William Jenkins (coal merchant)
Sir William Albert Jenkins (9 September 1878 – 23 October 1968) was a Welsh coal exporter, ship owner and Liberal politician.
Family
[edit]Jenkins was born in Swansea the son of Daniel and Elizabeth Jenkins. In 1906 he married Beatrice Tyler of Pirbright in Surrey. His wife died in 1967.[1]
Career
[edit]At the age of 13 years, Jenkins went to work as an office boy in the Swansea docks where he acquired a thorough knowledge of the coal and shipping trades. He later set up his own business W A Jenkins & Co, wholesale coal and coke factors and shipbrokers.[2] His business expanded greatly during World War One.[1] He served for some years as President of the Swansea Chamber of Trade and was Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Shipbrokers.[2]
Politics
[edit]Parliament
[edit]Jenkins was first elected to Parliament at the 1922 general election as a National Liberal. He was elected to represent Breconshire and Radnorshire which he won in a straight fight with Labour. At the 1923 general election he was returned unopposed as a Liberal (without suffix or prefix) for the same seat but in 1924 he faced a three-cornered contest against Labour and Conservative opposition and he lost the seat to the Tories.[3] During his time in Parliament, Jenkins was a contributor to debates concerning industrial questions and Welsh issues.[1] He did not fight again a Parliamentary election again until 1936 when he stood as the candidate of the National Government with the support of the local Liberal and Conservative parties [4] under the description National Liberal at a by-election in Llanelly. He did not win the seat however which was held for Labour by Jim Griffiths the president of the South Wales Miners' Federation with a majority of 16,221 votes, virtually unchanged since the 1935 general election.[5]
Local politics and public service
[edit]Jenkins sat as a member of Swansea Borough Council from 1927 to 1954 and served as Mayor of Swansea between 1947 and 1949. In 1928 he was appointed a Justice of the Peace for the County of Glamorgan and was sometime Chairman of the Bench of Magistrates, Gower Petty sessional division.[2] He was a member of the Court of Governors and Council of University College, Swansea.[1]
Other civic or public offices
[edit]During his long life, Jenkins held a number of other public positions including:
- President of the South West Wales Savings Bank
- President of the Royal Welsh Agricultural Society (1949)
- President of the Swansea and Central Wales Adult Deaf and Dumb Mission
- President of the Deaf and Dumb Regional Association for Wales [2]
Honours
[edit]Jenkins was knighted for political and public services and his award of a Knight Bachelor was announced in the New Year Honours List of 1938.[6] He was also awarded the Borough of Swansea Order of St John Council. Jenkins also qualified for a number of foreign decorations. In 1933 he became a Knight, First Class, of the Order of the Dannebrog (Denmark); a holder of the Gold Cross Royal Order of George I of Greece, (1938) [7] and was Chevalier de la Légion d’Honneur (France) in 1949.[2]
Death
[edit]Jenkins died at the age of 90 years on 23 October 1968.[8]
References
[edit]- ^ a b c d The Times, 26 October 1968 p12
- ^ a b c d e Who was Who, OUP 2007
- ^ F W S Craig, British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949; Political Reference Publications, Glasgow, 1949 pp 548 & 542
- ^ The Times, 17 March 1936 p8
- ^ The Times, 28 March 1936 p12
- ^ The Times, 1 January 1938 p6
- ^ The Times, 4 January 1939 p13
- ^ Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "B" (part 5)
External links
[edit]- 1878 births
- 1968 deaths
- Liberal Party (UK) MPs for Welsh constituencies
- Knights Bachelor
- UK MPs 1922–1923
- UK MPs 1923–1924
- History of Wales
- Politicians from Swansea
- Mayors of Swansea
- Knights of the Legion of Honour
- Grand Crosses of the Order of George I
- Knights First Class of the Order of the Dannebrog
- National Liberal Party (UK, 1922) politicians