Former home of Ellis Davies MP, Caernarfon
Former home of Ellis Davies MP, Lôn Dewi, Caernarfon
Solicitor and MP Ellis Davies lived here, at Graig Wen, for 30 years until his death in 1939. The upper photo shows him in the garden here with Labour Party leader George Lansbury c.1934. The lower photo shows him with relatives, along with Prime Minister David Lloyd George and Nath Roberts, Lloyd George’s agent.
Ellis William Davies was born on 12 April 1871 at Gerlan, Bethesda. His father David was a quarry official. Ellis was educated in Bethesda and Liverpool College. Leaving school at 16, he worked as an insurance clerk. Studying in the evenings, he passed the Law Society exams to become a solicitor, achieving first class honours in the final exam.
His career as a solicitor began at Bethesda. Eventually he established a law practice in Caernarfon where. In 1901 he married Mary Grace Hughes from Porthmadog and together they had four children: daughter Gwenith and triplet sons David, John and Richard.
In 1904 he became a county councillor and then an alderman for Gerlan. He was also a solicitor for the North Wales Quarrymen's Union.
From June 1906 until the 1918 general election, he was Liberal Member of Parliament for Eifion Division of Caernarfonshire. He was a radical politician on the left wing of his party with pro-Labour leaning.
He sat on parliamentary committees on re-shaping land reform, the jury system, electoral reform, compulsory purchase by local authorities and reform of the House of Lords.
He was in Westminster for the whole of the Great War, regularly opposing David Lloyd George's war policy. He returned to Parliament in 1923 as the Liberal member for Denbighshire where he remained until 1929 when he retired because of ill health. You can read more about his political career on our page about Caernarfon’s former Liberal Club.
Whilst in London he joined a prestigious firm of solicitors and was the senior partner by the time he left. He was a Trustee of the Midland Bank and a director at Selfridges (London department store).
In Caernarfon he maintained his connection with Ellis Davies & Co. (the firm he had established), then run by his daughter and two surviving sons. He was a deacon at Moreia Chapel (Calvinistic Methodist), Caernarfon, for many years.
With thanks to Richard Ellis Davies (grandson), of Caernarfon Civic Society, for information and the photos
Postcode: LL55 1BH View Location Map