Lynn Ungoed-Thomas

Sir Arwyn Lynn Ungoed-Thomas (29 June 1904 – 4 December 1972) was a Welsh Labour Party politician and British judge.

He was born on 29 June 1904, the son of Evan Ungoed Thomas, minister of Tabernacle Welsh Baptist Church, Carmarthen, for more than forty years. He was educated at Queen Elizabeth Grammar School (Carmarthen), Haileybury College and Magdalen College, Oxford. He married on 19 April 1933 to Dorothy, the daughter of Jasper Travers Wolfe of county Cork. They conceived two sons and one daughter ^[1]

Before his political career, he served in the army throughout World War II, where he became a major.

He was elected at the 1945 general election as Member of Parliament (MP) for the Welsh constituency of Llandaff and Barry. His seat was abolished for the 1950 general election, but shortly afterwards the Labour MP for the new Leicester North East constituency became a High Court judge, and Ungoed-Thomas was returned to Parliament in the resulting Leicester North East by-election. Between April 1951 and October 1951, he served as Solicitor General, and received the customary knighthood.

He held the seat until resigned from the House of Commons in 1962, when he became a High Court judge, assigned to the Chancery Division. He remained on the High Court until his death in 1972.

Judicial career

As a judge he is remembered for his much-cited judgement in the tax case Cheney v Conn (1968). Other notable decisions of his included:

• Butt v Kelson [1952] Ch 197 (as counsel)
• Re Golay's Will Trusts [1965] 1 WLR 969
• Cunliffe-Owen v Teather & Greenwood [1967] 1 WLR 1421, terms implied by custom
• Mann v Goldstein [1968] 1 WLR 1091
• Selangor case [1968] 1 WLR 1555
• Bushell v Faith [1970] AC 1099 (at first instance)
• Hodgson v Marks [1971] Ch 892 (at first instance)

References

• Leigh Rayment's Peerage Pages

External links

• Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by Lynn Ungoed-Thomas