Rhys Hopkin Morris

Sir Rhys Hopkin Morris (5 September 1888 – 22 November 1956) was a Welsh Liberal politician who was a Member of Parliament from 1923–1932 and from 1945–1956.

Hopkin Morris was born at Blaencaerau, Maesteg, Glamorgan, son of John Morris, Congregational minister in Caerau, and Mary. He was educated at University of Wales, Bangor and qualified as a barrister, being called to the Bar in 1920.

A classic laissez-faire liberal, Hopkin Morris supported Herbert Henry Asquith against David Lloyd George when the party split between 1916 and 1923, and would remain fiercely opposed to Lloyd George and interventionist Liberalism throughout his political career.

In 1922 Hopkin Morris contested the general election as a pro-Asquith Liberal in Cardiganshire, narrowly losing to the sitting pro-Lloyd George Liberal MP Ernest Evans. The following year the Liberal Party reunited but Hopkin Morris ran as an Independent Liberal against Evans. In one of the most surprising results of the 1923 general election Hopkin Morris was elected. In the follow year's general election he was returned unopposed as an official Liberal candidate.

His opposition to both Lloyd George and the introduction of tariffs resulted in his remaining with the official ("Samuelite") Liberals when the party split three ways in advance of the 1931 general election. The following year Hopkin Morris was appointed as a Metropolitan Police magistrate, a salaried post which vacated his seat because the post was an 'office of profit under the Crown' and incompatible with membership of the House of Commons. In 1936, he became the first Regional Director of the BBC in Wales. The same year Hopkin Morris became President of the London Welsh Trust, which runs the London Welsh Centre, holding office until 1937.

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