Gwilym Edffrwd Roberts (7 August 1928 – 15 March 2018) was a British Labour Party politician, who was

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...

for

South Bedfordshire South Bedfordshire was, from 1974 to 2009, a non-metropolitan district of Bedfordshire, in the East of England. Its main towns were Dunstable, Houghton Regis and Leighton Buzzard. Creation The district was formed on 1 April 1974 as part of a gen ...

from

1966 Events January * January 1 – In a coup, Colonel Jean-Bédel Bokassa takes over as military ruler of the Central African Republic, ousting President David Dacko. * January 3 – 1966 Upper Voltan coup d'état: President Maurice Yaméogo i ...

1970 Events January * January 1 – Unix time epoch reached at 00:00:00 UTC. * January 5 – The 7.1 Tonghai earthquake shakes Tonghai County, Yunnan province, China, with a maximum Mercalli intensity scale, Mercalli intensity of X (''Extrem ...

, and for

Cannock Cannock () is a town in the Cannock Chase district in the county of Staffordshire, England. It had a population of 29,018. Cannock is not far from the nearby towns of Walsall, Burntwood, Stafford and Telford. The cities of Lichfield and Wolverh ...

from

February 1974 The following events occurred in February 1974: February 1, 1974 (Friday) *Joelma fire, A fire killed 177 people and injured 293 others in the 23-story Joelma Building at São Paulo in Brazil. Another 11 later died of their injuries. The bl ...

1983 The year 1983 saw both the official beginning of the Internet and the first mobile cellular telephone call. Events January * January 1 – The migration of the ARPANET to Internet protocol suite, TCP/IP is officially completed (this is consid ...

Early life

Roberts was educated at Brynrefail

Grammar School A grammar school is one of several different types of school in the history of education in the United Kingdom and other English-speaking countries, originally a school teaching Latin, but more recently an academically oriented secondary school ...

and the

University of Wales The University of Wales (Welsh language, Welsh: ''Prifysgol Cymru'') is a confederal university based in Cardiff, Wales. Founded by royal charter in 1893 as a federal university with three constituent colleges – Aberystwyth, Bangor and Cardiff � ...

. He was a lecturer in

scientific management Scientific management is a theory of management that analyzes and synthesizes workflows. Its main objective is improving economic efficiency, especially labor productivity. It was one of the earliest attempts to apply science to the engineer ...

techniques and served as a councillor on

Luton Borough Council Luton Borough Council (also known as LBC, or Luton Council) is the local authority of Luton, England. It is a unitary authority, having the powers of a non-metropolitan county and district council combined. It is a member of the East of England ...

from 1965. He married Mair Griffiths in 1954.

Parliamentary career

Roberts contested

Ormskirk Ormskirk is a market town in the West Lancashire district of Lancashire, England, north of Liverpool, northwest of St Helens, southeast of Southport and southwest of Preston. Ormskirk is known for its gingerbread. Geography and administr ...

1959 Events January * January 1 - Cuba: Fulgencio Batista flees Havana when the forces of Fidel Castro advance. * January 2 - Lunar probe Luna 1 was the first man-made object to attain escape velocity from Earth. It reached the vicinity of E ...

and Conway in

1964 Events January * January 1 – The Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland is dissolved. * January 5 - In the first meeting between leaders of the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches since the fifteenth century, Pope Paul VI and Patriarch ...

. He was

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. Boundary changes that year changed his seat to Cannock and Burntwood, but he lost it in Labour's landslide defeat to the

Conservative 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 i ...

Gerald Howarth Sir James Gerald Douglas Howarth (born 12 September 1947) is a British Conservative Party politician. He was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Aldershot from 1997 until 2017, having been the MP for Cannock and Burntwood from 1983 to 1992. He wa ...

. He stood again in that constituency in 1987, but Howarth increased his majority.

After Parliament

Following his Westminster defeat he resumed his career in local government, serving as leader of

Cannock Chase District Council Cannock () is a town in the Cannock Chase district in the county of Staffordshire, England. It had a population of 29,018. Cannock is not far from the nearby towns of Walsall, Burntwood, Stafford and Telford. The cities of Lichfield and Wolverh ...

, where he represented the

Rugeley Rugeley ( ) is a market town and civil parish in the Cannock Chase District in Staffordshire, England. It lies on the north-eastern edge of Cannock Chase next to the River Trent; it is situated north of Lichfield, south-east of Stafford, nort ...

ward of Brereton and Ravenhill until losing his seat in 2002. He served as a Labour councillor on

Staffordshire County Council Staffordshire County Council is the top-tier local authority for the non-metropolitan county of Staffordshire Staffordshire (; postal abbreviation Staffs.) is a landlocked county in the West Midlands region of England. It borders Cheshir ...

, representing the Brereton and Ravenhill division, which incorporates a slightly larger area than the district council ward of the same name. He retired from membership of the County Council in 2010. He continued to live in Rugeley with his wife until his death in 2018.Well respected former MP and councillor dies
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References

Sources

*''Times Guide to the House of Commons'', 1966 & 1983 *

External links

* 1928 births 2018 deaths Alumni of the University of Wales Councillors in Bedfordshire Councillors in Staffordshire Labour Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies UK MPs 1966–1970 UK MPs 1974 UK MPs 1974–1979 UK MPs 1979–1983 {{England-Labour-UK-MP-stub