Where
The museum is in the rural village of Llanystumdwy in north Wales. It has welcomed visitors since the 1960s and is linked by a footpath through a Victorian cottage garden to the house the former British prime minister David Lloyd George (1863-1945) grew up in.
Who
Lloyd George, the UK’s only Welsh-speaking prime minister, served from 1916 to 1922, coming to office during the first world war (1914-18). He was crucial in the 1919 Paris Peace Conference, moderating French and US demands and helping to put together the Treaty of Versailles. He made key steps towards the UK’s welfare state, and also oversaw the Anglo-Irish Treaty of 1921, ending the Irish war of independence.
What
The Lloyd George Museum is the only museum dedicated to a former prime minister in the UK. “The museum presents both the positive and controversial aspects of Lloyd George’s political career and personal life,” says Megan Cynan Corcoran, museums development officer for Cyngor Gwynedd – Gwyneth Council, which has run the museum since the 1980s.
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The museum was purpose-built in the 1960s to tell this story and has recently had a £280,000 makeover by exhibition design firm Mather & Co, thanks to investment from the UK Government Shared Prosperity Fund, Cyngor Gwynedd and the Countess Lloyd George Fund.
“The visitor experience is now significantly enhanced with graphics and audiovisual elements,” says Corcoran.
Collection
There are many personal items, memorabilia, paintings, costumes and archives relating to Lloyd George. Among the highlights are his draft copy of the first world war peace treaty; the “Lloyd George crown”, the first pension paid in Wales; and a copy of the 1909 People’s Budget, a Liberal government proposal to introduce taxes on the lands and incomes of Britain’s wealthy to fund new social welfare programmes.
The redeveloped museum has four themed zones: The Politician, The People, The Man and The Legacy, presented with relevant objects in context.
Highlights
“Highgate, the cottage that Lloyd George grew up in, is just down the road and has been restored to reflect life in the 1860s when he was young,” says Corcoran.
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Besides a recreated shoemaker’s workshop and a Victorian-style garden, the cottage also has items on display that are loaned from Amgueddfa Cymru – National Museum Wales.
Help at hand
Some of the staff have been at the museum for many years, including the manager.
Turn back time
During the recent revamp, Corcoran and colleagues emptied lots of old cabinets. “It was quite emotional to see the newspapers that lined the cupboards – all dated from 1960 – and we thought how exciting it would have been for the curator at the time, Ann Parry, to set up the displays,” she says.
Parry was secretary to Lloyd George and her book of memoirs, Thirty Thousand Yesterdays, published in 1977, shares her memories about her time in office as well as becoming the museum curator.
Future plans
“The work has only just begun,” says Corcoran.
“Since reopening we are learning how the new displays work and assessing feedback. We’re still researching and listening to different views about Lloyd George. History may remain the same, but how we share it must evolve, and there is a need to understand different perspectives.”