Goronwy Owen Goronwy-Roberts, Baron Goronwy-Roberts, PC, FRSA (20 September 1913 – 23 July 1981), was a Welsh Labourmember of Parliament.
Early life
Goronwy Roberts was the younger son of Edward and Amelia Roberts from Bethesda, Gwynedd, where his father was an elder of the Presbyterian Church of Wales.[1] He was educated at Ogwen Grammar School, Bethesda and the University College of North Wales, Bangor (now Bangor University).[1] Later he attended the University of London and was appointed a Fellow of the University of Wales in 1938. While at Bangor, Goronwy Roberts, together with Harri Gwynn was one of the founders of Mudiad Gwerin, a nationalist left-wing pressure group.[1][2]
He served in the army in 1940-41 and in the army reserve until 1944. From 1941 until 1944 he worked as Youth Education Officer for Caernarfonshire and in 1944 was appointed lecturer in youth leadership at the University College of Swansea.
Member of Parliament
Goronwy Roberts was elected Labour MP for Caernarvonshire in 1945, when he defeated the sitting Liberal MP Goronwy Owen, who had held the seat since 1923.[1] Following boundary changes, he was elected to represent Caernarvon at the 1950 General Election, defeating the Liberal candidate by over 10,000 votes.[1] He continued to represent the constituency until February 1974, when he lost his seat to Dafydd Wigley of Plaid Cymru.
During the 1950s, Goronwy Roberts was, together with Cledwyn Hughes and others, a stalwart of the Parliament for Wales campaign. In 1951, Plaid Cymru announced that the party would not oppose him at the general election due to his support for the campaign.[3] Eventually, he presented the final petition to Parliament, bearing more than 250,000 signatures, in May 1956.[1]
In 1942 Goronwy Roberts married Marian Ann Evans, daughter of David and Elizabeth Evans of Robertstown, Aberdare. They had two children: a daughter, Ann, and a son, Dafydd.[1] Marian Goronwy-Roberts wrote a biography of Marion Phillips, the pioneering Labour campaigner for women's rights,[5] and a number of books in Welsh,[1] including the centenary lecture at the 1981 Welsh National Eisteddfod on the Welsh poet, scholar and politician, W. J. Gruffydd.[6]
Assessment
Goronwy Roberts was a strong supporter of devolution and of Welsh culture but was also a fierce critic of what he regarded as the nationalistic excess of Plaid Cymru. His own roots were in the Labour tradition of the quarry working communities of his constituency. His Welsh was fluent and attractive ("swynol, dawel, gerddorol").[7] He was greatly troubled by his defeat at the general election of 1974.
