Thomas Phillips Price was a Welsh landowner, mine owner and Liberal

Liberal Party (UK)

The Liberal Party was one of the two major political parties of the United Kingdom during the 19th and early 20th centuries. It was a third party of negligible importance throughout the latter half of the 20th Century, before merging with the Social Democratic Party in 1988 to form the present day...

 politician.

Price was the son of the Reverend Canon William Price, vicar of Llanarth

Llanarth

Llanarth may refer to:* Llanarth, Ceredigion* Llanarth, Monmouthshire...

. When he was 23, his unmarried uncle, Sir Thomas Phillips left him a fortune. He was an active mine owner with a mine at Darran Llanhilleth and in 1863 he sunk a mineshaft at Ebbw Fach.

In 1880, Price was elected as MP

Member of Parliament

A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...

 for North Monmouthshire

North Monmouthshire (UK Parliament constituency)

Northern Monmouthshire was a parliamentary constituency in Monmouthshire. It returned one Member of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom.-History:...

 and held the seat for 10 years. In 1882 he was appointed High Sheriff of Monmouthshire

High Sheriff of Monmouthshire

This is a list of High Sheriffs of Monmouthshire, which was created in 1536 but not fully settled until 1540. The shrievalty was finally abolished in 1974 when the county and shrievalty of Gwent was created.-List of Sheriffs:Served under Henry VIII:...

 and he was a Captain in the Monmouthshire Militia. He was also a J.P.

Justice of the Peace

A justice of the peace is a puisne judicial officer elected or appointed by means of a commission to keep the peace. Depending on the jurisdiction, they might dispense summary justice or merely deal with local administrative applications in common law jurisdictions...

 living at Triley Court Abergavenny

Abergavenny

Abergavenny , meaning Mouth of the River Gavenny, is a market town in Monmouthshire, Wales. It is located 15 miles west of Monmouth on the A40 and A465 roads, 6 miles from the English border. Originally the site of a Roman fort, Gobannium, it became a medieval walled town within the Welsh Marches...

.

He also rented Skreens Park, a large mansion near Chelmsford

Chelmsford

Chelmsford is the county town of Essex, England and the principal settlement of the borough of Chelmsford. It is located in the London commuter belt, approximately northeast of Charing Cross, London, and approximately the same distance from the once provincial Roman capital at Colchester...

 which is now demolished. After losing his seat in 1895 he was a County Councillor for Essex and Justice of the Peace. In 1898 he purchased Marks Hall with a fine mansion and deer park. Later he purchased the Villa Capponi, a fine 15th Century villa just outside Florence

Florence

Florence is the capital city of the Italian region of Tuscany and of the province of Florence. It is the most populous city in Tuscany, with approximately 370,000 inhabitants, expanding to over 1.5 million in the metropolitan area....

. His second wife suffered ill-health and they spent a large part of the year there. In 1907, in consultation with Sir George Murray of the Treasury and Sir David Prain, Director of Kew Gardens, he made provision in his will to leave the Marks Hall estate to the nation in the interest of agriculture, arboriculture and forestry. During the Second World War, Earls Colne Airfield was built on the edge of the deer park and much of the property was requisitioned. By 1949 the mansion was said to be in a dangerous state and it was demolished in 1950.

Family

Price married Frances Anne Rowlett in 1882. She died in 1897 and he married again to Florence Cecilia Konstamm, who had an Italian mother and a brother, Max Konstamm, who was a King's Councilor. Florence died in 1926 and in 1927 Price married for the third time to Mary Elizabeth Swann, his sister's companion who was then 51 to his 83. Price died at the age of 87.