Edward Clement Davies (19 February 1884 – 23 March 1962) was a
Welsh politician and leader of the
Liberal Party
The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left.
__TOC__ Active liberal parties
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from 1945 to 1956.
Early life and education
Edward Clement Davies was born on 19 February 1884 in
Llanfyllin
Llanfyllin ( – ) is a market town, community and electoral ward in a sparsely populated area in Montgomeryshire, Powys, Wales. Llanfyllin's community population in 2011 was 1,532, of whom 34.1% could speak Welsh. Llanfyllin means ''church or ...
,
Montgomeryshire
, HQ= Montgomery
, Government= Montgomeryshire County Council (1889–1974)Montgomeryshire District Council (1974–1996)
, Origin=
, Status=
, Start=
, End= ...
,
Wales
Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in ...
. He was educated at the local primary school and at Llanfyllin County School, to which he won a scholarship in 1897. He read law at
Trinity Hall, Cambridge
Trinity Hall (formally The College or Hall of the Holy Trinity in the University of Cambridge) is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge.
It is the fifth-oldest surviving college of the university, having been founded in 1350 by ...
, where he graduated with first-class honours.
Legal practice
Davies lectured in law at the
University College of Wales, Aberystwyth
, mottoeng = A world without knowledge is no world at all
, established = 1872 (as ''The University College of Wales'')
, former_names = University of Wales, Aberystwyth
, type = Public
, endowment = ...
in 1908–1909 and was
called to the bar at
Lincoln's Inn. He practiced as a barrister in North Wales and in northern England before moving to London in 1910, where he established a successful legal practice. During the
First World War
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
he worked for the
Board of Trade. He
took silk
In the United Kingdom and in some Commonwealth countries, a King's Counsel (post-nominal initials KC) during the reign of a king, or Queen's Counsel (post-nominal initials QC) during the reign of a queen, is a lawyer (usually a barrister or a ...
in 1926, becoming a KC.
Early political career
Davies was elected to the
House of Commons
The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. T ...
in the
1929 General Election as a
Liberal
Liberal or liberalism may refer to:
Politics
* a supporter of liberalism
** Liberalism by country
* an adherent of a Liberal Party
* Liberalism (international relations)
* Sexually liberal feminism
* Social liberalism
Arts, entertainment and m ...
Member of Parliament (MP) for
Montgomeryshire
, HQ= Montgomery
, Government= Montgomeryshire County Council (1889–1974)Montgomeryshire District Council (1974–1996)
, Origin=
, Status=
, Start=
, End= ...
.
From 1929 until 1931 he supported
David Lloyd George
David Lloyd George, 1st Earl Lloyd-George of Dwyfor, (17 January 1863 – 26 March 1945) was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1916 to 1922. He was a Liberal Party politician from Wales, known for leading the United Kingdom during ...
's leadership of the party. In 1931, the Liberals divided into three groups and he became one of the
Liberal National MPs supporting the
National Government. He came under increasing pressure from his local Liberal executive and also his predecessor as MP
Lord Davies who was President of Montgomeryshire Liberal Association, to move into opposition. In 1939 he resigned from both the Liberal Nationals and the National Government whip. In 1940, he was chairman of the All Party Action Group that played a significant role in forcing the resignation of the Prime Minister,
Neville Chamberlain.
Leader of the Liberal Party
In 1942, he rejoined the Liberal Party, becoming a prominent figure in the
Radical Action group, which called for the party to withdraw from the
war-time electoral pact
The war-time electoral pact was an electoral pact established by the member parties of the UK coalition governments in the First World War, and re-established in the Second World War. Under the pact, in the event of a by-election only the party whi ...
and adopt more radical policies. Indeed, at his adoption meeting in June 1945 he declared that "Members of the Labour Party and myself can walk side by side for a long way. There are many things on which we can agree." Despite the fact that he had been absent from the party for a decade, with lingering suspicions that his commitment to Liberalism was less than full, he became leader of the Liberal Party in 1945 after
Archibald Sinclair
Archibald Henry Macdonald Sinclair, 1st Viscount Thurso, (22 October 1890 – 15 June 1970), known as Sir Archibald Sinclair between 1912 and 1952, and often as Archie Sinclair, was a British politician and leader of the Liberal Party.
Backgr ...
surprisingly lost his seat in the electoral debacle of that year that reduced the Liberals to just 12 seats in the House of Commons.
Davies had not sought the position of leader and was not enthusiastic about it. However, with only 12 MPs, 6 of whom were only newly elected that year, the party's choice was somewhat limited. It was widely expected and generally hoped (probably even by Davies himself), that he would be only a 'caretaker' leader until the more dynamic and popular Sinclair could get back into the House of Commons. Since that never happened, Davies, was in fact to remain party leader for the next 11 years, taking the Liberals through three general elections.
Davies was President of the London Welsh Trust, which runs the
London Welsh Centre
The London Welsh Centre ( cy, Canolfan Cymry Llundain) (founded as the Young Wales Association in 1920) is a community and arts centre on Gray's Inn Road, in the London Borough of Camden. The centre is owned and run by the London Welsh Trust.
T ...
,
Gray's Inn Road
Gray's Inn Road (or Grays Inn Road) is an important road in the Bloomsbury district of Central London, in the London Borough of Camden. The road begins at the City of London boundary, where it bisects High Holborn, and ends at King's Cross and ...
, from 1946 until 1947.
He was made a
Privy Councillor in 1947.
His first general election as party leader, in
1950
Events January
* January 1 – The International Police Association (IPA) – the largest police organization in the world – is formed.
* January 5 – Sverdlovsk plane crash: ''Aeroflot'' Lisunov Li-2 crashes in a snowstorm. All 19 ...
, reduced the party to 9 MPs with barely 9% of the vote. In those of
1951
Events
January
* January 4 – Korean War: Third Battle of Seoul – Chinese and North Korean forces capture Seoul for the second time (having lost the Second Battle of Seoul in September 1950).
* January 9 – The Government of the United ...
and
1955, the Liberals fell back even further, holding only 6 seats, with 2.5% and 2.7% of the vote respectively (although these vote shares were largely attributed to the huge drop in the number of seats the party fought). He finally resigned as leader at the party conference in September 1956 and was succeeded by the much younger and more vigorous
Jo Grimond, following what was effectively a coup by the membership against the executive; both Davies and Grimond appeared to be unaware of the coup until it was over.
Davies therefore led the Liberal Party, which, in the late 19th and early 20th century had been a major force in British politics and a frequent party of government, through its lowest period, when it was reduced to a
minor party
A minor party is a political party that plays a smaller (in some cases much smaller, even insignificant in comparison) role than a major party in a country's politics and elections. The difference between minor and major parties can be so gre ...
: the result of the electorate's polarisation between the
Labour and the
Conservatives
Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization in ...
. The cliché "A Liberal vote is a wasted vote" argument never held truer than in the 1950s. He was personally well-liked, both in the party and beyond it. The general view of him was that of a personally decent man who did his best in a position to which neither taste nor temperament fitted him.
In recent years, however, his role has been revised and treated more sympathetically. Historians now point out that with the
Cold War tensions of the late 1940s and early 1950s in particular, leading the Liberal Party then would have been a challenge for anybody, and just by keeping the party together and in existence at all, Davies made a significant contribution. It has also emerged that he was offered cabinet office (Education Minister) in 1951 by Prime Minister
Winston Churchill
Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 187424 January 1965) was a British statesman, soldier, and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from 1940 to 1945 during the Second World War, and again from ...
in exchange for supporting the new Conservative government but refused on the grounds that it would have destroyed the Liberal Party.
Clement Davies died in 1962, at the age of 78. Though still an MP, he was by then largely detached from the affairs of the Liberal party and acted semi-independently. He was succeeded as Liberal MP for Montgomeryshire by
Emlyn Hooson.
Personal life
Numerous personal tragedies darkened his life. He lost three of his four children within the space of a few years after the outbreak of the
Second World War
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...
. His oldest son, David, died in 1939 as a result of natural causes related to
epilepsy
Epilepsy is a group of non-communicable neurological disorders characterized by recurrent epileptic seizures. Epileptic seizures can vary from brief and nearly undetectable periods to long periods of vigorous shaking due to abnormal electrica ...
, and his daughter Mary (a servicewoman with the
ATS) committed suicide in 1941 and another son, Geraint, was killed on active service in the
Welsh Guards
The Welsh Guards (WG; cy, Gwarchodlu Cymreig), part of the Guards Division, is one of the Foot Guards regiments of the British Army. It was founded in 1915 as a single-battalion regiment, during the First World War, by Royal Warrant of George V. ...
in 1942. Each of his children died at the age of 24, except for Davies' fourth son, Stanley, who survived until old age.
Arms
References
Sources
Books and journals
*
Violet Bonham Carter, ed. Mark Pottle, ''Daring to Hope: Diaries 1945–1969'' (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2000)
*
*
*Alun Wyburn-Powell, ''Clement Davies: Liberal Leader'' (Politico's, 2003)
*
External links
Clement Davies 1884–1962biography from the Liberal Democrat History Group
* – Lecture on Davies by his grandson �
Photographs for the lecture*
*
Clement Davies Papersat the
National Library of Wales
Clement Daviesat the
Dictionary of Welsh Biography
{{DEFAULTSORT:Davies, Clement
1884 births
1962 deaths
Alumni of Trinity Hall, Cambridge
Leaders of the Liberal Party (UK)
Liberal Party (UK) MPs for Welsh constituencies
Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom
UK MPs 1929–1931
UK MPs 1931–1935
UK MPs 1935–1945
UK MPs 1945–1950
UK MPs 1950–1951
UK MPs 1951–1955
UK MPs 1955–1959
UK MPs 1959–1964
Welsh barristers