Sir William James Thomas, 1st Baronet (10 March 1867 – 3 January 1945) was a Welsh industrialist and philanthropist. He was knighted in 1914 and created a baronet on 10 May 1919, under the title Baronet Thomas of Ynyshir. The grandson of a coalowner in the

Rhondda Fach Rhondda , or the Rhondda Valley ( cy, Cwm Rhondda ), is a former coalmining area in South Wales, historically in the county of Glamorgan. It takes its name from the River Rhondda, and embraces two valleys – the larger Rhondda Fawr valley ('' ...

, James Thomas (died 1901), he lost both parents (Thomas and Jane Thomas) as a child, and was brought up by his grandparents. He inherited his grandfather's fortune, and became a director of the

Great Western Railway The Great Western Railway (GWR) was a British railway company that linked London with the southwest, west and West Midlands of England and most of Wales. It was founded in 1833, received its enabling Act of Parliament on 31 August 1835 and ran ...

Barry Docks Barry Docks ( cy, Dociau'r Barri) is a port facility in the town of Barry, Vale of Glamorgan, Wales, a few miles southwest of Cardiff on the north shore of the Bristol Channel. They were opened in 1889 by David Davies and John Cory as an alterna ...

, and numerous other industrial concerns. He married Maud Mary Cooper (died 1952) in 1917, and they had three children: *Maureen Elizabeth Jane Thomas, who married Joseph Gerald Gaskell in 1942 and had two children *

Sir William James Cooper Thomas, 2nd Baronet ''Sir'' is a formal honorific address in English for men, derived from Sire in the High Middle Ages. Both are derived from the old French "Sieur" (Lord), brought to England by the French-speaking Normans, and which now exist in French only as p ...

(1919–2005), who married Freida Dunbar Whyte and had three children *Geoffrey George Mansel Thomas (1926–1989), who married Mary Wentworth Harries and had no children In 1914, Sir William James Thomas sold his coal interests to United National Collieries Ltd, and thereafter made substantial donations to charitable causes, particularly medical causes. Among other things, his donations were instrumental in the establishment of the

Welsh National School of Medicine The Cardiff University School of Medicine ( cy, Ysgol Feddygaeth Prifysgol Caerdydd) is the medical school of Cardiff University and is located in Cardiff, Wales, UK. Founded in 1893 as part of the University College of South Wales and Monmouth ...

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Thomas, William James 1867 births 1945 deaths Baronets in the Baronetage of the United Kingdom Welsh industrialists Welsh philanthropists