Llangunllo Remembered
Western Mail – Thursday 01 October 1936
This is part of a much longer interview that was conducted by The Western Mail where Sir Charles mentions Llangunllo! “Sheep and Goats “Well,” was the reply, “one
must necessarily keep in mind all such diversities; for in the Socialist Party, as in both
the Conservative and the Liberal Parties, there is the Right Wing and there is the Left Wing. Or, as I prefer to label the two sections, there are the sheep and the goats. Now the sheep, as you can readily understand, are very easy to shepherd. They always go without so much as a bleat into whatever Lobby they are directed. But the goats—true to their inborn characteristics—are apt to be fractious at times. They have horns and they do not hesitate to use them if one handles them roughly. But it is a pleasing reflection that among the Welsh Socialist members there are no goats. On the contrary, they are as docile as the Radnorshire sheep which I used to admire when I was a lad at Llangunllo. They always go as they are directed by their shepherd.”
The South Wales Gazette Friday May 22 1936
Sir Charles didn’t seem to mince his words when he needed. Could this be a little bit of Llangunllo humour?
SIR CHARLES EDWARDS AND “NOSEY PARKER.”
Mr. SHAKESPEARE: I think it is true to say the position has materially improved over the last four or live years.
Mr. HALL: May I ask him to reply to my question?
Sir CHARLES EDWARDS Bedwellty (Opposition Chief Whip): What
steps does the Minister propose to take to deal with nosey-parkers
who refuse to mind their own business? (Ministerial cries of “Order”
and Opposition cheers.)
Sir WALDRON SMITHERS, on a point of order asked if Sir Charles
Edwards was entitled to call him a nosey-parker. (Laughter.)
The SPEAKER: I think it would he best to pass on to the next
question.
Western Mail Tuesday 26th April 1938
LADY EDWARDS DEAD Wife of Bedwellty Knight M.P. Lady
Edwards, wife of Sir Charles Edwards, M.P. for the Bedwelity
Division, died on Monday at her home in Gelli-crescent, Risca. aged 73.
She had been In poor health for some time. Lady Edwards did not take a prominent part in public life, but she often accompanied her husband upon various missions and maintained an interest in his many public activities. She and Sir Charles celebrated their golden wedding some time ago. Sir Charles, born in Llangunllo, Radnorshire. He went to Risca as a boy, and after working in the pits became miners’ agent. His first experiences of public life were gained as a member of the Risca Urban Council, and later the Monmouthshire County Council. He was elected to Parliament in 1918 & was appointed Welsh Whip of the Labour Party in 1925, and chief Whip in 1931. He was knighted in 1935 and received the C.B.E. in 1930. Besides Sir Charles. Lady Edwards is survived by a son and a daughter, Mr W. C. Edwards. of Blackwood, and Mrs. T.
Pitman, of Risca.
The First Radio Political Broadcast Discussion on the BBC
The first debate, on 27 February 1939, was on old age pensions, between Sir Charles Edwards, H. Graham White and Sir Arnold Wilson, and it fulfilled all Maconachie’s worst expectations from a programme point of view. The BBC’s listener groups were
overwhelmingly hostile: ‘very dull’, ‘dreadfully lamentable and disappointing’, ‘unutterable boring’ and ‘political squabble that few want or appreciate.’ Yet the difficulty of persuading all parties to debate on more interesting subjects, with more important speakers and in a more impromptu manner, was at that time too great. Nor were the objections to a more adventurous approach entirely on the Government side; when Ogilvie suggested to Attlee that he and Stafford Cripps should broadcast on their differences over thequestion of a Popular Front, Attlee rejected the idea.