Francis Thomas (10 April 1912 – 12 October 1977) was an English-born Singaporean politician and educator who served as the first minister for communications and works from 1955 to 1959. A member of the Labour Front (LF), he served as a nominated member of the Legislative Assembly from 1955 to 1959.
Born in Westcote, Thomas was educated at Highgate School and the University of Cambridge, before travelling to Singapore to work at St Andrew's School in 1934. During the Second World War, he was a part of the Singapore Volunteer Corps. Following the fall of Singapore, he was made a prisoner-of-war and was held at Changi Prison. In 1944, while being sent to Japan on the captured SS President Harrison, he survived after it was torpedoed and sank; Thomas later witnessed the bombing of Nagasaki. After the Japanese surrender, he went to Southampton before returning to teach at St Andrew's in Singapore in 1947.
In 1948, he became politically involved with the Labour Party (SLP), serving as one of its vice-presidents and later its president from 1949 to 1950. However, the SLP began facing internal issues amongst its members from 1951 to 1952, culminating in Thomas leaving the party alongside Lim Yew Hock. Two years later, Thomas was involved in creating the Singapore Socialist Party (SSP) – alongside others like Lim and David Marshall – which merged with the SLP to form the Labour Front (LF). The LF contested at the 1955 general election and won the most seats, with Marshall serving as the first chief minister.
Thomas was nominated by governor John Nicoll to the Legislative Assembly, and he served as the minister for communications and works from 1955 to 1959, where he worked on flood prevention schemes and nationalising public transport. In February 1959, he resigned as minister after being asked to by chief minister Lim and was succeeded by M. P. D. Nair. By 1959, many original members of the LF had left; Thomas announced the unanimous decision to dissolve the LF in 1960. He retired from politics thereafter and returned to education, serving as the principal of St Andrew's from 1963 to 1974. He retired in 1975 and died on 12 October 1977 from cancer.
Early life and military service Francis Thomas was born on 10 April 1912 in Westcote, Gloucestershire, to P. M. and The Reverend J. A. Thomas. His parents were Christians, and J. A. worked at a church as a rector. Thomas was the fourth of six children and grew up during the First World War. He was of Welsh descent through his father. He attended church in his youth but later described the services as "quite meaningless to me". He boarded at Highgate School in London. Thomas then studied English at the University of Cambridge and, in 1934, was appointed as an assistant master of St Andrew's School, succeeding The Reverend Joseph Lee. He travelled to Singapore via the Ranpura.
In 1937, Thomas took over as director of Basic English studies in Singapore from Margaret Saumarez Smith, after she went on leave. During the Second World War, he stopped working at Saint Andrew's to serve in the war. He was a part of the Singapore Volunteer Corps's Bomb Disposal Unit and was stationed at Balestier Plain prior to the fall of Singapore. During the Japanese occupation, Thomas was interned as a prisoner-of-war at Changi Prison. After six months, he was sent to Thailand, where he suffered from malaria.
Thomas was stationed at a hill which became known as the Kamu Death Camp, due to the large number of deaths from diseases. In 1944, he was selected for a group that was sent to Japan, first arriving in Singapore before travelling to Japan on the captured American ship SS President Harrison. During their voyage, Harrison was torpedoed by submarines off the coast of Vietnam and sank. He escaped onto a lifeboat before jumping off and joining a different lifeboat which had British officers. A Japanese officer was on board with them, who Thomas later credited for saving them as he believed that the Japanese boats would not have rescued them if not for the officer.
Thomas was taken to a hospital ship that had about 600 survivors. He arrived in Japan shortly after and was taken to a quarantine island. Within his group, he was made a corporal. He worked eight-hour-long days and later fell sick; while at a camp hospital, he witnessed the bombing of Nagasaki. Following the Japanese surrender, he took a hospital ship to Southampton, Hampshire, arriving in December 1946. Thomas stayed with his family for a year before returning to Singapore in January 1947, where he resumed teaching at St Andrew's. He joined the Singapore Teachers' Union that same year.
Political career
Labour Party In 1948, Thomas read in The Straits Times that M. A. Majid was calling a meeting because he planned to form a new political party: the Labour Party (SLP). Out of curiosity, he decided to attend, expecting to be refused due to being an expatriate. However, he ended up being elected to its provisional committee, with Majid serving as its chairman. Thomas later became one of two vice-presidents – alongside S. Sankaran – under Majid as president in November. The following month, he was appointed the chairman of a subcommittee that looked into participating at the upcoming Municipal Commission election in April 1949. The SLP later announced in January that they planned to contest around one-third of the seats at the elections. During their election campaign, Thomas spoke about their party's manifesto and expressed their plans to have the Municipality Ordinance amended to function more similarly to local governments in England. Thomas served as their campaign organiser for the 1949 election.
He further described the current ordinance as "not sacred" and that changes could be made to give more power to the Municipal Commission. Thomas also refuted claims from Progressive Party (PP) leader C. C. Tan that the SLP's public challenges were "just a propaganda stunt". In the results of the election, the PP won 13 of the 18 seats, while the SLP only won one; the remaining four were won by independents. At the SLP's annual conference in April, Thomas was elected its president. In May, he criticised the PP's plan to extend the term of office of commissioners describing it as "a piece of shameless opportunism" and that they were "not honest with voters". Thomas also organised a meeting with twenty-five trade unions, where he said he wanted to improve the relations between the SLP and local trade unions as well as encouraged them to vote and have greater participation in the elections. He was a part of the SLP's campaign committee for the December 1949 Municipal Commission election.
During the campaign, Thomas stated that his party's issues were that they stood for social justice, social security, and planned economy, whilst the PP focused on the more appealing free enterprise. He credited them for improving infrastructure and the economy, but also criticised them for creating a class divide, saying that half of Singapore's citizens lived in poverty. He further explained that the SLP intended to create a national plan that would focus on citizens' social needs. In the results, the SLP gained two more seats. In early 1950, Thomas left Singapore to Britain on leave, with some rumours that he may not return, possibly being posted to Penang. He was succeeded by Lim Yew Hock as SLP president. Thomas returned to Singapore in October 1950 after six months. At the 1950 Municipal Commission election, the SLP contested all six wards. Thomas spoke at a rally in Farrer Park about the British Labour Party's achievements and that the SLP aimed to make similar improvements.
In January 1951, the SLP general council expelled campaign organiser M. M. Malai for allegedly "working against the party's candidates"; Thomas was co-opted into the council to replace Malai. During the 1951 general election, at the SLP's final rally, he rebutted against Tan's claims of hypocrisy within the SLP. Ahead of the 1951 City Council election in December, Thomas was appointed in August as their nomination officer, being in charge of submitting their candidates for the election. However, there was contention with the choices of candidates for the election by the current general council, as some believed they had overstayed their tenures and that the new general council – to be decided at their October conference – should be in charge of choosing the candidates instead. Some suggested postponing the conference to a later date, but a majority still preferred an earlier conference. Nevertheless, the SLP planned to contest all six seats.
Further in-fights occurred in the SLP as it was split into two factions; a "left-wing" and a "right-wing". Thomas was reported to have led the right-wing members along with M. P. D. Nair to successfully oppose the left-wing's resolution, which disproved of the proposed ministerial system. The left-wing's members were considered led by E. S. Moorthy, P. M. Williams, and V. P. Abdullah. In April 1952, Thomas was appointed to two committees within the SLP: a committee to draft a constitution for party branches and a committee to raise funds. In June, Thomas was assigned to plan the publishing of a SLP newspaper alongside Williams and Abdullah. In October, he led a three-person group that met with S. Menon, who led a "rebel committee" within the SLP that claimed to have 2,275 supporters. They agreed to hold a special conference but Thomas stated that he would not negotiate with them. Menon stated that the SLP general council had planned to establish party branches and that each branch would nominate their own candidates, but that so far the SLP had failed to erect any branches.
However, later that month, Thomas and four others resigned from the council in protest of the expulsion of Lim as chairman, describing it as "unconstitutional". Following the resignations, the SLP's general council was considered defunct. An ad-hoc committee was established containing the SLP's elected members and Thomas as convenor, a position he took with "reluctance". Furthermore, over 800 members called to expel Williams from the party, with his nomination for South Ward at the upcoming City Council election being considered by Lim "the spark to the trouble within the party". A vote of confidence in Lim was also passed. In December, he rejoined the general council at a party meeting. He also tried to settle the discontent between the two factions of the party. However, Thomas and Lim left the SLP soon after, following further disagreements with the radical Williams-led faction of the party.;
Singapore Socialist Party and Labour Front At a meeting in November 1953, Thomas was elected as chairman to a drafting committee that would handle the creation of a new political party. Lim stated that the new party would be organised democratically and that "they have to build a strong party to serve [...] with sincerity". It was tentatively named the Democratic Labour Party. Thomas and Lim had planned to create a new party in October, following the convening of the Rendel Commission, which led to the Rendel Constitution. In early November, Thomas invited lawyer David Marshall – in a personal capacity – to inform on the problems they may face creating the party. Although Marshall considered himself a "complete tyro in politics", he was interested in participating in their party.