‘Don't allow politics of hate to get a foothold’

DR Grenfell was a shining light in the fight against fascism during the run-up to the Second World War and helped to organise life-saving rescue efforts. Robert Smith, author of a long-overdue biography about the Welsh MP told Jenny White why it is so relevant to our times

- 

HE PLAYED a vital role in warning against rising fascism in Europe in the 1920s, assisted Basque children and others to flee the Spanish Civil War, and as the Labour Party's representative in Prague following the Munich agreement, helped opponents of the Nazis to escape to Britain.

Yet Labour Party politician David Rhys Grenfell, known as DR (1881-1968), has been largely forgotten in the story of the 20th century. A new biography by Swansea historian Robert Smith will change that.

DR Grenfell was MP for Gower for 37 years, and Smith, who is a Labour councillor for Gorseinon, has longstanding links to Grenfell not only through shared politics, but also because their families were neighbours. He was motivated to write Grenfell’s biography now because he knew he deserved recognition, but also because the examples he set through his actions are highly relevant to our time.

“When you look at a lot of what he did, the underlying principles are still applicable today,” says Smith. “There are the principles of social justice within Wales, and also, looking outwards at the world, there is the awareness of the fact that we are part of an international community, that struggles elsewhere are as relevant as our own struggles here, and that sometimes we have to be part of that global response to international issues.”

Grenfell’s politics were shaped by his youth. He was educated at Penyrheol School in Gorseinon until the age of 12, when he had to start working in the local coal mine. Determined to keep learning, he attended night school and went to work in a colliery in Nova Scotia, where he learnt several languages from fellow miners. These served him well when he was dealing with political issues on an international stage.