Liberals divided Dr J. Graham Jones examines the February 1921 by- election in Cardiganshire, where Asquithian and Lloyd George Liberals engaged in bitter internecine warfare ‘‘EveryEvery votevote forfor LlewelynLlewelyn WilliamsWilliams isis aa votevote againstagainst LloydLloyd George’George’ 1
lewelyn’s opposed to national waste; In October W. Llewelyn Williams, Liberal ‘L So work for him with zeal and haste.’ MP for the Carmarthen Boroughs since , a By the s Welsh Liberals proudly referred to former close associate of Lloyd George who had the Cardiganshire constituency as ‘the safest seat dramatically fallen out with him primarily over the held by a Liberal member’. This remote, predomi- need to introduce military conscription during nantly rural division on the western seaboard of , wrote to Harry Rees, the secretary of the Wales, so far removed from the hub of political life at Cardiganshire Liberals. ‘You will have seen that the Westminster, and first captured by the Liberals in the Carmarthen Boros are going to be wiped out, & ‘breaking of the ice’ general election of , was that I shall therefore be looking for a new seat ei- held continuously by the party from until the ther in Carm. or elsewhere. I should be glad to defeat of Roderic Bowen in . But this long hear from you what are the prospects in tenure was not always characterised by political har- Cardiganshire?’ Williams wrote in the certain mony, calm and tranquillity. During the early s knowledge that his own seat was about to disappear in particular, intensely bitter political controversy in the impending redistribution of parliamentary beset Cardiganshire. It was a deep-rooted conflict constituencies. In the event no peerage material- which left indelible scars for a whole generation and ised for Vaughan Davies, and no parliamentary va- longer. The advent of ‘total war’ after had made cancy arose for Llewelyn Williams. Williams’ fate a deep impression upon the life of the county. It in- was effectively sealed by the course of the famous augurated a period of redefinition and a crisis of Maurice Debate in the House of Commons in deeply entrenched values caused by the pressures of May when he was one of the ninety-eight world war, which undermined severely the tradi- Liberal MPs to enter the opposition lobby. ‘Ll.G. is tional ethos embodied in nonconformist Liberalism. now definitely at the head of a Tory The county’s Liberal MP ever since had Gov[ernmen]t’, he wrote defiantly to Harry Rees, been Matthew Lewis Vaughan Davies, squire of ‘… Of course the Liberal Party will be split up Tanybwlch mansion near Aberystwyth, justifiably again, but I don’t fear the result. I am prepared, if dubbed ‘the silent backbencher’ whose long, undis- necessary, to make an alliance with the Labour tinguished tenure of the constituency had caused Party.’ As the war ran its course speculation per- ‘the most enervating torpor’ to ‘seize’ the local Lib- sisted that Vaughan Davies, who had declared him- eral Party. During the later stages of the war per- self a supporter of Lloyd George in , was likely sistent rumours circulated that the veteran MP was to be awarded a peerage. anxious to ‘retire’ to the upper house, and specula- As it happened Vaughan Davies was returned to tion ensued on the identity of his likely successor as parliament unopposed in the ‘coupon’ general elec- Cardiganshire’s representative in the House of tion held on the conclusion of hostilities, having re- Commons. ceived official endorsement from the coalition camp
Journal of Liberal Democrat History 37 Winter 2002–03 3 over two years longer. In the autumn of county in , she had been accompa- H. H. Asquith was welcomed to nied pointedly by Captain Ernest Aberystwyth amidst scenes of great ju- Evans. Evans had already avidly sought bilation and enthusiasm. the Liberal nomination for the Univer- At long last, in the early days of , sity of Wales constituency in , but the peerage anticipated for several years had been persuaded to withdraw his finally materialised: M. L. Vaughan name (probably due to pressure from Davies became Baron Ystwyth in the Lloyd George) in favour of veteran New Year’s Honours List. Already Welsh Liberal Sir John Herbert Lewis, a eighty years of age, with nigh on close political associate of the Prime twenty-six years of continuous service Minister’s for fully thirty years. The fa- in the Commons and recently elected vour now needed to be repaid. as chairman of the Welsh Parliamentary Evans had already addressed several Party, he was hailed in some circles as political meetings in the county during the ‘doyen of Welsh political life’ whose the spring and summer of . On the ‘promotion’ was ‘rather overdue’. The very day that Vaughan Davies’s peerage local Asquithian camp was less im- was announced, Captain Evans arrived pressed. The Prime Minister was at at Aberystwyth fresh from Downing once reminded that, as a reforming, Street, and within four short days had radical Chancellor of the Exchequer already canvassed the electors of the key Matthew Vaughan Davies (later Baron back in , intent on carrying his towns of Aberaeron, Aberystwyth and Ystwyth), MP for Cardiganshire 1895– 1920 ‘People’s Budget’, he had dismissed the Tregaron. It was widely felt throughout upper chamber as ‘purely a branch of Cardiganshire that such underhand tac- as early as the previous July. There was the Tory organisation’. Now he stood tics should not be allowed to go un- some disquiet in Cardiganshire as a result accused of ‘recklessly throw[ing] challenged. The coalition ‘nominee’ was of the MP’s apparent ready endorsement Cardiganshire into the turmoil and ex- certainly not to be granted a ‘walk- of the coalition government. Vaughan pense of an election’. It was indeed over’. There was also a growing senti- Davies attempted to assuage local oppo- contended from the outset that a ment that some protest should be made sition by declaring his unwillingness to keenly observed by-election lay in against the increasingly lavish expendi- continue to support the coalition after prospect, and it was soon realised that ture of the coalition government, and the signing of the peace treaties if the Vaughan Davies’s elevation was prima- plans to put up an ‘anti-waste’ candidate government violated Liberal principles. rily a device engineered by the Prime were well received within the county As the election loomed, Llewelyn Minister to bring into parliament his boroughs of Aberystwyth, Lampeter Williams again doggedly staked his claim own private secretary, Captain Ernest and Cardigan. in the event of a vacancy: Evans, himself a native of Aberystwyth, It was widely felt that the fledgling a Welsh speaker, a barrister by profes- county Labour Party, set up in Decem- There is a persistent rumour that sion and an erudite public speaker with ber , was not yet sufficiently well Vaughan Davies will be raised to the extensive local connections. established to put up its own parlia- peerage at the last moment, & a It was noted, too, that ‘Wee Free’ mentary candidate, but its supporters George man will be rushed in for (Asquithian) support was substantial were strongly attracted by the prospect Cardiganshire. within the county. Indeed Asquith had of an ‘anti-waste’, ‘anti-coalition’ aspir- In such a case I want you to make himself been considered a possible ant. Some Labourites from the south it known that I should be willing to Liberal candidate for Cardiganshire of the county favoured a socialist candi- offer my services, as a Liberal, pre- only a short time earlier, before his re- date, but ‘wiser counsels in the Aberyst- pared to give loyal support to the turn for Paisley in . Local passions wyth district and the Labour men in Gov[ernmen]t until peace is declared, ran high against the notion that Lloyd the North were loath to spend time and but prepared to fight them if they will George should consider the county energy on a fight which did not hold try (as they declare) to play hanky- Liberal Association the mere ‘hand- out a fair prospect of success’. It was panky with Dis[establishmen]t & Im- maiden’ of an administration compris- considered that left-wing supporters perial Preference, & try to perpetuate ing mainly Unionist MPs whose good were likely to vote for an independent Conscription &c. name had been tainted beyond hope Liberal candidate. Should they run the thing very of recovery by the atrocities of the As the post-war coalition govern- fine (they are capable of anything!) I Black and Tans in Ireland. ment ran its course, resentment had could wire the £ required to be Resentment increased as it became grown apace at the apparent betrayal of deposited at nomination. ever more apparent that the course of traditional Liberal principles, now al- In the event no vacancy arose and events had long been manipulated by legedly ‘sacrificed to the Moloch of po- Vaughan Davies continued to represent the Prime Minister. When his wife Mrs litical opportunity’. In some quarters the county in parliament for a little Margaret Lloyd George had visited the outrage had followed the decision to
4 Journal of Liberal Democrat History 37 Winter 2002–03 make a grant of £,, from the member of the secretariat at Down- votes and Captain Ernest Evans . Treasury to the disestablished Welsh na- ing-Street, Mr Evans came into con- On the day of the fateful selection tional church. Demands for devolu- tact and close contact with Mr Lloyd meeting Williams had asserted, ‘I am tionary concessions to Wales – even the George, but he comes to the electors coming out as a strong “anti-waste” modest call for a Secretary of State for of Cardiganshire free from any bond, candidate, because of the extravagance Wales – were heard no longer, it was ar- spoken or written. Even his enemies of the Government, which has squan- gued, because Lloyd George now ‘held know the Premier too well to accuse dered in Mesopotamia hundreds of and always will hold his great Office on him of attempting to curtail the free- millions which ought to have been the servile tenure of subjection to Tory dom of another man. Mr Evans sup- used to build houses in this country’. domination’. ports the Coalition and has as much In response to the voting figures, in an Speculation soon began to focus on right to that view as Mr Llewelyn evangelical speech he proclaimed to his the identity of likely Liberal candi- Williams has to support Mr Asquith. followers that Lloyd George had ‘gone dates. Five names were mentioned, He has not disguised his ambition to astray like a prodigal son’ by abandon- two of whom – local Aldermen J. M. represent his native county in the leg- ing his Liberalism to assume the leader- Howell and D. C. Roberts – soon islative chamber, and he has made no ship of a Tory-dominated coalition. In withdrew, mainly because they tended secret of the fact that when a vacancy the wake of the selection meeting, the to support Lloyd George. Three arose he would submit himself to the coalitionists convened their own meet- names remained: Captain Ernest Association for their consideration. ing at Lampeter town hall, unani- Evans, W. Llewelyn Williams and Sir mously selecting Captain Evans as their Equally predictably the Welsh Gazette, Lewes Loveden Pryce. Interest and ex- own candidate. The scene was set for a dismissing Evans as ‘an opportunist’ citement increased throughout the civil war by-election. whose ‘sole ambition is not to serve county. There was much uncertainty The rival candidates contrasted Cardiganshire, but to get a seat in Par- concerning the political complexion sharply. W. Llewelyn Williams had been liament’, hailed Llewelyn Williams as of Cardiganshire as no contested par- born in Carmarthenshire’s Towy valley ‘the man for Cardiganshire … He is liamentary election had taken place in in , the son of a tenant farmer, and independent and will be free to criti- the county since January . Women educated at the celebrated Llandovery cise the wicked waste and extrava- had never previously been able to cast College and Brasenose College, Oxford, gance of the Government; free to their votes. An independent Liberal where he had made the acquaintance of stand up for the small farmers and candidate was considered ‘essential to an array of patriotic Welshmen. He had free to demand Temperance for the essence of Welsh Liberalism. Oth- spent his early career as a journalist and Wales.’ The ever-spiralling political erwise we might as well admit at once had played an important role in the enthusiasm and partisanship displayed that all Welsh seats are at the disposal of Cymru Fydd (‘Young Wales’) movement throughout the county was paralleled the Prime Minister to allocate to of the late nineteenth century when he by intense interest at Westminster, whom he will.’ had formed some rapport with the above all at Coalition Liberal head- The final selection meeting was to youthful David Lloyd George. Closely quarters. It was recognised from the be held at the Victoria Hall, Lampeter associated with the New Liberal ethos of outset that Lloyd George could not on January . By this time Sir personally participate in the cam- Lewes Loveden Pryce had withdrawn paign, but it soon became known that W. Llewelyn Williams, independent Liberal his name and local opinion crystallised candidate in the by-election his wife Margaret intended to speak and polarised sharply behind the two widely on behalf of Captain Evans. remaining candidates for the nomina- By the standards of the age strict se- tion. The two highly influential county curity surrounded the January selec- newspapers – the Cambrian News and tion meeting when no fewer than the Welsh Gazette – had very firm po- delegates out of a possible attended. litical allegiances. The former had come In the graphic description of the ‘Spe- out stoutly in support of Captain Evans cial Correspondent’ of The Times, ‘The from the outset of the pre-election journey to the conference at Lampeter, campaign at the beginning of January: thirty miles south of Aberystwyth, was [He] comes to Cardiganshire as a reminiscent of a football cup-tie trip. Cardiganshire man knowing the There was the same excitement, the county and its people, understanding same animated discussion of chances its peculiar needs in agriculture and and the same keen partisanship.’ local government – a man reared in Following a notably turbulent politi- its atmosphere and yet broadened by cal meeting, where on occasion ‘pande- contact with a wider sphere. It is un- monium reigned supreme’, in the fair to describe Mr. Evans, as is being words of the Cambrian News corre- done, as ‘the Premier’s nominee’. As a spondent, Llewelyn Williams polled
Journal of Liberal Democrat History 37 Winter 2002–03 5 these years, he had been seriously con- than Mr Lloyd George and himself. struggle is being waged.’ Political sidered as a possible party candidate for Whenever either was in trouble they pundits were notably reluctant to in- Cardiganshire in place of M. L. Vaughan always helped each other. He did not dulge in prophecy. Quite apart from the Davies in . hate Mr. Lloyd George. The most bit- uncertainty created by the lack of a par- In January he had begun a sec- ter hour in his history was when he liamentary election in the county for ond career when he was called to the had to part from him. fully eleven years, and the unknown bar from Lincoln’s Inn. Each time a va- The only thing he had against impact of the women’s vote for the first cancy arose in a Welsh Liberal seat dur- Captain Ernest Evans was that he was time, the physical diversity of ing subsequent years Williams’s name tied to the Coalition. What was the Cardiganshire made prediction diffi- was mentioned as a likely candidate. good of sending a Prime Minister’s cult. Its coastal rim extended fifty miles, Eventually, strongly supported by Lloyd Private Secretary to Parliament? He and at its widest point inland it ran to George (then the novice President of (Mr Williams) knew something about fully thirty-five miles. With the excep- the Board of Trade), he had entered private secretaries – they dare not call tion of the small towns, most of the parliament as MP for the Carmarthen their souls their own. (Laughter) populace was engaged in agriculture, Boroughs in . The two men then many residing twelve miles away from When he addressed a group of uproari- became bitter enemies over the con- the nearest polling station. At the height ous students at the University College scription bills introduced in , the of the campaign as many as coali- of Wales, Aberystwyth, Williams faced rift deepened as the war ran its course, tion organisers were at work at strategic constant heckling in support of Lloyd and Williams soon found himself politi- points in the constituency, desperately George, the candidate disclaiming ‘any cally isolated, refusing offers of non- anxious to poll every possible vote for hostility to the Prime Minister whom, political posts – ‘My soul is not for sale’ Captain Evans. The county electoral he said, he would be the first to wel- – and predictably failing to secure the register for – contained , come back to the Liberal ranks when Liberal nomination for a Welsh con- men and , women. Many of the he got rid of the Curzons, Carsons, stituency in . latter were thought to be diehard Lloyd Balfours, and Bonar Laws, who a few Williams’s relationship with Lloyd George devotees, but others, alarmed years ago tried to cut his throat over the George came to the fore during the by repeated reports of governmental Marconi case’. In his election address by-election campaign which co- extravagance and waste, had resolved to he denounced the ‘insensate extrava- incided with the establishment of the cast their votes for Llewelyn Williams. A gance of the most reckless and improvi- Welsh Liberal Federation as an further consideration was the solid pha- dent Administration that has ever held Asquithian power base within Wales. lanx of between , and , true office in a Democratic country’. Llewelyn Williams (together with Ellis blue Tory supporters in the division, Captain Ernest Evans, born in , W. Davies, Rhys Hopkin Morris and most (but not all) of whom were sure to was fully eighteen years Williams’ jun- Judge J. Bryn Roberts) was one of its support Captain Evans. ior. Like his rival, he too had been edu- founders, all of them taking the line Yet another crucial factor was the cated at Llandovery College and had that Lloyd George as premier had religious complexion of the Cardigan- been called to the bar. He was well shamelessly betrayed Welsh interests shire electorate. It was notable from known in Cardiganshire where his fa- over temperance, land legislation, ad- the beginning of the campaign that ther was clerk to the county council. ministrative devolution and the terms the Welsh church question, finally set- During the previous few years he had of disendowment. To some extent tled the previous year, was an electoral remained at the hub of political life as a Williams’s appeal tended to be nostalgic damp squib. At Aberystwyth on member of Lloyd George’s ‘Garden in the world of , as his speeches February Asquith’s daughter Lady Vio- Suburb’ in Downing Street. As al- concerned the ‘betrayal’ of the Welsh let Bonham-Carter, who addressed no ready noted, he had hoped to become over the terms of disendowment, the fewer than eleven campaign meetings, the Liberal candidate for the University failure to act over the ‘Speaker’s Con- told her audience, ‘He [Lloyd George] of Wales in . ference’ on devolution, and the re-endowed the Church with taxpay- As the by-election campaign devel- decision to abandon the Welsh Li- ers’ money’, but her impassioned oped it became clear that support for censing Bill. Yet early in the campaign, words made little impression. Yet the the two candidates was fairly equally in a speech at Llandysul, he was at pains campaign more generally was col- matched. At the height of the campaign to refer to his erstwhile friendship with oured by denominational cross-cur- The Times’ correspondent wrote, ‘In Ab- the Prime Minister: rents; Lloyd George was well known as erystwyth I was assured this morning a Campbellite Baptist, Captain Ernest The Prime Minister was a Welshman that friends who never quarrelled be- Evans as a Calvinistic Methodist and – the most noted Welshman ever fore are at daggers drawn over the Llewelyn Williams as a Congrega- born, the finest boy he (Mr Williams) present contest … The fight is between tionalist. The sizeable body of Unitar- had ever come in contact with. Fur- Mr Lloyd George and Welsh Liberalism ians within Cardiganshire inclined to ther the Premier was an old friend of as represented by Mr. Llewelyn Williams. Veteran Liberal Sir John his. There never were no two broth- Williams. Every day brings fresh evi- Herbert Lewis, who had addressed ers who loved each other so faithfully dence of the bitterness with which the
6 Journal of Liberal Democrat History 37 Winter 2002–03 packed meetings at Aberystwyth, Cardigan and Lampeter in support of Captain Evans, recorded in his diary, ‘The coast towns are strong for the Coalition, the Upland districts against; Unitarians against, Methodists & In- dependents said to be against; Baptists & Church for’. Some chapels indeed experienced a deep-rooted split which had long-lasting repercussions. The pastor and elders powerfully supported Lloyd George, while the rank and file of their congregations flocked in droves behind the banner of Llewelyn Williams, who, it was expected, would also win the votes of some , La- bourites in the county. The acrimony intensified as the campaign ran its course. Many promi- nent politicians from both sides spoke in the election meetings when mes- sages of support were read out to large, How the press saw the Liberal fight over Cardiganshire enthusiastic audiences. Strong, impas- sioned language was employed on both sides. Lady Violet told the county’s Wee Whatever the result of the election, More than per cent of the Free Liberals that they were ‘fighting she will have made an immense con- Cardiganshire electorate, a record high, not merely for a man, but for a creed, a tribution to the forces of the Coali- turned out to vote. Captain Ernest faith’, urging them to remain true to tion’. Shortly before, The Times’ Spe- Evans polled , votes and Llewelyn their ‘fathers’ sacrifices in ’. cial Correspondent concluded that Williams ,. The majority of just Mrs Lloyd George was equally com- Mrs Lloyd George had indeed ‘exer- over , votes exceeded expectations pelling on behalf of the coalition camp. cised a far more potent influence upon somewhat and led exuberant coalition Urged by her husband, ‘They are very the contest than any other individual supporters to light beacons on the hill- bitter outside Wales & if we lost, all on either side’. tops from Aberystwyth to Cardigan. their speakers & newspapers would say, Although some observers ventured Lloyd George was positively over- “Lloyd George spurned & rejected by the belief that Llewelyn Williams stood joyed at the outcome. Before the poll his own countrymen”’, (he then went an outside chance of success if he he had proclaimed that he would on, ‘I am overwhelmed with great polled solidly in the rural areas, where ‘rather lose a whole general election world affairs’), she had spared no ef- dissatisfaction with the tenor of coali- than one seat in Wales. The fort in support of Captain Evans, ad- tion politics was highest, and where Cardiganshire people are the cutest in dressing no fewer than sixty election stories and memories (more especially the world. It would not do for me to meetings. She was at pains to assure the folk memories) of remained very go down there.’ Hence his unre- county’s farmers that the Prime Minis- much alive, most commentators pre- strained exuberance when the result ter fully comprehended their difficul- dicted victory for Captain Evans. Inter- was announced to him at Chequers on ties, proclaiming at Cardigan that defeat est was stimulated by the fact that two February; as Lord Riddell noted in for the coalition at the by-election Liberals were vying for victory in a his diary: would be nothing less than ‘stabbing straight fight without the distraction of th Feb. – To Chequers. Long talk [Lloyd George] in the back’. a Labour or other candidate. The by- with L. G.. Much excited over the Her perorations were a potent fillip election was also viewed as ‘the first or- Cardigan election. Result expected to the coalition campaign and un- ganised and sustained attack delivered every minute when I arrived. Mrs. L. doubtedly helped to woo the new by the Independent Liberals upon the G. has been working like a Trojan in women’s vote, sometimes by stressing great political influence wielded by the the constituency, delivering the drink question. On the eve of the Prime Minister in Wales. The “Wee speeches in a fortnight. While L. G. poll Sir J. Herbert Lewis noted in his Frees” – the “Wee” may soon be inac- and I were walking in the park she diary that Margaret Lloyd George ‘had curate – are waging in Cardiganshire came running out breathless to tell addressed about fifteen or twenty the strongest fight in which they have him that Evans had won by a major- meetings, but she looked perfectly engaged since Mr Asquith was returned ity of ,. He was delighted and fresh & was as placid & serene as usual. for Paisley.’ said that if the result had been the
Journal of Liberal Democrat History 37 Winter 2002–03 7 other way it would have been a seri- poured out like water in organising vic- lowed the collapse of the coalition gov- ous setback. He warmly embraced tory; Cardiganshire has never seen such ernment in the autumn Captain Evans Mrs. L. G. bestowing several hearty lavishness. A whole fleet of motor cars was challenged by an independent Lib- kisses upon her and telling her that came on polling day to bring voters to eral, Rhys Hopkin Morris, a barrister she had won the election … For the polling booths, wealthy men’s mo- from Maesteg in south Wales, and saw some time he spoke of little else but tor cars which they lent because they his majority slashed to votes. For the election. wished to keep in power the coalition, the coalitionists the writing really was and the coalition candidate was not on the wall. When yet another general But in many ways the result was a Pyr- likely to do anything to disturb their election ensued in December , rhic victory for the ailing coalition ma- reign.’ Lloyd George had won Liberal reunion, so flamboyantly trum- chine. It was clear that Williams had through, agreed her newspaper, ‘but at a peted throughout the country, failed to polled more Liberal votes and that terrible loss to his political prestige’. reach Cardiganshire which was one of Evans’s success could be attributed pri- On all sides it was agreed that some only two constituencies nationwide marily to Tory transport and Tory sup- , Conservative votes had clinched where the Liberal civil war persisted port. Indeed, as many as coalition victory for Captain Evans who, when (the other was Camborne in Cornwall). vehicles were in evidence in the county he took his seat in the House of Com- Now the intervention of a Conserva- on polling day, commandeered from as mons the following week, had Lloyd tive contender in the person of Lord far afield as Cardiff, Swansea, London, George as one of his two sponsors, a Lisburne proved decisive, dramatically Manchester and Stockport, to convey privilege not bestowed upon a new unseating Captain Evans and bringing voters to the sixty scattered polling sta- member since Lady Astor, the first Morris to Westminster. In he was tions. The Wee Free camp mustered no woman MP, in . Within returned unopposed, and in fact sat as more than fifty. ‘Beaten by Tory votes’ Cardiganshire profound feelings of the county’s MP until his appointment was the justifiable catch-phrase of the tension and dissension persisted along- as a metropolitan magistrate in . Yet defeated Asquithians, while Llewelyn side a conviction that further battles the schism in the ranks of the county’s Williams himself interpreted the ver- lay ahead. As the president of the Liberals remained. dict of the poll as ‘the first Tory victory county Liberal Association wrote a The experiences of the years – since ’ in Cardiganshire. few days after the by-election, ‘The were critical in the history of On reflection, in response to a mes- present position of parties even in the Cardiganshire Liberalism. The party’s sage of congratulations, he wrote, ‘N.B. Houses of Parliament is undergoing traditional ascendancy had been some- () We polled to of the Liberals. () disintegration … Even in this little how revitalised, underlining a powerful Tor ies (not ) polled. () The town of Cardigan the Tories say and political continuity and creating a clergy canvassed for Ll.G. egged on by say rightly that they put Capt. Evans in homespun dynamism which helped to the Bishop of St. D[avids]. () The for the County’. In spite of its success postpone the local Labour Party’s full Calvin[istic Methodist]s were splen- in Cardiganshire, the strength of the coming of age – demonstrated by the didly loyal. Only a few in coalition was ebbing fast. At the be- fact that it did not nominate a parlia- Aber[ystwyth] voted for Ernest. I got ginning of March it lost to Labour in mentary candidate until the ‘doctor’s practically all the Noncon[formist] three crucial by-elections – at Dudley, mandate’ general election of October vote except the Baptists. () Ll.G. is no Kirkcaldy and Penistone – and had by was held swiftly upon the heels of longer, even seemingly, the national then chalked up a net loss of fourteen the formation of the so-called National leader. He is the chief of a faction, seats since the coupon general elec- Government. The deep-rooted, endur- mainly Tory.’ He evidently inter- tion. ing cleavage was neatly symbolised by preted the voting figures as a signifi- At his speech following the count the setting up of two rival Liberal clubs cant chink in the armour of the coali- Llewelyn Williams announced his in- at opposite ends of the main street in tion government machine. tention to stand again in Cardiganshire Aberystwyth. (Today the Asquithian It was indeed possible to interpret at the next general election. His solid club remains functional and flourishing; the substantial poll achieved by , votes represented ‘the heart and the Lloyd Georgian premises have been Williams as firm evidence of dissatisfac- soul of Liberalism’ in the county. converted, perhaps fittingly enough, tion in Wales with the tenor of coali- Rather ironically, however, he was not into an auction room.) When Roderic tion government. The same sentiments given the opportunity to contest an- Bowen became Liberal MP for were voiced by Welsh Gazette columnist other election, as he fell victim to dou- Cardiganshire in July he consid- Miss Lilian Winstanley, an Aberystwyth ble pneumonia and died prematurely at ered that one of his most pressing tasks university lecturer and local Liberal or- the age of fifty-five on April . was to attempt to heal the rift in his fol- ganiser, who saw Captain Evans’s suc- During his last days he was preoccupied lowers’ ranks which had lasted for a full cess as simply ‘a temporary victory with thoughts of securing a reconcilia- quarter-century. since it was a victory for material power tion with Lloyd George for whose In the wake of the by-election over spiritual power. The coalition had on friendship he still yearned. Alderman J. M. Howell, a prominent their side the immense wealth of this In the general election which fol- coalitionist who had refused to allow Government for profiteers; money was his name to be considered for the va-
8 Journal of Liberal Democrat History 37 Winter 2002–03 cancy, wrote on reflection: Lloyd George was warned by the female 10 NLW MS 22,016E, (Cardiganshire Liberal Asso- organiser of the North Wales Coalition ciation Papers), f. 4, Williams to Harry Rees, 27 It was a civil war between group and November 1918 (‘Private’). Liberals that ‘Ireland is being run for all group. 11 NLW, J. M. Howell Papers 28/1, Asquith to it’s worth against you’. Howell, 4 November 1919. And more still it was a tug of war The Welsh Liberal Council, estab- 12 Cambrian News, 7 January 1921. between the chief antagonists in Lon- 13 Ibid. lished in by Llewelyn Williams don. Left to ourselves, as in all previ- 14 Welsh Gazette, 6 January 1921. and others as an Asquithian power- 15 NLW, J. M. Howell Papers 27/49, J. Puleston ous elections, we could never have house within Wales, proved something Jones to Howell, 3 February 1921. worked up the fire that burned. 16 See Howard C. Jones, ‘The Labour Party in of a damp squib, as it called, rather It was not an unmixed evil, as Cardiganshire’, Ceredigion, Vol. IX, no. 2 half-heartedly, for a re-negotiation of (1981), 150–61. some think. the disendowment clauses of the Welsh 17 Cited ibid., p. 154. It is a salutary discipline that Church Act, , for further temper- 18 Welsh Gazette, 13 January 1921. which compels an individual to 19 NLW MS 22,016E, ff. 7 and 9, telegrams from ance legislation and for the setting up choose and to act for himself. D. C. Roberts, 7 January 1921, and J. M. of an elected council for Wales. De- Howell, 8 January 1921, to Harry Rees. It is good for time; it is good for moralised by the result in 20 Welsh Gazette, 13 January 1921. eternity. 21 Cambrian News, 7 January 1921. Cardiganshire in , Watkin Davies An election oftener than once in 22 Welsh Gazette, 20 January 1921. (Lloyd George’s early biographer) 23 The Times, 26 January 1921, p. 10, col. e. ten years is something to be wished 24 Cambrian News, 28 January 1921. wrote in his diary, ‘We must look to for. 25 The Times, 25 January 1921, p. 12, col. c. England and Scotland to deliver us 26 South Wales Daily News, 10 January 1921. His comments were uncommonly pro- from autocracy. Poor Wales!’ Once 27 Cambrian News, 4 February 1921. phetic. again the electoral weakness of 28 The Times, 31 January 1921, p. 11, col. d. The course and outcome of the by- Asquithian Liberalism had been un- 29 Election address of W. Llewelyn Williams, Feb- ruary 1921. election have a wider significance. The derlined. No longer could it pose an 30 The Times, 11 February 1921, p. 10, col. e. , votes polled by Llewelyn effective challenge to the coalition 31 Lady Violet Bonham-Carter, speech at Aberyst- Williams, a sworn enemy of the prime government. wyth, 19 February 1921: ibid., 20 February 1921, p. 12, col. b. minister in a predominantly Welsh- 32 NLW, Sir John Herbert Lewis Papers B35, diary speaking, Methodist-dominated con- Dr J. Graham Jones is an assistant archivist entry for 18 February 1921. stituency in the very heartland of Lloyd of the Welsh Political Archive at the Depart- 33 See NLW, E. Morgan Humphreys Papers A2033, T. Gwynn Jones, Aberystwyth, to George’s own personal patrimony, was ment of Manuscripts and Records, the Na- Humphreys, 26 January 1921. eloquent testimony to the groundswell tional Library of Wales, Aberystwyth. 34 See the South Wales Daily News, 16 February of popular feeling against the coalition 1921. government. Even within Wales, it 1 Cambrian News, 15 February 1921. 35 NLW MS 22,823C, ff. 74-75, D. Lloyd George to Margaret Lloyd George, 9 February 1921. seemed, free churchmen, notably the 2 Welsh Gazette, 3 February 1921. 3The phrase is that used in the National Library of 36 Cardigan and Tivy-Side Advertiser, 11 February Independents, ‘the most political and Wales (NLW), Cardiganshire Liberal Associa- 1921. republican of the sects’, were in open tion Records, file 56, J. Ellis Jones, hon. secre- 37 NLW, Sir John Herbert Lewis Papers B35, diary entry for 18 February 1921. rebellion against the government. tary of the South Wales Liberal Federation, to Eben Jones, 11 February 1959. 38 The Times, 16 February 1921, p. 11. Were it not for the urban voters, 4 On Cardiganshire politics, see Kenneth O. 39 Ibid. Williams might even have won the day. Morgan, ‘Cardiganshire Politics: the Liberal as- 40 Keith Middlemas (ed.), Thomas Jones White- hall Diary, Vol. 1 (Oxford, 1969), pp. 129–30. In industrial constituencies generally, cendancy, 1885-1923’, Ceredigion, Vol. V, no. 4 (1967), 311–46; and J. Graham Jones, 41 NLW MS 19,483E, unlabelled press cutting. many Anglicans and free churchmen ‘Cardiganshire Politics, 1885–1974’ in Geraint H. 42 Cambrian News, 25 February 1921; NLW, E. were beginning to voice support for Jenkins and Ieuan Gwynedd Jones (eds.), Morgan Humphreys Papers A3712, Williams to the Labour Party in an attempt to exert Cardiganshire County History, Vol. 3, Humphreys, 22 February 1921. 43 Welsh Gazette, 24 February 1921. The empha- their spiritual authority to retain work- Cardiganshire in Modern Times (Cardiff, 1998), pp. 407–29. There is also some material of value sis is mine. ing class men and women within the in P. J. Madgwick et al (eds.), The Politics of Rural 44 Ibid. church. Generally the influence of Wales: a Study of Cardiganshire (London, 1973). 45 Lady Astor’s two sponsors had been D. Lloyd George and former Conservative leader A. J. nonconformists in the press and in by- 5 Morgan, loc. cit., p. 328; Cambrian News, 19 October 1900. Balfour. elections was being eroded by the 6NLW, Cardiganshire Liberal Association 46 NLW MS 22,016E, f. 17, D. Davies, Cardigan, to schism in the ranks of the Liberal Party. Records 144/8, W. Llewelyn Williams to Harry Harry Rees, 25 February 1921 (incomplete). Rees, 14 October 1917 (‘Confidential’). On 47 Cambrian News, 25 February 1921. There had been only one Asquithian 48 Notes of an interview with Dr Roderic Bowen, Williams the fullest account is now J. Graham victory in a by-election during ; Jones, ‘The Journalist as Politician: W. Llewelyn 26 July 1995, very generously placed at my dis- there were to be none at all during . Williams MP (1867–1922)’, Carmarthenshire posal by Dr Mark Egan. As the year ran its course, it became in- Antiquary, Vol. XXXVII (2001), 79-98. 49 Cambrian News, 4 March 1921. 50 Kenneth O. Morgan, Consensus and Disunity: creasingly apparent that the Independ- 7NLW, Cardiganshire Liberal Association Records 144/49, Williams to Rees, 12 May the Lloyd George Coalition Government, 1918– ent Liberals were suffering at the hands 1918. 1922, revised edition (Oxford, 1986), p. 162. of Labour. Penistone in Yorkshire was 8Parliamentary Archive, House of Lords Record 51 Parliamentary Archive, House of Lords Record Office, Lloyd George Papers F/96/1/15, Mrs lost in March . Generally, too, the Office, Lloyd George Papers F/21/2/56, F. E. Guest to D. Lloyd George, 20 July 1918; Price White to Mrs Winifred Coombe Tennant. prospects of the Coalition Liberals Cambrian News, 29 November 1918. 52 NLW, W. Watkin Davies Papers, diary entry for looked distinctly gloomy. In March, 9 South Wales Daily News, 23 November 1918. 19 February 1921.
Journal of Liberal Democrat History 37 Winter 2002–03 9