Sir John Dillwyn-Llewellyn, 1st Baronet

"Swansea"
As caricatured by Spy (Leslie Ward) in Vanity Fair, October 1900

Sir John Talbot Dillwyn-Llewellyn, 1st Baronet (26 May 1836 – 6 July 1927) was a Welsh Conservative Member of Parliament who was notable for his links to Welsh sports.

Background and education

Llewellyn was the son of photographer and scientist John Dillwyn Llewelyn and Emma Thomasina Talbot, youngest daughter of Thomas Mansel Talbot and Lady Mary (née Fox Strangways) of Penrice, south Wales and a cousin of William Henry Fox Talbot. He was educated at Eton and later Christ Church, Oxford.

Political Career

Llewellyn was High Sheriff of Glamorgan in 1878 and Mayor of Swansea in 1891.

In 1889 he was elected as one of the first members of Glamorgan County Council and was immediately made an alderman, to which role he was we-elected in 1895. He was made a baronet, of Penllergaer in Llangyfelach and Ynys-y-gerwn in Cadoxton juxta Neath in the County of Glamorgan, in 1890.

Llewelyn contested the Gower by-election of 1888 as a Conservative candidate. The Liberal ranks had been affected by divisions over the choice of candidate and Llewelyn polled well although narrowly defeated by David Randell.

In 1892, following the death of his uncle, Lewis Llewelyn Dillwyn, Llewelyn was adopted as Conservative candidate for the Swansea Town constituency but was defeated by R.D. Burnie. However he reversed the result three years later when he was elected Conservative MP for Swansea in the 1895 general election, but lost the seat in 1900.

Llewellyn's connections to sport included the position of captain of the South Wales Cricket Club and in 1885 he replaced the Earl of Jersey as the president of the Welsh Rugby Union; a post he would hold until 1906, when he was replaced by Horace Lyne. Lyne himself stated that 'they (WRU) had been singularly fortunate in getting a gentleman like Mr J.T.D. Llewellyn to act in that captaincy'.^[1]

Family

Llewellyn married in 1861 Caroline Julia, daughter of Sir Michael Hicks Beach, 8th Baronet. Their younger and only surviving son Charles married the heiress of the Venables family and adopted the additional surname Venables. He became MP for Radnorshire and High Sheriff of that county.

Later Life & Death

Llewellyn died in 1927 aged 91 and was buried with his wife and next to his father in St David's Church in Pennllergare.

Legacy

Dillwyn Llewellyn Community School in Cockett, Swansea, was named for him - this was amalgamated with Dynevor School in 2001 to become Dylan Thomas Community School

See also

• Spy Cartoon Vanity Fair

Bibliography

• Smith, David; Williams, Gareth (1980). Fields of Praise: The Official History of The Welsh Rugby Union. Cardiff: University of Wales Press. ISBN 0-7083-0766-3.

References

1. Smith (1980), pg 48.

External links

• Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by Sir John Dillwyn-Llewelyn