EMRYS ROBERTS 1931-2025
The uncompromising nationalist and radical who became the first Plaid Cymru council leader.
Dafydd Williams
I met Emrys Roberts for the first time in a meeting of Exeter University’s Debating Society. It was the early sixties, and I was a student of economics while Emrys had recently become Plaid Cymru’s General Secretary. We were treated to a lively and effective address by a speaker with loads of charisma – he was surely one the party’s best ever orators. It included Plaid’s views on international affairs and nuclear weapons.
But what sticks out in my memory is the skilful humour with which he dealt with loaded questions. One person insisted that the only reason he wanted self-government was to wage war. Not a bit of it, responded Emrys with his wry smile, Plaid’s master plan was to dig a trench along Offa’s Dyke and tow Wales out into the Atlantic Ocean!
Emrys Roberts was born in 1931 and raised in Leamington Spa. His father came from Blaenau Ffestiniog and there was Welsh in the family but the language of the home was English. He learnt Welsh thoroughly after the family moved to Cardiff in 1941. At the age of ten, he began attending Cathays High School, joining a Welsh-medium class with the legendary Elvet Thomas as Welsh teacher.
Emrys became a dedicated nationalist in his teens, and was always someone who thought for himself. He showed early signs of that unique combination of humour and radicalism: although deciding he did not really believe in God, he continued to attend chapel and accepted the post of Sunday School secretary – on condition they understood he was not a believer!
He did time in Cardiff gaol for refusing to enlist in the armed forces on the grounds of nationalism. Following dismissal from the civil service because of his prison sentence, he went to University College, Cardiff and was elected as President of the Students Union for 1954/55.
In 1957 he took up a post with the staff of Plaid Cymru, first of all with the specific role of defending Cwm Tryweryn. He played a leading role in organising the illegal radio programmes broadcast on the BBC’s television channels after the evening closedown, and he stood as a Westminster parliamentary candidate in a number of constituencies in South Wales.
In 1960, he became Plaid Cymru’s General Secretary: I had no idea as I listened to his address in Exeter University that I would follow in his footsteps a decade or so later. But his period of office during a turbulent period prior to the Carmarthen by-election proved to be problematic, with tensions between different groups within the national movement. Emrys was obliged to give up his post in 1964 following a dispute that made a front page lead.
Despite this, he had made a lasting impression on Plaid Cymru’s membership, especially in the valleys of South Wales. After a period as organiser of an international eisteddfod in the Teeside area, he and Margaret returned to Wales, where he later worked as public relations officer for the Welsh Hospitals Board. No-one would have blamed him for keeping his head down after years of uncertainty. But Emrys was a man of deep convictions, and when the call came in 1972 to stand as Plaid candidate in the Merthyr by-election he accepted the challenge.
It was a crucial time for the party. After the historic victory in Carmarthen and two near misses, in Rhondda West and Caerffili, by 1970 Plaid Cymru had no representative in the House of Commons. Labour hastened to call the by-election as fast as possible, and I recall Neil Kinnock predicting that they would bury Plaid Cymru. But it didn’t happen: nationalists rolled up from all parts of Wales to work through wind and rain for Emrys. Posters appeared throughout the constituency and Labour’s majority was trimmed to 3,710.
From that point on, Plaid Cymru improved it’s standing throughout the south. Emrys went on to win a Merthyr Council seat in the Troedyrhiw area, and in 1976 came and astonishing victory in the Borough – Plaid Cymru took 21 of the 33 council seats, with Emrys as leader of the first ever Council to be officially run by Plaid Cymru. You can read about this and much more in his autobiography on the Plaid Cymru History Society website www.hanesplaidcymru.org (search for A Bee or Two in my Bonnet, under Publications).
*Emrys Pugh Roberts was born on 30 November 1931. He died on 9 January 2025.
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Statement in the Senedd by Rhys ab Owen MS 29/01/2025
The best orator he had ever heard. That was Vaughan Roderick’s opinion about Emrys Roberts. He was born in Leamington Spa, but at the age of 10 the family moved to Cardiff. Through Minny Street Chapel, Cathays school and his aunt Bet, Emrys learned Welsh. In Cathays, he was one of a group of boys who became fluent in Welsh, including Bobi Jones and Tedi Millward.
A conscientious objector, he refused to do military service after the second world war, and he was sentenced to a term in Cardiff prison. While he was there, Mahmood Mattan was hanged. Emrys Roberts saw the racism against Mahmood, and saw his fellow prisoners, those of Somali descent having to dig the grave, and covering it with quicklime.
Emrys had an international mindset. He was a leader in the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, and had enormous an respect for Castro and Cuba. His great aspiration was to see Wales sitting next to Cuba at the United Nations.
He stood for Plaid Cymru in several prominent by-elections, and he led Merthyr council at the end of the 1970s. He was also responsible for the unlawful broadcasts that happened when the BBC banned political broadcasts by Plaid.
Although he held leading roles within Plaid Cymru, it’s fair to say that he did not see eye to eye with the leadership of the party on all occasions. He was a socialist by instinct, and he worked hard to push the party in that direction. Everything that Emrys did was rooted in what was best for Wales and the peoples of the world. He was a kind man, and I experienced that kindness over the years.
It’s a privilege to pay tribute to Emrys here in the Senedd. He was part of a small group that insisted that Wales was a nation, and this Senedd is the fruit of their labours. Thank you very much.