View source for Christopher Thomson, 1st Baron Thomson

{{short description|British politician}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2020}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| honorific-prefix = [[The Right Honourable]]
| name = The Lord Thomson
| honorific-suffix = CBE, DSO, PC
| image =LordBirdwood.jpg
| order1 = [[Secretary of State for Air]]
| term_start1 = 22 January 1924
| term_end1 = 3 November 1924
| monarch1 = [[George V of the United Kingdom|George V]]
| primeminister1 = [[Ramsay MacDonald]]
| predecessor1 = [[Samuel Hoare, 1st Viscount Templewood|Sir Samuel Hoare]]
| successor1 = [[Samuel Hoare, 1st Viscount Templewood|Sir Samuel Hoare]]
| term_start2 = 7 June 1929
| term_end2 = 5 October 1930
| monarch2 = [[George V of the United Kingdom|George V]]
| primeminister2 = [[Ramsay MacDonald]]
| predecessor2 = [[Samuel Hoare, 1st Viscount Templewood|Sir Samuel Hoare]]
| successor2 = [[William Mackenzie, 1st Baron Amulree|The Lord Amulree]]
| birth_date = {{birth date|df=yes|1875|04|13}} 
| birth_place = [[Nashik|Nasik]], [[British India]] 
| death_date = {{Death date|df=yes|1930|10|5}} (aged 55)
| death_place = [[Allonne, Oise|Allone]], [[France]]
| resting_place = [[Cardington, Bedfordshire]]
| nationality = [[British people|British]]
| party = [[Labour Party (UK)|Labour]]  
| alma_mater =  
| spouse = 
}}

'''Christopher Birdwood Thomson, 1st Baron Thomson''', {{Post-nominals|country=GBR|CBE|DSO|PC|sep=,|size=100%}} (13 April 1875 – 5 October 1930), was a [[British Army]] officer who went on to serve as a [[Labour Party (UK)|Labour]] [[Minister (government)|minister]] and [[peerage|peer]]. He served as [[Secretary of State for Air]] under [[Ramsay MacDonald]] in 1924 and between 1929 and 1930, when he was killed in the [[R101]] disaster.

== Early life ==

Born in Nasik (now [[Nashik]]) in the Bombay Presidency of [[India]] to a military family, Thomson attended [[Cheltenham College]]. His father was [[Major general (United Kingdom)|Major-General]] David Thompson, [[Royal Engineers|R.E.]], and his mother was the daughter of Major-General Christopher Birdwood; [[Field marshal (Australia)|Field Marshal]] [[William Birdwood|The 1st Baron Birdwood]] was another grandson of Major-General Birdwood.<ref>Masefield 1982, p. 15</ref>

== Career ==

=== Military ===

After graduating from the [[Royal Military Academy, Woolwich]], in 1894, Thomson was commissioned into the [[Royal Engineers]]. He served first in [[Mauritius]] and then saw action during the [[Second Boer War]] (1899–1902), during which he was in command of a field company section and was [[mentioned in dispatches]]. He also had his first encounter with aviation when he was detailed to help with the R.E. Balloon Section outside [[Kimberley, Northern Cape|Kimberley]].<ref>Masefield 1982, p. 14</ref> After the war, he became an instructor at the [[Royal School of Military Engineering|School of Military Engineering]] at [[Chatham, Kent|Chatham]] and then in [[Sierra Leone]]. He was promoted to captain and [[Brevet (military)|brevet]] major in 1904, and in 1909 joined the Army Staff College in [[Camberley]]. In 1911, he went to the [[War Office]], and in 1912 Thomson was appointed military attaché with the Serbian army during the [[First Balkan War|first]] and [[Second Balkan War]]s, after which he returned to the War Office in 1913.<ref name=dnb>Onslow, rev. Robin Higham "Thomson, Christopher Birdwood, Baron Thomson (1875–1930)", ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, Jan 2011 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/36500, accessed 2 June 2014]</ref>

During the [[World War I|First World War]], Thomson first served at the [[British Expeditionary Force (World War I)|British Expeditionary Force]] Headquarters and was Chief Military Interpreter between [[John French, 1st Earl of Ypres|Sir John French]] and [[Joseph Joffre|General Joffre]]. In 1915 he was sent to [[Bucharest]] as [[military attaché]] on [[Herbert Kitchener, 1st Earl Kitchener|Kitchener]]{{'s}} initiative to bring the [[Kingdom of Romania]] into the war. But when there he quickly formed the view that an unprepared and ill-armed Romania facing a war on three fronts against [[Austria-Hungary]], [[Ottoman Empire|Turkey]] and [[Bulgaria]] would be a liability rather than an asset to the allies. This view was brushed aside by Whitehall, and he signed a Military Convention with Romania on 13 August 1916. By the end of 1916, he had to alleviate the consequences of Romania's capitulation, and he supervised the destruction of the Romanian oil wells to deny them to the [[German Empire]].<ref>Sir Peter G. Masefield, ''To Ride the Storm: The Story of the Airship R.101'', pp. 15–17 (1982, William Kimber, London) {{ISBN|0-7183-0068-8}}</ref>

From 27 August 1917 to 27 May 1918, Thomson served as Commander, Royal Engineers (CRE), of [[60th (2/2nd London) Division]] in [[Sinai and Palestine campaign|Palestine]], commanding the [[1st Middlesex Engineers#60th (2/2nd London) Divisional RE|divisional engineers]] in the [[Battle of Beersheba (1917)|Battle of Beersheba]], the [[Battle of Hareira and Sheria|attack on the Sheria position]], and the [[Battle of Jerusalem|Capture of Jerusalem]]. He distinguished himself at the [[Capture of Jericho]].<ref>Edwards, pp. 77–87.</ref><ref>Dalbiac, pp. 110–197.</ref>

After a distinguished wartime career both behind the lines and at the front, Thomson formed part of the British delegation at the [[Versailles conference]], but condemned the Versailles terms as "containing the seeds of another war." As in Romania where he followed a policy (of making Romania an ally) with which he did not agree, he found the experience to be profoundly negative.<ref>Obituary, Daily Telegraph</ref>

=== Politics ===
After Versailles Thomson made the decision to enter politics, and joined the Labour Party and [[Fabian Society]]. He stood as Labour candidate in two Tory strongholds, [[Bristol Central (UK Parliament constituency)|Bristol Central]] in 1922 and [[St Albans (UK Parliament constituency)|St Albans]] in 1923, but failed to win either seat.<ref>Masefield 1982, p. 21</ref> In 1924, however, newly elected Labour Prime Minister [[Ramsay MacDonald]] elevated him to the peerage as '''Baron Thomson''', of Cardington in the County of Bedford.<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=32907 |date=12 February 1924 |page=1265 }}</ref> He was sworn of the [[Her Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council|Privy Council]] at the same time.<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=32901 |date=25 January 1924 |page=769 }}</ref> He served as [[Secretary of State for Air]] in MacDonald's first short lived [[Labour Government 1924|Labour administration of 1924]]<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=32901 |date=25 January 1924 |page=770 }}</ref> – interrupting briefly [[Samuel Hoare, 1st Viscount Templewood|Sir Samuel Hoare]]'s seven-year grip on the post. The fall of the government meant that it was not until 1929 that he regained the position, once again serving under MacDonald.<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=33505 |date=11 June 1929 |page=3856 }}</ref> In the interim he had maintained his air interests acting as chairman of the [[Royal Aeronautical Society]] and the [[Royal Aero Club]], and patron of the [[Air League]].<ref>Masefield 1982, p. 35</ref>

==Private life==
Lord Thomson was known as Kit to his family and C. B. to his friends. In March 1915, while British military attache in [[Bucharest]], he met the (married) French-Romanian author Princess [[Marthe Bibesco]], and remained devoted to her for the rest of his life. They corresponded regularly. She dedicated four books to "C.B.T." and visited the site of the [[R101]] accident with their mutual friend, the ''[[Abbé]]'' Mugnier, in December 1930.<ref>Masefield 1982, pp. 18–20, 36, 415</ref>

== Death ==

His second term in office was cut short by tragedy as Thomson died in the crash of the [[R101]] airship, a government-designed dirigible, on its [[maiden flight]] to [[Karachi]] in October 1930. The accident, caused partly by pressure put on by Lord Thomson to make the maiden flight before safety checks were complete and adequate flight testing, claimed the lives of 48 people and led to the cancellation of the British airship programme by Thomson's successor as air minister, [[William Mackenzie, 1st Baron Amulree|Lord Amulree]].

== Selected works ==
* [http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/c/F59239 Works in the National Archives]
* ''Smaranda. A Compilation in Three Parts'', Lord Thomson of Cardington (Christopher Birdwood Thomson), Jonathan Cape, 1926.
* ''Lord Thomson of Cardington: A memoir and some letters'', Martha Bibescu, Jonathan Cape, 1932.

==References==
{{Reflist}}

=== Bibliography ===
*{{cite ODNB|last=Onslow|first=Rev.Robin Higham|title=Thomson, Christopher Birdwood, Baron Thomson (1875–1930)|orig-year=2004|edition=online |date=Jan 2011|doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/36500 |url=http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/36500|accessdate=2 June 2014}}
* [https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/008D32CF53A8735F04FB35570FBAA802/S0368393100115044a.pdf/air_vicemarshal_sir_william_sefton_brancker_kcb_afc_director_of_civil_aviation_fellow.pdf Obituary]
* Col P.H. Dalbiac, ''History of the 60th Division (2/2nd London Division)'', London: George Allen & Unwin, 1927/Uckfield: Naval & Military Press, 2003, {{ISBN|978-1-84342-873-2}}.
* Maj D.K. Edwards, ''A History of the 1st Middlesex Volunteer Engineers (101 (London) Engineer Regiment, TA) 1860–1967'', London, 1967.

==External links==
*{{Gutenberg author|id=47388}}

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{{succession box|title=[[Secretary of State for Air]]|before=[[Samuel Hoare, 1st Viscount Templewood|Sir Samuel Hoare]]|after=[[Samuel Hoare, 1st Viscount Templewood|Sir Samuel Hoare]]|years=1924}}
{{succession box|title=[[Secretary of State for Air]]|before=[[Samuel Hoare, 1st Viscount Templewood|Sir Samuel Hoare]]|after=[[William Warrender Mackenzie, 1st Baron Amulree|The Lord Amulree]]|years=1929–1930}}
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{{s-ttl| title  = Baron Thomson
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{{First Macdonald Ministry}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Thomson, Christopher Birdwood Thomson, 1st Baron}}
[[Category:1875 births]]
[[Category:1930 deaths]]
[[Category:Graduates of the Staff College, Camberley]]
[[Category:Military attachés for the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:Royal Engineers officers]]
[[Category:British Army personnel of the Second Boer War]]
[[Category:British Army personnel of World War I]]
[[Category:Barons in the Peerage of the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:Graduates of the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich]]
[[Category:Labour Party (UK) hereditary peers]]
[[Category:Victims of aviation accidents or incidents in France]]
[[Category:Victims of aviation accidents or incidents in 1930]]
[[Category:Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:People from Nashik]]
[[Category:People from Cardington, Bedfordshire]]
[[Category:Commanders of the Order of the British Empire]]
[[Category:Companions of the Distinguished Service Order]]
[[Category:Military personnel of British India]]
[[Category:Barons created by George V]]
[[Category:Secretaries of state for air (UK)]]