Sir Daniel Lleufer Thomas (29 August 1863 – 8 August 1940) was a Welsh barrister, social reformer and writer. He was born on 29 August 1863 to William and Esther Thomas in Cwm-du, near Talley, Carmarthenshire, in West Wales. After attending Llandovery College, he studied at Oxford University, from which he graduated in 1887. While in university, he read for the Bar and was one of the seven founders of the Dafydd ap Gwilym Society. In 1892, Thomas married Mary Gethin from Aberdare, a great-grand-daughter of Thomas Evans (Tomos Glyn Cothi).

Early life Thomas was born on 29 August 1863, the third child of William and Esther Thomas, in Cwm-du, near Talley, Carmarthenshire, West Wales. He received occasional education from Jonah Evans, who opened a local preparatory school in Llansawel (the Sawel Academy) in 1861, while working on his father's farm. Later, in 1880, and while 17 years old, Thomas enrolled in Llandovery College, where the headmaster, Alfred George Edwards (who was later to become the first Archbishop of Wales), persuaded his parents to apply for a place for him at Oxford University. Thomas enrolled in the university in 1883 and graduated in 1887 with a First Class Honours degree in Jurisprudence. While there he won the prestigious Tancred Scholarship, which he held from 1886 to 1892 and which enabled him to read for the Bar, to which he was called in 1889. Also while there Thomas was one of the seven founders of the Dafydd ap Gwilym Society, at which he read a paper in one of its early meetings. Around the time, Thomas adopted the name LLeufer, which is Welsh for light. Later Thomas was associated with T.E. Ellis, informally known as Tom Ellis, in establishing the London-based Cymru Fydd.

Later life After Oxford, in 1889 Thomas joined the South Wales Circuit of the Bar of England and Wales. However, he didn't excel at as a barrister. Instead he later became prominent in public life, to which he made many contributions. Initially in 1890 he made a foray into politics by agreeing to be nominated as the Liberal candidate for the vacancy in East Carmarthenshire following the death of David Pugh, the previous incumbent. However, he withdrew before the selection conference. In 1891 Thomas began contributing to the Dictionary of National Biography. Then in 1892 he was appointed the Assistant Commissioner to the Royal Commission on Labour, while in the following year he became the Secretary of the Welsh Land Commission, a post which he held until 1896. Thomas wrote a digest of the Report of the Commission about which obituarist Randall (1940) referred to the appendix, which he commended as containing 'such a mass of miscellaneous historical information that many historical scholars keep it as a ready work of reference.'

In 1909 Thomas was appointed as the Stipendiary magistrate for Pontypridd and the Rhondda, which office he held until 1933. Thomas later became the chairman of, respectively, the South Wales Garden Cities and Town Planning Association and the Welsh Housing and Development Association, in which capacities he edited issues of The Welsh Housing Year Book. The first edition of the Year Book, which was edited by Edgar Chappell, was published in 1916. In it, and in his former capacity, Thomas stated: 'A rural type of social life has to be evolved which will withstand the attractions of the towns'. In his latter capacity he edited the 1919 edition, to which he contributed the extremely influential chapter The regional treatment of housing and development problems in South Wales, the 1922 edition and the 1927 edition. During the period of his editorships, in 1917 Thomas was the Chairman of the Welsh Section of the Commission on Industrial Unrest.

Thomas was knighted in February 1931. His portrait was painted by Margaret Lindsay Williams in 1938 and is currently held in the National Museum Wales. In 1939 Thomas was awarded the medal of the Honourable Society of Cymmrodorion in recognition of his distinguished services to Wales. He is buried in Oystermouth Cemetery, Mumbles, Swansea, alongside his wife Mary, who was the great-granddaughter of Thomas Evans (Tomos Glyn Cothi), the poet, Unitarian and political activist.

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(With Herbert Morgan)

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