John Williams (17 February 1861 – 20 June 1922) was a

Welsh Welsh may refer to: Related to Wales * Welsh, referring or related to Wales * Welsh language, a Brittonic Celtic language spoken in Wales * Welsh people People * Welsh (surname) * Sometimes used as a synonym for the ancient Britons (Celtic peop ...

Labour Party politician. Williams was born in

Aberaman Aberaman is a village near Aberdare in the county borough of Rhondda Cynon Taf, south Wales. It was heavily dependent on the coal industry and the population, as a result, grew rapidly in the late nineteenth century. Most of the industry has now ...

, and began working at a local

coal mine Coal mining is the process of extracting coal from the ground. Coal is valued for its energy content and since the 1880s has been widely used to generate electricity. Steel and cement industries use coal as a fuel for extraction of iron from ...

at the age of twelve. Eight years later, he was elected as

checkweighman {{Short description, Occupation within mining, especially coal A checkweighman (occasionally checkmeasurer or checkweigher) is a person who is responsible for weighing coal or another mined substance, and thereby determining the payment due to each ...

, a post he held for twelve years. He then became a full-time miners' agent for the

Western Miners' Association The Western Miners' Association was a trade union representing coal miners in parts of South Wales, centred on Neath. History The union originated in February 1872, when about 100 local coal miners met at the King's Head Inn and agreed to form ...

. In this role he was a close associate of

William Abraham William Abraham is the name of: * William Abraham (Irish politician) (1840–1915), Irish Parliamentary Party Member of Parliament in the British House of Commons * William Abraham (trade unionist) (1842–1922), Welsh Liberal-Labour Member of Parl ...

. A supporter of the Liberal-Labour movement, Williams served on

Mountain Ash Mountain ash may refer to: * ''Eucalyptus regnans'', the tallest of all flowering plants, native to Australia * Mountain-ashes or rowans, varieties of trees and shrubs in the genus ''Sorbus'' See also * Mountain Ash, Rhondda Cynon Taf Mountai ...

Urban District Council In England and Wales, Northern Ireland, and the Republic of Ireland, an urban district was a type of local government district that covered an urbanised area. Urban districts had an elected urban district council (UDC), which shared local gove ...

. In 1898 he was nominated as a candidate for

Glamorgan County Council Glamorgan County Council was established in 1889 together with the administrative county of Glamorganshire under the Local Government Act 1888. The first elections to the council were held in January 1889. The council was abolished under the Local ...

but declined to go to the poll. At the 1906 general election, Williams was first elected as

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 the Welsh

constituency An electoral district, also known as an election district, legislative district, voting district, constituency, riding, ward, division, or (election) precinct is a subdivision of a larger State (polity), state (a country, administrative region, ...

Gower Gower ( cy, Gŵyr) or the Gower Peninsula () in southwest Wales, projects towards the Bristol Channel. It is the most westerly part of the historic county of Glamorgan. In 1956, the majority of Gower became the first area in the United Kingdom ...

West Glamorgan , HQ= County Hall, Swansea , Government= West Glamorgan County Council (abolished 1996) , Status= , Start= 1974 , End= 1996 , Arms= ''Coat of arms of Wes ...

. He stood as an Independent Liberal''British Parliamentary Election Results 1885–1918'', FWS Craig candidate and won election despite being opposed by an official Liberal candidate. Upon election he took the Liberal whip and was active in the Liberal party's trade union group. When the

Miners' Federation of Great Britain The Miners' Federation of Great Britain (MFGB) was established after a meeting of local mining trade unions in Newport, Wales in 1888. The federation was formed to represent and co-ordinate the affairs of local and regional miners' unions in Engla ...

decided to affiliate to the Labour Party in 1909, along with the other Welsh mining MPs, he joined the Labour Party.

Death

He held his seat until his death in 1922, at the age of 60.

References

Bibliography

* 1861 births 1922 deaths Liberal Party (UK) MPs for Welsh constituencies Liberal-Labour (UK) MPs Miners' Federation of Great Britain-sponsored MPs Welsh Labour Party MPs UK MPs 1906–1910 UK MPs 1910 UK MPs 1910–1918 UK MPs 1918–1922 {{Wales-Labour-UK-MP-stub