David Davies was born in July 1857, the youngest of ten children.
His father died when David was just seven years of age, and at the age of ten, he began working at a candle factory at Caedraw. When the factory closed, David returned to school for a short time before gaining employment at another candle factory in Victoria Street. When he was 18 he began working at the Plymouth Works Rolling Mills, and after their closure, he found employment at the Ifor Works Rolling Mills.
In 1878 he became a conductor on the London and Northwest Railway omnibuses which connected the train passengers with the Brecon and Merthyr Railway at Dowlais Central Station. When the Morlais Tunnel opened in June 1879, the buses were no longer required, so he became a porter and later signalman. He married Mary in 1881 and moved to Pant, and the couple had six children – Annie, Albert, William, Arthur, Frank and Bryn, Albert losing his life in the First World War.
A man deeply involved in local politics, fighting for an improved living standard for others, he organised a large demonstration at Cyfarthfa Park, asking for 2,000 new houses to be built. He was also a J.P., served on the Board of Guardians for nine years, was one of the founders of the Dowlais Co-operative Society (later becoming its chairman), and he was also a founder member of the Dowlais Railwaymen’s Coal Club, which had its own wagons, and by cutting out the middle-man, saved the profits for its members.
In 1919, he was the official candidate (Dowlais Ward) for the Merthyr Trades Council and Labour Party. Points of his campaign were:-
Free medical and nursing care for infants.
Clean, plentiful, cheap milk; managed by the people for the people and thus eliminating private profit.
Free meals for hungry children.
Free medical treatment for the needy and sick.
He was elected mayor in 1925-26.
David died in 1940, his principal aim in life having been to leave the town of his birth a better place than he found it.
The article transcribed below appeared in the Merthyr Express 110 years ago today (16 July 1910).
CO-OPERATIVE STORES FOR BEDLINOG
OPENING CEREMONY
The Dowlais Co-operative Society opened their first branch establishment on Thursday week at Bedlinog. The opening ceremony was performed by Mr. Hugh Jones, Dowlais (chairman of the parent Society), in the presence of a good gathering of delegates from other Co-operative Societies in Glamorganshire and Monmouthshire, and local members. Mr. Jones, who was presented with a silver key by the builder (Mr. Horace J Davies, of Bargoed), congratulated the architect, the contractor, and the Bedlinog members upon the erection of the handsome and spacious building they were opening that day. Forty delegates sat down to luncheon, after which congratulatory speeches were delivered by the Chairman, the Contractor (Mr. H. J. Davies), Mr. T. Andrews, J.P., and other representatives.
In the evening a large gathering took place in front of the shop, and Mr. H. Jones presided. The Chairman, in opening the meeting, explained the objects of the co-operative movement. The idea of organization for the sake of profit-sharing was scouted, and the idea of service emphasised. The provision of good, wholesome food, suitable clothing, and other necessaries at reasonable prices regulated their conduct. Some object to Co-operative Societies taking up trade, holding that it was the province of individuals. Under the individual system, the idea of service vanished, and the accumulation of profits loomed largely, to such an extent that in order to swell their profits, adulteration of goods has been resorted to, and the Government has been compelled to legislate to check the evil. The private trader must now sell margarine as margarine, and not as butter.
Humane conditions of employment for men and women was another object of the movement. Under private traders, human beings were mere machines, utilised for accumulating wealth for their masters, shop assistants and apprentices were subjected to inhuman conditions in the form of low wages, an insanitary living-in system, bad food, and impositions. Co-operation, Trade Unionism, and the Labour movement are proceeding on parallel lines with the same objects in view, of securing for the industrial classes their fair share of the wealth they labour to produce and distribute, and by so doing reduce to a great extent the unnecessary suffering and poverty which exists.
Mr. T. Andrews congratulated the Society upon its courage and enterprise, and exhorted the Bedlinog people to respond in a like spirit. He urged greater loyalty on the part of existing members, and invited others to join the movement. Let them adopt, like the Jews of old, the policy of transmitting to their offspring the spirit of faithfulness. This movement, which was started in a small way, had by today assumed huge proportions. Its branches were spread all over the land. Hardly a town existed in this land but had its co-operative society, and in some towns the movement was powerful. It was one of the most powerful movements recorded in the history of human activity. Its trade was immense. It was the greatest trading concern in the world. It produced boots; it manufactured cloth and cotton, and made clothes and dresses. It possessed several flour mills, soap and candle and chemical works, jam and pickle factories, tea gardens, cocoa, coffee, and sugar plantations. creameries, orchards, and gardens. It had established convalescent homes and subscribed large sum of money annually to hospital and other charitable purposes.
Councillor John Davies (miners’ agent), Dowlais, urged all Trade Unionists to become members. The co-operative movement, he said, was the twin sister of Trade Unionism. It was the bounden duty of every Trade Unionist to become a co-operator, because this movement sought to secure for workers fair conditions of labour; good, wholesome food to sustain them good clothes to protect and adorn them; and a just share of the wealth they produced and distributed. This movement assisted all classes of workers.
Inspector John Edwards, Dowlais, advised all to join the Society. It was a movement started by workers and carried on by them. The Society was started by railwayman, but all classes of people were admitted. Mr. W. Payne, Dowlais, also spoke, and at the close of the meeting the Chairman invited non-members to join the Society, which can be done by paying an entrance fee of one shilling.
The architect of the premises was Mr. Springall, of the Co-operative Wholesale Architects’ Department, Manchester, and the contractor Mr. Horace Davies, Bargoed; and both gentlemen have given every satisfaction in the carrying out of the work. During the afternoon, tea was provided, and a large number of adults and children sat at the tables. The Bedlinog members and their children had free tickets, while non-members paid sixpence each, and the children threepence each.
David Davies was born in July 1857, the youngest of ten children.