David St John Thomas (30 August 1929 – 19 August 2014) was an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

publisher and writer who founded

David & Charles David & Charles Ltd is an English publishing company. It is the owner of the David & Charles imprint, which specialises in craft and lifestyle publishing. David and Charles Ltd acts as distributor for all David and Charles Ltd books and cont ...

Early life and career

The son of writer Gilbert Thomas (1891–1978) he shared his father's enthusiasm for

railways Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a pre ...

, particularly in the running of their

Bassett-Lowke Bassett-Lowke was an English toy manufacturing company based in Northampton. Founded by Wenman Joseph Bassett-Lowke in 1898 or 1899, the company specialized in model railways, boats and ships, and construction sets. Bassett-Lowke started as a m ...

model railway Railway modelling (UK, Australia, New Zealand, and Ireland) or model railroading (US and Canada) is a hobby in which rail transport systems are modelled at a reduced scale. The scale models include locomotives, rolling stock, streetcars, t ...

. Brought up in

Devon Devon ( , historically known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South West England. The most populous settlement in Devon is the city of Plymouth, followed by Devon's county town, the city of Exeter. Devon is ...

over the

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

period, his first job was as a reporter on the ''

Western Morning News The ''Western Morning News'' is a daily regional newspaper founded in 1860, and covering the West Country including Devon, Cornwall, the Isles of Scilly and parts of Somerset and Dorset in the South West of England. Organisation The ''Western Mo ...

'' in

Plymouth Plymouth () is a port city and unitary authority in South West England. It is located on the south coast of Devon, approximately south-west of Exeter and south-west of London. It is bordered by Cornwall to the west and south-west. Plymouth ...

where he specialised in covering transport and holiday stories. He later became a

freelancer ''Freelance'' (sometimes spelled ''free-lance'' or ''free lance''), ''freelancer'', or ''freelance worker'', are terms commonly used for a person who is self-employed and not necessarily committed to a particular employer long-term. Freelance w ...

, combining journalism and radio and television reporting with fruit farming and being commissioned by the

Dartington Hall Dartington Hall in Dartington, near Totnes, Devon, England, is an historic house and country estate of dating from medieval times. The group of late 14th century buildings are Grade I listed; described in Pevsner's Buildings of England as "on ...

Trust and others to produce reports on rural transport. His first book (for young people) was published in 1959 and in 1960 he produced the first book in the series he was to edit (and later publish), ''A Regional History of the Railways of Great Britain'', ''The West Country''.

Foundation of David and Charles

On 1 April 1960 he founded, with

canal Canals or artificial waterways are waterways or engineered channels built for drainage management (e.g. flood control and irrigation) or for conveyancing water transport vehicles (e.g. water taxi). They carry free, calm surface flow un ...

writer Charles Hadfield, the

non-fiction Nonfiction, or non-fiction, is any document or media content that attempts, in good faith, to provide information (and sometimes opinions) grounded only in facts and real life, rather than in imagination. Nonfiction is often associated with be ...

publishing Publishing is the activity of making information, literature, music, software and other content available to the public for sale or for free. Traditionally, the term refers to the creation and distribution of printed works, such as books, newsp ...

house of

of which he became

chairman The chairperson, also chairman, chairwoman or chair, is the presiding officer of an organized group such as a board, committee, or deliberative assembly. The person holding the office, who is typically elected or appointed by members of the grou ...

. This was run from his house at

Ipplepen Ipplepen is a village and civil parish located within the Teignbridge district of the county of Devon in south-west England. A Ipplepen Priory, priory was located there. There is an electoral ward with the same name. The population at the Unite ...

before moving to its better-known address at

Newton Abbot railway station Newton Abbot railway station serves the town of Newton Abbot in Devon, England. It is from London, measured from the zero point at to the junction for the branch to . The station today is managed by Great Western Railway, who provide train s ...

. With a staff of up to 300 the firm ran Britain's second-largest book club group, Readers' Union, which had a score of specialised clubs totalling about 250,000 members. In later years, he also published some books under his own imprint. He continued to write himself, including a series of well-illustrated books on railway topics with Patrick B. Whitehouse and others, and more books on travel-related topics.e.g. He was keen to encourage new writers, and to this end launched the

magazine A magazine is a periodical publication, generally published on a regular schedule (often weekly or monthly), containing a variety of content. They are generally financed by advertising, purchase price, prepaid subscriptions, or by a combinatio ...

''Writers’ News'' in 1989, since sold.

The David St John Thomas Charitable Trust

Having sold David & Charles, to

F+W Media F+W, (formerly F+W Publications and F+W Media), was a media and e-commerce company headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1913, F+W published magazines, books, digital products (including e-books and e-magazines), produced online video, offe ...

in 2000, and moved to

Nairn Nairn (; gd, Inbhir Narann) is a town and royal burgh in the Highland council area of Scotland. It is an ancient fishing port and market town around east of Inverness, at the point where the River Nairn enters the Moray Firth. It is the tradit ...

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

, he set up the David St John Thomas Charitable Trust. It makes awards to writers and also to

gap year A gap year, also known as a sabbatical year, is typically a year-long break before or after college/university during which students engage in various educational and developmental activities, such as travel or some type of regular work. Gap yea ...

students.

Death

Thomas died in his sleep on 19 August 2014 at the age of 84 while on a cruise in the Baltic.

Early life and career

Foundation of David and Charles

The David St John Thomas Charitable Trust

Death

References

Further reading