Charles Thomas-Stanford


Sir Charles Thomas-Stanford, 1st Baronet, born Charles Thomas, was a British Conservative Party politician from Brighton. He sat in the House of Commons from 1914 to 1922.

Early life and family

The son of David Collet Thomas, from Hove, he was educated at the Highgate School and at Oriel College, Oxford, where he graduated with a BA degree in 1881. He was called to the bar at the Inner Temple in 1882, but did not practice.
In 1897 he married Ellen Stanford, the daughter and heiress of William Stanford of Preston Park, Sussex, and widow of Vere Benett-Stanford, the former MP for Shaftesbury. In the same year he changed his name by royal licence to Thomas-Stanford.

Career

Thomas-Stanford became a Justice of the Peace for Brighton, and served as Mayor of Brighton in 1910–11 and 1912–14, becoming an alderman by 1914.
Thomas-Stanford was elected as a member of parliament for Brighton in June 1914 at an unopposed by-election following the resignation of the Conservative MP John Gordon. He was re-elected in 1918 as a Coalition Conservative, and stood down from Parliament at the 1922 general election.
In 1922 he donated Lewes Castle to the Sussex Archaeological Society, of which he was a long-serving chairman.
Thomas-Stanford was made a baronet on the 1929 New Year Honours and the title was conferred on 8 May 1929.
He died aged 73 on 7 March 1932 at his home Preston Manor, Brighton, which was bequeathed to Brighton Corporation.