Joseph Davies (politician)

Davies was adopted as Liberal candidate for Crewe in 1913.[13] However, in December 1916 a by-election was caused in the Liberal seat at Derby when Sir Thomas Roe resigned in anticipation of being sent to the House of Lords. Derby Liberals favoured Davies for their candidate but Liberal Party headquarters in London was still under the control of H H Asquith, even though he had ceased to be prime minister and they issued an edict that, because of his close association with Lloyd George, Davies was not to be selected under any circumstances. Asquith's personal secretary went to Derby to enforce this ruling. Although a majority of Derby's Liberal delegates wanted Davies, they chose an Asquithian Liberal, William Job Collins instead.[14] When the 1918 general election was called, Davies was adopted for Crewe. He secured the Coalition coupon and the sitting Unionist MP, Ernest Craig stood aside. His Labour opponent was J. T. Brownlie, President of the Amalgamated Society of Engineers. Although Davies achieved a majority of 2,953 votes, the largest recorded in the constituency since its creation in 1885, the Labour vote rose to 10,439 – up from the 2,485 achieved at the previous election, a by-election in 1912.[15] When Davies defended Crewe at the 1922 general election, standing as a Lloyd George National Liberal he again faced no Conservative opponent. It was reported that the National Liberals in Cheshire had come to an agreement with the Tories that if they declined to stand a candidate against Davies in Crewe, there would be no National Liberal opposition to Conservative candidates in the divisions of Eddisbury, Chester and Northwich and the National Liberals would urge their supporters to support the Conservative candidates in those seats.[16] The Lloyd George Liberals appear to have held to their side of the bargain as there were no National Liberal candidates in any Cheshire seat at the 1922 general election except for Davies in Crewe. There were a number of Independent Liberals including one in Chester but this did not stop the Tories from making a clean sweep of every Cheshire seat they contested in the election.[17] The pact was not enough to save Davies however who was this time defeated by Labour's Edward Hemmerde, a former Liberal MP. One historian has commented that politics in Crewe had been changed by a number of factors including deaths among pre-war Liberal stalwarts, the decline of nonconformity, the decreasing importance of temperance agitation and the rise of trade unionism.[18] The progressive torch in Crewe passed from Liberalism to Labour.

Davies was knighted in January 1918 in recognition of his work for the government during the First World War, becoming a KBE.[19] He also served as a Justice of the Peace.[20] From 1914–1917 he was the representative for Wales and Monmouthshire on the Cabinet Committee for Prevention of Unemployment. He was a member of the Royal Commission on Daylight Saving and was a member of a War Cabinet Delegation to the US in 1917.[21] He later served as a member of a Parliamentary Inquiry into the government's scheme for the establishment of a motor repair works at Cippenham, near Slough .[22]