629 Evan Richards

Constituency : Cardiganshire 1868-74

Evan  succeeded  Thomas  Lloyd  who  switched  to  the  borough  seat. His  victory  owed  much  to  the  support  of  the  powerful  Pryse  family.

Evan  was  an  industrialist  from  Swansea. He  was  a  partner  with  Lewis  Dillwyn  in  Landore Steelworks. He  was  Mayor  of  Swansea  in  1855  and  1862-3 . He  was  a  Congregationalist.

Evan  felt  under  pressure  in  Parliament  because  the  radicals  in  his  constituency  required  him  to  vote  against  the  government  on  the  Education  Bill  and  University  Tests  Bill  while  others  wanted  favours  that  could  not  be  obtained  by  a  serial  rebel.  He  wrote  to  a  friend , "Patronage  is  an  awful  nuisance. I  have  literally  hundreds  of  applications  for  berths  under  government  and  I  long  for  the  day  when  it  will  pass  away  from  the  hands  of  members  to  open  competition".

He  died  in  1880  aged  59.