Charles Inigo Thomas

From The Dreadnought Project
Jump to: navigation, search

SIR Charles Inigo Thomas (known as Inigo Thomas), G.C.B. (21 November, 1846 – 9 May, 1929) was a British civil servant who served as Permanent Secretary to the Board of Admiralty from 1907 to 1911, having spent his entire career at the Admiralty.

Early Life & Career

Charles Inigo Thomas was born on 21 November, 1846, the fourth son of Freeman Thomas, of Batton Sussex. He was educated at Marlborough and entered the service of the Admiralty in 1865. He was Private Secretary to Second Naval Lords Rear-Admiral Arthur W. A. Hood and Rear-Admiral Sir Edmund Commerell. He became a Principal Clerk on 1 September, 1885, and was placed in charge of the Legal Branch at the Admiralty.

In 1888, he married Emma Millicent, daughter of Mr. James Nesbitt Evans of Woodhill, Ardera, County Donegal. In 1896, Thomas was transferred to be head of the secret and Political Branch of the Admiralty, concerned with the disposition of the Fleet and international questions affecting the Department. He was created a Companion of the Most Honourable Order of the Bath (C.B.) in 1900.

On 1 December, 1902, he was appointed Assistant Secretary, and on 31 March, 1907 he became Permanent Secretary to the Board of Admiralty, the chief civil servant in the Department. He held this post until reaching the retirement age of sixty-five in September, 1911, when he resigned. In 1907 he was knighted and made a Knight Commander in the Order of the Bath (K.C.B.), and shortly before his retirement he was made a Knight Grand Cross in the Order (G.C.B.). Mrs. Thomas predeceased him in 1923. He served as a Justice of the Peace for the County of London, and was an Associate of the Institution of Naval Architects.

He was installed as a Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath in a ceremonial investiture at Westminster Abbey, the first since 1913, on 18 May, 1920.[1]

Bibliography

  • "Sir C. Inigo Thomas" (Obituaries). The Times. Friday, 10 May, 1929. Issue 45199, col D, p. 18.

See Also

Footnotes

  1. "Order of the Bath" (News). The Times. Wednesday, 19 May, 1920. Issue 42414, col B, p. 11.
  2. The Naval Staff of the Admiralty. p. 120.