Journal of Issue 37 / Winter 2002–03 / £5.00 Liberal DemocratHISTORY Liberals divided Dr J. Graham Jones ‘Every vote for Llewelyn Williams is a vote against Lloyd George’ Cardiganshire, 1921 Pamela Horn The farm workers’ champion Biography of Joseph Arch Graham Davis Sir Jerom Murch and the ‘civic gospel’ in Victorian Bath Tony Little Value for money Anthony Trollope’s campaign for Beverley Violet Bonham Carter ‘Hold on, hold out; we are coming’ Speech after the 1920 Paisley by-election Liberal Democrat History Group Issue 37: Winter 2002–03 Journal of Liberal Democrat History The Journal of Liberal Democrat History is published quarterly by the Liberal Democrat History Group. 3 ‘Every vote for Llewelyn Williams is ISSN 1463-6557 a vote against Lloyd George’ Editor: Duncan Brack Deputy Editor: Sarah Taft Dr J. Graham Jones examines the 1921 Cardiganshire by-election Assistant Editor: Alison Smith Biographies Editor: Robert Ingham Reviews Editor: Sam Crooks 10 The farm workers’ champion Patrons The life and career of Joseph Arch (1826–1919), by Pamela Horn Dr Eugenio Biagini; Professor Michael Freeden; Professor Earl Russell; Professor John Vincent 14 Sir Jerom Murch and the ‘civic Editorial Board gospel’ in Victorian Bath Dr Malcolm Baines; Dr Roy Douglas; Dr Barry Doyle; Dr David Dutton; Professor David Graham Davis analyses the record of the leader of Bath’s Victorian Liberals Gowland; Dr Richard Grayson; Dr Michael Hart; Peter Hellyer; Ian Hunter; Dr J. Graham Jones; Tony Little; Professor Ian Machin; Dr Mark Pack; 18 Value for money Dr John Powell; Iain Sharpe Anthony Trollope’s campaign for Beverley in 1868, by Tony Little Editorial/Correspondence Contributions to the Journal – letters, articles, 22 ‘Hold on, hold out; we are coming’ and book reviews – are invited. The Journal is a refereed publication; all articles submitted will Ian Hunter introduces Violet Bonham Carter’s speech after the 1920 Paisley by- be reviewed. Contributions should be sent to: election Duncan Brack (Editor) 38 Salford Road, London SW2 4BQ 26 Report: ‘Old Liberals,New Liberals email: [email protected] and Social Democrats’ All articles copyright © their authors. with Conrad Russell, Shirley Williams and Michael Freeden; report by Ian Hunter Advertisements Adverts are welcome; please contact the Editor 28 Archives: the Thurso papers for rates. The Thurso Papers at the Churchill Archives Centre, by Katharine Thomson Subscriptions/Membership An annual subscription to the Journal of Liberal Democrat History costs £10.00 (£5.00 unwaged 29 Reviews rate). This includes membership of the History Group unless you inform us otherwise. Cook: A Short History of the Liberal Party 1900–2001, reviewed by Duncan BrackBrack; Boyle: The Tyranny of Numbers, reviewed by Kiron Reid Overseas subscribers should add £5.00; or, a special three-year rate is available for £40.00 total. Cheques (payable to ‘Liberal Democrat History Group’) should be sent to: Patrick Mitchell 6 Palfrey Place, London SW8 1PA; Liberal Democrat History Group email: [email protected] The Liberal Democrat History Group promotes the discussion and research of historical topics relating to the histories of the Liberal Democrats, Liberal Party, and SDP, and of Liberalism. The Cover design concept: Lynne Featherstone Group organises discussion meetings and produces the Journal and other occasional publications. Published by the Liberal Democrat History Group, For more information, including details of publications, back issues of the Journal, tape records of c/o 38 Salford Road, London SW2 4BQ meetings and archive and other research sources, and to join our email mailing list, see our web site at: www.liberalhistory.org.ukwww.liberalhistory.org.uk. Printed by Kall-Kwik, 426 Chiswick High Road, London W4 5TF Hon President: Earl Russell December 2002 Chair: Tony Little 2 Journal of Liberal Democrat History 37 Winter 2002–03 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.