Thomas-Stanford, Charles Geisler, Sir, 1st Baronet, of Brighton (1858 -1932)

Charles Geisler Thomas Stanford of Preston Manor, Brighton, was the eldest son of David Collet Thomas, of Hove in Sussex, and Ann Lloyd. He was educated at Highgate School and Oriel College, Oxford, where he took his B.A. in 1881 and his M.A. in 1897, became a barrister of the Inner Temple in 1882, but did not practice. He married, in 1897, Ellen, daughter of William Stanford of Preston Manor, Brighton, and widow of Vere Benet Stamford M.P., and, in the same year took the additional name and arms of Stanford. A Justice of the Peace for Sussex, and a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries, he was Mayor of Brighton from 1910 to 1913, Member of Parliament for Brighton from 1914 to 1922, and was created a Baronet in 1929. A bibliographer and expert in numismatics, and author of a novel and several volumes of travels, he collected early editions of Euclid, and gave his collection to the National Library of Wales in 1927. He died without issue and his baronetcy died with him.