19 Facts About Lionel Beaumont-Thomas

Colonel Lionel Beaumont-Thomas MC was a Welsh businessman, British Army officer and politician, who served as Conservative Member of Parliament for Birmingham King's Norton, from 1929 to 1935.

The second child of industrialist Richard Beaumont-Thomas and his wife Nora Anderson, Lionel was born on 1 August 1893.

Lionel Beaumont-Thomas then spent two years touring Europe, gaining knowledge of pig iron and steel production, particularly the ARBED steelworks in Luxembourg where he lived.

Lionel Beaumont-Thomas served in the Battle of the Somme in July 1916, where the division in which he served held ground around the village of Mametz.

Lionel Beaumont-Thomas did however retain his military commission, appointed to command a Battery in the 83rd Welsh Brigade, the Territorial Army in Cardiff.

Lionel Beaumont-Thomas was adopted as the Prospective Parliamentary Candidate for Birmingham King's Norton in 1925.

Lionel Beaumont-Thomas received great support from the ousted Conservative candidate of 1927, the car manufacturer and industrialist Herbert Austin, including the placement of posters in within his Longbridge car factory which was located within the constituency.

Lionel Beaumont-Thomas was elected to the seat of Birmingham King's Norton in 1929, ousting Labour's Robert Dennison.

Lionel Beaumont-Thomas took part in his first debate on 24 March 1930, on disarmament.

Lionel Beaumont-Thomas arranged for the visit to be filmed, which is stored in the BFI National Archive.

Lionel Beaumont-Thomas married his second wife Iseult in 1934, and returned to working in the family business.

Lionel Beaumont-Thomas got involved in an early lock or viaduct based version of the Thames Barrier, to solve flooding of the lower reaches of the River Thames.

At the outbreak of war, Lionel Beaumont-Thomas signed up to be reactivated, although his health was graded B1.

In November 1942, at the height of the Battle of the Atlantic, Lionel Beaumont-Thomas left England as a passenger on the cargo ship Henry Stanley.

Lionel Beaumont-Thomas was to cross the Atlantic Ocean to the Caribbean, re-cross the Atlantic to Freetown, Sierra Leone, and then continue to Lagos.

Lionel Beaumont-Thomas left Liverpool on 28 November 1942 with Convoy ON 149, which dispersed on 5 December.

Lionel Beaumont-Thomas's enjoyment in being involved in such a mission was that at the time of his departure, his son Nigel was a Prisoner of War in Italy.

Lionel Beaumont-Thomas married Iseult Hazlehurst on 5 January 1934 in Kensington, London.

Lionel Beaumont-Thomas was requisitioned in 1939 by the Admiralty, and after transfer to Ramsgate was placed under the command of Sub Lieutenant Robert Timbrell of the Royal Canadian Navy.