MATHIAS
,
RONALD CAVILL
(
1912
-
1968
),
trade union leader
;
b.
21 Sept. 1912
at
Pontarddulais, Glam.
He was educated at
Gowerton Grammar School
. From
1924 until 1945
he worked as a
clerk
for the
Richard Thomas Co.
(later
Richard Thomas and Baldwins, Ltd.
),
iron and steel manufacturers
in
south Wales
. In
1945
Mathias
was appointed
Merthyr and district organiser
for the
Transport and General Workers' Union
. He became
Cardiff district organiser
,
1949-53
,
and
South Wales Regional Secretary
from
1953
until his retirement in
1967
. In the same year he was appointed a
full-time member
of the
National Board for Prices and Incomes
. He held a number of public offices, among them
Vice-Chairman
of the
Welsh Economic Council
,
secretary
of the
South Wales T.U.C. Advisory Committee
,
treasurer
of the
Welsh Council of Labour
, and
governor
of the
Welsh College for Advanced Technology
, to name but a few. He became
chairman
of the
Labour Party Wales
in
1965
.
Mathias
published a number of articles in journals, and he was a popular
lecturer on economic and industrial matters
. He received the
M.B.E.
, in
1938
and the
O.B.E.
in
1967
. He m. in
1938
Annie Ceridwen
Hall
; they had one daughter. He d.
15 Apr. 1968
at the beginning of a Mediterranean cruise and was
buried at sea
.
Bibliography:
-
Who was who?
;
-
The Times
,
-
Western Mail
and the
The Liverpool Daily Post
,
18 Apr. 1968
;
-
The Biographical Index of W.W. Price,
Aberdâr
(at the National Library of Wales and Aberdare
Public Library)
.
Author:
Dr John Graham Jones, Aberystwyth
