Peter Thomas, Baron Thomas of Gwydir

The Right Honourable The Lord Thomas of Gwydir PC QC
Secretary of State for Wales
In office 19 June 1970 – 5 March 1974
Monarch	Elizabeth II
Prime Minister	Edward Heath
Preceded by	George Thomas
Succeeded by	John Morris
Chairman of the Conservative Party
In office 20 June 1970 – 1972
Preceded by	Anthony Barber
Succeeded by	The Lord Carrington

Peter John Mitchell Thomas, Baron Thomas of Gwydir, PC QC (31 July 1920 – 4 February 2008) was a Welsh Conservative politician. He was the first Welshman to become Chairman of the Conservative Party, serving from 1970 to 1972, and the first Conservative politician to serve as Secretary of State for Wales, holding that office from 1970 to 1974.

Thomas was born in Llanrwst, where his father was a solicitor. He was educated at the village school, and then Epworth College in Rhyl, before reading law at Jesus College, Oxford. He joined the Royal Air Force (RAF) in 1939, on the outbreak of the Second World War. He was shot down while serving as a bomber pilot in 1941, and spent four years in prisoner-of-war camps in Germany, moving from Stalag Luft VI to Stalag Luft III and then at Stalag XI-B. He continued his legal studies while imprisoned, and was also an amateur actor.

He became a barrister after the war, and was called to the Bar in 1947 at Middle Temple. He practised on the Wales and Chester circuit, and took silk in 1965. He became deputy chairman of Cheshire quarter sessions in 1966, and then of Denbighshire quarter sessions in 1968, serving in both offices until 1970. He was a Crown Court recorder from 1974 to 1988, and also sat as an arbitrator on the Court of Arbitration of the International Chamber of Commerce in Paris.

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