About the case study
Stephen Owen Davies (best known as S.O Davies) was a Welsh labour politician and trade unionist. His long life was marked by nearly forty years as Member of Parliament for Merthyr Tydfil (1934-1972), eighteen years as a local councillor (1931-1949), a year as mayor of Merthyr (1945-46), and decades involved in the upper echelons of the South Wales Miners' Federation – including as Vice President (1924-1933). His was a long life of public service both to the people of Merthyr and to the people of Wales.
This project was undertaken by a group from Merthyr Sixth Form College. Participants worked with Glamorgan Archives and Parliamentary Archives over a period of one month. During this time, the group had a workshop at Glamorgan Archives.
The group visited Parliament for a day, where they toured the Archives, then attended a workshop in the archives in which they undertook research using records held in the Parliamentary Archives. The project ended with a final event at Glamorgan Archives, which celebrated the life of S.O Davies and offered academics, archives and community members the opportunity to share their recollections and knowledge of his work.