Constituency : Arfon 1895-1915
William took over at Arfon on the retirement of William Rathbone.
William was the son of a peasant farmer. He was educated at Bangor Normal College and Oxford. He became a schoolteacher and private tutor at Oxford. He was known as a fine orator.
William generally sided with the workers in the Penrhyn quarry dispute although by 1903 there was talk among the Quarrymen's Union of financing a Labour candidate.
William was unopposed in 1900 and December 1910 and had easy victories in 1906 and January 1910.
William supported female suffrage. He agitated for a National Museum and Library for Wales.
In 1911 William was made a whip.
William's last parliamentary contribution was a long speech in favour of Welsh disestablishment.
He died unexpectedly in 1915 aged 55.
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