Sir Charles Thomas-Stanford, 1st Baronet (3 April 1858 – 7 March 1932),^[1] born Charles Thomas, was a British Conservative Party politician from Brighton. He sat in the House of Commons from 1914 to 1922.

The son of David Collet Thomas, from Hove,^[2] he was educated at the Highgate School and at Oriel College, Oxford, where he graduated with a BA degree in 1881.^[3] He was called to the bar at the Inner Temple in 1882,^[2] but did not practice.^[3]

In 1897 he married Ellen Stanford, the daughter and heiress of William Stanford of Preston Park, Sussex, and widow of Vere Benett-Stanford, the former MP for Shaftesbury. In the same year he changed his name by royal licence to Thomas-Stanford.^[2]

Thomas-Stanford became a Justice of the Peace (J.P.) for Brighton, and served as Mayor of Brighton in 1910–11 and 1912–14,^[2] becoming an alderman by 1914.^[4]

Thomas-Stanford was elected as a member of parliament (MP) for Brighton^[5] in June 1914^[6] at an unopposed by-election following the resignation of the Conservative MP John Gordon.^[5][7] He was re-elected in 1918^[8] as a Coalition Conservative^[9] (i.e. a supporter of the coalition government led by the Liberal David Lloyd George), and stood down from Parliament at the 1922 general election.^[9]

In 1922 he donated Lewes Castle to the Sussex Archaeological Society, of which he was a long-serving chairman.^[3]

Thomas-Stanford was made a baronet on the 1929 New Year Honours^[10] and the title was conferred on 8 May 1929.^[11]

He died aged 73 on 7 March 1932 at his home Preston Manor, Brighton,^[3] which was bequeathed to Brighton Corporation.