Wedding of the Century - Anita Williams to William George

A young Ann and Walter Williams

Y Parch / The Revd Dan Davies

Lloyd George arriving at Cefn y Dre

Cheering residents lined Fishguard’s streets in 1910 when a local woman married the younger brother of the then Chancellor of the Exchequer, David Lloyd George.

The bride, Anita Williams, was the daughter of Walter Williams (more often known as “Chile” Williams because of his trading links with the South American country) and Ann his wife.

Brought up in the town, Anita, her parents and five brothers originally lived in the Tower Hill area but later moved to the historic house, Cefn y Dre, which  had connections to her mother’s family.

Anita had trained as a nurse, was well travelled, voyaging as far as Egypt on one assignment.  She was a staunch member of Hermon Chapel in High Street, where the wedding took place, playing the organ and teaching in the Sunday School

Her groom, William George, was the younger brother of the then Chancellor of the Exchequer and was a solicitor in North Wales working in partnership with his brother, David and helped to finance him during his early days as an MP.

The George family were originally from Pembrokeshire and in fact  the bride and groom were cousins who had met through family connections. It was a very formal engagement – neither of the couple being particularly young – Anita was 38 years and her bridegroom, 45 years.

The guest list for the wedding was extensive and included many who had travelled from parts of Europe as well as from all over the UK.  The most well known guest , David Lloyd George, did not in fact arrive in time for the service as his train was delayed and so was only able to join the wedding party at their reception at Cefn y Dre where he was said to have given a very witty speech.

Being such a huge event for Fishguard – described at the time as being second only to the 1797 French Invasion – the wedding was well recorded in the press and was described as “Parisian hats mingling with the cloth caps of the peasantry”

Many photographs were taken and a series of postcards made available for purchase some of which are shown above.