1553 David Davies

Constituency  :  Montgomeryshire  1906-29

David  took  over  from  Arthur  Humphreys-Owen  at  Montgomeryshire. He  was  close  to  being  a  Liberal  Unionist  like  his  grandfathert. He  opposed  home  rule  and  was  sympathetic  to  tariff  reform  but  he  clung  to  the  Liberals  on  the  temperance  issue. He  was  unopposed  and  the  local  Tories  thought  he  might  be  convinced  to  switch  sides.

David  was  the  grandson  of  the  Cardiganshire  MP  of  the  same  name. He  was  educated  at  Merchiston  Castle  School  and  Cambridge. He  was  a  millionaire  coalowner and  philanthropist. He  was  a  Calvinistic  Methodist   and  teetotaller. He  went  on  game  expeditions  and  observed  the  Russo-Japanese  War  from  the  ground  in  Japan.

Once  in  Parliament  David  went  his  own  way, voting  against  the  land  clauses  in  the  Peoples  Budget  and  voicing  his  opposition  to  Home  Rule.

In  1910  David  gave  £150,000  to  the  King  Edward  VII  Welsh  National  Memorial  fund  for  eradicating  tuberculosis  in  Wales.

In  1914  David  commanded a  battalion  of  the  Royal  Welsh  Fusiliers  in  France.

In  1916  David  became  disenchanted  with  the  war  effort  under  Asquith  and  helped  Addison  canvass  support  for  Lloyd  George. He  urged  the  latter  to  resign  to  help  bring  Asquith  down. He  became  Lloyd  George's  private  secretary  and  a  close  confidant.

However  once  Lloyd  George  had  become  Prime Minister  David  felt  he  had  carte  blanche  to  criticise  the  war effort  whenever  he  saw  fit  and  in  June  1917  he  was  dismissed  from  the  secretariat, Lloyd  George  suggesting  that  it  was  down  to  public  criticism  that  he  was  "sheltering"  a  man  of  military  fitness.

Nevertheless  David  was  still  offered  the  coupon  in  1918  as  a  government  supporter. Safe  in  his  entrenched  position  at  Montgomeryshire  he  took  delight  in  publicly  rejecting  it. He  was  still  elected  unopposed.

David  rarely  attended  Parliament  in  1918-22  but  described  the Coalition as  "this  new  order  of  shameless  opportunists"  and  sought  reunification  of  the  party. He  said  Lloyd  George  had " well  nigh  become  an  absolute  dictator".

David  easily  saw  off  a  Labour  challenge  in  1924.

In  1925-6   David  was  out  of  action  with  a  duodenal  ulcer  but  made  his  disapproval  of  the  coalowners'  intransigent  stand  known.

David  stood  down  in  1929, a  decision  mainly  influenced  by  disgust  at  Lloyd  George's  land  proposals   and  became  Baron  Davies.   He  disapproved  of  his  successor  Clement  Davies  ( who  he  had  not  supported  )  joining  the  Liberal  Nationals  and  put  pressure  on  him  to  rejoin  the  main  party  which  he  did  in  1938.

David  supported  the  League  of  Nations  and  in  1919  endowed  a  chair  in  international  politics  at  University  College  of  Wales  in  honour  of  Wilson. In   1932  he   founded  the  New  Commonwealth  Society to  promote  international  law  and  order. His  writings  on  the  subject  influenced  the  United  Nations  Charter. He  believed  in  the  power  of  international  force  and  opposed  appeasement.

David's  main  interests  were  Welsh  education  and  sports.

He  died  of  cancer  of  the  spine  in  1944  aged  64.