John Godfrey Parry Thomas
© Brooklands Museum
A brief biography
John Godfrey Parry Thomas was son of a Welsh clergyman whose boyhood interest in engineering led him eventually to a career with the Leyland Motor Company as chief designer. He had some 24 patents registered in his name, relating to motor engines, gearboxes and electrics. Thomas designed a luxury car, the Leyland Eight, intended to outshine even Rolls Royce. However, he was becoming interested in motor racing and persuaded the company to let him take one of the cars to Brooklands with the condition that he would use it to demonstrate the powerful but smooth luxury vehicle. No sooner had he established a base at Brooklands than he stripped down and modified the car and proceeded to use it for racing and record breaking!
With Leyland's blessing Thomas left the company taking with him another car and numerous spare parts. He lived in a bungalow (The Hermitage) within the Brooklands circuit and was soon competing very successfully, mainly at Brooklands but also at other events, and with several different cars. From 1922 to 1926 he was extremely successful not only in racing where he gained. 35 firsts, 20 second places and was placed 72 times, but also in record breaking in which he took 33 World Speed Records culminating in 170m.p.h. for the flying mile in his 27 litre aero-engined car 'Babs' at Pendine Sands in South Wales in April 1926. This record was broken by Malcolm Campbell in February 1927 so Thomas returned to Pendine in late February to attempt to regain the prize. On March 3rd, despite feeling very rough with 'flu', conditions allowed him to make the attempt. Disaster struck when, at about 170 m.p.h the car overturned – he was killed instantaneously.
J G Parry Thomas' grave in Byfleet churchyard
© J M Forbes
Thomas' body was brought back to The Hermitage and a few days later taken to Byfleet St Mary's Church for burial. It took six vehicles to carry the hundreds of floral tributes following the hearse. Babs was buried deep in the sand, intended never to be disturbed. However, in 1969 permission was granted to exhume her and she has been rebuilt; for many years she was displayed at Brooklands Museum during the winter and is now sited at the small Museum of Speed at Pendine Sands. Nothing has been found to suggest who might subsequently have lived in The Hermitage.
The text on his gravestone reads:
JOHN GODFREY PARRY THOMAS
BORN 6th APRIL 1885
ACCIDENTALLY KILLED ON PENDINE SANDS
WHILE ATTEMPTING WORLD'S MOTOR SPEED RECORD
3RD MARCH 1927
Life is eternal and love is immortal
And death which is only the horizon
Is nothing save the limit of our sight
Private life
He was quiet and looked like a farmer in his baggy trousers and well-worn Fair Isle pullover, his craggy demeanour belying a charming and humorous man. He was fond of children but never married although he was rumoured to have had many lady-friends. It is to his credit that his private life remained private – this was the most gentlemanly gesture that could have been made to the ladies of his close acquaintance! (Tours, 1959). Thomas was a very thoughtful man but when he was in company he could be charming and amusing. He played tennis to a very high standard but became consumed by his racing and record-breaking. He could design complex things in his head and communicate them eloquently to his draughtsmen and manufacturers.
During the General Strike of 1926 Thomas volunteered driving a London bus. After his death it was discovered that he had funded beds in the Great Ormond Street and Belgrave Hospitals for Children. We should remember Thomas, not just for the manner of his death, but more for his genius, his heroism and his humanity.
Sources
- Berrisford, Mark. Revised edition 2010, Parry Thomas and Pendine. VJM Publications, Derbyshire
- Boddy, William. Revised 2001. Brooklands: The Complete Motor Racing History. MRP Publishing Ltd, Croydon
- Tours, Hugh. 1959. Parry Thomas: Designer – Driver. B. T. Batsford Ltd, London