W. Llewelyn Williams

William Llewelyn Williams known as Llewelyn Williams (10 March 1867 – 22 April 1922), was a Welsh journalist, lawyer and radical Liberal Party politician.

He was born at Brownhill Llansadwrn, Towy Valley, Carmarthenshire; a memorial plaque was erected in front of the house in 1938. Born into a well-off Congregationalist family, William Llewelyn Williams was educated at Llandovery College and Brasenose College, Oxford University. At Oxford he was among the earliest members of the Dafydd ap Gwilym Society, a grouping for Welsh-speaking undergraduates, together with O. M. Edwards, John Morris-Jones, Edward Anwyl, John Puleston Jones and Daniel Lleufer Thomas. Members of the Society saw themselves as agents of a cultural awakening, although it remained strictly non-political.

While a student at Oxford, he participated in the vigorous debates which took place in his home constituency of East Carmarthenshire to choose a Liberal candidate for the 1890 by-election following the death of David Pugh.

Both at Llandovery and Oxford, Williams came under Anglican influence and after leaving Oxford he was invited by a Welsh bishop to become a clergyman. However, his strong Congregationalist background proved too strong.

On his return to Wales, he became a journalist, and this is how he first gained prominence in Liberal circles. Williams edited the South Wales Star at Barry, then the South Wales Post at Swansea. He spent some time on the staff of the South Wales Daily Post, Cardiff, and the Star of London. He wrote a couple of short stories in Welsh, neither of any real quality. Other work for the Cymmrodorion was later published in book form in 1919 as The Making of Modern Wales. He was not a professional, and saw Welsh history more in terms of Welsh Nationalism than an objective account of the past. Accordingly, he refused to accept the evidence of Iolo Morgannwg's forgeries.

From journalism, Williams turned to the law, being called to the Bar from Lincoln's Inn in 1897. He took silk in 1912 and led the South Wales Circuit. He was Recorder of Swansea 1912–1915 and Recorder of Cardiff 1915–1922.

Llewelyn Williams set up the first branch of Cymru Fydd in Barry in 1891. He was later appointed the movement's South Wales Organiser by David Lloyd George. Additionally, he was heavily involved in the struggle to secure the Disestablishment of the Church in Wales.

Williams put his name forward for several Parliamentary seats, being mentioned as a possible candidate for Cardiganshire in 1895, when he lost out to Matthew Lewis Vaughan Davies.

In 1894, Williams had given evidence to the Welsh Land Commission, and claimed that landowners had sought to discourage tenant farmers from submitting evidence. The Commission reported two years later and proposed establishing a Land Court to defend the rights of Welsh tenant farmers. By 1903, however, Williams had come to the view that a Land Court would merely perpetuate the dependent status of Welsh farmers as tenants of landed estates. He was therefore instrumental in engineering a shift in Welsh Liberal policy towards favouring the right of tenants to purchase their holdings.

In 1905, Williams made public criticisms of the University of Wales, claiming that it was an elitist body paying too little attention to the needs of Wales.

At the 1906 general election, he was elected Member of Parliament (MP) for Carmarthen District.

A convinced new Liberal who supported the social reforms of the Liberal government of 1906–14, Williams was opposed to Socialism.

Having opposed the Boer War, Llewelyn Williams only reluctantly supported the Great War after the German attack on Belgium. He opposed Liberal Prime Minister H. H. Asquith over conscription in 1916, supporting the rights of conscientious objectors and opposing the Defence of the Realm Act. However, when Lloyd George took over as Prime Minister, Williams sided with Asquith. Williams held his seat until it was abolished in Boundary Changes in 1918. He did not contest the 1918 General elections.

In 1921, Williams fought the Cardiganshire by-election, 1921 as an anti-Coalition Liberal, opposing Ernest Evans, Lloyd George's Private Secretary, the Coalition candidate. Williams had by this time developed an intense personal hostility towards Lloyd George, and the campaign became to all intents and purposes a contest focused on the Prime Minister's record and personality.

Although he lost, Williams performed well and was generally felt to have won a moral victory, forcing Evans to rely on Conservative votes for his election. The contest created deep divisions within families, communities and chapel congregations, which lasted for many years. Kenneth O. Morgan suggests that the central issue of the campaign scarcely warranted such feeling.

One of his last actions was to write a letter to Lloyd George attempting reconciliation.

Election results

General Election December 1910 Liberal: William Llewelyn Williams elected unopposed.