RICE, Hon. George Talbot (1765-1852), of Newton alias Dynevor, Carm.

In 1790 Rice obtained the county seat unopposed by renewing his family’s alliance with John George Philipps of Cwmgwili: his father had represented Carmarthenshire on the same terms with the concurrence of Philipps’s father.1R. D. Rees, ‘Parl. Rep. S. Wales 1790-1830’ (Reading Univ. Ph.D. thesis, 1962) ii. 472. Rice eschewed, however, the Blue colours of the Cwmgwili Whigs and sported those of the ‘Gray Coats Independent’: moreover, he accepted the assistance of the Red deputy recorder of Carmarthen, Herbert Lloyd: these acts were symptomatic of the transference of the house of Dynevor from the Whigs to the Tories.2NLW mss 12169, ff. 1, 14.

Rice is not recorded as having voted against ministers in Parliament, where he made no known speech. He was listed among opponents of repeal of the Test Act in Scotland in 1791. He was subsequently a friend to Pitt’s government3PRO 30/8/131, ff. 208-12; 155, f. 246. and ‘Lord Done-Over’ to his foes. Having succeeded to his mother’s barony in 1793, he became the leader of the Reds in the county, marrying into a ministerialist family. In 1796, having only an infant heir (his only brother was a clergyman), he committed the faux pas of putting up his brother-in-law Dorien Magens both for the borough and the county (Magens eventually lost both). He was, however, largely responsible for the return of James Hamlyn Williams in 1802 and of Lord Robert Seymour in 1807 and his son obtained the county seat at the first opportunity after coming of age. He also led the Red opposition in Carmarthen borough, which did not triumph until 1821, by which time he had ceased to be effective leader. His politics remained conservative. He died 9 Apr. 1852.