1548 William Brace

Constituency : South  Glamorganshire  1906-10 ;  1910-18  Abertillery,  1918-20  ( Labour )

William  took  South  Glamorganshire  from  the  Tories  as  a  Liberal - Labour  candidate. The  local  Liberals  were  somewhat  reluctant  to  adopt  him  as  a  candidate  and  Herbert  Gladstone  had  to  personally  intervene  in  his  favour.

William  was  the  son  of  a  miner  and  had  a  rudimentary  education  before  going  into  the  mines  himself. He  was  soon  involved  in  trade  union  activities and  became  the  local  agent  for  the  South  Wales  Miners  Association. He  was  a  Monmouthshire  county  councillor. He  favoured  a  single  miners  union.  He  clashed  with  William  Abraham  over  the  sliding  scale  arrangement  and  Abraham  won  a  libel  case  against  him.In  1898  he  became  the  first  vice-president  of  the  South  Wales  Miners  Federation. He  was  a  committed  Christian.

In  1909  William  initially  ignored  the  instruction  from  the  MFGB  to  join  the  Labour  party  but  by  the  January  1910  election  he  had  become  a  Labour  man.

In  1912  he  became  president  of  the  SWMF.

In  1915,  William  became  Under-Secretary  of  State  for  the  Home  Department.

In  1918  William  was  unopposed  at  Abertillery   despite  standing  as  Labour  rather  than  Liberal  or  NDP.

In  1920,  William  resigned  his  seat  in  order  to  become  Labour  Advisor  to  the Ministry  of  Mines. He  disapproved  of  the  growing  militancy  in  the  coalfields. He  retired  from  the  post  in  1927.

He  died  in  1947  aged  82.