Terence Thomas, Baron Thomas of Macclesfield

Terence James Thomas, Baron Thomas of Macclesfield, (19 October 1937 – 1 July 2018) was a British politician and banker, member of the Labour and Co-operative parties.

Career Thomas was a pupil at Queen Elizabeth Grammar School in Carmarthen, where his father (William Emrys Thomas 1911–1993) was a transport manager and his mother (Mildred Evelyn née James) ran a greengrocery. He did his national service in the army, serving at Shrapnel Barracks in Woolwich, south east London. He then joined the National Provincial Bank.

Thomas joined the Co-operative Bank in 1973 as marketing manager. He suffered a stroke in 1999; in his 2010 autobiography, he says this was caused by a hole in the heart of which he had been unaware.

Honours Having been appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 1997 Birthday Honours, he was created a life peer as Baron Thomas of Macclesfield, of Prestbury in the County of Cheshire on 5 November 1997. He sat in the House of Lords until 18 May 2016, at which point he ceased to be a member pursuant to section 2 of the House of Lords Reform Act 2014, having failed to attend during the whole of the 2015-16 session without being on leave of absence.