Life of Viscount Rhondda

Front matter

m

BOUGHT WITH THE INCOME OF THE

SAGE ENDOWMENT FUND

Preface

IT is now more than four years since the idea of writing a book on Viscount Rhondda occurred to me. After reading my work on The War and Wales, he wrote suggesting an interview, which took place the week before he accepted the Presidency of the Local Government Board. Into the object of that interview I need not enter here ; but I may say that I then expressed to him my intention of writing a book based on his early days and business life, and he acquiesced. That was at the time when he was a subject rather for blame than for praise ; before his name had become associated with fruitful legislative work, and before it was thought that he could have attained such a measure of greatness. The ashes of industrial controversy, in which he was so much concerned, were still hot. Like other noted men of the past, he seemed to be suffering through the very effectiveness of his own work and success as a business man.

My acquaintance with him, though not at any time of an intimate nature, extended over a quarter of a century. I knew him during his ParUamentary career; which, as the late Lord Robson once said, " was not a happy one." He then impressed me as a politician of striking unlikeness to other politicians ;

as a man of singular versatility, astuteness and disinterestedness, as well as a man of high moral rectitude who had been misunderstood and underrated.

Though the note of independence is not wanting in this work, the standpoint from which I have approached Viscount Rhondda is less that of a critic than of an admiring friend. While I have honestly endeavoured to strike the mean between importunate advocacy and excessive laudation, I must confess to a partiaUty for one whose remarkable abiUties were so tardily recognized, and who suffered and endured poHtical ostracism for so many years, with such dignity and quiet forbearance.

Unfortunately, there is not in England, or Scotland, or Ireland, a large circle of readers interested in Welsh literature, or Welsh worthies ; this is a consideration that has always weighed with EngUsh Publishers, especially those of them who regard the whole matter from a purely pecuniary, or business point of view. True, Viscount Rhondda has the merit of appeaUng to a double audience — one a purely Welsh audience, another composed of a larger public beyond the border. At the same time it has to be said that whUe, in view of his work in America and Canada, and as President of the Local Government Board and Food Controller, the larger pubhc cannot and should not be lost sight of, it is clear that Wales has the claim to the greater consideration, for in spite of his cosmopolitan experience, he was essentially a Welshman, though not of the narrow kind. His heart throbbed with the spirit of ardent nationaHty, and the story of his life as a whole has, therefore, a special significance for

PREFACE 9

Welshmen, and for the inhabitants of the Principality generally.

The Welshman represents a type of personality, and the Welsh in the aggregate a type of national character, at so many points different from the English or Scottish, that only a genuine Welshman can possibly portray a picture on broad and sympathetic Unes of Wales and Welshmen. It is only the man who has been nurtured in Welsh traditions, and who has the true Celtic temperament, who is able to understand the life of a brother Celt, and consequently interpret that life to others.

As the natives of a country are the best judges of their own language, literature, politics, traditions and reUgion, so they are, or should be, the best judges of their own great men, though they may on occasions fail to do them full justice. There are certain shades of thought and meaning in the native Uterature, both prose and poetic, certain peculiarities of humour and temperament, certain idiosyncrasies of character, which appeal to the native mind and heart, but which a non- Welshman, however acute, cannot understand or appreciate. It is more difficult for a foreigner to appreciate the music of Milton's diction than for an Englishman, and it is more difficult for an Englishman to appreciate the genius, or the racial quaUties, of a Welshman than for a Welshman himself.

This is not the place to enter into a discussion of the main characteristics, or the paradoxical elements, which lie at the root of the Welsh temperament. We may, however, observe incidentally that the complex nature of these elements has always proved a serious obstacle to a proper understanding of the Welsh character on the part of a non-Welshman, or of a Welshman by extraction who is not conversant with the native language, and who has not by birth and up-bringing been imbued with the spirit of the people. Indeed, too many have been unmindful of the fact that there are certain vital differences between Welshmen and the people of the other countries. This has been one of the weak points in the legislative treatment of Wales in times past, as well as of those who, in consequence of casual acquaintance with Wales, or with the inhabitants of Wales, have deemed themselves qualified to interpret Welsh life and thought.

Viscount Rhondda was a complex and difficult personality, and in this regard, at any rate, he may be said to have been, in a large measure, a representative Welshman. An analysis of the Welsh nature shows a combination of the obstinate and plastic, the ideal and practical, the gloomy and cheerful, the indulgent and severe, the magnanihious and jealous, the tolerant and arbitrary elements. They are seen, more or less, in the native literature, native politics, native religion, and in native habits and traditions.

Sir W, Robertson NicoU, in his obituary notice in the British Weekly, said that a book ought to be written on Viscount Rhondda, and I am of the opinion that if Viscount Rhondda himself could have been consulted, he would not have dissented from his view that such a book ought to be written by a Welshman ; that is, assuming that he answers the description of a competent person. If I had not

PREFACE II

had it in my mind to produce a book on Viscount Rhondda long before his death, I could not have written this work, as I have done, in so short a time. Neither could I have written the chapters which deal with his ancestry and his early days with such accuracy and completeness, if I had not received the valuable assistance of his brother, Mr. J. H. Thomas, to whom I am greatly indebted, not only for such information, but also for his uniform courtesy and kindness.

Biographies may be divided into two classes. In the one we place those in which the aim seems to be, merely that of narration and description, that is, simply the, writing 'of an interesting story. This method is comparatively easy, but it appeals to an undiscriminating public. In the other class of biographies we may place those in which the essential aim is that of the interpretation of the life with which the biography deals. This is a task of much greater difficulty, but it has the compensation of being of much greater value and of being more permanent.

I have chosen the more difficult task, and have endeavoured to lead my readers to understand the personality of Viscount Rhondda, and the way in which his personality revealed itself. I have written from the inside, and my impressions are not secondhand. For reasons which I need not explain, I have only barely touched upon the religious side of his character. I do not think that his views of the Bible and religion, which he privately expressed, and which he never intended for pubUcation, should be introduced into his biography. He was certainly interested in the question of education in Wales, but he was in no sense an Educational Leader, and he played no great part in the development of education in the Principality.

The writing of the book has been to me a labour of love. Authors, we are told, are notoriously bad judges of their own work ; but I can repeat what Dickens asserts in the preface to one of his novels, that no one can ever believe the narrative in the reading, more than he believed it in the writing.

I should be wholly wanting in my duty if I did not place on record my obhgation to my wife for her co-operation in the preparation of this work. She has greatly facihtated my labours, and eased my anxiety, at a time when indifferent health made the carrjdng out of my purpose very difficult. For very valuable help of various kinds, I am indebted to the Rev. A. W. Parry, M.A., B.Sc, Principal of the Training College, Carmarthen, and to the Rev. D. Silyn Evans, Aberdare ; for reading and correcting my proofs to the Rev. G. C. Rowe, B.A., and Mrs. Montagu Leeds, Tenby ; and to J. A. P. Mackenzie, Esq., Librarian of the Royal Statistical Society, for his permission to peruse a copy of Viscount Rhondda's Paper on Coal Exports.

J. VYRNWY MORGAN.

November yik, igiS.

Introduction

By VISCOUNT RHONDDA'S BROTHER

WHEN the Rev. Dr. Vyrnwy Morgan informed me that he was engaged in writing a book on my brother, Viscount Rhondda, I gladly responded to his wish that I should verify his facts and supply him with any additional information respecting his ancestors, early days, business life and public career. This I have done for two reasons. Firstly, Dr. Morgan is a writer of distinction who has laid Wales under an obligation to him for his valuable contributions to Welsh literature. It is recognized that he has rendered great service as a biographer of Welsh worthies of modern times, and that he has provided those who live across the Border with a scientific yet sympathetic interpretation of Wales and Welsh history. He has shown great insight into the temper of the nation as well as of the history of Welsh reUgion, Welsh poUtics and Welsh traditions. Secondly, though Viscount Rhondda was a much-travelled man who took a wide view of life and public movements, he was an ardent Welshman, and his hfe and personality can only be properly understood and interpreted by a Welshman.

I have had the pleasure of reading the greater part of Dr. Morgan's work in manuscript form, and I am free to confess that I am of the opinion that he has acquitted himself, as those who are acquainted with his works might naturally expect, with conspicuous ability, candour and judgment. He has given a lifelike portrait of Viscount Rhondda, and has set forth his character in the Ught in which, I think, he ought to be judged. He has not handled his subject in any narrow way of party, or race, or class, and it represents my own clear view of the spirit in which my brother's career should be studied and composed. Having been so closely associated with him in business, and having been brought up on the same hearth, it is but natural to suppose that I knew him in all his strength and weakness, and that I understood his instincts and temperament, and, if I may say so, fully realized his great capacities.

The secret of the success and value of this work seems to me to consist in the fact that Dr. Morgan has seized upon those phases in the life of my brother, which appeared to some to be complex and perplexing, and upon the motives and forces that swayed and controlled his actions. It is a patriotic work, and I can only express the hope that it will prove an inspiration to the younger generation of Welshmen, and that it will have a large circulation not only in Wales and in Great Britain, but in other countries where his name is known and his services are appreciated.

J. H. THOMAS.

November ind, igi8.

Chapter I

EVERYBODY knows, said the famous Pietro Aretino, how much dignity Alexander gained from being born of a King, and how much was added to Caesar because he was not descended from an Emperor. It is when we study the early days of Viscount Rhondda by the light diffused from a later period, especially his latter days, that we reaUze the degree of social and national dignity, that came to him. In no historical character of recent years more remarkably than in his, is the law- — though tardy and somewhat irregular — of constant development and progress illustrated. Once he got his foot on the first step of that difficult ascent which was to rise before him all his lifetime, he never turned back. Not only did he amass a fortune which was almost regal, but he acquired a reputation which a monarch might envy, and he was laid to rest as if he were a man of Sovereign rank. He had in him the germs of what was to expand into moral and national greatness.

But since in these days, when the study of here- B 17 dity has received so much attention, it is not permissible to consider, or to dehneate, any man's life and character, especially if it be a national possession, without taking into account his ancestors' hves and their environment, it will be necessary for us to supply a few simple facts concerning his pedigree.

We do not propose to relate all the known or unknown facts ; that is not necessary, and it would simply encumber the chapter with unimportant details. A biographer or historian must select ; he must consciously or unconsciously follow some principle or purpose. Our purpose is to portray the shades of Viscount Rhondda's character as they strike the eye on their darker or brighter ground ; to trace the secret of the very extensive influence which he exercised ; to show that his abiUty was equal to every demand made upon it ; to explain why he did his work in his own way and not according to the prescription of others ; to discover, as far as it is possible, how much of his success was due to his personal qualities, to the circumstances in which he was placed, and in which he played the part of a Cromwell ; to detect the psychical characteristics of his ancestors which gave him the strength of a man and some of his weaknesses.

Fortunately, we have the authority of Viscount Rhondda's only surviving brother, J. H. Thomas, late of Ysguborwen, for the facts which we relate regarding the history of the family and Viscount Rhondda's early days. There can be no better or more reliable authority. It is, of course, difficult for one who is closely related to the subject of a memoir, to form a correct or a totally unbiassed view of his character, or to refrain from adopting an attitude of reserve respecting his weak traits. But Mr. J. H. Thomas possesses one of the signal characteristics of his brother, namely, loyalty to facts and to truth, and a dislike of picturesque and illusory effects. It is the real, not the mythical. Viscount Rhondda that he wishes the author to portray.

Viscount Rhondda descended from a family morally noble, socially honourable and industrious. A good or a noble ancestry operates in two ways ; it adds to the strength of a good man, but it makes a bad man contemptible. There are men who have nothing to their credit except what they are able to draw from their grandsires' ashes. Someone said that he who has nothing to recommend him, or to boast of, but his godly, rich, or illustrious ancestors, is like a potato, for the only good that belongs to him is underground. " You are the first of your line," said a mean and an ignorant man of noble lineage to Cicero. " And you," answered Cicero, " are the last of yours."

Pride of family has often been excessive and unreasonable, even where the ancestors have been men who rendered their country very conspicuous service, and it can only be regarded as an example of human weakness. On the other hand, if any reliance is to be placed on the scientific doctrine of heredity, the descendants of ancestors who have left an honourable record of thrift, labour, honesty, integrity and acquisitiveness, are surely entitled to pride themselves on their pedigree. It would be impossible to overrate the influence exercised by family traditions upon a perceptive and a sympathetic character ; this is shown in the determination to follow the line of life in which an ancestor distinguished himself. There is nothing more painful, and nothing more disadvantageous to a member of a family, than to have to recall, or to be reminded of, a family record that is unworthy of respect or of emulation.

Indeed, of all studies there is none more interesting or perplexing than the study of heredity, or of family life, the seed plot of all habits of thought and habitual emotions, which eventually culminate in vice or virtue, in misery or happiness, in failure or success. The teaching of both history and science is, that the family with its inherited traits or impulses, its noble or sordid proclivities, its impaired or elevated brain power, its rash or cautious movements, its frugal or extravagant habits, is the one important and indestructible factor in human society. A good family, or a good ancestral record, is a vantage ground, an ignoble or an indifferent one the reverse. True, the vantage ground may be destroyed, and the poor record improved.

It is a melancholy, as well as a glorious, reflection, that a child cannot determine the nature of the impressions that will shape its disposition and mould its feehngs. That comes within the province of parent, teacher and friend. Moreover, cognizance must be taken of what is inherent in the child's nature — ^the intangible and the inevitable. This is the load of responsibility that each parent and each generation carries. The key that opens the future, the germ in the soil, the spirit that is embalmed in the soul of the offspring — ^this is the mystery of the ages, a fact, and an appalUng fact, that paralyzes the understanding, and fills the imagination with a sense of impotency and of failure. Science is now busy teaching it as a principle ; but long before the birth of science it was enunciated in the Bible, as a law of our being.

There is another solemn consideration : the lower nature with its animal passions seems to be endowed with a superfluity of power to transmit itself, while the higher nature with its moral passions becomes more easily exhausted. Children of the great are seldom as great as their parents, and the offspring appears with a dent where the parent had a predominance. This applies with equal force to the spiritual side of man. Say, if you like, that it is the exception to the one great universal law ; say it is inconsistent with the theory of evolution ; but the examples are numerous — so numerous, indeed, that we may almost give them the name of laws. Most scientists are agreed that the transmission of acquired qualities or characteristics is unproved. By acquired qualities or characteristics is meant those arising in response to a stimulus ; they denote the character that appears in the individual as the result of use or disuse, or as the direct effect of external influences. Generally speaking, they are adaptive quahties ; that is, they render the organism better fitted to its surroundings than if they had been developed. It was once thought that these acquired qualities or characteristics were inherited in the same way, or as strongly as inborn qualities or characteristics ; but the belief is now held that acquired characteristics are seldom, if ever, transmitted. It is considered possible for acquired constitutional changes to be transmitted, or to produce secondary effects upon the offspring.

This theory has an attractive and a consoling feature ; it frees us from the discouraging thought that we are struggling against nature in the effort to conquer evil tendencies. We need not despair of being able to eradicate defects that have no root in the offspring's nature.

It is therefore clear that the two proverbs, " Like begets like " and " Nature never uses the same mould twice," are contradictory ; for if like begets like, nature uses the same mould for all the members of the family. But the truth is that the offspring of the same parentage may and do differ among themselves, and that the characters of a parent are not evenly or uniformly distributed among the children.

How the characters of a parent are distributed among the children ; what is the mechanism by which the resemblances and diversities, physical, moral and mental, are brought about ; whether the difference due to the action of circumstances is inherited ; whether the different causes of variation have different origins and how the environment may act directly or indirectly ; whether the kinds of variation that are inherent in the individual are independent of the manner of life ; how these variations or differences are transmitted to later generations, and what is the average contribution of each generation of ancestors, are questions of amazing perplexity and transcendent importance, both to the individual and to society.

Their bearing upon the theories of evolution, upon the problem of biology, that is, upon the ultimate nature of living matter, and upon sociology — the science of men living together in society — is also a question of infinite importance ; they are so closely related that they cannot be considered or treated separately.

When we study the family history of Viscount Rhondda, we have a concrete illustration of the working of the law of variation ; and when we study his character, his temperament, his disposition and ambition, his exceptional mental quaUties, and the manner in which his personality revealed itself, we find that he was influenced both by his parents and by ancestors beyond his parents ; that he developed quaUties and characteristics not possessed by either of his parents ;. that the mother's influence over him was not altogether similar to that of the father ; that while he inherited some qualities from his father, he inherited others from his mother. Though his father and mother were not great in any sense, they were exceptional. The father in one direction, that is, in the gift of initiative and business enterprise ; the mother in another direction. She was ambitious, and had ambitions for her children. Indeed, it would be true to say that parental love was a stronger impulse in the mother than in the father. This, of course, is the rule. It is unquestionably instinctive in the mother. In the case of Viscount Rhondda's mother, her parental love was bestowed upon him as lavishly in his manhood as in his infancy and childhood. In his entry into public life and in his ambition for a Parliamentary career, his mother was the inspiring force. The reader will be able to draw his own conclusions as to how far, and in what respect, heredity and inherent qualities affected Viscount Rhondda's character and life, and also what part environment and circumstances played in their development by giving them the opportunity. It is as interesting and instructive to Hnger where the candle of this great man's career was laid, as it is to linger where the candle of his race was laid.

We are first introduced to Viscount Rhondda's paternal ancestors in the year 1770, the date of the birth of his grandfather, John Thomas, known in later years as John Thomas, of Cyfarthfa. He was the son of a yeoman farmer, who owned a copyhold in the parish of Magor, near Newport, which now forms part of the Llanwern Estate, and which had been for generations in the family, but of which no trace could be found until recently. John Thomas's father was called David ; there was always a David in the family, which came originally from the shores of Milford Haven.

His occupation was that of a contractor at the Cyfarthfa Works under the first Richard Crawshay. He was also engaged in farming in the neighbourhood of the works, keeping a number of horses. He was a man who was held in high esteem, both on account of his personal character and industry. The house in which he resided was built for him by Richard Crawshay, with whom he was on friendly terms, in that part of Penyard which was ultimately absorbed in the extension of Cyfarthfa works.

John Thomas married Jane Prichard, of Penyrheol, Talgarth, Breconshire. She was born in 1776, and was a granddaughter of a brother of Howell Harris. Mrs. Thomas, it seems, managed the farm whilst her husband attended to his contracts, and let out his horses for the conveyance of materials to the Cyfarthfa works. She was a member of the Calvinistic Methodist denomination ; the tenets of this religious body were so ineradically planted in her mind, that she had almost a dehghtful conviction of the doctrine which represents God as arbitrarily dealing out salvation and damnation to selected individuals. She was susceptible to religious enthusiasm, and was an habitual attendant at the reUgious gatherings of the denomination to which she belonged ; but temperamentally she was irascible, susceptible to anger, and very querulous. When she visited the house of her son Samuel, the father of Viscount Rhondda, she always had some fault to find, and always something to argue about. Her visits were not conducive to peace and concord, so that her appearance was rather dreaded than otherwise,

John Thomas was not of the same religious persuasion as his wife. He started his religious life as a Churchman, but afterwards became a Baptist. He died April 3rd, 1812, at the age of forty-two, before his children reached manhood. He was buried in the burial ground attached to Ebenezer Chapel in Plymouth Street, Merthyr. When it was rebuilt the grave was enclosed in the interior of the building.

Notwithstanding the fact that John Thomas had left his widow in comfortable circumstances, she and her son Samuel went to the first Joseph Bailey nephew of Richard Crawshay, to ask him to use his influence in order that the hauUng contract at the Cyfarthfa works should be carried on by her. Mr. Crawshay allowed it for a week or so ; hence the origin of Viscount Rhondda's story about his father being a "Door boy." Mrs. Thomas died April 7th, 1857, when eighty years of age. Her remains were interred in the graveyard belonging to Cae Pontywyll Methodist Chapel. There were three sons of the marriage, one of whom became a noted man in his day, both as preacher and theologian. We refer to the Rev. David Thomas, Highbury Church, Bristol, whose memory is still revered by aU who are acquainted with his life. It is after him that Viscount Rhondda, it is said, was named David, though, as we have already observed, there was always a David in the family.

Samuel, the eldest son of John Thomas and father of Viscount Rhondda, was born in 1800. In some of the obituary notices which appeared in the press at the time of Viscount Rhondda's death, it was stated that his father, Samuel Thomas, was a student at the Cowbridge Grammar School at the same time as the late Lord Aberdare. This, however, is not correct. Lord Aberdare, then known as Henry Austin Bruce, was born at Duffryn, in the parish of Aberdare, April i6th, 1815 ; so that he was Samuel Thomas's junior by fifteen years. It was at the Eagle School, Cowbridge, not the Grammar School, that Samuel Thomas was educated, the school where the late Judge Gwilym Williams, of Miskin, was educated about forty years afterwards. He also was a native of Aberdare, being the son of

Mr. William Williams (Alaw Goch). In 1903 he published a volume of his father's works. He was the first Welsh-speaking judge that was appointed in the reign of Queen Victoria.

After leaving Cowbridge, Samuel Thomas went to Taliesin Williams's School at Merthyr, principally in order to study navigation, he having been promised a cadetship in the East India Company by Sir Christopher Cole, who was a retired Commodore, and M.P. for one of the Glamorgan constituencies ; but Sir Christopher Cole lost his seat in Parliament and failed to fulfil his promise, with the result that Samuel Thomas was left without any occupation. Subsequently, he was apprenticed to the grocery business in a shop owned by Messrs. William and Christopher James, one of whom was the father of Lord Milburn James, one of the judges of the High Court. After completing his apprenticeship, Samuel Thomas opened up business for himself as a grocer, tea dealer, and draper. His shop was considered then the best stocked shop in Merthyr, and the business prospered greatly.

About 1840 he started Dan-y-Deri CoUiery, near Troedyrhiw, and took in Thomas Joseph, his brotherin-law, as partner and general manager. In 1849 he leased Ysguborwen from the ancestors of the present Lord Plymouth. Later, he leased BwUfa, in the parish of Aberdare; but the colheries were very extravagantly managed, and the partnership was dissolved in 1855. Some time afterwards Mr. Samuel Thomas took Mr. Ebenezer Lewis as partner, but the partnership lasted a very short time, Mr. Lewis retaining BwUfa as his share. In March, 1871,

Samuel Thomas leased the property which is now known as the Cambrian Collieries, and proceeded to sink a pair of pits four hundred yards deep ; he was then seventy-one years of age.