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Margaret Haig Thomas 1883–1958, was the daughter of
David Alfred Thomas a British industrialist and public official. He was
born in Ysgyborwen, near Aberdare. He entered his father’s coal business
in South Wales which became one of the largest coal producing companies in
Britain with several collieries in the Rhondda Valley. He served as
Liberal M.P. for Merthyr Tydfil from 1888 to 1910. On
the outbreak of the First World War, he was sent by David Lloyd George to
the United States to arrange the supply of munitions for the British armed
forces. In May 1915, his daughter, Margaret Haig Thomas, who had
accompanied her father was returning from the United States on the
Lusitania when it was torpedoed by a German submarine. Over a thousand
passengers died, but they were rescued. In 1917 during World War I
he was made food minister, introducing a compulsory food rationing system.
Margaret Haig Thomas, sometimes referred
to as the "Welsh Boadicea", became second
Viscountess Rhondda having inherited the title from her father by special
permission. Educated at Notting Hill High School, St.
Andrews and Somerville College, Oxford, Margaret joined the Women's Social
and Political Union (WSPU) in 1908 and remained an active member until
1914. A supporter of the WSPU's arson campaign, she was sent to prison for
trying to destroy a post-box with a chemical bomb. However, a
hunger-strike led to her early release. During the First World War she was
appointed as Director of Women's Department of the Ministry of National
Service. Was founder (1920) of Time and Tide which was originally a
strongly left-wing and feminist publication, but which went through many
shades of political opinion before closing in 1977. Contributors included
D. H. Lawrence, Virginia Woolf, George Bernard Shaw, and Robert Graves. The
Sugar Loaf was given to the National
Trust by Margaret Haig Thomas Viscountess
Rhondda in 1936.
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