Ivor Hael Thomas (1875 – 21 December 1963) was a British

trade unionist A trade union (labor union in American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers intent on "maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment", ch. I such as attaining better wages and Employee ben ...

and socialist activist. Born in

Briton Ferry Briton Ferry ( cy, Llansawel) is a town and community in the county borough of Neath Port Talbot, Wales. The Welsh name may indicate that the church, ''llan'', is protected from the wind, ''awel''. Alternatively, ''Sawel'' may be a derivative ...

, Thomas worked in the office of a tinplate works from the age of fifteen, then became a tinplate finisher. He joined the

Dock, Wharf, Riverside and General Labourers' Union The Dock, Wharf, Riverside and General Labourers Union (DWRGLU), often known as the Dockers' Union, was a British trade union representing dock workers in the United Kingdom. History The union was founded in 1887 as the Tea Operatives and Gen ...

, and served on its executive from 1914 until 1916. He was a member of the Independent Labour Party (ILP) for many years, and served on its National Administrative Committee, representing the Wales Division, from 1914 until 1920. About one in twenty residents of the town were members of the Briton Ferry ILP, and this has been credited largely to Thomas' enthusiasm. Like the majority of the ILP, he opposed the war, and was personally prominent in the

No Conscription Fellowship The No-Conscription Fellowship was a British pacifist organization which was founded in London by Fenner Brockway and Clifford Allen on 27 November 1914, after the First World War had failed to reach an early conclusion. Other prominent suppor ...

. He arranged anti-war speakers from across the UK to visit Briton Ferry, with at least twenty anti-war meetings each year from 1916 until 1918. In 1916, Thomas became the first Welsh organiser of the

National Council for Civil Liberties Liberty, formerly, and still formally, called the National Council for Civil Liberties (NCCL), is an advocacy group and membership organisation based in the United Kingdom, which challenges unjust laws, protects civil liberties and promotes hu ...

(NCCL), although he was keen to stress that the NCCL as a whole did not oppose the war. After the war, he became the first secretary of its

Aberavon Aberavon ( cy, Aberafan) is a town and community in Neath Port Talbot county borough, Wales. The town derived its name from being near the mouth of the river Afan, which also gave its name to a medieval lordship. Today it is essentially a distri ...

Constituency Labour Party, and began working full-time as an official of the

Transport and General Workers' Union The Transport and General Workers' Union (TGWU or T&G) was one of the largest general trade unions in the United Kingdom and Ireland – where it was known as the Amalgamated Transport and General Workers' Union (ATGWU) to differentiate its ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Thomas, Ivor H. 1875 births 1963 deaths Independent Labour Party National Administrative Committee members People from Briton Ferry Welsh trade unionists