'One of the most important men in Europe'
Known as TJ, Thomas Jones was a famous civil servant once described as “one of the six most important men in Europe”. Some also called him “the King of Wales” and the “keeper of a thousand secrets”, such was his importance.
Jones was a man of exceptional drive and energy who served as Deputy Secretary to the Cabinet for nearly twenty years under four different UK Prime Ministers - David Lloyd George, Bonar Law, Stanley Baldwin, and Ramsay MacDonald.
Despite his later lofty roles and status, he had humble roots. He was born at 100 High Street, Rhymney on September 27th,1870, the first of nine children to David Benjamin Jones, a shopkeeper, and Mary Ann Jones.
His family was Welsh speaking. But Welsh was banned at school, and Jones wrote that "outside the chapel, I never had a lesson in Welsh."
A pupil at Upper Rhymney School and then Lewis School in Pengam, his grandfather insisted that he leave school at 14 to be a clerk for the Rhymney Iron and Steel Works.
He became a highly skilled public speaker, which brought him recognition as a preacher. In 1890, he won the Calvinist Methodist scripture gold medal and went to study for the clergy at the University College of Wales at Aberystwyth where he met his wife.
However, TJ had many other interests. In 1901, he graduated with first-class honours in economics from the University of Glasgow. He then had a glittering academic career, becoming Professor of Economics at Queen's University, Belfast in 1909.
In 1914, he established and became editor of the influential monthly magazine, Welsh Outlook, which aimed to promote social progress in Wales. He founded the Gregynog Press in 1922 and then, in 1927, Coleg Harlech, a residential education college that supported mature students from deprived backgrounds.
In 1930, he became the first Secretary of the Pilgrim Trust set up to improve the life chances of the most vulnerable and to preserve the best of the past for the public to enjoy. He also played many other important roles in supporting public life in arts and culture and he was regarded as one of the most unselfish and devoted benefactors of his time.
However, he was most famous as a highly influential prominent civil servant. His advice and skills as an excellent administrator were highly valued, not just in the UK but across the world.
TJ died in 1955 in London after a serious fall at his home. His daughter, Eirene White was a Labour MP, one of the first three women to represent Wales in the UK Parliament. She became Baroness White of Rhymney, a title she chose to mark her father’s place of birth. And like her father played a prominent role in public life.
