Clement Edwards

Clement Edwards, circa 1905.

(Allen) Clement Edwards (7 June 1869 – 23 June 1938), usually known as Clem, was a Welsh lawyer, journalist, trade union activist and Liberal Party politician. As a barrister specialising in trade union and labour law he was briefed in some of the most important cases of the day concerning the rights of trade unions to engage in industrial and political action. Edwards was always active in the Welsh radical tradition and was strongly opposed to Labour.^[1] During the First World War his patriotism grew enormously and he became a founding member of the National Democratic Party (NDP). He was elected one of the NDP’s Members of Parliament in 1918 and served as its chairman in the House of Commons.^[2]

Family and education

Edwards was born in Knighton in Radnorshire, the son of a master tailor and draper, one of seven children. He was educated at the local school in Knighton, undertook private studies and also attended evening classes at Birkbeck Institute in London.^[3] In 1890, Edwards married Fanny Emerson, the daughter of the superintendent of Trinity House, Great Yarmouth. She died in 1920. Two years later Edwards was re-married, to Alice May Parker, a political colleague ^[4] in the NDP. They had one son, John Charles Gordon Clement Edwards (1924–2004) who served in the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve in the Second World War and later became a solicitor.^[5]

In religion, although born into an Anglican family, Edwards became a Congregationalist and was considered a typical Welsh-speaking champion of nonconformist causes.^[6]

The law

Edwards began his law career working in a solicitor’s office. In 1899, he was called to the Bar by the Middle Temple.^[7] He was drawn to trade union cases and in the Taff Vale case of 1901 he was one of Counsel briefed on behalf of the trade union. He was also briefed in another railway action, the Osborne case, concerning trade union support for MPs ^[8]

Trade Union activism

Edward’s law work for the unions strengthened his political and social awareness and from the 1880s, he was involved in the formation of trade unions for unskilled workers. Despite his legal connections to the railway unions, Edwards developed a special connection with the dock workers and was at one time assistant secretary of the Dock, Wharf, Riverside and General Labourers' Union.^[9] He was also general secretary of the federation of dockland and transport unions. Edwards had a flair for mass organisation. In the great dock strike of 1889, he was one of John Burns’ lieutenants in the organisation of the dispute and ^[10] in 1893, he organised a mass demonstration in Hyde Park in aid of miners and their families undergoing severe hardship and was also responsible for another demonstration at the same venue by 30,000 laundresses.^[11] During his time working for the dock labourers, Edwards was to play a leading part in the public inquiry which looked into the sinking of the RMS Titanic.^[12] He put the miners' case following the infamous 1913 Senghenydd Colliery Disaster in which 439 men died. But Edwards never conceived of the trade unions as the industrial arm of the socialist movement. He understood them as the working-man’s defence against unfair employers and a protection against an economic system which produced personal poverty, immorality, and misery.

Politics

From trade union activism, Edwards expanded into political activity, including radical journalism, becoming labour editor of the London newspaper The Sun in 1893 and then The Echo in 1894. He then transferred to the Daily News where he held the title Special Commissioner.^[13]

Edwards was a member of the Fabian Society ^[14] and in local politics he stood for election as Progressive Party candidate for the London School Board in 1894 in Islington before being elected to Islington council in 1898.^[15] He stood unsuccessfully for parliament as a Liberal in 1895 for Tottenham ^[16] and in 1900 for Denbigh Boroughs ^[17] before winning in Denbigh in 1906.^[18] He stood for re-election there in January 1910 but lost by just eight votes.^[19] However, he was quickly selected for another Welsh seat, this time with a more secure Liberal vote, and in December 1910, he was elected as MP for the mining seat of East Glamorganshire in a three-cornered contest against Unionist and Labour opposition.^[20]

National Democratic Party

The coming of the First World War presented the Liberal Party with many difficult political decisions over essentially illiberal legislation such as the Defence of the Realm Act, which gave the government wide-ranging powers and on the question of conscription. As W. Llewelyn Williams, Liberal MP for Carmarthen put it, “...it would be a tragedy worse than war if, in order to win the war, England ceased to be the beacon of freedom and liberty she has been in the past.” ^[21] However it was hard to stand up against the tide of patriotic fervour sweeping the country and this infected Edwards as it did many others on the radical wing of the party. With former union leader Ben Tillett and other Labour men from a trade union background, Edwards backed David Lloyd George, notably in efforts to prevent industrial unrest and keep the war effort on track.

In 1916, the British Workers League was formed as an organisation for patriotic labour to get behind the war effort and for commercial preference within the British Empire.^[22] Edwards was drawn to the League which changed its name to the National Democratic Party for the 1918 general election. The party won nine seats at the election. Edwards was the NDP candidate for East Ham South where he was elected as a supporter of the Coalition government in 1918. He may have been granted the Coalition coupon but was opposed by a Unionist and his Labour opponent was Arthur Henderson the future leader of the Labour Party.^[23] Edwards was the chairman of the NDP in Parliament from 1918-1920.

The development of the Labour Party, post-war industrial unrest of which Edwards and the NDP continued to disapprove and the increasing unpopularity of the Lloyd George coalition, combined to undermine the NDP’s appeal to patriotic labour. Edwards defended East Ham South at the 1922 general election for the NDP, as a supporter of Lloyd George, but was pushed into third place in a three-cornered contest won by Labour’s Alfred Barnes.^[24]

Later life

Edwards did not stand for Parliament again. His opinions and history were not a good fit with the reunited Liberal Party after 1922. He remained a champion of union rights during the industrial turmoil of the 1920s but took little part in public or political affairs after losing his Parliamentary seat.^[25] He claimed to be a Liberal until 1931, when he lost faith with the party leaders and resigned his membership.^[26] He continued in the law until retirement.

Death

Edwards died of cancer at Manor House Hospital, Golders Green, on 23 June 1938.^[27] He was cremated at Golders Green.^[28]

Publications

• Railway Nationalization, Methuen & Co., 1898
• The Children’s Labour Question, Daily News, 1899
• (Jointly with George Haw) No Room to Live: the plaint of overcrowded London, Wells Gardner & Co., London, 1900 (reprinted from the Daily News)
• The Compensation Act, 1906: Who pays? to whom, to what, and when it applies, Chatto & Windus, 1907
• Articles and journalism on labour, economics, industry and politics

References