Huw T. Edwards

Paul Ward

Description

Huw T. Edwards was a prominent Welsh- (and English-) speaking public figure in twentieth-century Welsh society. In the 1950s he was known as 'the unofficial Prime Minister of Wales' because of his chairmanship of the Council of Wales. In 1958 Edwards resigned from the Council of Wales because the Conservative government refused to create the post of Secretary of State for Wales. In 1959 he also resigned from the Labour Party, after 50 years membership. Again, his reasons reflected a growing sense of Welsh nationalism. He had become increasingly interested in Welsh cultural and political issues and had encouraged his union to support of Coleg Harlech and the National Eisteddfod. On leaving Labour, Edwards joined Plaid Cymru. Edwards's political life, therefore, seems to reinforce the notion of fragmentation of United Kingdom identities and their replacement by distinct and politically ambitious national identities in Wales. This book suggests that close examination of Edwards political life reveals a more complex situation. Edwards's resignation from Labour was about his political desires for Wales but equally entailed a rejection of the rightward shift in British Labour politics being led by Hugh Gaitskell. Edwards's protest can therefore be viewed from the perspective of the British left as well as Welsh nationalism. Hence in 1965 Edwards rejoined Labour, because the accession of Harold Wilson to the Labour leadership and government resulted in a radicalisation of the party alongside recognition of Welsh nationhood with the establishment of a Welsh Secretary of State and a Welsh Office.

Sujets

• Political Science
• Wales

Informations

• Publié par: University of Wales Press
• Date de parution: 15 février 2011
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9780708323298
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 17 Mo

Extrait

H U W T. E DWA R D S

HUW T. EDWARDS BRITISH LABOUR AND WELSH SOCIALISM

Paul Ward

UNIVERSITY OF WALES PRESS CARDIFF

© Paul Ward,

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any material form (including photocopying or storing it in any medium by electronic means and whether or not transiently or incidentally to some other use of this publication) without the written permission of the copyright owner except in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act. Applications for the copyright owner’s written permission to reproduce any part of this publication should be addressed to the University of Wales Press,Columbus Walk, Brigantine Place, Cardiff, CF UP.

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ISBN---- e-ISBN----

The right of Paul Ward to be identified as author of this work has been asserted in accordance with sections,andof the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act.

Typeset by Mark Heslington Ltd, Scarbrough, North Yorkshire Printed in Wales by Dinefwr Press, Llandybïe

In memory of John Ramsden‒

CONTENTS

Acknowledgements Introduction Born in the Mountains Western Front and Home Front Union and Unemployment The People’s War Attlee’s Wales The Unofficial Prime Minister Two Resignations Return and Retrospect Conclusion: ‘Sosialwr Cymreig a Chymraeg’ (A Welsh and Welsh-SpeakingSocialist) Notes Select Bibliography Index

viii         

   

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This book has taken rather longer than I thought it would. It would have taken much longer still without the substantial help I received from my research assistant, Martin Wright, now an accomplished Huw T. scholar himself. His employment was made possible by a Major Research Grant from the British Academy, without which this book could not have been written. The publication of this book has been made possible by the Welsh Books Council. Colleagues at the University of Huddersfield continue to provide a hospitable place to conduct historical research. In particular, Keith Laybourn, Katherine Lewis, Rebecca Gill, and more recently Barry Doyle and Rob Ellis make good company. Many others at Huddersfield also made valuable contributions to the progress of the book. I was helped further in my researches by interest in Huw T. from across Welsh studies. I am grateful to Paul O’Leary for his support for the project, and also to Keith Robbins, Chris Williams, the late Duncan Tanner, Andrew Edwards, Martin Johnes and John Ellis. I would like to thank the staff at the National Library of Wales and especially the family of Huw T. Edwards for allowing me to make such extensive use of the Edwards papers. I am also indebted to Sarah Lewis, Dafydd Jones, Siân Chapman and Henry Maas at the University of Wales Press. Jackie, Georgia and Oscar have seen the book through from its conception in Fulton, Missouri, to its completion looking at Castle Hill. I am deeply grateful to them all, though I am sure they will be glad to lose Huw T. Edwards as a lodger.

INTRODUCTION

Nad oedd yn angenrheidiol iddo gyflwyno y siaradwr, yr Henadur Huw T. Edwards; yr oedd ef yn hysbys i bawb.

There was no need to introduce the next speaker, Alderman Huw T. Edwards; he was known to everyone. (David Thomas, The Anglesey Workers’  Union Day School, June)

Everyone in Wales in thes knew Huw T. Edwards of Shotton. D. J. Williams was a founding member of Plaid Cymru. He had been jailed for nine months inin England for the symbolic nationalist act of setting fire to a hut at the RAF Bombing School at Penyberth near Pwllheli to mark theUnionth anniversary of the Act of between England and Wales. OnMayhe went into a tobac- conist’s shop in his home town of Fishguard, about as far away from Shotton as it is possible to get in Wales. He wanted to buy some sweets. The shopkeeper told him that her daughter had overcharged a previous customer for some Havana cigars, and after some discussion she had worked out that it must have been Huw T. Edwards. She asked Williams to return the difference to Huw T., which he duly did  by post later that evening, enclosingsd. Edwards rose from being born into poverty in the mountains of north Wales to being known in thes as ‘the unofficial prime minister of Wales’. His papers at the National Library of Wales are  extensive. There are about a thousand letters to Edwards but only just overfrom him, and while some are clearly missing, one gets the impression that much of Edwards’s communication and interac- tion was conducted in personal meetings. Many of his correspondents refer to meeting him in the previous days and are writing to add

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