David Williams

Who was David Williams?

David Williams was a Welsh Labour Party politician.

The second son of David and Mary Williams, his father worked at the local Kilvey Copper Works. Williams received little education before entering service in 1877 as a pageboy for the Genfell family of Kilvey, Swansea, owners of the copper works. By the age of 16 he was working in the copper works, but was dismissed after leading a strike. He then became an apprentice boilermaker, while attending evening classes. In 1889 he married Elizabeth Colwill, and the couple had five children.

Williams was involved in trade union activities and Labour politics from a young age. In 1898 he became the first Independent Labour Party councillor elected to Swansea Town Council, becoming an alderman in 1904 and was mayor of Swansea in 1912–1913. He received the freedom of Swansea in 1924. He was the first chairman of the Swansea Co-operative Society when it was formed in 1900.

He unsuccessfully contested the parliamentary constituency of Swansea East at the 1918 general election. When the Coalition Liberal MP Thomas Jeremiah Williams died the following year, he stood in the resulting by-election, cutting the Liberal majority.