Thomas Arthur Lewis Thomas Arthur Lewis ( 21 September 1881 – 18 July 1923 ) was a Welsh school teacher , barrister and Liberal Party politician . Family and education . Lewis was the son of the Reverend J . M . Lewis , a Baptist minister from Cemaes , Pembrokeshire , and his wife Phoebe Griffiths . He attended the County School , Porth , and then at University College , Cardiff , where he took a degree in science In 1919 he married Marjorie Culross from Adelaide , South Australia , and they had one daughter . Career . After University , Lewis worked briefly as a school teacher but in 1910 he moved to London to become the private secretary to Freddie Guest who was at that time the Liberal MP for East Dorset . Guest would go onto become Chief Whip in the Coalition government of David Lloyd George . Guest later said that he talent - spotted Lewis and induced him to give up teaching and move to London to seek a political career . Once in London , Lewis studied the law towards qualification as a barrister . Although he had what Guest described as a delicate constitution he joined the Officers ' Training Corps at the Inns of Court in 1915 and was commissioned in April 1916 . He served in Salonika from 1916 – 18 and achieved the rank of Lieutenant . He resumed his law career on return to Britain and was called to the Bar by the Middle Temple in 1919 . Politics . Election to Parliament . By the time of the 1918 general election Guest had become one of Lloyd George ’ s closest advisers and his patronage must have been useful to Lewis in securing the nomination to become Coalition Liberal candidate for the Pontypridd Division of Glamorgan . It is not clear if Lewis was the recipient of the Coalition Coupon as he was opposed by a Conservative candidate at Pontypridd as well as by Labour . However the anti - socialist votes clearly migrated to Lewis as the Tory managed only 1 . 1 % of the poll and lost his deposit . Lewis was elected with a majority 3 , 175 votes . Welsh Liberal MP . Lewis spoke Welsh and English and spoke in Parliament in favour of Welsh Home Rule as part of a debate on a resolution moved by Edward Wood the future Lord Halifax to set up a committee of enquiry on federal devolution to all the home countries . As a result of the debate , which was supported by the Welsh members present , Lloyd George established a Speaker ' s Conference on Devolution which sat from October 1919 – May 1920 . ) Lewis championed the rights of nonconformists in relation to the position of the Established church . As a Liberal , Lewis strongly disagreed with the state socialist approach of the Labour Party . He was a member of the Liberal Anti - Nationalization Committee but was in favour of co - partnership and profit sharing in industry . Parliamentary appointments . Soon after entering Parliament , Lewis was rewarded for his service to his former chief with his appointment as Parliamentary Private Secretary ( PPS ) to Freddie Guest , who had been government Chief Whip since 1917 . When , in 1921 , Guest was made Secretary of State for Air in succession to Winston Churchill he appointed Lewis his PPS in succession to Lieutenant - Colonel J T C Moore - Brabazon . In 1922 , Lewis was appointed a Junior Lord of the Treasury to enable him to be the government ’ s Welsh whip but under the constitutional arrangements of the day this meant he had to resign and fight a by - election in his Pontypridd seat . The by - election took place on 25 July 1922 and was a straight fight between Lewis and Thomas Isaac Mardy Jones for Labour . Lewis ’ majority of 3 , 175 at the 1918 general election was turned into a Labour majority of 4 , 080 at the by - election . Mardy Jones put his victory down to the disillusion of the electorate with the government ’ s performance but also singled out what he clearly believed was the government ’ s poor treatment of the coal miners . University of Wales Member of Parliament . Lewis was not out of Parliament for long . The 1922 general election took place on 15 November , and by then Lewis had secured adoption as the Lloyd George , National Liberal candidate for the University of Wales Parliamentary constituency . By this time Lewis was in poor health despite being relatively young at 41 years old . He contested the election from a nursing home . He won the seat defeating two strong opponents . Former minister Sir Ellis Ellis - Griffith stood for the Liberals . The Labour candidate was Dr ( later Dame ) Olive Wheeler , a university lecturer in education who later became Professor of Education at Cardiff University . Death . Lewis died suddenly in London on 18 July 1923 , aged 41 . He had been in poor health and undergone operations in August 1922 and at Easter 1923 after leaving the nursing home where he had stayed in 1922 , possibly leaving him susceptible to infection .