David Rees-Williams, 1st Baron Ogmore

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Right Honourable
The Lord Ogmore
PC
Lord Ogmore.jpg
Member of Parliament for Croydon South
In office
1945–1950
Preceded byHerbert Williams
Succeeded byConstituency abolished
Personal details
Born
David Rees Rees-Williams

(1903-11-22)22 November 1903
Bridgend, Wales
Died30 August 1976(1976-08-30) (aged 72)
Political partyLabour Party (until 1959)
Liberal Party (1959–1976)
Spouse(s)Alice Alexandra Constance Wills
Children3

David Rees Rees-Williams, 1st Baron Ogmore, PC, TD (22 November 1903 – 30 August 1976) was a British politician.

Life and career[]

Rees-Williams was born in Bridgend, Wales, the son of Jennet (née David) and David Rees-Williams. He qualified as a solicitor in 1929. Commissioned into the 6th (Territorial Army) Battalion, Welch Regiment, he was promoted Captain in 1936 and Major in 1938, by which time his battalion had become a searchlight unit. He transferred to the Royal Artillery in 1940, when all searchlight units did so, and ended the Second World War as a Lieutenant-Colonel.

Rees-Williams was elected Labour Member of Parliament for Croydon South in 1945, defeating the incumbent MP, Sir Herbert Williams. In the government he was a minister in the Colonial Office, travelling to East Asia to consider the movements towards independence. His seat was redistributed at the end of the Parliament and he narrowly lost the successor seat at the 1950 general election and was raised to the peerage as Baron Ogmore, of Bridgend in the County of Glamorgan, on 10 July 1950.[1] He served as Minister of Civil Aviation in 1951 and was made a Privy Councillor the same year. Lord Ogmore was President of the London Welsh Trust, which ran the London Welsh Centre, Gray's Inn Road, from 1955 until 1959.[2]

Lord Ogmore joined the Liberal Party in 1959 and served as Liberal Party President, 1963–1964.

Lord Ogmore was married to Alice Alexandra Constance Wills.[3][4] He had three children. His daughter, Elizabeth Rees-Williams, married the actors Richard Harris and Sir Rex Harrison, the businessman Peter Aitken, and more recently Jonathan Aitken, the former Conservative MP. His grandsons are actors Jared Harris and Jamie Harris and director Damian Harris.

Honours[]

Coat of arms of David Rees-Williams, 1st Baron Ogmore
Ogmore Achievement.png
Crest
A tiger’s head couped Proper charged on the neck with three chevronels couped Gules.
Escutcheon
Azure two bars wavy Argent on a chief arched of the second between as many hurts each charged with a quatrefoil Or a hurt thereon a sun in splendour of the third.
Supporters
Dexter a tiger Proper charged on the shoulder with three chevronels couped Gules, sinister a horse Argent.
Motto
Ffyddlon Hyd Angau (Faithful Unto Death) [5]

Foreign honour[]

References[]

  1. ^ "No. 38968". The London Gazette. 14 July 1950. p. 3622.
  2. ^ "Our Former Presidents: London Welsh Centre". London Welsh Centre website. London Welsh Centre. 2010. Archived from the original on 20 July 2011. Retrieved 4 February 2011.
  3. ^ "D C O'Driscoll / Rees-Williams_(I)". dcodriscoll.pbworks.com. Retrieved 20 May 2015.
  4. ^ Europa Publications Limited (1974). The international who's who. Europa Publications. ISBN 9780900362729. Retrieved 20 May 2015.
  5. ^ Debrett's Peerage. 1985.
  6. ^ "Senarai Penuh Penerima Darjah Kebesaran, Bintang dan Pingat Persekutuan Tahun 1959" (PDF).

External links[]

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Member of Parliament for Croydon South
1945–1950 		Constituency abolished
Political offices
Preceded by Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies
1947–1950 		Succeeded by
Thomas Fotheringham-Cook
Preceded by Minister of Civil Aviation
1951 		Succeeded by
Party political offices
Preceded by President of the Liberal Party
1963–1964 		Succeeded by
Preceded by
?
 President of the Welsh Liberal Party
?–1970 		Succeeded by
Peerage of the United Kingdom
New creation Baron Ogmore
1950–1976 		Succeeded by
Retrieved from ""