A Brief Biography and Tribute from Professor Sheila Harri Augstein, Co-Director of CSHL and its first postgraduate.
Laurence Thomas, Laurie as he was more affectionately known, never forgot his roots, whilst he moved around the country throughout his life, he always held a spot in his heart for his London home which had been bombed during the blitz. The opening music at the celebration of his life, “Doing the Lambeth Walk,” paid tribute to one of Laurie’s fondest memories, of him, his parents and sister, on Sunday afternoons walking along the Thames, crossing Lambeth Bridge, singing the song, laughing together as they did the Lambeth Walk. Laurie continued to perform this song right up to his passing.
Always smiling, often singing, a brilliant researcher and authority on the psychology of human learning, Professor Laurie Thomas was loved and respected by so many. Whilst sadly we no longer have his physical presence, his legacy will live on for generations, his life work will continue for the betterment of humankind, promoting a way for all to achieve their potential just as he himself tried to do.
Laurie’s parents, Cissie and Frederick Thomas proudly welcomed him into their family on 19th March 1927. He was their second child, born in Battersea, London, a younger brother for his sister Doreen. They were a happy close-knit family, spending time together in and around the big city. Laurie spent his childhood in Battersea but was sent to live with his Welsh grandfather in Swindon when his father caught polio.
Shortly after his return home and due to the war, he was evacuated with his grammar school, and he was away from home for 5 years. He always remembered standing at Clapham Junction Railway station clutching his small case with his mum’s sandwiches in his pocket, not knowing where he was going nor when he was coming home.
At school he excelled at mathematics and most subjects. What he found a little difficult was languages. Even though he had a Welsh speaking father, so was used to hearing a different tongue, being able to grasp the words and pronunciations didn’t come as easy as figures and calculations. He was also a very energetic, happy and lively boy. His headmaster told him he had too much ‘joie de vivre’, a phrase which Laurie didn’t understand and couldn’t pronounce. What happened next may just be what set him on his future path. He was made to stand on a stool in front of his class and say the words aloud, when he couldn’t pronounce them, his classmates laughed at him. He never, ever forgot that feeling, he would never let this happen to any of his pupils, learning should be enjoyable, students should be encouraged and helped, and he would see to it that they were. Laurie’s time at school would set him on the path to dedicating his life to help others learn. It would also form his personality and altruistic tendencies; he would go on to show great care and patience for his own students.
Having done well in school in mathematics and physics, Laurie chose to do a degree in Electrical Engineering before doing his National Service as an officer in The Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineering, REME. There he took up boxing and became a lightweight army champion.
On being demobbed he studied psychology at Birbeck College London; after gaining his PhD he worked at Tavistock Clinic before being appointed research professor at Brunei University. His sabbatical was spent visiting famous research institutes in the USA which transformed his approach to Psychology.
In 1969 he founded the Centre for the Study of Human Learning (CSHL) as a Post Graduate Teaching and Research Institute, welcoming students worldwide. He led research in real situations, rather than in the laboratory, in schools and colleges as well as industrial and commercial organisations, with the MOD, Royal Mail and some government services.
He developed a radical and original approach to the psychology of human learning, bringing his engineering, cybernetic and humanistic approach promoting ‘freedom to learn’ with a methodology known as Self Organised Learning, SOL, and a system of Learning Conversations. Laurie was an inventor and toolmaker creating bespoke techniques, many computer-based for each research enterprise testing these out with his students and building on his SOL methodology continuously.
Laurie authored five books, over 100 papers and the CSHL Website. He acted as a visiting professor in the USA, Australia, India and Europe supported by grants from the British Council.
He was a fellow of the British Psychology Society BPS, and Royal Society of Medicine. His mission was to empower individuals, teams and organisations to enhance their capacity to learn and empower themselves as learners thus becoming more fulfilled and improving the quality of their activities.
Laurie was a passionate researcher who was valued by his eminent colleagues including Gordon Pask, Don Bannister, Miller Mair, George Kelly and Carl Rogers, sadly all now deceased. Above all his students loved him for his sense of fun, care and commitment to each of them and he will be much missed.
As an adult Laurie travelled the world to continue his research and provide lectures and workshops on his original techniques designed to raise awareness of how people made sense of their world to act effectively upon it. He was a trailblazer, a leader in his field. Inevitably he had his detractors, yet he also had his supporters, other brilliant minds who saw the value in his research.
Laurie and I travelled the world providing keynote addresses at conferences. I recall how on one occasion, after an arduous journey, a long flight and delay which gave them no time to rest prior to the conference, and with fatigue setting in, I told Laurie I couldn’t deliver the keynote speech. Caring and altruistic, Laurie reassured me, he let me rest and went on to deliver the speech for us both to warm acclaim.
Our rich relationship spans over 30 years, not only delivering lectures and workshops, but jointly authoring books and working on this website. As well as our personal and academic conversations, Laurie shared many memories with me, providing more insights into his long and fulfilled life.
Laurie, having been active and lively in his youth, was no different throughout his life. As the years passed, he took up Tai Chi and Yoga, even into his late 80s he was able to hold many yoga poses, including being able to stand on his head!
As age advanced, I encouraged Laurie to move from Oxford to Swansea where I would always be there for him. So, he settled in Wales, the native land of his father and grandfather.
After a stroke and hospitalisation, I was advised that he needed 24-hour care. He moved to the Brynfield Manor Care home in Langland, where I visited him every day. Laurie remained active, no one it seemed could contain him. In his last year he could no longer walk but kept his spirit up with a smile and a thank you to anyone who helped him.
Laurie was a spontaneous spirit, never making plans, but living life day to day. His mission through his retirement was to finish his website on psychology of human learning. His ambition was to leave a legacy of his books and website representing his life’s work and the impact it had and will hopefully continue to have. Laurie was very appreciative of Andrew Taylor, CSHL’s last postgraduate, who took on the responsibility of updating the website to make it more generally available.
Laurie you will live on in the being and becoming of many, including me whose life was transformed by working alongside you for over 30 exciting years.