Thomas Jones’s Lloyd George

Dr J. Graham Jones discusses the classic biography of Lloyd George written by Thomas Jones, the eminent Deputy Secretary to the Cabinet from 1916 until 1930. In this unique capacity he served four very different Prime Ministers at the hub of British political life. His closeness to Lloyd George (and Baldwin) was proverbial – yet his biography was unpopular with Frances, Lloyd George’s wife. Published by Oxford University Press in 1951, how has Jones’s Lloyd George stood the test of time?

22 Journal of Liberal History 58 Spring 2008 Thomas Jones’s Lloyd George

h o m a s J o n e s philosopher Sir Henry Jones. David Lloyd George, since 1908 (1870–1955), a nota- During his period at Glasgow he the Chancellor of the Exchequer ble civil servant and joined the Independent Labour in Asquith’s government. When public benefactor, was Party and helped to found the Lloyd George succeeded Asquith born at Rhymney in local Fabian Society. In Decem- as Prime Minister in December Tnorth-west Monmouthshire on ber 1902, Jones married Eirene 1916, Tom Jones was appointed 27 September 1870.1 He received Theodora Lloyd, one of his fel- first a member, and subsequently his early education at the Upper low students at Aberystwyth. Deputy Secretary, of the Cabi- Rhymney board school and the The marriage was to produce net Secretariat, where he was fee-paying Lewis School, Pen- three children, one of whom, to remain until 1930. His origi- gam. His undoubted early aca- Mrs Eirene White, served as the nal hope for the position was demic promise seemed to come Labour MP for Flintshire East to develop himself into ‘a fluid to an abrupt end when, at just from 1950 until 1970. person moving among people fourteen years of age, he left Although the strength of Tom who mattered and keeping the school to take up a position as a Jones’s religious beliefs waned PM on the right path as far as is clerk in the local ironworks. But somewhat during his years at possible’. 2 In this unique capac- the young Tom Jones continued Aberystwyth and Glasgow, his ity he was to serve four very dif- reading avidly and excelled at social conscience grew and con- ferent Prime Ministers – David scripture examinations, eventu- vinced him of the importance Lloyd George, Andrew Bonar ally winning the highly-coveted of social improvement work. Law, Stanley Baldwin and James ‘Gold Medal’ of the Calvinistic His close friends included Sid- Ramsay MacDonald – at the Methodist denomination. ney and Beatrice Webb and hub of British political life. Dur- In the autumn of 1890, with George Bernard Shaw. In 1909 ing the post-war coalition gov- the avowed aim of becoming he became the first Professor of ernment, Jones dealt especially a nonconformist minister, he Political Economy at Queen’s with industrial and labour ques- entered the relatively new (it University, Belfast, but he was tions and also played a key role had been established in 1872) soon to be persuaded by David in achieving the partial settle- University College of Wales, Davies, of Llandinam, to return ment of the vexed Irish question Aberystwyth. Ironically, how- to Wales to take up the post of in 1921. He was also a trusted ever, although displaying aca- Secretary of the King Edward adviser to Baldwin at the time of demic potential, Jones’s abject VII Welsh National Memo- the General Strike of May 1926. failure in mathematics, a core rial Association, which the His closeness to both Lloyd subject, meant that he could multi-millionaire Davies had George and Baldwin was pro- not graduate from Aberyst- set up and financed to tackle the verbial. That a man originally wyth. Eventually he secured a dreadful scourge of tuberculo- firmly on the left of the politi- highly-distinguished first class sis. Between 1912 and 1916 Jones cal spectrum could end up as a honours degree in philosophy then served as Secretary of the close friend and trusted adviser and economics from Glasgow Welsh Insurance Commission, to Stanley Baldwin, even draft- University in 1901, where his based in Cardiff, in which posi- Thomas Jones in ing his political speeches, seems mentor was the renowned Welsh tion he came into contact with 1937 rather bizarre, but it would seem

Journal of Liberal History 58 Spring 2008 23 thomas jones’s lloyd george that Jones’s opinions had been In this had left a sore which continued writing privately to a friend at transcended somewhat over the to fester for the rest of his life – the beginning of March, ‘I’m years by his deep admiration for unique even after he had been elected less and less equal to things and Baldwin as an individual. capacity he President there in 1944. But problems. Signs of old age and Jones’s retirement from this the initiative with which Jones decay of body rapidly multiply- position in 1930 certainly did not was to serve seemed ‘divinely obsessed’3 was ing now.’6 mark a retreat from public life. the establishment in 1927 of The prospect of researching He continued to engage in a vast four very dif- Coleg Harlech in north-west and writing a biography of Lloyd range of activities and built up a Wales, a pioneering residen- George proved enticing. He had huge number of friends and asso- ferent Prime tial adult education college to developed a great deal of admi- ciates. He still moved in political Ministers – provide a unique opportunity ration for Lloyd George from circles and was consulted regu- for working-class young men. 1916 until at least about 1940. larly on appointments and the David Lloyd Before the Second World War, But he had looked askance at the award of honours, especially in more than 220 young men passed former Prime Minister’s obsti- Wales. He continued to serve George, through its doors. Parallel to this nate refusal even to contemplate Stanley Baldwin in the latter’s dynamic initiative was Jones’s joining Churchill’s coalition role as Prime Minister of the so- Andrew staunch support for the Educa- government in 1940 (or even to called ‘National Government’ Bonar Law, tional Settlement Movement in lend general support to the con- (even drafting his 1935 general south Wales. His loyalty to Wales duct of the allied war effort), and election speeches), made numer- Stanley was always unquestionable. he had listened sorrowfully to ous trips abroad (including two In the spring of 1945, Tho- A. J. Sylvester’s incessant tales of controversial visits to Nazi Baldwin mas Jones, accompanied by his the bitter family quarrels which Chancellor Adolf Hitler at Ber- unmarried sister Liz, leased a had erupted during the build-up chtesgaden), and was an active and James house at Aberystwyth, initially to Lloyd George’s second mar- member of the Unemployment Ramsay Mac- for a period of fifteen months. riage to his private secretary Assistance Board set up in 1935 By this time he was a widower; Frances Stevenson in October with the aim of taking the vexed Donald – at his wife Rene, to whom he was 1943. Lloyd George’s acceptance question of unemployment relief totally devoted, had died, after of a peerage in January 1945 was out of politics. His main preoc- the hub of a brief illness, in July 1935. The a further thorn in Jones’s flesh. cupation from 1930 onwards, main reason for the move to On 2 February he had written to however, was as the linchpin of British politi- Aberystwyth was that he had his old friend Violet Markham, an array of philanthropic, cul- cal life. recently accepted a commis- a prominent long-term Liberal tural and educational activities, sion from Harvard University activist and public servant: particularly within Wales. To Press in the US to write a life of this end he served from 1930 Lloyd George, and was anxious When criticising the Earldom I until 1945 as Secretary to the Pil- to make full use of the resources was not thinking of this aspect grim Trust (originally financed of the National Library of Wales: of his story, as of the deep & by the American oil tycoon ‘We have taken it from May 1st widespread disappointment in Edward Harkness) which dis- unfurnished. Its attraction for Wales with one who has been tributed more than £2,000,000 me is its nearness (5 minutes) to proud always to keep close to during the long 1930s for the the National Library.’4 In 1946 the common people & who did relief of the unemployed and he moved into another property boldly always stand up to the for heritage protection. Jones owned by the National Library, land & money, power & privi- was also a member of many of situated at the end of its drive. lege in the countryside. Now the committees of the National This was to be his main base he & F[rances] play the local Council of Social Service. until 1954. A second reason for squire & lady bountiful, which Tom Jones’s formidable the migration to Aberystwyth is rather nauseating. I could not contribution to educational in 1945 was Jones’s election the get myself to write congratula- concerns ran parallel to these previous year as President of the tions on his marriage or peer- activities. He was for more than local University College. Now age, partly because I did not half a century a pillar of the he was to be ‘a President of the want to take sides in the family Workers’ Educational Associa- College in residence’.5 This fol- squabble & I have a warm cor- tion, and gave exemplary sup- lowed his recent resignation as ner for Megan & admiration port to the University of Wales the long-term Secretary of the for Dame Margaret’s dignified (most especially the University Pilgrim Trust. Although he silence through twenty years of College of Wales, Aberyst- had enjoyed his work for the humiliation.7 wyth), the National Library and Trust immensely, he was now the National Museum of Wales. in his seventy-fifth year and Just eight short weeks later Failure to secure the position of had become very much aware Lloyd George died at his Principal at Aberystwyth in 1919 of the inevitable ageing process, new north Wales home, Ty

24 Journal of Liberal History 58 Spring 2008 thomas jones’s lloyd george

Newydd, Llanystumdwy. The have been a pleasure for LG also, evening’ over dinner with Lady BBC broadcast a tribute by and I do not know how you got Megan Lloyd George and his Tom Jones on the day of Lloyd hold of any idea to the contrary.’11 daughter Eirene. He at once George’s death, and an obitu- Following their meeting (during found Megan ‘most approving of ary penned by him was also which they went together amica- the notion’ that he should write published in The Observer.8 The bly enough to see Lloyd George’s her father’s life ‘& very willing Lloyd George family generally impressively simple grave on the to help. I don’t imagine she has considered Jones’s assessments banks of the river Dwyfor), how- any documents, only her own to be too impersonal, clinical ever, Frances refused to lend any personal impressions.’14 and detached, and it was widely help or support to Jones’s venture: Before the end of the same felt that his relative detachment ‘I do not feel very happy about the month, an announcement had from his subject during the last book which you say you are pro- been made that an ‘official life’ five years of his life had coloured posing to write on LG … It cuts of Lloyd George was to be writ- his judgement – for the worse. right across the book for which I ten by ‘Mr Malcolm Thompson, The day following the broad- am negotiating … which I would for many years on the staff of the cast, Violet Markham wrote to personally supervise, providing, Liberal Party Organisation’. The Jones, ‘I felt that subconsciously of course, new material and all announcement was greeted, it at the back of your broadcast lay the necessary documents.’ She was noted, ‘with considerable something of the nausea you went on, surprise’. Was not Dr Thomas have experienced of late over Jones ‘the name that most natu- the affairs of LG & his family & During these latter years you In the rally occurs’ in any consideration the sordid turns they have taken. were engaged in serving his of the most suitable biographer You were so anxious to avoid political opponents, whose immediate for Lloyd George? Jones, it was anything of fulsome eulogy that chief aim, at whatever cost to widely known, was engaged in perhaps you a little underplayed the country’s welfare, was to aftermath his own biography, ‘but without your hand.’ She went on: keep LG out of office. Quite access to the public and private frankly, therefore, I do not of Lloyd papers in the Dowager Countess The Earldom is a great misfor- think, if you will pardon my George’s Lloyd George’s possession. For tune as it has turned out. You saying so, that you would be the it is the Dowager Countess who know I defended LG’s action on best biographer of this period. death, Tom controls the situation as regards the ground that a seat in the Lords In any case, I am sure you will material for the biography.’15 would keep him in public life & understand that under the cir- Jones suc- Both Malcolm Thomp- give him a platform from which cumstances it would be difficult son and Dr Thomas Jones CH his voice could still be heard. for me to give you any help or ceeded in were the latest in a long line But to take a title & die on it is material for your book.12 convincing of Lloyd George biographers to have the worst of all worlds. and chroniclers.16 His earliest Frances as a dowager countess is In response, Jones attempted to himself that, biographers had been Welsh- ridiculous, so are the rest of the be conciliatory: men like J. Hugh Edwards and family. I wonder whether Megan ‘now that Beriah Gwynfe Evans, staunch will drop the ‘lady’. I should do LG … is big enough to have Liberals, steeped in the ethos of so in her place.9 many more books written one has the Cymru Fydd, who tended to about him without exhaust- freedom eulogise their subject somewhat Yet, in the immediate after- ing the subject. … I am only uncritically. English writers math of Lloyd George’s death, too conscious of my imper- of history’, from the same period like Her- Tom Jones succeeded in con- fections as a possible student bert du Parcq (who published a vincing himself that, ‘now that of any period of LG’s life, but it was pos- four-volume multi-biography in one has the freedom of history’, perhaps I can say with complete 1912), Harold Spender and E. T. it was possible to be relatively truth that in serving his politi- sible to be Raymond also tended to sym- ‘detached’ and objective in writ- cal opponents I did not entirely relatively pathise with Lloyd George. A ing a biography of Lloyd George. forget that I had served him. new phase was, however, inau- Hence his decision to accept the Indeed the charge against me ‘detached’ gurated following the collapse of invitation of Harvard Univer- as a civil servant might well be the post-war coalition govern- sity Press.10 Within a month he that I carried any old loyalty to and objective ment in October 1922 and the had made contact with Frances, him to extreme lengths!13 subsequent beginning of Lloyd now the Dowager Countess in writing a George’s so-called ‘wilderness Lloyd-George of Dwyfor, who Other members of the Lloyd years’. Disillusioned Asquithian responded that it would be ‘a great George family were, however, biography loyalists like J. A. Spender, A. G. pleasure’ for her to welcome Tom predictably more supportive. of Lloyd Gardiner and Charles Mallet all Jones to Ty Newydd, although During the following Novem- relished the opportunity to deni- adding rather tartly, ‘It would ber, Jones spent ‘an hilarious George. grate Lloyd George’s good name,

Journal of Liberal History 58 Spring 2008 25 thomas jones’s lloyd george a trend reinforced by the verdict (which he declared to be ‘a judi- of a septuagenarian & a slow one of the economist J. M. Keynes cial attempt at interpreting a at that.’24 In response, Sylvester in his bitter ‘essay in biography’ genius’20), he resolved to shun anticipated Jones’s ‘frank expres- published in 1933. The same year the use of private papers and sion of opinion on the work had seen the publication of Lord official documents other than which has been executed against Riddell’s War Diary, a highly those already available in print. time’, and continued, ‘But I am revealing source which did not ‘I am sure the job of writing a waiting for your Life, for you always portray Lloyd George in life must be terribly difficult to can give the Celtic touch, with a favourable light.17 On the eve do without papers’, wrote Lady your knowledge and experi- of the Second World War there Megan Lloyd George consol- ence of the subject, which no appeared W. Watkin Davies’s ingly in May 1946, ‘but it may other can excel.’25 During Feb- Lloyd George, 1863–1914 (Lon- end in a much more human nar- ruary and March 1947, lengthy, don: Constable, 1939), the most rative. What is needed is a live potentially sensational extracts valuable account to date of Lloyd portrait – and that I feel sure from Sylvester’s forthcom- George’s life and career up to the you will give.’21 To compensate ing book were published in the First World War, a study which for the lack of primary source Sunday Dispatch and gave rise to contemptuously dismissed Lloyd materials, Jones requested mem- much interest and, by and large, George’s post-1914 political oranda from individuals who commendation.26 career as ‘purposeless’, a period had worked closely with Lloyd Thomas Jones, undaunted, when he had been ‘left to his George or who had a specialist plodded on resolutely with own devices and seconded by knowledge of important events. the task in hand. ‘I go to the charlatans whose grip of political During 1946 it became more [National] Library almost principles was even weaker than widely known that Tom Jones daily’, he wrote to his old friend his own’.18 The image of Lloyd was engaged in preparing a life Abraham Flexner at the end of George which emerged from of Lloyd George. The news at April, ‘but am experiencing Lord Beaverbrook’s Politicians once gave rise to ‘much enthu- a great decline in my powers and the War, 1914–1916 (2 vols, siasm’ for the ‘intrinsic interest’ of work which I suppose is to London: Butterworth, 1928 and of the proposed work and as a be expected!’27 He was some- 1932), too, was at best mixed. potentially ‘fascinating display what frustrated by the long He emerged as power-crazy by a master in the art of walk- delay in the appearance of Syl- and anxious only to assume the ing the tight rope’.22 The author vester’s eagerly-anticipated The premiership. was, however, reminded that Real Lloyd George, caused by an Thomas Jones (and indeed constraints existed on the free- acute paper shortage, problems Malcolm Thompson) had the dom of former civil servants to over binding, and the auster- advantage of undertaking their publish.23 This thorny ques- ity which inevitably reigned in research at a greater remove tion had already been raised in post-war Britain. He arranged from the events which they the House of Commons on 1 to meet Sylvester in London at were describing and after their August 1946, and was relevant the beginning of July: ‘I wish I subject’s death. Jones at least at the time in the context of had gone into partnership with savoured the many long hours the proposed biography of Lord you over it – sharing the profits which he spent researching at Baldwin being written by G. He soon and supplying the ballast! My the National Library of Wales. M. Young and the publication effort makes slow progress and He soon became a familiar fig- of the diaries of Lord Hankey, became a of course I blame the weather.’ ure in the little seaside town, the first ever Cabinet Secretary familiar Both men were much annoyed habitually clad in a grey or fawn back in 1916. At the end of the by the lack of availability of pre- cloak and a battered deerstalker year, Jones read in the press that figure in the publication copies of Sylvester’s hat. On 1 April 1946, he wrote The Real Lloyd George, authored tome, the author responding to Violet Markham, ‘I have no by Lloyd George’s former Prin- little seaside to Jones, ‘When I think how I news in this remote region, cipal Private Secretary A. J. sweated and rushed everything where the sun shines daily & dif- Sylvester (an old acquaintance town, habit- through, and how long I have fuses most welcome warmth. I of Jones’s) was to be published ually clad in a waited – well, it’s just too bad.’ am carried daily by your benev- during 1947. Although he must Sylvester was apparently most olence to the [National] Library have felt some resentment that grey or fawn anxious that Tom Jones, whose where I try to read fifty books Sylvester had to some extent views and opinions he respected, at once in an effort to keep track ‘stolen his thunder’ by bring- cloak and should write a full review of of the elusive LG.’19 Between ing out his book so promptly, the volume.28 By September, 1945 and 1950 researching and Jones wrote to him, ‘You must a battered Jones had evidently received an drafting the book were to prove have worked very hard on it & deerstalker advance copy of The Real Lloyd his main preoccupations. Early it is sure to meet with great suc- George and sent an effusive con- on in the extended enterprise cess. For myself my pace is that hat. gratulatory message to his old

26 Journal of Liberal History 58 Spring 2008 thomas jones’s lloyd george

associate who replied, ‘Com- Sir Robert Horne, On the face of it, relations too far in the other direction.’31 ing from an old friend and col- David Lloyd between the two authors were Reading Sylvester’s tome had league, who knew Lloyd George George and amicable and harmonious clearly induced him ruthlessly so well, I value it all the more.’ Thomas Jones enough. But the following July, to eschew much of his personal Sylvester would feel ‘honoured’ at the Cannes by which time Jones had already knowledge of Lloyd George should Jones wish to quote from conference in drafted a considerable part of which he had originally planned 1922. the book in his own writings.29 his proposed biography, he did to include. Now he was very Within a week, Jones had sent not mince his words in a pri- conscious of the potential risks to Sylvester a list of minor fac- vate letter to Violet Markham: of submitting to excessive per- tual errors within the volume, ‘I had such a revulsion reading sonal prejudice. expressing the hope that they Sylvester on Sylvester that I was At about this time there was might perhaps be corrected in a determined mine should not be an attempt to revive the idea of second edition.30 TJ on TJ. I’ve probably gone a national memorial to Lloyd

Journal of Liberal History 58 Spring 2008 27 thomas jones’s lloyd george

George, first mooted by Frances By this time, great sale, but that the Ameri- the publication in The Times, during April and May 1945. can agent was discouraging in a much-truncated form, of a Then, in the immediate after- Sylvester’s about an edition in that country lengthy obituary which he had math of Lloyd George’s death, The Real as no one was interested in LG. prepared several years earlier recalled Jones, ‘I [had] tried The family dislike the book. I led Tom Jones to reflection. The to dissuade her, as I knew that Lloyd George am to dine at the House with biography of Baldwin then being attempts to do him honour in Megan on Wednesday next written by G. M. Young, Jones his lifetime had to be artificially had captured & shall hear what she thinks. anticipated, would be ‘a first buttressed.’ Frances had retorted Nothing approaching the truth rate job of work’. He mused on sharply by stating her intention the popular can be expected to please her. the four premiers whom he had to request that Winston Church- imagina- Not one of the family, nor the served between 1916 and 1930: ill launch the appeal. Jones went Countess, has acknowledged on, ‘I [had] tried hard to get LG tion and had the presentation copies sent by Of the four PMs for whom I to subscribe to [Coleg] Harlech the author.34 worked SB was the most con- in vain!’ By now, Frances had gone out of siderate & grateful chief & the already disposed of their north A week later he spent an evening best friend in all weathers. His Wales home, Ty Newydd – ‘the print within at the House of Commons with religion had given him a qual- house that I went over with weeks of Lady Megan Lloyd George, the ity of modesty & forbearance & Dame Margaret when it was des- Liberal MP for Anglesey since forgiveness of human frailties tined for Lady Carey Evans. You publication. 1929, an interlude which he felt & he had a more intense love see what a nasty mind I have. to be ‘more enjoyable than profit- of the countryside & its beauty How much are the LG family able’. He found her to be ‘furious than had LG; Bonar [Law] had subscribing? They are notorious with Sylvester & I cannot hope none. But I must not wander for giving nothing to anything that my objective treatment of her on like this. I can sum up by or anybody.’ On reflection, he father will not deeply disappoint saying how greatly I prize the readily admitted that, in relation the family. I tried hard to prepare two words he [Baldwin] sev- to the proposed Lloyd George her for this but I made little or eral times inscribed on books memorial, ‘I am much too prej- no impression.’ There followed he gave me: ‘With gratitude & udiced to be fair to it.’32 two meetings with A. J. Syl- affection.’37 By this time, Sylvester’s The vester: ‘His bitterness is reserved Real Lloyd George had captured for the Countess who seems to He plodded on with his writ- the popular imagination and had have promised at first to use him ing as 1947 gave way to 1948 and gone out of print within weeks in connexion with the Life of still corresponded widely. A. J. of publication. Severe paper LG, & then to have dropped him Sylvester proudly recalled his shortages had made a second edi- completely in favour of Malcolm own role in securing the index- tion impossible. Some members Thompson – hence S[ylvester]’s ing of the massive archive of of the Lloyd George family had speed in rushing out his book to Lloyd George’s papers and in the generally welcomed the book – get his blow in first.’35 researching of the War Memoirs with the predictable exception Shortly afterwards Jones sent in the 1930s: ‘May your book be of Frances. One of the admirers the first 126 pages of his manu- a best seller, and I shall be one within the family was Richard script to the officials at Treasury of the first to purchase it when Lloyd George, now the second Chambers for their approval. As it is out. Whatever you do get it Earl, who had himself published they dealt with the period before out before Frances.’38 (This was Dame Margaret: the Life Story of his appointment to the Cabinet presumably a reference to the his Mother (London: Allen and Secretariat, no objection was ‘official biography’ by Malcolm Unwin, 1947).33 At the begin- raised.36 Before the end of 1947 Thompson, then known to be ning of November, Tom Jones he was reasonably satisfied with in an advanced stage of prepara- wrote to Violet Markham: the writing of the book: ‘I … tion.) A large number of associ- have made enough progress with ates commented in detail on the I came up on Tuesday to the it, in my slow fashion, to see the first draft of Jones’s book dur- Athenaeum with Irvine & end approaching.’ He then antic- ing the spring of 1948, and their found Baldwin there. He had ipated a volume of some 150,000 observations were then incorpo- come up for the unveiling of the words which he hoped to com- rated in subsequent revisions.39 statue to George V. He asked plete by the spring of 1948. The Sylvester, simply one of many to me at once what I thought of final product would be ‘more lend assistance in this connec- Sylvester’s book with its rev- a class text book than a sensa- tion, found the experience ‘very elation of the autocratic chief. tional story, with LG against the interesting. It has whetted my Later in the week Sylvester background of events in which appetite to read the book when came to see me for half an hour he played a part’. At this point, it is ready. One thing only do & said the book was having a the death of Earl Baldwin and I wish to say: Let URGENCY

28 Journal of Liberal History 58 Spring 2008 thomas jones’s lloyd george be your motto. If you intend to partial side that is what one Lady Megan also assisted in the publish it in this country, there is would expect. Of course it selection of illustrations and pro- not a minute to lose.’40 overlaps my effort in all sorts vided Jones with some of her Mastering the array of of ways & from sales stand- father’s original speech notes, printed sources alone had point it w[oul]d have been well commenting, ‘Blessed is he who proved a formidable task. But if I had hurried a bit to be out can read them in the original.’48 in the summer of 1948, the full first, but I don’t find hurrying The winter of 1949–50 saw Jones text of the book, running to easy any more. Looking back put the finishing touches to his some 170,000 words, had been I wish I had thought of doing text, responding to comments sent off to its American pub- the book or preparing to do it from friends and associates, lishers. It was generally well when I went to the P[ilgrim] among them Violet Markham, received, but the company’s T[rust] in 1930 & had some sur- to whom the author observed, rather patronising reader in the plus energy. I think this pub- ‘Re-reading it I feel it is more US eventually concluded that lication may confine mine to political history than personal the text had to be pruned ‘rather USA. We’ll see. And anyway biography, & far too much like extensively’. The coverage of I’ve thoroughly enjoyed the a memorandum by a civil serv- the period before 1914 needed National Library.44 ant, as I think you said. Any- to be abbreviated, and the chap- way I can’t attempt to rewrite ters devoted to the years after (Even after the eventual publi- it, nor do I suppose I should 1922 axed ruthlessly: ‘They all cation of his own volume in the succeed any better.’49 Later the deal with Lloyd George’s fail- autumn of 1951, these emotions same month saw the aged patri- ures when he was out of power. did not disappear. As he then arch dutifully plodding up to … The details are certainly of wrote to an associate, ‘I often the National Library of Wales less interest to an American wished in writing the LG that to make the final amendments, audience than to a British one.’41 I had made the other choice’, lamenting, ‘There is loss as well Jones dutifully tackled the task a reference to the possibility of as gain. They [the American of extensive revision which he preparing a biography of Stanley publisher’s readers] fight shy found irksome and laborious. In Baldwin rather than Lloyd of human touches & points of November he opened his heart George.45) Just before Christ- interest to us in this country. once more to Violet Markham: mas 1948 he submitted his ‘final Some I am re-inserting.’ He ‘I’ve reached the stage when I script’ of the Lloyd George biog- anticipated that this thankless think the LG book is “rotten” & raphy ‘reluctantly – should like task would continue for several ought to be completely rewrit- now to rewrite it and properly, weeks. Jones then reflected on ten. I had no business to attempt but unequal to it at seventy- a curious plan hatched in 1922, it knowing the strict conditions nine. Should have started when when the coalition government laid down for civil servants. … I went to the P[ilgrim] T[rust]. I was conspicuously tottering, What a number of snags & slips hope G. M. Y[oung]’s opus [on It was gen- for the well-heeled Davies fam- I find in this attempt at a final Baldwin] progresses towards ily of Llandinam to purchase revision. … So much of what perfection.’46 erally well The Times newspaper and install I’ve written is stale for scholars In January 1949 Tom Jones Lloyd George as editor: & dull for the general reader.’42 sought the permission of Lloyd received, He had long since concluded George’s elder daughter Lady but the com- I am in correspondence with that accepting the commission Olwen Carey-Evans to include Stanley Morrison on the nego- to write the book was ‘a piece in the book a full-page photo- pany’s rather tiations for the sale of The of impertinence because of its graph of her mother Dame Mar- Times in 1922 which took extraordinary difficulty’.43 His garet, continuing: patronising place before it was bought by negative feelings were accen- J. J. Astor. I went for LG to tuated by the appearance in I have purposely avoided con- reader in the Scotland to see DD [David December of Malcolm Thomp- sulting you, Gwilym and US eventu- Davies, of Llandinam], Gwen son’s ‘official biography’ of Megan closely so that you & Daisy with a view to their Lloyd George. As he put it to may truthfully say when it ally con- buying it & making LG edi- his daughter Eirene: appears that none of you has tor!! on the fall of the coalition. any responsibility for what I cluded that DD & G[wen] were willing but The LG ‘Official’ Life came have written. I confess I had no Daisy objected on the advice of today & first impressions are idea when I lightly promised the text had their stockbroker. DD & LG as very favourable. It is v. well to do the book how difficult I to be pruned owner & editor would not have produced, easy to handle, & should find the task at my age. lasted a month together.50 well illustrated. Have only Had I started twenty years ago ‘rather just savoured the text, which is it would be far more adequate At this point he still hoped that fluent & readable, & if on the than it is.47 extensively’. the book would appear in the

Journal of Liberal History 58 Spring 2008 29 thomas jones’s lloyd george autumn of 1950, at least on the the chapters on these years were will not have any ground for a other side of the Atlantic: ‘At again cut back quite substantially prosecution.56 the moment I am checking bib- – as the result of the directives of liographical references, & tak- the reader employed by the Har- The proofs were duly returned ing out commas with which vard University Press who had to the printers on 12 February, they have plastered its pages in insisted that the American read- and the final pages were printed USA! I don’t like these three ership at least would not be ‘much and numbered by 22 April, by first months of the year & prefer excited by the long drawn-out which time Sir Geoffrey White- to hug the blankets, but I can’t demise of the Liberal Party and head, a former civil service man- complain.’51 His attention was Lloyd George’s part in it’.54 darin at Whitehall, was busily absorbed, too, by the progress The dawn of the new year – at work preparing the index.57 of the February 1950 general 1951 – saw poor Tom Jones, now Whitehead had completed his election campaign, in which his fully eighty years of age, literally laborious chore by 10 May and adored daughter Eirene was the ‘up to the eyes with LG proofs. lavished praise on Jones’s ability Labour candidate at highly-mar- What an exacting & exhausting as a biographer ‘to pack [in] an ginal Flintshire East. In March job it is – grammar, punctuation, extraordinary amount of matter Churchill was approached to capitals, quotations. I go daily to and at the same time to keep [the write a foreword to the volume – the NLW. … I have 176 pages chapters] most readable’, while ‘So far as he [Lloyd George] ever out of 300 in page form.’ At this the final chapter surveying Lloyd had a political friend you were late stage, a further cruel blow George’s character had emerged that friend’ – but the Tory leader was received when Lord Beaver- as ‘a really balanced and fair esti- rather churlishly responded, brook, by then the owner of the mate of a fascinating and com- ‘Alas, I cannot add to my tasks copyright for the Lloyd George plex character’.58 at the present time’, adding, ‘I Papers, obstinately refused per- On 20 August 1951 Tom shall await the publication with mission to Thomas Jones even Jones was thrilled to receive his great interest!’52 At the end of to quote passages from the first advance copy of the final November, Jones was delighted published War Memoirs on the published tome, now due to be to receive from Harvard the rather spurious grounds that he published simultaneously in final, complete typescript text [Beaverbrook] had already com- Britain and America on 4 Octo- of his biography – ‘It begins at missioned Robert Sherwood ber. Its proud author considered last to look like a book’ – which to write a biography of Lloyd the bound volume ‘an admirable had been quite savagely pruned George. ‘I’m having lots of both- piece of bookcraft & worthy of to some 120,000 words (a cut ers over the LG book’, lamented the Press. … I am most proud in the region of 50,000 words) Jones at the end of the month, of the Index!!’ He much regret- and contained just six illustra- attributing at least some of his ted, however, the decision to tions. The volume was expected difficulties to the fact that ‘I am charge one guinea for each copy to sell at fifteen shillings. On 1 not one of the favourites of the rather than fifteen shillings – December the text was returned Countess’.55 The refusal to allow ‘few buyers in Wales I imagine to Oxford to be converted into him to quote from the Lloyd will stretch to a guinea for any long galley proofs.53 George War Memoirs in particu- book’.59 The final volume ran to In fact, the rewriting and lar he felt to be ‘a nasty set-back’, 330 pages and contained a full elimination of material had and his publishers considered bibliography of the sources used been much more ruthless than Beaverbrook’s churlish obsti- The dawn and a magnificently detailed Tom Jones had suggested in his nacy ‘unprecedented in their of the new index. Ironically, as the publica- correspondence to friends and experience’, but Jones resolved tion of the book approached, the associates – to the immense loss not to challenge the press mag- year – 1951 indefatigable Jones was busy at of historians of modern Wales. nate’s decision as: work on the final proofs of his The eventual published volume – saw poor autobiographical volume Welsh focused primarily on the period Beaverbrook is so incalculable Tom Jones, Broth ‘& feeling rather sorry from 1914 to 1922, although the that I decided not to write to that I ever bothered to print it. blame for this did not lie with him. I suspect the refusal comes now fully I could have had a few copies Jones. A great deal of important from another source. So I set to typed for circulation “within early Welsh material was cut out. & have eliminated several quo- eighty years the family”. But I’ve gone too far A whole chapter on the campaign tations & traced several to their with the publishers to draw back to secure the disestablishment of sources from wh[ich] LG took of age, liter- now.’60 He regretted that the offi- the Welsh church between 1886 them & altered footnotes &c ally ‘up to the cial launch of the Lloyd George and 1914 re-emerged as just one – a great costly nuisance. The biography coincided with the brief paragraph. Although Jones incident quite upset me. How- eyes with LG beginning of the October 1951 had been close to Lloyd George ever I am now recovered & C. general election campaign, ‘& during the period after 1922, is satisfied that Beaverbrook proofs’. its sales will be damaged for the

30 Journal of Liberal History 58 Spring 2008 thomas jones’s lloyd george moment at any rate’. But he was In the when Jones himself was actually (eventually to be published as ‘much comforted’ by the gen- present. The final chapter was Tempestuous Journey by Hutchin- erous letters which he received pages of ‘the best’, and throughout his son in 1954), suggested that Jones from friends and reviewers who the Evening study Jones had been impres- had been far too guarded and had been given advance copies sively ‘wise. Political biography over-cautious – ‘What a story of the book.61 Standard, has in the past suffered from too Tom Jones hasn’t told!’ Owen Generally, indeed, the much sugar. A dash of vinegar himself was to make very exten- response of the reviewers was Blake hailed is a welcome change.’63 In The sive use of the massive archive most gratifying. The Countess Observer, Dingle Foot hailed the of Lloyd George’s papers sold by Lloyd-George, however, was Jones’s work book as ‘a remarkable achieve- the Countess to Beaverbrook in predictably unimpressed. As she as ‘the clear- ment’ where ‘the controversies 1949. A. J. Cummings wrote of wrote privately to Ann Parry, of 1916 to 1922’ were ‘recorded Jones’s biography as ‘competent, Lloyd George’s former ‘Welsh est and most and analysed with a high degree clear-cut, critical, with an air of secretary’ and now the curator of of objectivity’, whereas a review scrupulous fairness … but it is the new Lloyd George Museum authorita- in the Manchester Guardian con- not by a long way – and could at Llanystumdwy: cluded that Jones had ‘come not very well be – the whole of tive account nearer grasping the man entire Lloyd George’.65 Such critical Have you seen Tom Jones’ … of the than any previous biographer’. views were, however, very much book? I just glanced at it & In The Spectator, the respected in the minority. don’t think much of it, & I am greatest Welsh academic (and former On the whole, Jones him- told that apart from the papers Liberal MP for the University of self was ‘quite satisfied with the where he has a pull, it has not interest. … Wales) W. J. Gruffydd welcomed reception. It’s amusing to watch had very good notices, & that the volume as ‘an impressive what is quoted’, while recog- it is not a good book. Beaver- In less than attempt’ to write ‘an excellent nising that, ‘Future Lives will brook asked me: ‘What was 300 pages text-book … indispensable for do more than I have to stress Tom Jones’ quarrel with LG?’ the student of modern politics – the greatness & the warts.’ He That will give you an idea of Dr Jones has but the student of society must hoped that readers would ‘read the tone of the book. Do you turn elsewhere. … For reli- the book straight through & think we ought to have a copy been able ability and accuracy, no other not in snippets’. By 9 October for the Museum?62 biography of Lloyd George can the Oxford University Press to describe compare with this work.’ Gruff- had resolved to initiate a second But the reviews which appeared nearly eve- ydd did, however, criticise Jones print-run of 3,500 copies. A full in print from reputable, unbiased for being ‘unduly circumspect’, 4,000 copies had already been reviewers were encouraging. rything that tending to ‘skim over’ discredit- sent to the US.66 The flood of Perhaps the most welcome was able episodes in Lloyd George’s reviews extending over several that of Robert Blake, a future matters.’ career such as the Marconi affair weeks continued to prove ‘most doyen of political biographers, in and the use of the Black and Tans diverting’ to the aged author, 1951 a thirty-four-year old tutor in Ireland after the war. In the although many reviewers felt in modern history at Oxford Daily Telegraph, Lord Birkenhead that he should have been ‘more University, who was himself described Tom Jones’s volume expansive. I couldn’t if I tried. writing a life of Andrew Bonar as ‘the best and most objective I’ve forgotten the good stories. Law. In the pages of the Evening book on Lloyd George … schol- … Meanwhile my secret service Standard, he hailed Jones’s work arly and erudite … painstaking tells me that Beaverbrook paid as ‘the clearest and most authori- without being dull. … He has the Countess £18,000 for the LG tative account … of the great- austerely refrained from idola- papers. They show that LG had est interest. … In less than 300 try’, while ‘discuss[ing] with been involved in four divorce pages Dr Jones has been able to candour … the more dubious suits, but had managed to extri- describe nearly everything that aspects of Lloyd George’s public cate himself from all of them.’67 matters.’ Inevitably, claimed conduct’. Although he felt com- Encouraged by the recep- Blake, the severely-compressed pelled to stop short of hailing tion accorded to the Lloyd narrative degenerated into ‘a the work as ‘a great biography’, George biography, Tom Jones crowded catalogue of events – Birkenhead welcomed it gladly then began to consider publish- and catalogues are often dull’, as a ‘restrained and able book ing lengthy extracts from the and Jones tended to play down … a true step forward in the detailed diaries which he had the importance of Bonar Law attempt to assess this fascinating kept throughout his period in in Lloyd George’s life and was and baffling character’.64 public life. He recognised from notably ‘sparing of personal Some critics, inevitably, were the outset, however, that pub- reminiscences’ such as the cele- not so generous. Frank Owen, lishing the diary material was brated visit to Hitler at Berchtes- himself at work on a mas- ‘a most difficult proposition in gaden in the autumn of 1936 sive volume on Lloyd George my life time. I am toying with its

Journal of Liberal History 58 Spring 2008 31 thomas jones’s lloyd george preparation but the task of selec- Tom Jones’s just three weeks after his 85th March 1945 (private collection). tion is a nightmare – so many birthday. 7 NLW, Dr Thomas Jones CH Papers people are alive – & kicking. I biography of Tom Jones’s biography of T7/131, TJ to Violet Markham, 2 hope to manage one if not two Lloyd George, Lloyd George, published as long February 1945. volumes.’68 Indeed, after the ago as the autumn of 1951, has 8 A transcript of the broadcast was publication of his biography of published as stood the test of time, regu- published in The Listener, March Lloyd George in the autumn larly being cited and quoted by 1945, and was also made available of 1951, Jones devoted much long ago as authors and scholars ever since. in pamphlet form. There is a copy of his time and energy during In February 1972, Kenneth O. in the NLW, Dr Thomas Jones 1952 and 1953 to the prepara- the autumn Morgan, in a marvellous sur- CH Papers, file 7/58. The obituary tion of a volume of his diaries of 1951, has vey of the historiography of appeared in The Observer, 1 April interspersed with correspond- Lloyd George, still referred to 1945. See also Thomas Jones, ‘Lloyd ence. Oxford University Press stood the the book as ‘by far the best one- George: some personal memories’, had again agreed to publish. volume study of Lloyd George Contemporary Review, May 1948, pp. The task kept him ‘fairly alive & test of time, to date’.71 Although it is prob- 260–64. Jones had received ‘a sud- active at Aberystwyth’ through- ably fair to say that that acco- den and urgent request’ to prepare out 1953.69 The selection of pho- regularly lade was subsequently taken by an obituary notice for Lloyd George tographs for the volume proved being cited Peter Rowland in his magisterial as early as April 1943: see NLW, Dr an immensely difficult task, as biography published three years Thomas Jones CH Papers T7/79, its author had studiously avoided and quoted later – Lloyd George (London: TJ to A. J. Sylvester, 16 April 1943 being photographed with the Barrie and Jenkins, 1975), run- (‘Private and Personal’) (copy), and Prime Ministers whom he had by authors ning to 872 fact-packed pages – Sylvester to TJ, 19 April 1943 (‘Pri- served. The book, A Diary with Jones’s volume certainly remains vate and Personal’). Letters, 1931–1950, was eventu- and scholars a most concise and useful source, 9 Ibid., T3/55, Violet Markham to TJ, ally published by OUP on 21 ever since. an essential short guide for the 27 March 1945. October 1954 and was dedicated student of Lloyd George. 10 Ibid., T7/40, TJ to Violet Markham, to Jones’s wife Eirene Theodora 30 March 1945. Jones (1875–1935). A most sub- Dr. J. Graham Jones is Senior Archi- 11 Ibid., A1/69, Frances Lloyd-George, stantial volume running to no vist and Head of the Welsh Political Tŷ Newydd, Llanystumdwy, to TJ, fewer than 582 pages and priced Archive at the National Library of 26 April 1945. at thirty shillings, its author con- Wales, Aberystwyth. 12 Ibid., A1/70, Frances Lloyd-George sidered it ‘too dear to give away’. to TJ, 20 May 1945. Within a month, Frank Owen’s 1 A superbly authoritative and schol- 13 Ibid., A1/71, TJ to Frances Lloyd- biography of Lloyd George, Tem- arly biography of Dr Thomas Jones George, 22 May 1945 (copy). pestuous Journey, had also seen the CH is available in E. L. Ellis, T.J.: 14 Ibid., T7/154, TJ to Violet light of day, a mammoth study a Life of Dr Thomas Jones CH (Car- Markham, 10 November 1945. which Jones was quick to dismiss diff: University of Wales Press, 15 The Spectator, 30 November 1945. as mere ‘first rate journalism’.70 1992). The contents of this volume 16 A most helpful survey, written from By this time Tom Jones was were subsequently summarised the vantage point of the early 1970s, in his eighty-fifth year and his in E. L. Ellis, ‘Dr. Thomas Jones, is Kenneth O. Morgan, ‘Lloyd health had begun to fail. Con- CH, of Rhymney: a many-sided George and the historians’, Transac- sequently he resolved to resign Welshman’, in the Transactions of the tions of the Honourable Society of Cym- the Presidency of UCW, Aber- Honourable Society of Cymmrodorion, mrodorion 1971, Part I (1972), pp. ystwyth and Coleg Harlech and 1992, pp. 183–97. See also the help- 65–85. This was originally given as the Chairmanship of the Pilgrim ful article by Rodney Lowe in the a lecture at the House of Commons Trust. He decided to leave Aber- new Oxford Dictionary of National on 22 February 1972. ystwyth and move to Manor End Biography, Vol. 30 (Oxford: OUP, 17 See the review in the New Statesman near Birchington in Kent which 2004), pp. 649–52. and Nation, 17 June 1933. was just ten minutes’ journey 2 Keith Middlemas (ed.), Thomas 18 W. Watkin Davies, Lloyd George, away from his son Tristan and Jones, Whitehall Diary, Vol. I (Lon- 1863–1914 (London: Constable, his family, and where he might don: Oxford University Press, 1939), pp. 279–81 and 289. See also see more of his daughter Eirene, 1971), p. 15. the review by R. H. S. Crossman since February 1950 – to Jones’s 3 Ellis, T.J., p. 299. in the New Statesman and Nation, 25 great delight – the Labour MP 4 National Library of Wales (here- March 1939. for Flintshire East in north-east after NLW), Dr Thomas Jones 19 NLW, Dr Thomas Jones CH Papers Wales. Her second re-election CH Papers T7/40, TJ to Violet T8/8, TJ to Violet Markham, 1 in this marginal constituency Markham, 30 March 1945. April 1946. in May 1955 brought much joy 5 The phrase is that used in Ellis, T. 20 Cited in Ellis, T.J., p. 494. to her ailing father, who even- J., p. 471. 21 NLW, Dr Thomas Jones CH Papers tually died on 15 October 1955, 6 Thomas Jones to David Astor, 3 A1/72, Lady Megan Lloyd George

32 Journal of Liberal History 58 Spring 2008 thomas jones’s lloyd george

to TJ, 31 May 1946. 41 Ibid., A1/79, ‘A Second Note on A Kettner Lunch / Liberal Democrat History Group meeting 22 Ibid., A1/73, J. A. Barlow, Treas- THE LIFE OF DAVID LLOYD ury Chambers, to TJ, 25 November GEORGE by President Thomas David Lloyd George 1946. Jones’ by Donald C. McKay, 6 23 Ibid., A1/74, TJ to Sir Edward August 1948. Cf. ibid., A1/78 for Owen Lloyd George, the present and 3rd Earl Lloyd George of Dwyfor, the grandson of Liberal Prime Minister David Bridges, Treasury Chambers, 27 McKay’s preliminary report. Lloyd George, will speak about his famous ancestor at the November 1946; ibid., A1/75, 42 Ibid., T8/104, TJ to Violet Kettner Lunch (organised jointly together with the Liberal Bridges to TJ, 2 December 1946. Markham, 9 November 1948. Democrat History Group) to be held at the National Liberal In the former letter TJ added, ‘PS. 43 Ibid., S3/86, TJ to Abraham Club on 15th April. Perhaps I should add that I have not Flexner, 28 December 1947. The lunch takes place at 1.00pm and costs £15 for two sought access to the Official Papers 44 Ibid., X10/139, TJ to Eirene courses, followed by coffee and mints. You do not have in the keeping of Countess Lloyd- Jones, 15 December 1947. On to be a member of the National Liberal Club or the History George’. Thompson’s volume, see the Group to attend. 24 NLW, A. J. Sylvester Papers, file D6, comments in The Spectator, 17 To reserve your place please contact Peter Whyte on TJ to Sylvester, 23 December 1946. December 1948, and NLW, A. 01344 423 184. 25 Ibid., Sylvester to TJ, 29 December J. Sylvester Papers, file C94, 1.00pm, Tuesday 15 April 1946 (copy). Sylvester to TJ, 4 January 1949 National Liberal Club, 1 Whitehall Place, London SW1 26 See J. Graham Jones, ‘The Real Lloyd (‘Personal’) (copy). George’, Journal of Liberal History 51 45 NLW, Dr Thomas Jones CH (Summer 2006), pp. 4–12. Papers A7/59, TJ to Geoffrey Markham, 2 February 1951. 27 NLW, Dr Thomas Jones CH Papers [?Fry], 9 October 1951 (copy). 57 Ibid., T8/192, TJ to VM, 12 Febru- S3/81, TJ to Abraham Flexner, 24 46 Ibid., W7/158, TJ to Geoffrey ary 1951; ibid., T8/196, TJ to VM, April 1947. Fry, Christmas Eve 1948 (copy). 22 April 1951. 28 NLW, A. J. Sylvester Papers, file D6, 47 Ibid., A1/83, TJ to Lady Olwen 58 Ibid., A2/28, Geoffrey Whitehead TJ to Sylvester, 10 June 1947; ibid., Carey-Evans, 25 January 1949 to TJ, 10 May 1951. Sylvester to TJ, 17 June 1947 (copy). (‘Personal’). 59 Ibid., T8/207, TJ to VM, 20 August 29 NLW, Dr Thomas Jones CH Papers 48 Ibid., A1/84, Lady Megan Lloyd 1951. 7/79, A. J. Sylvester to TJ, 25 Sep- George to TJ, 16 June 1949. 60 Ibid., T8/208, TJ to VM, 4 Septem- tember 1947. 49 Ibid., T8/147, TJ to Violet ber 1951. 30 NLW, A. J. Sylvester Papers, file Markham, 3 January 1950. 61 Ibid., T8/209, TJ to VM, 23 Sep- D6, TJ to Sylvester, 2 October 1947; 50 Ibid., T8/151, TJ to Violet tember 1951; NLW, Llewelyn Wynn NLW, Dr Thomas Jones CH Papers Markham, 23 January 1950. Griffith Papers P1/2, TJ to LlWG, 7/79, Sylvester to TJ, 7 October 51 NLW, A. J. Sylvester Papers, file 25 September 1951. 1947. C95, TJ to Sylvester, 27 January 62 NLW, Frances Stevenson Family 31 Ibid., T8/89, TJ to Violet Markham, 1950. Papers FCG1/3, Frances Lloyd- 1 July 1948. 52 NLW, Dr Thomas Jones CH George to Ann Parry, 11 October 32 Ibid., T8/83, TJ to Violet Markham, Papers A1/85, TJ to Sylvester, 13 1951. 5 June 1948. March 1950 (copy); ibid., A1/86, 63 Evening Standard, 4 October 1951. 33 For reviews of both books, see The Churchill to T. J. Wilson, 27 64 The Observer, 7 October 1951; Man- Listener, 16 October 1947. The Real March 1950. chester Guardian, 11 October 1951; Lloyd George is also extensively 53 Ibid., T8/185, TJ to Violet The Spectator, 12 October 1951; reviewed in the Times Literary Sup- Markham, 26 November 1950. Daily Telegraph, 4 October 1951. plement, 4 October 1947. 54 Ibid., A1/80, David Owen to T. 65 Daily Express, 4 October 1951; News 34 NLW, Dr Thomas Jones CH Papers J. Wilson of the Harvard Uni- Chronicle, 4 October 1951. T8/68, TJ to Violet Markham, 2 versity Press, 18 August 1948. 66 NLW, Dr Thomas Jones CH Papers November 1947. The final typescript of the vol- T8/210, TJ to VM, 7 October 1951; 35 Ibid., T8/69, TJ to VM, 9 Novem- ume is available, ibid., A3 and ibid., T8/211, TJ to VM, 9 October ber 1947. the working proof, ibid., A4. On 1951. 36 Ibid., A1/76, TJ to Sir Edward the final rewriting process, see 67 Ibid., T8/215, TJ to VM, 12 Novem- Bridges, [13 November 1947] also Morgan, ‘Lloyd George and ber 1951. (copy); ibid., A1/77, Bridges to TJ, the historians’, 1971, p. 70. 68 NLW, Llewelyn Wynn Griffith 1 December 1947. 55 NLW, Dr Thomas Jones CH Papers P1/2, TJ to LlWG, 25 Sep- 37 Ibid., S3/86, TJ to Abraham Papers T8/189, TJ to Violet tember 1951. Flexner, 28 December 1947. Markham, 19 January 1951; ibid. 69 NLW, A. J. Sylvester Papers file C95, 38 Ibid., 7/79, A. J. Sylvester to TJ, 20 file 1/3, Edith Barnes, Curtis TJ to Sylvester, 11 August 1953. December 1947. Brown Ltd., London WC2, to 70 Ibid., TJ to Sylvester, 10 November 39 See the correspondence ibid., Class TJ, 19 January 1951 (copy); ibid. 1954. A2. W7/160, TJ to Geoffrey Fry, 24 71 Morgan, ‘Lloyd George and the his- 40 Ibid., 7/79, A. J. Sylvester to TJ, 27 January 1951 (copy). torians’, 1971, p. 70. February 1948 (‘Personal’). 56 Ibid., T8/190, TJ to Violet

Journal of Liberal History 58 Spring 2008 33