Born in Le Bourg, Forest in Guernsey to Eleazar de la Rue and Rachael de la Rue, maiden name Rachael Allez. Thomas was the seventh of their nine children. Thomas de la Rue was apprenticed to a master-printer, Joseph Antoine Chevalier in St Peter Port in 1803. He went into business with Tom Greenslade and together they launched the newspaper Le Publiciste. Having fallen out with Greenslade, Thomas de la Rue launched his own publication, Le Miroir politique, first published on 6 February 1813. In 1816 he left Guernsey, for London, where he initially established a business making straw hats. Then in 1830 together with Samuel Cornish and William Rock he founded a business of "cardmakers, hot pressers and enamellers". in 1831, de la Rue was granted the right to print playing cards, making it the first company to do so; it printed its first pack the following year. Soon afterwards, Thomas hired Owen Jones, a well-known designer and architect. By 1837 his wife, his two sons William Frederick and Warren De la Rue and his eldest daughter were involved in the business. In 1855 Thomas was made a Chevalier of the Légion d'honneur.. However, there is no mention of Thomas de la Rue in the Base Léonore which has a copious entry on Warren, but nothing on Thomas. In 1858, he retired from De La Rue, handing over the management of the business to his sons. Thomas de la Rue died in London in 1866.
Family
He married Jane Warren on 21 March 1816. He had six daughters and two sons: Mary, Elizabeth, Georgiana, Louisa, Jane, Warren and William.
Memorials
The Guernsey Post Office has issued two sets of postage stamps commemorating his life and achievements, in 1971 and 1993. There is a pub in the Pollet, St Peter Port, Guernsey, named after him. The States of Guernsey issued a commemorative one-pound note in July 2013, to mark 200 years since the first commercial venture of Thomas De La Rue. The note is in circulation alongside the standard one-pound note, differing in the portrait of De La Rue on the reverse and a TDLR letter prefix.
