David Williams (8 September 1865 – 22 January 1941) was a Welsh Labour Party politician. The second son of David and Mary Williams, his father worked at the local Kilvey Copper Works. Williams received little education before entering service in 1877 as a

pageboy The pageboy or page boy is a past hairstyle named after what was believed to be the haircut of a late medieval page boy. It has straight hair hanging to below the ear, where it usually turns under. There is often a fringe (bangs) in the front. T ...

for the Genfell family of Kilvey, Swansea, owners of the copper works. By the age of 16, he was working in the copper works, but was dismissed after leading a strike. He then became an

apprentice Apprenticeship is a system for training a new generation of practitioners of a trade or profession with on-the-job training and often some accompanying study (classroom work and reading). Apprenticeships can also enable practitioners to gain a ...

boilermaker A boilermaker is a tradesperson who fabricates steel, iron, or copper into boilers and other large containers intended to hold hot gas or liquid, as well as maintains and repairs boilers and boiler systems.Bureau of Labor Statistics, US De ...

, while attending evening classes. In 1889, he married Elizabeth Colwill, and the couple had five children. Williams was involved in trade union activities and Labour politics from a young age. In 1898, he became the first

Independent Labour Party The Independent Labour Party (ILP) was a British political party of the left, established in 1893 at a conference in Bradford, after local and national dissatisfaction with the Liberals' apparent reluctance to endorse working-class candidates ...

councillor elected to Swansea Town Council, becoming an

alderman An alderman is a member of a municipal assembly or council in many jurisdictions founded upon English law. The term may be titular, denoting a high-ranking member of a borough or county council, a council member chosen by the elected members t ...

in 1904 and was

mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilities of a mayor as well ...

of Swansea in 1912–1913. He received the freedom of Swansea in 1924. He was the first chairman of the Swansea

Co-operative Society A cooperative (also known as co-operative, co-op, or coop) is "an autonomy, autonomous association of persons united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social and cultural needs and aspirations through a jointly owned and democratical ...

when it was formed in 1900. He unsuccessfully contested the parliamentary constituency of Swansea East at the 1918 general election. When the

Coalition Liberal The Coalition Coupon was a letter sent to parliamentary candidates at the 1918 United Kingdom general election, endorsing them as official representatives of the Coalition Government. The 1918 election took place in the heady atmosphere of victory ...

MP Thomas Jeremiah Williams died the following year, he stood in the resulting by-election, cutting the Liberal majority. He won the seat at the 1922 general election, and held it until he resigned from the House of Commons on 26 January 1940, due to ill health. He died a year later, aged 75.

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* {{DEFAULTSORT:Williams, David 1865 births 1941 deaths Welsh Labour Party MPs Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for Swansea constituencies Politicians from Swansea UK MPs 1922–1923 UK MPs 1923–1924 UK MPs 1924–1929 UK MPs 1929–1931 UK MPs 1931–1935 UK MPs 1935–1945 British boilermakers Mayors of Swansea United Society of Boilermakers-sponsored MPs