Director's free pass South Wales Railway, D.A.S. Davies MP

Director’s free pass, ivory, South Wales Railway, D.A.S Davies Esq MP, obverse ‘DIRECTOR, SOUTH WALES RAILWAY COMPY’, reverse ‘D.A.S. DAVIES, ESQ: M.P. FREE TICKET’ and in the centre of the field ‘1850’, black letters, all incuse, round, plain edge raised rim, pierced, 31.7mm in diameter.

The South Wales Railway (SWR) was built by Isambard Kingdom Brunel with the first section from Chepstow to Swansea opening on 19 June 1850, and the section to Carmarthen opening in 1852. This pass was for the first section of the railway to be built. The holder, David Arthur Saunders Davies, a barrister and Conservative Member of Parliament for Carmarthen Country. Davies was elected on 27 Dec 1842 and served until 1857, he was instrumental in securing the SWR’s extension to Carmarthen.