Timothy Davies (politician)

For other people named Timothy Davies, see Timothy Davies (disambiguation).

Timothy Davies

Timothy Davies (17 January 1857 – 22 August 1951) was a British Liberal Party politician). He represented Fulham as a Borough Councillor, Borough Alderman, County Councillor, Mayor and Member of Parliament.

Background

Timothy Davies was born in Llanpumsaint, Carmarthenshire where he spent his childhood years until later moving to Liverpool to become an apprentice in the textile industry. In 1885, he founded his own company in Fulham, London but maintained strong links with Wales as evidenced when he commissioned a stone fountain for Carmarthen Park in 1899.

Political career

In 1896 he was elected a member of Fulham Vestry as a Progressive. He continued as a councillor of the new Fulham Borough Council in 1900. In 1901 he was elected mayor of the borough council, serving from 1901 to 1902. In 1903 he was appointed a borough alderman. In 1901 he was elected to the London County Council as a Progressive Party candidate, gaining Fulham from the Conservative-backed Moderate party.

1901 London County Council election: Fulham

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Progressive	Timothy Davies	5,341	29.3	+5.5
	Progressive	Peter Lawson	5,259	28.9	+5.1
	Conservative	Edward George Easton	3,497	19.2	−6.7
	Conservative	Cameron Gull	3,483	19.1	−7.3
	Independent	James Edwin Cooney	645	3.5	n/a
	Progressive gain from Conservative		Swing
	Progressive gain from Conservative		Swing	+6.2

He was re-elected in 1904 and served until 1907.

He was a supporter of the Temperance movement. For many years he had a close friendship with David Lloyd George who had an affair with Davies's wife, Lizzie.Tempestuous Journey by Frank Owen</ref> In 1906 he completed his hat-trick of Fulham representation when he gained the parliamentary seat at the General Election;

Fulham in London 1900-18

1906 General Election: Fulham

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Timothy Davies	8,037	52.0	+12.6
	Conservative	Hayes Fisher	7,407	48.0	−12.6
Majority			630	4.0	25.2
Turnout			20,620	74.9	+9.9
	Liberal gain from Conservative		Swing	+12.6

In 1910, rather than seek re-election at Fulham, he switched constituencies to contest Louth in Lincolnshire;

General election January 1910: Louth

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Langton Brackenbury	4,433	50.9	+6.9
	Liberal	Timothy Davies	4,275	49.1	−6.9
Majority			158	1.8	13.8
Turnout				84.4	+3.8
	Conservative hold		Swing

Despite failure, he fought the seat again 11 months later;

General election December 1910: Louth

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Timothy Davies	4,260
	Conservative	Langton Brackenbury	4,188
Majority
Turnout
	Liberal gain from Conservative		Swing

In 1912 he voted against and in 1917 he voted in favour of giving votes to women. In 1916 he supported the introduction of Conscription. In 1918, he was absent during the key Maurice debate. He sought re-election at the 1918 election but found that the Coalition 'coupon' had been issued to his Unionist opponent;

General election 1918: Louth

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	Langton Brackenbury	9,055	54.5
	Liberal	Timothy Davies	7,559	45.5
Majority			1,496	9.0
Turnout			16,614	60.3
	Unionist gain from Liberal		Swing

Davies did not stand for Parliament again.

As well as serving as an MP Timothy Davies also became a Justice of the Peace and an Income Tax Commissioner. He died in 1951, aged 94.

References

• Craig, F. W. S. (1983) [First published 1969]. British parliamentary election results 1918-1949 (3rd ed.). Chichester: Parliamentary Research Services. ISBN 0-900178-06-X.

External links

• Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by Timothy Davies