Department of Pictures and Maps

Exhibition

REBELS WITH A CAUSE

In April 1894 four Welsh Liberal MPs refused to take the party whip because of what they saw as the government's lack of action on the question of disestablishment in Wales. In Wales the four: David Lloyd George, Frank Edwards, J Herbert Lewis and D A Thomas, received much support. But in parliament they came up against the Liberal chief whip, who was none other than Wales' most prominent "nationalist" MP, T E Ellis of Meirionnydd. This was the age of Cymru Fydd, but it was not to last long. In January 1896 a meeting of the South Wales Liberal Federation put an end to any dream of a Welsh politic by rejecting Lloyd George's proposal for union with Cymru Fydd. After these events he turned towards British "national" subjects for inspiration. Even though he kept a very active interest in "Welsh" matters such as disestablishment, education and the land problem, he now intended to win power in London and not just in Nefyn.


© National Library of Wales
Elliot & Fry, Sir John Herbert Lewis.
(PA3279 Ports A Portrait Archive)


© National Library of Wales
Walter Keyser Bachrach, Lord Rhondda [D A Thomas].
(No accesion number, Llanwern Deposit Collection)


© National Library of Wales
The Spa Series, "Frank Edwards MP".
(PB9130/2 Port A Portrait Archive)

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