Cylchgronau Cymru

Chwiliwch trwy dros 450 o deitlau a 1.2 miliwn o dudalennau

Pensions under Lloyd George, was much involved in the Welsh iron and tinplate industries in the nineties as secretary of the Steel Smelters. His near-success in Gower in the 1900 'khaki election' was as striking a portent of Labour's challenge to Welsh liberalism as was Hardie's triumph at Merthyr. Dick Wallhead, a Londoner, was a powerful and inspiring figure as Labour and ILP member for Merthyr from 1922 until his death in 1934. His efforts to avert the disaffiliation of the ILP from the Labour Party in 1932 were well in the Hardie tradition, and indeed Wallhead himself re- joined the parliamentary Labour Party the following year. In addition, six entries may fairly be classified as 'Welsh'. Noah Ablett's stormy career from checkweigher at Mardy to member of the MFGB executive until 1926 is lucidly traced by the editors. It is remarkable how obscure Ablett's pre-Ruskin career remains even after the efforts of so many scholars. The precise impact of the 1904 religious revival upon his socialism and that of the Plebs League, for instance, still remain mysterious. A. J. Cook, a Somerset man, but inextricably associated with the Welsh valleys since he went to work in the pits in the Rhondda in 1899 at the age of sixteen, is finely described, including his somewhat pathetic end; the bibliographical note here is quite superb. Clem Edwards, known after 1910 as a virulently anti-socialist member for East Glamorgan and then for East Ham, is shown to have had an active and fruitful trade union career prior to 1900, as secretary of the Federation of Trade and Labour Unions, as labour editor and in many other connections. Thereafter he was a pugnacious Lib-Lab. member for Denbigh Boroughs from 1900 to January 1910 with his own maverick views on the education question. Two miners members of the inter-war years, one from the Labour left, the other from the party centre, are also featured-George Daggar, member for Abertillery, 1929-50, and Ted Williams, member for Ogmore, 1931-46 and later High Commissioner in Australia. It is good to know that Daggar's library has recently been acquired by the Swansea Miners' Library. Finally, Thomas Williams (later Baron Williams of Ynyshir), who died in 1966, represents the Co-operative movement. These offerings from the rich seams being worked at Hull ('abnormal places' and all) make this book a bargain at any price. KENNETH O. MORGAN The Queen's College, Oxford THE MAKING OF LLOYD GEORGE. By W. R. P. George. Faber, 1976. Pp. 184. £ 5.50. W. R. P. George is a son of Lloyd George's brother, whose own book, My Brother and I, was published in 1958. Judged as a collection of remi- niscences, interspersed with interesting and often important documents, the book is highly successful. It is eminently readable, and gives a moving picture of complex and unusual family relationships. Judged as a work of scholarship, however, the book has, inevitably, a few failings. The bulk