1220 Samuel Evans

Constituency : Mid  Glamorgan  1890-1910

Samuel  took  over  at  Mid  Glamorgan  following  the  death  of  the  veteran  Christopher  Talbot. He  was  unopposed.

Samuel  was  a  grocer's  son  from  near  Neath. He  was  educated  at  University  College, Aberystwyth  and   the  University  of  London. He  was  first  a  solicitor  and  then  switched  to  the Bar. He  had  the  reputation  of  a  militant  nonconformist  and  supporter  of  Cymru  Fydd.

Samuel  made  a  good  impression  on  entering  the  Commons  and  initially  outshone  Lloyd  George. He  always  held  his  seat  easily  and  was  unopposed  in  1906.

In  1906  Samuel  became  Recorder  of  Swansea   then  in  1908  Asquith  had  him  knighted  and  made  Solicitor  General.

In  1907  Samuel  and  two  other  nonconformist  members  of  a  royal  commission  into  Welsh  religious  bodies   resigned  at  the  behaviour  of  the  Anglican  chairman.

Samuel  was  well  known  as  an  opponent  of  female  suffrage  believing  that  a  woman's  place  was  in  the  home. In  1906 he  tried  to  talk  out  Keir  Hardie's  resolution  on  the  issue.

Shortly  after  the  January  1910  election  Samuel  accepted  appointment  as  a  High  Court  judge. He  was  President  of  the  Prize  Court  during  World  War  One. He  was  also  judge  in  the  Crippen  case.

He  died  in  1918  aged  59.