R. Thomas and Company and the Lydney and Lydbrook Tinplate Works

Records of the Lydney and Lydbrook Tinplate Works together with the personal papers of R.B. Thomas, son of the owner of the tinplate works.

Documents given by Mr. and Mrs. W. A. Davies, per Mr. B. Rendall, Whitecross School, Lydney

Richard Thomas (1837-1916) began his career in the coal and iron industry in South Wales before moving to Lydbrook in 1871. He acquired the Lydbrook Works, then the Lydney Works in 1875/6, and also bought the Lydbrook Colliery, Speculation and Waterloo Colliery between 1877 and 1882. Financial difficulties forced the Company into liquidation in 1883, but the following year it became solvent and was registered as a limited company. For these and further details of its history see see Cyril Hart's Industrial history of the Forest of Dean (1971).

Richard's son, Richard Beaumont Thomas, took over as managing director in 1888. As well as his considerable business interests, he was very active in local government, being the first chairman of Lydney Rural District Council, a county councillor, magistrate, and member of several local boards; he was also president of the Forest of Dean Liberal Association, secretary of the Lydney Institute of Science and Art and president of the Lydney & District cottage hospital. His involvement in these areas is well illustrated in the cuttings scrapbooks (4 & 5 below). (See also Ernest Gaskell's Gloucestershire Leaders (1906))