RENDEL
,
STUART
(
1834
-
1913
),
1st baron Rendel
,
industrialist, Member of Parliament, and philanthropist
;
b. at
Plymouth
,
2 July 1834
, third son of
James Meadows
Rendel
and
Catherine
his wife. Educated at
Eton
and
Oriel College
,
Oxford
, where he graduated in
1856
, he was
called to the Bar
, and later
interested himself in engineering
and ultimately became
London
manager
of the
Armstrong gunnery company
. In
1880
he entered
Parliament
as
Liberal
member for
Montgomeryshire
, breaking the
Conservative
Wynnstay
tradition which had lasted for over eighty years. He soon became the acknowledged
leader of the Welsh members of Parliament
, and till his elevation to the
House of Lords
in
1894
took a
prominent part in the promotion of Welsh interests
, particularly in connection with the
Welsh Intermediate Education Act
(
1889
), and the measures proposed to disestablish the
Church of England
in
Wales
. He was intimate with
W. E.
Gladstone
, and was in close touch with him during his last premiership (
1892-4
) when there was considerable parliamentary activity in matters relating to
Wales
.
Rendel
was a
benefactor
of the
University College of Wales
,
Aberystwyth
, of which he was
president
from
1895
till his death, and where the chair of
English
bears his name; and in
1897
he purchased land at
Grogytha
n,
Aberystwyth
, and presented it to be the site of the
National Library of Wales
.
Rendel
m.
Ellen
, daughter of
W. Egerton
Hubbard
, and by her he had four daughters. He d.
4 June 1913
in
London
, and was buried at
East Clandon
,
Surrey
.
Bibliography:
-
F. E. Hamer
,
The Personal Papers of Lord Rendel,
containing his unpublished conversations with Mr. Gladstone
(1888 to 1898) and other famous statesmen selections from
letters and papers reflecting the thought and manners of
the period; and intimate pictures of Parliament, politics,
and society
, London, 1931
;
-
National Library of Wales Manuscript
1336;
-
Who was who?
Author:
Thomas Iorwerth Ellis, M.A., (1899-1970), Aberystwyth
