Dai Francis (trade union leader)

Dai Francis (1911–1981) was a Welsh trade unionist, best remembered for his leadership of the South Wales Miners' Union during the 1970s. As a member of the Gorsedd of the National Eisteddfod of Wales, he took the bardic name Dai o'r Onllwyn.[1] He was the father of MP Hywel Francis.

Francis was born at Onllwyn, near Neath.[2] He became the first officer of the South Wales Miners' Union in 1959, and in 1963 became its General Secretary. In 1974 he became the first chairman of the Wales TUC. He retired in 1976, and in the same year unsuccessfully challenged Charles, Prince of Wales, in the election for Chancellor of the University of Wales.

Francis' son, Hywel, later became a Member of Parliament.[3]

References

1. BBC website (Welsh)
2. Coalfield Web Materials
3. "Hywel Francis was first in his family not to go down the mines for five generations". Wales Online. 12 March 2009. Retrieved 20 February 2018.

Further reading

• Hywel Francis & Dai Smith - The Fed: a History of the South Wales Miners in the Twentieth Century (1998)

Trade union offices
Preceded by D. D. Evans	General Secretary of the South Wales Area of the National Union of Mineworkers 1963–1976	Succeeded by George Rees
Preceded by Len Murray as chair	President of the Wales TUC 1974–1975	Succeeded by W. John Jones