Gweithgareddau y Gymdeithas. Society Activites
Gwilym Hughes was an art teacher at Ysgol Glan Clwyd, Rhyl. He was an excellent cartoonist who subtly made his point. Here are two cartoons which appeared in the Welsh Nation portraying Alec Douglas Home and Harold Wilson perfectly.
Gwilym Hughes won an election to Rhyl Civic Council.
Berian Williams, Hirwaun, was a keen follower of the Eisteddfod and brought his cine camera to the event on numerous occasions.
Here is the 1974 Carmarthen Eisteddfod film :- Linc
It’s obvious form looking at the film that many people knew Berian and were willing to smile to the camera. How many famous people can you spot?
Berian was a Botany and Science teacher at Liverpool, Chester and Narberth. He then became a lecturer at Aberystwyth University. He translated many books from English to Welsh. He died in 2015.
S.O. – CHARACTER AND WELSHMAN
S.O. Davies was Labour MP for Merthyr Tydfil from 1934 to 1970. He was first elected in a by-election following the death of the local ILP MP with 51% of the vote (against the Liberal, ILP candidate and Communist) and 68% in the 1935 general election against the ILP only. But for the rest of his career, he received support from percentages ranging between 74% and 81%. The Plaid candidates who opposed him in the 50s and 60s were Trevor Morgan (as an independent nationalist), Ioan Bowen Rees and Meic Stephens.
But before the 1970 election a reporter with the Merthyr Express had a look at a list of potential Labour candidates throughout England, Wales and Scotland. The name of S.O. Davies was there, with the * symbol next to him. The correspondent asked the printers what its significance was and got the answer that it meant ‘not re-adopted’ as the local party was in the process of selecting SO’s successor, although there was no discussion between them and him about the decision. The Merthyr Express announced this shocking news of the release of one who had served his people as a local councilor, mayor and Member of Parliament for tens of years.
The rest is a myth. S.O. as an ‘Independent Labour’ candidate (which would not be legally possible today), winning 51% of the vote against the official Labour Tal Lloyd (another former mayor). By a strange coincidence, these are the exact percentages (rounded) that S.O. and his liberal opponent received in the 1935 by-election. Plaid Cymru’s annual conference was held at Cyfarthfa Castle in 1958 and Tal Lloyd, in his capacity as the mayor, officially welcomed the members to the borough.
Chris Rees was Plaid Cymru’s candidate in 1970. He once told me that he did not only congratulate S.O. but added that it was the first time he could say how proud he was that he hadn’t won himself! And I know of at least one member of the Party who helped S.O. in his campaign.
S.O. Davies was a patriot. In the Wikipedia entry about him it is said: Largely indifferent to party discipline, he defied official Labour policy by championing such causes as disarmament and Welsh nationalism. He supported the Parliamentary petition for Wales movement in the 1950s, joining the speakers on stage at a rally organized by Plaid Cymru in Cardiff in September 1953 (see photo on page 297 of Tros Cymru, JE and Plaid by JE Jones, 1970). And in 1955 he introduced his ‘Government of Wales’ measure in the House of Commons, which was prepared with the help of party experts. But as expected, his attempt was unsuccessful.
Here is one interesting part of the debate on the floor of the House. S.O. said that support for the measure comes from ‘Monmouthshire, Cardiff, West —‘. George Thomas (MP for Cardiff West) interrupted him saying: ‘The hon. Gentleman won’t get much support there ‘. S.O. finished his sentence masterfully: ‘— Rhondda, and other places’.
S.O. Davies died in 1972, and the by-election was won for Labour by Ted Rowlands with 48.5% of the vote, the Plaid Cymru candidate Emrys Roberts gained 37%.
PHILIP LLOYD
The Reverend Fred Jones (1877-1948) was one of the six founding fathers of Plaid Cymru who launched the party at a historic meeting at Pwllheli in 1925 and one of the famous Cilie family of poets from Ceredigion. He worked as a minister in Rhymni, Treorci and Tal-y-bont Ceredigion and was a lifelong nationalist.
Dafydd Iwan delivering a lecture on the career of his grandfather, Fred Jones, one of the founding members of Plaid Cymru. Also in the picture is Ben Lake MP, who took the chair at the Plaid History session on 4 October during the party’s 2019 annual conference in Swansea.
The Reverend Fred Jones (1877-1948) was one of the six founding fathers of Plaid Cymru who launched the party at a historic meeting at Pwllheli in 1925 and one of the famous Cilie family of poets from Ceredigion. He worked as a minister in Rhymni, Treorci and Tal-y-bont Ceredigion and was a lifelong nationalist.
Dafydd Iwan has agreed to speak about his grandfather’s history in a special meeting of the Plaid Cymru History Society in the Annual Conference in Swansea at 4.40pm in the Grand Circle Bar on Friday 4 October 2019.
He will speak in Welsh with simultaneous translation into English.
How Plaid Cymru Was Founded – Tracing The Background
This year’s National Eisteddfod in Llanrwst will include a session focussing on the turbulent period that led up to the foundation of Plaid Cymru in 1925.
The celebrated author T Robin Chapman will trace the history of the events preceding the launch of the party in a lecture promoted by the Plaid Cymru History Society.
The Society’s chairman Dr Dafydd Williams says that the events of the early 1920s are highly relevant for contemporary Wales.
Robin Chapman is a noted author and historian, whose work includes biographies of both Islwyn Ffowc Elis, published in 2005 and Saunders Lewis (2007).
The lecture will be delivered in Welsh in Pabell y Cymdeithasau 2, on Thursday 8 August at 12:30pm.
Pioneer Patriot – The Life of Wynne Samuel
‘A man of immense talent who worked heart and soul for Wales’ – that is the thumbnail sketch of Wynne Samuel, one of Plaid’s early champions. It comes from the opening lines of this portrait of a pioneer nationalist – at one time considered a potential leader of Wales’ national movement.
This tribute by Plaid History chairman Dafydd Williams traces the course of Wynne’s extraordinary career, and for the first time publishes a number of new photographs and documents. It is based on an illustrated lecture delivered at Plaid Cymru’s conference in Cardigan on Friday 5 October 2018, but has been substantially amended and expanded. You can read it here.
Link > Life of Wynne SAMUEL
NEW LIGHT ON RHONDDA POLL
Many thanks to the family of the late Vic Davies, Rhondda, for donating to Plaid History a truly inspirational collection of material concerning the Rhondda West by-election that took place over half a century ago.
The collection includes a scrapbook of press cuttings that recall the dramatic contest in 1967 when Vic Davies succeeded in slashing Labour’s towering majority from seventeen thousand to just 2,306 votes, a swing of 29 per cent to Plaid Cymru.
There are a number of valuable telegrams and letters, including congratulations from Plaid Cymru president Gwynfor Evans, who had been returned as MP for Carmarthen the previous year.
The collection also includes a letter from the SNP’s Dr Andrew Lees of Bearsden near Glasgow inviting Vic Davies to travel to Scotland to support Winifred Ewing’s campaign in the Hamilton by-election – in particular by accompanying her down a local coal mine. Winnie Ewing had met Vic a few weeks previously in the Plaid Conference in Dolgellau.
It is clear from the contents of the collection that Vic accepted the invitation, went down the coal mine and also addressed a by-election rally. A handwritten letter from Winnie Ewing dated 2 October 1967 expresses her gratitude for his support and for helping make the events successful. Four weeks later, Winnie Ewing went on to win Hamilton and join Gwynfor in Westminster.
After copying items for Plaid History purposes, the collection will be sent to the National Library in Aberystwyth to form an important part of the Plaid Cymru archive.
Syd Morgan has been closely involved in Plaid Cymru’s struggle for five decades – since the days he ran a nationalist magazine in Swansea University in the 1960s. He gave up a post in university administration to become a full-time organiser for the party in the Rhymney Valley – and one of the councillors who formed one of the first Plaid administrations in the South Wales valleys. You can hear more about his work for the national movement in this interview with Plaid History chairman Dafydd Williams here.
Syd Morgan (on the left, above), Plaid candidate in the Pontypridd by-election, February, 1989
