Edward Thomas John (Q66126)

E. T. (Edward Thomas) John was born in Pontypridd, Glamorgan, in 1857, but his family moved to Middlesborough, Durham, in 1871, where he began his career in the iron and steel industry. He became involved in politics following his retirement from the management of the Linthorpe-Dinsdale Smelting Company, Middlesbrough, in 1910. He became Liberal Member of Parliament for East Denbighshire, 1910-1918, and an advocate of Home Rule for Wales. Although defeated in the 1918 West Denbighshire election, when he ran as a Labour and Welsh Nationalist candidate, and a further three times between 1922 and 1924 as a candidate for Brecon and Radnor and Anglesey, John continued to be involved in issues of governmental reform in Wales and in Welsh culture. He became the elected head of the Union of Welsh Societies (from which the Celtic Congress later emerged), 1916-1926, and president of the Peace Society, 1924-1927. John also had interests in education and agriculture in Wales and wrote a number of articles for newspapers and periodicals including Y Beirniad and The Welsh Outlook. He died in Kent on 16 February 1931.