File B10/4. - Letters to and from Persons Surnamed D,

Ellis William Davies (1871-1939), solicitor and politician, was born at Gerlan, Bethesda, Caernarfonshire, and educated in Bethesda and Liverpool. He worked as a clerk in insurance offices in Wrexham, Denbighshire, and Sheffield, Yorkshire, until he qualified as a solicitor in 1899, after which he established a law practice in Caernarfon and lived there for the rest of his life. A political radical, he was elected to Caernarfonshire County Council in 1904, later becoming an alderman, and he was also director of several business companies and solicitor for the North Wales Quarrymen's Union. In 1906 he was elected Liberal Member of Parliament for the Eifion division of Caernarfonshire, and retained his seat until 1918, during which time he sat on committees investigating land reform, the jury system, reform of the electoral system, compulsory purchases by local authorities, and reform of the House of Lords. He returned to Parliament as MP for Denbigh in 1923, but resigned in 1929 on grounds of ill health. In 1932, he was prominent in the discussions of the Presbyterian Church of Wales on formulating a parliamentary bill relating to the church. He joined the Labour party in 1936, only to leave in 1938 because of its foreign policy. He died in 1939.