Walter Francis Roch (20 January 1880 – 3 March 1965), sometime MP (Lib.) for

Pembrokeshire Pembrokeshire ( ; cy, Sir Benfro ) is a Local government in Wales#Principal areas, county in the South West Wales, south-west of Wales. It is bordered by Carmarthenshire to the east, Ceredigion to the northeast, and the rest by sea. The count ...

from 1908 to 1918 was a Welsh politician and landowner, whose political career ended when he continued to support

H.H. Asquith Herbert Henry Asquith, 1st Earl of Oxford and Asquith, (12 September 1852 – 15 February 1928), generally known as H. H. Asquith, was a British statesman and Liberal Party (UK), Liberal Party politician who served as Prime Minister of ...

over

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 t ...

Background

Roch was born the second son of William Francis Roch, J.P., of Butter Hill, Pembrokeshire (who died in 1889) and his wife Emily Catherine Powell (she died in 1938), the second daughter of a Welsh Liberal politician Walter R.H. Powell, of Maesgwynne,

Llanboidy Llanboidy is a village and community in the principal area and historic county of Carmarthenshire, West Wales. The community includes the village of Llanglydwen. Location According to the 2001 United Kingdom Census, the community had a popula ...

, Carmarthenshire, MP (Lib.) for

Carmarthenshire Carmarthenshire ( cy, Sir Gaerfyrddin; or informally ') is a county in the south-west of Wales. The three largest towns are Llanelli, Carmarthen and Ammanford. Carmarthen is the county town and administrative centre. The county is known as ...

, 1880–85, and West Carmarthenshire, 1885–89. He was educated at Twyford and

Harrow School (The Faithful Dispensation of the Gifts of God) , established = (Royal Charter) , closed = , type = Public schoolIndependent schoolBoarding school , religion = Church of E ...

s. He married Hon. Fflorens Mary Ursula Herbert (1879-1969), on 20 April 1911. Fflorens was a published author and Chief Commissioner for Girl Guides in Wales. Roch was also a

barrister A barrister is a type of lawyer in common law jurisdictions. Barristers mostly specialise in courtroom advocacy and litigation. Their tasks include taking cases in superior courts and tribunals, drafting legal pleadings, researching law and ...

at the

Middle Temple The Honourable Society of the Middle Temple, commonly known simply as Middle Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court exclusively entitled to call their members to the English Bar as barristers, the others being the Inner Temple, Gray's Inn an ...

from 1913.

1908 Pembrokeshire by-election

The

by-election was held on 16 July 1908. The

by-election A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, a bye-election in Ireland, a bypoll in India, or a Zimni election (Urdu: ضمنی انتخاب, supplementary election) in Pakistan, is an election used to f ...

was held due to the elevation to the peerage of the incumbent

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 ...

MP, John Wynford Philipps. Roch was selected as the Liberal candidate. During the campaign he had the active support of the MPs W. Llewelyn Williams and W. Jones of the

United Kingdom Alliance The United Kingdom Alliance (UKA) was a temperance movement in the United Kingdom, temperance movement in the United Kingdom founded in 1853 in Manchester to work for the prohibition of the trade in alcohol (drug), alcohol in the United Kingdom. ...

and the Free Trade League respectively. 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 ...

also strongly supported Roch. His opponent,

John Lort-Williams Sir John Rolleston Lort-Williams (14 September 1881 – 9 June 1966) was a Judge and MP for Rotherhithe (UK Parliament constituency), Rotherhithe between the general elections of 1918 United Kingdom general election, 1918 and 1923 United Kingdom ...

, the Conservative candidate, was supported by emissaries from the

Tariff Reform League The Tariff Reform League (TRL) was a protectionist British pressure group formed in 1903 to protest against what they considered to be unfair foreign imports and to advocate Imperial Preference to protect British industry from foreign competition ...

and the National Trade Defence Association. The

Women's Social and Political Union The Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU) was a women-only political movement and leading militant organisation campaigning for women's suffrage in the United Kingdom from 1903 to 1918. Known from 1906 as the suffragettes, its membership and ...

, led by

Emmeline Pankhurst Emmeline Pankhurst ('' née'' Goulden; 15 July 1858 – 14 June 1928) was an English political activist who organised the UK suffragette movement and helped women win the right to vote. In 1999, ''Time'' named her as one of the 100 Most Impo ...

came to Pembrokeshire to campaign against Roch, not because they disliked him, or supported Lort-Williams, but because

, the Liberal Prime Minister, opposed the enfranchisement of women. In fact, Roch was a supporter of Votes for Women. Roch comfortably held the seat.

Result

Roch successfully contested the seat in Pembrokeshire until 1918.Dr Jones, ''Ibid''

Retrieved 10 August 2007

Later electoral record

Roch was appointed to the

Dardanelles Commission The Dardanelles Commission was an investigation into the disastrous 1915 Dardanelles Campaign. It was set up under the Special Commissions (Dardanelles and Mesopotamia) Act 1916. The final report of the commission, issued in 1919, found major pr ...

in 1916. He was the author of ''Mr. Lloyd George and the War'' (1920). In 1934 he was appointed JP for

Monmouthshire Monmouthshire ( cy, Sir Fynwy) is a county in the south-east of Wales. The name derives from the historic county of the same name; the modern county covers the eastern three-fifths of the historic county. The largest town is Abergavenny, with ...

. He and his wife spent the last twenty-five years of his life on their estates.

References

External links

*
Walter Francis Roch
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Roch, Walter Francis 1880 births 1965 deaths Liberal Party (UK) MPs for Welsh constituencies UK MPs 1906–1910 UK MPs 1910 UK MPs 1910–1918 People educated at Harrow School People educated at Twyford School Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for Pembrokeshire constituencies