July 1983 by Letters Patent, was elevated to the peerage as Viscount Tonypandy, of Rhondda in the County of Mid Glamorgan.^[1]