Ronw Moelwyn Hughes known as Moelwyn Hughes was a Welsh

Wales

Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...

 lawyer and a Liberal

Liberal Party (UK)

The Liberal Party was one of the two major political parties of the United Kingdom during the 19th and early 20th centuries. It was a third party of negligible importance throughout the latter half of the 20th Century, before merging with the Social Democratic Party in 1988 to form the present day...

 and Labour

Labour Party (UK)

The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after...

 politician who was elected to two brief terms as a Member of Parliament

Member of Parliament

A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...

 (MP).

Born in Cardigan

Cardigan, Ceredigion

Cardigan is a town in the county of Ceredigion in Mid Wales. It lies on the estuary of the River Teifi at the point where Ceredigion meets Pembrokeshire. It was the county town of the pre-1974 county of Cardiganshire. It is the second largest town in Ceredigion. The town's population was 4,203...

, Hughes was educated at the University of Cambridge

University of Cambridge

The University of Cambridge is a public research university located in Cambridge, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest university in both the United Kingdom and the English-speaking world , and the seventh-oldest globally...

, where he gained a First Class Honours degree in Law. His family moved to Birkenhead

Birkenhead

Birkenhead is a town within the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral in Merseyside, England. It is on the Wirral Peninsula, along the west bank of the River Mersey, opposite the city of Liverpool...

 in 1917, and Hughes was elected there as a local councillor.

At the 1929 general election

United Kingdom general election, 1929

-Seats summary:-References:*F. W. S. Craig, British Electoral Facts: 1832-1987*-External links:***...

, he stood as a Liberal candidate in the safe Labour Party

Labour Party (UK)

The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after...

-held constituency of Rhondda West

Rhondda West (UK Parliament constituency)

Rhondda West was a parliamentary constituency centred on the Rhondda district of Wales. It returned one Member of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, elected by the first past the post system...

, losing heavily to the sitting Labour MP William John

William John (politician)

William John was a Welsh Labour Party politician, and a Member of Parliament for thirty years.At the Rhondda West by-election, 1920, he was elected as MP for the safe Labour constituency of Rhondda West, and held the seat until he retired from the House of Commons at the 1950 general election.In...

. After his experiences there, Hughes joined the Labour Party, and stood unuccessfully as the Labour candidate in the Cardiganshire constituency at the 1935 general election

United Kingdom general election, 1935

The United Kingdom general election held on 14 November 1935 resulted in a large, though reduced, majority for the National Government now led by Conservative Stanley Baldwin. The greatest number of MPs, as before, were Conservative, while the National Liberal vote held steady...

.

He was elected to the House of Commons

British House of Commons

The House of Commons is the lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which also comprises the Sovereign and the House of Lords . Both Commons and Lords meet in the Palace of Westminster. The Commons is a democratically elected body, consisting of 650 members , who are known as Members...

 at an unopposed by-election in 1941

Carmarthen by-election, 1941

A by-election was held for the British House of Commons constituency of Carmarthen on 26 March 1941. The seat had become vacant on the resignation of the Labour Member of Parliament Major Daniel Hopkin MC, who had held the seat since the 1935 general election....

, as Member of Parliament

Member of Parliament

A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...

 for Carmarthen

Carmarthen (UK Parliament constituency)

Carmarthen was the name of a parliamentary constituency in Wales which returned one Member of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom between 1542 and 1997...

, following the resignation of Labour MP Major Daniel Hopkin

Daniel Hopkin

Major Daniel Hopkin MC was a British soldier, barrister and Labour Party politician.-Early life:Hopkin was born in Llantwit Major in South Wales, the son of a farm labourer who died in 1893 when Daniel was seven...

 MC. However, at the 1945 general election

United Kingdom general election, 1945

The United Kingdom general election of 1945 was a general election held on 5 July 1945, with polls in some constituencies delayed until 12 July and in Nelson and Colne until 19 July, due to local wakes weeks. The results were counted and declared on 26 July, due in part to the time it took to...

, he lost the seat by 1,279 votes to the Liberal candidate Rhys Hopkin Morris

Rhys Hopkin Morris

Sir Rhys Hopkin Morris was a Welsh Liberal politician who was a Member of Parliament from 1923–1932 and from 1945–1956....

.

In March 1946, 33 people were killed and hundreds injured at the Burnden Park

Burnden Park

Burnden Park was the home of English FA Premier League football club Bolton Wanderers who played home games here between 1895 and 1997. As well as hosting an FA Cup Final replay it was the scene of one of the greatest disasters in English football and the subject of an L. S...

 grounds of Bolton Wanderers football club

Bolton Wanderers F.C.

Bolton Wanderers Football Club is an English professional association football club based in the area of Horwich in the Metropolitan Borough of Bolton, Greater Manchester. They began their current spell in the Premier League in 2001....

, who were playing Stoke City

Stoke City F.C.

Stoke City Football Club is an English professional football club based in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire that plays in the Premier League. Founded in 1863, it is the oldest club in the Premier League, and considered to be the second oldest professional football club in the world, after Notts...

 in an FA Cup

FA Cup

The Football Association Challenge Cup, commonly known as the FA Cup, is a knockout cup competition in English football and is the oldest association football competition in the world. The "FA Cup" is run by and named after The Football Association and usually refers to the English men's...

 match. Hughes was appointed to lead the official inquiry into the disaster, and his report recommended limitations on crowd sizes. (An estimated 85,000 fans were present in a stadium with capacity for only 60,000).

Hughes returned to Parliament

Parliament of the United Kingdom

The Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the supreme legislative body in the United Kingdom, British Crown dependencies and British overseas territories, located in London...

 at the 1950 general election

United Kingdom general election, 1950

The 1950 United Kingdom general election was the first general election ever after a full term of a Labour government. Despite polling over one and a half million votes more than the Conservatives, the election, held on 23 February 1950 resulted in Labour receiving a slim majority of just five...

, when he was elected as (MP) for the safe Labour seat of Islington North

Islington North (UK Parliament constituency)

Islington North is a parliamentary constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one Member of Parliament by the first-past-the-post system of election...

, in North London

North London

North London is the northern part of London, England. It is an imprecise description and the area it covers is defined differently for a range of purposes. Common to these definitions is that it includes districts located north of the River Thames and is used in comparison with South...

. He represented the constituency for only one year, until he stepped down at the 1951 general election

United Kingdom general election, 1951

The 1951 United Kingdom general election was held eighteen months after the 1950 general election, which the Labour Party had won with a slim majority of just five seats...

.

Family

Hughes was the son of Reverend John Gruffydd Moelwyn Hughes (1866-1944) and his wife Mya (née Lewis). A Presbyterian minister who became Moderator of the General Assembly in 1936, Rev Hughes was a lyrical poet, hymn writer, philosopher and a notable preacher. A pacifist and Liberal party supporter, he followed his son's switch in political allegiance to Labour.

Ronw's wife Louise Mary, eldest daughter of the Appeals Court judge

Lord Justice of Appeal

A Lord Justice of Appeal is an ordinary judge of the Court of Appeal of England and Wales, the court that hears appeals from the High Court of Justice, and represents the second highest level of judge in the courts of England and Wales-Appointment:...

 Frederick Greer

Frederick Greer, 1st Baron Fairfield

Frederick Arthur Greer, 1st Baron Fairfield PC was a British lawyer and judge. Born to a merchant and his wife, Greer became a barrister and member of Gray's Inn, practicing in Liverpool. In 1910 he became a King's Counsel, and in 1919 a judge of the High Court of Justice...

 (Baron Fairfield), survived him on his death in 1955 at the age of 58. They had two sons and one daughter.

External links