He was a local councillor for many years and a close associate of James Keir Hardie.
[2] Stonelake was born in Pontlottyn in the Rhymney Valley but came to Aberdare with his widowed mother around 1888.
Stonelake elected unopposed to the Aberdare Urban District Council in 1904.
During the pre-war period he was a prominent advocate of building council houses, a programme that commenced before the First World War and continued thereafter.
[2] Stonelake was ultimately exonerated of any wrongdoing in the above episode and remained active in public life and the Labour party for many years, although he never resumed his career as an elected representative.