Idris Williams
Idris Williams was an educationalist, prominent Congregationalist, and Liberal councillor for the Cymmer division of the Glamorgan County Council, South Wales.
Early life
Idris Williams was born at Porth Farm on 19 April 1836, the third and youngest son of Edward and Jane Williams. At that time, Rhondda was a remote, rural town. During his lifetime, Williams witnessed the transformation of the valley into an industrial community. In the early 1840s, his family leased land and mineral rights at Ynyshir to Shepherd and Evans. Williams received very little formal education and at the age of nine he went to work as a haulier at George Insole & Son's Cymmer Colliery. At the age of sixteen he was sent to a school in Cardiff and two years later became an apprentice carpenter at Pontypridd. After completing his training he returned to the Cymmer Pit to work as a carpenter in 1854–5. In 1855 he was married to Mary Evans, daughter of the Rev. Joshua Evans of Cymmer. They had six children.Public life
Williams supported William Abraham during his successful campaign for election to Parliament in 1885 as Liberal-Labour MP for Rhondda. In 1892 Williams became a Liberal councillor for the Cymmer division of the Glamorgan County Council. Although he lost the popular election he took up the position unopposed a month later when the winning candidate became an alderman.Richard Griffiths, in his study of the commercial life of the Rhondda, speculates that Williams' prominence in the public life of the Rhondda Valley was based on two factors. The first was his connection with the pre-industrial society of the valley as the heir to Porth Farm, an agricultural holding that disappeared with the advent of industrialisation. The second factor was the considerable wealth that he accrued after coal mining operations commenced on the land which formerly formed part of the Porth Farm.
Death and legacy
Williams died suddenly in Porth on 4 November 1894 and was buried four days later at the Cymmer Independent Chapel graveyard after "a vast concourse of people assembled to pay their last tokens of respect and esteem."Related newspaper and other articles
- : unsuccessfully sought election as relieving officer for the Rhondda district
- : lay-preacher and deacon at Cymmer Independent Chapel, instrumental in arranging a Cymanfa Ganu for the Rhondda which led to similar festivals in subsequent years
- : elected as relieving officer
- : registrar of marriages
- : school board election
- : board member
- : meeting chair
- Glamorgan County Council Election – Cymmer Division : and
- : letter to council electors
- : chosen to replace elected councillor
- : committee vice-president
- : Glamorgan Water Committee activity
- : Porth and District Chamber of Trade meeting
- : further details of death; councillor and assistant overseer and registrar of marriages of the parish of Ystradyfodwg
- : representatives of various groups at the funeral
- : song written by Joseph Parry for and sung at the funeral
- : condolence votes from the Rhondda and Pontypridd executive of the National Union of Teachers and the guardians of the Pontypridd Union
- : condolence letter from English Congregational Union of Glamorganshire and Carmarthenshire
- : death noted by East Glamorgan Liberal Association
Category:1836 births
Category:1894 deaths
Category:People from Porth