Emrys Hughes

Who was Emrys Hughes?

Emrys Hughes was a Welsh Labour politician, best known for being the biographer and son-in-law of Keir Hardie, the Scottish Labour politician.

Hughes was born in Tonypandy, Wales, the son of the Reverend J. R. Hughes. He was educated at Abercynon Council School, Mountain Ash Secondary School and City of Leeds Training College, and became a teacher by profession. In the First World War he was imprisoned as a conscientious objector. In 1924, he married Nan Hardie, the daughter of Keir Hardie. He also became editor of the socialist journal Forward.

On 7 February 1946 Hughes stood in the South Ayrshire by-election, following the death of the sitting Member of Parliament Alexander Sloan. He was elected as the constituency's Member of Parliament, and re-elected in the general elections of 1950, 1951, 1955, 1959, 1964, and 1966. A left-winger, he was frequently at odds with the leadership of the Labour Party and twice had the whip withdrawn, between November 1954 and April 1955, and between March 1961 and May 1963.

On 14 July 1966 Gwynfor Evans won Carmarthen from Labour in a by-election. As a fellow pacifist and member of the Peace Pledge Union, he was shown around the House of Commons by Emrys Hughes; on pointing out the Welsh table in the Commons' tea room, Hughes warned him, "You’d better not sit there, your name’s mud among that lot."