Editing David Lloyd George (section)

=== Welsh affairs ===
[[Kenneth O. Morgan]] describes Lloyd George as a "lifelong Welsh nationalist" and suggests that between 1880 and 1914 he was "the symbol and tribune of the [[Welsh nationalism|national reawakening of Wales]]", although he is also clear that from the early 1900s his main focus gradually shifted to UK-wide issues.<ref>{{cite web |title=David Lloyd George |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/george_david_lloyd.shtml |access-date=5 March 2022 |website=BBC History |language=en-GB}}</ref><ref name="open.edu">{{cite web |title=Unit 8 David Lloyd George and the destiny of Wales |url=https://www.open.edu/openlearncreate/mod/oucontent/view.php?id=55160&printable=1 |publisher=Open University |access-date=5 March 2022}}</ref> He also became an associate of [[T. E. Ellis|Tom Ellis]], MP for Meirionydd, having previously told a Caernarfon friend in 1888 that he was a "Welsh Nationalist of the Ellis type".<ref>{{cite web |title=OLCreate: CYM-WH_E1 Sources for Unit 8: Source 8D |url=https://www.open.edu/openlearncreate/mod/oucontent/view.php?id=55159&section=1.4 |access-date=5 March 2022 |publisher=Open University}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Disestablishment: Lloyd George and Tom Ellis's determination to press on with a Bill, Sept. 1893 |publisher=National Library of Wales |website=Archives and Manuscripts |url=https://archives.library.wales/index.php/disestablishment-lloyd-george-and-tom-elliss-determination-to-press-on-with-bill-sept-1893 |access-date=5 March 2022}}</ref>

==== Decentralisation and Welsh disestablishment ====
One of Lloyd George's first acts as an MP was to organise an informal grouping of Welsh Liberal members with a programme that included; disestablishing and disendowing the [[Church of England]] in Wales, [[Temperance movement in Wales|temperance]] reform, and establishing [[Welsh home rule]].<ref name="HatterNotAGent"/>{{rp|50}} He was keen on [[decentralisation]] and thus [[Welsh devolution]], starting with the devolution of the [[Church in Wales]] saying in 1890: "I am deeply impressed with the fact that Wales has wants and inspirations of her own which have too long been ignored, but which must no longer be neglected. First and foremost amongst these stands the cause of Religious Liberty and Equality in Wales. If returned to Parliament by you, it shall be my earnest endeavour to labour for the triumph of this great cause. I believe in a liberal extension of the principle of Decentralization."<ref>{{cite web |title=OLCreate: CYM-WH_E1 Sources for Unit 8: Source 8F |url=https://www.open.edu/openlearncreate/mod/oucontent/view.php?id=55159&section=1.6 |publisher=Open University |access-date=1 March 2022}}</ref>

During the next decade, Lloyd George campaigned in Parliament largely on Welsh issues, in particular for disestablishment and disendowment of the Church of England. When Gladstone retired in 1894 after the defeat of the [[second Home Rule Bill]], the Welsh Liberal members chose him to serve on a deputation to [[William Vernon Harcourt (politician)|William Harcourt]] to press for specific assurances on Welsh issues. When those assurances were not provided, they resolved to take independent action if the government did not bring a bill for disestablishment. When a bill was not forthcoming, he and three other Welsh Liberals ([[D. A. Thomas]], [[Herbert Lewis (politician)|Herbert Lewis]] and [[Frank Edwards (British politician)|Frank Edwards]]) refused the [[Whip (politics)|whip]] on 14 April 1894, but accepted [[Lord Rosebery]]'s assurance and rejoined the official Liberals on 29 May.<ref name=":1"/>

==== {{lang|cy|italic=no|Cymru Fydd}} and Welsh devolution ====
Historian [[Emyr Price]] referred to Lloyd George as "the first architect of Welsh devolution and its most famous advocate" as well as "the pioneering advocate of a powerful parliament for the Welsh people".<ref>{{cite book |title=David Lloyd George (Celtic Radicals) |publisher=University of Wales Press |year=2005 |page=208}}</ref> Lloyd George himself stated in 1880 "Is it not high time that Wales should the powers to manage its own affairs" and in 1890, "Parliament is so overweighted that it cannot possibly devote the time and trouble necessary to legislate for the peculiar and domestic retirement of each and every separate province of Britain". These statements would later be used to advocate for a Welsh assembly in the [[1979 Welsh devolution referendum]].<ref>{{cite web |date=28 February 2022 |title=Yes or No? The Welsh Devolution Referendum |url=https://blog.library.wales/the-welsh-devolution-referendum/ |access-date=5 March 2022 |website=National Library of Wales Blog |language=en-US}}</ref> Lloyd George felt that disestablishment, land reform and other forms of Welsh devolution could only be achieved if Wales formed its own government within a federal imperial system.<ref name="open.edu"/> In 1895, in a failed Church in Wales Bill, Lloyd George added an amendment in a discreet attempt at forming a sort of Welsh home rule, a national council for appointment of the Welsh Church commissioners. Although not condemned by [[T. E. Ellis|Tom Ellis]] MP, this was to the annoyance of [[J. Bryn Roberts]] MP and the Home Secretary [[H. H. Asquith]] MP.<ref>{{cite web |title=OLCreate: CYM-WH_E1 Sources for Unit 8: Source 8Ji |url=https://www.open.edu/openlearncreate/mod/oucontent/view.php?id=55159&section=1.11 |access-date=5 March 2022 |publisher=Open University}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=OLCreate: CYM-WH_E1 Sources for Unit 8: Source 8Jii |url=https://www.open.edu/openlearncreate/mod/oucontent/view.php?id=55159&section=1.12 |access-date=5 March 2022 |publisher=Open University}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last=Doe |first=Norman |date=January 2020 |title=The Welsh Church Act 1914: A Century of Constitutional Freedom for the Church in Wales? |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/ecclesiastical-law-journal/article/abs/welsh-church-act-1914-a-century-of-constitutional-freedom-for-the-church-in-wales/597309DC935A6E6B551CB43DF097EE8B |journal=Ecclesiastical Law Journal |volume=22 |issue=1 |pages=2–14 |doi=10.1017/S0956618X19001674 |s2cid=213980589 |issn=0956-618X}}</ref>

He was also a co-leader of {{lang|cy|italic=no|[[Cymru Fydd]]}}, a national Welsh party with liberal values with the goals of promoting a "stronger Welsh identity" and establishing a Welsh government.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Alfred Thomas's National Institution (Wales) Bills of 1891-92|via=[[ProQuest]]|url=https://www.proquest.com/openview/f89689abf1ce5c56184975743e87cddc/1?pq-origsite=gscholar&cbl=1820145 |access-date=1 March 2022}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |website=BBC History |title=Cymru Fydd – Young Wales |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/wales/history/sites/themes/society/politics_cymru_fydd.shtml |access-date=5 March 2022}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Cymru Fydd {{!}} Cyf. I – 1888 |website=Welsh Journals |publisher=The National Library of Wales |url=https://journals.library.wales/view/2426646/2426647/ |access-date=7 March 2022}}</ref> He hoped that {{lang|cy|italic=no|Cymru Fydd}} would become a force like the [[Irish National Party]]. He abandoned this idea after being criticised in Welsh newspapers for bringing about the defeat of the [[Liberal Party (UK)|Liberal Party]] in the [[1895 United Kingdom general election|1895 election]]. In an AGM meeting in [[Newport, Wales|Newport]] on 16 January 1896 of the South Wales Liberal Federation, led by [[D. A. Thomas]], a proposal was made to unite the North and South Liberal Federations with {{lang|cy|italic=no|Cymru Fydd}} to form The Welsh National Federation. This was a proposal which the North Wales Liberal Federation had already agreed to. However, the South Wales Liberal Federation rejected this. According to Lloyd George, he was shouted down by "Newport Englishmen" in the meeting, although the ''[[South Wales Argus]]'' suggested the poor crowd behaviour came from Lloyd George's supporters.<ref name=":1">{{harvnb|Gilbert|1987|loc=ch. The Early Years in Parliament: The Welsh Parnell, pp. 146–147}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=OLCreate: CYM-WH_E1 Sources for Unit 8: Source 8Kii |url=https://www.open.edu/openlearncreate/mod/oucontent/view.php?id=55159&section=1.14 |access-date=6 March 2022 |website=open.edu}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=OLCreate: CYM-WH_E1 Sources for Unit 8: Source 8Kiii |url=https://www.open.edu/openlearncreate/mod/oucontent/view.php?id=55159&section=1.15 |access-date=6 March 2022 |publisher=Open University}}</ref><ref name="ReferenceB">{{cite web |title=Unit 8 David Lloyd George and the destiny of Wales |url=https://www.open.edu/openlearncreate/mod/oucontent/view.php?id=55160&printable=1 |access-date=6 March 2022 |publisher=Open University}}</ref> Following difficulty in uniting the Liberal federations along with {{lang|cy|italic=no|Cymru Fydd}} in the South East and thus, difficulty in gaining support for Home Rule for Wales, Lloyd George shifted his focus to improving the socio-economic environment of Wales as part of the [[United Kingdom]] and the [[British Empire]]. Although Lloyd George considered himself a "Welshman first", he saw the opportunities for Wales within the UK.<ref name=":1"/><ref>{{cite web |date=8 February 2021 |title=What happened to the voices arguing for a strong Welsh and British identity in the union? |url=https://nation.cymru/opinion/what-happened-to-the-voices-arguing-for-a-strong-welsh-and-british-identity-in-the-union/ |access-date=2022-03-05 |website=Nation.Cymru |language=en-GB}}</ref>

==== Uniting Welsh Liberals ====
In 1898, Lloyd George created the Welsh National Liberal Council, a loose umbrella organisation covering the two federations, but with very little power. In time, it became known as the Liberal Party of Wales.<ref name="alderton">{{cite web |last=Alderton |first=Nicholas |title=The formation of the Welsh Liberal Party, 1966–1967 |url=https://www.psa.ac.uk/sites/default/files/conference/papers/2015/The%20Formation%20of%20the%20Welsh%20Liberal%20Party%20(1).pdf |access-date=10 April 2019 |website=Political Studies Association}}</ref>

==== Support of Welsh institutions ====
Lloyd George had a connection to or promoted the establishment of the [[National Library of Wales]], the [[National Museum of Wales]] and the Welsh Department of the [[Board of Education (United Kingdom)|Board of Education]].<ref name="ReferenceB"/> He also showed considerable support for the [[University of Wales]], that its establishment raised the status of Welsh people and that the university deserved greater funding by the UK government.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=B. |first=G. H. |date=1908-11-01 |title=Mr. Lloyd George on the Endowment of Universities |journal=Nature |volume=79 |issue=2038 |pages=86–87 |doi=10.1038/079086a0 |bibcode=1908Natur..79...86G |s2cid=26692106 |issn=1476-4687|doi-access=free }}</ref>