Attempts at election
Parliamentary Archives, LG/G/17/7/15
When did S.O. Davies begin to stand for election?
By 1909, Davies was an active member of the Independent Labour Party and a regular speaker at the Progressive League in Abercwmboi. In 1913, he was convinced by his colleagues in the ILP to stand for election to the Cardiff Board of Guardians as an official ILP candidate. His ward was Grangetown, a working-class area of the city to the west of the docks. He failed to get elected by just 47 votes.
In 1917, he was the founding chairman of the Burry Port and Gwendraeath Valley Trades and Labour Council, and it was from this position that he launched a campaign to be selected as the Labour parliamentary candidate for Llanelli in 1918. He was eventually selected, but amidst controversy when the South Wales Miners' Federation refused to back him. The man S.O. had defeated in the selection contest, J. H. Williams, eventually stood, losing narrowly to Josiah Jones the Liberal MP since 1912. Williams took the seat in 1922.