Welsh Journals

As a dissenter, he stood squarely on the side of reform, and in the critical county by-election of 1837 he actively supported the candi- dature of W. O. Stanley, Penrhos, Holyhead, the reformist candidate, in company with the Revs. William Griffith, Holyhead (Independent), William Roberts, Holyhead (Calvinistic Methodist) and Cadwaladr Williams,13 Llangefni (Calvinistic Methodist). Anglesey, in com- parison with the majority of Welsh constituencies, was politically atypical in the sense that its landed representatives were tradition- ally Whigs; and so the intervention of O. J. A. Fuller Meyrick of Bodorgan in the interest of High Church Toryism was bound to stir the politically-minded Methodists into backing Stanley, thus freeing themselves from the straitjacket of political quietude imposed on the connexion by John Elias. Not surprisingly, Richard Davies's name, along with those of his sons John and Richard junior, figured among the signatories of an address14 from the leading members of the 'powerful and influential' Calvinistic Methodist body in Anglesey congratulating Stanley on his success and pledging future support. Other names included those of the Rev. Ebenezer Davies, Llannerch- y-medd, Rev. Hugh Jones, Holyhead, Rev. Robert Hughes, Gaerwen, Roger Evans, Llangefni (later Menai Bridge) and Rees Lloyd, Treflesg (who had been threatened with eviction for showing his side).15 In many ways, this election was a watershed in Methodist attitudes: the fresh, vigorous voice which found expression in 1837 was the harbinger of an assertive radicalism stimulated and streng- thened by Nonconformist political consciousness. Even before the heat of the election had begun to die, Richard Davies snr. was to preside over a public meeting at Llangefni favouring a government measure for the abolition of Church rates.16 Although a sore point with Dissenters, it appears that Davies was not prepared to indulge in any individual protest, such as a refusal to pay the hated levy.17 By this time the family name of Davies, Llangefni, was becoming a by-word for enterprise and economic success.18 As a vibrant 18 It was he who baptized Richard Davies jnr.; Robert, on the other hand, had been baptized by the redoubtable Elias. 14 'An Address from the Undersigned Calvinistic Methodists of Anglesey to W. O. Stanley, Esq., M.P. for the County', 25 March 1837 (39 names were appended): C.D.H., 1 April 1837. For its significance in relation to Elias's authority-he had voted for Meyrick -within the Methodist connexion, see R. T. Jones, John Elias-Pregethwr a Phendefig (Mudiad Efengylaidd Cymru, 1975), pp. 50-52. 'Hanes Caergeiliog a'r Amgylchoedd' gan Thomas Lloyd, Llywenan (1876), contained in T. G. Owen's booklet, Atgof Uwch Angof (Caernarfon, 1939), pp. 25-26. Thomas Lloyd was the son of Rees (or Rice) Lloyd. 11 C.D.H., 22 April 1837. 17 Cf. Thomas Gee and John Matthews, Aberystwyth: G. I. T. Machin, 'A Welsh Church Rate Fracas, Aberystwyth 1832-3: The Making of a Radical Dissenter', ante, Vol. 6, No. 4 (December, 1973), pp. 462-68. Much of this background has been covered by Aled Eames in his chapter, 'An Anglesey Ship-Owning Family in the Age of Victoria', Ships and Seamen of Anglesey (Llangefni, 1973).