On This Day

April 10, 1890

David Lloyd George wins the Caernarvon Boroughs by-election

The election was caused by the sudden death of the sitting Tory MP Edmund Swetenham. Lloyd George, who had been adopted to fight the Caernarvon early the previous year and who had been nursing the constituency, threw himself into the campaign with gusto. His opponent, Ellis Nanney – a local squire with whom Lloyd George had previously crossed swords, was no match for Lloyd George and became the butt of his rhetoric. Support came from the Liberal Party, most importantly from Tom Ellis MP, the Liberal Chief Whip and a popular figure in Wales but also from Gladstone. When the result was announced after two recounts, Lloyd George was the victor by 18 votes. It was his smallest majority in the 55 years that he served as MP for the constituency.