258:'s position of allowing Labour to take office, although he told his electors in Bristol that there was no Liberal principle involved it was merely a matter of being true to the position on which he had fought the last election. He was one of ten Liberals to support Baldwin's attempt to remain in office. He then voted with the Conservatives on numerous occasions during the rest of the Parliament although he was rarely the only Liberal MP to defy the party line. The party was embarrassed by these divisions in their Parliamentary ranks but they were reaping the harvest of the Asquith–Lloyd George split and the problems which developed during Lloyd George's coalition with the Conservatives. Liberal unity did not really improve until after Asquith's death in 1928 and the need for the Liberal Party to reunify in the face of the
232:'s calling of the election to gain a mandate for imposing tariffs. This approach allowed the Liberals to gain the votes of free-trade Conservatives while retaining their traditional support in rural seats. In Bristol South, Rees again had the full support of the local Conservative Association as well as the Liberals in his fight against the Labour candidate D J Vaughan on an avowedly anti-socialist ticket. It was a noisy and unpleasant campaign with meetings descending into violence. However Rees beat Vaughan by 15,235 to 13,701 – a majority of 1,534.
22:
278:, Labour had become much more optimistic about doing well in Bristol and thought they would win against Rees. Rees against faced his usual Labour opponent D J Vaughan and the continuing local "pact" with the Unionists meant another straight fight. Despite Labour hopes, Rees held the seat by 16,722 votes to Vaughan's 15,702 – a reduced majority of 1,020.
197:, the Tories were reluctant to break the electoral arrangements in Bristol which ensured straight fights in all the seats against Labour to the benefit of their candidates and the Conservatives did not oppose Rees in his contest with D J Vaughan, the Labour man. Thus Rees was elected to Parliament at the
188:
as his nonconformity, his interest in Welsh national movements and his support for free trade made him attractive to
Liberals. Bristol was a coalition stronghold, all five seats in the city being represented at the 1918 general election by parties and candidates supporting the coalition. The sitting
240:
As a
Coalition Liberal, Rees was associated with support for Lloyd George. However, according to the historian Michael Bentley, by 1924 Rees was part of 'a small group of Liberal Imperialists' numbering about 12 MPs who were presumably beginning to be wary of some of Lloyd George's policy positions
183:
coalition. He was typical of the backbench
Coalition Liberals of the period, many of whom were wealthy industrialists. On the backbenches the party was strongest in terms of bank balances rather than political expertise. His wealth, his position in industry, his fierce anti-socialism, all commended
310:
that he had engaged in rash and hazardous speculation and unjustifiable extravagance in living. The
Registrar of the Bankruptcy Court accepted that the depression in the Welsh coal industry had been out of Rees' control and that the state of the stock market meant other share dealings financed on
305:
on 24 July 1930, the debt involving many thousands of pounds. After two adjournments for illness Rees finally appeared for examination on 9 December 1930. He lodged accounts showing total liabilities of £415,951 against assets of £528. However, in March 1931 his debts were discharged, despite the
223:
Rees, despite his public support for the traditional
Liberal policy of Free Trade was not an ideological free-trader. He voted in Parliament for the Safeguarding of Industries Act and was in favour of some measure of protection for home markets, an attitude typical of the Bristol merchant class.
101:
to become managing director of Welsh Garden Cities Ltd, the organisation which built garden villages in several of industrial valleys in South Wales. Rees built up extensive business interests becoming the chairman of a number of companies, mostly in the coal mining and related industries. These
249:
of industry. Lloyd George's carefully worded reply was successful in ensuring the support of enough MPs for his continued leadership of the party. In the end Rees did not actually vote for Lloyd George as he was absent from the critical meeting of
Parliamentary Liberal Party on 1 February 1926.
262:. Rees' position was not always appreciated by the local Liberals either. At the end of July 1927 a deputation from the Western Liberal Federation went to see the Chief Whip at Liberal Party headquarters. They complained about the political conduct of Freddie Guest, the member for
214:
newspaper it was an 'excellent maiden speech'. In the speech Rees opposed the Bill designed to establish a minimum wage for coal miners, arguing that its real outcome would be to create a great combine of mineworkers with an organisation capable of holding the country to ransom.
88:
eventually becoming Joint
Treasurer of the National Free Church Council of England and sometime President of the National Free Church Council of Wales. The National Free Church Council has been described as the 'political arm' of nonconformity.
311:
borrowed monies provided no income in dividend. He also seemed to accept that Rees had been punished personally, in business and socially by the fact of his bankruptcy. Beddoe Rees died soon after these proceedings in May 1931.
253:
Nevertheless, Rees' association with the
Conservatives brought him into conflict with his own party over the issue of support for the formation of a Labour government after the 1923 election. He was unable to support
72:. Rees was trained as an architect and published one of the few manuals on chapel architecture: 'Chapel building: hints and suggestions'. In 1925, he married Elizabeth, daughter of the late Robert Jones-Griffith, of
114:
in June 1917 for his work as chairman of Welsh Garden Cities Ltd, a commercial body, the most striking legacy of which in co-operation with other housing and town planning organisations, was the suburb of
102:
included
Ashburnham Collieries, Ltd, Ashburnham Steamship and Coal Co. Ltd and North Amman Collieries. He was also a Director of Amalgamated Anthracite Collieries and Welsh Anthracite Collieries, Ltd.
266:
and Beddoe Rees, because of the number of occasions they had voted with the
Government against the rest of the members of the party. They requested that the whip should be withdrawn from them.
241:
and his place on the political spectrum in relation to the emerging force of the Labour Party. Rees did later back Lloyd George however. His name was on a list of MPs sent to Lloyd George by
159:. Parker was one of a handful of Labour Party MPs to support the Coalition in the election and in some reports was described as a Liberal, although it is not completely clear if he received
155:. Despite Labour having withdrawn from the Coalition to fight the election as an independent party, Parker announced that he was to remain at his post and would fight the election as
835:
245:
on 1 June 1926 with a promise of support for his leadership, as long as he would give an assurance that he would not enter into an alliance with Labour or support
193:, was retiring and Rees was selected to replace him. Despite the fall of the Lloyd George coalition following the vote of the Conservative Party at the
285:
and again Rees had no Tory opponent. Again the result was expected to be close but in the end it was a comfortable win for the new Labour candidate
638:
301:
At the end of his life, Rees suffered a complete reversal of financial fortune with the failure of his financial affairs, and he was adjudged
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796:
664:
263:
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who had a majority of 5,397. Vaughan had finally abandoned Bristol South and had accepted the offer to stand in the Labour seat of
870:
140:
615:, 7 March 1924; 13 March 1924, 8 April 1924, 14 May 1924, 23 May 1924, 24 May 1924, 30 May 1924, 19 June 1924, 1 August 1924
812:
805:
801:
282:
275:
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225:
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136:
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302:
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228:, presumably to enable him to benefit from the Liberal campaign nationally in support of free trade following
855:
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845:
85:
840:
97:
As an architect Rees designed many Welsh chapels before giving up his practice about the beginning of the
642:
788:
830:
770:
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Liberal MP for Bristol South, Sir William Howell Davies, who had represented the constituency since
185:
179:. Despite being opposed by a coalition candidate in Cannock, Rees was a natural supporter of the
163:. After the election however he retained his job as a government whip being appointed one of the
60:, the son of John Rees, also of Maesteg. Rees was the brother of Liberal politician and Judge
208:
and chose a debate about miners' wages in which to make his first contribution. According to
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860:
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8:
69:
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41:
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286:
148:
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229:
98:
81:
77:
65:
57:
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255:
242:
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68:
recipient Sir Frederick Tavinor Rees. He was educated privately and at the
341:, OUP 2007 & Leigh Rayment give Rees' date of death as 12 May 1931 but
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144:
61:
21:
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73:
37:
175:
After the disappointment of Cannock, Rees found a political home in
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53:
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Despite this, Rees took his stand as a free-trader again at the
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The local arrangement with the Conservatives survived for the
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545:
495:
493:
626:
Age of Alignment: Electoral Politics in Britain 1922–29
513:
A History of the Liberal Party in the Twentieth Century
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Age of Alignment: Electoral Politics in Britain 1922–29
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353:
351:
542:
490:
80:. They had one daughter, Rosemary, in May 1927 (died,
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The Anthracite Coal Industry of the Swansea District
348:
836:Liberal Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies
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122:
32:(1877 – 12 May 1931), usually known simply as
448:The Downfall of the Liberal Party, 1914–1935
218:
139:, Staffordshire. His opponent was a sitting
84:15 September 2009). In religion, Rees was a
16:British politician and architect (1877–1931)
771:contributions in Parliament by Beddoe Rees
204:Rees waited some months before making his
20:
567:; Cambridge University Press, 1977, p95
375:; Manchester University Press, 1988 p88
296:
170:
47:
823:
663:: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (
450:; Cornell University Press, 1966 p.158
373:Religion in Victorian Britain: Sources
411:Rebirth of a Nation: Wales, 1880–1980
388:; University of Wales Press, 1940 p44
151:in the wartime coalition government,
413:; Oxford University Press, 1981 p127
371:Gerald Parsons & James R. Moore,
235:
515:; Palgrave Macmillan, 2004 pp 91–92
165:Lords Commissioners of the Treasury
13:
14:
882:
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780:Parliament of the United Kingdom
201:with a majority of 3,459 votes.
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345:newspaper records it as 13 May
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321:List of Liberal Party (UK) MPs
1:
871:20th-century Welsh architects
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105:
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123:Liberal candidate in Cannock
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293:where he was also elected.
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10:
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565:The Liberal Mind 1914–1929
525:Bristol Times & Mirror
809:
795:Member of Parliament for
793:
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219:The 1923 General Election
119:in the north of Cardiff.
30:Sir William Beddoe Rees
628:; Macmillan, 1975 p242
475:; Macmillan, 1975 p15n
26:
283:1929 general election
276:1924 general election
260:1929 general election
226:1923 general election
199:1922 general election
161:the government Coupon
133:1918 general election
127:Rees first stood for
64:and the soldier, and
24:
297:Bankruptcy and death
171:MP for Bristol South
131:as a Liberal at the
48:Family and education
40:, industrialist and
841:People from Maesteg
274:By the time of the
157:Coalition candidate
70:University of Wales
527:, 20 November 1923
502:, 20 November 1923
437:, 25 November 1918
425:, 23 November 1918
409:Kenneth O Morgan,
400:, 10 December 1930
27:
819:
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813:Alexander Walkden
810:Succeeded by
692:, 28 October 1924
680:, 13 October 1924
603:, 22 January 1924
591:, 21 January 1924
579:, 2 February 1926
563:Michael Bentley,
554:, 30 October 1924
539:, 5 December 1923
462:, 11 January 1919
308:Official Receiver
306:objection of the
287:Alexander Walkden
236:Liberal divisions
52:Rees was born in
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856:UK MPs 1924–1929
851:UK MPs 1923–1924
846:UK MPs 1922–1923
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66:Military Cross
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195:Carlton Club
181:Lloyd George
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149:Labour Party
126:
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44:politician.
33:
29:
28:
18:
866:1931 deaths
861:1877 births
769:1803–2005:
360:Who was Who
339:Who was Who
143:and former
34:Beddoe Rees
25:Beddoe Rees
825:Categories
362:, OUP 2007
327:References
145:Chief Whip
129:Parliament
106:Knighthood
62:Tudor Rees
750:The Times
738:The Times
726:The Times
714:The Times
702:The Times
690:The Times
678:The Times
649:1 October
613:The Times
601:The Times
589:The Times
577:The Times
552:The Times
537:The Times
500:The Times
485:The Times
460:The Times
435:The Times
423:The Times
398:The Times
343:The Times
270:1924–1929
211:The Times
110:Rees was
74:Dolgellau
38:architect
659:cite web
315:See also
303:bankrupt
117:Rhiwbina
112:knighted
93:Business
766:Hansard
184:him to
177:Bristol
147:of the
137:Cannock
54:Maesteg
42:Liberal
806:1929
802:1922
665:link
651:2008
191:1906
135:in
76:in
827::
804:–
661:}}
657:{{
544:^
492:^
350:^
167:.
141:MP
56:,
667:)
653:.
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