A book about former Caerphilly MP Morgan Jones, written by the current Caerphilly MP Wayne David, has been released by Welsh Academic Press.
Jones was jailed for being a conscientious objector and refused to fight in the First World War.
He was the first conscientious objector to be elected to Parliament when he won the Caerphilly by-election in 1921, and served until his death in 1939, aged 53.
Born in Gelligaer, Jones served as a Junior Education Minister in the Labour governments of 1924 and 1929.
The book launch took place at Caerphilly Visitors’ Centre on Saturday, May 18.
During the launch, Mr David was joined by fellow-Labour MP Nick Thomas-Symonds, who represents Torfaen.
Mr David, who had been working on the book since 2014, said: “When the Speaker of the House of Commons [John Bercow] asked me to give a lecture about Morgan Jones, that obliged me to do some research.
“One thing led to another and I realised what a fascinating and remarkable man Morgan Jones was.
“Not only did I learn about his involvement in opposing the First World War, but his wider contribution to politics and society as well, so that’s what led to the book.”
Mr David added: “He was a man who was totally dedicated to the wellbeing of his constituents and he was a man of principle. But he was also a man who was prepared to be pragmatic, because he recognised that with democracy you sometimes have to make compromises to achieve anything.
“But at the same time he always reverted back to his principles to make sure that whatever policy he was involved in was going in the right direction.”
Talking about his research, Mr David said: “Sources were quite disparate. There were some family papers I had access to, but it was local newspapers more than anything else which provided the great mass of information.”
Jones’ grandson, Nick Sheaff, travelled from Bath to be at the launch. He said: “After Morgan died in April 1939, and the upheaval of the war itself, I think Gladys [Morgan Jones’ wife] had to clear out an awful lot of papers.
“Morgan was working on his speech in response to the budget at the time he died and all of these papers must have been in the house at the time, but all of them were obviously dispersed or destroyed.
“There’s not very much in the family at all, just some photographs, so Wayne is giving back a lot of our family history to us and it’s marvellous – we’re absolutely thrilled.”
Mr Sheaff added: “My mother [Morgan Jones’ daughter] first met Wayne in 2012 at Llancaiach Fawr and was thrilled that he was thinking of doing some research.
“He was interested in Morgan’s story and wanted to talk to us and even came to Bath to talk to my mother and she was delighted.
“She knew before she died that the book was going to appear very soon so that was great. It’s a great pleasure for us.”
“My mother was always concerned that there should be a proper biography about Morgan Jones.
“I can see what a good job Wayne has done.”