The Welsh Language and the 1891 Census

A SOCIAL HISTORY OF THE WELSH LANGUAGE General editor: Geraint H. Jenkins A SOCIAL HISTORY OF THE WELSH LANGUAGE Ot...

Author: Mari A. Williams | Gwenfair Parry

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A SOCIAL HISTORY OF THE WELSH LANGUAGE

General editor: Geraint H. Jenkins

A SOCIAL HISTORY OF THE WELSH LANGUAGE

Other volumes already published in the series: The Welsh Language before the Industrial Revolution, edited by Geraint H. Jenkins (University of Wales Press, 1997) Statistical Evidence relating to the Welsh Language 1801–1911 / Tystiolaeth Ystadegol yn ymwneud â’r Iaith Gymraeg 1801–1911, by Dot Jones (University of Wales Press, 1998) Language and Community in the Nineteenth Century, edited by Geraint H. Jenkins (University of Wales Press, 1998)

The Welsh Language and the 1891 Census

GWENFAIR PARRY and MARI A. WILLIAMS

CARDIFF UNIVERSITY OF WALES PRESS 1999

© University of Wales, 1999

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without clearance from the University of Wales Press, 6 Gwennyth Street, Cardiff, CF2 4YD.

British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. ISBN 0–7083–1536–4

The financial assistance of the Board of Celtic Studies towards the publication of this book is gratefully acknowledged.

Cover design by Elgan Davies, Welsh Books Council. Typeset at the University of Wales Press, Cardiff. Printed in England by Bookcraft, Midsomer Norton, Avon.

It is much to be regretted that the Registrar General, in his Report, should so needlessly have thrown suspicion on the Welsh returns . . . it is clear the ‘organised mendacity’, which he was assumed to have ‘so mercilessly exposed’, was a mere phantom of the imagination. Thomas Darlington, Wales (1894)

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Contents

List of Maps and Figures

ix

List of Contributors

x

Preface

xi

Abbreviations 1. The historical background to the 1891 census Geraint H. Jenkins

xiii 1

2. Blaenau (Monmouthshire) Mari A. Williams

31

3. Cardiff (Glamorgan) Mari A. Williams

53

4. Blaenllechau (Glamorgan) Mari A. Williams

83

5. Ferndale (Glamorgan) Mari A. Williams

105

6. Cwm Clydach (Glamorgan) Mari A. Williams

129

7. Llwynypia (Glamorgan) Mari A. Williams

153

8. Dowlais (Glamorgan) Mari A. Williams

175

9. Pontardawe (Glamorgan) Gwenfair Parry

201

10. Cwmaman (Carmarthenshire) Mari A. Williams

217

11. Fishguard (Pembrokeshire) Gwenfair Parry

237

CONTENTS

viii

12. Aberystwyth (Cardiganshire) Robert Smith

255

13. Tregaron (Cardiganshire) Gwenfair Parry

279

14. Builth Wells (Breconshire) David Llewelyn Jones

297

15. Llanidloes (Montgomeryshire) David Llewelyn Jones

315

16. Rhyl (Flintshire) Gwenfair Parry

337

17. Rhosllannerchrugog (Denbighshire) Gwenfair Parry

359

18. Llanymawddwy (Merioneth) Gwenfair Parry

383

19. Blaenau Ffestiniog (Merioneth) Gwenfair Parry

395

20. Porthmadog (Caernarfonshire) Gwenfair Parry

417

21. Trefdraeth (Anglesey) Gwenfair Parry

439

22. ‘More people speak it than ever before’ Geraint H. Jenkins, Gwenfair Parry and Mari A. Williams

455

Index

483

Maps and Figures

Location of the twenty sample areas A page from the 1891 census enumerator’s book for Tremadog Language spoken and place of birth of household heads in Blaenllechau Language spoken and place of birth of household heads in Ferndale Language spoken by inhabitants of enumeration districts of Cwm Clydach Percentage of monoglot English speakers in the ‘Scotch Houses’, Llwynypia Language spoken by inhabitants of enumeration districts of Rhyl Language spoken by inhabitants of enumeration districts of Rhosllannerchrugog Language of households in three streets in Rhosllannerchrugog Language of households in some of the streets of Blaenau Ffestiniog Language spoken by the inhabitants of the twenty sample areas

16 18 96 116 142 164 347 371 373 402 459

Contributors

Professor Geraint H. Jenkins, Director, University of Wales Centre for Advanced Welsh and Celtic Studies Dr David Llewelyn Jones, Research Fellow, University of Wales Centre for Advanced Welsh and Celtic Studies Dr Gwenfair Parry, Research Fellow, University of Wales Centre for Advanced Welsh and Celtic Studies Dr Robert Smith, Research Fellow, University of Wales Centre for Advanced Welsh and Celtic Studies Dr Mari A. Williams, Research Fellow, University of Wales Centre for Advanced Welsh and Celtic Studies

Preface

Social historians have always been aware of the untold riches which lie buried in enumerators’ books in census returns, but those of us involved in the project on ‘A Social History of the Welsh Language’ at the University of Wales Centre for Advanced Welsh and Celtic Studies have especial cause to celebrate the 1891 census, the contents of which first entered the public domain in January 1992. This was the first official census in the nineteenth century to seek to assemble data on the Welsh language and, as such, it provides an invaluable resource for the study of sociolinguistic change in late Victorian Wales. The manner in which the census itself was administered generated considerable controversy during the spring of 1891. Welsh patriots, led by Beriah Gwynfe Evans, David Lloyd George and Thomas Gee, were convinced that the dearth of Welsh-language household schedules, administrative errors and the hostility of some enumerators towards the Welsh language meant that the returns were highly suspect. Others, including the Registrar General and the editor of the Western Mail, believed that appreciable numbers of Welsh people had – largely for political reasons – deliberately falsified the returns in order to inflate the number of monoglot Welsh speakers. ‘Did Wales get fair play?’ was the headline in Yr Herald Cymraeg. Once the flames of controversy had been doused, however, more balanced and rigorous assessments were provided by the likes of J. E. Southall and Thomas Darlington, and on the basis of their judgement members of the Royal Commission on Land in Wales and Monmouthshire were able to declare in 1896 that the returns were ‘substantially correct’. On balance, we concur with that view. This study is the first serious attempt to analyse on an all-Wales basis the detailed contents of the enumerators’ returns relating to the Welsh language within a socio-economic context. It is based on a 100 per cent sample taken in twenty carefully selected communities in every county in Wales (except Anglicized Radnorshire), i.e. c.90,000 individuals or 5 per cent of the total population of Wales (1,685,614) in 1891. It is evident that the broad demographic picture of the state of the language as presented in the General Report published in 1893 does scant justice to

PREFACE

xii

the complex and subtle profiles which prevailed at micro-level, and the analysis of the rich data contained in the enumerators’ returns has revealed more clearly than ever before the complexities, ambiguities and paradoxes which characterized linguistic profiles in Wales, notably in the new industrial settlements of the South Wales Coalfield. It is hoped that this study will deepen our understanding of the historical processes which precipitated language shifts and the degree to which assimilative pressures were experienced in a wide range of rural, urban and industrial communities. The Centre has incurred numerous obligations in the preparation of this volume and I am pleased to acknowledge them with gratitude. The research was generously funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), whose independent assessors rated the overall quality of the research as ‘outstanding’. The research was undertaken, under the supervision of Professor Emeritus Harold Carter and myself, by Dr Gwenfair Parry and Dr Mari A. Williams, both of whom responded to the challenge with boundless enthusiasm and application. I should also like to express my thanks to other members of the research team, especially Dr David Llewelyn Jones and Dr Robert Smith, for so readily helping to make this particular project a success. Mrs Dot Jones, Dr Paul O’Leary and Ms Sylvia Lutkins kindly guided us to materials and techniques which otherwise might have been overlooked, and the whole research team has benefited from the collective wisdom of members of the Advisory Panel, namely Professor Emeritus Ieuan Gwynedd Jones, Dr Brynley F. Roberts, Professor Emeritus J. Beverley Smith and Professor Emeritus J. E. Caerwyn Williams. Invaluable assistance was also received from Mr Andrew Hawke, Mr William H. Howells, Mr Philip N. Jones, Dr W. T. R. Pryce, Dr Keith Snell and Dr Huw Walters. As always, the team has relied heavily on the support and encouragement of the staff of the three principal departments of the National Library of Wales. The maps were prepared by Mr Ian Gulley and Mr Antony Smith, cartographers at the Institute of Geography and Earth Studies, University of Wales, Aberystwyth. The Centre was fortunate once more to secure the services of Mr William H. Howells, who prepared the index. I must also record my deep gratitude to Mrs Glenys Howells, Ms Siân L. Evans and Mrs Aeres Bowen Davies, whose thoroughly professional editorial and administrative skills have greatly lightened my burdens. Finally, heartfelt thanks are owed to the staff of the University of Wales Press for their customary skill and care. January 1999

Geraint H. Jenkins

Abbreviations

BBCS FHSJ JMHRS LlC MC NLW NLWJ PH PP TCHBC TCHS TDHS THSC WHR

Bulletin of the Board of Celtic Studies Flintshire Historical Society Journal Journal of the Merioneth Historical and Record Society Llên Cymru Montgomeryshire Collections Manuscript at the National Library of Wales National Library of Wales Journal Pembrokeshire Historian Parliamentary Papers Trafodion Cymdeithas Hanes Bedyddwyr Cymru Transactions of the Caernarvonshire Historical Society Transactions of the Denbighshire Historical Society Transactions of the Honourable Society of Cymmrodorion Welsh History Review


1 The Historical Background to the 1891 Census GERAINT H. JENKINS

The population census conducted in Wales in the spring of 1891 was unique: it was the only one of its kind in the nineteenth century to seek to collect data relating to the prevalence of the Welsh language. The Census (England and Wales) Bill received the Royal Assent on 18 August 1890 and the actual census was taken on Sunday, 5 April 1891 in each of the thirteen counties of Wales. In Wales, two special household schedules, couched in either English or Welsh, were made available, and these contained an additional column entitled ‘Language spoken’. Persons were required to write ‘English’ if they spoke English only, ‘Cymraeg’ if they spoke Welsh only, and ‘Both’ or ‘Y Ddwy’ if they spoke English and Welsh. It is not entirely clear why the government believed that reliable Welshlanguage data was required at that particular stage, though it has been argued that the publication in 1879 of E. G. Ravenstein’s pioneering statistical and geographical study of the four Celtic languages in Britain and in 1882 of A. J. Ellis’s thoughtful paper ‘On the Delimitation of the English and Welsh Languages’ had served to promote public interest in linguistic issues.1 Doubtless such works were influential in Welsh and Celtic circles, but there is no evidence that the government took cognizance of their findings. The decennial enumeration of Irish speakers in Ireland had been held since 1851 and of Gaelic speakers in Scotland since 1881,2 but none of the political or cultural leaders of Wales seemed to have voiced any desire in the 1880s that the forthcoming census should collect information relating to the Welsh language. It appears that the inclusion of the Welsh language question was purely fortuitous. On 21 July 1890, during the second reading of the Census Bill in the House of Commons, W. A. 1

2

E. G. Ravenstein, ‘On the Celtic Languages in the British Isles, a Statistical Survey’, Journal of the Royal Statistical Society, XLII (1879), 579–636; Alexander J. Ellis, ‘On the Delimitation of the English and Welsh Languages’, Y Cymmrodor, V (1882), 173–208; W. T. R. Pryce, ‘The British Census and the Welsh Language’, Cambria, 13, no. 1 (1986), 81. Reg Hindley, The Death of the Irish Language (London, 1990), p. 14; Charles W. J. Withers, Gaelic in Scotland 1698–1981 (Edinburgh, 1984), p. 209.

THE WELSH LANGUAGE AND THE 1891 CENSUS

2

MacDonald, MP for Queen’s County, Ireland, commented that it was curious to omit provision for ascertaining the numbers who spoke Welsh in a bill affecting both England and Wales, especially in view of the fact that the practice of enumerating Irish and Gaelic speakers had long been established. MacDonald claimed that he was not inclined to pursue the point unless Welsh members were prepared to seek parity with their Celtic neighbours, at which point two young and ardent supporters of Welsh national causes – Samuel Thomas Evans, Liberal MP for Mid-Glamorgan, and David Alfred Thomas, Liberal MP for Merthyr Tydfil – spoke powerfully in favour of acquiring quantitative data regarding the state of the Welsh language.3 Since no dissenting voices were raised, the provision ‘that a Return shall be made in Wales of the persons who can speak Welsh and English or English only’ constituted the sole amendment to the third reading of the Bill.4 Subsequent efforts were made to ensure that the language column would also figure in the household schedules for England in order that thousands of Welsh speakers (possibly as many as 126,172 in 1881)5 who had settled there might be recorded. On the intervention of the Earl of Jersey, however, an amendment was passed which confined the language question to Wales only. Amid indignation in Wales, Thomas Gee, editor of Baner ac Amserau Cymru, vigorously denounced ‘the proud and arrogant lords’ (‘yr arglwyddi trahausfalch’) for disenfranchising Welsh speakers beyond Offa’s Dyke.6 As census day approached, the cultural and political implications of the outcome began to dawn upon Welsh language activists. Demographic and industrial growth, together with the rise of Liberal Nonconformity, had helped to stimulate a renewed sense of national identity, and the three most critical political controversies of the time – disestablishment, education, and the land question – were at least indirectly associated with the language issue. Liberal MPs were much more responsive to the wishes and demands of the electorate than Conservative landowners had been and the slogan ‘Home Rule for Wales’ achieved wide currency when the Cymru Fydd (Young Wales) movement was established in 1886.7 Cultural nationalism found its spokesmen in Beriah Gwynfe Evans, journalist, dramatist and secretary of the highly influential Cymdeithas yr Iaith Gymraeg (The Society for Utilizing the Welsh Language), founded in 1885, and in Owen M. Edwards, whose exceptionally popular journal Cymru was launched in 1891. Yet even the most fervent optimists could not have been unaware that the percentage of English speakers in Wales was rising far more swiftly than ever before, and those acquainted with the findings of E. G. Ravenstein and A. J. Ellis 3 4 5

6 7

Hansard’s Parliamentary Debates, 3rd series, vol. 347, 402–3, 413–14. Ibid., vol. 347, 101, 399, 743, 966, 1201. See Emrys Jones, ‘The Welsh Language in England c.1800–1914’ in Geraint H. Jenkins (ed.), Language and Community in the Nineteenth Century (Cardiff, 1998), pp. 231–59. Baner ac Amserau Cymru, 21 March 1891, p. 4. Kenneth O. Morgan, Rebirth of a Nation: Wales 1880–1980 (Oxford, 1981), pp. 113–15.

THE HISTORICAL BACKGROUND TO THE 1891 CENSUS

in scholarly journals were in no doubt that shifting linguistic boundaries boded ill for the long-term future of the Welsh language. Leaders among the new mercantile élite strongly believed that only English could act as the language of commerce and administration, and the cause of the Welsh language was poorly served by educationalists who advocated linguistic assimilation and Nonconformist ministers who believed that Welsh could survive in the chapel and the home but not in any other worthwhile social domain. To zealous nationalists like Thomas Gee, Michael D. Jones and Beriah Gwynfe Evans, therefore, the impending census was likely to be a critical test of the condition and well-being of the native tongue and also of the extent to which the Cymru Fydd movement, which was as committed to national self-government as to Welsh culture, was gaining momentum. Shortly before census day, therefore, Welsh newspapers began to urge readers to protect their rights by demanding Welsh forms and filling in every column in Welsh in order to maximize the opportunity of ‘helping forward the national movement’. Thomas Gee called on readers of Y Faner to reject ‘the [anti-Welsh] spirit of Dic Siôn Dafydd’ (‘yr ysbryd Dic-Siôn-Dafyddol’) and to attest proudly to their faith in their mother tongue: ‘They should not be ashamed to own their nation or language. Rather it should be a matter of pride’ (‘Ni raid iddynt gywilyddio arddel na’u cenedl, na’u iaith. Testyn ymffrost ydyw hyn yn hytrach’).8 Gee did not actually urge the Welsh to return themselves as Welsh monoglots, but that was the implicit message. The rallying cry was taken up by the editor of Yr Herald Cymraeg, who emphasized the importance of ‘helping our national chariot along the rough roads it must travel’ (‘i helpu yn mlaen ein cerbyd cenedlaethol ar y ffyrdd geirwon sydd ganddo i’w theithio’) and of resisting ‘anti-Welsh Philistines’ (‘Philistiaid gwrth-Gymreig’).9 The most influential stimulus, however, was provided by an open letter, dated 24 March 1891, entitled ‘Gair at bob Cymro a Chymraes yn y Dywysogaeth’ (A Word to every Welshman and Welshwoman in the Principality), which was sent to every leading Welsh and English newspaper in Wales by Beriah Gwynfe Evans.10 He earnestly entreated his countrymen to fill in their forms in Welsh and to affirm their ability to speak their native tongue. Like many other cultural patriots, Evans feared that those who could scarcely stammer more than a greeting such as ‘Hyw di do?’ (How do you do?) in pidgin English might be tempted to write ‘Both’ in the census schedule. He was deeply concerned that the question ‘language spoken’ was open to interpretation and liable to invite ambiguous or erroneous statements which might deplete the number of monoglot Welsh speakers. Clarification was therefore sought from the Registrar General regarding 8 9 10

Baner ac Amserau Cymru, 21 March 1891, p. 4. Yr Herald Cymraeg, 31 March 1891, editorial. Baner ac Amserau Cymru, 1 April 1891, p. 1; Tarian y Gweithiwr, 2 April 1891, p. 3; South Wales Daily News, 2 April 1891, p. 6.

3


4

how much English was required in order to enable a person to claim to be bilingual. The reply was as follows: ‘Any person who is able to give evidence in English in a court of law should (if he also knows Welsh) be returned as speaking “both” languages.’11 It is unlikely, however, that this criterion was given widespread publicity, especially at local level, and Welsh speakers were strongly encouraged to swell the serried ranks of the monoglot Welsh on census day. ‘Be honest, be patriotic, do not renounce your language, do not falsely claim knowledge of English’ (‘Byddwch onest, byddwch wladgar, na wadwch eich iaith, na honnwch wybodaeth o’r iaith Saesneg nad ydych yn ei mheddu’), urged the editor of Y Genedl Gymreig on 1 April, and similarly the editor of Y Cymro on 2 April expressed his wish that no Welshman would deny knowledge of his mother’s tongue on the census form the following Monday morning (‘Na foed Cymro o Fôn i Fynwy a chanddo gywilydd arddel iaith ei fam ar Bapurlen y Cyfrif fore ddydd Llun nesaf’). Fears that the interests of Welsh speakers would be poorly served were heightened by news that, as a result of what the South Wales Daily News referred to as ‘unjustifiable negligence’ and ‘unpardonable bungling’, household schedules designed for England had been sent to Wales and the provision of Welsh forms was singularly deficient.12 Determined to redress the balance, the town crier of Machynlleth, Montgomeryshire, perambulated the streets urging the inhabitants to avail themselves of Welsh schedules and to fill them in Welsh. ‘Another similar opportunity will not be offered for ten years’, he bellowed, ‘Remember our country, our language, our nation.’13 It was amid some confusion and controversy, therefore, that enumerators embarked on the task of delivering a copy of the census schedule to each householder or occupier in Wales between Monday, 30 March and Thursday, 2 April. Enumerators were generally intelligent, literate, trustworthy people of standing in the community. In the sample taken for the present study they included accountants, surveyors, estate agents, schoolteachers, printers and relieving officers. Only one – Miss Elizabeth Freeman of Dowlais, probably a schoolteacher – was female. Enumerators were expected to be ‘temperate, orderly, and respectable’ and able to conduct themselves with ‘strict propriety, civility, and tact in the discharge of their duties’.14 They were supplied with a set 11 12

13 14

South Wales Daily News, 1 April 1891, p. 4. Y Genedl Gymreig, 1 April 1891, editorial; Y Cymro, 2 April 1891, editorial; South Wales Daily News, 2 April 1891, p. 4. Hansard’s Parliamentary Debates, 3rd series, vol. 352, 1743–6. Western Mail, 30 March 1891, p. 6; Edward Higgs, A Clearer Sense of the Census: Victorian Censuses and Historical Research (London, 1996), p. 13. The Superintendent of Statistics at the General Register Office wrote scathingly of the general standard of the enumerators in England in 1881: ‘on the whole rather a poor lot . . . very unsatisfactory . . . their mere handwriting and the general aspect of their work showed that a great many of them were very illiterate men’. Dennis Mills and Michael Drake, ‘The Census, 1801–1991’ in Michael Drake and Ruth Finnegan, Studying Family and Community History, 19th and 20th Centuries. Volume 4 (2nd rev. ed., Cambridge, 1997), p. 36.


of household schedules, an enumerator’s book, and an instruction and memorandum book. On Monday, 6 April they were expected to begin collecting the schedules, to note omissions and insert the relevant details, and to ensure that each schedule was signed by the householder. Having marshalled the schedules and placed them in numerical order, they were then instructed to enter legibly and fully the particulars into the enumeration book, and on or before 13 April to deposit the schedules, enumeration books, instruction and memorandum books, and payment claim forms with the local offices of the District Registrar. He, in turn, dispatched the enumeration books to the regional Superintendent Registrar for examination and the schedules to the Census Office of the Registrar General in London.15 It is impossible to judge how conscientious enumerators were in delivering, collecting, correcting and transcribing schedules. Much clearly depended on the dedication and enthusiasm of the individual. At least three other factors, however, may have had a bearing on their performance, namely the scale of the task, inadequate remuneration, and having to cope with schedules in two languages. Three irate enumerators from Cardiff were evidently overwhelmed by the sheer burden involved. ‘A Deluded Enumerator’ recounted his astonishment in the Western Mail: ‘There are your papers and books’, said the District Registrar. I looked in amazement. Was I expected to carry away that huge bundle of books and papers? Two of the books alone were about 2 ft. long. ‘Haven’t you a bag?’ blandly inquired the D.R. ‘A bag!’ I answered, ‘You mean a trunk!’16

The task of delivering the schedules took him the best part of four days, by which time he was ‘heartily sick of the whole job’. Swiftly running out of time, he was obliged to engage an assistant to help him collect the schedules. Another disillusioned enumerator from Cardiff also found the task overwhelmingly burdensome and calculated that his fee for entering nearly 40,000 words in the enumeration book was £4. ‘If this is not slavery’, he complained, ‘I don’t know what is.’17 His disenchantment was echoed by another correspondent whose letter to the Western Mail was entitled ‘Sold by the Census’: When it is completed I shall be able to say with pride, not unmixed with disgust, ‘Alone I did it.’ It will remain in the archives of my country a monument to my industry and perseverance under most trying circumstances . . . But next time the census is taken the

15

16 17

K. Schürer, ‘The 1891 Census and Local Population Studies’, Local Population Studies, no. 47 (1991), 16. Western Mail, 16 April 1891, p. 6. Ibid., 21 April 1891, p. 6.

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Registrar-General may do all the bally work himself as far as I am concerned, and that is the best wish of a DOUBLY-DELUDED ENUMERATOR.18

It is hardly surprising, therefore, that some enumerators failed to discharge their duties and were removed as a result of incompetence, overwork, illness or ‘the seductive interference of John Barleycorn’.19 On the whole, however, this study has revealed that enumerators performed their onerous tasks with conscientious care, and any errors or discrepancies which occurred were normally the result of imprecision, haste and confusion. Sometimes householders would supply incorrect or incomplete information or misspell personal and place names, and it was natural that some of the more hard-pressed enumerators were prone to make errors or cut corners in processing the material. But in general the returns were legible and complete. Most of the difficulties which arose were associated with the additional column for ‘Language spoken’. In a second open letter to the Welsh press, published on 15 April, Beriah Gwynfe Evans claimed that the enumeration process had been defective on four counts: Welsh speakers had been deprived, probably deliberately, of Welsh forms; enumerators had either refused to admit that Welsh forms were available or had refused to distribute them; enumerators had ignored requests for Welsh forms and refused to permit heads of household to verify details filled in on their behalf; heads of household who had filled in English forms in Welsh, which they were entitled to do, were threatened by enumerators with legal action.20 Evans strongly urged those with genuine grievances to write to the newspapers, to their MPs, and to the Society for Utilizing the Welsh Language. Beriah Gwynfe Evans was an abrasive and sometimes devious figure who was more than happy to embarrass the census-takers in order to further the interests of the Society for Utilizing the Welsh Language. As a journalist, he had a reputation for publishing hard-hitting views. But he was also known to be adept at making mischief and those who nursed little sympathy towards the Welsh language found him a slippery and odious opponent. Nevertheless, the evidence which began to accumulate suggests that there were grounds for concern. Disaffected householders supplied newspapers with irrefutable proof that Welsh schedules had not been made widely available and that those who desired Welsh schedules had been expected to apply for them. Schedules intended for England had been circulated throughout the parish of Pen-bre, and schedules intended for Wales had been distributed among the Irish population of Bootle!21 Herbert Evans of Cwmafan 18 19 20

21

Ibid., 17 April 1891, p. 6. The Cambrian, 10 April 1891, p. 5. Baner ac Amserau Cymru, 15 April 1891, p. 9. For the background on Beriah Gwynfe Evans’s association with the Society for Utilizing the Welsh Language, see J. Elwyn Hughes, Arloeswr Dwyieithedd: Dan Isaac Davies 1839–1887 (Caerdydd, 1984). The Cambrian, 1 May 1891, p. 7.


bitterly complained to the editor of the South Wales Daily News that 95 per cent of the forms distributed in his strongly Welsh-speaking valley had been in English.22 Of Llansamlet it was reported that ‘the want of Welsh schedules had been very generally complained of’ and, according to The Cambrian, the dearth of Welsh forms in the Swansea area had prompted Nonconformist ministers on census Sunday to advise ‘all real Welsh folk [to] fill up the English papers in Welsh, so as to show the strength of Welsh nationalism’.23 Having demanded a Welsh form, Gruffudd Isaac of Skewen was brusquely told by the local enumerator, ‘I have not one!’24 In parts of the Rhondda ‘enthusiastic Welshmen’ declined to accept English forms and members of the robust Irish colony in Merthyr made their own distinctive political statement by claiming to be Irish rather than English speakers.25 At a meeting of the East Carmarthenshire Liberal Association, the Revd J. Towyn Jones complained that enumerators had neglected to distribute Welsh forms in the Aman Valley and that enumerators had compelled householders who had filled in their forms in Welsh to refill them in English.26 Sensitive to mounting public concern, four Welsh MPs – David Lloyd George, Samuel T. Evans, J. Bryn Roberts and David A. Thomas – voiced many of these grievances in the House of Commons. Attention was drawn to the administrative error which had deprived the monoglot Welsh inhabitants of Llithfaen and Nefyn in Caernarfonshire of schedules containing the additional column ‘Language spoken’, and Lloyd George was especially angered by the decision of enumerators at Machynlleth to substitute the word ‘Both’ for ‘Welsh only’ in the case of 284 persons.27 In Baner ac Amserau Cymru, Thomas Gee heartily approved of the intervention of Welsh MPs and praised them for drawing the attention of the public at large to the ‘gross’ and ‘scandalous’ manner in which the census had been conducted in Wales: Dioddef pob triniaeth yn ddistaw y buom yn y dyddiau gynt, am mai ‘mudion’ oedd ein haelodau. Nid oedd genym neb a ddywedai air drosom. Ond bellach, y mae pethau wedi newid er gwell . . . Y gwir nas gellir ei wadu ydyw, na chafodd yr iaith Gymraeg, na’r genedl drwyddi, gysgod o chwareu teg yn y cyfrifiad.28 (We bore every kind of ill treatment in the past because our members were mute. No one said a word on our behalf. But now matters are different . . . The undeniable truth is that the Welsh language and the Welsh nation had not a shadow of fair play in the census.)

22 23 24 25 26 27 28

South Wales Daily News, 8 April 1891, p. 6. Ibid.; The Cambrian, 10 April 1891, p. 5. South Wales Daily News, 9 April 1891, p. 3. Ibid., 7 April 1891, p. 5. The Welshman, 30 May 1891, p. 3. Hansard’s Parliamentary Debates, 3rd series, vol. 352, 131–4, 908–9. Baner ac Amserau Cymru, 15 April 1891, p. 9.

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8

In 1891, in the first issue of Cymru, a monthly periodical which would prove to be enormously influential, the Oxford don O. M. Edwards penned a scathing account of the conduct of census-taking in north Wales.29 Two issues in particular troubled him – the ambiguity of the question ‘Language spoken’ and the dearth of Welsh schedules. Monoglot Welshmen in his native Merioneth were so bewildered that they had either sought help from bilingual acquaintances or relied on the assistance of enumerators. Some interpreted ‘Language spoken’ to mean ‘native language’, while others presumed it meant ‘language used predominantly’. Some believed that a few words of greeting or a smattering of imprecations were adequate proof of bilingualism. In O. M. Edwards’s considered view, such issues could not be fudged or ignored: Beth a feddylir wrth fedru Saesneg? Y mae holl Saesneg un yn cynnwys dau air, Yes, sir, – a rheg Seisnig neu ddwy; prin ddigon i ddangos y ffordd i grwydryn fedr un arall; gwyr y trydydd ddigon i wneyd sylw neu ddau am y tywydd, gwybodaeth a gafodd trwy ddyfal ymarfer siarad a’r porthmyn fydd yn dod i’r ardal ar eu tro; medr gwr yr Hafod ddeall llyfr Saesneg, ond nis gall siarad yr iaith honno oherwydd diffyg ymarfer, ac y mae ei ddull yn cynhanu ambell i air mawr Saesneg yn ddigrifwch beunydd i grach glarcod y dref lle y gwerth ei wlan a chrwyn ei ddefaid . . . 30 (What is meant by ability in English? One’s grasp of English may contain two words, Yes, sir, – and one or two English oaths; another may have just enough to direct a tramp; a third may know enough to make a comment or two on the weather, knowledge he acquired in conversation with drovers who frequent the area; the head of the Hafod household may understand an English book, but he can’t speak that language for lack of practice, and the manner in which he utters the occasional big word in English causes daily merriment among snobbish clerks in the town where he sells the wool and skins of his sheep . . . )

According to Edwards, Welsh schedules were so conspicuous by their absence that the time and energy which John Morris-Jones of Bangor had devoted to producing such a fluent Welsh version could have been better employed in other directions. One Merioneth shepherd had consulted a dictionary before entering his occupation in the census schedule as pastor (the Welsh word bugail can mean shepherd or pastor), and another monoglot, in a spirit of recklessness, claimed to be able to speak both languages even though his English vocabulary was limited to ‘Yes, sir’, ‘No, sir’ and ‘Go dam’. A recent study of Bala and Penllyn in Victorian times confirms that the question ‘Language spoken’ invited considerable

29 30

Cymru, I, no. 1 (1891), 26–7. Ibid., 26.


confusion and ambiguity as well as error.31 Thomas Jones, a Llanuwchllyn tanner, claimed, probably honestly, to have ‘Welsh and a little English’, an entry which was amended to ‘Both’ by the enumerator Morris E. Morris who, presumably for political reasons, followed the example set by Michael D. Jones, the celebrated nationalist, Congregationalist and language activist, by declaring himself a monoglot Welsh speaker. Following the census-taking, L. J. Davies, postmaster at Llanuwchllyn, confessed to Tom Ellis that, probably under the influence of Michael D. Jones, local people had conspired to record themselves as monoglot Welsh. ‘I didn’t do that’, claimed Davies, ‘but I had defended that philosophy with a certain person and was carpeted as a result’ (‘Nid oeddwn wedi gwneud hynny, ond yr oeddwn wedi amddiffyn yr athrawiaeth wrth berson neilltuol a chael fy hunan ar y “carpet” oedd y canlyniad’).32 The present study has also uncovered evidence that enumerators who were illdisposed towards the Welsh language tampered gratuitously and unfairly with the content of Welsh schedules. The principal culprit was William Francis Harris of Cardiff, a monoglot English accountant who enumerated district 26 in the town, namely Cathays. Harris believed that several Welsh-speaking household heads were economical with the truth and in the column reserved for ‘1) Deaf and Dumb 2) Blind 3) Lunatic, Imbecile or Idiot’, he wrote of Joseph Richards, a Glamorgan-born carpenter living at 105 Crwys Road, Cathays: ‘Idiot since he rescriped (sic) census paper. The Welsh can’t speak the truth about themselves.’ In the case of Evan Evans, a Cardiganshire-born carpenter living at 5 Flora Street, he deleted the word ‘Welsh’, substituted the word ‘Both’, and inserted question marks opposite the word ‘Welsh’ in the case of his wife, eight children and two lodgers. Similarly, question marks were appended to the entries of two monoglot Welsh-speaking children living at 39 Letty Street, Cathays. Harris was undoubtedly right to suspect that adult Welsh monoglots were entirely absent in Cardiff, but his high-handed and probably illegal behaviour reinforces the impression that Welsh speakers in Wales’s largest town were badly treated.33 That artful dodger, Beriah Gwynfe Evans, was certainly convinced that laziness and mendacity on the part of enumerators had vitiated the census-taking. Immediately after census day, he wrote to C. T. Ritchie, President of the Board of Trade, to complain of gross malpractice.34 Eventually, on 30 April a belated reply from Brydges P. Henniker, the Registrar General, informed him that no evidence of misconduct had come to light and that he personally was convinced

31

32 33 34

Ernest Sandberg, ‘Bala and Penllyn: The Demographic and Socio-Economic Structures of an Embryonic Welsh Town in the Second Half of the Nineteenth Century’ (unpubl. MPhil thesis, The Open University, 1994), pp. 336–7. NLW, T. E. Ellis Papers 285, letter dated 22 August 1894. 1891 Census Enumerators’ Returns, Cardiff. PRO, RG 12/4393. Baner ac Amserau Cymru, 15 April 1891, p. 9; Western Mail, 21 April 1891, p. 6.

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that, as a consequence of an orchestrated campaign in the press, the number of monoglot Welsh speakers would be found to be inflated when the figures were published.35 Furious with rage at this slur on the people of Wales, Evans wrote to Henniker on 4 May demanding a full public inquiry. Angry voices had already been raised elsewhere. At a meeting of the Council of the Society for Utilizing the Welsh Language on 8 April, it was resolved that Welsh MPs be urged to publicize ‘the vitiation of fact’ which had occurred,36 and twelve days later the Cardiff Welsh Sunday School Union appealed to Welsh MPs to ensure that the final census report contained a separate paragraph placing on record the fact that the people of Wales had formally protested against the misleading and inaccurate language returns.37 The Western Mail, having got wind of a petition, written in Welsh, emanating from Cardiff and allegedly signed on behalf of 15,000 people, observed that such a preposterous deed would render the Welsh the butt of ‘idle scoffs and jeers’.38 The response of the government, in fact, was predictably dour and dismissive. Oblivious to the rights of the monoglot Welsh, C. T. Ritchie peevishly informed Arthur Williams, MP for Glamorgan South: ‘I may mention that the extraordinary desire this time amongst the Welsh people to fill up their schedules in Welsh has given an enormous amount of trouble to this Department, as every schedule filled up in Welsh has to be translated into English.’39 This viewpoint was strongly supported by the Western Mail, whose editor believed that the ‘absurd fuss’ over Welsh forms and the conduct of enumerators was a nationalist ploy, devised by blinkered ‘ultra-Welsh patriots’, who had sought to undermine the procedures by their ‘fanatical attempt’ to increase the numbers of monoglot Welsh speakers.40 According to ‘Y Gwyliedydd’, a correspondent of the Western Mail, the efforts of the secretary of the Society for Utilizing the Welsh Language and the editors of leading Welsh newspapers to urge householders to return themselves as Welsh monoglots would result in ‘the perversion of facts’. ‘Nothing can be devised to prevent the spread of the English language’, he declared, ‘its march is as irresistible as the tide.’41 This powerful and influential propaganda gained support from John Gibson, editor of the Cambrian News, of whom it was said that every local public figure ‘lived in fear of being dipped in his inkpot’.42 Gibson angrily censured local Nonconformists for denying knowledge of English in the census returns for Aberystwyth: ‘We do not care what language people speak, but we devoutly wish they would not lie about it and still claim to be pious. Pious liars are 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42

Baner ac Amserau Cymru, 13 May 1891, p. 6. Ibid. South Wales Daily News, 20 April 1891, p. 4. Western Mail, 18 April 1891, editorial. Hansard’s Parliamentary Debates, 3rd series, vol. 352, 1745. Western Mail, 10 April 1891, p. 4; ibid., 13 April 1891, p. 3. Ibid., 7 April 1891, p. 7. Aled Jones, ‘Sir John Gibson and the Cambrian News’, Ceredigion, XII, no. 2 (1994), 67.


11

an abomination, even in the eyes of the wicked and ungodly.’43 Gibson was known to be hostile to the Welsh language, however, and no evidence has emerged in the present study to confirm his allegation. Amid the bitter claims and counter-claims, no one seemed able to provide an independent overview of the situation, and although the furore was rather more than ‘a storm in a teacup’ (as ‘Cosmos’ claimed in the South Wales Daily News), the controversy had died down by midsummer.44 When the General Report of the 1891 census was published in 1893, however, the fires of controversy were relit with a vengeance. The published figures revealed the following snapshot of the linguistic condition of Wales in its Liberal heyday: Population 2 years +

Number Welsh only

1,669,7051

508,036

1

Both English 402,253 759,416

Percentage Welsh Both 30.4

24.1

English 45.5

Able to speak Welsh 54.5

Excluding 12,833 individuals whose language was not given and 3,076 who spoke other languages.

The publication of the General Report immediately unleashed a barrage of criticisms, partly because the linguistic information was confined to two pages but mainly because Brydges P. Henniker, the Registrar General, had rashly claimed that the Welsh language returns were untrustworthy: . . . abundant evidence was received by us that it was either misunderstood or set at naught by a large number of those Welshmen who could speak both languages, and that the word ‘Welsh’ was often returned, where the proper entry would have been ‘Both’; on the grounds, it may be presumed, that Welsh was the language spoken habitually or preferentially.45

The implication was that the rise of national consciousness and a desire to enhance the status and popularity of the Welsh language had adversely affected the accuracy of the returns. In short, Henniker claimed that Welsh speakers were liars. No direct evidence for this allegation was cited and in a sulphurous speech in the House of Commons David Lloyd George condemned the Registrar General for his grave and unfounded allegations against the Welsh people. He asserted, furthermore, that Welsh bishops, notably A. G. Edwards, bishop of St Asaph, had 43 44 45

Cambrian News, 17 April 1891, p. 5. Tarian y Gweithiwr, 7 May 1891, p. 5. Census of England and Wales, 1891, Vol. IV. General Report, with Summary Tables and Appendices (London, 1893), p. 81.


12

instructed their clergy to make inquiries into the census returns, that this allegedly ‘abundant evidence’ had been conveyed to the Registrar General ‘for political purposes’, and that it was on the basis of this partial evidence that the Welsh had been branded liars. In a sharply worded letter published in The Times, A. G. Edwards accused Lloyd George of libel and called for a public apology. He then proceeded to accuse Welsh Nonconformists of peddling lies in order to inflate the numbers of monoglot Welsh speakers.46 Within a week Beriah Gwynfe Evans had returned to the fray to inform readers of The Times that the administration of the census had been deplorable: The demand was conveniently ignored; officialdom and redtapeism triumphed at the cost of vitiating the returns from the whole Principality; and now, to justify that official bungling, a whole nation is, by inference, charged by the head of a public department with falsifying its returns; and that libel is now repeated, accompanied by the episcopal benediction of one whose privilege it should have been to defend the fair fame of his fellow-countrymen.47

J. E. Southall, one of the most well-informed commentators on linguistic matters, also singled out the Registrar General for bitter criticism for neglecting to ensure an adequate supply of Welsh schedules in predominantly Welsh-speaking districts. ‘Such a course’, he argued, ‘did much if not entirely vitiate in some bilingual districts the trustworthiness of the returns.’48 He also identified other statistical defects in the census procedures, especially the decision to publish the returns for registration districts and counties rather than for current administrative counties and civil parishes, the result of which was that traditional Welsh-speaking districts regarded by the census office as parts of registration districts in England were excluded from the returns.49 This had especially adverse effects from the point of view of Welsh-speaking communities located on the eastern borderlands. Indeed, Southall’s impressive volume, The Welsh Language Census of 1891 (1895), which included his celebrated colour map showing the distribution of the Welsh language in the 52 registration districts in 1891, was an attempt to make amends for the manifest failure of the Registrar General to analyse the linguistic returns for Wales.50 In an impeccably argued article in Wales in 1894, Thomas Darlington HMI, a Welsh-speaking native of Cheshire noted for his brilliant linguistic gifts and his conspicuous fairness, also chastised the Registrar General for his gratuitous 46 47 48 49

50

The Times, 24 August 1894, p. 9. Ibid., 31 August 1894, p. 11. J. E. Southall, Wales and her Language (Newport, 1892), p. 356. W. T. R. Pryce and Colin H. Williams, ‘Sources and Methods in the Study of Language Areas: A Case Study of Wales’ in Colin H. Williams (ed.), Language in Geographic Context (Clevedon, 1988), p. 173. J. E. Southall, The Welsh Language Census of 1891 (Newport, 1895).


comments on the validity of the Welsh returns, and claimed that it was now universally accepted that the ‘organised mendacity’ to which he had referred was ‘a mere phantom of the imagination’. He believed that the linguistic returns provided heartening news for the Welsh language and that the statistics, taken as a whole, were ‘substantially correct’.51 When members of the Royal Commission on Land in Wales and Monmouthshire produced their final report in 1896 they were disposed to support unanimously the sober, balanced appraisal produced by Darlington two years earlier.52 True to character, Beriah Gwynfe Evans continued to sulk and chafe,53 but by the time of the 1901 census few remembered that the accuracy of the returns had been impugned ten years earlier. Following the publication of the results of the census in 1893 the implications for the future of the Welsh language and for the ‘national question’ were explored by a variety of commentators. Detecting ‘signs of vitality’ and ‘signs of decay’, J. E. Southall believed that Welsh had reached a critical crossroads in its history. His Wales and her Language (1892), written shortly after the census was taken, was an attempt ‘to rouse the Welsh nation and prevent the premature and artificial extinction of their language’,54 but as the decade unfolded he increasingly came to believe that the most crucial question to be asked was: ‘shall the nation be bilingual or monolingual English?’ (‘a gaiff y genedl fod yn un ddwy-ieithog, ynte yn un-ieithog Seisnig?’).55 In similar vein, Thomas Darlington believed that since bilingualism was inevitable the most critical issue henceforward was the status of the native language. He was convinced that there was sufficient evidence of the strength of Welsh in the census returns to justify amply a nationwide campaign that all judges, magistrates, Post Office officials, stationmasters and other public officials should be bilingual.56 Although anxious to reverse long-term trends towards Anglicization, Emrys ap Iwan derived some comfort from the fact that within the Celtic language family Welsh was the only healthy child,57 and the Revd D. Lloyd Jones of Llandinam found it extraordinary that as many as 55 per cent of the inhabitants of Wales had retained the language spoken by those of their forefathers who had fought so bravely against Roman invaders!58 Conversely, many rejected the argument that the census returns afforded firm grounds for demanding fuller recognition for the Welsh language in public life. The Western Mail remained unshakeably wedded to its conviction that any 51

52 53

54 55 56

57 58

Thomas Darlington, ‘The English-Speaking Population of Wales’, Wales, I (1894), 11–16. See also idem, ‘Iaith Cymru Fydd’, Y Geninen, XI, no. 4 (1893), 224–31. Report of the Royal Commission on Land in Wales and Monmouthshire (London, 1896), pp. 94–7. See his response in letters to Thomas Darlington in August and September 1893 (NLW MS 1058C). Southall, Wales and her Language, pp. iii, 312. J. E. Southall, ‘A Ydyw y Gymraeg yn Marw?’, Y Geninen, XVI, no. 4 (1898), 245. Darlington, ‘Iaith Cymru Fydd’, 229. A similar view was voiced by an anonymous correspondent in Yr Ymofynydd, 46 (1891), 233–4. Emrys ap Iwan, ‘Seisnigo Enwau Cymreig’, Y Geninen, XV, no. 1 (1897), 1. D. Lloyd Jones, ‘Gwydnwch yr Iaith Gymraeg’, Y Drysorfa, XLVII (1893), 381.

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14

attempt to imprison the people by the Welsh language would render them ever more ‘narrow-minded and clannish and ignorant’,59 while the Lancastrian editor of the Cambrian News, John Gibson, thundered: ‘What matter does it make nationally, whether the people speak Welsh or English?’60 Inevitably, all censuses are subject to error and ambiguity, and the 1891 census is no exception. Similarly, the manner in which their results are interpreted can vary significantly. Thus, when the broad census results were published in 1893, Welsh cultural patriots were reassured by the fact that over 900,000 people (54.5 per cent of the population) spoke Welsh and that over half a million people (30.4 per cent) spoke no English. Those who believed in greater integration with the English way of life, however, were just as heartened by the statistics which revealed that over 750,000 people (45.5 per cent of the population) spoke no Welsh and that just over 400,000 people (24.1 per cent) were bilingual. In many ways, as several commentators noted at the time, the linguistic balance was delicately poised. In the words of J. E. Southall: ‘Welsh has reached a crisis, it is tottering in a state of uncertainty whether to go backward or forward.’61 The Objectives and Methods of this Study When, on 2 January 1992, the detailed contents of the enumerators’ returns in the 1891 census entered the public domain, the first accurate and comprehensive set of data on the relative strength and vitality of the Welsh language in the nineteenth century was made available. This coincided with the launch of an ambitious pioneering research project on ‘The Social History of the Welsh Language’ at the Centre for Advanced Welsh and Celtic Studies of the University of Wales. The aim of the project was to analyse the state, function and status of the Welsh language during the period from the Acts of Union (1536–43) to the census of 1991, with special regard to the fortunes of the language in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Since the data contained in the enumerators’ returns for 1891 constitute a unique and untapped resource for the study of sociolinguistic change in late Victorian Wales, a detailed and rigorous investigation of the material, funded by the ESRC, was begun in October 1995. The primary aims and objectives of the project were: i. to collect and process information from the unique data relating to the Welsh language in the 1891 census enumerators’ returns in twenty selected communities in Wales; ii. to create computer readable datafiles containing information derived from 59 60 61

Western Mail, 10 April 1891, editorial. Jones, ‘Sir John Gibson’, 75. Southall, Wales and her Language, p. 362.


the 1891 census enumerators’ returns on the name, address, age, relation to the head of household, occupation, birthplace, and language of c.90,000 individuals (a 100 per cent sample within twenty selected communities in Wales); iii. to undertake a quantitative analysis of the socio-economic structure of Welsh/English language ability on the basis of data relating to age, sex, occupation and birthplace listed in the enumerators’ returns; iv. to develop a classification of occupations, tailored to the special circumstances of Wales, in order to explore links between economic activity and the process of language change; v. to deepen our sociolinguistic understanding of a period when the best part of a million people spoke Welsh and when over half a million people spoke Welsh only. In order to assemble the most reliable and effective data, a 100 per cent sample was taken of twenty areas selected from the 178 registration subdistricts in Wales, i.e. c.90,000 individuals or 5 per cent of the total population of Wales in 1891. Given the diversity of the Welsh experience, the advantages of selecting representative areas clearly outweighed those which random cluster sampling might have offered. The selection of the twenty areas was determined by specific spatial, economic and linguistic considerations, notably the following criteria: geographical location (north/south; coast/heartland; border); contrasts in demographic profiles; the degree of industrialization and urbanization; and overall language ability (as indicated for the parent registration district in the published census tables). As a result, the following sample areas were selected.62 Each of the thirteen counties (with the exception of Radnorshire, which had been almost entirely Anglicized by the early nineteenth century) is represented: Blaenau (Monmouthshire) Cardiff (Glamorgan) Blaenllechau (Glamorgan) Ferndale (Glamorgan) Cwm Clydach (Glamorgan) Llwynypia (Glamorgan) Dowlais (Glamorgan) Pontardawe (Glamorgan) Cwmaman (Carmarthenshire) Fishguard (Pembrokeshire) Aberystwyth (Cardiganshire) Tregaron (Cardiganshire) Builth Wells (Breconshire) 62

: : : : : : : : : : : : :

iron and steel town commercial and export town coal-mining town coal-mining town coal-mining town coal-mining town ironmaking centre tinplate town tinplate town maritime port tourist and commercial town rural parish market town

The sample areas are dealt with in the order in which they appear in the General Report of the Census of England and Wales, 1891.

15

16


Image Not Available

Figure 1. Location of the twenty sample areas


Llanidloes (Montgomeryshire) Rhyl (Flintshire) Rhosllannerchrugog (Denbighshire) Llanymawddwy (Merioneth) Blaenau Ffestiniog (Merioneth) Porthmadog (Caernarfonshire) Trefdraeth (Anglesey)

: : : : : : :

market town tourist resort coal-mining town rural parish slate-quarrying town maritime port rural parish

The heavy preponderance of communities in south Wales is easily justified. The most remarkable feature of the socio-economic history of nineteenthcentury Wales was the unprecedented rise in population. The population nearly trebled within ninety years, rising from 601,767 in 1801 to 1,776,405 in 1891.63 This demographic revolution was also one of the principal driving forces of largescale industrialization and urbanization. The most extraordinary increases in population occurred in the South Wales Coalfield. The population of Monmouthshire increased more than fivefold, rising from 54,750 in 1801 to 275,242 in 1891 and that of Glamorgan more than ninefold, rising from 74,189 in 1801 to 693,072 in 1891. These profound changes meant that Wales was no longer a predominantly agricultural society. Thousands of rural migrants were sucked into the coalfields ‘as if by a vacuum cleaner’.64 The expansion of the steam-coal industry made the South Wales Coalfield the economic centre of gravity and migrants from Wales and the West Country were irresistibly attracted by the prospect of lucrative employment opportunities and a more robust and exciting lifestyle. Since the coalfields were so accessible and attractive to rural migrants from south and mid-Wales, massive demographic haemorrhage was averted. By 1891 more than half the population of Wales lived in the counties of Glamorgan and Monmouth. Small wonder that the South Wales Coalfield was generally recognized as the most critical ‘linguistic battlefield’ (‘maes yr ymladdfa ieithyddol’) in Wales.65 By the time of the 1891 census, therefore, especially in the south, Wales had become a land of rapidly expanding towns. Twenty-three urban districts had a population in excess of 10,000 and of these only five were located outside Glamorgan and Monmouthshire. The disparity between rural and urban communities was thrown into much sharper relief as the former suffered crippling levels of depopulation while the latter experienced swift and impressive growth. The urban and industrial settlements of the Rhondda outpaced traditional regional centres like Caernarfon and Carmarthen as their prosperity became 63

64

65

Dot Jones, Statistical Evidence relating to the Welsh Language 1801–1911 / Tystiolaeth Ystadegol yn ymwneud â’r Iaith Gymraeg 1801–1911 (Cardiff, 1998), p. 17. Hywel Francis and David Smith, The Fed: A History of the South Wales Miners in the Twentieth Century (London, 1980), p. 32. D. Lloyd Jones, ‘Gwydnwch yr Iaith Gymraeg’, 412.

17

18

Figure 2. A page from the 1891 census enumerator’s book for Tremadog


Image Not Available


totally geared to the extraction, production and export of coal. All these changes had far-reaching cultural as well as socio-economic and political consequences. From the point of view of language, several striking changes had occurred. First, the actual numbers of Welsh speakers had risen from around 600,000 in 1801 to 910,289 in 1891, but the proportion of the Welsh-speaking population had fallen from around 95 per cent to 54.5 per cent. Second, the high intensity of Welsh speakers broadly corresponded with areas of low population density. The counties with the highest intensity index of more than 90 per cent – Anglesey, Caernarfon, Merioneth, Cardigan, and Carmarthen – were for the most part agricultural communities in north and west Wales.66 Third, far greater numbers of Welsh people were now conversant with English. Especially after 1871 the tide of non-Welsh-speaking migrants and in-migrants flowed swiftly into the steam-coal districts.67 Along the bilingual zone on the Welsh borders, moreover, the territorial advance of English was facilitated by improved east-west communications. In coastal towns, ports and suburban areas, too, Welsh speakers were increasingly vulnerable and receptive to English-language acculturation.68 Increasingly, the ‘monoglot army’,69 as J. E. Southall referred to monolingual Welsh speakers, were confined to remote rural parishes. Fourth, whereas English was considered a high prestige language, Welsh was associated with penury, social inferiority and obscurantism. In 1847 the ‘Blue Books’ commissioners had gratuitously portrayed the ‘peculiar language’ of Welsh as an enemy to progress and material prosperity, and the resultant psychological scar was so deep that the Welsh intelligentsia lived in fear of further indictments at the hands of the English establishment.70 Even common people came to believe that the most effective way of escaping from poverty and illiteracy was to learn English. Just as it was claimed in Ireland that ‘Irish doesn’t sell the cow’ so in Wales was it argued that Welsh kept the rustic monoglot ‘under the hatches’.71 The result was that the dominant status of English ‘inevitably gave Welsh a low social-mobility profile and this facilitated language erosion and shift’.72 To a greater or lesser degree, all these factors had a bearing on the linguistic profiles of the communities selected for this study. 66

67

68 69 70

71

72

Glyn Lewis, ‘Migration and the Decline of the Welsh Language’ in Joshua A. Fishman (ed.), Advances in the Study of Societal Multilingualism (The Hague, 1978), pp. 263–51. Philip N. Jones, ‘Population Migration into Glamorgan 1861–1911: A Reassessment’ in Prys Morgan (ed.), Glamorgan County History. Volume VI. Glamorgan Society 1780–1980 (Cardiff, 1988), pp. 173–202. W. T. R. Pryce, ‘Welsh and English in Wales, 1750–1971’, BBCS, XXVII, part 1 (1978), 1–36. Southall, The Welsh Language Census of 1891, p. 31. See the essays in Prys Morgan (ed.), Brad y Llyfrau Gleision: Ysgrifau ar Hanes Cymru (Llandysul, 1991) and Hywel Teifi Edwards, The Eisteddfod (Cardiff, 1990), p. 27. J. J. Lee, Ireland 1912–1985: Politics and Society (Cambridge, 1989), p. 662; Ieuan Gwynedd Jones, ‘1848–1868: “Brad y Llyfrau Gleision” and Welsh Politics’ in idem, Mid-Victorian Wales: The Observers and the Observed (Cardiff, 1992), pp. 103–65. Robert Owen Jones, ‘The Sociolinguistics of Welsh’ in M. J. Ball (ed.) with James Fife, The Celtic Languages (London, 1993), pp. 545–6.

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20

The first step was to transcribe the selected sample from the census enumerators’ books to computer readable data files. Two specific data files were created. Variables in the first file identified, in the following order, the identity of the individual person, the enumeration district, the schedule number, first name, surname, relation to the head of the household, marital status, sex, age, occupation, employment status, occupation code, county of birth, birthplace, and language spoken. The second file identified the following variables: the enumeration district, the schedule number, whether a Welsh-language schedule was used, number of persons in the household, number of rooms (if fewer than five), and address. On the basis of this data, language ability was examined in several ways in each selected area. First, a series of crosstabulations of social variables for each individual according to language spoken – age, sex, relation to head of household, place of birth – provided the basic framework. Second, by focusing on the household as a unit it was possible (where appropriate) to investigate language differences between generations, the language of children of ‘mixed’ marriages and the same languages, and the linguistic influence of extra-family members, i.e. boarders, lodgers, servants, visitors. Third, by considering neighbourhood and community, evidence of spatial segregation on the basis of language ability was examined, with special consideration given to migration paths and the presence of incoming strangers and returning kin. Fourth, a specially formulated occupational classification provided language evidence in the domains of the industrial workplace, public service and the professions. In view of the fact that one of the principal objectives of this study was to examine Welsh/English language ability and linguistic shifts within an economic framework, it swiftly became clear that occupational classifications, based on industrial groups, used for England were not necessarily appropriate for Wales. On the basis of the results of several pilot studies, it was decided that the occupational classification should be based on that of Charles Booth. In 1886 Booth published a seminal article on the occupations of people between 1801 and 1881, together with a statistical appendix relating to statistics from 1841 to 1881 which divided people into eleven separate ‘industrial groups’, each of which was subdivided into fifty-one different occupations (Appendix 1).73 In order to ensure that this classification lent itself to an examination of sociolinguistic as well as economic data several modifications were made. Broadly, these were as follows:

73

Charles Booth, ‘Occupations of the People of the United Kingdom, 1801–81’, Journal of the Royal Statistical Society, XLIX (1886), 314–435. For different approaches, see Michael Anderson, Family Structure in Nineteenth Century Lancashire (London, 1971); E. A. Wrigley (ed.), Nineteenth-Century Society (Cambridge, 1972); A. Armstrong, Stability and Change in an English County Town. A Social Study of York 1801–51 (London, 1974); Richard Lawton (ed.), The Census and Social Structure: An Interpretative Guide to 19th Century Censuses for England and Wales (London, 1978).


i. ii. iii. iv. v. vi.

the Mining Sector was expanded in order to accommodate and reflect the diversity of the economic structure of Wales; the Manufacture Sector was reduced from thirty-one to fourteen major groups; owners and proprietors were included in the principal industry where their capital was invested; as far as possible, managers, clerks, labourers, assistants and service workers were included in the industry of employment; unoccupied children aged 10–12 were assumed to be ‘scholars’; the wife or female head of a household containing more than two lodgers or boarders were included with lodging house keepers.

Finally, in every selected area the quantitative data was supplemented and enriched by material culled from a wide range of primary and secondary historical sources in the Welsh and English languages. This information has not only helped to deepen our understanding of the complex historical processes which precipitated language shifts but has also shed light on the degree to which assimilative pressures were experienced within rural, urban and industrial communities. For all its shortcomings, the 1891 census remains a mine of valuable information and the following study of the linguistic condition of Wales in the last decennial census held in the nineteenth century is the most ambitious of its kind hitherto attempted.

Appendix 1. Industrial Classification of Occupations (based on that of Charles Booth) AGRICULTURE 01 Farming 01 Farm bailiffs, stewards 02 Farmers, graziers 03 Relatives assisting 04 Agricultural labourers 05 Farm servants 06 Shepherds 07 Woodmen 08 Nurserymen, seedsmen 02 Land service 01 Agricultural machine proprietors 02 Agricultural machine operators 03 Breeding 01 Horse proprietors, breeders

21


22

04

05

02 Veterinary surgeons, farriers 03 Horse breakers/keepers, grooms Dealers 01 Cattle dealers/drovers 02 Sheep dealers 03 Dairy produce, eggs, poultry dealers 04 Other livestock dealers 05 Hay, straw, chaff dealers 06 Corn, flour, seed merchants, dealers 07 Wool dealers, staplers 08 Assistants Fishing 01 Fishermen/women

MINING 01 Coal 01 Proprietors 02 Managers 03 Engineers/surveyors 04 Agents 05 Clerks 06 Firemen/overmen 07 Checkweighers 08 Miners/hauliers/timbermen/repairers, etc. 09 Machine operators 10 Craftsmen 11 Labourers 12 Pithead/surface workers 13 Doorboys 20 Others 02 Lead 01 Owners 02 Agents/managers 03 Clerks 04 Miners 05 Ore dressers 06 Labourers 20 Others 03 Other mineral mining 01 Proprietors 02 Agents/managers 03 Clerks 04 Miners 05 Labourers 20 Others


04

05

06

07

Slate mining and quarrying 01 Proprietors 02 Agents/managers 03 Clerks 04 Slate quarriers/miners 05 Slate cutters/dressers 06 Labourers 20 Others Other stone quarrying 01 Proprietors 02 Agents/managers 03 Clerks 04 Stone quarriers/cutters/dressers 05 Lime burners 06 Labourers 07 Others Brickmaking 01 Proprietors 02 Agents/managers 03 Clerks 04 Brick/tile makers/burners 05 Labourers 20 Others Salt and waterworks 01 Workers

BUILDING 01 Management 01 Architects 02 Civil engineers/surveyors 03 Contractors/builders 04 Foremen 05 Assistants 02 Operatives 01 Stonemasons 02 Bricklayers 03 Plasterers 04 Slaters/tilers/thatchers 05 Carpenters/joiners 06 Plumbers/painters/glaziers/paperhangers 07 Gas fitters 08 Apprentices 09 Building labourers 03 Road, railway making, other construction 01 Road labourers

23

24


02 Railway labourers/navvies/platelayers 03 Other construction labourers/navvies MANUFACTURING 01 Machinery, tools, watches, etc. 01 Proprietors 02 Managers/foremen 03 Clerks 04 Skilled manual 05 Apprentices/assistants 06 Unskilled manual/labourers 20 Others 02 Shipbuilding 01 Proprietors 02 Managers/foremen 03 Clerks 04 Skilled manual 05 Apprentices/assistants 06 Unskilled manual/labourers 20 Others 03 Iron and steel 01 Proprietors 02 Managers/foremen 03 Clerks 04 Skilled manual 05 Apprentices/assistants 06 Unskilled manual/labourers 20 Others 04 Tin, zinc, copper, lead, etc. 01 Proprietors 02 Managers/foremen 03 Clerks 04 Skilled manual 05 Apprentices/assistants 06 Unskilled manual/labourers 20 Others 05 Earthenware, coals and gas, chemicals, etc. 01 Proprietors 02 Managers/foremen 03 Clerks 04 Skilled manual 05 Apprentices/assistants 06 Unskilled manual/labourers 20 Others 06 Leather, hair, glue, etc.


07

08

09

10

11

01 Proprietors 02 Managers/foremen 03 Clerks 04 Skilled manual 05 Apprentices/assistants 06 Unskilled manual/labourers 20 Others Wood, furniture, paper, etc. 01 Proprietors 02 Managers/foremen 03 Clerks 04 Skilled manual 05 Apprentices/assistants 06 Unskilled manual/labourers 20 Others Carriages and harnesses 01 Proprietors 02 Managers/foremen 03 Clerks 04 Skilled manual 05 Apprentices/assistants 06 Unskilled manual/labourers 20 Others Woollens, wool fullers and dyers 01 Proprietors 02 Managers/foremen 03 Clerks 04 Skilled manual 05 Apprentices/assistants 06 Unskilled manual/labourers 20 Others Cotton, flax, lace, etc. 01 Proprietors 02 Managers/foremen 03 Clerks 04 Skilled manual 05 Apprentices/assistants 06 Unskilled manual/labourers 20 Others Dress 01 Proprietors 02 Managers/foremen 03 Clerks 04 Skilled manual 05 Apprentices/assistants

25


26

12

13

14

06 Unskilled manual/labourers 20 Others Food, drink, tobacco 01 Proprietors 02 Managers/foremen 03 Clerks 04 Skilled manual 05 Apprentices/assistants 06 Unskilled manual/labourers 20 Others Printing 01 Proprietors 02 Managers/foremen 03 Clerks 04 Skilled manual 05 Apprentices/assistants 06 Unskilled manual/labourers 20 Others Unspecified 01 Proprietors 02 Managers/superintendents/foremen 03 Clerks 04 Engine drivers/stokers/firemen/fitters 05 Machinists/machine workers/artisans/mechanics 06 Apprentices/assistants 07 Labourers (in manufacturing) 20 Others and ill-defined

TRANSPORT 01 Warehouses and docks 01 Proprietors 02 Managers/supervisors 03 Clerks 04 Harbour, dock and lighthouse workers 05 Messengers, porters, warehouse and dock labourers 02 Ocean navigation 01 Ship owners 02 Captains, pilots 03 Seamen, ship’s stewards and cooks 03 Inland navigation 01 Bargemen, lightermen, watermen 02 Canal and inland navigation service 04 Railways 01 Stationmasters/officials 02 Clerks/booking office


05

03 Engine drivers/stokers/signalmen 04 Porters Roads 01 Livery stable keepers, cab and bus owners 02 Cabmen, flymen, coachmen 03 Carmen, carriers, cartmen, draymen, hauliers 04 Others (toll collectors, tramway service, etc.)

DEALING 01 Coals 01 Coal merchants and dealers 02 Coal heavers and labourers, assistants 02 Raw materials 01 Timber merchants, wood dealers 02 Cloth dealers 03 Assistants 03 Dress 01 Drapers, mercers, hosiers, haberdashers, clothes 02 Assistants 04 Food 01 Butchers, poulterers, fishmongers 02 Milksellers, cowkeepers 03 Cheesemen, buttermen, egg dealers 04 Provision dealers, grocers, tea dealers 05 Greengrocers 06 Assistants 05 Tobacco, drink and lodging 01 Tobacconists 02 Wine and spirit merchants 03 Inn and hotel keepers, publicans 04 Beersellers 05 Lodging and boarding house keepers 06 Coffee and eating house keepers 07 Cellarmen, inn servants, assistants 06 Furniture and household utensils 01 Furniture and picture dealers 02 Earthenware, china, glass 03 Ironmongers, hardware 04 Gold and silversmiths, jewellers 05 Pawnbrokers 06 Assistants 07 Chemists, druggists 01 Chemist, druggist 02 Assistants 08 Stationery and publications

27


28

09

10

01 Stationers, booksellers, newsagents 02 Publishers, librarians 03 Ticket writers, bill stickers 04 Assistants General dealers 01 General shopkeepers, dealers 02 Hawkers, hucksters, costers 03 Rag dealers 04 Assistants Others and unspecified 01 Merchants, brokers, agents, factors 02 Auctioneers, appraisers, valuers, house agents 03 Salesmen and buyers, commercial travellers 04 Assistants

INDUSTRIAL SERVICES 01 Banking, insurance, accounts 01 Bank service 02 Insurance service 03 Accountants 04 Commercial clerks 05 Apprentices/assistants PUBLIC SERVICES AND PROFESSIONALS 01 Central administration 01 Members of Parliament 02 Civil service officers 03 Civil service clerks 04 Post office telegraph, telephone officials 05 Post office clerks, telephone service 02 Local administration 01 County, municipal officers 02 Registrars of births, marriages and deaths 03 Poor Law officials (rate collectors, relieving officers) 04 Workhouse staff 05 School attendance officers 06 Vaccination officers/sanitary inspectors 07 Other local officials 08 Clerical staff 03 Defence 01 Army officers 02 Soldiers 03 Army pensioners 04 Naval officers 05 Coastguards


04

05

06

07

08

09

10

06 Seamen 07 Navy pensioners Police and prisons 01 Police inspectors 02 Police sergeants 03 Police constables 04 Prison governors 05 Prison officers Law 01 Judges, magistrates 02 Barristers, solicitors 03 Law students 04 Law clerks Medicine 01 Surgeons, physicians, practitioners 02 Medical students, assistants 03 Dentists 04 Nurses 05 Midwives Education 01 Lecturers 02 Headteachers, schoolteachers 03 Assistant teachers, pupil teachers 04 Music teachers 05 Students Religion 01 Clergymen (established Church) 02 Roman Catholic priests 03 Calvinistic Methodist ministers 04 Other Methodist ministers 05 Congregational ministers 06 Baptist ministers 07 Other Nonconformist ministers and preachers 08 Theological students 09 Missionaries, evangelists 10 Nuns/monks 11 Church, chapel, cemetery officers/clerical staff 12 Church, chapel, cemetery servants Amusement 01 Musicians 02 Actors 03 Art, music and theatre service 04 Performers, showmen, exhibition service 05 Billiards, cricket and other games service Art, literature, science

29

30


01 Painters, sculptors, engravers 02 Photographers 03 Art students/assistants 04 Authors, editors, journalists 05 Reporters, shorthand writers 06 Engaged in scientific pursuits DOMESTIC SERVICES 01 Indoor service 01 Indoor servants 02 Domestic nurses 03 Institution servants 02 Outdoor service 01 Coachmen and grooms 02 Gardeners 03 Gamekeepers 03 Extra service 01 Cooks 02 Cleaners, charwomen, laundry women 03 Office keepers, caretakers 04 Hairdressers 05 Chimney sweeps 20 Others OTHERS 01 Managers/foremen/supervisors 02 Contractors, agents 03 General labourers 04 Indefinite occupations RESIDUAL POPULATION 01 Property owners/living on their own means 02 Paupers 03 Disabled 04 Retired 05 School pupils (10 years and over)

2 Blaenau (Monmouthshire) MARI A. WILLIAMS

Situated in the upper reaches of the Ebbw Fach valley in north-west Monmouthshire, the town of Blaenau developed as a result of the expansion which took place in the iron trade of south Wales during the early decades of the nineteenth century. Established in 1822 by George Jones, an industrialist from Staffordshire, the Blaina Ironworks was one of four works erected in the Monmouthshire valleys during the 1820s.1 The works at Blaenau initially concentrated upon producing iron bars and pig iron, the bulk of which was transported via tram road and canal to the port of Newport. By the 1840s, however, the boom in railway construction both in Britain and overseas had created an insatiable demand for a new iron product, namely wrought iron rails. In the decades which followed, the Blaina Ironworks – which had combined with the neighbouring works at Cwm Celyn in 1839 – specialized in supplying pig iron for the manufacture of railway iron at Cwm Celyn.2 The rapid development of the industrial undertakings initiated a considerable movement of population into the parish of Aberystruth as clustered settlements grew around the furnaces and forges of the ironworks. In his history of the parish published in 1779, the Congregational minister Edmund Jones estimated that the total population did not exceed 500, but by the middle of the nineteenth century over 14,000 people lived within the parish boundaries.3 The fortunes of the south Wales iron industry were about to change dramatically, however, as technological developments associated with the transfer to steel manufacture heralded the demise of the old iron-producing concerns of the northern outcrop towns. The crisis reached its peak at Blaenau in the early 1860s, when the steady decline in the demand for iron rails eventually led to the closure of the works. Between 1867 and 1869, when production at the Blaina 1

2

3

The others were the Bute, Pentwyn and Abersychan Works. Michael Atkinson and Colin Baber, The Growth and Decline of the South Wales Iron Industry, 1760–1880 (Cardiff, 1987), p. 8. Ibid., pp. 67, 92; J. Gwyn Davies, ‘Industrial Society in North-West Monmouthshire, 1750–1851’ (unpubl. University of Wales PhD thesis, 1980), pp. 26, 29. Edmund Jones, A Geographical, Historical and Religious Account of the Parish of Aberystruth in the County of Monmouth (Trevecka, 1779), p. 60; Davies, ‘Industrial Society in North-West Monmouthshire’, p. 5.


32

Ironworks ceased completely, hundreds of local families left the area in search of employment. Some moved westwards to the steam-coal pits of the Cynon and Rhondda Valleys, while others ventured further afield to America, Australia and Russia.4 This great exodus of people had a devastating impact upon the social and cultural life of the community. The Blaenau British School was forced to close for a period between 1867 and 1873, while the chapels of the town were also severely affected by the drastic reduction in the size of their congregations.5 The position of the Welsh chapels of Blaenau had already been weakened by the establishment of three English sister-causes during the 1850s and 1860s, and the loss of so many of their members came as a severe blow. Gobaith, the Welsh Calvinistic Methodist cause which had been established in 1838, lost most of its members as a result of the closure of the works, and although some families returned to Blaenau in the 1870s it soon became evident that the ranks of the Welsh-speaking congregation were greatly depleted. By the 1880s English-language services had been introduced at Gobaith chapel to meet the linguistic needs of the new membership, and by 1891 it appears that the Welsh language was rarely used within its walls. The pattern was the same at two other Welsh causes: Salem, the Welsh Baptist chapel, and Berea, the Welsh Congregational chapel, where the inability of the younger members to understand Welsh-language services had led to the provision of some English-language instruction.6 The decline of the Welsh language at Blaenau was closely linked to developments in the economic and industrial life of the town, for it was during the economic depression of the 1860s that Blaenau lost a significant proportion of its native and largely Welsh-speaking population. Few of the Welsh-speaking families returned to Blaenau in the 1870s when the works reopened and new coal mines were sunk, and the majority of the in-migrants who came to take their place hailed from neighbouring English counties.7 By the mid-1870s the Nantyglo and Blaina Ironworks Company, in common with most of the other iron companies in the area, had become little more than a coal-producing enterprise, and iron production at the works ceased in 1877.8 The history of metal manufacture at Blaenau did not come to an end, however, for developments in the production of steel and tinplate brought new life to the site of the old works. 4 5

6

7 8

NLW MS 16155B, E. I. Williams, ‘Notes on the History of Nantyglo and Blaina’. Sian Rhiannon Williams, Oes y Byd i’r Iaith Gymraeg: Y Gymraeg yn ardal ddiwydiannol Sir Fynwy yn y bedwaredd ganrif ar bymtheg (Caerdydd, 1992), pp. 25–6; eadem, ‘Rhai Agweddau ar Hanes yr Iaith Gymraeg yn Ardal Ddiwydiannol Sir Fynwy yn y Bedwaredd Ganrif ar Bymtheg’ (unpubl. University of Wales PhD thesis, 1985), pp. 68–9. NLW, CM Archives 141703, Abraham Morris, ‘Calvinistic Methodism in Monmouthshire’; anon, A Short History of Salem Baptist Church, Blaina, Monmouthshire (Abergavenny, n.d), p. 10; T. Rees and J. Thomas, Hanes Eglwysi Annibynol Cymru (4 vols., Liverpool, 1871–5), I, p. 200; Williams, ‘Rhai Agweddau ar Hanes yr Iaith Gymraeg’, pp. 68, 505. An observation made by Dan Isaac Davies in 1885, Baner ac Amserau Cymru, 1 July 1885. J. H. Morris and L. J. Williams, The South Wales Coal Industry, 1841–1875 (Cardiff, 1958), pp. 85, 90.

BLAENAU (MONMOUTHSHIRE)

In 1879 a tinplate mill was established at Blaenau by Captain P. S. Phillips and Thomas Shaw Phillips, whose later acquisition of the tinplate works at Nant-y-glo and Abertillery assured the position of the company as one of the leading tinplate manufacturers in Monmouthshire.9 During the same year, various units of the Nantyglo and Blaina Ironworks Company were leased to separate parties and, following a period of ownership by Spence and Company from Liverpool, the old iron furnaces were taken over by the Pyle and Blaina Works Ltd. in 1888 for the manufacture of ferro-manganese and speigeleisen, a compound which was used in the Bessemer process of steel production.10 By 1891 the parish of Aberystruth was home to 25,913 people and the town of Blaenau had developed into a large urban settlement of over 6,500 inhabitants which boasted the services of a fire brigade, a police station, a post office, and a public library and hall.11 Although the tinplate and speigeleisen works which stood on the site of the old ironworks still dominated the industrial landscape, it was the Blaina, Nantyglo, North and South Griffin pits, under the ownership of John Lancaster and Company, which provided employment for the majority of the occupied male population.12 However, unlike the smaller coal-mining settlements which were developing elsewhere in the South Wales Coalfield during this period, the old irontown of Blaenau provided a greater diversity of employment opportunities. In addition to the work available in the heavy industries, all manner of tradesmen and shopkeepers had established businesses in the centre of the town. By 1891, as Table 1 shows, the English language dominated every aspect of the economic, social and cultural life of Blaenau. Nearly three-quarters of the 6,096 inhabitants (aged 2 years and over) were unable to speak Welsh and, of those who were returned as Welsh speakers, only a very small proportion were unable to speak English. The town of Blaenau was clearly one of the more Anglicized settlements situated within the Bedwellte Registration District, where Welsh speakers accounted for over a third of the total population. In this north-western corner of Monmouthshire lived over half the total Welsh-speaking population of the county, including nearly 70 per cent of its monoglot Welsh-speaking population. Elsewhere in Monmouthshire, Welsh speakers formed a distinct minority and 9

10

11

12

E. H. Brooke, Monograph on the Tinplate Works in Great Britain (Swansea, 1932), pp. 113, 119–20; Charles Wilkins, The South Wales Coal Trade and its Allied Industries from the Earliest Days to the Present Time (Cardiff, 1888), p. 168. J. P. Addis, ‘The Heavy Iron and Steel Industry in South Wales’ (unpubl. University of Wales PhD thesis, 1957), pp. 14, 113. ‘Speigeleisen’ was a compound of iron, carbon and manganese. Atkinson and Baber, The Growth and Decline of the South Wales Iron Industry, p. 80. Kelly’s Directory of Monmouthshire, and the Principal Towns and Places of South Wales (London, 1891), p. 22. NLW, CM Archives 141703. At least seven pits were in production in the upper reaches of the Ebbw Fach valley by the end of the nineteenth century; they drew their workers from Blaenau and neighbouring settlements. See John C. Bainton, ‘Reminiscences of Bryn-mawr’, Brycheiniog, XVI (1972), 125–38.

33


34

Table 1: Language spoken by populations of Blaenau, Bedwellte Registration District, Monmouthshire and Wales (2 years and over) Number Welsh Blaenau1 306 Bedwellte R.D.2 6805 Monmouthshire3 9816 Wales4 508036 1

2 3 4

Both 1242 15105 29743 402253

English

Percentage Welsh Both

Total

4548 6096 38833 60743 217664 257223 759416 1669705

5.0 11.2 3.8 30.4

20.4 24.9 11.6 24.1

English

Total

74.6 63.9 84.6 45.5

100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0

Excluding 30 individuals whose language was not given, 5 who spoke English and Hebrew, 3 who spoke Irish only, 2 who spoke English and Italian, 2 who spoke English, Italian and French and one who spoke English and Russian. Excluding 266 individuals whose language was not given and 69 who spoke other languages. Excluding 2,475 individuals whose language was not given and 335 who spoke other languages. Excluding 12,833 individuals whose language was not given and 3,076 who spoke other languages.

Table 2: Language spoken by age (2 years and over)1 Number Welsh

Both

English

Total

2–5 6–14 15–24 25–44 45–64 65+

24 29 56 84 82 31

56 158 247 462 262 57

575 1028 1284 1178 400 82

655 1215 1587 1724 744 170

Total

306

1242

4547

6095

Age

1

Percentage Welsh

Both

English

Total

3.7 2.4 3.5 4.9 11.0 18.2

8.5 13.0 15.7 26.8 35.2 33.5

87.8 84.6 80.9 68.3 53.8 48.2

100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0

5.0

20.4

74.6

100.0

Excluding one individual whose age was not given.

over 88 per cent of the men and women who resided in the remaining five registration districts of the county were monoglot English speakers. The decline in the position of the Welsh language at Blaenau had occurred during a relatively short space of time. Table 2 shows that although nearly half the 914 residents aged over 45 were Welsh speakers, knowledge of the Welsh language was limited to only 16.5 per cent of the 3,457 individuals who were younger than 24 years. The overwhelming majority of individuals in all age groups were proficient in the English language, and even among the older generation monoglot Welsh speakers accounted for less than 20 per cent of the population. Elderly residents of the town, such as Mary Rees, a 79-year-old


35

Table 3: Language spoken by age and sex (2 years and over) Number Welsh Both

Age

Sex

2–5

M F M F M F M F M F M F

14 10 18 11 29 27 48 36 47 35 13 18

M F

169 137

6–14 15–24 25–44 45–64 65+

Total

English

Total


24 32 77 81 128 119 264 198 125 137 28 29

286 289 526 502 852 432 718 460 222 178 41 41

324 331 621 594 1009 578 1030 694 394 350 82 88

4.3 3.0 2.9 1.9 2.9 4.7 4.7 5.2 11.9 10.0 15.9 20.5

646 596

2645 1902

3460 2635

4.9 5.2

English

Total

7.4 9.7 12.4 13.6 12.7 20.6 25.6 28.5 31.7 39.1 34.1 32.9

88.3 87.3 84.7 84.5 84.4 74.7 69.7 66.3 56.3 50.9 50.0 46.6

100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0

18.7 22.6

76.4 72.2

100.0 100.0

monoglot Welsh speaker from Llanidloes in Montgomeryshire, represented the first generation of in-migrants who had come to Blaenau from predominantly Welsh-speaking districts. The decline of the Welsh language within her own family was also representative of the experience of many other families in Blaenau, for although Mary Rees was fluent in her native tongue only, her daughter and eight grandchildren, all of whom were natives of Blaenau, were returned as speaking English only. Children aged between 2 and 14 years recorded the highest proportion of monoglot English speakers and it is clear that very few Welsh-speaking parents were transmitting their knowledge of the native tongue to their offspring. No doubt the English-language policy pursued in the schools of Blaenau had reinforced the belief of Welsh-speaking parents that the Welsh language would not serve any useful function in the lives of their children. Although the iron company had insisted that the schoolmaster appointed to the works school at Blaenau in 1846 should be a Welsh speaker, attitudes towards the use of the Welsh language within the schools of the area changed rapidly in the years which followed.13 During the 1850s, under the guidance of their local representative, the Revd William Roberts (Nefydd) (1813–72), minister of Salem, Blaenau, the British and Foreign (Nonconformist) Society played an instrumental role in promoting the use of the English language in the schools of the

13

NLW, CM Archives 141703.


36

district.14 By the 1860s it was said that the Welsh language received so little attention in the schools of Blaenau that to hear the children singing ‘Hen Wlad fy Nhadau’ (Land of my Fathers) would have been a great novelty.15 Only a small proportion of the children who attended the board school at Blaenau in 1891 were returned as being able to speak Welsh. Of the 721 children who were returned as ‘scholars’, 603 (83.6 per cent) were monoglot English speakers, 100 (13.9 per cent) spoke both Welsh and English, and 18 individuals were returned as speaking Welsh only. Although the overwhelming majority of the inhabitants of this industrial town were English speakers, the linguistic ability of the population varied not only between different age groups, but also between the male and female populations. As Table 3 shows, a slightly higher proportion of females than males were returned as speaking Welsh. The greatest variation in the linguistic ability of the two sexes was recorded among the young adult population. A quarter of the 578 females aged between 15 and 24 were able to speak Welsh, compared with only 15.6 per cent of the 1,009 males of the same age. Males accounted for nearly twothirds of the total population of 1,587 within this age group, the majority of whom had moved into the area to take up employment in the metal and coal industries. Less than half the 1,009 males aged between 15 and 24 were natives of Monmouthshire, while 155 (15.4 per cent) hailed from other Welsh counties and 350 (34.7 per cent) from England. The 578 females within this age group were far more local in origin: over 70 per cent had been born in Monmouthshire, while 95 (16.4 per cent) were from other Welsh counties and only 68 (11.8 per cent) were natives of England. The linguistic character of the town of Blaenau had been largely determined, therefore, by the outward movement of the native Welsh-speaking population and its displacement by a non-Welsh-speaking people. In 1891, as Table 4 shows, nearly 60 per cent of the residents of Blaenau were natives of Monmouthshire, over two-thirds of whom had been born either at Blaenau or the neighbouring settlements of Garn Fach and Nant-y-glo. The overwhelming majority of the Monmouthshire-born residents were English speakers, and fewer than a quarter of this native population were able to speak the Welsh language. The 1,009 individuals who hailed from other Welsh counties accounted for only 16.7 per cent of the total population, and although a greater proportion were Welsh speakers, only a very small minority were returned as being unable to speak English. Unlike many of the coal-mining settlements of the Glamorgan coalfield, 14

15

In addition to his work in pioneering English-medium education in the area, Nefydd was also a prominent figure in the campaign to establish an English Baptist chapel at Nant-y-glo during the same period. Williams, Oes y Byd i’r Iaith Gymraeg, pp. 87–8; eadem, ‘Rhai Agweddau ar Hanes yr Iaith Gymraeg’, p. 144. NLW MS 16156B.


37

Table 4: Language spoken by place of birth (2 years and over)1 Place of birth

Number Welsh

Both

English

Total

161 45 40 26 13 1 2 4 1 2 – – – 2

701 173 183 52 31 9 7 7 6 7 3 2 – 2

2694 202 126 3 3 22 14 3 5 1 – – 1 11

England

7

40

Other3

2 306

Monmouthshire Breconshire Glamorgan Carmarthenshire Cardiganshire Radnorshire Pembrokeshire Montgomeryshire Flintshire Denbighshire Merioneth Caernarfonshire Anglesey Wales2

Total 1 2 3


English

Total

3556 420 349 81 47 32 23 14 12 10 3 2 1 15

4.5 10.7 11.5 32.1 27.7 3.1 8.7 28.6 8.3 20.0 – – – 13.3

19.7 41.2 52.4 64.2 66.0 28.1 30.4 50.0 50.0 70.0 100.0 100.0 – 13.3

75.8 48.1 36.1 3.7 6.4 68.8 60.9 21.4 41.7 10.0 – – 100.0 73.3

100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0

1381

1428

0.5

2.8

96.7

100.0

8

57

67

3.0

11.9

85.1

100.0

1231

4523

6060

5.0

20.3

74.6

100.0

Excluding 35 individuals whose place of birth was not given. County unknown. Place of birth: Ireland 36, Scotland 12, Russia 7, America 6, France 3, Canada 1, Alderney 1, Poland 1.

the greatest flow of in-migrants who moved to Blaenau hailed not from the predominantly Welsh-speaking counties of west and mid-Wales, but from neighbouring English counties. English-born natives, the majority of whom hailed from the three counties of Somerset, Hereford and Gloucester, accounted for nearly a quarter of the total population, and were clearly a strong monoglot English-speaking presence in the town. Many of the English-born residents of Blaenau had come to the area several decades earlier, and their offspring represented a large proportion of the younger, Monmouthshire-born population. The history of the Chivers family, who hailed from the Radstock area in Somerset, was no doubt typical of the experience of many other English families who had settled at Blaenau. The senior members of the family, Daniel and Matthew Chivers, who were aged 60 and 54 respectively, moved to Blaenau from Somerset during the 1870s, and only the eldest of the four sons who represented the second generation of the Chivers family had also been born in Somerset. The Blaenau-born Eli, James and Francis Chivers had all raised their own families by 1891 and only Francis, who had married a local monoglot Welsh-speaking girl,


38

was returned as being able to speak Welsh. Significantly, however, all three of his young children were returned as speaking English only. Natives of other countries included twelve Scots, eight Jewish émigrés from Russia and Poland, seven returnee emigrants from America and Canada and thirty-nine Irish-born individuals, three of whom were returned as monoglot Irish speakers. Although the Irish were not a numerous group at Blaenau in 1891,16 their tendency to settle together meant that they were a strong presence in one street in the town. Of the twenty households who occupied the sixteen dwellings at Globe Pit Road behind the High Street, seven were headed by Irish natives, some of whom provided accommodation for Irish-born lodgers. The living conditions of the residents of Globe Pit Road were far from satisfactory, and several of the small, four-roomed houses were seriously overcrowded. James McCloy, a native of Bandon, County Cork, occupied one house with his wife and nine children, while six members of the Sweeney family who also hailed from County Cork occupied two rooms in a neighbouring house. In fact, the vast majority of the residents of Blaenau resided in small, terraced houses and nearly three-quarters of the 1,172 households were found to be living in accommodation comprising four rooms or less. In view of the dominantly Anglicized character of the town, it is not surprising that English was the only language spoken in the vast majority of the households of Blaenau. All members in 582 (49.7 per cent) households were monoglot English speakers, and it may be inferred from the linguistic ability of the individuals who resided in the remaining 427 households that English was the language generally spoken in the majority of such homes. Only in 163 (13.9 per cent) of the 1,172 households were all members returned as Welsh speakers, and there were only 31 monoglot Welshspeaking households. Table 5, which gives a breakdown of the linguistic ability of various household members, reveals that English was the only language spoken by the majority of all groups of individuals. The generational decline in the proportion of Welsh speakers is particularly striking. Although over a third of both heads and wives were able to speak Welsh, fewer than 20 per cent of the second generation were proficient in the native tongue. The overwhelming majority of non-nuclear family members such as boarders, lodgers, relatives, servants and visitors were also English speakers, and their presence in the homes and wider community of Blaenau merely contributed to the already dominantly English-speaking character of the town. The extent of the decline in the use of the Welsh language within the homes of Blaenau is revealed in Table 6 which shows the language spoken by children 16

The Irish had been turned out of Nant-y-glo and Blaenau during the depression in the iron trade in 1843 when Welsh iron workers vented their anger at the employment of cheaper Irish labour in the works. Paul O’Leary, ‘Anti-Irish Riots in Wales, 1826–1882’, Llafur, 5, no. 2 (1991), 27–36.


39

Table 5: Language spoken by relation to head of household (2 years and over) Relation to head Number of household Welsh Heads 84 Wives 59 Children1 74 Relatives 24 Servants/maidservants 5 Boarders/lodgers 55 Visitors 5 Others2 – Total 1 2

306


Both

English

Total

358 262 387 74 30 112 18 1

721 616 2096 271 93 703 46 1

1163 937 2557 369 128 870 69 2

7.2 6.3 2.9 6.5 3.9 6.3 7.2 –

1242

4547

6095

5.0

English

Total

30.8 28.0 15.1 20.1 23.4 12.9 26.1 50.0

62.0 65.7 82.0 73.4 72.7 80.8 66.7 50.0

100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0

20.4

74.6

100.0

Includes adopted children and stepchildren. One grocery manager and one partner in a grocery business.

Table 6: Language of children (aged 2 years and over) in households headed by Welsh-speaking and non-Welsh-speaking parents Linguistic ability of parents Father Mother Welsh Welsh English English Total

Welsh English Welsh English

Linguistic ability of children Number of households Welsh English Mixed

Total

Linguistic ability of children Percentage Welsh English Mixed

Total

97 3 3 1

64 59 60 379

18 3 1 –

179 65 64 380

55.2 4.3 3.7 0.3

33.1 93.6 96.3 99.7

11.7 2.1 – –

100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0

104

562

22

688

15.1

81.7

3.2

100.0

Welsh: monoglot Welsh and bilinguals; English: monoglot English; Mixed: mixture of Welsh-speaking and non-Welsh-speaking children in same household.

(aged 2 years and over) in households where two parents were present. Households headed by two monoglot English-speaking parents comprised 55.2 per cent of the total. Only a quarter of the 688 households were headed by two Welshspeaking parents, while linguistically mixed marriages between Welsh-speaking and non-Welsh-speaking individuals accounted for the remaining 18.8 per cent. It is clear that a large proportion of the Welsh-speaking parents of Blaenau had failed to transmit knowledge of the Welsh language to their children. All or some children in nearly 45 per cent of all households headed by two Welsh-speaking parents were unable to speak Welsh, while only a very small minority of the children in the 129 households headed by one Welsh-speaking parent were also


40

Table 7: Language and place of birth of boarders and lodgers (2 years and over)1

Place of birth

Number Welsh


English

Total

239 56 45 10 8 6 5 4 3 2 1 1 5

9.2 12.5 26.7 60.0 50.0 – 20.0 – – – – – 20.0

15.1 41.1 44.4 40.0 50.0 33.3 20.0 25.0 66.7 100.0 – 100.0 20.0

75.6 46.4 28.9 – – 66.7 60.0 75.0 33.3 – 100.0 – 60.0

100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0

443

455

0.4

2.8

97.2

100.0

1

17

18

–

5.6

94.4

100.0

108

695

858

6.4

12.6

81.0

100.0

Both

English

Total

– 1

36 23 20 4 4 2 1 1 2 2 – 1 1

181 26 13 – – 4 3 3 1 – 1 – 3

England

2

10

Other3

–

Total

55

Monmouthshire Breconshire Glamorgan Cardiganshire Carmarthenshire Radnorshire Montgomeryshire Pembrokeshire Flintshire Denbighshire Anglesey Merioneth Wales2

1 2 3

22 7 12 6 4 – 1 – – –

Excluding 12 individuals whose place of birth was not given. County unknown. Place of birth: Ireland 13, Scotland 3, France 2.

proficient in the language. The Welsh-speaking parents who had raised their children as English speakers were drawn from both the labouring workforce and the professional and dealing classes and included William Tongue, the manager of the tinplate works, John Williams and John Trilla, colliery managers, Caleb Lewis, a colliery clerk, Benjamin Lewis, a cashier at the furnaces, and Thomas Thomas, a Carmarthenshire-born draper. There was clearly no need for children of nonWelsh-speaking households to acquire any knowledge of the native tongue. Only in one of the 380 households headed by two monoglot English-speaking parents were any children returned as speaking Welsh, but given that Thomas Dees, the 11-year-old stepchild of George and Ann Lyne, was returned as speaking Welsh only, it is hard to believe that both his parents were totally ignorant of the Welsh language. The continuing flow of in-migrants from dominantly English-speaking districts further weakened the position of the Welsh language in the town of Blaenau. As Table 7 shows, over 80 per cent of the 858 boarders and lodgers were monoglot English speakers, and over half were natives of England. Boarders and lodgers were present in over a third of all households, and although the overwhelming


majority were single males, thirty-five were married couples – thirteen of whom were accompanied by their children. Over 60 per cent of the English-born lodgers hailed from the two counties of Somerset and Hereford and many of those who shared accommodation were either related to one another or to their hosts, or were natives of the same district. For example, Edward and Joseph Mapp of Herefordshire shared lodgings together at Caddick’s Row; George, Richard and Arthur Roach from Vowchurch in Herefordshire lodged together at Brook Cottages; and the teenagers John and James Singleton of Cork had lodgings in the home of John and Mary Barry, natives of Waterford in Ireland, who lived at Globe Pit Road. The majority of this migrant and temporary population were engaged upon low-skilled work within the heavy industries: 60 per cent of the 125 colliery labourers and over half the 191 general labourers enumerated at Blaenau in 1891 were lodgers. The coal mines and metal works of Blaenau and their ancillary industries provided employment for the vast majority of the male population. The railway line of the Western Valleys branch of the Monmouthshire Great Western Railway which ran alongside the tinplate and speigeleisen works employed fifty men, twenty-one of whom were engaged upon the construction and maintenance of the line as platelayers. Like the majority of the men who worked under his supervision, Charles Bowen, the stationmaster, was a monoglot English speaker who hailed from Monmouthshire. Only seven of the railway employees were Welsh speakers and six of them were also proficient in the English language. Joseph George, a 39-year-old platelayer from Mynyddislwyn in Monmouthshire, was the only individual who claimed an inability to speak English. However, since the majority of his fellow-workers and Sarah, his 7-year-old daughter, spoke English only, he must have possessed some knowledge of the English language. To the coal owners of Blaenau, the railway line provided a vital link with the export market at Newport docks, where John Lancaster and Company, owners of the Nantyglo, Blaina and Griffin collieries, had their own shipping offices at Dock Street.17 In 1891, 1,404 of the residents of Blaenau were employed directly within the coal industry, and although two-thirds of the workforce were of Wesh birth, less than a quarter were able to speak the native tongue. Over three-quarters of the Welsh-born mining workforce were natives of the county of Monmouth, while the English-born workers, the majority of whom were from the counties of Somerset, Hereford and Gloucester, accounted for just over a third of the total mining workforce. Apart from John Dakers, the general manager of John Lancaster and Company, and the two Lancashire-born colliery agents, William Gregson and his brother-in-law, Alfred Athron, those in charge of the collieries were Welsh in speech and origin. Silvanus Jones, a colliery owner, and the two colliery managers, William Thomas and James Trilla, were bilingual speakers and 17

Kelly’s Trade Directory, p. 23.

41

42


natives of the neighbouring counties of Brecon and Glamorgan, while Evan Evans, an under-manager who hailed from Nant-y-glo, was returned as speaking Welsh only. Eleven of the sixteen colliery examiners and surveyors were also proficient in the Welsh language, as were four of the seven clerks employed in the colliery offices. Below ground and at the pithead, the miners of Blaenau were supervised by ten firemen or overmen, six of whom were Welsh speakers. John James, a colliery fireman who hailed from Fishguard in Pembrokeshire was returned as a monoglot Welsh speaker, but given that his Radnorshire-born wife and two daughters, as well as the overwhelming majority of his fellow-workers, spoke English only, it appears that James underestimated his own ability to speak English. Although over two-thirds of the skilled miners were Welshmen – the majority of whom were natives of Monmouthshire – over three-quarters of the 1,170 workers were unable to speak Welsh. A greater proportion of the unskilled and labouring workforce were English speakers and of English origin. Nearly two-thirds of the 147 colliery labourers, pithead and surface workers were English by birth and only 21 individuals (14.3 per cent) were returned as speaking Welsh. The majority of workers employed at the coke and brickworks nearby were also English speakers. Thirteen of the sixteen coke workers were monoglot English speakers, and of the three Welsh-speaking individuals, only David Davies, a 49-year-old from Nanty-glo, was returned as speaking Welsh only. The two men and four females employed at the brickworks were all monoglot English speakers, and apart from John Evans, a 23-year-old brickmaker from Gloucestershire, all were natives of Monmouthshire. The overwhelming majority of those engaged in the production of metals at the blast furnaces and the tinplate works of Blaenau were local in origin and unable to speak Welsh. Nearly 60 per cent of the 267 males and 44 females employed at the tinworks were natives of Monmouthshire, and two-thirds were monoglot English speakers. Although William Tongue, the manager of the works, was a Welsh-speaking native of the parish, only one of the other three Monmouthshire men who were employed as superintendents or foremen at the tinplate works were also proficient in the Welsh language. Natives of Monmouthshire also dominated the ranks of the skilled and unskilled workforce, less than a third of whom were Welsh speakers. At the blast furnaces and forges of the ferro-manganese and speigeleisen works, two-thirds of the 103 male employees were also unable to speak Welsh. Less than 40 per cent of the total workforce were natives of Monmouthshire, while the remainder hailed from neighbouring Welsh or English counties. The two blast furnace managers were natives of France and Italy, countries which had been at the fore of technological developments in the manufacture of steel. The Parisian, Eugene Poulaine, was returned as speaking English only, while the Italian, Eugene Montefamiglio, spoke Italian, French and English. A further five Italians, three of whom were


boarders at the home of Montefamiglio, were employed as founders at the blast furnaces, while Henri Maubert, a 26-year-old analytical chemist, was another Frenchman who may also have been associated with the works. The medical welfare of the men and women who laboured in the collieries and works of Blaenau was the responsibility of Isobel Hawker Soper, a monoglot English speaker from Plymouth, who had been employed as a surgeon by the iron, tinplate and colliery companies of Blaenau for several years, and who also served as the medical officer for the Nant-y-glo District of the Bedwellte Union. At his surgery Soper was assisted by three other monoglot English speakers, namely James Bulger and Paul Jennings, two doctors of Irish descent, and Benjamin Death, an assistant surgeon from Hitcham in Suffolk. Elizabeth Hawkes, a 19-year-old monthly nurse and a native of Blaenau, was the only female employed within the medical profession, and patients under her care were also attended to through the medium of English only. By contrast, the majority of the men who administered to the spiritual needs of the community were Welsh both in speech and origin. Even so, there was little demand for religious instruction through the medium of the Welsh language among the congregations of Blaenau. Although both Howell Howell JP, the rector, and John Francis Rees, the curate, were Welsh speakers, no Welsh services were held at the parish church of St Peter. Services at the Nonconformist chapels of Blaenau were also conducted almost entirely through the medium of English, even though six of the seven ministers spoke Welsh. Two of the six Welsh speakers were ministers at English causes which had been established during the 1860s and 1870s to meet the demand for English-language services. The Revd David Williams, a native of Blaenau, was minister at Siloam English Congregational chapel, a cause which his father, the Revd David Williams, minister of Berea Welsh Congregational chapel between 1852 and 1866, had helped to establish. It should be emphasized, however, that although the Welsh language had ceased to play an important role in the religious life of Blaenau by 1891, it continued to be the language spoken in the homes of the five bilingual Nonconformist ministers who resided in the town. As was the case within the Sunday schools of Blaenau, the education which local children received at the board school was conducted entirely through the medium of English by 1891. Although Joseph Parry, headmaster of the school, was a local man who spoke both Welsh and English, few of the teachers who assisted him had any knowledge of the native tongue. Alexa Adams, the mistress of the girls’ school, was a Scotswoman who spoke no Welsh, and although all but one of the remaining thirteen teachers were natives of Monmouthshire, only five were Welsh speakers. A greater proportion of the eighteen assistant and pupil teachers were proficient in the Welsh language: only seven were monoglot English speakers, ten spoke both Welsh and English, while Joseph Griffiths, a 21year-old assistant teacher from Bargoed in Glamorgan, was returned as speaking

43

44


Welsh only. However, in view of the fact that English was the only language used in the classrooms of the Blaenau Board School, and given that over 80 per cent of the 721 pupils who were in attendance spoke English only, it is unlikely that Griffiths would have been employed in this position of authority within the school unless he possessed some knowledge of the English language. The administration of the Blaenau Board School was entrusted to the nine members of the Aberystruth school board which had been established in 1875. In 1891 its clerk and inspector was the Revd Isaac Aled Jones, a 50-year-old native of Llanefydd in Denbighshire who spoke both Welsh and English. Of the remaining individuals who served as public officers in the district, only the most senior men were returned as speaking Welsh. Richard Williams, the 61-year-old rates collector, was a native of Llanidloes in Montgomeryshire, while Benjamin Rosser, the 68-year-old relieving officer and registrar for the Aberystruth subdistrict, and Walter Rosser, his 45-year-old son and deputy registrar, hailed from the nearby parish of Llanelli in Breconshire. Walter Rosser and his 19-yearold son, Taliesin, a Welsh speaker who was employed as a colliery surveyor, also officiated as census enumerators at Blaenau in 1891. The sub-postmaster, Edmund Evans, was also a bilingual speaker from Tredegar, but his four female assistants, one of whom hailed from Lambeth in London, were all monoglot English speakers. The two postmen and the town crier, all of whom had been born in England, were also unable to speak Welsh. At the county police station in the town, the resident law enforcers were also overwhelmingly English in speech and origin. Apart from Thomas Lewis, a bilingual police constable from Tredegar, all the remaining seven policemen – including the Bristol-born police inspector James Milkins – were unable to speak Welsh. Although the majority of the public officials who served the people of Blaenau were unable to speak Welsh, the native language continued to play a useful role in the lives of many of the dealers whose livelihood depended upon their ability to communicate with all members of the public. The majority of the commercial houses of Blaenau were situated along the length of the High Street, where a variety of stores and dealing houses traded their wares and provisions. Leaving aside the 238 females who were returned as lodging house keepers, nearly a third of the 152 men and women who made their living as shopkeepers or dealers were Welsh speakers. One such individual was Thomas Thomas, a native of Llanybydder in Carmarthenshire, who employed five females and two males as shop assistants, milliners, drapers and dressmakers at his large drapery establishment in the High Street. Two of his employees, Gwilym Jones of Llanfabon in Glamorgan, and Margaret Williams, a 14-year-old apprentice milliner from Llandysul in Cardiganshire, spoke Welsh only, while their fellow-workers were returned as monoglot English speakers. The widow Anna Morris, who also hailed from Llandysul, was another Welsh speaker who kept a drapery shop in the town, where she employed five Welsh-speaking females.


Welsh speakers featured even more prominently among the proprietors of grocery businesses. Twelve of the fifteen individuals who owned grocery shops were Welsh speakers, and seven hailed from the three south-western Welsh counties of Carmarthen, Cardigan and Pembroke. Herbert and John Williams, the Blaenau-born brothers who kept a shop in the High Street also had family connections in west Wales, for their father, the late Revd David Williams, who established the business with his wife in the 1850s, was originally from Llanelli in Carmarthenshire.18 William Williams, a native of Llandeilo in the same county, was the only monoglot Welsh-speaking grocer trading at Blaenau, and he too divided his time between his business and his commitments to the Wesleyan church where he occasionally preached. The landlords of eight of the thirteen public houses at Blaenau were also Welsh speakers; one of them, William Lewis of the Griffin Inn, was returned as speaking Welsh only. The vast majority of the barmaids and servants employed in the inns of the town, however, were monoglot English speakers, as were the proprietors and staff at the two coffee taverns situated in the High Street. Indeed, the majority of the owners and employees of commercial enterprises at Blaenau were, like the majority of their customers, fluent in the English language only. Some of the dealers who traded at Blaenau were familiar with languages other than Welsh or English. From the mid-1870s onwards, the old iron towns of Monmouthshire had attracted a number of Jewish émigrés from eastern Europe, and several had established businesses at Blaenau by 1891. The Russian-born William Hudaly, a 34-year-old watchmaker, was returned as speaking both Russian and English, while his fellow-countrymen, Moses Solomon, who kept a pawnbroker shop in the High Street, and Charles Abraham and Hermann Harries, who were employed as shop assistants at another pawnbroker shop nearby, spoke both English and Hebrew. Members of the remaining Jewish families who traded at Blaenau, all of whom were enumerated as speaking English only, included the Russian-born Abraham Caplan, who kept an outfitters’ shop in the High Street and Kay Broder, a 25-year-old from Poland who managed a pawnbroker shop at Queen Street which, according to the local trade directory, was owned by a J. Hyman Caselberg.19 A band of touring showmen and performers, which included ventriloquists, actors and comedians, was also present at Blaenau during the night of the census. Apart from one family of comedians who lived in a caravan, the performers had taken up lodgings in houses in the town. Sarah Jenkins, an 18-year-old musician who had been born at Blaenau, was the only Welsh speaker among the nineteen individuals who were occupied within the theatrical and musical professions, and was also one of only four who had been born in Wales. The vast majority of the occupied female population of Blaenau, however, 18 19

J. Thomas, Hanes Eglwysi Annibynol Cymru. Cyfrol V (Dolgellau, 1891), pp. 37–8. Kelly’s Trade Directory, p. 22.

45


46

were engaged upon work within the sphere of the home, either as lodging house keepers or domestic servants. Unlike the occupied male workforce, the majority of occupied females were, therefore, not engaged in work which allowed for a high degree of interaction with other workers and, given that the adult female population was also far more local in origin than the male, it is not surprising that a higher proportion of occupied females were returned as being able to speak Welsh than males. In comparison with many other coal-mining settlements, the female population of Blaenau were afforded greater opportunities of employment within the commercial houses of the town and also within the heavy industries. Young females engaged in the work of opening and dusting tin sheets accounted for nearly half the unskilled workforce employed at the tinplate mill.20 Moreover, six females were employed on the pithead at local collieries, and four worked in the brickworks. The overwhelming majority of the young females employed in the heavy industries were monoglot English speakers. By 1891, therefore, Blaenau had become a dominantly English-speaking town and the Welsh language had ceased to play almost any worthwhile function in the daily lives of the overwhelming majority of the inhabitants. Only a quarter of the total population were able to speak the Welsh language, and as the number of speakers declined rapidly within the community the opportunities for Welsh speakers to use the language in the workplace, in the streets, the chapels, and even within their own homes, had become severely restricted. Table 8: Language spoken by occupation (10 years and over)

Industrial class AGRICULTURE Farming Farm bailiffs Farmers Agricultural labourers Farm servants Breeding Farrier Horse keeper Total %

20

Language spoken Males Welsh Both English Total

Language spoken Females Welsh Both English Total

1 – 2 –

1 3 – –

2 2 5 1

4 5 7 1

1

–

–

1

–

–

2

2

1 – 4 21.1

– – 4 21.1

– 1 11 57.9

1 1 19 100.0

1 33.3

– –

2 66.7

3 100.0

See D. E. Dunbar, The Tin-plate Industry: A Comparative Study of its Growth in the United States and in Wales (Boston and New York, 1915), pp. 48–9.


Industrial class MINING Coal Proprietor Managers Engineers/surveyors Agents Clerks Firemen/overmen Checkweighers Miners/hauliers Machine operators Craftsmen Labourers Pithead/surface workers Doorboys Others Sandstone Quarryman Labourer Brickmaking Brickmakers Waterworks Workers Total % BUILDING Management Contractors/builders Foreman Operatives Stonemasons Bricklayers Plasterers Carpenters/joiners Plumbers/painters Labourers Railways Platelayers Total %


– 1 – – – 1 – 47 2 1 2 3 1 –

1 3 11 – 4 4 1 221 4 2 11 5 1 3

– 1 5 2 3 5 2 902 9 2 112 11 12 3

1 5 16 2 7 10 3 1170 15 5 125 19 14 6

– –

– –

1 1

1 1

–

–

2

1 59 4.2

1 272 19.4

1 –

47


–

–

3

3

–

1

2

3

2

–

–

4

4

1 1074 76.4

3 1405 100.0

– –

1 10.0

9 90.0

10 100.0

2 –

3 1

6 1

– – 1 2 – –

1 – – 9 2 –

15 2 2 7 5 6

16 2 3 18 7 6

1 5 6.3

2 16 20.0

18 59 73.8

21 80 100.0

1 5 – –

– 10 1 –

1 16 1 –

–

–

1

1

MANUFACTURING Machinery, tools, watches, etc. Foreman – Skilled manual 1 Apprentice – Unskilled manual –


48

Industrial class


Iron and steel Managers/foremen – Clerks – Skilled manual 9 Apprentices/assistants – Unskilled manual/ labourers 1 Tinplate Managers/foremen – Clerk – Skilled manual 14 Unskilled manual – Coke, gas and chemicals Managers/foremen 1 Skilled manual 1 Unskilled manual – Wood, furniture Skilled manual – Carriages and harnesses Skilled manual – Cotton, flax, etc. Skilled manual – Dress Proprietors – Skilled manual 1 Apprentices/assistants – Food, drink, tobacco Proprietor – Manager – Skilled manual – Assistant – Printing Skilled manual – Unspecified Foreman – Clerks – Engine drivers/stokers/ firemen/fitters 3 Apprentices/assistants – Labourers – Total 32 % 5.6 TRANSPORT Warehouses Messengers

1


1 2 19 1

3 1 39 6

4 3 67 7

3

18

22

2 – 71 2

2 1 147 27

4 1 232 30

2 5

3 5

10 19

15 29

– 3 –

2 15 –

3 19 –

–

–

1

1

3

2

5

1

4

5

–

1

1

– 8 –

3 24 –

3 33 –

1 1

22 6

33 13

56 20

– – 2 –

1 1 11 1

1 1 13 1

–

1

1

1 2

– –

1 2

27 2 – 156 27.2

62 1 1 385 67.2

92 3 1 573 100.0

– 9 7.3

– 36 29.3

1 78 63.4

1 123 100.0

1

4

6


Industrial class Railways Stationmaster/officials Clerk Engine drivers/stokers/ signalmen Porters Roads Carriers, hauliers, etc. Total %


49


– –

1 1

3 –

4 1

– –

– 2

15 7

15 9

6 7 7.8

4 9 10.0

45 74 82.2

55 90 100.0

3 4

5 5

– –

1 5

– 2

1 7

12 2 3 3 25

12 4 15 3 34

– –

– 1

1 2

1 3

–

3

1

4

5 – – 1 1

13 – – 1 1

– – 17 – –

3 – 68 – 1

1 1 153 1 7

4 1 238 1 8

1 2

1 2

1

1

– 1 1

– 1 1

–

–

2

2

1 1 1

2 1 3

–

4

–

4

–

1

1

2

1

4

4 1 74 64.9

4 1 114 100.0

17 6.2

87 31.5

172 62.3

276 100.0

DEALING Dress Drapers etc. – 2 Assistants 1 – Food Butchers/fishmongers – – Milksellers/cowkeepers 1 1 Grocers 1 11 Greengrocers – – Assistants – 9 Tobacco, drink and lodging Inn and hotel keepers 1 7 Beerseller – – Lodging house keepers – – Coffee house keepers – – Cellarmen, assistants – – Furniture and household utensils Pawnbroker – – Assistants – – Chemists Assistant – – Stationery and publications Booksellers – – Bill sticker – – Assistant – – General dealers General shopkeepers – 1 Tinker – – Shop assistants – 2 Others and unspecified Merchants, agents – 3 Salesmen, commercial travellers – – Assistant – – Total 4 36 % 3.5 31.6


50

Industrial class


INDUSTRIAL SERVICES Banking, insurance, accounts Bank service – Accountants – Commercial clerks – Total – % –

– 1 3 4 21.1

1 6 8 15 78.9

PUBLIC SERVICES AND PROFESSIONALS Central administration Post Office officials – 1 – Post Office clerks – – 2 Local administration Registrars – 2 – Rate collector – 1 – Other local officials – 1 1 Police Inspector – – 1 Sergeant – – 1 Constables – 1 5 Medicine Surgeons, physicians, GPs – – 3 Assistant – – 1 Nurse – – – Education University lecturer – 1 – Headteachers, schoolteachers – 3 2 Assistant teachers, pupil teachers 1 1 1 Music teachers – – 1 Student – – 1 Religion Clergymen – 2 – CM ministers 1 1 – Congregational ministers – 2 – Baptist minister – 1 – Other Nonconformist ministers – 1 1 Theological students – 1 1 Salvation Army officer – – 1 Cemetery officer – – 1 Amusement Musicians – – 5 Actors – – 3 Music and theatre service – – 2 Performers, showmen – – 5


1 7 11 19 100.0

1 2

– –

– 1

1 2

1 3

–

–

1

1

5

–

3

7

10

3 1 1

– –

9 –

6 1

15 1

– –

1 –

– 3

1 3

2 1 2 1 1 6 3 1 – 1

2 2 2 1 2 2 1 1 5 3 2 5


Industrial class Art, literature, science Sculptor Total %


– 2 3.3

51


1 20 33.3

– 38 63.3

1 60 100.0

– –

14 40.0

21 60.0

35 100.0

– – – –

– – – –

– – – –

7 – – –

41 2 – –

124 6 1 1

172 8 1 1

DOMESTIC SERVICES Indoor service Maidservants – Domestic nurses – Institution maidservant – Other – Outdoor service Coachmen and grooms 1 Gardeners – Extra service Charwomen, laundry women – Caretaker 1 Hairdressers 1 Total 3 % 15.8

1 1

8 3

10 4

– – 1 3 15.8

– – 2 13 68.4

– 1 4 19 100.0

2

6

20

28

9 4.3

49 23.3

152 72.4

210 100.0

OTHERS Timekeepers General labourers Indefinite occupations Total %

– 13 – 13 6.6

3 23 3 29 14.8

1 153 – 154 78.6

4 189 3 196 100.0

– – – –

– – – –

2 1 3 100.0

2 1 3 100.0

TOTAL OCCUPIED %

129 5.0

549 21.3

1896 73.7

2574 100.0

36 5.5

187 28.3

437 66.2

660 100.0

12 13.6

15 17.0

61 69.3

88 100.0

71 6.2

309 27.0

763 66.8

1143 100.0

5 2.7

26 14.1

153 83.2

184 100.0

2 0.9

35 15.8

184 83.3

221 100.0

TOTAL POPULATION AGED 10+ 146 % 5.1

590 20.7

2110 74.1

2846 100.0

109 5.4

531 26.2

1384 68.4

2024 100.0

Residual population % School pupils %


3 Cardiff (Glamorgan) MARI A. WILLIAMS

From humble beginnings as a small market town, inhabited by fewer than 2,000 people in 1801, by the end of the nineteenth century Cardiff had become the largest urban community in Wales and one of the greatest coal-exporting ports in the world.1 The scale and swift pace of the social and economic developments which transformed what Gwyn A. Williams once described as ‘an overgrown village’ into a veritable ‘American boom town’ were astounding.2 Between 1801 and 1861 the population of Cardiff increased from 1,870 to 32,954, and more than doubled during the decade between 1871 and 1881, by which time it had established itself as the largest town in Wales with a total population of 82,761.3 The growth of the town was directly linked to industrial developments in the South Wales Coalfield, and it was during the early decades of the nineteenth century, following the opening of the Glamorgan Canal (1784) – which provided a lifeline between the iron town of Merthyr Tydfil and Cardiff – that the future economic prosperity of the town as a transport and service centre was assured. Alerted to the possibilities of developing the port of Cardiff, John Crichton Stuart, Second Marquess of Bute (1793–1848), submitted proposals to construct a new dock in the early 1820s. The enterprise of the Marquess, often referred to as ‘the creator of modern Cardiff’, paid dividends and following the opening of the Bute West Dock in 1839 and the subsequent completion of the Taff Vale Railway in 1841, Cardiff was poised to take full advantage of the growing export trade in 1

2

3

Martin J. Daunton, Coal Metropolis. Cardiff 1870–1914 (Leicester, 1977), p. 10. See also idem, ‘Coal to Capital: Cardiff since 1839’ in Prys Morgan (ed.), Glamorgan County History, Volume VI. Glamorgan Society 1780–1980 (Cardiff, 1988), pp. 203–24; Edgar L. Chappell, History of the Port of Cardiff (Cardiff, 1939); William Rees, Cardiff: A History of the City (Cardiff, 1962); John B. Hilling, Cardiff and the Valleys: Architecture and Townscape (London, 1973); Neil Evans, ‘The Urbanization of Welsh Society’ in Trevor Herbert and Gareth Elwyn Jones (eds.), People and Protest: Wales 1815–1880 (Cardiff, 1988), pp. 9–10. Gwyn A. Williams, ‘Odd Man In’ in Gwyn Jones and Michael Quinn (eds.), Fountains of Praise: University College, Cardiff 1883–1983 (Cardiff, 1983), p. 6. John V. Hickey, ‘The Origin and Development of the Irish Community in Cardiff’ (unpubl. University of Wales MA thesis, 1959), p. 3.


54

coal.4 The completion of the Bute East Dock (1859) and the Roath Dock (1887) consolidated its role as one of the greatest coal ports in the world. During 1890 alone, 7,420,080 tons of coal and coke, 231,869 tons of patent fuel, and 74,100 tons of iron and steel rails and iron work, left Cardiff docks for destinations all over the world.5 Hailed as ‘the metropolis’ and ‘the Chicago of Wales’ by the 1880s, the commercial success of Cardiff’s coal-shipping trade earned the town an international reputation.6 The Cardiff Coal Exchange, which opened for business at Mount Stuart Square in 1886, housed the offices of over eighty coal producers, iron manufacturers, shipping and exporting companies, and in 1891 Cardiff played host to twenty-nine consuls and vice-consuls who represented countries as far afield as America, Venezuela, Norway, Russia, Hawaii and Turkey.7 As befitted a town of such size, status and international repute, Cardiff was also home to several social, cultural, educational and civic institutions, whose establishment had been largely inspired and supported by the town’s substantial middle and upper class population. In addition to the twenty-seven national and board schools, twenty-eight churches and fifty-two Nonconformist chapels established by 1891, Cardiff was home to an impressive Free Library and Museum, housed in a newly erected building at The Hayes since 1882, with John Ballinger as Chief Librarian.8 The founding of the University College of South Wales and Monmouthshire at Cardiff in 1883, and the appointment of the scientist J. Viriamu Jones as Principal, was of especial significance to the future role of Cardiff in the history of Wales, and was a clear indication of the status and growing importance attached to the town within Welsh national circles.9 However, the urban and strongly Anglicized character of late Victorian Cardiff did not appeal to the hearts and minds of a large proportion of the Welsh people, some of whom regarded Cardiff as an alien town, inhabited by ‘a mongrel and non-Welsh population’.10 By the second half of the nineteenth century the small but dominantly Welsh-speaking population of the old borough and surrounding parishes had been swamped by the sheer volume of non-Welsh-speaking and

4 5

6

7 8 9

10

See John Davies, Cardiff and the Marquesses of Bute (Cardiff, 1981), pp. 246–53. Kelly’s Directory of Monmouthshire, and the Principal Towns and Places of South Wales (London, 1891), p. 113. John Austin Jenkins, Cardiff and its History: The Town’s Claims to the title of Metropolis (Cardiff, 1905); John Davies, A History of Wales (London, 1993), pp. 384, 439; John R. Wilson, ‘The Chicago of Wales: Cardiff in the Nineteenth Century’, Planet, 115 (1996), 14–25. Kelly’s Directory, p. 117. Ibid., pp. 110, 119–20. Gwynedd Pierce, ‘The Welsh Connection’ in Jones and Quinn (eds.), Fountains of Praise, pp. 25–40; idem, ‘University College Cardiff, Coleg y Brifysgol Caerdydd, 1883–1983: A View of the Past’, THSC (1984), 173–80. Idem, ‘The Welsh Connection’, p. 38.

CARDIFF (GLAMORGAN)

English-born in-migrants who had flocked into the town.11 By 1877 Wirt Sikes, the American Consul who lived in Cardiff, could observe that no Welsh was heard in the streets of Cardiff: ‘It is preached in some pulpits and spoken in some homes, and the most cultivated burgesses take pride in their knowledge . . . but for the common uses of life the English language is as much the language of Cardiff as it is of New York.’12 Even within the relative safe havens of the Welsh homes and chapels of Cardiff, the position of the Welsh language was extremely weak and the Welsh-speaking population found it increasingly difficult to support and maintain Welsh language cultural institutions within the town. Indeed, the National Eisteddfod held in Cardiff in 1883 was considered one of the most Anglicized events in its history.13 During the 1880s it became evident that many of the Welsh Nonconformist chapels of Cardiff, the vast majority of which had been established during the early and mid-nineteenth century, were experiencing considerable difficulties as a consequence of the decline in the use of the Welsh language in the town. Several of the weakest Welsh language chapels had already been won over to the ‘English cause’. During the 1860s the ministers of the Welsh Congregational Churches at Mount Stuart Square, Butetown and Severn Road, Canton, spearheaded campaigns to establish English sister-chapels nearby.14 The other Welsh Nonconformist denominations fared equally poorly. By 1891 only one of the four Wesleyan Methodist circuits was conducted through the medium of Welsh, while only three of the thirteen chapels belonging to the Baptists, the largest Nonconformist denomination in Cardiff, were Welsh causes, and all had been established before 1860.15 Confronted by the swelling tide of Anglicization, members of the small Welshspeaking community of Cardiff resolved to take remedial action. Under the leadership of Dan Isaac Davies (1839–87), a schools’ inspector and a pioneering exponent of bilingual education, who had moved to Cardiff in 1885, the Society for Utilizing the Welsh Language (or Cymdeithas yr Iaith Gymraeg) was formed at the National Eisteddfod at Aberdare in 1885.16 The aims and activities of the society, whose first secretary, Beriah Gwynfe Evans (1848–1927), also lived in Cardiff, inspired other Welsh-speaking residents of the town to form their own 11

12 13 14

15 16

For a detailed survey of the history of the Welsh language in Cardiff during the nineteenth century, see Owen John Thomas, ‘Caerdydd a’r Iaith Gymraeg: astudiaeth er mwyn darganfod Cymreictod Caerdydd a’r plwyfi cylchynol yn y cyfnod o 1550 hyd 1850’ (unpubl. University of Wales MA thesis, 1991); idem, ‘The Welsh Language in Cardiff c. 1800–1914’ in Geraint H. Jenkins (ed.), Language and Community in the Nineteenth Century (Cardiff, 1998), pp. 181–201. Wirt Sikes, ‘On the Taff’, Harper’s New Monthly Magazine, LIV, no. 321 (1877), 330. J. Elwyn Hughes, Arloeswr Dwyieithedd: Dan Isaac Davies 1839–1887 (Caerdydd, 1984), p. 25. H. M. Hughes, Hanes Ebenezer Caerdydd, 1826–1926 (Caerdydd, 1926), p. 49; J. Austin Jenkins and R. Edwards James, The History of Nonconformity in Cardiff (Cardiff and London, 1901), p. 90. Kelly’s Directory, pp. 119–20; Hickey, ‘The Irish Community’, p. 8. Hughes, Arloeswr Dwyieithedd, pp. 60–77.

55


56

Welsh language cultural society. In October 1885, at a meeting held at the coffee tavern owned by Edward Thomas (Cochfarf) (1853–1910) in Custom House Street, the Cardiff Cymrodorion Society was formed.17 The main activities of members of both the Society for Utilizing the Welsh Language and the Cymrodorion Society at Cardiff centred upon promoting the use of the Welsh language within schools and Sunday schools in the town. Both societies also took a keen interest in the administration of the 1891 census, and letters from Beriah Gwynfe Evans, in which he urged Welsh speakers to answer the ‘language question’ responsibly and honestly, and to insist upon the provision of Welsh language census schedules, featured prominently in the Welsh press in the weeks before the census was taken.18 In truth, however, such efforts to revive the use of the Welsh language in the town were long overdue. In his study of the linguistic evidence of the 1891 census of Cardiff, Owen John Thomas calculated that only 10.7 per cent (12,492) of the 116,207 individuals (aged 2 years and over) enumerated in the Cardiff borough were Welsh speakers, while the remaining 103,715 residents had no knowledge of the native tongue.19 For the purposes of this study, the enumerators’ returns for only seven enumeration districts were examined. Although this sample of 17,372 inhabitants (aged 2 years and over) comprised only 13.5 per cent of the 128,915 people enumerated in the borough in 1891, each district was selected on the basis of specific occupational, social, economic and ethnic characteristics in a bid to reflect the diverse nature of the cultural and linguistic profile of the town. As Table 1 shows, the linguistic ability of the inhabitants of the sample area closely resembled that of the residents of the borough. Of the 17,177 individuals who declared an ability to speak English and/or Welsh, 15,250 (88.8 per cent) were returned as monoglot English speakers, while only 1,927 (11.2 per cent) individuals, the overwhelming majority of whom were also proficient in the English language, were returned as speaking Welsh. In 1891 Cardiff was home to one of the largest English-speaking communities in Wales, and the non-Welshspeaking residents of the Cardiff Registration District accounted for over 40 per cent of the monoglot English-speaking population of Glamorgan and nearly 20 per cent of the monoglot English-speaking population of Wales. Cardiff also possessed a small, but nonetheless significant, community of other language speakers. Seventy-one individuals in the sample area, the majority of whom were foreign-born members of the seafaring community of Butetown, 17

18 19

J. Gwynfor Jones, Y Ganrif Gyntaf. Hanes Cymrodorion Caerdydd 1885–1985 (Caerdydd, 1987), p. 15. ‘Cochfarf’, a carpenter by trade who came to Cardiff in 1878 to work for the Coffee Tavern Company, established his own business at the Gordon Coffee Tavern, Custom House Street and later at the Metropole and the Red Dragon. A town councillor at Cardiff from 1890, he was elected mayor in 1902. See, for example, South Wales Daily News, 2 April 1891. Thomas, ‘The Welsh Language in Cardiff c.1800–1914’, pp. 196–7.

CARDIFF (GLAMORGAN)

57

Table 1: Language spoken by populations of Cardiff, Cardiff Registration District, Glamorgan and Wales (2 years and over) Number Welsh Cardiff1 Cardiff R.D.2 Glamorgan3 Wales4 1

2 3 4

292 3120 142346 508036

Both 1635 19395 177726 402253

English

Total

15250 17177 138276 160791 326481 646553 759416 1669705

Percentage Welsh Both 1.7 1.9 22.0 30.4

9.5 12.1 27.5 24.1

English

Total

88.8 86.0 50.5 45.5

100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0

Excluding 124 individuals whose language was not given, and 71 who spoke other languages: 27 monoglot Italian speakers; 8 monoglot German speakers; 6 monoglot Norwegian speakers; 6 monoglot Swedish speakers; 5 monoglot French speakers; 4 monoglot Irish speakers; 4 monoglot Gaelic speakers; 2 monoglot Danish speakers; one monoglot Spanish speaker; 4 who spoke English and Norwegian; one who spoke English and German; one who spoke English and Turkish; one who spoke English and Danish; one who spoke English, Italian and Spanish. Excluding 1,742 individuals whose language was not given and 1,601 who spoke other languages. Excluding 4,981 individuals whose language was not given and 2,355 who spoke other languages. Excluding 12,833 individuals whose language was not given and 3,076 who spoke other languages.

were returned as speaking European languages other than Welsh or English. Renowned as the roughest and seediest district in Cardiff, where brothels and boarding houses were kept busy with the passing trade of sailors, Butetown was also an important commercial area, where small businesses associated with the maritime industry, as well as the offices of several major shipping and coalexporting companies, were located. The sample area also included one of the main commercial districts of the old town, incorporating part of St Mary Street and The Hayes, where several large hotels, stores and shopping arcades had been established during the 1860s and 1870s.20 To the south-east of St Mary Street, the enumerators’ returns for part of the working-class district of Newtown, known as ‘Little Ireland’, were also examined. Home to the largest Irish community in Wales in 1891, the area was one of the poorest in Cardiff and was characterized by poor housing and living conditions, and severe overcrowding.21 In stark contrast to the conditions prevailing in ‘Little Ireland’, the residents of one of the more affluent areas of Cardiff included in the sample lived in relative splendour. Indeed, the majority of the solicitors, accountants, shipping agents and coal exporters who occupied the elegant three-storey houses to the north of Queen Street at Llanbleddian and Ruthin Gardens, St Andrew’s Crescent, Park Grove and Park 20 21

Daunton, Coal Metropolis, p. 54. See Thomas W. Rammell (ed.), Report to the General Board of Health on . . . the Sanitary Condition of the Inhabitants of the Town of Cardiff (London, 1850), pp. 32–48; C. Roy Lewis, ‘The Irish in Cardiff in the Mid-Nineteenth Century’, Cambria, 7, no. 1 (1980), 13–41.


58

Place, could afford to employ servants, cooks and governesses to attend to the needs of their families. The remaining three enumeration districts included in the sample – two of which were situated in the populated suburbs of Canton and Roath – were inhabited by ordinary workers and artisans.22 Unlike the selected districts at Canton and Roath, which included both large residential areas and parts of the busy shopping streets of Cowbridge Road and Castle Road, enumeration district no. 17 comprised new terraced houses erected during the 1880s at East Moors on a site immediately adjacent to the Dowlais Iron and Steel Works, which officially opened in February 1891. One street had been named after William Menelaus, general manager of the Dowlais Iron Company between 1856 and 1882, and the majority of those who lived in the houses either worked at the new plant or had been involved in its construction. Although very few workers from Dowlais and Merthyr Tydfil appear to have relocated to Cardiff by April 1891, it is known that many Welsh-speaking families from the irontowns of Glamorgan moved to the Splott district in the months which followed, for by 1895 the Calvinistic Methodists, the Congregationalists and the Baptists had established Welsh causes in the district at Marion Street (1892), Eyre Street (1895) and Walker Road (1895) respectively.23 The linguistic evidence of the 1891 census offered little hope that any revival in the fortunes of the Welsh language institutions of the town was feasible. As Table 2 shows, over 80 per cent of the population in all age groups spoke English only and fewer than 3 per cent were unable to speak English. Even among the older age groups, where a greater proportion of the population were returned as Welsh speakers, English was the only language spoken by the overwhelming majority. Knowledge of the Welsh language had declined steadily between the generations. Although nearly 20 per cent of the 425 individuals aged 65 years and over were returned as speaking Welsh, the proportion had fallen to only 12 per cent among 15–24 year olds. However, it was among children of school age that the lowest proportion of Welsh speakers was recorded. Fewer than one in ten of the 5,110 children aged between 2 and 14 years were proficient in the Welsh language, a fact which testified to the strongly Anglicized character of both the homes and schools of Cardiff. Regardless of the barriers of age or gender, the English language had firmly established its position as the dominant tongue of the people of Cardiff by 1891. 22

23

Following boundary changes in 1875 the settlements of Roath and Canton were brought into the Cardiff borough. For a detailed examination of the history and development of Canton, see Lynette A. Sanders, ‘Growth of Canton from a Village to a Suburb, 1840–1900’ (unpubl. University of Wales MA thesis, 1992). Thomas Bowen, Dinas Caerdydd a’i Methodistiaeth Galfinaidd (Caerdydd, 1927), p. 33; D. R. Jones, ‘The Story of Welsh Congregationalism in Cardiff and District’ in John Williamson (ed.), History of Congregationalism in Cardiff and District (Cardiff, 1920), pp. 115–35; Hughes, Hanes Ebenezer, p. 86; Jenkins and James, The History of Nonconformity in Cardiff, pp. 167–8.

CARDIFF (GLAMORGAN)

59


Both

English

Total

Percentage Welsh

Both

English

Total

2–5 6–14 15–24 25–44 45–64 65+

24 42 50 108 56 12

49 150 421 624 320 71

1623 3222 3473 4734 1855 342

1696 3414 3944 5466 2231 425

1.4 1.2 1.3 2.0 2.5 2.8

2.9 4.4 10.7 11.4 14.3 16.7

95.7 94.4 88.1 86.6 83.1 80.5

100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0

Total

292

1635

15249

17176

1.7

9.5

88.8

100.0

English

Total

Age

1


Table 3: Language spoken by age and sex (2 years and over) Age 2–5 6–14 15–24 25–44 45–64 65+

Total

Number Sex Welsh

Both

English

Total



13 11 18 24 25 25 56 52 27 29 3 9

32 17 78 72 204 217 341 283 160 160 32 39

829 794 1589 1633 1642 1831 2472 2262 936 919 141 201

874 822 1685 1729 1871 2073 2869 2597 1123 1108 176 249

1.5 1.3 1.1 1.4 1.3 1.2 2.0 2.0 2.4 2.6 1.7 3.6

3.7 2.1 4.6 4.2 10.9 10.5 11.9 10.9 14.2 14.4 18.2 15.7

94.9 96.6 94.3 94.4 87.8 88.3 86.2 87.1 83.3 82.9 80.1 80.7

100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0

M F

142 150

847 788

7609 7640

8598 8578

1.7 1.7

9.9 9.2

88.5 89.1

100.0 100.0

Table 3, which provides a breakdown of the linguistic ability of the sexes according to age, shows that nearly 90 per cent of both males and females were returned as monoglot English speakers, while fewer than 2 per cent spoke Welsh only. Very little difference was recorded in the linguistic ability of males and females in any age group, although a slightly higher proportion of females were returned as monoglot English speakers in all groups except those aged 45–64. Unlike the mining communities of the industrial hinterland, where the dominance of the heavy industries and the consequent paucity of female employment opportunities had given rise to an imbalance in the adult sex ratio, the large


60


Number Welsh

Both

English

Total

144 20 19 21 59 9 8 1 – – 2 – 3 1

799 95 190 153 131 67 46 2 12 13 8 6 3 5

7110 783 221 79 21 77 10 30 12 6 3 4 1 16

8053 898 430 253 211 153 64 33 24 19 13 10 7 22

1.8 2.2 4.4 8.3 28.0 5.9 12.5 3.0 – – 15.4 – 42.9 4.5

England

4

82

5234

5320

Ireland

–

10

919

Other3

1

8

292

1625

Glamorgan Monmouthshire Pembrokeshire Carmarthenshire Cardiganshire Breconshire Caernarfonshire Radnorshire Montgomeryshire Denbighshire Anglesey Flintshire Merioneth Wales2

Total 1 2 3


English

Total

9.9 10.6 44.2 60.5 62.1 43.8 71.9 6.1 50.0 68.4 61.5 60.0 42.9 22.7

88.3 87.2 51.4 31.2 9.9 50.3 15.6 90.9 50.0 31.6 23.1 40.0 14.3 72.7

100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0

0.1

1.5

98.4

100.0

929

–

1.1

98.9

100.0

662

671

0.1

1.2

98.7

100.0

15188

17110

1.7

9.5

88.8

100.0

Excluding 66 individuals whose place of birth was not given. County unknown. Place of birth: Scotland 250, Norway 57, Channel Islands 40, Germany 40, Sweden 37, Russia 32, America 30, France 24, Italy 23, India 15, Canada 12, Austria 10, Denmark 10, Nova Scotia 9, Isle of Man 8, Poland 8, Finland 6, Belgium 5, Portugal 5, Malta 4, South America 4, Australia 3, East Indies 3, Holland 3, Spain 3, Switzerland 3, Greece 2, New Zealand 2, Prussia 2, Tasmania 2, Turkey 2, West Indies 2, Bavaria 1, Bermuda 1, Gibraltar 1, Luxembourg 1, Mauritius 1, Netherlands 1, Newfoundland 1, at sea 8.

commercial town of Cardiff provided greater work opportunities for the female population, and the number of adult males and females enumerated was consequently far more evenly balanced. Significantly, females slightly outnumbered males in the 15–24 age group, and evidently many young women from the neighbouring industrial areas had migrated to the town to take up available positions as servants and assistants in its grand houses, hotels and shops.24 24

Some chapels even established special ‘Sections’ to assist with the settlement of the young women who came to Cardiff in search of employment as domestic servants and shop assistants. See ‘Adran y Morwynion’, Cymdeithas yr Ymdrech Crefyddol cysylltiedig â Salem, Splotlands, Caerdydd (Caerdydd, 1891), p. 8.

CARDIFF (GLAMORGAN)

Overall, however, the majority of the men and women who had ventured to Cardiff in search of employment originated from beyond the Welsh border. Only 3,406 (41.9 per cent) of the 8,122 individuals aged over 25 years had been born in Wales, while over 70 per cent of the remaining 4,716 hailed from England. Even after accounting for members of the younger generation, the vast majority of whom were natives of Cardiff, less than 60 per cent of the total sample population were of Welsh birth, a proportion which closely resembled that recorded among the 128,915 individuals enumerated in the whole of the Cardiff Urban Sanitary District in 1891.25 The place of origin of the residents of the town clearly had a direct bearing upon its linguistic character. As Table 4 shows, only a small proportion of the 10,190 Welsh-born population hailed from any of the predominantly Welsh-speaking counties, and only 17.8 per cent (1,817) were returned as speaking Welsh. Natives of Glamorgan, who accounted for nearly 80 per cent of the total Welsh-born population, constituted a dominantly monoglot English-speaking presence and nearly 90 per cent of the 8,053, the majority of whom were natives of Cardiff, had no knowledge of the Welsh language. The majority of the large English-born population enumerated at Cardiff in 1891 hailed from the counties of Somerset, Gloucester and Devon across the Bristol Channel. Commercial links between dealers and traders from the West Country and the people of Cardiff spanned several generations, and the strong ties between the two areas had been consolidated from the middle of the nineteenth century onwards, when thousands of Englishmen and women crossed the Severn to share in the prosperity of the town. The English clearly felt at home in Cardiff for the overwhelming majority of the residents spoke their language. Only a tiny minority of the English-born population had acquired any knowledge of the native tongue and, of the eighty-six who were returned as speaking Welsh, the majority had either been born in English districts close to the Welsh border or in towns such as London or Liverpool, where small Welsh-speaking communities thrived during the late nineteenth century. The busy port of Cardiff had also attracted a substantial number of in-migrants from countries beyond Wales and England. Indeed, Cardiff was home to the largest foreign-born community in Wales, and 6,737 individuals from Ireland, Scotland and other parts of the British Empire, as well as 2,906 natives of other foreign countries, were enumerated in the Cardiff Urban Sanitary District in 1891.26 Excluding the Irish and Scottish-born populations, the majority of the English and Welsh-speaking ‘foreigners’ who were included in this sample were mariners, lodging house keepers and dealers, who resided in the Butetown district of the town. A substantial proportion were Scandinavian-born seamen who 25

26

Census of England and Wales, 1891, Volume III. Ages, Condition as to Marriage, Occupations, and Birth-places of the Population, Division XI: Monmouthshire and Wales (London, 1893), p. 549. Ibid. See also Neil Evans, ‘Immigrants and Minorities in Wales’, Llafur, 5, no. 4 (1991), 5–26.

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62

imported cargoes of timber destined for use in the collieries of south Wales, and who crewed many of the fleets of tramp ships which carried Welsh coal from Cardiff docks to the four corners of the world.27 Unlike the seafaring population of Butetown, the majority of whom were temporary residents of the town, the Russian, German and Polish-born Jews who were enumerated in Cardiff in 1891 had long since settled in the community and many had established their own small businesses as pawnbrokers, outfitters and jewellers.28 Yet, regardless of the length of time which members of the foreign-born population had spent among the people of Cardiff, very few had any knowledge of the Welsh language. Apart from ten Irish-born residents who were returned as speaking Welsh (five of them were members of the same family), the remaining ‘foreign-born’ Welsh speakers had either been born at sea or, like the South American-born Herbert Williams, appeared to have strong Welsh family connections. Kate Cameron, a domestic servant who hailed from Alderney in the Channel Islands, and the Scotsman, James Sutherland, who kept a drapery shop at Cranbrook Street, Cathays, had no obvious Welsh ties and were among a handful of non-Welsh-born individuals for whom the Welsh language presumably served some useful function in their daily lives. The 929 Irish-born individuals, the majority of whom were natives of the south-eastern counties of Cork and Waterford, represented only a small proportion of the 4,114 Irish men and women who were enumerated in the whole of the Cardiff Urban Sanitary District in 1891.29 The first wave of Irish inmigrants had arrived in Cardiff during the period between 1820 and 1840 when labouring work became available during the building of the Taff Vale and other railways and the construction of the Bute Docks. The devastation caused by the failure of successive potato harvests in Ireland during 1845–8 drove out thousands more from their homeland in search of a better life, and hundreds of destitute men, women and children arrived at the port of Cardiff, often travelling as ballast on returning coal ships.30 By 1861 the 5,990 Irish-born residents of Cardiff represented 15.5 per cent of the total population enumerated in the Cardiff Registration District, and 40.1 per cent of the Irish population of the county of Glamorgan.31 Although the proportion of those born in Ireland as a percentage of 27

28

29

30

31

Herbert E. Roese, ‘Cardiff’s Norwegian Heritage. A Neglected Theme’, WHR, 18, no. 2 (1996), 255–71. Ursula R. Q. Henriques, ‘The Jewish Community of Cardiff, 1813–1914’ in idem (ed.), The Jews of South Wales: Historical Studies (Cardiff, 1993), pp. 9–44. Ages, Condition as to Marriage, Occupations, and Birth-places of the Population (1893), p. 549. See also John Denvir, The Irish in Britain from the Earliest Times to the Fall and Death of Parnell (2nd ed., London, 1894), p. 297. Hickey, ‘The Irish Community’, pp. 15–16; Lewis, ‘The Irish in Cardiff in the Mid-Nineteenth Century’, 13–41; Paul O’ Leary, ‘Immigration and Integration: A Study of the Irish in Wales, 1798–1922’ (unpubl. University of Wales PhD thesis, 1989), pp. 29–33. Census of England and Wales, 1861, Volume II. Ages, Civil Condition, Occupations, and Birth-places of the People, Division XI: Monmouthshire and Wales (London, 1863), p. 889.

CARDIFF (GLAMORGAN)

the total population had decreased significantly by 1891, the Irish constituted nearly 10 per cent of the adult population (aged 25 years and over) enumerated in the sample area. By 1891 small Irish communities, sufficient to justify the existence of Roman Catholic churches, had been established in the working-class districts of Roath and Canton, but the overwhelming majority of the Irish population continued to live in the part of Newtown which was included in this sample. Over 60 per cent of the 685 heads of household enumerated in the area were of Irish birth or descent and in some of the small terraced rows, notably Tyndall Street, Penydoylan Street, Roland Street, Duffryn Street and Ellen Street, almost every home was inhabited by an Irish family. Living conditions in the Newtown area were notoriously poor and residents of the small, overcrowded houses were plagued by outbreaks of serious diseases and epidemics. Over 60 per cent of the 711 households in the district shared their home with two or more families. At Tyndall Street, where St Paul’s Roman Catholic church was situated, thirty of the forty-eight houses were occupied by two or more families, and, in one of the worst examples of overcrowding in the street, five households, comprising nineteen members, shared one seven-roomed dwelling. Two rooms were occupied by ten people: an Irish-born couple, their four children (aged between 7 and 16), and a family of boarders, comprising Cornelius Hourahan, a widower from County Cork, and his three teenage children. The harsh living conditions endured by the Irish people instilled in them a fighting spirit, and it was perhaps not surprising, therefore, that one of their sons, ‘Peerless’ Jim Driscoll (1880–1925), would rise from humble beginnings in Ellen Street to become a world-class boxer.32 Segregated from the host community by the barriers of class, race and religion, the Irish-born men and women and their descendants forged very few links with the native Welsh working-class population of Cardiff. Indeed, of the seven enumeration districts included in this sample, the Irish district returned both the lowest proportion of non-Welsh-born household heads and the highest proportion of monoglot English speakers. Only 104 (3.4 per cent) of its 3,026 residents were returned as speaking Welsh, and in 649 (91.3 per cent) of the 711 households in the district all members were returned as monoglot English speakers. In the whole of the sample area, monoglot English-speaking households constituted 77.1 per cent of the total 3,586 households, and the remaining 822 were home to one or more Welsh speakers. Few of the 822 households could be classified as Welsh speaking, however, for only in 190 households were all members able to speak the Welsh language. Moreover, only in 29 (15.3 per cent) of the 190 ‘Welsh-speaking’ households were all members returned as monoglot Welsh speakers, and in the vast majority of the remainder the Welsh speakers were also proficient in the English language. Five of the twenty-nine monoglot 32

Fred Deakin, Peerless Jim Driscoll: The Original Welsh Wizard. A Biography (Stones, Staffs., 1987).

63

64


Welsh-speaking households occupied rooms in neighbouring dwellings at Loudoun Place and Loudoun Square, Butetown, and consisted of mariners and shipwrights from the small seafaring communities of New Quay, Llannarth and Morfa Bychan in the predominantly Welsh-speaking counties of Cardigan and Caernarfon. Although such individuals may only have lived in Cardiff for a short period of time, it seems unlikely that monoglot Welsh-speaking families could live and work in the predominantly monoglot English-speaking community without acquiring some knowledge of the English language. The situation prevailing in some households, for example, where monoglot Welsh-speaking families employed monoglot English-speaking servants and vice versa, suggests that one or both parties understated their true linguistic ability. For example, Josiah Williams, a commercial traveller from Llangamarch in Breconshire who, along with his Pembrokeshire-born wife and six Glamorgan-born children, were enumerated as monoglot Welsh speakers, employed an 18-year-old live-in domestic servant from Hopkinstown who spoke English only. During the taking of the 1891 census, the Welsh-speaking households of Cardiff made little use of the Welsh-language census schedules which could be distributed on request by the census enumerators. Only seven of the 3,586 households in the sample completed Welsh-language schedules and, significantly, they did not include any of the twenty-nine households where only monoglot Welsh speakers were enumerated. Indeed, the heads of household in five of the seven households which received Welsh-language schedules were bilingual speakers and, although the heads in the remaining two households were returned as monoglot Welsh speakers, other members of their households were able to speak English. Charles Davies, minister of Tabernacl Welsh Baptist Chapel, and John Austin Jenkins, minister of the English Congregational Chapel at Richmond Road, were two of the bilingual heads who completed a Welsh-language census schedule. Significantly, both were prominent members of the Welsh-speaking Nonconformist community which had urged Welsh speakers to make use of Welsh forms, and which would later publicly criticize the census enumerators and the local district registrar for failing to provide sufficient Welsh language schedules for the Welsh speakers of Cardiff. The extent to which the English language had penetrated almost every household in the sample is clearly illustrated in Table 5, which shows the language spoken by various members of the household. Only a very small proportion of Welsh speakers were enumerated in all groups of household members, and both nuclear family members and non-related individuals, such as boarders, lodgers, visitors and servants, were predominantly monoglot English speakers. One striking feature of the linguistic profile of the household members was the extent to which knowledge of the Welsh language had declined between two generations. Some 15 per cent of the 3,470 heads and 2,664 wives were returned as speaking Welsh, but of the 6,862 ‘children’, who represented the sons and

CARDIFF (GLAMORGAN)

65

Table 5: Language spoken by relation to head of household (2 years and over)1 Relation to head of household

Number Welsh Both

Heads 68 Wives 60 Children2 97 Relatives 17 Servants/maidservants 10 Boarders/lodgers 37 Visitors 3 Others3 – Total 1 2 3

292


English

Total

424 310 310 92 204 253 31 10

2978 2294 6455 868 842 1497 274 41

3470 2664 6862 977 1056 1787 308 51

2.0 2.3 1.4 1.7 0.9 2.1 0.9 –

1634

15249

17175

1.7

English

Total

12.2 11.6 4.5 9.4 19.3 14.2 10.1 21.2

85.8 86.1 94.1 88.8 79.7 83.8 89.0 78.8

100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0

9.5

88.8

100.0

Excluding one bilingual speaker whose relationship to the head of household was not given. Includes adopted children and stepchildren. 27 pupils at boarding school, 13 relatives of servants, 8 prisoners at police station, 2 teachers at boarding school, one companion.



Linguistic ability of children Number of households Welsh English Mixed Total


Total

112 2 3 4

55 79 61 1488

14 – 2 1

181 81 66 1493

61.9 2.5 4.5 0.3

30.4 97.5 92.4 99.7

7.7 – 3.0 0.1

100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0

121

1683

17

1821

6.6

92.4

0.9

100.0


daughters of Cardiff (aged between 2 and 58), the overwhelming majority had no knowledge of the native tongue and only 407 (5.9 per cent) were returned as Welsh speakers. A detailed examination of the language spoken by children in households headed by two parents reveals that only a small minority of Cardiff’s younger generation either used or heard the Welsh language within their home environments. Table 6 shows that in the overwhelming majority of nuclear family households, parents themselves were ignorant of the Welsh language. Fewer than


66

20 per cent of the 1,821 households were headed by Welsh-speaking parents, and in over 40 per cent of such homes only one parent was able to speak Welsh. It is clear that the lone Welsh-speaking parent rarely used the Welsh language within his or her home and only in seven of the 147 households headed by one Welshspeaking parent were some or all of the children able to speak Welsh. Even when both parents were Welsh speakers, a significant proportion of children were being raised without knowledge of their parents’ native tongue, for only in 112 (61.9 per cent) of the 181 households were all children returned as speaking Welsh. The majority of the Welsh-speaking families of Cardiff who lent their support to the Welsh language both within their homes and in the Welsh religious and cultural institutions of the town were ordinary workers and artisans. Over 40 per cent of the fathers in such households hailed from the three south-western Welsh counties of Cardigan, Carmarthen and Pembroke, while the remainder were largely natives of Cardiff and the surrounding rural districts. Conversely, professional and middle-class Welsh-speaking parents featured prominently among the households where a generational linguistic shift from Welsh to English was recorded. All or some children in sixty-nine households headed by two Welsh-speaking parents had no knowledge of the Welsh language, and they included the children of the following bilingual speakers: John Jenkins, a solicitor from Neath; John Evans, a coal agent from Mynyddislwyn; John Jenkins, a mining engineer from Tredegar, and Thomas Matthews, a Cardiff-born vaccination officer. Such parents appear not to have followed the example set by one of the leading landowning families of Cardiff. During the late 1880s John Patrick Crichton Stuart, Third Marquess of Bute (1847–1900), had secured the services of a Welsh-speaking governess in order to ensure that his children were brought up with some knowledge of the Welsh language.33 Catherine Mary Roberts, a 29-year-old from Caernarfon who remained in the service of the Bute family at Cardiff Castle in 1891, appeared to have undertaken her task successfully, for although Margaret, the oldest of the four children was unable to speak Welsh, John and Ninian, the two elder of the three young sons were returned as Welsh speakers. However, the Bute family was clearly an exception to the rule, for the overwhelming majority of the children of other monoglot English-speaking parents had no knowledge of the Welsh language. Only in five of the 1,493 households headed by two monoglot English-speaking parents were some or all of the children enumerated as Welsh speakers. In four of the five households, the Welsh-speaking children were the Welsh-born offspring of English-born parents, and it is likely that some English parents exaggerated the true linguistic ability of their Welsh-born children. For example, the older two of the five children born to Edwin and Elizabeth Cullerston of Bristol had also been born in England and 33

Hughes, Arloeswr Dwyieithedd, p. 206.

CARDIFF (GLAMORGAN)

67

Table 7: Language and place of birth of boarders and lodgers (2 years and over)1 Place of birth

Number Welsh


Both

English

Total

14 3 1 4 8 – 2 – 2 – – – 1 –

66 15 48 44 42 11 7 – 1 2 1 1 – –

307 76 28 8 2 11 1 5 – 1 2 – – 3

387 94 77 56 52 22 10 5 3 3 3 1 1 3

3.6 3.2 1.3 7.1 15.4 – 20.0 – 66.7 – – – 100.0 –

England

1

12

687

700

Ireland

–

–

166

Other3

1

3

Total

37

253

Glamorgan Monmouthshire Pembrokeshire Carmarthenshire Cardiganshire Breconshire Caernarfonshire Radnorshire Anglesey Denbighshire Montgomeryshire Flintshire Merioneth Wales2

1 2 3

English

Total

17.1 16.0 62.3 78.6 80.8 50.0 70.0 – 33.3 66.7 33.3 100.0 – –

79.3 80.9 36.4 14.3 3.8 50.0 10.0 100.0 – 33.3 66.7 – – 100.0

100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0

0.1

1.7

98.1

100.0

166

–

–

100.0

100.0

182

186

0.5

1.6

97.8

100.0

1479

1769

2.1

14.3

83.6

100.0

Excluding 18 individuals whose place of birth was not given. County unknown. Place of birth: Scotland 54, Norway 26, Sweden 22, Germany 9, Russia 9, America 8, Denmark 8, Italy 7, Channel Islands 6, France 5, Nova Scotia 4, Austria 3, Canada 3, Finland 3, India 3, Australia 2, Holland 2, Isle of Man 2, South America 2, Malta 1, Mauritius 1, Prussia 1, Spain 1, Turkey 1, at sea 3.

were returned as monoglot English speakers. However, the three younger children (aged between 10 and 17), all of whom had been born in Cardiff, were entered as monoglot Welsh speakers. The presence of Welsh-speaking lodgers in two of the five households may also have served as a means to acquaint the children of monoglot English speakers with the Welsh language. For example, Harvey Stacey, the 4-year-old son of a monoglot English-speaking couple, who shared his home with three Welsh-speaking boarders, one of whom spoke Welsh only, was returned as a bilingual speaker. Overall, however, the predominantly male lodging population of Cardiff constituted a strong monoglot English-speaking presence in the town. As Table 7 shows, only 40.5 per cent of the 1,769 boarders and lodgers who stated their place of birth had been born in Wales, while 700 (39.6 per cent) hailed from England, 166 (9.4 per cent) from Ireland, and the remainder from other countries.


68

Although the majority of boarders and lodgers resided in the homes of ordinary working-class families, a significant proportion of those who were enumerated in Butetown and the central retail district were accommodated in large boarding houses or, as in the case of the employees of two of the largest drapery establishments of the town, upon the premises of the shops themselves. The majority of the male lodgers were employed within the transport sector, either as seamen and mariners or dock and harbour workers. Indeed, over half the 477 men engaged as seamen, pilots or ship owners were temporary residents at Cardiff, and the majority were accommodated in the myriad boarding houses and ‘sailors’ homes’ of Butetown. Only 141 (29.6 per cent) of the 477 were Welsh by birth, while 176 (36.9 per cent) hailed from England, and 158 (33.1 per cent) were natives of other countries, notably Ireland, Norway and Sweden. Many of those who spent their working lives navigating the open seas had had little opportunity to acquire any knowledge of the English language, let alone the Welsh language, and seven of the ten monoglot Welsh speakers and the majority of the sixty-two bilingual seamen enumerated in the sample were Welshmen who hailed from small ports and villages along the Cardiganshire and Pembrokeshire coastline. Similarly, few Welsh speakers were recorded among the ranks of the 450 dock and harbour workers. Only sixty-one men, the majority of whom were natives of Cardiff and the surrounding districts, were returned as Welsh speakers. Seven of the nine monoglot Welsh speakers were employed as coal trimmers, tippers or weighers, who were responsible for unloading and loading coal from the traintrams and into the holds of the ships. However, the vast majority of the dock workers were employed as casual labourers who sorted, loaded and unloaded various cargoes at the wharfs of the Bute Docks. A large proportion of the unskilled labouring workforce were members of the Irish community; indeed, nearly half the 1,377 occupied males (aged 10 years and over) who were enumerated in the Irish district were employed either as dock or general labourers. The majority of the c.400–500 women who were employed as potato unloaders and sorters at Cardiff docks in the 1890s were also of Irish descent.34 Thirty-three such females, none of whom spoke Welsh, were included in this sample and, except for one 17-year-old girl from Roath, all lived in the Newtown district and were Irish by birth or descent. Similarly, none of the twenty-three females employed as general labourers spoke Welsh; eighteen of them had either been born in Ireland or were of Irish descent. The Taff Vale, Rhymney Valley and Great Western Railways, which provided the vital link between the coal producers and the exporters of south Wales, employed only 164 men in the sample. Nearly 80 per cent of the workforce were monoglot English speakers, while thirty-seven men, including John Rees, a 4934

Royal Commission on Labour, ‘The Employment of Women. Report by Miss Orme (Assistant Commissioner) on the Conditions of Work in Wales (1893)’, pp. 241–2.

CARDIFF (GLAMORGAN)

year-old stationmaster from Gelli-gaer, were Welsh speakers. Three railway workers, namely Edward Richards, a railway foreman from Breconshire, and two railway clerks who hailed from Carmarthenshire and Cardiff, were returned as monoglot Welsh speakers. Few of those employed as railway platelayers or navvies were proficient in the Welsh language. Only five of the twenty-four men spoke Welsh, and fourteen of the nineteen monoglot English speakers hailed from England. Next to the transport industry, the greatest proportion of the occupied male population earned their living within the manufacturing industry. In addition to the shipbuilding yards, foundries and engine works of the dockland area, large industrial concerns, such as the Tharsis Copper Company and the Dowlais Iron Company, had established plants at East Moors, beyond the Bute East Dock, and these works, along with dozens of smaller manufacturers, provided a wide range of employment opportunities. However, only a small minority of the 1,243 men employed within the manufacturing sector were able to speak Welsh, and only a handful were unable to speak English. Five of the twenty-four monoglot Welsh speakers were employed in the shipbuilding industry at Butetown and hailed from the counties of Caernarfon, Cardigan and Merioneth. A significant proportion of the occupied female population of Cardiff were also employed within the manufacturing industries, notably as dressmakers, tailoresses and milliners. Few Welsh speakers were enumerated among them, and only eight females, five of whom were natives of the three south-western counties of Wales, were recorded as being unable to speak English. As a busy commercial centre, Cardiff was home to several large retail and dealing houses, and over one in four of the 2,308 occupied females enumerated in the sample earned their living in such establishments. At St Mary Street and The Hayes, the large drapery stores owned by James Howell and David Morgan employed 214 men and women between them, while a further 31 female shop assistants were in lodgings at premises owned by James Howell at nearby Charles Street. Like David Morgan, their Breconshire-born employer, nearly two-thirds of the 81 employees enumerated at his shop were bilingual speakers, as were nearly half the 133 men and women employed by James Howell. Overall, however, the owners and employees of the majority of the shops, hotels, public houses and coffee taverns of the town had no knowledge of the native tongue. Like the overwhelming majority of the 37 guests who were in residence at the distinguished Park and Royal Hotels on census night, the hotel managers and 75 of the 77 servants employed at the two establishments spoke English only. In fact, only 10 of the 70 hotel managers or publicans, 3 of the 16 coffee and eating house proprietors, and 12 of the 159 inn-servants, barmaids and cellarmen were Welsh speakers. Visitors and residents of the town who sought their entertainment at the Grand, the Theatre Royal, or at the Philharmonic and Empire Music Halls, would also be catered for entirely through the medium of English.

69

70


In the serious world of commerce and business, the English language reigned supreme. At the chambers of commerce in the Cardiff Coal Exchange and in the offices of coal exporters, shipowners, accountants and brokers, English was the language of all official business and transactions. Only 39 of the 301 men and women employed within the industrial service sector were returned as Welsh speakers, and none could be said to hold senior positions as members of Cardiff’s financial community. Twenty-seven of the thirty-nine Welsh speakers were employed as commercial clerks, and although three of them – Thomas Jones of Breconshire, David Timothy of Cardigan and David Griffiths, a native of Cardiff – were enumerated as monoglot Welsh speakers, doubts must be raised regarding the validity of such claims. A number of foreign-born dealers also featured prominently within the business fraternity. Over thirty businesses in the sample, notably pawnbrokers and outfitters, were owned by members of the Jewish community who had settled in Cardiff from the mid-nineteenth century onwards. The majority of such shops were situated either along Bute Street or in the central retail district of the town, but several Jews, including the Russian-born Joseph Cohen and Louis Figelstone, had established businesses at Cowbridge Road in the suburb of Canton. Although the majority of the Jewish population of Cardiff were first generation immigrants, some of them, such as Solomon Barnett, a 32-year-old native of Cardiff who described himself as a pawnbroker, outfitter and jeweller, and who officiated as registrar of marriages for the Jews of Cardiff, represented the second or third generation of Welsh-born émigré families. Solomon’s father, Louis Barnett, a 56year-old native of Swansea, was a pawnbroker and financier and in addition to running the family businesses at Bute Street and Caroline Street, he also managed the Cardiff and County Advance Bank. No Welsh was spoken in the homes or the shops owned by members of the Jewish community of Cardiff, and the same was true in the case of other foreignborn dealers such as the Italian-born Andrew Rebori, owner of a confectionery shop at Cowbridge Road, Canton, and A. DelGuerra, the proprietor of an oilskinclothing business in Bute Street. Others, such as Augusto Fuerlini, a 25-year-old figure-maker, and Alfonso Corsi, a 29-year-old ice cream seller, had not yet acquired knowledge of the English language and were returned as speaking Italian only. The greatest concentration of foreign-born dealers was to be found in the Butetown area, where Italians, Norwegians, Spaniards and Greeks had established businesses as ship chandlers, outfitters, grocers and boarding house keepers. The boarding houses kept by foreign-born immigrants catered mainly for seamen who hailed from their native countries. For example, all nine of the boarders who were accommodated at the boarding house on Bute Street owned by the Italian, Augusto Borrine, hailed from Italy and Austria and, like their host, were enumerated as monoglot Italian speakers. Similarly, the eleven seamen lodging nearby at the boarding house owned by Lars Olsen of Norway, had been born in Scandinavia.

CARDIFF (GLAMORGAN)

Seamen and mariners from the seaports and villages of the west Wales coast had also found lodgings with hosts of a similar cultural or linguistic background. Unlike members of the foreign-born sailing community who tended to lodge at large boarding houses, the Welsh usually stayed in the homes of ordinary families. Eight of the twelve monoglot Welsh-speaking females classed as lodging house keepers resided in the Butetown area, and all hailed from the counties of Cardigan, Pembroke and Caernarfon. At their home in Loudoun Place, Watkin and Ann Evans, a Welsh-speaking couple from Cardiganshire, provided accommodation for five Welsh-speaking boarders and visitors who hailed from New Quay and Aberaeron in their native county. Similarly, at nearby Patrick Street, Thomas and Elizabeth Thomas from Cardigan had taken in two Welsh-speaking lodgers from their home town. For members of the small Welsh-speaking community of Cardiff who were not fortunate enough to live near other Welsh-speaking families, the weekly meetings of the Welsh Nonconformist chapels provided one of the few opportunities available to them to socialize through the medium of their native tongue. Twelve Welsh Nonconformist chapels existed in the town in 1891, but only five of the twelve Nonconformist ministers included in the sample were Welsh speakers. They were: J. Miles of Pembrokeshire and Charles Davies of Llanelli, Baptist ministers; William Williams, a Calvinistic Methodist minister from Groes-faen; Ebenezer Morgan, a Wesleyan minister from Aberystwyth, and John Austin Jenkins, another native of Aberystwyth who was minister at the English Congregational Chapel at Richmond Road. With the exception of J. Miles, who was enumerated as a boarder, the remaining four ministers were resident householders in Cardiff. The Welsh language was spoken by all family members in the homes of the Revds Charles Davies, William Williams and John Austin Jenkins, but the wife and three young children of the Revd Ebenezer Morgan were English both in tongue and origin. If the Welsh Nonconformist chapels aimed to safeguard and foster the Welshlanguage religious and cultural life of Cardiff, the situation was very different in the Anglican churches of the town, where the Welsh language received short shrift in church activities and services. Only five of the eleven clergymen included in the sample were Welshmen, and only four of them spoke Welsh. They included the Revd Griffith A. Jones of Ruabon, vicar of St Mary’s Church, Loudoun Square, and John Lewis, one of the four curates who assisted at the church. The remaining two Welsh speakers were the Revd David Davies of Llanfair-ar-y-bryn, Carmarthenshire, curate at St John’s Church, and the Revd John Harris, a native of Llanrhidian, Gower. In the majority of the remaining churches of the town and surrounding districts, parishioners were ministered to by non-Welsh-speaking and non-Welsh-born clergy. For example, the vicar of St Andrew’s Church in the parish of St John was the Revd George William Hanford, a monoglot English speaker who had been born in the West Indies, and

71


72

he was assisted by Alexander Henderson, a monoglot English-speaking curate from Ireland. Members of the various ethnic groups in Cardiff had also established their own religious and social institutions by 1891. A Jewish synagogue had been established at East Terrace in 1854 with room for 300 people, while the Irish population were well served by the Roman Catholic Church of St Paul’s at Tyndall Street (est. 1873), and the four churches at Butetown, Grangetown, Canton and Roath. The two Catholic priests included in the sample officiated at St Paul’s and, like the vast majority of their communicants, Richard Butler of Ireland, and William Brady, his assistant from Blackburn, were monoglot English speakers. At Butetown the Scandinavian community of seamen and mariners had established their own Lutheran church or ‘mission’, and a distinctive iron church, shipped to Cardiff from Norway as prefabricated sheets, was erected to the south-east of West Bute Dock in 1869.35 Bernt Støylen, the Norwegian-born pastor of the church, who was returned as a monoglot English speaker, resided some distance away from his congregation in 1891, sharing his home at Ruthin Gardens, Cathays, with his Norwegian-born wife and servant, the latter of whom spoke Norwegian only. The elegant houses at Cathays were also home to a large proportion of Cardiff’s public servants and professionals. Although English was the only language spoken by the majority of those who held positions of authority or public office several influential individuals were also proficient in the Welsh language. Peter Price, a 67-year-old bilingual architect and borough magistrate from Builth Wells, played an important role in the scheme to develop the civic centre at Cathays Park, submitting his ‘wild suggestion’ for the modern vision of Cardiff to the Bute agent, Sir William T. Lewis, as early as 1892.36 William Rees JP, a 55-year-old grazier from Llanfabon, and William Jones, a Cardiff-born printer and stationer, whose company had printed and published Y Bedyddiwr, the monthly paper of the Welsh Baptists from 1854 until December 1859,37 were also prominent Welshspeaking residents of the fine houses at Park Place and Dumfries Place. Significantly, however, Welsh was not spoken in their homes and their children had all been brought up without any knowledge of their fathers’ native language. Similarly, the children of the three Welsh-speaking solicitors, and the two Welshspeaking medical practitioners who had families, were all returned as monoglot English speakers. The overwhelming majority of the domestic servants employed in the grand houses of the middle-class population were also monoglot English speakers: 708 (83.6 per cent) of the 847 female indoor servants spoke English only and of the 139 who spoke Welsh, only 11 were unable to speak English. 35

36 37

Susan Edwards, ‘The Norwegian Church, Cardiff’, Annual Report of the Glamorgan Archivist (1992), pp. 35–6. Wilson, ‘The Chicago of Wales’, 23. Ifano Jones, A History of Printing and Printers in Wales and Monmouthshire (Cardiff, 1925), p. 270.

CARDIFF (GLAMORGAN)

The high social status associated with the English language was fostered by the strongly Anglicized character of the education system. At the University College of South Wales and Monmouthshire, all teaching and administration were conducted through the medium of English. The five university lecturers included in the sample spoke English only, and apart from the Parisian, Adolphe Gerlain, Professor of French and Painting, they had all been born in England. The vast majority of the teachers who had been appointed to positions within the schools of Cardiff could also only provide English-medium education to the children of the town, and only ten of the fifty-two headmasters and teachers were able to speak Welsh. Edward Edwards, a 27-year-old native of Merthyr who was headmaster at the National School at Mount Stuart Square, Butetown, and Evan Evans, a 44-year-old native of Llanbadarn in Cardiganshire, who was similarly employed at the Stacey Road Board School, Roath, were the only two Welshspeaking headteachers. Although Evans, his wife, and two of their three teenage children, who were employed as an assistant teacher and pupil teacher, were all enumerated as monoglot Welsh speakers, Margaret, their 14-year-old daughter, who was the only member of the family not to have been born in Cardiganshire, was returned as a monoglot English speaker. Annie Jones, an 18-year-old pupil teacher from Aberdare, along with all other members of her household, also claimed to be unable to speak English. However, in view of the fact that 2,865 (95.1 per cent) of the 3,013 school pupils aged between 2 and 12 years were returned as speaking English only, it is evident that all those employed as teachers within the schools of Cardiff had some knowledge of the English language. Knowledge of the Welsh language was not reckoned to be a necessary qualification for the majority of public servants or officials in Cardiff. William Henry Thomas, a Bristol-born deputy superintendent registrar, Richard Nash, a school attendance officer, and Benjamin Norton, a sub-postmaster, were all monoglot English speakers. Only a handful of local officials – among them the two Cardiff-born men, Henry Jones and Thomas Matthews, who were respectively employed as an agent to the public registrar and as a vaccination officer – were bilingual speakers. Eighty-five of the ninety-five Post Office and telegraph employees were also monoglot English speakers, and of the ten enumerated as Welsh speakers three teenagers were entered as monoglot Welsh speakers. Nor did Welsh speakers feature prominently among the ranks of the policemen of Cardiff. Thomas Wake, deputy chief constable of the Glamorgan Constabulary, who was stationed at Cowbridge Road police station, and three police constables who shared a house at Park Street, were all monoglot English speakers. At Westgate Street police station William McKenzie, the head constable and director of the fire brigade, George Durston, the acting police inspector, and ten of the eleven police constables were all unable to speak Welsh. Overall, only eleven of the forty-nine police constables were returned as bilingual speakers. John James,

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74

the 50-year-old police inspector from Carmarthenshire who was stationed at the Town Hall, and William Jones, a sergeant from Llanwynno who occupied a house near the Cowbridge Road station, were the only Welsh-speaking highranking police officers. The Welsh language was clearly the language of a very small minority of the residents of Cardiff in 1891. The powerful economic and social forces which had brought about such a dramatic transformation in the industrial and commercial life of the town during the nineteenth century had proved detrimental to the native language and culture. Although some families and individuals continued to use the Welsh language in their homes and in Welsh Nonconformist chapels, English reigned supreme in the world of business, commerce and education, and only a tiny minority of the population were returned as being ignorant of the language. In an article entitled, ‘The Vanishing Welsh Cardiff ’, which appeared in the South Wales Daily News in 1893, the writer, John Hobson Matthews, conceded that knowledge of the ‘old language’ had become ‘yearly scarcer’ among the residents of the town, ‘owing to the masterful prevalence of English as the medium of communication’. Indeed, he claimed that it was only ‘on Saturdays, when the country folk come into market, or on Mondays, when the miners and their families invade the town on pleasure bent’ that the sounds of the native tongue could be heard on the streets of Cardiff.38

Table 8: Language spoken by occupation (10 years and over)

Industrial class AGRICULTURE Farming Farmers, graziers Agricultural labourers Farm servant Shepherd Market gardeners Breeding Farriers Horse keeper Dealers Cattle dealer Horse dealer Hay, straw, chaff dealers 38


3 – 1 – –

3 1 – 1 –

– 6 – – 7

6 7 1 1 7

– –

1 –

4 1

5 1

1 – –

– – –

– 1 2

1 1 2

South Wales Daily News, 23 August 1893.


CARDIFF (GLAMORGAN)

Industrial class Corn, flour dealers Assistants Fishing Fishermen Total % MINING Coal Proprietors Engineers/surveyors Agents Clerks Miners/hauliers Machine operator Craftsman Gold Miner Sandstone Manager Lime burner Brickmaking Proprietor Brickmakers Total %

Language spoken Males Welsh Both English Total – –

2 –

3 2

5 2

– 5 12.2

– 8 19.5

2 28 68.3

2 41 100.0

– – – – – – –

3 2 – – 1 1 1

– 1 4 10 3 – –

3 3 4 10 4 1 1

–

1

–

1

– –

– –

1 1

1 1

1 – 1 3.0

– – 9 27.3

– 3 23 69.7

1 3 33 100.0

1 2 4 1 –

5 9 32 1 9

6 11 36 3 9

9 – 4 – 29 5 – 1 –

78 12 30 3 119 94 6 26 45

89 12 34 3 160 101 6 27 45

5 61 10.8

19 488 86.2

24 566 100.0

BUILDING Management Architects – Civil engineers/surveyors – Contractors/builders – Foremen 1 Apprentices/assistants – Operatives Stonemasons 2 Bricklayers – Plasterers – Roofers – Carpenters/joiners 12 Plumbers/painters 2 Gasfitters – Apprentices – Labourers – Railways Railway labourers/navvies/ platelayers – Total 17 % 3.0


75


76

Industrial class


MANUFACTURING Machinery, tools, watches, etc. Managers/foremen – – 4 Skilled manual 3 9 146 Apprentices/assistants – 1 28 Unskilled manual/ labourers – 1 11 Shipbuilding Proprietors – – 3 Managers/foremen – – 6 Clerks – – 5 Skilled manual 5 16 90 Apprentices/assistants – 1 6 Unskilled manual/ labourers – 1 6 Iron and steel Foreman – – 1 Skilled manual 4 12 106 Apprentices/assistants 1 1 11 Unskilled manual/ labourers 1 – 12 Tinplate, copper Managers/foremen – – 2 Skilled manual – 2 21 Unskilled manual/ labourers – – 1 Earthenware, coals and gas, chemicals, etc. Proprietor – – 1 Managers/foremen – – 4 Clerk – – 1 Skilled manual – 2 12 Leather, hair, glue, etc. Manager – – 1 Skilled manual – – 2 Labourer – – 1 Wood, furniture, paper, etc. Proprietors – – 2 Managers/foremen – – 2 Clerks – – 2 Skilled manual 4 2 81 Apprentices/assistants – 2 4 Unskilled manual/ labourers – – 10 Carriages and harnesses Proprietor – – 1 Foreman – – 1 Clerks – 1 1 Skilled manual – 3 46


4 158 29 12 3 6 5 111 7 7 1 122 13 13 2 23 1

1

–

2

3

–

–

1

1

–

–

7

7

1 4 1 14 1 2 1 2 2 2 87 6 10 1 1 2 49

CARDIFF (GLAMORGAN)

Industrial class


Apprentices/assistants – Unskilled manual/ labourers 1 Woollens, wool fullers and dyers Skilled manual – Apprentices/assistants – Cotton, flax, lace, etc. Skilled manual – Assistant – Unskilled manual/ labourers – Dress Proprietors – Managers/foremen – Skilled manual 1 Assistants – Food, drink, tobacco Proprietors – Managers/foremen – Clerks – Skilled manual – Apprentices/assistants – Unskilled manual/ labourers – Printing Proprietor – Managers/foremen – Skilled manual – Apprentices/assistants – Unskilled manual/ labourers – Unspecified Managers/foremen – Clerk – Engine drivers/stokers/ firemen/fitters 2 Machinists 1 Apprentices/assistants 1 Labourers – Total 24 % 1.9 TRANSPORT Warehouses and docks Proprietors Managers/supervisors Clerks Harbour, dock workers

– – – 3

77


–

4

4

–

2

3

– –

6 –

6 –

– –

– –

4 2

4 2

– –

3 1

3 1

–

–

1

1

–

–

–

–

–

3

3

2 – 22 –

5 2 125 13

7 2 148 13

7 –

28 4

237 27

272 31

– – – 1 2

4 4 2 82 9

4 4 2 83 11

– –

2 1

14 11

16 12

–

12

12

–

–

7

7

1 – 7 –

– 2 35 7

1 2 42 7

–

–

8

8

–

–

–

–

–

2

2

1 –

9 1

10 1

–

–

1

1

27 1 1 – 119 9.6

93 12 25 11 1100 88.5

122 14 27 11 1243 100.0

– – – 8 2.1

– 1 – 36 9.4

11 – 1 339 88.5

11 1 1 383 100.0

– 5 1 10

4 40 9 30

4 45 10 43


78

Industrial class Messengers, porters, labourers Ocean navigation Ship owners Captains, pilots, officers Seamen, stewards, cooks Inland navigation Bargemen, watermen Canal and inland navigation service Railways Stationmaster/officials Clerks/booking office Engine drivers/stokers/ signalmen Porters Roads Stable keepers, cab and bus owners Cabmen, coachmen Carriers, hauliers, etc. Others (trams etc.) Total %



9

33

306

348

–

–

33

33

– 1 9

– 3 59

4 29 372

4 33 440

–

–

1

1

–

1

5

6

–

–

16

16

1 2

7 6

30 24

38 32

– –

13 8

36 37

49 45

– 1 2 1 29 2.2

2 3 7 2 160 11.9

8 49 114 43 1156 85.9

10 53 123 46 1345 100.0

– – –

– – –

2 36 100.0

2 36 100.0

4

17

21

4

10

14

3 97

37 77

41 175

– –

– 21

13 37

13 58

6 1 – 10 1 8

54 11 2 37 16 41

62 12 2 48 17 49

– –

1 –

2 2

3 2

– – –

1 – 1

17 5 11

18 5 12

1 –

2 3

3 3

–

1

9

10

7 1

50 5

57 6

– –

3 –

10 1

13 1

DEALING Coals Coal merchants and dealers – Raw materials Timber merchants etc. – Dress Drapers etc. 1 Apprentices/assistants 1 Food Butchers, poulterers, fishmongers 2 Milksellers, cowkeepers – Ice cream sellers – Grocers 1 Greengrocers – Assistants – Tobacco, drink and lodging Tobacconists – Wine and spirit merchants – Inn and hotel keepers, publicans – Beersellers –

CARDIFF (GLAMORGAN)

Industrial class


Lodging and boarding house keepers – – Coffee and eating house keepers – 1 Cellarmen, inn servants, assistants – 2 Furniture and household utensils Furniture and picture dealers – – Earthenware, china, glass – – Ironmongers, hardware – 2 Pawnbrokers – – Assistants – 2 Chemists, druggists Chemists, druggists – 2 Assistants – 2 Stationery and publications Stationers, booksellers, etc. – 1 Publishers, librarians – 1 Ticket writers, bill stickers – – Assistants – – General dealers General shopkeepers – 3 Hawkers, hucksters, costers – – Rag dealers – – Assistants – 1 Others and unspecified Merchants, brokers, agents 2 13 Auctioneers, house agents 1 2 Salesmen, commercial travellers 1 21 Assistants – 1 Total 9 197 % 0.9 20.7 INDUSTRIAL SERVICES Banking, insurance, accounts Bank service – Insurance service – Accountants – Commercial clerks 3 Assistants – Total 3 % 1.0

2 5 5 24 – 36 12.2

79


9

9

12

32

230

274

8

9

–

2

5

7

47

49

–

10

100

110

5 2 20 10 32

5 2 22 10 34

– –

– –

3 1

3 1

8 2

10 4

– –

1 –

– 1

1 1

13 1 9 5

14 2 9 5

– –

– –

4 1

4 1

–

–

5

5

25

28

–

1

17

18

14 2 16

14 2 17

– – –

– – 3

27 1 32

27 1 35

75 6

90 9

– –

– –

1 1

1 1

65 11 747 78.4

87 12 953 100.0

– – 12 1.9

– – 77 12.3

2 1 539 85.8

2 1 628 100.0

13 13 36 187 8 257 86.8

15 18 41 214 8 296 100.0

–

–

5

5

– –

– –

5 100.0

5 100.0


80

Industrial class


PUBLIC SERVICES AND PROFESSIONALS Central administration Civil service officers – 1 10 Civil service clerks – – 2 Post Office, telegraph officials 1 2 62 Post Office clerks 1 5 20 Local administration County, municipal officers – – 2 Registrars – 1 1 Poor Law officials – 1 2 School attendance officer – – 1 Sanitary inspector – 1 – Other local officials – 3 4 Clerical staff – – 2 Defence Army officers – – 5 Soldier – – 1 Police and prisons Police inspectors – 1 2 Police sergeants – 1 1 Police constables – 11 38 Prison officer – – 1 Law Barristers, solicitors – 3 14 Law students – 1 1 Law clerks – 1 15 Medicine Surgeons, physicians, GPs – 4 10 Medical students, assistants – 1 2 Dentists – – 9 Nurses – – – Midwives – – – Education University lecturers – – 5 Headteachers, schoolteachers 1 6 5 Assistant teachers, pupil teachers 1 4 6 Music, dance, craft teachers – – 1 Students – 1 6 Religion Clergymen – 4 7 Roman Catholic priests – – 2 CM minister – 1 – Other Methodist minister – – 1 Congregational ministers – 1 2


11 2 65 26

1

–

3

4

–

–

1

1

– –

3 1

5 5

8 6

12

–

3

37

40

11

2

1

23

26

1 7

– –

3 –

15 4

18 4

2 2 3 1 1 7 2 5 1 3 2 49 1 17 2 16 14 3 9 – – 5

11 2 1 1 3

CARDIFF (GLAMORGAN)

Industrial class


Baptist ministers – Other Nonconformist ministers – Missionaries – Church, chapel, cemetery officials – Church, chapel, cemetery servants – Amusement Musicians – Actors – Art, music and theatre service – Performers, showmen, etc. – Billiards, games service – Art, literature, science Painters, sculptors, engravers – Photographers – Art students/assistants – Authors, editors, journalists – Reporters – Total 4 % 1.1 DOMESTIC SERVICES Indoor service Indoor servants – Domestic nurses – Institution servants – Outdoor service Coachmen and grooms 1 Gardeners – Extra service Cooks, chefs – Charwomen, laundry workers – Caretakers – Hairdressers – Chimney sweeps – Others – Total 1 % 0.5

2

–

2

1 –

4 1

5 1

–

2

2

–

2

– –

81


–

–

2

2

2

–

–

1

1

10 2

10 2

–

–

2

2

– – –

11 3 13

11 3 13

– –

1 –

– 1

1 1

– – –

7 9 1

7 9 1

– –

– –

1 1

1 1

3 – 60 15.9

4 3 312 83.0

7 3 376 100.0

3 2.6

12 10.3

101 87.1

116 100.0

3 – –

61 – 3

64 – 3

11 1 –

128 8 –

708 60 1

847 69 1

2 1

39 31

42 32

–

–

4

4

–

8

8

–

10

12

22

1 2 3 – – 12 6.1

4 10 18 5 6 185 93.4

5 12 21 5 6 198 100.0

3 – –

10 3 –

126 11 1

139 14 1

– 15 1.3

1 160 14.3

19 942 84.3

20 1117 100.0


82

Industrial class



OTHERS Managers/foremen General labourers Total %

1 14 15 1.7

2 42 44 4.9

6 838 844 93.5

9 894 903 100.0

– – –

– – –

23 23 100.0

23 23 100.0

TOTAL OCCUPIED %

108 1.8

706 11.9

5140 86.3

5954 100.0

38 1.6

285 12.3

1985 86.0

2308 100.0

Residual population %

6 2.0

27 9.2

260 88.7

293 100.0

82 2.1

418 10.8

3385 87.1

3885 100.0

School pupils %

7 1.0

33 4.8

641 94.1

681 100.0

8 1.1

33 4.5

688 94.4

729 100.0


766 11.1

6041 87.2

6928 100.0

128 1.8

736 10.6

6058 87.5

6922 100.0

4 Blaenllechau (Glamorgan) MARI A. WILLIAMS

Blaenllechau, in the parish of Llanwynno, was the first coal-mining settlement to be established in the Rhondda Fach, the smaller of the two Rhondda valleys. Before mining began, the Rhondda Fach was an isolated, wooded valley, inhabited by five farming families only.1 Writing in 1874, Dafydd Morganwg (1832–1905) noted that until the early 1860s the only sounds to be heard in the area were the murmur of the river, the braying of sheep and the voice of the occasional shepherd and his dogs (‘sïad yr afon, brefiad y defaid, a llais ambell fugail a’i g{n’).2 Life in the Rhondda Fach was poised to change dramatically, however, as the search for steam coal in the area began. In 1857 David Davis, Blaen-gwawr (1797–1866), one of the early coal pioneers of the Cynon valley, bought the mineral rights to 500 acres of land at Blaenllechau farm.3 In 1862, following several unsuccessful attempts, a four-foot seam of coal was struck at a depth of 278 yards. Soon, hundreds of men in search of employment flocked into the area, and many were accompanied by their families. According to Jonathon Rees (Nathan Wyn) (1841–1905): ‘the inhabitants swarmed into the area, descending suddenly like a swarm of locusts. A neighbourhood of houses rained down on the valley slopes with the speed and rapidity of the building of the “t} un-nos”!’ (‘heigiodd y preswylwyr i’r lle gyda sydynrwydd disgyniad haid o locustiaid. Gwlawiwyd cymdogaeth o anedd-dai a’r hyd lethrau y dyffryn gyda chyflymder a buanrwydd adeiladu “t} un-nos”!’).4 During these early years of development, members of the new community were immediately made aware of the dominant and binding role which the coal industry was to play in their lives. On 9 November 1867 and 10 June 1869 two underground explosions at the Ferndale pit killed 178 and 53 workers 1

2 3 4

E. D. Lewis, ‘The Industrial Development of the Rhondda Valleys to 1910’ (unpubl. University of Wales MA thesis, 1940), p. 133. Dafydd Morganwg, Hanes Morganwg (Aberdare, 1874), pp. 224–5. Elizabeth Phillips, A History of the Pioneers of the Welsh Coalfield (Cardiff, 1925), p. 136. NLW, Nathan Wyn Manuscripts (Jonathon Rees, 1841–1905), Ap Nathan Papers, N183.


84

respectively.5 Although the reputation of the Ferndale colliery was blighted for some time afterwards, it was not long before the colliery company, now managed by the two sons of David Davis, regained its position as a successful mining venture and, following the sinking of two additional pits in 1870 and 1874, the in-migration continued at a swift pace. By 1891 the three Ferndale collieries situated on the valley floor employed 2,725 men who produced a combined output of around 3,000 tons of coal every day.6 The success of these collieries owed much to the development of the Taff Vale Railway, which reached Ferndale in 1862 and provided a direct link between the coal producers and the export trade at Bute Docks, Cardiff.7 By 1891 Blaenllechau was inhabited by 2,737 people, who lived in small terraced houses built along the steep sides of the valley slopes. The early housing provided by the colliery company consisted mainly of small huts and temporary accommodation, and it was not until the 1870s that the stone terraced houses at George Street (originally called Pithead Row), Long Row, David Street, and Aberdare Road were built.8 In 1891 Blaenllechau retained many of the characteristics of the ‘frontier’ settlement, and several rows of the wooden huts erected during the early years of development remained. Living conditions were far from ideal in the small houses and overcrowding was a common feature. Nearly 60 per cent of the 503 households lived in homes of four rooms or less, while 133 (26.4 per cent) households lived in shared accommodation. The poor conditions were aggravated by the lack of sanitation, and in 1890 the Rhondda Medical Officer of Health reported that a hundred houses owned by David Davis and Sons at Ferndale and Blaenllechau were without drains or water supply.9 Although the settlement of Blaenllechau had grown suddenly, development was hindered by its location on the steep slopes of the valley and, as the flow of inmigrants to the area continued, new houses were built on the opposite side of the Rhondda Fach valley, thereby giving rise to the larger settlement of Ferndale. It was at Blaenllechau, however, that the first in-migrants to the valley established their own religious and social institutions. The work of building Nazareth Welsh Baptist chapel, the first Nonconformist cause in the valley, began in 1866, and by 1874 three additional Welsh Nonconformist chapels, belonging to the Congregationalists, the Calvinistic Methodists and the Wesleyans, had been established, providing places for a total of 2,200 worshippers.10 Nonconformists also 5 6

7

8 9 10

E. D. Lewis, The Rhondda Valleys (London, 1959), p. 279. Ibid.; Reports from Commissioners, Inspectors and Others, Vol. 5, Mines, South Wales District (No. 13) (PP 1892 (c6625) XII), p. 72. NLW MS 4378E, M. O. Jones, ‘The History of the Development of the Coal Industry of the Rhondda Valleys for the last 50 years’ (entry at Treorchy Eisteddfod, 1895). Malcolm J. Fisk, Housing in the Rhondda, 1800–1940 (Cardiff, 1996), p. 24. Ibid., p. 42. The three were: Tre Rhondda, Congregational (1867); Carmel, Calvinistic Methodist (1870); Bethel, Wesleyan (1871). Dafydd Morganwg, Hanes Morganwg, p. 225.

BLAENLLECHAU (GLAMORGAN)

85

Table 1: Language spoken by populations of Blaenllechau, Pontypridd Registration District, Glamorgan and Wales (2 years and over) Number Welsh Blaenllechau1 1165 Pontypridd R.D.2 40507 Glamorgan3 142346 Wales4 508036 1 2 3 4

Both 737 46487 177726 402253

English

Total

640 2542 50005 136999 326481 646553 759416 1669705


29.0 33.9 27.5 24.1

English

Total

25.2 36.5 50.5 45.5

100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0

Excluding 7 individuals whose language or age was not given. Excluding 765 individuals whose language was not given and 50 who spoke other languages. Excluding 4,981 individuals whose language was not given and 2,355 who spoke other languages. Excluding 12,833 individuals whose language was not given and 3,076 who spoke other languages.

played a leading role in the establishment of the first day schools at Blaenllechau which were held by the Methodists at houses in Albert Street and Lower Huts. However, the British school established by the Congregationalists in 1869 was built on the opposite side of the river at Ferndale, and by 1891 this school, as well as the Lower School established at Ferndale in 1874, had come under the authority of the Board of Education.11 Members of this young mining community were predominantly Welsh in origin and language and, as Table 1 shows, the proportion of Welsh speakers enumerated at Blaenllechau in 1891 far exceeded the proportion found in the Registration District of Pontypridd and the county of Glamorgan. Nearly threequarters of the population of Blaenllechau were Welsh speakers, and 60 per cent of these were monoglots. Table 2, which provides a breakdown of the language spoken by the people of Blaenllechau according to age, reveals that Welsh speakers formed a distinct majority within all age groups. Among the older generation, aged 45 and over, monoglot Welsh speakers were a particularly strong presence, but the large proportion of monoglot Welsh speakers returned among children under 5 years of age also indicates that young Welsh-speaking families were continuing to reproduce a substantial proportion of Welsh speakers. Despite the apparent Welshness of Blaenllechau, there were signs of linguistic change in progress. Over half the total population was able to speak English, a proportion which increased to around 60 per cent within the younger age groups. Welsh-speaking children between 6 and 14 years of age, who returned the highest proportion of bilingual speakers, were likely to have gained their knowledge of English through the 11

Jenkin Thomas, ‘Hanes Ferndale’, Y Darian, 25 January, 22 February 1923; W. J. Rhys, ‘Cynnyrch yr Anghydffurfwyr yng Nghymoedd Rhondda’, TCHBC (1961), 30–4.


86

Table 2: Language spoken by age (2 years and over) Number Welsh

Age

Both

English

Total


English

Total

2–5 6–14 15–24 25–44 45–64 65+

149 200 286 334 167 29

52 154 231 204 82 14

74 106 197 207 48 8

275 460 714 745 297 51

54.2 43.5 40.1 44.8 56.2 56.9

18.9 33.5 32.4 27.4 27.6 27.5

26.9 23.0 27.6 27.8 16.2 15.7

100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0

Total

1165

737

640

2542

45.8

29.0

25.2

100.0

English

Total


Total

Number Sex Welsh

Both

English

Total



81 68 103 97 175 111 217 117 93 74 9 20

28 24 80 74 132 99 124 80 41 41 7 7

41 33 52 54 156 41 146 61 31 17 5 3

150 125 235 225 463 251 487 258 165 132 21 30

54.0 54.4 43.8 43.1 37.8 44.2 44.6 45.3 56.4 56.1 42.9 66.7

18.7 19.2 34.0 32.9 28.5 39.4 25.5 31.0 24.8 31.1 33.3 23.3

27.3 26.4 22.1 24.0 33.7 16.3 29.9 23.6 18.8 12.9 23.8 10.0

100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0

M F

677 488

412 325

430 210

1519 1023

44.6 47.7

27.1 31.8

28.3 20.5

100.0 100.0

education system, for Welsh was not taught as a class subject in the Board Schools of the Rhondda until 1893.12 However, in view of the fact that 136 (49.8 per cent) of the 273 ‘scholars’ at Blaenllechau spoke Welsh only, 71 (26.0 per cent) spoke both Welsh and English, and 66 (24.2 per cent) spoke English only, the 12

Ceri W. Lewis, ‘The Welsh Language: Its Origin and Later History in the Rhondda’ in K. S. Hopkins (ed.), Rhondda Past and Future (Ferndale, 1975), p. 213.


influence of education upon the language of these children should not be overemphasized. The proportion of monoglot English speakers remained relatively small within all age groups, but it was greatest among those aged between 15 and 44, and among infants between 2 and 5 years old. The in-migration of nonWelsh-speaking adults from the Anglicized districts of Wales and the nearby rural counties of the west of England was chiefly responsible for this monoglot Englishspeaking presence. A further breakdown of these age groups by sex reveals how the particular demographic structure of Blaenllechau gave rise to variations in the linguistic ability of the male and female populations. The majority of migrants who came to Blaenllechau were males, and the low ratio of females to males was characteristic of a ‘frontier’ mining settlement. In 1891 males comprised approximately twothirds of the population between 15 and 44 years of age. Over 90 per cent of males (aged 10 years and over) were in employment, compared with only 17.9 per cent of females, and the different work and social experiences of the male and female populations greatly affected the linguistic ability of the two groups. As Table 3 shows, there were striking differences in the language ability of the men and women of Blaenllechau. Males made up 67.2 per cent of the total monoglot English-speaking population, and nearly 30 per cent of all males spoke English only compared with just 20.5 per cent of females. Among the Welsh-speaking population, however, females showed a greater tendency towards bilingualism than males and returned a slightly smaller proportion of monoglot Welsh speakers. In all age groups over 15 years, a greater proportion of males than females were unable to speak Welsh, a factor which may be attributable to the presence of a large number of non-Welsh-speaking male migrants from the Anglicized Welsh districts and from England and beyond. An examination of the geographical origins of the male population aged between 15 and 44 reveals that 206 (21.7 per cent) were born outside Wales, compared with only 43 (8.4 per cent) of the 509 females in the same age group. The linguistic consequences of the migration process were most noticeable among the 15–24 age group, where only 41 (16.3 per cent) of the 251 females were unable to speak Welsh, compared with 156 (33.7 per cent) of the 463 males. Significantly, only 12 (4.8 per cent) females in this age group had been born outside Wales, compared with 104 (22.5 per cent) males. Yet, although fewer monoglot English-speaking females were returned in this age group, the proportion of bilingual Welsh-speaking females was higher than the corresponding proportion of males. The greater familiarity of Welshspeaking females with the English language stemmed from their more local origins: 172 (68.5 per cent) of the 251 females aged between 15 and 24 were natives of Glamorgan, compared with only 211 (45.6 per cent) of the 463 males in the same age group. The bilingual females who had been born in Glamorgan made up nearly 70 per cent of the total bilingual female population in this age group.

87


88

Table 4: Language spoken by place of birth (2 years and over) Place of birth

Number Welsh


Both

English

Total

716 145 129 35 50 24 14 11 18 10 1 – 1 2

449 83 44 43 32 26 21 3 2 – 4 2 – –

257 1 – 36 28 6 19 10 1 1 – 1 – –

1422 229 173 114 110 56 54 24 21 11 5 3 1 2

50.4 63.3 74.6 30.7 45.5 42.9 25.9 45.8 85.7 90.9 20.0 – 100.0 100.0

England

8

21

255

284

Other2

1

7

25

1165

737

640

Glamorgan Carmarthenshire Cardiganshire Pembrokeshire Monmouthshire Breconshire Montgomeryshire Radnorshire Caernarfonshire Merioneth Flintshire Denbighshire Anglesey Wales1

Total 1 2

English

Total

31.6 36.2 25.4 37.7 29.1 46.4 38.9 12.5 9.5 – 80.0 66.7 – –

18.1 0.4 – 31.6 25.5 10.7 35.2 41.7 4.8 9.1 – 33.3 – –

100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0

2.8

7.4

89.8

100.0

33

3.0

21.2

75.7

100.0

2542

45.8

29.0

25.2

100.0

County unknown. Place of birth: Ireland 17, America 11, India 3, Scotland 1, Isle of Man 1.

Table 4, which shows the place of birth of the residents of Blaenllechau, reveals how the linguistic character of the settlement was largely determined by the migration patterns of the early settlers. The overwhelming majority of the population (87.5 per cent) were of Welsh origin, 1,422 (63.9 per cent) of whom were natives of Glamorgan, while those born in England made up only 11.2 per cent of the total. Many of the early migrants to Blaenllechau hailed from the neighbouring coal-mining districts of the Cynon valley and the iron-working settlements of Rhymney, Blaenau and Tredegar in Monmouthshire, where considerable hardship had been experienced in the 1860s and 1870s owing to the slump in the iron trade. An examination of the birthplaces of the 1,093 individuals aged 25 and over reveals that 471 (43.1 per cent) were from the two counties of Glamorgan and Monmouth. The in-migrants who hailed from these industrialized areas formed a strong Welsh-speaking presence in Blaenllechau and, as E. D. Lewis noted, members of this group of settlers played an important role in establishing the first Welsh-language institutions in Blaenllechau.13 For example, 13

Lewis, The Rhondda Valleys, pp. 218–19.


89

Table 5: Language spoken by relation to head of household (2 years and over)1 Relation to head Number of household Welsh


English

Total

502 434 986 123 33 429 31 3

46.2 47.5 48.7 44.7 42.4 39.6 25.8 –

28.3 30.2 30.2 39.8 51.5 19.6 48.4 –

25.5 22.4 21.1 15.4 6.1 40.8 25.8 100.0

100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0

2541

45.8

29.0

25.2

100.0

Both

English

Total

Heads2 232 Wives 206 Children3 480 Relatives 55 Servants/maidservants 14 Boarders/lodgers 170 Visitors 8 Others4 –

142 131 298 49 17 84 15 –

128 97 208 19 2 175 8 3

Total

736

640

1 2 3 4

1165

Excluding one individual whose relationship to the head of household was not given. The language of one household head was not given. Includes adopted children and stepchildren. 3 travellers (2 bazaar salesmen and one colliery banksman).

the founding members of the first Nonconformist cause in the Rhondda Fach in 1864 were members of Seion Baptist chapel, Cwmaman, Aberdare. A more detailed picture of the means by which Welsh and English-speaking inmigrants organized themselves in their new community may be achieved by examining the language spoken within individual households. The household structure of Blaenllechau was characteristic of a young mining community where the nuclear family formed the basic social unit. Nearly 90 per cent of the 503 households in Blaenllechau were headed by a married couple, with the remaining 10 per cent headed mainly by widows and widowers. As a result of the surplus of young males, the marriage rate of the female population was particularly high and 83 per cent of females between the ages of 20 and 29 were married, compared with only 35.8 per cent of males of the same age. Moreover, children made up over 40 per cent of the total population and were present in around 80 per cent of all households. As Table 5 shows, the majority of heads of household and their wives were Welsh speakers. Small wonder, therefore, that only a minority of the younger generation were unable to speak Welsh. As a result of the dominantly Welsh character of in-migration to Blaenllechau, over 80 per cent of the 503 household heads had been born in Wales. Over 40 per cent of all heads of household hailed from the industrial counties of Glamorgan and Monmouth, while a similar proportion had come from other Welsh-speaking counties, notably Carmarthen, Cardigan and Pembroke. The dominantly Welshspeaking influence of short-distance migrants from the industrialized districts was evident. Of the 204 household heads who hailed from the counties of Glamorgan


90

and Monmouth, 172 (84.3 per cent) were Welsh speakers, the majority of whom were unable to speak English. Only 79 (15.7 per cent) heads of household hailed from England: the majority of them came from the two counties of Gloucester and Somerset, and all except nine were monoglot English speakers. Apart from six individuals born in Ireland and India, the remainder of the non-Welsh-speaking heads came from Wales, notably from Glamorgan and Pembrokeshire. Outside the nuclear family, boarders and lodgers formed a significant proportion of the total population and were present in 209 (41.6 per cent) households. In 126 (60.3 per cent) such households, living space was limited to four rooms or less, and the popular saying that beds were never allowed to get cold in many homes in the mining districts was undoubtedly true of a great many households in Blaenllechau.14 For example, at one of the houses in Albert Street, Charles and Ann Court and their three children shared their four-roomed home with six lodgers. With people living in such close proximity to one another, the level of interaction among household members must have been high and if the linguistic ability of lodgers and their host families differed, the long-term linguistic implications could be significant. Despite the predominantly Welsh-speaking character of the settlement, only 166 (33.0 per cent) of the 503 households in Blaenllechau were returned as monoglot Welsh-speaking households, and in the remaining 337 (67.0 per cent) households, one or more members were able to speak English. In 84 (24.9 per cent) of these households, all members were returned as monoglot English speakers, and in 59 (17.5 per cent) households all members spoke both Welsh and English. Within the remaining 194 households, the linguistic ability of individual members differed and a mixture of bilingual, monoglot English and monoglot Welsh speakers were found living in the same home. Closer examination of the language spoken by individual members in linguistically mixed households would shed light on the process of linguistic change within the home environment, revealing whether change was initiated by members of the nuclear family or by others. In order to establish the process of intergenerational language transmission within the homes of Blaenllechau, a detailed investigation of the 303 households headed by married couples with children was conducted. The 881 children included in this sample were between 2 and 40 years of age, and comprised nearly 90 per cent of the total number of ‘children’ in Blaenllechau. As Table 6 shows, the marriage patterns of couples in Blaenllechau consolidated their linguistic affiliations, for there were few examples of marriages between individuals of different linguistic ability. Consequently, the potential for parents to transmit some knowledge of the Welsh language to their children within the home was

14

Gwaunfa, ‘Pan Oedd Digon o Waith a Llety’n Brin: Dyddiau Penllanw Diwydiant yng Nghwm Rhondda’, Western Mail, 7 December 1938.


91

Table 6: Language of children (aged 2 years and over) in households headed by Welsh-speaking and non-Welsh-speaking parents Linguistic ability of parents Father Mother Welsh Welsh English English



Total


Total

211 2 15 4

2 5 9 52

1 – 2 –

214 7 26 56

98.6 28.6 57.7 7.1

0.9 71.4 34.6 92.9

0.5 – 7.7 –

100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0

232

68

3

303

76.6

22.4

1.0

100.0


Table 7: Language of children (aged 2 years and over) in households headed by monoglot and bilingual parents Linguistic ability Linguistic ability of children of parents Number of households Father Mother Welsh Both English Mixed Total

Linguistic ability of children Percentage Welsh Both English Mixed Total

W W B B B E E W E Total

W B W B E B E E W

133 – 2 12 – 3 – – 1

2 2 3 44 1 9 4 1 2

– – – 2 1 5 52 1 4

1 1 – 12 3 2 – – –

136 3 5 70 5 19 56 2 7

97.8 – 40.0 17.1 – 15.8 – – 14.3

1.5 66.7 60.0 62.9 20.0 47.4 7.1 50.0 28.6

– – – – 20.0 26.3 92.9 50.0 57.1

0.7 33.3 – – 60.0 10.5 – – –

100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0

151

68

65

19

303

49.8

22.4

21.5

6.3

100.0

W/Welsh: monoglot Welsh; B/Both: bilingual; E/English: monoglot English; Mixed: any combination of monoglot Welsh, bilingual, monoglot English-speaking children in one household.

considerable: in 247 (81.5 per cent) of the 303 households, either one parent or both were able to speak Welsh. As Table 6 shows, children in the vast majority of households headed by Welsh-speaking parents were also able to speak Welsh and only in three households were some or all of the children of Welsh-speaking parents returned as monoglot English speakers. In the home of the collier Thomas Davies and his wife Sarah, 10-year-old Catherine, the younger of their two children, was returned as a monoglot English speaker, while Robert, their 18-year-old son was bilingual. In the remaining two households all children were returned as


92

monoglot English speakers. In both cases, it might well have been the case that Welsh was not the first language of the parents. The confectioner, Morgan Thomas, and his wife, Elizabeth, who were both natives of Bristol, spoke English at home with their two young sons. P. Barry, a Carmarthenshire-born labourer, and his bilingual wife who hailed from Pontypridd also spoke English with their two young boys. Even though Barry had been born in Carmarthenshire, his surname suggests that he was of Irish descent. The overwhelming majority of children of Welsh-speaking parents were able to speak their native tongue, but a significant proportion were also proficient in English. Table 7 provides a detailed account of the process of language transmission in the 303 households in the sample, and shows whether the Welshspeaking parents and their children were returned as monoglot or bilingual speakers. In the homes of monoglot Welsh-speaking parents, very few children were returned as bilinguals and only in 3 of the 136 households were some or all of the children able to speak both Welsh and English. If one or both Welshspeaking parents were also able to speak English, their children were much more likely to be proficient in both languages. In over 80 per cent of households where either one or both parents were bilingual, some or all of the children were bilingual also. Very often a mixture of bilingual and monoglot Welsh children was recorded in the same household: the usual pattern was for the younger children to be monoglot Welsh, while the older children were bilingual. For example, 6year-old Sarah, the eldest of three children born to Charles and Ann Williams, was a pupil at the local school and could speak both Welsh and English, while her two younger siblings spoke Welsh only. Clearly, many of the children of Welshspeaking households acquired knowledge of English outside their homes, either through the education system or by socializing with English-speaking friends. An investigation into elementary education in Wales in 1885 revealed that children in the Rhondda spoke ‘English habitually in the play-ground; this results from the immigration of English people’.15 In total, some or all of the children in 62 (29.0 per cent) of the 214 households headed by Welsh-speaking parents were able to speak both Welsh and English. Children with only one Welsh-speaking parent were far more likely to be monoglot English speakers. However, partnerships between Welsh speakers and non-Welsh speakers were uncommon (33 in total), and comprised only 10.9 per cent of the total sample. Given that the majority of the English in-migrants who had settled in Blaenllechau were males, it is not surprising that in twenty-six of the thirty-three cases the mother was the Welsh-speaking parent. In fifteen of these households, children were able to speak Welsh, while children in only two of the seven households where the father spoke Welsh were also proficient in the language. Although the efforts of Welsh-speaking fathers to transmit the 15

J. E. Southall, Wales and her Language (Newport, 1892), p. 127.


indigenous language to their children would appear not to have been as successful as that of the mothers, the small number of children and households included in this sample makes it impossible to draw any firm conclusions regarding the comparative linguistic influence of either parent. Significantly, however, very few of the children of monoglot English-speaking parents were able to speak Welsh. Although such households accounted for only 18.5 per cent of the total sample – a measure of the small scale of English inmigration – the failure of the non-Welsh-speaking in-migrants and their children to acquire knowledge of the Welsh language had long-term implications for the future linguistic character of Blaenllechau. Only in 4 (7.1 per cent) of the 56 households headed by two monoglot English-speaking parents were any children able to speak Welsh. Two of these households were headed by English-born couples, while the parents in the other two households hailed from Radnorshire. Even though the vast majority of the children of English-speaking parents had been born and raised in Glamorgan, if not in Blaenllechau itself, this young generation clearly did not need to learn Welsh in order to feel part of their native society. In some households, the process of intergenerational language transmission may have been affected by the presence of non-family members, such as lodgers, whose different cultural or linguistic backgrounds may have been influential in forging alternative cultural and linguistic allegiances. In his study of family structure in nineteenth-century Lancashire, Michael Anderson maintained that lodgers were ‘a sociologically significant element in the population, because their relationship to their landlord was more or less a non-familistic one and thus an alternative (and possibly a threat) to the strength of family and kinship bonds’.16 In Blaenllechau, where 429 boarders and lodgers made up 16.9 per cent of the total population, and were present in 209 (41.6 per cent) households, their role as agents for initiating linguistic change in the homes and wider community requires detailed examination. The majority of lodgers who lived in Blaenllechau were single males aged between 17 and 29. George Gimblett, one of the two census enumerators at Blaenllechau, made a clear distinction between boarders and lodgers living in his district by recording several instances of households where the two were present, whereas Evan Thomas, his fellow-enumerator, seemed to refer to all paying guests as boarders. The main difference between the two groups was that lodgers were usually provided with a bed only, while boarders received, in addition to their accommodation, meals and some extra services, such as the washing of clothes. It is unlikely, however, that the relationship forged between boarders or lodgers and members of their host families would have been very different, and therefore both groups of guests will be referred to collectively as lodgers. The lodging population at Blaenllechau originated from the same three main areas as the host population, namely the older irontowns and mining districts of 16

Michael Anderson, Family Structure in Nineteenth Century Lancashire (Cambridge, 1971), p. 47.

93


94

Table 8: Language and place of birth of boarders and lodgers (2 years and over) Place of birth

Number Welsh


Both

English

Total

62 26 29 15 11 4 11 7 3 – – 1

35 16 9 1 5 3 1 1 1 2 – –

33 – – 8 4 7 – – – – 2 –

130 42 38 24 20 14 12 8 4 2 2 1

47.7 61.9 76.3 62.5 55.0 28.6 91.7 87.5 75.0 – – 100.0

England

1

8

110

119

Other2

–

1

11

170

84

175

Glamorgan Carmarthenshire Cardiganshire Monmouthshire Pembrokeshire Montgomeryshire Caernarfonshire Breconshire Merioneth Denbighshire Radnorshire Wales1

Total 1 2

English

Total

26.9 38.1 23.7 4.2 25.0 21.4 8.3 12.5 25.0 100.0 – –

25.4 – – 33.3 20.0 50.0 – – – – 100.0 –

100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0

0.8

6.7

92.4

100.0

13

–

15.4

84.6

100.0

429

39.6

19.6

40.8

100.0

County unknown. Place of birth: Ireland 8, America 2, Scotland 1, India 1, Isle of Man 1.

Glamorgan and Monmouthshire, the predominantly rural counties of Wales and the south-west of England. As Table 8 shows, 297 (69.2 per cent) of all lodgers in Blaenllechau were Welsh by birth, and over half were natives of the industrial counties of Glamorgan and Monmouth. Of the 243 (81.8 per cent) who spoke Welsh, 169 (69.5 per cent) were returned as monoglot Welsh speakers. The majority of the monoglot Welsh-speaking lodgers hailed from the rural counties of Cardigan, Carmarthen, north Pembroke and Caernarfon, while fifty-four Welsh lodgers from the more Anglicized counties of Glamorgan, Monmouth, Montgomery, south Pembroke and Radnor spoke English only. The remaining 132 lodgers who hailed from England and beyond made up 30.8 per cent of the lodging population of Blaenllechau. Nearly 70 per cent of the English-born lodgers were natives of the two counties of Gloucester and Somerset and were dominantly English in speech. Given that the 175 monoglot English-speaking lodgers comprised 27.3 per cent of the total monoglot English-speaking population, their Anglicizing influence upon the language spoken within individual households and the wider community was potentially great. It should be emphasized, however, that since the migration patterns of these lodgers closely mirrored those of their host


families, the level of social organization involved in the reception of new inmigrants ensured that most lodgers lived with people of their own cultural and/or geographical background. An examination of the residential patterns of the fortytwo Carmarthenshire-born lodgers revealed that only one lived in a household where no other members spoke Welsh. Moreover, 25 (59.5 per cent) lived with families where either the head or the spouse were also from their native county, and in thirteen instances the lodger hailed from exactly the same parish. In such households the presence of a lodger clearly strengthened neighbourhood, kinship and cultural ties. Eliza Thomas, who provided lodgings for three men from her home district of St Clears in Carmarthenshire, was almost certainly well acquainted, if not related to her guests, and their presence in her home at Aberdare Road ensured that her own links with her native district and its people were maintained. Not all lodgers, particularly those from English counties, found themselves living in such familiar environments. Since only 79 (15.7 per cent) of the 503 household heads were natives of England, opportunities for English lodgers to take up residence with families of their own cultural and geographical origin were far more limited than those of Welsh lodgers. Only 10 (27.8 per cent) of the 36 lodgers from Gloucestershire were found to be living in households where either the head or spouse had also been born in England, while only one lodger resided with a family where the head was also a native of Gloucestershire. Several English lodgers took rooms, therefore, with families with whom they had no neighbourhood, cultural or linguistic ties. In some instances, the non-Welsh-speaking lodger could find himself living in linguistic isolation within a family of monoglot Welsh speakers. Indeed, in twenty-seven households where monoglot Englishspeaking lodgers lived, all other members were returned as Welsh monoglots. At their house in Albert Street, John and Eleanor Jones, a young Carmarthenshireborn couple who spoke Welsh only, provided lodgings for Gilbert Couch, a native of Kingston in Devon and a monoglot English speaker. Nearby, in the home of the monoglot Welsh-speaking Williams family, there were five monoglot English-speaking lodgers from Somerset, Lancashire and Glamorgan. Although both parties denied knowledge of each other’s language, it is clear that in such households either the lodgers or members of the host family must have acquired sufficient knowledge of Welsh or English to maintain some level of communication and conversation. An examination of the settlement patterns of the population of Blaenllechau has revealed that the tendency for Welsh and English-speaking migrants to live among their own people was reflected at street level. Men and women who shared the same cultural and geographical origins tended to settle close to one another, thereby establishing their own close relationships with neighbours in their immediate street environment. In many ways, the level of residential segregation between Welsh and non-Welsh speakers served to strengthen their

95

96


Image Not Available

Figure 1. Language spoken and place of birth of household heads in Blaenllechau


respective cultural and linguistic communities. Since the majority of the residents of Blaenllechau spoke Welsh and were of Welsh stock, it is not surprising that in fifteen of the settlement’s seventeen main rows of houses, over 70 per cent of the inhabitants (aged 2 years and over) spoke Welsh (Figure 1).17 In eight of these fifteen streets, over 60 per cent of residents were monoglot Welsh speakers. Only in one street did the proportion of monoglot English speakers exceed 40 per cent, namely at Taff Street, a row of seventy-four houses which ran alongside the main Taff Vale railway line near Ferndale station. A more detailed investigation of the linguistic ability, geographical origin and occupational status of the residents of Taff Street revealed an interesting picture of the incidence of culturally-motived residential segregation: 265 (57.9 per cent) of the 457 residents (aged 2 years and over) were monoglot English speakers and only 81 (17.7 per cent) were unable to speak English. The monoglot English speakers living at Taff Street comprised 41.4 per cent of the total non-Welshspeaking population enumerated in Blaenllechau. Moreover, 43 (51.2 per cent) of the 84 monoglot English-speaking households of Blaenllechau occupied houses in Taff Street. A survey of the geographical origins of the heads of household living in Taff Street revealed the extent to which migration and settlement patterns were responsible for the predominantly Anglicized character of the street. It was found that 32 (35.2 per cent) of the 91 household heads had been born in England – mainly in Gloucestershire and Somerset – 27 (29.7 per cent) were from Glamorgan, 29 (31.9 per cent) were natives of other Welsh counties, while the remaining three hailed from other countries. When compared with the characteristics of residents of other streets in Blaenllechau, the high concentration of English-born and English-speaking residents at Taff Street becomes immediately apparent. At Long Row, a terrace of fifty-eight houses located above Taff Street on the valley slopes, English speakers formed a distinct minority among the 384 inhabitants (aged 2 years and over). Here, 314 (81.8 per cent) of the residents spoke Welsh, and over 60 per cent of them were monoglot Welsh speakers. Only 7 (10.9 per cent) of the 64 household heads residing at Long Row were English by birth, while 25 (39.1 per cent) hailed from Glamorgan and 32 (50.0 per cent) were from other Welsh counties. Variations in occupational patterns between the residents of Long Row and Taff Street were also significant in explaining the different linguistic character of the two streets. In all except one household at Long Row, the male heads or their equivalent worked in the coalmining industry, while Taff Street, which had originally been called Station Terrace and had been built to house the railway workers employed on the Taff Vale railway, retained its strong links with the railway industry. In 1891 all but eight of the fifty-four men employed as railway workers at Blaenllechau lived in 17

Two streets, namely Luton Street and Middle Row, proved impossible to locate and are not represented in Figure 1.

97

98


Taff Street. Of these 46 men, 31 (67.4 per cent) were monoglot English speakers and 12 (38.7 per cent) hailed from England. This level of residential segregation between the monoglot English-speaking and Welsh-speaking populations must have played some part in resisting the cultural and linguistic assimilation of the English-speaking and English-born population. Attention has already been drawn to the small number of children of English-speaking parents who acquired knowledge of Welsh and an examination of the linguistic ability of the English-born residents living in Blaenllechau in 1891 confirms this pattern: of the 284 individuals, only 29 (10.2 per cent) were able to speak Welsh. Since 128 (45.1 per cent) of the 284 English-born individuals were either lodgers, visitors or travellers, it is extremely difficult to judge how long they had been living in Blaenllechau. It is possible, however, to retrace the steps of more established individuals such as household heads. Four English-born male heads of household who were resident in Taff Street in 1891 were found to be living in the same street at the time of the previous census. In 1881 each of them was employed on the railway and, with the exception of George Coles, a 21-year-old boarder from Gloucestershire, all were enumerated as heads of household. By 1891, despite having lived in Blaenllechau for at least ten years, none of them had learnt Welsh. Moreover, none of the fifteen children born to the four men could speak Welsh, even though all were natives of Glamorgan, and all except four had been born either at Blaenllechau or Ferndale. Members of the English-speaking families of Taff Street who lived and worked alongside other English speakers within the railway industry had little cause to learn Welsh in order to communicate effectively with their fellow-workers and neighbours. And although a knowledge of Welsh was a useful qualification for those who held positions of authority within the railway industry, the Welsh language was not always deemed to serve a wider social function. Jabez Richards, a bilingual Monmouthshire-born railway inspector who occupied the corner house at Taff Street, clearly did not regard the Welsh language as being of any value to his own children who were brought up as monoglot English speakers. However, the overwhelming majority of the male population of Blaenllechau were employed directly within the coal-mining industry. In 1891 more than twothirds of the occupied male population (aged 10 years and over) worked in the three pits owned by David Davis and Sons Ltd., although it is probable that craftsmen such as blacksmiths and carpenters, as well as men who were employed as stationary engine drivers or stokers, also worked within the mining industry at the colliery workshops and engine-houses. The mining workforce at Blaenllechau was overwhelmingly Welsh in speech and origin. Three-quarters of the 783 men employed in the industry were Welsh speakers, and over 80 per cent had been born in Wales. Very few members of this mining workforce held positions of authority within the Ferndale Collieries, and only seven colliery officials – three overmen, three firemen and one checkweigher – lived at Blaenllechau. All except


one of the seven officials spoke Welsh, and three officials, namely Edward Morgan, a Carmarthenshire-born checkweigher, and two colliery firemen who hailed from Cardiganshire and Monmouthshire, were unable to speak English. Nearly half of the 729 skilled colliers were unable to speak English, and only 170 (23.3 per cent) men were unable to speak Welsh. Natives of the two counties of Glamorgan and Monmouth, who comprised nearly half of this skilled workforce, formed a large monoglot Welsh-speaking group whose ranks were swelled by inmigrants from the counties of Carmarthen, Cardigan and Pembroke. Among the unskilled colliery workforce, natives of the two industrialized counties of south Wales were notably absent and of the twenty-three men employed as colliery labourers, pithead and surface workers, only one hailed from the county of Glamorgan, while the remainder were from the Welsh and English rural counties. Only five of the unskilled workers were unable to speak English, while nine spoke both Welsh and English, and a further nine were monoglot English speakers. This tendency for in-migrants from the agricultural areas to take up unskilled employment in the mining districts was also evident among the general labouring class. Only 28 (27.2 per cent) of the 103 men occupied as general labourers were natives of Glamorgan and Monmouthshire, while 34 (33.0 per cent) hailed from England, 33 (32.0 per cent) from other Welsh counties, and the remaining 8 (7.8 per cent) from Ireland and Scotland. The men from England and beyond formed a strong monoglot English-speaking presence, and 59 (57.3 per cent) of the 103 general labourers spoke English only. Save for the employment available in the extraction and transport of coal, there was little other work available for members of the male population of Blaenllechau. Two local families who occupied Pendyrus and Blaenllechau farms continued to earn their living from the land, and all but one of the seven men whom they employed were Welsh speakers. Others had established their own small businesses as dealers and manufacturers and provided the local population with food, clothing and other provisions. The vast majority of those whose livelihoods were dependent upon their ability to communicate with the public were Welsh speakers. At the Glynrhedynog Inn, the only public house in Blaenllechau, the landlady and all members of her staff were bilingual, as were all those employed at the bakery establishments at Bristol and Montpelier House. The only non-Welsh speakers enumerated in the dealing sector were five female lodging house keepers, two travelling hawkers, and three young male shop assistants who had been born in England. Only a handful of small businesses were situated in Blaenllechau in 1891, however, for the larger settlement of Ferndale across the river had long since established its position as the main commercial centre of the Rhondda Fach. The narrow social stratification of Blaenllechau was further reflected in the fact that only ten of its inhabitants were employed in professional occupations. Ann Powell, a nurse, and the Revd Arthur Jenkins, minister of Tre Rhondda Welsh

99


100

Congregational chapel, who attended to the medical and spiritual needs of the community, were proficient in both Welsh and English. The three young males who were employed as letter carriers were all English speakers, and one of them spoke no Welsh. Interestingly, all five of the young females employed as pupil teachers were returned as monoglot Welsh speakers, although it is almost certain that they would need to possess some knowledge of the English language in order to hold such positions in local schools. For members of the female population of Blaenllechau, opportunities to enter paid employment were extremely limited. Only 142 (17.9 per cent) of the 794 females (aged 10 years and over), were gainfully occupied, and nearly half of them laboured in the homes of ordinary miners either as domestic servants or lodging house keepers. Only 12 (8.5 per cent) of the occupied female population were unable to speak Welsh. In 1891 the small pioneer settlement of Blaenllechau remained very much the home of ordinary miners and their families. Apart from a small group of English speakers who were a conspicuous presence in the railway industry, the vast majority of those engaged within the mining industry were Welsh in origin and speech. The predominantly Welsh-speaking character of the first in-migrants who came to Blaenllechau from the colliery and iron-working districts of Glamorgan and Monmouthshire, and from the Welsh rural areas, had ensured that Blaenllechau developed as a dominantly Welsh-speaking settlement. The early inhabitants swiftly established their own Welsh-language institutions and social networks. To a certain extent, the residential and settlement patterns of the smaller number of English in-migrants enabled the Welsh-speaking and non-Welsh-speaking populations to maintain a separate cultural identity. Yet, although the Welsh language remained the dominant means of communication in Blaenllechau in 1891, evidence of the gradual shift from Welsh monoglottism to bilingualism indicates that members of the Welsh-speaking population were already making linguistic concessions which would inevitably lead to social and cultural assimilation.

Table 9: Language spoken by occupation (10 years and over)1

Industrial class AGRICULTURE Farming Farmers Farm servants 1


– 1

4 1

– 1

Excluding 4 individuals whose language was not given.

4 3



Industrial class


Dealers Pig dealer Total %

1 2 25.0

– 5 62.5

– 1 12.5

1 8 100.0

2 1 360 – 2 3 5 1

3 – 199 1 6 3 4 4

1 – 170 1 6 3 6 2

6 1 729 2 14 9 15 7

1 375 47.6

2 222 28.2

1 190 24.1

4 787 100.0

–

1

–

1

5 3 –

– 6 –

4 – 1

9 9 1

4 12 36.4

3 10 30.3

6 11 33.8

13 33 100.0

–

1

1

3

1

9

–

1

1

– –

1 1

1 1

1 2 –

– 1 –

2 8 –

1

–

1

MINING Coal Firemen/overmen Checkweigher Miners/hauliers Machine operators Labourers Pithead/surface workers Doorboys Others Sandstone Quarrymen Total % BUILDING Management Pupil architect Operatives Stonemasons Carpenters/joiners Gas fitter Railways Labourers, platelayers Total %

MANUFACTURING Machinery, tools, watches, etc. Assistant – Iron and steel Skilled manual 5 Gas Manager of gas works – Carriages and harnesses Manager – Skilled manual – Dress Proprietors 1 Skilled manual 5 Apprentices/assistants – Food, drink, tobacco Proprietor –

101


15 3

18 2

3 –

36 5


102

Industrial class Skilled manual Assistant Unspecified Engine drivers/stokers/ firemen/fitters Total % TRANSPORT Warehouses Messengers Railways Officials/guard Clerks Engine driver/stokers Porters Roads Carriers, hauliers, etc. Total %


– 1

1 –

1 1

14 25 36.8

11 19 27.9

17 24 35.3

42 68 100.0

3

–

1

4

1 – 1 3

2 1 9 5

11 2 16 3

14 3 26 11

31 39 31.2

16 33 26.4

20 53 42.4

67 125 100.0

–

1

– 1

DEALING Coals Coal merchant – 1 Dress Draper 1 – Assistants 1 1 Food Milksellers 2 1 Butter seller 1 – Grocers – 3 Greengrocers – – Assistants 3 4 Tobacco, drink and lodging Innkeeper – – Beerseller – 1 Lodging house keeper – – Inn servants – 1 Furniture and household utensils Ironmonger – – Assistant – 1 General dealers Shopkeepers – – Pedlars – – Total 8 13 % 30.8 50.0


18 43.9

20 48.8

3 7.3

41 100.0

1 3

–

2

–

2

– – – – 1

3 1 3 – 8

– 3 –

2 1 1

– – –

2 4 1

– – – –

– 1 – 1

–

1

–

1

17 –

8 2

5 –

30 2

1 –

1 1

– 2 5 19.2

– 2 26 100.0

1

1

–

2

21 47.7

18 40.9

5 11.4

44 100.0


Industrial class


INDUSTRIAL SERVICES Banking, insurance, accounts Commercial clerk – Total – % –

1 1 100.0

– – –

PUBLIC SERVICES AND PROFESSIONALS Central administration Post Office messengers – 2 1 Medicine Nurse – – – Education Pupil teachers – – – Religion Congregational minister – 1 – Total – 3 1 % – 75.0 25.0 DOMESTIC SERVICES Indoor service Maidservants – Domestic nurse – Outdoor service Coachmen and grooms 1 Gardener – Extra service Charwomen, laundry women – Total 1 % 20.0

103


1 1 100.0

3 –

–

1

–

1

–

5

–

–

5

1 4 100.0

5 83.3

1 16.7

– –

6 100.0

17 –

19 –

3 1

39 1

4 21 41.2

7 26 51.0

– 4 7.8

11 51 100.0

– –

– –

– –

2 –

1 1

4 1

– 2 40.0

– 2 40.0

– 5 100.0

OTHERS Supervisor General labourers Total %

– 35 35 33.7

– 9 9 8.7

1 59 60 57.7

1 103 104 100.0

TOTAL OCCUPIED %

496 42.8

317 27.3

347 29.9

1160 100.0

65 45.8

65 45.8

12 8.4

142 100.0


12 25.0

8 29.6

7 44.4

27 100.0

267 47.8

177 31.7

115 20.6

559 100.0

School pupils %

41 53.2

23 29.8

13 16.9

77 100.0

42 45.2

29 31.2

22 23.7

93 100.0


348 27.5

367 29.0

1264 100.0

374 47.1

271 34.1

149 18.8

794 100.0


5 Ferndale (Glamorgan) MARI A. WILLIAMS

The coal-mining settlement of Ferndale in the Rhondda Fach valley developed from the early 1860s onwards as a direct result of the successful exploitation of rich steam-coal seams by David Davis, Blaen-gwawr (1797–1866). Between 1862 and 1874 three pits were sunk at Ferndale and the physical and economic character of this sparsely-populated rural district was rapidly transformed as hundreds of workers and their families descended upon the area. The first settlers made their home at Blaenllechau, on the eastern side of the Rhondda Fach river, but, as the population continued to grow, the settlement subsequently developed on the opposite side of the river at Ferndale. It is alleged that the name Ferndale, a translation of Glynrhedynog (one of the farms upon whose land the pits were sunk), was coined either by Delta Davies, a cashier at the colliery offices, or by David Davis himself, in response to a request for a name which was easier than Blaenllechau for the tongues of English and foreign coal exporters.1 In his history of the parish of Llanwynno, published in 1888, William Thomas (Glanffrwd) (1843–90) lamented this decision, fearing that other familiar Welsh names along the length of the Rhondda Fach would be changed to suit English tastes: A gaiff ffynhonnau a gloyw-nentydd y Cwm o’r Ynys-hir hyd y Glynrhedynog, eu gorfodi i barablu Saesneg, a throi fel y pentrefi sydd wedi gwadu iaith eu gwlad, ac ymddiosg o fod yn Flaenllechau i fod yn Ferndale, ac o fod yn Bont-y-gwaith i fod yn Tylorstown?2 (Will the springs and clear-streams of the Valley from Ynys-hir to Glynrhedynog, be forced to speak in English and, like those villages which have forsaken the language of their country, change from Blaenllechau to Ferndale and from Pont-y-gwaith to Tylorstown?) 1

2

David Young, ‘Cofiant Mr Delta Davies’, Yr Eurgrawn Wesleaidd, CIV, no. 9 (1912), 325–30; Llewelyn Morgan, Hanes Capel Wesley, Ferndale (Ferndale, 1922), p. 5; NLW MS 4378 E; NLW Nathan Wyn Manuscripts (Jonathon Rees, 1841–1905), Ap Nathan Papers, N183. William Thomas (Glanffrwd), A History of the Parish of Llanwynno (2nd ed., Cardiff, 1949), pp. 222–4.


106

By 1891 Ferndale was the largest coal-mining settlement in the Rhondda Fach and was home to nearly 6,500 people. The first in-migrants to the district were accommodated by the colliery company in temporary wooden huts or ‘barracks’, but by the end of the 1870s these had been replaced by rows of small uniform terraced houses.3 Only one family continued to earn its living from the land at Rhondda Fechan farm, and the lives of the remainder of the population were dominated by the fortunes of the coal-mining industry. By 1891 the colliery company established in the 1860s by David Davis and his sons, David and Lewis Davis (1829–88), had become a limited company under the directorship of Frederick Lewis Davis JP, grandson of the founder. The three collieries operating at Ferndale produced a combined output of around 3,000 tons of coal each day and employed 2,725 men, 2,419 of whom worked underground and 306 of whom worked on the surface and in the colliery workshops and offices.4 As the headquarters of the largest mining concern in the valley, Ferndale was also a busy commercial centre and the populations of Blaenllechau, Ferndale, as well as the rapidly developing neighbouring settlements of Maerdy and Tylorstown, were served by its many shops and dealing-houses.5 The children of Ferndale and Blaenllechau were educated at the Board and infant schools, established in 1874 and 1882 respectively, while older residents of the two settlements were provided with their own centres of learning at the library and reading room situated in the High Street and the assembly room which accommodated 700 people.6 Religious instruction could also be acquired in the eight Nonconformist chapels and two churches which had been established in Ferndale by 1891. Two of the four Welsh Nonconformist chapels, namely Salem Newydd Baptist chapel (est. 1877) and Penuel Calvinistic Methodist chapel (est. 1878), were both branches of causes at Blaenllechau. The Welsh Wesleyans and Congregationalists had also expanded to meet the needs of the growing population at Ferndale, and in order to accommodate all their members both denominations had been forced to secure new buildings in 1878 and 1888 respectively.7 3 4

5

6

7

Jenkin Thomas, ‘Hanes Ferndale’, Y Darian, 17 May 1922. Reports from Commissioners, Inspectors and Others, Vol. 5, Mines, South Wales District (No. 13) (PP 1892 (c6625) XII), p. 72. See the following descriptions of life in Ferndale during the late nineteenth century: David Davies, ‘The Rhonddas in the ’Eighties’, Quarterly Review, no. 588 (1951), 217–30; J. E. Morgan, ‘Atgofion Gwerinwr’, Seren Gomer, XLVIII, no. 3 (1956), 91–6. Kelly’s Directory of Monmouthshire, and the Principal Towns and Places of South Wales (London, 1891), p. 441. John Thomas, Hanes Eglwysi Annibynol Cymru. Cyfrol V (Dolgellau, 1891), pp. 200–1; Jenkin Thomas, ‘Hanes Ferndale’, Y Darian, 26 October, 9, 23 November 1922; W. J. Rhys, ‘Cychwyn a Chynnydd yr Anghydffurfwyr yng Nghymoedd Rhondda’, TCHBC (1960), 5–13; John Lodwick Evans, Hanes Eglwys Penuel, MC, Ferndale, 1878–1928 yn fwyaf arbennig (Ystradgynlais, 1928); T. Johns, Salem Newydd, Ferndale: Dathlu Tri-Ugain Mlwydd yr Eglwys, 5–9 Rhagfyr 1937: Braslun o Hanes yr Eglwys, 1877–1937 (Ferndale, 1937), pp. 6–7; Morgan, Hanes Capel Wesley, Ferndale, pp. 5–7.

FERNDALE (GLAMORGAN)

107

Table 1: Language spoken by populations of Ferndale, Pontypridd Registration District, Glamorgan and Wales (2 years and over) Number Welsh Ferndale1 1687 Pontypridd R.D.2 40507 Glamorgan3 142346 Wales4 508036 1 2 3 4

Both 1741 46487 177726 402253

English

Total

1038 4466 50005 136999 326481 646553 759416 1669705


39.0 33.9 27.5 24.1

English

Total

23.2 36.5 50.5 45.5

100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0


The 1891 census divided Ferndale into four enumeration districts. The following material is based on a sample of three districts which encompassed the main settlement and was home to 4,498 individuals (aged 2 years and over). Of the 4,466 who gave a statement regarding their language and age, 1,687 (37.8 per cent) spoke Welsh only, 1,741 (39.0 per cent) spoke both Welsh and English, and 1,038 (23.2 per cent) spoke English only. As Table 1 shows, Ferndale was a dominantly Welsh-speaking settlement and the proportion of Welsh speakers far exceeded that enumerated in the remainder of the Pontypridd Registration District and the county of Glamorgan. Over three-quarters of the total population spoke Welsh, and over half of these were unable to speak English. Monoglot English speakers, on the other hand, accounted for less than a quarter of the total population, a proportion which was significantly less than that recorded in the Registration District as a whole. Yet although Welsh remained the language of the majority, attention should be drawn to the fact that just over half the Welsh-speaking population of Ferndale was also proficient in the English language. As Table 2 shows, the linguistic ability of the inhabitants of Ferndale varied considerably according to age. Although the vast majority of the population in all age groups spoke Welsh, the proportion of monoglot and bilingual speakers differed greatly. Monoglot Welsh speakers were particularly prominent among the infant and older age groups, while young adults and children of school age returned the highest proportion of bilingual speakers. Education clearly played an important role in familiarizing monoglot Welsh-speaking children with the English language. Nearly half the 809 school pupils enumerated at Ferndale in 1891 were bilingual speakers, while 269 (33.3 per cent) were monoglot Welsh speakers and 149 (18.4 per cent) spoke English only. Welsh speakers accounted


108


Both

English

Total

2–5 6–14 15–24 25–44 45–64 65+

209 265 375 545 239 54

125 408 500 501 178 29

90 163 412 280 79 14

424 836 1287 1326 496 97

Total

1687

1741

1038

4466

Age

Percentage Welsh

Both

English

Total

49.3 31.7 29.1 41.1 48.2 55.7

29.5 48.8 38.9 37.8 35.9 29.9

21.2 19.5 32.0 21.1 15.9 14.4

100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0

37.8

39.0

23.2

100.0

English

Total


Total

Number Sex Welsh

Both

English

Total



106 103 133 132 255 120 329 216 130 109 34 20

58 67 194 214 291 209 310 191 107 71 17 12

49 41 82 81 334 78 196 84 53 26 11 3

213 211 409 427 880 407 835 491 290 206 62 35

49.8 48.8 32.5 30.9 29.0 29.5 39.4 44.0 44.8 52.9 54.8 57.1

27.2 31.8 47.4 50.1 33.1 51.4 37.1 38.9 36.9 34.5 27.4 34.3

23.0 19.4 20.0 19.0 38.0 19.2 23.5 17.1 18.3 12.6 17.7 8.6

100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0

M F

987 700

977 764

725 313

2689 1777

36.7 39.4

36.3 43.0

27.0 17.6

100.0 100.0

for over 70 per cent of the population in all age groups except one, namely the group of young adults between 15 and 24 years of age. Over 70 per cent of the 1,287 individuals in this age group spoke English, and nearly a third of these spoke English only. Nearly a quarter of these young adults were in-migrants from England and other countries, and they accounted for two-thirds of the monoglot English speakers in their age group. The movement of young adults into Ferndale was a predominantly male phenomenon. As Table 3 shows, males accounted for over 60 per cent of the total population of Ferndale and their linguistic ability differed greatly from that of the


109


Number Welsh


Both

English

Total

851 346 189 115 78 24 15 4 16 20 10 2 3 2

1110 192 115 74 70 59 39 6 10 5 5 4 4 1

297 3 4 13 15 37 30 33 1 – – 3 – –

2258 541 308 202 163 120 84 43 27 25 15 9 7 3

37.7 64.0 61.4 56.9 47.9 20.0 17.9 9.3 59.3 80.0 66.7 22.2 42.9 66.7

England

7

43

557

607

Other3

4

3

37

1686

1740

1030

Glamorgan Carmarthenshire Cardiganshire Pembrokeshire Breconshire Monmouthshire Montgomeryshire Radnorshire Merioneth Caernarfonshire Denbighshire Flintshire Anglesey Wales2

Total 1 2 3

English

Total

49.2 35.5 37.3 36.6 42.9 49.2 46.4 14.0 37.0 20.0 33.3 44.4 57.1 33.3

13.1 0.6 1.3 6.4 9.2 30.8 35.7 76.7 3.7 – – 33.3 – –

100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0

1.2

7.1

91.8

100.0

44

9.1

6.8

84.1

100.0

4456

37.8

39.0

23.1

100.0

Excluding 10 individuals whose place of birth was not given. County unknown. Place of birth: Ireland 16, Scotland 8, America 6, Australia 4, Russia 4, India 3, France 2, Germany 1.

female population. Only 17.6 per cent of the 1,777 females were unable to speak Welsh, compared with 27 per cent of the 2,689 males. Members of the female population were overwhelmingly Welsh in origin, and only 129 (7.3 per cent) individuals hailed from England and beyond. Conversely, non-Welsh-born individuals accounted for nearly 20 per cent of the total male population. The difference in the linguistic ability of the sexes was most pronounced among the adult population, where males accounted for two-thirds of the total population. Nearly 40 per cent of males between the ages of 15 and 24 were monoglot English speakers, compared with only 19.2 per cent of females. An examination of the birthplaces of males and females within this age group revealed the extent to which the different migration patterns of the two sexes gave rise to such linguistic variation. Just over a third of the 880 males were natives of Glamorgan, while a similar proportion hailed from other parts of Wales, and the remaining 259 (29.4 per cent) came from England. Members of the female population were, however, far more local in origin: nearly two-thirds of the 407 females were from Glamorgan, while only 28 (6.9 per cent) were natives of

110


England. A higher proportion of Welsh-speaking females than males were also proficient in the English language, a factor which was probably the result of their upbringing in the industrial county of Glamorgan. Furthermore, since over half the females in this age group were employed either as domestic servants, dressmakers or shop assistants, their knowledge of both languages was an important requirement in their daily lives. The linguistic character of Ferndale was determined, therefore, by the geographical origins of the in-migrants who continued to swarm into the area. The overwhelming majority of the resident population in 1891 had been born in Wales: nearly 60 per cent were natives of Glamorgan, while 1,051 (27.6 per cent) hailed from the three south-western counties of Wales, most notably from Carmarthen. Nearly 40 per cent of the Glamorgan-born population were monoglot Welsh speakers, whose ranks were swelled by natives of other Welsh counties, particularly Carmarthen, Cardigan and Pembroke. Yet, as Table 4 shows, a significant proportion of the Welsh-speaking population born in Glamorgan were also able to speak English. The 607 English-born individuals, the majority of whom hailed from Gloucestershire, comprised only a small proportion of the total population, yet they accounted for over half the monoglot English speakers of Ferndale. The forty-four individuals who were natives of other countries included in-migrants from Ireland and Scotland, as well as returnee Welsh emigrants from America and Australia. A significant proportion of the Glamorgan-born population enumerated in Ferndale in 1891 were the children of the first in-migrants who had settled in the district years previously. An examination of the birthplaces of people over 25 years of age reveals that a far higher proportion of the adult Welsh-born population hailed from Welsh counties outside Glamorgan. Natives of Carmarthenshire were particularly prominent among this group, and several families, particularly from the Llanelli district and the town of Carmarthen and its environs, had settled close to each other in their new homes at Ferndale. In view of the fact that over 80 per cent of the adult population had been born in Wales and were Welsh speakers, the Welsh language retained a strong position within the homes of the vast majority. Only in 84 (10.7 per cent) of the 784 households were all members returned as non-Welsh speakers, while in 215 (27.4 per cent) households no members could speak English. In 159 (20.3 per cent) households, all members spoke both Welsh and English, while the members of the remaining 326 (41.6 per cent) households were a mixture of bilingual or monoglot Welsh and/or English speakers. As a young mining community with a disproportionate number of young adult males to females, the female marriage rate was particularly high, and nearly 70 per cent of the 356 females aged between 20 and 29 were married, while over 70 per cent of the 788 males of the same age were single. The nuclear family thus formed the basic household unit in Ferndale and nearly 90 per cent of households comprised a married couple and their


111

Table 5: Language spoken by relation to head of household (2 years and over) Relation to head of household

Number Welsh Both

Heads 343 Wives 312 Children1 642 Relatives 71 Servants/maidservants 20 Boarders/lodgers 282 Visitors 17 Total 1

1687


English

Total

305 247 791 76 90 218 14

135 113 300 46 26 404 14

783 672 1733 193 136 904 45

43.8 46.4 37.0 36.8 14.7 31.2 37.8

1741

1038

4466

37.8

English

Total

39.0 36.8 45.6 39.4 66.2 24.1 31.1

17.2 16.8 17.3 23.8 19.1 44.7 31.1

100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0

39.0

23.2

100.0

Includes adopted children and stepchildren.

children. As Table 5 shows, this family unit was predominantly Welsh, and over 80 per cent of all heads of household, wives and children spoke the language. It is clear, however, that non-nuclear-family members such as relatives, visitors, servants, and, more particularly, boarders and lodgers, proved a strong Anglicizing influence in the settlement of Ferndale. The majority of the 904 boarders and lodgers who accounted for 20.2 per cent of the total population were English speakers, and 44.7 per cent spoke English only. The presence of boarders or lodgers in the homes of Welsh-speaking families could therefore have a significant effect upon the linguistic ability of other household members and could even initiate a shift in language use within individual homes. It is apparent that linguistic changes had already taken place within some Welsh-speaking families, for although there was little evidence of a generational decline in the proportion of Welsh speakers, Welsh-speaking children were more likely to be proficient in the English language than their parents. An examination of the language spoken in the homes of 476 nuclear families in Ferndale sheds further light on the factors which affected this complex process of intergenerational linguistic change. It was found that in 383 (80.5 per cent) of the 476 households, both parents were able to speak Welsh, and in 208 (54.3 per cent) of these households both husband and wife spoke Welsh only. Thirty-five households were headed by one Welsh and one non-Welsh speaker, while only 58 households (12.2 per cent of the total) were headed by two non-Welshspeaking parents. In the vast majority of households, therefore, either one or both parents spoke Welsh and, as Table 6 shows, the vast majority of their children (whose ages ranged from 2 to 32 years) were also Welsh speakers. Despite the predominantly Welsh-speaking character of family and community life in Ferndale, it is evident that very few children of non-Welsh-speaking


112

Table 6: Language of children (aged 2 years and over) in households headed by Welsh-speaking and non-Welsh-speaking parents Linguistic ability of parents Father Mother Welsh Welsh English English



Total


Total

368 5 6 2

8 11 10 54

7 3 – 2

383 19 16 58

96.1 26.3 37.5 3.4

2.1 57.9 62.5 93.1

1.8 15.8 – 3.4

100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0

381

83

12

476

80.0

17.4

2.5

100.0

W: monoglot Welsh and bilinguals; E: monoglot English; Mixed: mixture of Welsh-speaking and nonWelsh-speaking children in same household.




W B W B E B E E W

164 2 7 7 – 1 1 1 –

24 12 7 109 3 3 1 1 1

2 – – 6 10 9 54 1 1

18 1 6 18 3 1 2 – –

208 15 20 140 16 14 58 3 2

78.8 13.3 35.0 5.0 – 7.1 1.7 33.3 –

11.5 80.0 35.0 77.9 18.8 21.4 1.7 33.3 50.0

1.0 – – 4.3 62.5 64.3 93.1 33.3 50.0

8.7 6.7 30.0 12.9 18.8 7.1 3.4 – –

100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0

183

161

83

49

476

38.4

33.8

17.4

10.3

100.0


parents had found it necessary to acquire any knowledge of the native language. Only in 4 (6.9 per cent) of the 58 households headed by monoglot Englishspeaking parents were some or all of the children able to speak Welsh. All four of the sons of the Gloucestershire-born couple David and Martha Wiltshire, whose ages ranged from 8 to 19 years, were proficient in both Welsh and English. In two other households, only individual children were able to speak Welsh, and it is probable that the two sons in question had acquired their knowledge of Welsh at the workplace. George Bowdidge, a 26-year-old collier, was the only member of


his family who could speak Welsh, and similarly in the English-speaking Wilmot household, only the 20-year-old son, Frederick – a coal haulier who hailed from Netherbury, Dorset – was returned as a Welsh speaker. In the remaining household, a more peculiar situation prevailed, for all four children born to James and Rebecca Gough were returned as speaking Welsh only. Since another member of the household – Rebecca Gough’s 72-year-old mother – was also unable to speak English, it seems likely that Rebecca Gough, a native of Rhymney, Monmouthshire, had understated her own ability to speak Welsh and the ability of her children to speak English. The need for non-Welsh speakers to learn Welsh was no doubt lessened by the fact that a growing number of the younger generation of Welsh speakers could also speak English. As Table 7 shows, some or all of the children in 203 (53.0 per cent) of the 383 households headed by Welsh-speaking parents were able to speak English. The ability to speak English was most prevalent among the children of bilingual parents, but even in 44 (21.2 per cent) of the 208 homes headed by monoglot Welsh-speaking parents, 133 children were proficient in the English language, and in four households it was claimed that the children were unable to speak Welsh. The fact that the older three of Henry and Sarah Moses’s four children had been born in America was probably a determining factor in explaining their apparent ignorance of their parents’ native tongue. This generational shift from Welsh to English was evident within the homes of a further eleven Welsh-speaking couples, where either some or all of their children were returned as speaking English only. They included all seven children of the mining engineer, William Thomas, and all four children of Walter Jones, a house agent from Merthyr Tydfil. Only 15-year-old Ethel, the youngest of Walter and Margaret Jones’s four children, was a native of Ferndale, while the three older children, aged between 20 and 23, had been born in Ballaratt, Australia. In households headed by only one Welsh-speaking parent, the children would usually be brought up in a non-Welsh-speaking environment. In nearly 70 per cent of the thirty-five households where only one parent spoke Welsh, the children were returned as monoglot English speakers. They included all four children of the schoolmaster, Richard Thompson, and his bilingual wife Jane, and the five children born to the medical practitioner, Thomas Parry, and his monoglot English-speaking wife, Martha. Marriage partnerships between couples of different linguistic ability were rare, however, and in the vast majority of households children were brought up to speak the same language as their parents. Even so, the linguistic ability of individuals was not determined solely by the language of their parents but rather by a combination of linguistic influences which existed both inside and outside the home. The bilingual children of monoglot Welsh-speaking parents had clearly acquired their knowledge of the English language at school or at work, or through their contact with English speakers in their immediate street and home

113


114


Number Welsh


Both

English

Total

51 79 60 36 13 7 8 13 1 6 1 2 2

63 43 38 26 12 6 5 3 1 1 3 1 –

24 – 2 5 4 16 6 – 11 – – – –

138 122 100 67 29 29 19 16 13 7 4 3 2

37.0 64.8 60.0 53.7 44.8 24.1 42.1 81.3 7.7 85.7 25.0 66.7 100.0

England

2

15

311

328

Other2

1

1

17

282

218

396

Glamorgan Carmarthenshire Cardiganshire Pembrokeshire Breconshire Montgomeryshire Monmouthshire Caernarfonshire Radnorshire Merioneth Denbighshire Flintshire Anglesey

Total 1 2

English

Total

45.7 35.2 38.0 38.8 41.4 20.7 26.3 18.8 7.7 14.3 75.0 33.3 –

17.4 – 2.0 7.5 13.8 55.2 31.6 – 84.6 – – – –

100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0

0.6

4.6

94.8

100.0

19

5.3

5.3

89.5

100.0

896

31.5

24.3

44.2

100.0

Excluding 8 individuals whose place of birth was not given. Place of birth: Ireland 9, Scotland 4, France 2, India 2, Germany 1, Russia 1.

environment. There is no doubt that the linguistic character of the homes and the wider community of Ferndale had been affected by the recent influx of a large number of monoglot English-speaking lodgers. Attracted by the high wages offered in the collieries, young adult males flocked to Ferndale in search of employment and by 1891 lodgers accounted for 41.4 per cent of the resident coalmining workforce. Boarders and lodgers were accommodated in 360 (45.9 per cent) households at Ferndale, and usually resided either on their own or in pairs in the terraced homes of their host families. In some instances, however, lodgings were provided for a considerably greater number of individuals, and living conditions in the small homes must have been especially difficult. Robert and Mary Death and their five children played host to four lodgers and one visitor in the three rooms they all shared in a house in Oak Street. At 38 North Street George and Charlotte Barwell and their four children shared their home with eight lodgers from Gloucester and Somersetshire, while James and Mary Clement and their six children provided rooms for one domestic servant and seven male lodgers at their home in Frederick Street. As Table 8 shows, the majority of the boarders and lodgers of Ferndale hailed from the predominantly agricultural districts of Wales and England. Only a


quarter of all Welsh-born lodgers were natives of Glamorgan, and over half the Welsh lodgers hailed from the three south-western counties of Carmarthen, Cardigan and Pembroke. The vast majority of lodgers from these three counties were Welsh speakers, and most spoke Welsh only. The remaining non-Welshborn lodgers, the majority of whom were from England, accounted for nearly 40 per cent of the total lodging population. The English-born lodgers, who were mainly natives of the counties of Gloucester and Somerset, comprised over half the English-born population of Ferndale, and since only 17 (5.2 per cent) were able to speak Welsh they clearly formed a strong monoglot English-speaking presence in the community. Within the homes of their individual host families, however, lodgers presented less of a threat to existing linguistic allegiances, for the vast majority of lodgers, whether they were English or Welsh speakers, resided in households where other members were of a similar linguistic, social and geographical background. Seventy of the 122 lodgers who hailed from Carmarthenshire lived in households where either the head and/or spouse were also from the same county, and in 45 instances lodgers hailed from the same parish as their hosts. At Fountain Street, John and Thomas Morgans of Pen-bre had taken up lodgings in the home of David Morgans, a native of the same town and possibly a relation, while at their home in Rhondda Road John and Rachel Roberts provided accommodation for two lodgers from their native district of Llangyndeyrn. Not one of the Carmarthenshire-born lodgers resided in a non-Welsh-speaking home and in many ways, therefore, their presence in the home of the host family was a means of maintaining and reinforcing social and cultural links between the predominantly Welsh-speaking rural and mining communities. The English-born lodgers exhibited the same tendency to take up rooms with friends and acquaintances from their native districts or with other Englishspeaking families. Sixty-seven (43.2 per cent) of the 155 lodgers who hailed from Gloucestershire lived with families where the head and/or spouse were also English by birth, and in 35 instances their hosts were also from Gloucestershire. Although it is not always easy to establish the exact nature of the relationship between lodgers and members of their host families, it appears that several of the Gloucestershire-born lodgers were themselves closely related to one another. Frederick and Sidney Pearce of Charlton Kings were probably brothers or cousins who shared the same lodging house at Brynhyfryd Terrace, and the same was probably true of Amos and Alexander Cook and George and Thomas Fisher of Cheltenham who lodged together at Union Street and Wood Street respectively. Three members of the Ballinger family from Winchcombe were also found to be living in close proximity to one another in Ferndale. William and Alfred Ballinger shared lodgings at a house in Union Street, while Denis Ballinger lived a few streets away in North Street. However, in view of the fact that only 101 (12.9 per cent) of the heads of household and 71 (10.6 per cent) of the wives of Ferndale were natives of

115

116


Image Not Available

Figure 1. Language spoken and place of birth of household heads in Ferndale


England, the majority of the English-born lodgers took up lodgings in the homes of Welsh-born and Welsh-speaking families. In Welsh-speaking households the presence of a monoglot English-speaking lodger could initiate a change in language use within the home since Welsh-speaking family members were prone to converse in English with their guests. In most Welsh-speaking households where monoglot English-speaking lodgers were found, one or more members of the host family, usually the children, were also able to speak English. However, forty-one monoglot English-speaking lodgers lived in households where all members of the host family spoke Welsh only, and although twenty-four lodgers were accompanied by other non-Welsh-speaking lodgers the remaining seventeen were linguistically isolated in their place of residence. At Brynhyfryd Terrace, Alf Uzell, a native of Iron Acton, Gloucestershire, lived alone with a monoglot Welsh-speaking family from Glamorgan, while a few doors away, George Tandy of Ledbury, Herefordshire, lodged with a monoglot Welsh-speaking family from Carmarthenshire. Conversely, monoglot Welsh-speaking lodgers experienced little difficulty in finding accommodation with Welsh-speaking families, and only five lodged in households where no other members spoke Welsh. The movement of large numbers of English in-migrants to Ferndale was a fairly recent phenomenon, for few English families had settled in the community. An investigation of the place of birth and linguistic ability of the 761 heads of household who resided in the fifteen main terraces revealed that only in three streets, namely Union Street, Oak Street and Fountain Street, had any significant number of English-born heads established their own families (Figure 1). English families living in these terraced rows tended to cluster together and often shared the same house. For example, ten of the twelve English families living in Fountain Street lived at numbers 19–20, 25–26 and 40–41. The sixteen Irish natives resident in Ferndale, only one of whom was able to speak Welsh, showed a similar tendency to congregate in small groups. At Fountain Street, two Irish families who hailed from Cork and Kilkenny, shared a house, and both families provided accommodation for lodgers from their native country. In Ferndale the language of the immediate street environment was Welsh. Only in two rows of houses, namely Union Street and Brynhyfryd Terrace, were less than 70 per cent of the residents (aged 2 years and over) unable to speak Welsh, but in both instances the percentage of Welsh speakers remained at over 60 per cent. At Union Street, where 118 (36.3 per cent) of the 325 residents were unable to speak Welsh, boarders and lodgers accounted for over half the nonWelsh-speaking population, and only twelve of the forty-nine heads of household hailed from England. Residents of Beech Street and Rhondda Road, on the other hand, were overwhelmingly Welsh in tongue and origin. All twelve heads of household who lived at Rhondda Road were Welsh by birth, as were all but two of the twenty-five heads at Beech Street. Only eight of the seventy-nine residents

117


118

of Rhondda Road were unable to speak Welsh, and they all lived in one household. At Beech Street, 127 (96.9 per cent) of the 131 residents were Welsh speakers, of whom 59 (46.5 per cent) were monoglots. The only four residents who were unable to speak Welsh were two male lodgers and the Swansea-born brothers George and James Williams, who claimed an inability to speak Welsh even though the other two members of their household, George’s wife and his brother-in-law, were monoglot Welsh speakers. As the main commercial centre of the Rhondda Fach, Ferndale was home to many dealers, merchants and small manufacturers, and in the Strand and the High Street, the two main commercial streets included in this sample, grocers, butchers, flannel-dealers, tailors, drapers, bootmakers, ironmongers and publicans served the needs of their communities. Over 70 per cent of the 494 residents of the two streets were Welsh speakers, of whom over two-thirds could also speak English. As Table 9 shows, excluding those women who were returned as lodging house keepers, 102 individuals were employed within the dealing sector at Ferndale. Two-thirds of the 102 individuals were bilingual speakers, while 19 (18.6 per cent) spoke English only and 13 (12.7 per cent) spoke Welsh only. At the Emporium, a large drapery establishment owned by John Jenkins of Berth-lwyd, Cardiganshire, eight men and women were employed as shop assistants, dressmakers and milliners, six of whom spoke both Welsh and English. Four of the five male assistants employed at the grocery shop managed by David Evans, a native of Llanrhystud, Cardiganshire, were also fluent in both languages. Patrons frequenting the Maxwell and the Commercial hotels were served by two bilingual innkeepers whose bar staff were also mostly bilingual. Among the handful of dealers unable to speak Welsh was Samuel Shibko, owner of a pawnbroker shop and a boot and shoe warehouse on the Strand. Born in Russia, Shibko was a widower. Clearly a relatively recent arrival to the British mainland, his eldest son, aged 9, had also been born in Russia, while his youngest child, who was 3 years of age, had been born in Hull. Samuel Elias, a 19-year-old picture dealer, was another non-Welsh-speaking native of Russia who earned his living in Ferndale. Both Shibko and Elias figured among a growing number of Jewish émigrés who had settled in south Wales from the early 1880s after fleeing their native country to avoid persecution. The trade directory covering the two Rhondda valleys in 1891 lists the names of around twenty businesses which were probably owned or managed by Jews, all of whom were engaged in a small range of occupations identified as the preserve of Jewish families in other industrial towns in south Wales during this period, namely, pawnbrokers, furniture or picture dealers, outfitters, jewellers, watchmakers and glaziers.8 At Dyffryn Street, 8

Kelly’s Directory, pp. 438–51. See Anthony Glaser and Ursula R. Q. Henriques, ‘The Valleys Communities’ in Ursula R. Q. Henriques (ed.), The Jews of South Wales: Historical Studies (Cardiff, 1993), pp. 45–67.


Ferndale, a district not included in this sample, Eli Joseph and Eli Cohen, both natives of Poland, had established businesses as a pawnbroker and furniture dealer respectively. Like the other Jewish traders who worked in the Rhondda, both were ignorant of the Welsh language, but this did not appear to hinder their commercial enterprises. Several other individuals whose work brought them into daily contact with members of the public at Ferndale were also unable to speak Welsh. Although Henry Davies, the police sergeant, and two of the five police constables who served under him were bilingual speakers, the remaining three constables, one of whom was an Irishman, spoke English only. At the post office situated in the High Street, three monoglot English-speaking postal clerks assisted David Thomas, the bilingual postmaster. English was also the only language spoken by Richard Thompson, schoolmaster at the Board School. A native of Blaenau, Monmouthshire, Thompson acted as one of the four census enumerators at Ferndale in 1891, a responsible task which was also performed by Horace, his non-Welsh-speaking son. Two of the remaining six teachers were also unable to speak Welsh, namely John Earnshaw from Leeds, and Helen Littlejohn, a native of Cornwall, whose father owned a greengrocery business in the High Street. Two other schoolteachers, Rachel Morgan and Susanna Arthur, spoke Welsh only, while John Jones, a 21-year-old elementary teacher from Llanelli, and Jane Thompson, the schoolmistress and wife of Richard Thompson, were bilingual speakers. Of the twenty-five assistant or pupil teachers, nineteen were bilingual, two were monoglot Welsh speakers and four spoke English only. Four individuals provided musical and spiritual instruction through the medium of English outside the formal domain of the school and chapel classroom. Robert and Vincent Thomas were English-born music teachers, and Ann Hogg and Jane Dyvars were Salvation Army officers who shared lodgings at a house in Frederick Street. J. E. Morgan recalled that during the 1880s members of the Salvation Army regularly visited Ferndale and held hymn-singing meetings at the Strand on Saturday evenings which always attracted a large crowd of worshippers, onlookers and hecklers.9 Those who ministered to the needs of their congregations in the Nonconformist chapels of Ferndale were, however, Welsh in tongue and origin. All six Nonconformist ministers who were present at Ferndale during the night of the census were Welsh speakers, including one who was minister of an English cause. Two of them – David Davies, assistant preacher at the Welsh Wesleyan chapel, and Henry James, a visiting Baptist minister from Llandeilo – spoke Welsh only. Deacons and officers who served in Welsh Nonconformist chapels were mainly local traders and colliery officials whose status and influence within their 9

Morgan, ‘Atgofion Gwerinwr’, 92.

119


120

community was reaffirmed by their cultural and religious affiliations.10 In 1891 members of the sêt fawr at Penuel, the Welsh Presbyterian chapel, included David Walters, an assistant colliery manager, and Evan Rees, a clerk at the colliery offices.11 One of the deacons at the Welsh Wesleyan chapel was Thomas Bevan, a cashier at the colliery offices and a member of the Ystradyfodwg School Board; he had played a prominent role in the establishment of the Wesleyan cause at Ferndale and served as its first organist.12 The treasurer at Salem Newydd Baptist chapel was E. J. Thomas, the monoglot Welsh-speaking manager of the Cooperative Stores, while Edward Parry, a foreman carpenter from Northop, Flintshire, held the same position at the Wesleyan chapel.13 Several of these individuals had made their home in the new houses erected from the 1880s onwards at North Street and Elm Street,14 close to Brynderwen, the residence of F. L. Davis JP, chairman and managing director of the Ferndale collieries. Since he was the son of Lewis Davis, a man who was regarded as the main benefactor of the early Welsh religious and cultural institutions at Ferndale, F. L. Davis was almost certainly a Welsh speaker, although it is not possible to confirm this, owing to his absence from Brynderwen on the night of the census.15 But even though the Davis family chose to live and worship among their employees at Ferndale, it is clear that the coal owners could no longer rely upon the allegiance of all members of the mining community. During the election campaign of 1885, William Abraham (Mabon), the miners’ leader, successfully opposed his fellow Liberal F. L. Davis and was returned as the first Liberal MP and miners’ candidate for the Rhondda.16 During the bitterly-fought contest of 1885 both Mabon and F. L. Davis would no doubt have delivered their public addresses to the miners of Ferndale through the medium of Welsh. Nearly three-quarters of the mining workforce of 1,642 were Welsh speakers, the majority of whom spoke Welsh only, and only 329 (20.0 per cent) miners hailed from England. Welsh-born and Welsh-speaking individuals were particularly prevalent among the ranks of the colliery officials and the skilled workforce. All seven colliery officials – four colliery managers, two under-managers and one assistant manager – were Welsh speakers, as were all thirteen of the colliery clerks. Moreover, the five checkweighers and twenty of the twenty-three firemen and overmen were Welsh speakers. Since over 80 per cent of the 1,394 hauliers and skilled miners were Welshmen, it was hardly surprising that over three-quarters spoke Welsh. Natives of the industrialized 10 11 12 13 14 15

16

See E. T. Davies, Religion in the Industrial Revolution in South Wales (Cardiff, 1965), pp. 149–50. Evans, Hanes Eglwys Penuel, pp. 11–12. Young, ‘Cofiant Mr Delta Davies’, 326; Morgan, Hanes Capel Wesley, Ferndale, pp. 15–16. Johns, Salem Newydd, Ferndale, p. 24; Morgan, Hanes Capel Wesley, Ferndale, p. 15. Malcolm J. Fisk, Housing in the Rhondda, 1800–1940 (Cardiff, 1996), p. 120. Morgan, Hanes Capel Wesley, Ferndale, pp. 14–15. See David Young, Bywyd Lewis Davis, Ferndale (Ferndale, 1888). Chris Williams, Democratic Rhondda: Politics and Society, 1885–1951 (Cardiff, 1996), pp. 31–7.


counties of Glamorgan and Monmouth accounted for over half this skilled workforce, and only 257 (18.4 per cent) were natives of England. Within the lower-skilled occupations, however, the presence of non-Welshborn and non-Welsh-speaking men was far more evident. Sixty-eight (59.6 per cent) of the 114 colliery labourers spoke English only; 59 of these hailed from England and other countries. Most members of the general labouring class were of non-Welsh origin and spoke English. Of the 111 general labourers 71 (63.9 per cent) hailed from England, Scotland and Ireland and 75 (67.6 per cent) spoke English only. Nearly three-quarters of the men who were engaged upon such low-skilled occupations were lodgers; their status as temporary and comparatively new members of the community consigned them to inferior work of this nature. In comparison with smaller mining settlements nearby, the female population of Ferndale was provided with greater opportunities to take up paid employment and a third of females (aged 10 years and over) were gainfully occupied. At the large drapery establishments, the public houses and coffee taverns, young females could find work as dressmakers, seamstresses, milliners, shop assistants, barmaids and waitresses, posts in which a proficiency in both Welsh and English was clearly an important asset. However, the majority of females worked within the confines of their own homes, where they provided domestic service to male members of their households. The female heads or wives of households containing two or more lodgers were classified as lodging house keepers. In many households the domestic responsibilities shouldered by the female lodging house keeper were particularly heavy, and often required the assistance of a young female servant. In her home in Union Street, Sarah Davies, a 30-year-old mother of three young children, was assisted by a young female relative in the care of the nine male members of the household who were employed as coal miners. In fact, over half the 178 females who were occupied as domestic servants were related to other members of their household, and were either the daughters, nieces or cousins of mining families. The overwhelming majority of lodging house keepers and domestic servants spoke Welsh and only 14 (11.2 per cent) of the 125 lodging house keepers and 12 (6.7 per cent) of the 178 domestic servants hailed from England. It has already been revealed that the majority of lodging house keepers were proficient in the language spoken by their paying guests, and domestic servants also generally served in households where other members were of a similar linguistic and geographical origin. Nine of the twelve monoglot English-speaking servants who hailed from England were employed in households where the head or spouse were also from England, while the remaining three served with English-speaking families from Glamorgan and Monmouthshire. In two households, however, a monoglot domestic servant was employed in the service of a family where all other household members claimed an inability to speak the same language. Mary Francombe, a 31-year-old from Ystradyfodwg, was unable to speak Welsh, yet

121


122

was employed in the home of a monoglot Welsh-speaking family, while Elizabeth Rees, a monoglot Welsh speaker from Ferndale, was in service at the home of the Littlejohn family, who spoke English only. However, non-Welsh-speaking families did not form a strong presence in the coal-mining community of Ferndale. Over three-quarters of the total population spoke Welsh, and nearly half the Welsh-speaking population spoke Welsh only. The vast majority of the residents used the Welsh language daily to converse with family members, neighbours and fellow-workers, as well as during their religious, cultural and political meetings. Although Ferndale had become an important commercial centre in the Rhondda Fach valley, Welsh remained the language of the coal owners and most of the dealers and merchants who earned their living in the town. Moreover, their attachment to local Welsh religious and cultural institutions served to reinforce the profile and status of the language. The predominantly Welsh character of in-migration to Ferndale had also strengthened the position of the Welsh language in the community, and although a growing number of the younger generation of Welsh speakers could also speak English very few had abandoned their native tongue altogether. It was increasingly evident, however, that the more recent influx of population from English districts heralded the arrival of an alternative linguistic and cultural influence in the life of this industrial community. Although few English families had established themselves at Ferndale by 1891, the presence of a large number of English-born and English-speaking lodgers in the homes and wider community did not augur well for the future of the Welsh language. Very few of the non-Welsh-speaking in-migrants appeared to be learning the indigenous language and, as a growing number of Welsh speakers became acquainted with the English language, the requirement for non-Welsh-speaking residents of Ferndale to acquire knowledge of the Welsh language was reduced.


Industrial class AGRICULTURE Farming Farmer Agricultural labourer Farm servants Shepherd


– – – 1

1 1 2 –

– – – –

1 1 2 1



Industrial class


Breeding Veterinary surgeon, farrier Total %

– 1 14.3

1 5 71.4

1 1 14.3

2 7 100.0

2 1 1 8 2 599 7 – 32 9 3 7

5 1 12 12 3 467 5 1 14 14 8 4

– 1 – 3 – 328 3 – 68 10 6 6

7 3 13 23 5 1394 15 1 114 33 17 17

–

1

6

7

– 671 40.6

– 547 33.1

2 433 26.2

2 1651 100.0

– –

– 2

1 1

1 3

3 2 13 1 –

4 – 3 3 –

4 3 4 6 2

11 5 20 10 2

1 20 35.1

– 12 21.1

4 25 43.9

5 57 100.0

– 2 –

1 2 1

2 5 1

MINING Coal Managers Engineers Clerks Firemen/overmen Checkweighers Miners/hauliers Machine operators Craftsman Labourers Pithead/surface workers Doorboys Others Sandstone Quarrymen Waterworks Fitters Total % BUILDING Management Surveyor Contractors/builders Operatives Stonemasons Plasterers Carpenters/joiners Painters Labourers Railways Platelayers Total %

MANUFACTURING Machinery, tools, watches, etc. Proprietors 1 Skilled manual 1 Unskilled manual – Iron and steel


123


124

Industrial class


Foremen 2 Skilled manual 7 Assistant – Tinplate Skilled manual – Gas Skilled manual – Wood, furniture, etc. Skilled manual 1 Assistant 1 Carriages and harnesses Skilled manual – Apprentices – Cotton, flax, etc. Weaver – Dress Proprietors 2 Skilled manual 12 Apprentices/assistants 1 Food, drink, tobacco Proprietor – Skilled manual – Printing Skilled manual – Unspecified Manager – Engine drivers/stokers/ firemen/fitters 18 Total 46 % 31.5 TRANSPORT Warehouses Messengers Railways Engine drivers/stokers/ signalmen Porters Roads Cabman Carriers, hauliers, etc. Total % DEALING Dress Drapers etc. Assistants


– 12 1

– 3 –

2 22 1

–

2

2

–

2

2

– –

1 –

2 1

6 2

– –

6 2

–

–

–

1

–

–

1

2 6 1

– 11 2

4 29 4

25 1

46 2

19 –

90 3

– –

– 3

– 3

1 1

– –

– –

1 1

3

–

3

1

–

1

26 62 42.5

10 38 26.0

54 146 100.0

29 30.2

48 50.0

19 19.8

96 100.0

1

3

3

7

1 2

6 2

1 2

8 6

1 3 39 25.0

– 2 33 40.6

– 5 53 34.4

1 10 125 100.0

– 1

9 13

1 1

10 15

– 1

– 5

2 –

2 6


Industrial class


Food Butchers, fishmongers 2 4 Milksellers 1 2 Grocers 2 5 Greengrocers 1 – Assistants 1 11 Tobacco, drink and lodging Innkeepers, publicans – 2 Lodging house keepers – – Coffee house keeper – – Cellarmen/barmaids – 1 Furniture and household utensils Picture dealer – – Ironmongers – 2 Pawnbrokers – 1 Assistants 2 2 Chemists, druggists Chemist – 1 Stationery and publications Stationers, booksellers – 2 Librarian – 1 Others and unspecified House agent – 1 Total 10 57 % 12.2 69.5 INDUSTRIAL SERVICES Banking, insurance, accounts Insurance service 3 Accountant – Commercial clerks 4 Total 7 % 63.6

2 – – 2 18.2

2 – – 2 7

8 3 7 3 19

– – – –

2 – – 1

1 – 1 –

1 2 2 4

–

1

– –

2 1

– 15 18.3

1 82 100.0

1 1 – 2 18.2

6 1 4 11 100.0

PUBLIC SERVICES AND PROFESSIONALS Central administration Post Office, telegraph officials – 2 – Post Office clerks etc. – 1 1 Local administration School attendance officer 1 – – Sanitary inspector – 1 – Police Sergeant – 1 – Constables – 2 3 Medicine Surgeons, GPs – 2 –

2 2 1 1 1 5 2

125


–

2

–

2

1

2

–

3

–

1

–

1

54 1 –

44 – 3

27 – 2

125 1 5

57 39.3

57 39.3

31 21.4

145 100.0

–

–

1

1


126

Industrial class


Medical assistant – Nurse – Midwife – Education Headteachers, schoolteachers – Assistant teachers, pupil teachers – Music teachers – Students – Religion Congregational minister – Baptist minister 1 Other Nonconformist ministers 1 Theological student – Salvation Army officers – Cemetery servant – Art, literature, science Sculptor 1 Author – Total 4 % 11.4


1 – –

– – –

1 – –

– –

1 1

– –

1 1

1

2

3

2

1

1

4

4 – 1

– 2 –

4 2 1

2

15

4

21

–

–

1

1

1 –

– –

1 1

3 1 – 1

– – – –

4 1 – 1

–

–

2

2

– – 22 62.9

– 1 9 25.7

1 1 35 100.0

4 12.9

18 58.1

9 29.0

31 100.0

– –

– –

– –

– –

59 1

91 –

28 –

178 1

– –

3 2

5 –

8 2

–

–

–

–

–

–

1

1

– – – – – –

– – 3 – 8 44.4

– – 5 – 10 55.6

– – 8 – 18 100.0

5 –

3 1

1 –

9 1

– 65 34.0

– 95 49.7

1 31 16.2

1 191 100.0

OTHERS Foremen General labourers Total %

– 19 19 16.8

1 17 18 15.9

1 75 76 67.3

2 111 113 100.0

TOTAL OCCUPIED %

786 36.5

746 34.7

620 28.8

2152 100.0

155 33.5

218 47.1

90 19.4

463 100.0

DOMESTIC SERVICES Indoor service Maidservants Domestic nurse Outdoor service Grooms Gardeners Extra service Cook Charwomen, laundry women Caretaker Hairdressers Governess Total %


127

Industrial class




4 30.8

4 30.8

5 38.4

13 100.0

336 45.3

290 39.1

115 15.5

741 100.0

School pupils %

41 30.6

72 53.7

21 15.7

134 100.0

45 25.9

107 61.5

22 12.6

174 100.0


822 35.8

646 28.1

2299 100.0

536 38.9

615 44.6

227 16.5

1378 100.0


6 Cwm Clydach (Glamorgan) MARI A. WILLIAMS

Cwm Clydach is a narrow tributary valley of the Rhondda Fawr to the west of Tonypandy. Until the mid-nineteenth century this remote and wooded valley was inhabited by three farming families whose main source of income was derived from the wool which they sold to the fulling house at Tonypandy. By the end of the nineteenth century, however, the physical and industrial character of the valley had changed dramatically. Cwm Clydach had become the home of three colliery companies, the largest of which – the Cambrian Colliery – would become the founding member of the giant ‘Cambrian Combine’, one of the greatest coal-producing concerns in the South Wales Coalfield. The scale and speed of industrial development in the valley was remarkable, for although some coal had been mined from some of its small coal levels since the late 1840s, it was not until the 1860s that speculators arrived to take full advantage of the rich coal seams. In 1863 Messrs Bush and Company of Cardiff opened the Blaenclydach Colliery to work the no. 2 Rhondda seam of bituminous coal, and in January 1864 Daniel Thomas and his son Edmund Thomas leased the mineral rights to the Blaenclydach estate and Ffynnon-dwym farm, and opened the Cwmclydach Colliery on the opposite side of the river. It was not long before coal speculators turned their attention towards the deeper steam-coal seams and in the early 1870s Samuel Thomas formed a company with Osborne Riches to work the rich measures at the far end of the valley. By 1874 the Cambrian Colliery Company owned two collieries in Cwm Clydach and in 1879, the year of Samuel Thomas’s death, the two pits produced over a thousand tons of coal per day. The opening of a third pit in 1891 confirmed the position of the Cambrian Colliery Company as the largest coal-mining venture in the valley, and by the end of the century it employed around 2,300 men who raised over 3,000 tons of coal each day.1 1

E. D. Lewis, ‘The Industrial Development of the Rhondda Valleys to 1910’ (unpubl. University of Wales MA thesis, 1940), p. 115; idem, The Rhondda Valleys (London, 1959), pp. 53, 73, 78, 81; NLW MS 4378E, M. O. Jones, ‘The History of the Development of the Coal Industry of the Rhondda Valleys for the last 50 years’ (entry at the Treorchy Eisteddfod, 1895).


130

Table 1: Language spoken by populations of Cwm Clydach, Pontypridd Registration District, Glamorgan and Wales (2 years and over) Number Welsh Cwm Clydach1 1905 Pontypridd R.D.2 40507 Glamorgan3 142346 Wales4 508036 1

Both 1336 46487 177726 402253

English

Total

1193 4434 50005 136999 326481 646553 759416 1669705


30.1 33.9 27.5 24.1

English

Total

26.9 36.5 50.5 45.5

100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0


2 3 4

Following the sinking of these new pits, the population of Cwm Clydach increased rapidly as workers arrived in their hundreds in search of employment. According to the 1881 census, the valley was inhabited by just over 1,700 people, but by 1891 the total population had grown to 4,746.2 Rows of terraced houses were built along the length of the valley to provide accommodation for inmigrants, thereby giving rise to the two settlements of Blaenclydach and Clydach Vale. Along with the building of new housing came the establishment of religious and educational institutions which provided members of this new community with spiritual and social meeting places. A colliery school had been established at Clydach Vale in 1872, and in 1881 a Board School was opened and later enlarged to serve the growing population.3 Between 1877 and 1892 five Welsh Nonconformist chapels were established in the valley, each seating between 550 and 950 worshippers.4 Those who preferred sustenance of a different kind could find comfort in the three hostelries which had been built in Cwm Clydach by 1891, while merchants and shopkeepers who sold a variety of provisions also catered for the diverse needs of this new community. The linguistic character of Cwm Clydach rested upon the geographical and cultural origins of the in-migrants who came to the area to find work in the coal industry. By 1891, as Table 1 shows, of the 4,434 inhabitants (aged 2 years and over), 1,905 (43.0 per cent) spoke Welsh only, 1,336 (30.1 per cent) spoke both Welsh and English, and 1,193 (26.9 per cent) spoke English only. Within the Registration District of Pontypridd, where nearly 40 per cent of the population 2 3

4

1881 Census Enumerators’ Returns, PRO, RG 11/5306. Leslie Wynne Evans, ‘Colliery Schools in South Wales in the Nineteenth Century’, NLWJ, X, no. 2 (1957), 137–66. David Jenkins, ‘Cyfaredd Cof a Chofnod’ in Hywel Teifi Edwards (ed.), Cwm Rhondda (Llandysul, 1995), pp. 227–53.

CWM CLYDACH (GLAMORGAN)

131


Both

English

Total

2–5 6–14 15–24 25–44 45–64 65+

177 294 483 634 279 38

87 281 413 409 131 15

153 224 315 353 135 13

417 799 1211 1396 545 66

Total

1905

1336

1193

4434

Age

Percentage Welsh

Both

English

Total

42.4 36.8 40.0 45.4 51.2 57.6

20.9 35.2 34.1 29.3 24.0 22.7

36.7 28.0 26.0 25.3 24.8 19.7

100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0

43.0

30.1

26.9

100.0

were unable to speak Welsh, Cwm Clydach stood out as an area with a particularly high proportion of Welsh speakers. Nearly 60 per cent of the Welshspeaking population of the valley spoke Welsh only, while monoglot English speakers made up only a quarter of the total population. Yet, even though the majority of the population were returned as Welsh speakers, there were clear indications that a growing number of the younger generation were becoming more familiar with the English language than their elders. Table 2, which shows the language spoken by the population of Cwm Clydach according to their age, reveals that nearly half the Welsh-speaking children between 6 and 14 years old were also proficient in the English language. Indeed, children of this age returned the highest proportion of bilingual speakers in any age group. Given that many of those included in this age group were in attendance at the Clydach Vale Board School, education clearly played an important role in introducing a knowledge of the English language. The language spoken by the 503 ‘scholars’ enumerated at Cwm Clydach in 1891 closely mirrored the linguistic ability of children in the 6–14 age group: 181 (36.0 per cent) were returned as speaking Welsh only, 178 (35.4 per cent) as speaking both Welsh and English, and 144 (28.6 per cent) as monoglot English speakers. In all except the youngest age group, Welsh speakers comprised over 70 per cent of the population, a proportion which exceeded 80 per cent among those aged 65 and over. Infants between 2 and 5 years of age returned the largest proportion of monoglot English speakers among any age group. These were mostly the children of the English-speaking in-migrants who had settled in the valley. One or both parents of 91 (59.5 per cent) of the 153 monoglot English-speaking children hailed from England, while the remainder were natives of Monmouthshire or Glamorgan or the Anglicized areas of Radnorshire and Pembrokeshire. It is clear from the age structure of the population that the inhabitants of the mining settlements of Cwm Clydach were comparatively young, for 3,823 (86.2


132


Total

Number Sex Welsh

Both

English

Total



82 95 144 150 353 130 421 213 171 108 21 17

42 45 140 141 257 156 254 155 77 54 8 7

73 80 120 104 219 96 227 126 86 49 8 5

197 220 404 395 829 382 902 494 334 211 37 29

41.6 43.2 35.6 38.0 42.6 34.0 46.7 43.1 51.2 51.2 56.8 58.6

M F

169 137

779 557

733 460

2740 1730

44.0 41.2

English

Total

21.3 20.1 34.7 35.7 31.0 40.8 28.2 31.4 23.1 25.6 21.6 24.1

37.1 36.4 29.7 26.3 26.4 25.1 25.1 25.5 25.7 23.2 21.6 17.2

100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0

28.8 32.2

27.1 26.6

100.0 100.0

per cent) of the residents were younger than 44 years of age. The youthfulness of the population was characteristic of a developing mining community which had experienced a sudden influx of population. The imbalance between the sexes resulting from the in-migration of young, male labour was also a prominent feature of the population structure. Males accounted for over 60 per cent of the total population of the valley, and among the 15–44 age group they formed twothirds of the total population. Table 3 provides a breakdown of the language ability of the male and female populations according to age. As Table 3 shows, very little difference was recorded in the proportion of males and females who spoke only English, but among the Welsh-speaking population variations between the linguistic ability of the two sexes emerged. A greater proportion of females were bilingual while a greater proportion of males spoke Welsh only. This tendency was most pronounced among males and females aged between 15 and 24: 40.8 per cent of the 382 females were bilingual, compared with only 31 per cent of the 829 males, while 42.6 per cent of males spoke Welsh only, compared with 34 per cent of females. Given that fewer than half the females in this age group were gainfully employed, compared with 98.7 per cent of the male population, it seems unlikely that their knowledge of the English language stemmed from the workplace. In fact, the greater familiarity of the female population with the English language was probably directly related to differences in the migration patterns of the two sexes. An examination of the birthplaces of males and females aged between 15 and 24 reveals that the female population was far more local in origin than the male population. Over half the


133


Number Welsh


Both

English

Total

859 326 130 174 50 75 76 73 57 25 18 4 2 26

777 94 100 86 83 55 19 21 20 15 10 4 13 4

384 11 87 5 125 12 11 2 1 – – 16 – 2

2020 431 317 265 258 142 106 96 78 40 28 24 15 32

42.5 75.6 41.0 65.7 19.4 52.8 71.7 76.0 73.1 62.5 64.3 16.7 13.3 81.3

England

5

28

498

531

Other3

3

6

37

1903

1335

1191

Glamorgan Cardiganshire Pembrokeshire Carmarthenshire Monmouthshire Breconshire Montgomeryshire Merioneth Caernarfonshire Denbighshire Anglesey Radnorshire Flintshire Wales2

Total 1 2 3

English

Total

38.5 21.8 31.5 32.5 32.2 38.7 17.9 21.9 25.6 37.5 35.7 16.7 86.7 12.5

19.0 2.6 27.4 1.9 48.4 8.5 10.4 2.1 1.3 – – 66.7 – 6.3

100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0

0.9

5.3

93.8

100.0

46

6.5

13.0

80.4

100.0

4429

43.0

30.1

26.9

100.0

Excluding 5 individuals whose place of birth was not given. County unknown. Place of birth: Ireland 27, America 12, Scotland 5, Australia 1, at sea 1.

382 females (215 or 56.3 per cent) had been born in Glamorgan and 104 (48.4 per cent) of them spoke both Welsh and English. Conversely, nearly half the 829 males within the 15–24 age group had been born in Welsh counties outside Glamorgan (predominantly in Cardigan and Pembroke), and 59.8 per cent of these were Welsh monoglots. It should be noted that English-born individuals accounted for only 14.5 per cent of the males in this age group, and only 7.3 per cent of the females. Table 4, which shows the place of birth of the inhabitants of Cwm Clydach, provides further evidence of the influence which migration patterns had upon the linguistic character of the valley. Nearly 90 per cent of the inhabitants had been born in Wales, and 1,832 (47.6 per cent) of these hailed from counties outside Glamorgan. Although the majority of the Welsh-born population were natives of Glamorgan, this total included a large proportion of children born to the first generation of in-migrants. A breakdown of the birthplaces of the 2,007 Welshborn individuals aged 25 and over provides a clearer picture of the geographical origins of the first settlers. Only 594 (29.6 per cent) of the 2,007 individuals were


134

natives of Glamorgan, while 1,067 (53.2 per cent) came from other Welsh counties, including 605 (56.7 per cent) from the three south-western counties of Cardigan, Pembroke and Carmarthen. It should also be noted that migrants from these three dominantly Welsh-speaking counties accounted for over 40 per cent of the total 952 monoglot Welsh speakers aged 25 and over. As one commentator observed, the movement of population into Cwm Clydach had been particularly Welsh in character: ‘The place became at once a destination for many people, a totally Welsh flood from different parts of Wales’ (‘Daeth y lle ar unwaith yn gyrchfan pobloedd lawer, dylifiad Cymreig hollol o wahanol barthau o Gymru’).5 In 1891 only 531 individuals (11.9 per cent of the total population) were English by birth, of whom 222 (41.8 per cent) hailed from the county of Somerset. The handful of residents who had been born in other countries included twenty-seven Irish natives and thirteen returnee emigrants from America and Australia. The movement of population into Cwm Clydach from the rural counties of Wales exhibited much evidence of the processes of chain migration. After the first in-migrants had arrived and settled in their new community, they became important contacts for the next wave of new arrivals from their native parishes. Such relatives and neighbours often took up residence in the homes of the first inmigrants. For example, 72 (67.9 per cent) of the 106 Montgomeryshire-born residents who had specified their place of birth came from the two neighbouring parishes of Darowen and Machynlleth in the Dyfi valley, and several had settled close to one another in Morton Terrace, Clydach Vale. Elizabeth Roberts, a 52year-old widow from Darowen, who lived with her six Darowen-born children at Morton Terrace, shared her home with her sister-in-law and her four children, all of whom had also been born in Darowen. Another family from Darowen lived in the house next door, where accommodation was also provided for a lodger from the same parish. Cardiganshire provided the greatest number of in-migrants from any Welsh county outside Glamorgan, and the majority of them can be traced to three districts within the county, namely Aberystwyth and Llanbadarn Fawr, the Llannarth/Aberaeron area, and the Teifi valley. By the 1870s both Aberystwyth and the Teifi valley could be reached by railway, and there is no doubt that the development of rail transport aided the movement of population from these areas to the South Wales Coalfield.6 For many in-migrants, Nonconformist chapels became important meeting places where new arrivals to the valley came into contact both with natives of their home counties and with other members of the local Welsh-speaking population. The founding members of Soar Welsh Congregational chapel (est.1880) hailed from Cardiganshire and north 5

6

Dathliad Hanner-Can’ Mlynedd Eglwys Soar, Clydach Vale, Mawrth 16eg 1931: 1881–1931 (Y Bala, 1931), p. 7. Roger Padfield and Barrie Burgess, The Teifi Valley Railway (Haverfordwest, 1974), pp. 6–8; E. D. Lewis, ‘Population Changes and Social Life, 1860 to 1914’ in K. S. Hopkins (ed.), Rhondda Past and Future (Ferndale, 1975), pp. 110–28.


135


Number Welsh Both

Heads 335 Wives 299 Children2 659 Relatives 88 Servants/Maidservants 22 Boarders/lodgers 479 Visitors 18 Total 1

1900


English

Total

228 196 561 59 45 233 13

205 178 443 45 20 280 22

768 673 1663 192 87 992 53

43.6 44.4 39.6 45.8 25.3 48.3 34.0

1335

1193

4428

42.9

English

Total

29.7 29.1 33.7 30.7 51.7 23.5 24.5

26.7 26.4 26.6 23.4 23.0 28.2 41.5

100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0

30.1

26.9

100.0

Excluding 6 individuals whose relationship to the head of household was not given. Includes adopted children and stepchildren.

2

Carmarthenshire, while exiles from Pembrokeshire were said to be instrumental in the establishment of Noddfa Baptist Chapel at Blaenclydach in 1891.7 Having arrived in their new community, in-migrants soon established their own families and households. The household structure of Cwm Clydach exhibited the typical characteristics of a young mining settlement which had experienced a rapid influx of population. Given that the valley had attracted a high proportion of young, single males, the imbalance between the sexes had resulted in a particularly high female marriage rate. Nearly 70 per cent of all females between the ages of 20 and 29 were married, compared with only 33.8 per cent of males. Nearly 90 per cent of all households were headed by a married couple and the nuclear family formed the basic social unit within this mining valley. The majority of families lived in terraced two-up, two-down houses, where living space was often extremely limited. Over 70 per cent (551) of the 768 households comprised five or more members, and 206 (26.8 per cent) families shared their homes with other families. Children figured in 624 (81.3 per cent) of the 768 households and accounted for a substantial proportion (37.6 per cent) of the total population. Given the predominantly Welsh character of in-migration to the district, the majority of heads of household, wives and their children were Welsh speakers; only a quarter of heads, wives and children were returned as monoglot English speakers. Yet, even though the basic family unit was reproducing a substantial proportion of Welsh speakers, it was evident that members of the second generation of Welsh speakers were more familiar with the English language than their elders. As Table 5 shows, 46 per cent of Welsh-speaking ‘children’ were also proficient in the 7

Jenkins, ‘Cyfaredd Cof a Chofnod’, p. 233.


136





Total

317 4 10 –

10 12 14 114

8 – 2 3

335 16 26 117

94.6 25.0 38.5 –

3.0 75.0 53.8 97.4

2.4 – 7.7 2.6

100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0

331

150

13

494

67.0

30.4

2.6

100.0


English language. Outside the nuclear family, lodgers were a conspicuous presence in many households. The 992 lodgers resident in Cwm Clydach comprised 22.4 per cent of the total population, and were present in 416 (54.2 per cent) households. Although nearly half the lodging population spoke Welsh only, 233 (23.5 per cent) could speak both Welsh and English, while 280 (28.2 per cent) were monoglot English speakers. It is possible that many Welsh-speaking households provided accommodation for non-Welsh-speaking lodgers and that they, along with other non-nuclear family members such as visitors or servants, may have been instrumental in introducing an alternative linguistic influence into the home environment. A detailed examination of the linguistic ability of members of individual households reveals a complex pattern of language use within the home. In 228 (29.7 per cent) of the 768 households, all members were returned as monoglot Welsh speakers, while monoglot English-speaking households numbered only 143 (18.6 per cent of the total). In the remaining 397 households, members exhibited a mixture of linguistic ability. In 129 (32.5 per cent) of these households all members were returned as bilingual speakers, while in the remaining 268 households a mixture of monoglot and bilingual speakers were returned. The language spoken within individual households was largely determined by the linguistic ability of the head and wife, for the language which they spoke to one another would usually be the language in which they communicated with their children. Table 6 shows the language of children (aged 2 years and over) in two-parent households. Clearly marriage patterns usually consolidated linguistic affiliations, for there were few examples of marriages between Welsh speakers and non-Welsh speakers. The potential for parents to transmit knowledge of the Welsh language to their children in their homes was, therefore, quite high. Indeed, in over three-


quarters of the 494 households included in this sample, one or both parents were able to speak Welsh. As Table 6 shows, in the vast majority of households headed by Welshspeaking parents, the children were also returned as Welsh speakers and only in 18 (5.4 per cent) households were some or all of the children unable to speak Welsh. In the forty-two households where only one parent spoke Welsh, the likelihood that the children would be brought up in a Welsh-speaking environment was clearly much lower and in 28 (66.7 per cent) of these households the children were returned as being unable to speak Welsh. In fifteen households married partners made the unlikely claim of being unable to speak each other’s language, and in some cases they were also ignorant of the language spoken by their children. For example, Edward Thomas, a miner from Rhydfelen, Glamorgan, was returned as a monoglot Welsh speaker, while his Cornish wife Mary and their seven Glamorgan-born children were returned as monoglot English speakers. As Table 6 reveals, the linguistic influence of the mother was generally greater than that exerted by the father. Only in four of the sixteen households where the father was the Welsh-speaking parent were the children able to speak Welsh, while the children in ten of the twenty-six households where the mothers spoke Welsh were returned as speaking their mother’s tongue. It is clear, however, that the likely outcome of marriages between Welsh speakers and non-Welsh speakers was for the children to adopt the English language. After all, the common language spoken by the parents was English, and a considerable effort would be required on the part of the Welsh-speaking parent to speak Welsh to the children in the home. In the 117 households headed by two monoglot English-speaking parents, a very different situation prevailed, for few of the children had acquired knowledge of the Welsh language. In only 3 (2.6 per cent) of the households were any children returned as being able to speak Welsh, and in each case the ability of the ‘child’ to speak the Welsh language appeared to play a functional role, directly related to his occupation. Thomas Walters, a 15-year-old colliery messenger born in Nelson, Glamorgan, was entered as being able to speak both Welsh and English, while his English-born parents and seven Welsh-born siblings were all entered as monoglot English speakers. The Somerset-born brothers, James and Samuel Radford, both of whom were employed as coal miners, were the only members of their family who could speak Welsh. Similarly, only one of the five children born to Thomas and Betsie Sheratt of Staffordshire was able to speak Welsh, and he was their 14-year-old son who was employed as an errand boy. Although most children of Welsh-speaking parents were able to speak Welsh, attention should be drawn to the fact that the children in 135 (40.3 per cent) such households were also fluent in English. Table 7 provides a detailed breakdown of the process of language transmission within the 494 households in the sample and shows whether the parents and their children were returned as speaking Welsh only, or both languages. It is clear that few of the children of monoglot Welsh

137


138

Table 7: Language of children (aged 2 years and over) in households headed by monoglot and bilingual parents Linguistic ability Linguistic ability of children of parents Number of households Father Mother Welsh Both English Mixed Total W W B B B E E W E Total

W B W B E B E E W


172 3 3 4 – – – 1 2

15 6 10 88 2 5 – 1 3

– – – 10 8 11 114 4 3

9 2 1 12 – 1 3 – 1

196 11 14 114 10 17 117 6 9

87.8 27.3 21.4 3.5 – – – 16.7 22.2

7.7 54.5 71.4 77.2 20.0 29.4 – 16.7 33.3

– – – 8.8 80.0 64.7 97.4 66.7 33.3

4.5 18.2 7.1 10.5 – 5.9 2.6 – 11.1

100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0

185

130

150

29

494

37.4 26.3

30.4

5.9

100.0


speakers had acquired any knowledge of the English language. Only in 24 (12.2 per cent) households were some or all of the children entered as being able to speak both Welsh and English. The actual number of children returned as bilingual was 68, i.e. only 11.2 per cent of the 609 children born to the 196 monoglot Welsh-speaking couples included in this sample. A large number of this second generation (aged between 2 and 36) were the children of in-migrants from predominantly Welsh-speaking rural counties. The fathers in 128 (65.3 per cent) of the 196 households had been born in Welsh counties outside Glamorgan, the majority hailing from Cardigan and Carmarthen. Yet, even though only a small proportion of the children of monoglot Welsh-speaking parents were proficient in the English language, the shift towards bilingualism was an indication of the Anglicizing influences which existed outside their homes. In the 139 households where either one or both parents were bilingual, a far greater proportion of children were also able to speak both languages. In 111 (78.4 per cent) households some or all of the children were returned as bilingual speakers, and only in 10 (7.2 per cent) households were all the children unable to speak English. In 18 (12.9 per cent) households, however, some or all of the children were unable to speak Welsh. The parents of the children in each of these eighteen households were natives of the industrial counties of Glamorgan and Monmouth and included Edwin Hammond, manager of the Cwm Clydach colliery and Thomas Hammond, a colliery overman, both Merthyr-born men who were possibly brothers. In eight of these households, only the younger children were returned as


139


Number Welsh


Both

English

Total

89 122 67 47 46 8 34 15 7 8 1 1 8

68 31 43 23 7 16 9 5 6 3 2 2 –

36 4 27 2 – 20 – – 4 – 6 – –

193 157 137 72 53 44 43 20 17 11 9 3 8

46.1 77.7 48.9 65.3 86.8 18.2 79.1 58.1 75.0 72.7 11.1 33.3 100.0

England

4

11

161

176

Other3

2

–

14

477

233

280

Glamorgan Cardiganshire Pembrokeshire Carmarthenshire Caernarfonshire Monmouthshire Merioneth Anglesey Breconshire Denbighshire Radnorshire Flintshire Wales2

Total 1 2 3

English

Total

35.2 19.7 31.4 31.9 13.2 36.4 20.9 22.6 25.0 27.3 22.2 66.7 –

18.7 2.5 19.7 2.8 – 45.5 – 19.4 – – 66.7 – –

100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0

2.3

6.3

91.5

100.0

16

12.5

–

87.5

100.0

990

48.2

23.5

28.3

100.0

Excluding 2 individuals whose place of birth was not given. County unknown. Place of birth: Ireland 12, Scotland 2, America 1, at sea 1.

monoglot English speakers, while their older siblings spoke both Welsh and English. Of the seven children born to the Merthyr-born miner John Michael and his wife Elizabeth, only the four older children, whose ages ranged from 11 to 19, were Welsh speakers, while the three younger children, aged between 4 and 9, were monoglot English speakers. In the remaining ten households all the children present were recorded as being unable to speak Welsh. It is possible that in some of these households the presence of English-speaking non-nuclear family members such as lodgers or servants might have had some effect upon the language spoken within the home. Through their daily contact with English speakers, it is likely that young children and other household members would have acquired greater knowledge of the English language. For example, the fact that the 2-year-old son of Thomas and Emma Evans was returned as being able to speak only English, even though his parents and older siblings all spoke Welsh, could be attributed to the presence of George Lannington, a monoglot English speaker from Dorset who lodged with the family. The vast majority of the 992 individuals who comprised the lodging population of Cwm Clydach were single males. Indeed, lodgers made up a significant

140


proportion of the young adult male population: 322 (66.0 per cent) of the 488 single males aged between 20 and 29 were lodgers. The high demand for labour in the coal industry had evidently attracted large numbers of young men to the district and, as Table 8 shows, the lodging population of the valley was predominantly Welsh in origin and language. Nearly half the 990 lodgers whose language and place of birth was given spoke Welsh only, 233 (23.5 per cent) were bilingual, while the remaining 280 (28.3 per cent) were monoglot English speakers. Over 80 per cent of all lodgers had been born in Wales and 561 (70.3 per cent) of them came from counties outside Glamorgan and Monmouth. Only 176 (17.8 per cent) of the lodgers hailed from England, and 80 (45.5 per cent) of these were from Somerset. Given that the majority of lodgers spoke Welsh, the Anglicizing influence of the lodging population within the Welsh-speaking homes of Cwm Clydach should not be overemphasized. Of the 280 lodgers returned as monoglot English speakers, only 31 (11.1 per cent) lived in households where members of the host family were unable to speak English. The presence of Welsh-speaking lodgers in English-speaking homes was even less evident and only 14 (2.9 per cent) of the 479 monoglot Welsh-speaking lodgers lived in households where all other members spoke only English. The high level of social and cultural organization involved in the reception of new in-migrants ensured that most lodgers took up residence in the homes of people with a similar social and linguistic background. An examination of the residential patterns of the lodgers who hailed from Cardiganshire revealed that the overwhelming majority were living with Welsh-speaking families who had their own connections with that county. Leaving aside those who had been born in Glamorgan, the majority of the lodgers of Cwm Clydach hailed from Cardiganshire. They were clearly a strong Welsh-speaking presence, for 122 (77.7 per cent) of the total number of 157 spoke Welsh only. Not one of these monoglot Welsh speakers were found to be living in an English-speaking household and 77 (63.1 per cent) lodged in households where all other members were also monoglot Welsh speakers. Moreover, over half the 157 Cardiganshire-born lodgers resided in households where either the head or the spouse also hailed from Cardiganshire, and over half of them came from the same parish. For example, seven monoglot Welshspeaking lodgers from the neighbouring parishes of Llannarth, Llanina and Dihewyd in south-west Cardiganshire lived in one of the Old Bush Houses with Jane Davies, a 58-year-old widow who was herself a native of Llannarth and a monoglot Welsh speaker. Lodgers from the same area were often found living under the same roof, and 85 (54.1 per cent) of the Cardiganshire lodgers shared their accommodation with natives from their home county. A similar pattern of migration and settlement was exhibited by the Englishborn lodgers; they, too, tended to reside with people with the same geographical and cultural background. It is very likely that many of the Welsh and English lodgers were related either to one another or to members of their host families.


The distinctive surnames of the English lodgers makes it comparatively easy to establish kinship ties among the lodging population and their hosts. It is probable that James and Walter Parsons from West Stour in Dorset, both of whom lodged with the Morris family in Marian Street, were brothers. William and Edward Curl of Banwell in Somerset, who lodged together in one of the Forest Houses, were probably related to Charles Curl, a 31-year-old coal hitcher who lived a few streets away and shared his home with his brother Albert Curl and Frances Badina, a 16-year-old boarder, all of whom had been born in Banwell. Although the majority of the lodging population was made up of young, single males, 196 (19.8 per cent) of the male lodgers were married. The overwhelming majority of these married men were Welsh, and over half hailed from the three counties of Cardigan, Pembroke and Carmarthen. Only twenty-two of these married male lodgers were accompanied by their wives, and several of these couples also lodged with relations or friends from their home districts. David and Esther Rees, who were natives of Llanllwchaearn in Cardiganshire and whose baby daughter had been born in the Rhondda, were boarders in the home of Jenkin and Elizabeth Davies, a couple who also had their roots in the same part of Cardiganshire. A few streets away in Clydach Road another young Cardiganshire-born couple, namely John and Catherine Davies, had rooms in the home of Edward and Jane Evans, also of the same county. Such young families would soon establish homes of their own and in the future would doubtless provide accommodation for other migrating families from their home districts. The remaining 174 married male lodgers were without their wives, and it may be assumed that these men were either intending to send for their wives and families when suitable accommodation had been secured in the coalfield, or were continuing a strong tradition of temporary migration from the Welsh rural districts, thereby maintaining their ties with Welsh-speaking relations and social networks at home.8 The reception process which welcomed both single and married lodgers into the community was clearly of crucial importance to the future cultural and linguistic pattern of Cwm Clydach, for the vast majority of Welsh and nonWelsh-speaking in-migrants forged links with families and social networks of a similar linguistic and cultural background. To a large extent, therefore, the residential and settlement patterns of both the Welsh and English-speaking populations served to keep some aspects of their social and cultural lives apart. This process was helped even further by the fact that in-migrants from the same cultural and geographical background tended to settle close to one another in 8

David Jenkins, The Agricultural Community in South-West Wales at the Turn of the Twentieth Century (Cardiff, 1971), p. 251. In his study of migration patterns to the Ogmore and Garw Valleys in 1881 Philip Jones noted that the incidence of temporary migration of married men was greatest among natives of the Welsh rural counties. Philip N. Jones, Mines, Migrants and Residence in the South Wales Steamcoal Valleys: The Ogmore and Garw Valleys in 1881 (Hull, 1987), p. 46.

141

142

Figure 1. Language spoken by inhabitants of enumeration districts of Cwm Clydach


Image Not Available


rows of terraced houses. The 1891 census divided Cwm Clydach into three enumeration districts, each comprising roughly a third of the total population (Figure 1). The greatest proportion of Welsh speakers was found in enumeration district 28 which included the houses at the far end of the valley, namely the settlement of Clydach Vale. Here 735 (52.6 per cent) of the 1,398 residents (aged 2 years and over) were monoglot Welsh speakers, 476 (34.0 per cent) were bilingual, and 187 (13.4 per cent) spoke English only. Over half the household heads in this district hailed from Welsh counties outside Glamorgan, notably Carmarthen, Cardigan and Pembroke. Moreover, 232 (66.9 per cent) of the 347 lodgers resident in this district had also been born in Welsh counties outside Glamorgan, and over 70 per cent came from the three south-western Welsh counties. Only 18 (7.8 per cent) of the 231 household heads living in the district hailed from England, a small proportion compared with the 134 (17.4 per cent) English-born heads who were enumerated in the whole of the valley. In Marian Street, one of the largest terraces in the district, very few English speakers and English natives had settled. Although a page of household schedules comprising six houses in Marian Street was missing from the census enumerator’s returns, information on the residents of the remaining 99 houses, where 111 families were in residence, was provided. Only 6 (5.4 per cent) of the heads of these 111 households had been born in England, while 66 (59.5 per cent) were natives of Welsh counties outside Glamorgan, (mostly Carmarthen, Pembroke and Cardigan). In the whole street, only 52 (7.6 per cent) of the 684 residents (aged 2 years and over) were unable to speak Welsh, while 392 (57.3 per cent) could speak no English. Lower down the valley, in the rows of houses situated near the Cwm Clydach Colliery and the coke ovens at Blaenclydach, a different pattern emerged. Of the 1,413 residents (aged 2 years and over) enumerated in this district (enumeration district 27), 458 (32.4 per cent) were monoglot English speakers, and 64 (26.0 per cent) of the 246 household heads were English by birth. Four of the terraces returning the largest proportion of English speakers were situated in this part of the valley. In fourteen of the twenty main rows of terraced houses situated in Cwm Clydach, over 70 per cent of the residents were returned as Welsh speakers, while the proportion of non-Welsh speakers in the remaining six rows varied from 34.3 per cent in Clydach Road to 65.8 per cent in the Bush Houses. Closer examination of the geographical and cultural origins of the 78 heads of household resident at the Bush Houses revealed that 42 (53.8 per cent) hailed from England, and that the majority of them were natives of Somerset, while 25 (32.1 per cent) hailed from the industrial counties of Glamorgan and Monmouth. Residents of this predominantly English-speaking street were also found to be living in some of the most overcrowded accommodation in Cwm Clydach. In twenty-eight of the fifty houses two families were in residence, and over 70 per cent of all families were living in accommodation of four rooms or less. One five-roomed house

143


144

provided a home for two families or fifteen individuals: Robert and Anne Chappell and their four children lived in two rooms, while Tom and Sarah Williams, their three young children and four lodgers shared the remaining three rooms. The lower social status of the residents of the Bush Houses was also evident in the occupations of its male inhabitants, many of whom were employed as lowerskilled workers or labourers. In fact, the English-speaking and English-born population of Cwm Clydach were generally to be found in lower status occupations. At the coke works, which had been established by the Forest Iron and Steel Company Limited at Blaenclydach Colliery in 1891,9 all thirteen male employees, from the foreman to the labourers, were monoglot English speakers, and all except one Pembrokeshire man were natives of England. Six of the eight builders’ labourers were also English by birth and language, and six of the ten quarrymen who worked in the Pennant sandstone quarries situated in the valley were also unable to speak Welsh. Of the four railway platelayers three were monoglot English speakers, two of whom hailed from the counties of Gloucester and Somerset, and the third from Scotland. Moreover, 72 (60 per cent) of the 120 general labourers could speak no Welsh. Evidence from the Royal Commission on Labour in 1893 points to the fact that a growing number of agricultural labourers who had moved to the Vale of Glamorgan from neighbouring English rural counties were leaving the fields to take up low-skilled and low-paid employment in the coal-mining districts.10 However, the majority (77.5 per cent) of the occupied male population (aged 10 years and over) of Cwm Clydach were engaged in the coal-mining industry. The mining population was particularly Welsh in origin and language and only 379 (22.6 per cent) of all males employed in the industry were unable to speak Welsh, while 833 (49.7 per cent) were monoglot Welsh speakers. Of the 1,481 men who were occupied as skilled miners, 1,276 (86.2 per cent) had been born in Wales, and 556 (43.6 per cent) of these hailed from the industrialized counties of Glamorgan or Monmouth. Over half these skilled miners were monoglot Welsh speakers, while 406 (27.4 per cent) were bilingual, and 332 (22.4 per cent) monoglot English speakers. In-migrants from the rural Welsh areas made up the bulk of the Welsh monoglot element, for 308 (55.4 per cent) of the 556 skilled miners of Glamorgan and Monmouthshire could speak English and 98 (17.6 per cent) were monoglot English speakers. Although the vast majority of the unskilled workforce were also natives of Wales, it should be noted that a greater proportion hailed from the agricultural counties of south-west Wales than from the industrialized areas. Of the 120 men employed as colliery labourers and surface workers, only 22 (18.3 per cent) had been born in Glamorgan and 9 10

Lewis, The Rhondda Valleys, p. 141. Brinley Thomas, ‘The Migration of Labour into the Glamorganshire Coalfield (1861–1911)’, Economica, X, no. 30 (1930), 275–94.


Monmouthshire, while 49 (40.8 per cent) came from the three south-western Welsh counties of Pembroke, Carmarthen and Cardigan. Over half the members of this lower-skilled workforce were monoglot Welsh speakers, while 31 (25.8 per cent) spoke English only. Those who held positions of authority within the industry would clearly need to be proficient in both languages in order to communicate effectively with those under their charge. The two checkweighers, who were appointed by the miners to check the weight of the drams as they were weighed by the company weigher, represented the interests of both linguistic groups of workers, for one spoke Welsh only, the other English only. Eleven of the seventeen colliery firemen and overmen were bilingual, four were Welsh monoglots and two were English monoglots. Most of those who were employed among the higher ranks of colliery management and administration were also Welsh speakers. Of the three colliery managers, one mining engineer, one mines surveyor and two colliery clerks enumerated in Cwm Clydach, only the mining surveyor, who was a boarder and therefore not necessarily a permanent resident, was unable to speak Welsh, while all the others were bilingual. Men like Howell John, the colliery manager who lived at Clydach Villa, and William Pritchard, the mining engineer who resided at Blaenclydach House at the far end of the valley, were clearly important figures in their communities, a fact which was reflected in the name and location of their superior houses.11 Apart from individuals who were involved in the management of the collieries, the narrow industrial base of the local economy afforded little opportunity for occupational or social stratification. Only thirty-three individuals were returned as being engaged in ‘professional’ occupations, and they included prominent local figures such as Charles Jones JP, a surgeon and physician who served as Public Vaccinator for the Ystradyfodwg District and Medical Officer of the Pontypridd Union, and Rhys Samuel Griffiths, architect and land surveyor – both of whom were bilingual speakers. Griffiths, who officiated as one of the three census enumerators at Cwm Clydach in 1891, was clearly a man of some standing in the community, and from 1894 to 1912 he served as a member of the Rhondda Urban District Council, and as its chairman for the year 1898–9.12 In all, 22 (66.7 per cent) of the 33 individuals who held ‘professional’ occupations were proficient in both Welsh and English, while six individuals – two nurses, a midwife, two assistant/pupil teachers, and the Revd Thomas Williams, minister of Soar Welsh Baptist chapel – were returned as Welsh monoglots. Among the five individuals 11 12

Malcolm J. Fisk, Housing in the Rhondda 1800–1940 (Cardiff, 1996), p. 117. Chris Williams, Democratic Rhondda: Politics and Society 1885–1951 (Cardiff, 1996), p. 52. As a prominent member of Libanus, Welsh CM chapel at Blaenclydach, Griffiths also gave evidence before the Royal Commission on the Church of England and Other Religious Bodies in Wales and Monmouthshire in March 1907. Royal Commission on the Church of England and Other Religious Bodies in Wales and Monmouthshire, Minutes of Evidence. Volume II. Book I (London, 1910), questions 10412–714 (PP 1910 (Cd. 5433) XV).

145


146

who spoke English only were two resident police officers: John Bodger, a native of Cardiff, and Richard Walters of Worcestershire. It has been noted that a considerable number of the men appointed to serve as law enforcers in the industrial valleys of south Wales during this period hailed from outside Wales and were therefore unlikely to be familiar with the Welsh language.13 In the Rhondda valleys a high proportion of resident policemen were both of English tongue and origin and, as was the case at Cwm Clydach, all the policemen stationed at Tynewydd, Cwm-parc, Ton, Gelli and Llwynypia were unable to speak Welsh. While it could be argued that the appointment of English-speaking and Englishborn ‘outsiders’ to positions of such authority and influence ensured a more impartial administration of law and order in settlements where ties of blood and neighbourhood were strong, it is more likely that a policeman’s inability to communicate with all members of his community was a considerable obstacle to effective policing. David J. V. Jones has suggested that the early professional policemen of Wales ‘received limited support and information from ordinary people’.14 It is almost certain that a non-Welsh-speaking policeman stationed in a predominantly Welsh-speaking area faced an even greater task in winning the support and cooperation of the local population. William Glynfab Williams, a 35-year-old schoolmaster, was another of the census enumerators at Cwm Clydach, and in 1891 he was a boarder at the home of Rhys Samuel Griffiths at 4 Glyn Terrace. In later years Williams became curate of Dinas Cross, Pembrokeshire, and a well-known Welsh-language writer. His humorous trilogy relating the experiences of two Rhondda colliers as soldiers during the First World War was written in the local Glamorgan dialect and an English version of the first part of the trilogy, ‘Ni’n Doi.’ Dicyn o Anas Dai a Finna a’r Ryfal (1918) was published as ‘Us Two.’ A Simple History of Dai and Shoni and the War in 1921.15 Both Williams and his colleague, Sarah Price, the assistant schoolmistress, were fluent in both Welsh and English, as were all but four of the twelve assistant and pupil teachers employed at Clydach Vale Board School. The pupil teachers, Alfred Evans and James Harterre, were returned as monoglot English speakers, while Rachel Williams, a 23-year-old assistant teacher from Ystrad and Hannah Williams, a pupil teacher from Bryn-mawr, were returned as monoglot Welsh speakers. Most of the dealers and shopkeepers who earned their living at Cwm Clydach were also able to speak Welsh. Leaving aside the women who were returned as lodging house keepers, 52 (89.7 per cent) of the 58 individuals occupied within the dealing sector were Welsh speakers, and 37 (71.2 per cent) of these were bilingual. These individuals included butchers, grocers, drapers and hardware13 14 15

David J. V. Jones, Crime in Nineteenth-Century Wales (Cardiff, 1992), p. 213. Ibid. See Hywel Teifi Edwards, Arwr Glew Erwau’r Glo: Delwedd y Glöwr yn Llenyddiaeth y Gymraeg, 1850–1950 (Llandysul, 1994), pp. 181–3.


store keepers, who provided the mining population with all the goods and services they required. Eight of the ten grocers hailed from Welsh counties outside Glamorgan, and doubtless these dealers could satisfy the demand among the mining population for home produce manufactured in the Welsh agricultural districts.16 In the late 1890s the father of the writer Rhys Davies (1901–78), whose family hailed from north-west Carmarthenshire, would establish his own grocery business at the ‘Royal Stores’, Clydach Road, Blaenclydach.17 At the three hotels in Cwm Clydach – the Court Hotel, the Clydach Vale Hotel and the Bush Hotel – the innkeepers and their staff were all bilingual speakers who hailed from Glamorgan. The only non-Welsh-speaking dealers enumerated at Cwm Clydach were five greengrocers – four of whom came from England – and one 26-yearold ironmonger from Somerset. For the female population of Cwm Clydach, the opportunities of full-time employment were extremely limited. Only 360 (27.6 per cent) females (aged 10 years and over) were enumerated as being gainfully employed, and the majority were occupied either as lodging house keepers, domestic servants or dressmakers. Seven females were also employed in local collieries – four as surface workers and three as lamproom attendants. Yet, although the vast majority of the adult female population were returned as ‘unoccupied’, most of the women of Cwm Clydach were engaged upon unpaid full-time work within their homes. In households with two or more boarders or lodgers the domestic responsibilities of the wife or female head were particularly heavy.18 By classifying all such females as lodging house keepers, an attempt has been made to ensure that their valuable contribution to the family and local economy is recognized. All the females returned as lodging house keepers were therefore women who provided a vital service for ordinary miners in their homes, often in overcrowded and insanitary living conditions. At 52 Court Road, for example, Janet Griffiths, a 45-year-old miner’s wife, attended to the needs of her coal-mining husband, her son and five lodgers, in addition to those of her other six children, the youngest of whom was only 5 years old. The vast majority of the domestic servants employed in Cwm Clydach were also occupied in the homes of mining families, where they assisted miners’ wives with the heavy domestic work involved in the care of large male households. It is easy to imagine that Margaret Rees, whose husband Morgan and their six sons were all employed as colliers, relied heavily upon the assistance of Ceridwen Davies, a 15-year-old domestic servant who lived with the family at Jenkins Terrace. Given that 51 (45.5 per cent) of the 112 female domestic servants were able to speak both Welsh and English, the majority were well qualified to 16 17 18

Jenkins, The Agricultural Community, p. 251. See Rhys Davies, Print of a Hare’s Foot (London, 1969); David Rees, Rhys Davies (Cardiff, 1975). See Dot Jones, ‘Counting the Cost of Coal: Women’s Lives in the Rhondda, 1881–1911’ in Angela V. John (ed.), Our Mothers’ Land: Chapters in Welsh Women’s History, 1830–1939 (Cardiff, 1991), pp. 109–33.

147


148

serve in both English-speaking and Welsh-speaking households. In reality, however, English-speaking households favoured the service of monoglot Englishspeaking servants, and only one Welsh-speaking servant was found to be working for an English family. Similarly, few non-Welsh-speaking servants worked for Welsh-speaking families. There were only four instances where a monoglot English-speaking servant was employed in a monoglot Welsh-speaking household. One of those four servants was Laura Pitcher, a 21-year-old English speaker from Somerset, who was in service at the home of the coal haulier Evan Griffiths who, along with all members of his family and two boarders, spoke Welsh only. For the overwhelming majority of the population of Cwm Clydach in 1891 Welsh remained the language of the home, the workplace, the chapel, the tavern and the street. The dominantly Welsh character of in-migration to the valley and particularly to the settlement of Clydach Vale had ensured a strong Welshspeaking presence within the coal-mining industry and its wider community which could not be matched by the comparatively small number of monoglot English-speaking in-migrants. Yet, although the vast majority of the inhabitants of Cwm Clydach were returned as Welsh speakers, a significant proportion of the Welsh-speaking population could also speak English. As knowledge of the English language increased among the Welsh-speaking population, the need for nonWelsh-speaking residents to learn Welsh in order to be fully assimilated into the community decreased. Although Welsh was the language of the majority in 1891, the indications were that future generations of Welsh speakers would embrace the English language, while non-Welsh speakers would remain resistant to a reciprocal process of linguistic change.

Table 9: Language spoken by occupation (10 years and over)1

Industrial class


AGRICULTURE Farming Farmer Farmer’s son Shepherd Total %

– – – – –

1 1 – 2 66.7

– – 1 1 33.3

1 1 1 3 100.0

MINING Coal Managers

–

3

–

3

1

Excluding one male flannel dealer whose language was not given.



Industrial class Engineers/surveyors Clerks Firemen/overmen Checkweighers Miners/hauliers Machine operators Labourers Pithead/surface workers Doorboys Others Copper Miner Sandstone Quarrymen Labourers Brickmaking Brickmaker Water works Labourer Total % BUILDING Management Architect and land surveyor Contractors/builders Operatives Stonemasons Bricklayers Plasterers Carpenters/joiners Painters Gas fitter Apprentices/assistants Labourers Railways Platelayers Total %

Language spoken Males Welsh Both English Total – – 4 1 743 2 51 11 5 16

1 2 11 – 406 6 19 8 2 7

1 – 2 1 332 1 23 8 5 6

2 2 17 2 1481 9 93 27 12 29

1

–

–

1

3 –

1 –

4 2

8 2

–

–

1

1

– 837 49.5

– 466 27.6

1 387 22.9

1 1690 100.0

– 2

1 1

– 1

1 4

24 1 – 6 – – – 1

17 – – 9 1 – 1 1

5 1 3 7 1 1 2 6

46 2 3 22 2 1 3 8

1 35 36.5

– 31 32.3

3 30 31.3

4 96 100.0

1

1

4

11 1

3 –

22 1

–

1

1

MANUFACTURING Machinery, tools, watches, etc. Skilled manual 2 Iron and steel Skilled manual 8 Apprentice – Coke Foreman –

149


2

2

–

4

3

–

–

3

5 71.4

2 28.6

– –

7 100.0


150

Industrial class


Skilled manual – Labourers – Wood Skilled manual – Carriages and harnesses Skilled manual – Dress Proprietors 1 Skilled manual 7 Apprentices/assistants – Food, drink, tobacco Proprietor 1 Skilled manual – Printing Skilled manual – Unspecified Engine drivers/stokers/ firemen/fitters 11 Apprentices/assistants 1 Labourer – Total 31 % 27.4 TRANSPORT Warehouses Messengers, porters Ocean navigation Seaman Railways Engine driver Porters Roads Carriers, hauliers, etc. Total %

– –

10 2

10 2

–

1

1

1

1

2

– 9 –

– 3 –

1 19 –

– 1

– 2

1 3

1

–

1

22 – 1 48 42.5

9 1 – 34 30.1

2

1

1


– 29 1

1 36 3

– 13 2

1 78 6

42 2 1 113 100.0

30 35.3

40 47.1

15 17.6

85 100.0

1

4

–

1

–

1

–

–

1

– 1

– 1

1 2

1 4

3 29 50.0

2 16 27.6

5 13 22.4

10 58 100.0

– –

1 100.0

– –

1 100.0

3 2

– –

3 2

–

1

–

1

3 7 – 8

– – 4 –

9 9 5 10

– – –

1 1 1

– 1 –

1 2 1

3

–

3

DEALING Dress Drapers etc. – Assistants – Food Butchers 6 Grocers 2 Greengrocers 1 Apprentices/assistants 2 Tobacco, drink and lodging Innkeepers –


Industrial class


Lodging house keepers – – Barmaids – – Furniture and household utensils Ironmonger – – Stationery and publications Bookseller 1 – General dealers Shopkeepers 1 2 Others and unspecified Piano agent 1 – Commercial travellers 1 1 Total 15 29 % 30.6 59.2 INDUSTRIAL SERVICES Banking, insurance, accounts Insurance service 1 Accountant – Commercial clerk – Apprentice clerk – Total 1 % 20.0

– 1 1 1 3 60.0

– –

– –

1

1

–

1

–

3

– – 5 10.2

1 2 49 100.0

1 – – – 1 20.0

2 1 1 1 5 100.0

PUBLIC SERVICES AND PROFESSIONALS Central administration Telegraph clerk – 1 – Local administration County court bailiff – 1 – Police Constables – – 2 Medicine Surgeons, physicians – 4 – Medical assistants – 3 – Nurses – – – Midwife – – – Education Headteacher, schoolteachers – 1 – Assistant teachers, pupil teachers – 4 2 Religion CM minister – 1 – Congregational minister 1 – – Baptist minister – 1 – Theological student – – 1 Art, literature, science Art student – 1 – Total 1 17 5 % 4.3 73.9 21.7

151

Language spoken Females Welsh Both English Total 68 –

32 4

25 –

125 4

68 50.7

40 29.9

26 19.4

134 100.0

4 3 – –

2 1

– –

– –

2 1

1

–

1

–

1

6

2

4

–

6

5 50.0

5 50.0

– –

10 100.0

1 1 2

1 1 1 1 1 23 100.0


152

Industrial class


DOMESTIC SERVICES Indoor service Servant/maidservants – Domestic nurses – Outdoor service Coachmen and grooms 2 Extra service Charwomen, laundry women – Hairdresser – Total 2 % 22.2 OTHERS General labourers Total %

1 –

– –

1 –

2

3

7

– 1 4 44.4

– – 3 33.3

– 1 9 100.0

34 34 28.3

14 14 11.7

72 72 60.0

120 120 100.0

TOTAL OCCUPIED %

985 45.5

630 29.1

550 25.4


9 34.6

7 26.9

School pupils %

47 37.0

TOTAL POPULATION 10 YEARS + 1041 % 44.9


33 –

51 –

28 2

112 2

2

6

1

9

35 28.5

57 46.3

31 25.2

123 100.0

2165 100.0

143 39.7

145 40.3

72 20.0

360 100.0

10 38.5

26 100.0

346 42.4

250 30.6

220 27.0

816 100.0

41 32.2

39 30.7

127 100.0

50 39.1

47 36.7

31 24.2

128 100.0

678 29.2

599 25.8

2318 100.0

539 41.3

442 33.9

323 24.8

1304 100.0

7 Llwynypia (Glamorgan) MARI A. WILLIAMS

In 1804 the writer and traveller, B. H. Malkin, described the Llwynypia district as ‘a region of beautiful fields with a magnificent grove at the upper end of it under the shadow of a towering rock’.1 This pastoral and wooded area in the midRhondda Fawr changed very little in the years which followed and until the middle of the nineteenth century the only inhabitants were the family living at Llwynypia farm.2 By the late 1850s, however, as lands to the north and south were opened up to colliery developments, the Taff Vale Railway line was extended along the length of the Rhondda Fawr, passing directly through the previously undeveloped district of Llwynypia. Following the successful working of the steam-coal seams elsewhere in the valley, mining prospectors turned their attention towards the mineral resources of Llwynypia and in 1859 Isaac Smith, managing director of the Church Colliery, Pentre, opened a small coal level near Llwynypia farm. The venture failed and it was not until 1862, when a Scotsman, Archibald Hood (1823–1902), began sinking new shafts in the district that the full potential of the rich coal-seams of Llwynypia were realized.3 Hood was a mining engineer of some repute whose ventures as a colliery owner in south Ayrshire, Scotland, had proved extremely successful.4 Attracted by the developments in the South Wales Coalfield, Hood came to the area in 1860 and bought shares in the Ely Valley Colliery Company Ltd. at Tonyrefail. His attention was quickly drawn to the possibilities of establishing collieries in the Rhondda Fawr valley and, after securing the lease for lands at Llwynypia, his newly-named Glamorgan Coal Company Ltd. commenced sinking in the area in 1862. By the following year the two Rhondda seams of bituminous coal had been successfully tapped and much of the coal was converted to coke at a plant which

1 2 3 4

B. H. Malkin, The Scenery, Antiquities, and Biography, of South Wales (London, 1804), p. 188. Dafydd Morganwg, Hanes Morganwg (Aberdare, 1874), p. 284. E. D. Lewis, The Rhondda Valleys (London, 1959), p. 75. Ibid.; Elizabeth Phillips, A History of the Pioneers of the Welsh Coalfield (Cardiff, 1925), pp. 208–10; J. H. Morris and L. J. Williams, The South Wales Coal Industry, 1841–1875 (Cardiff, 1958), p. 127.


154

the company established at the pithead. A brickworks which manufactured bricks for colliery walls and shafts was also set up on the site in 1863. The following year Hood turned his sights towards the deeper steam-coal seams and in 1865 the first load of steam-coal was mined at the Llwynypia collieries.5 Coal was transported directly from the colliery site along the Taff Vale Railway to the Bute docks at Cardiff, and as the export market for steam-coal grew a further two pits were sunk in 1872. By 1891 the Glamorgan Coal Company Ltd. operated one house-coal and three steam-coal pits at Llwynypia, and employed a total of 2,387 men.6 The coal industry dominated the social and economic life of the community which it had created, and nearly 70 per cent of all occupied males were directly employed in the mining industry. During the early years of industrial development the population of Llwynypia had expanded rapidly as the new mining workforce and their families moved into the district, and by 1891 the settlement was home to 2,450 people. The overwhelming majority of the residents lived in the terraced housing which the colliery company had built from 1865 onwards to accommodate its workers. Comprising over 200 houses, the fourteen rows of parallel terraces carried names such as Argyll, Holyrood, Campbell and Inverleith, and were known as the ‘Scotch Houses’.7 Since much of the capital and several of the partners who established the Glamorgan Coal Company Ltd. hailed from Scotland, the connections between Llwynypia and the native country of its founders remained strong. The Glamorgan collieries at Llwynypia were themselves often referred to as ‘The Scotch’.8 Moreover, the parish church of Llwynypia, which was erected in 1877 and was officially opened the following year, was dedicated to Saint Andrew, the patron saint of Scotland.9 The in-migrants who settled at Llwynypia from the late 1860s onwards swiftly established their own centres of culture and worship. The Welsh Calvinistic Methodists began meeting at Llwynypia in 1866, but it was not until 1874 that Bethania chapel was erected at Tonypandy Square.10 Jerusalem, the Welsh Baptist chapel which was situated nearby, was established in 1872 and during its early years it drew its members from Llwynypia, Tonypandy and the rapidly developing

5

6

7

8

9 10

Lewis, The Rhondda Valleys, pp. 75–6; idem, ‘The Industrial Development of the Rhondda Valleys’ (unpubl. University of Wales MA thesis, 1940), p. 108. Reports from Commissioners, Inspectors and Others, Vol. 5, Mines, South Wales District (No. 13) (PP 1892 (c6625) XII), p. 77. Jeremy Lowe, Welsh Industrial Workers’ Housing, 1775–1875 (Cardiff, 1989), pp. 50–1; Malcolm J. Fisk, Housing in the Rhondda, 1800–1940 (Cardiff, 1996), pp. 30–1. Lewis, The Rhondda Valleys, p. 238; W. Haydn Rees, A Short History of the Church and Parish of St. Andrew, Llwynypia, 1878–1948 (Tonypandy, 1948), p. 20. Rees, History of the Church and Parish of St. Andrew, Llwynypia, p. 20. S. L. George, Bethania, Llwynypia, Braslun o Hanes yr Eglwys ar Achlysur Dathlu Jiwbili Clirio’r Ddyled (n. p., 1945).

LLWYNYPIA (GLAMORGAN)

155

Table 1: Language spoken by populations of Llwynypia, Pontypridd Registration District, Glamorgan and Wales (2 years and over) Number Welsh Llwynypia1 384 Pontypridd R.D.2 40507 Glamorgan3 142346 Wales4 508036 1

2 3 4

Both 684 46487 177726 402253

English

Total

1209 2277 50005 136999 326481 646553 759416 1669705


30.0 33.9 27.5 24.1

English

Total

53.1 36.5 50.5 45.5

100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0

Excluding 4 individuals whose language was not given and one 34-year-old male boarder from Germany who spoke English, German, French and Polish. Excluding 765 individuals whose language was not given and 50 who spoke other languages. Excluding 4,981 individuals whose language was not given and 2,355 who spoke other languages. Excluding 12,833 individuals whose language was not given and 3,076 who spoke other languages.

communities of Cwm Clydach.11 Of all the Welsh Nonconformist causes, only Salem, the Welsh Congregational chapel which was established in 1876, was erected at the settlement of Llwynypia itself, immediately to the north of the collieries.12 The English Nonconformists were also active during this period. In 1873 the Primitive Methodists established a chapel at the south of the settlement, and by 1875 the English Baptists and Congregationalists had opened the doors of their churches at nearby Tonypandy.13 The following material is based on a study of the residential settlement of Llwynypia, comprising all houses to the north of Nant Clydach-fach as far as Pontrhondda farm. As Table 1 shows, only 384 (16.9 per cent) of the 2,277 inhabitants (aged 2 years and over) of the district were unable to speak English. Although the proportion of bilingual speakers was only slightly lower than that recorded in the whole of the Registration District of Pontypridd, fewer than half the residents of Llwynypia were able to speak Welsh, and only a third of Welsh speakers were unable to speak English. The proportion of English speakers enumerated at Llwynypia in 1891 not only exceeded the proportion recorded throughout the Pontypridd Registration District, but also throughout the county of Glamorgan and Wales as a whole. The English language was the only language spoken by over half the residents of Llwynypia and, as Table 2 shows, it was the language commonly spoken by both young and old. Fewer than 20 per cent of the 1,981 individuals under the age of 44 were unable to speak English, and although the proportion of Welsh speakers 11

12 13

W. J. Rhys, ‘Cychwyn a Chynnydd yr Anghydffurfwyr yng Nghymoedd Rhondda’, TCHBC (1960), 5–13. J. Thomas, Hanes Eglwysi Annibynol Cymru. Cyfrol V (Dolgellau, 1891), pp. 189–90. Dafydd Morganwg, Hanes Morganwg, p. 284.


156


Both

English

Total

2–5 6–14 15–24 25–44 45–64 65+

50 65 76 116 55 22

48 139 185 221 80 11

155 274 327 325 109 19

253 478 588 662 244 52

Total

384

684

1209

2277

Age

Percentage Welsh

Both

English

Total

19.8 13.6 12.9 17.5 22.5 42.3

19.0 29.1 31.5 33.4 32.8 21.2

61.3 57.3 55.6 49.1 44.7 36.5

100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0

16.9

30.0

53.1

100.0

English

Total


Total

Number Sex Welsh

Both

English

Total



23 27 38 27 50 26 67 49 29 26 11 11

18 30 66 73 111 74 130 91 52 28 2 9

73 82 114 160 243 84 214 111 65 44 8 11

114 139 218 260 404 184 411 251 146 98 21 31

20.2 19.4 17.4 10.3 12.4 14.1 16.3 19.5 19.9 26.5 52.4 35.5

15.8 21.6 30.3 28.0 27.5 40.2 31.6 36.3 35.6 28.6 9.5 29.0

64.0 59.0 52.3 61.7 60.1 45.7 52.1 44.2 44.5 44.9 38.1 35.5

100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0

M F

218 166

379 305

716 493

1313 964

16.6 17.2

28.9 31.6

54.5 51.1

100.0 100.0

increased among the older age groups, over half the 296 individuals aged 45 and over were returned as English speakers. Children in the 2–5 age group returned the highest proportion of monoglot English speakers, closely followed by children of school age and young adults between 15 and 24 years of age. Although the proportion of bilingual speakers remained fairly constant among the population aged between 6 and 64, the proportion of monoglot Welsh speakers showed a steady decline within the same age groups. Over 40 per cent of the 52 individuals aged over 65 spoke Welsh only, but the proportion fell to 13.6 per cent among children of school age.


157


Number Welsh


Both

English

Total

226 14 48 34 9 5 16 8 3 4 4 6 2 4

446 51 28 30 20 29 21 16 5 9 4 1 – 1

401 94 1 2 33 24 9 6 15 1 – – – 24

1073 159 77 66 62 58 46 30 23 14 8 7 2 29

21.1 8.8 62.3 51.5 14.5 8.6 34.8 26.7 13.0 28.6 50.0 85.7 100.0 13.8

England

–

20

579

599

Other3

–

1

16

383

682

1205

Glamorgan Monmouthshire Cardiganshire Carmarthenshire Pembrokeshire Montgomeryshire Breconshire Denbighshire Radnorshire Merioneth Flintshire Caernarfonshire Anglesey Wales2

Total 1 2 3

English

Total

41.6 32.1 36.4 45.5 32.3 50.0 45.7 53.3 21.7 64.3 50.0 14.3 – 3.4

37.4 59.1 1.3 3.0 53.2 41.4 19.6 20.0 65.2 7.1 – – – 82.8

100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0

–

3.3

96.7

100.0

17

–

5.9

94.1

100.0

2270

16.9

30.0

53.1

100.0

Excluding 7 individuals whose place of birth was not given. County unknown. Place of birth: Scotland 7, America 5, Ireland 4, Canada 1.

The English language was spoken widely by all age groups and by members of both sexes. As Table 3 shows, there were no substantial variations in the linguistic ability of the male and female populations, although females returned a slightly higher proportion of Welsh speakers than males. Over half the male and female populations were unable to speak Welsh, while only 16.6 per cent of males and 17.2 per cent of females were returned as monoglot Welsh speakers. In total, males comprised 57.7 per cent of the population, but they formed an even stronger presence among the young adult age group, where they accounted for over twothirds of the 588 individuals between 15 and 24 years of age. Over 40 per cent of the 404 males in this age group were natives of England, while a similar proportion hailed from the two counties of Glamorgan and Monmouth. In view of their place of origin, it was not surprising that only 50 (12.4 per cent) individuals were unable to speak English, while 243 (60.1 per cent) of the 404 were returned as monoglot English speakers and 111 (27.5 per cent) as bilingual. The 184 females in this age group were far more local in origin, and of the 149 (81.0 per cent) born in Wales over 70 per cent were natives of Glamorgan. Consequently, although a far greater


158

proportion of the female population were Welsh speakers, nearly three-quarters of these were also proficient in the English language. It is clear that the migration patterns of the residents of Llwynypia had played an important role in determining the dominantly English-speaking character of the settlement. Table 4 shows that although 1,654 (72.9 per cent) of the inhabitants were of Welsh origin, very few hailed from the predominantly Welshspeaking counties of the west and north. Nearly two-thirds of the Welsh-born population were natives of the county of Glamorgan, while only 205 (12.4 per cent) individuals hailed from the three south-western counties of Cardigan, Carmarthen and Pembroke. As a result, over a third of the Welsh-born population were unable to speak Welsh, while nearly 40 per cent spoke both Welsh and English. Significantly, the English-born individuals comprised over a quarter of the total population, a proportion which greatly exceeded the 12.7 per cent of English natives who resided in the whole of the Ystradyfodwg Sanitary District in 1891.14 Nearly 60 per cent of the English-born residents hailed from the two counties of Gloucester and Somerset, and their distinctive West Country surnames stand out among the more common Welsh names on the pages of the census enumerators’ returns. Only 20 (3.3 per cent) of the 599 English-born individuals were proficient in the Welsh language and the remaining 579 (96.7 per cent) had clearly felt little need to acquire knowledge of the language. Natives of other countries included one family and a lodger from Ireland, six returnee emigrants from America and Canada, and seven Scottish-born individuals. Two of the seven Scots held positions of some authority within the Glamorgan Colliery Company, namely Andrew Jackson Anderson, a colliery manager, and John Gilmour, a colliery engineer. A third of the Glamorgan-born population were natives of Llwynypia itself and a substantial proportion of these individuals were children of the first in-migrants to the district. A clearer picture of the origin of the early settlers may be achieved by examining the birthplaces of the people over 25 years old. Over a quarter of the 958 individuals were natives of Glamorgan and hailed mainly from the old irontowns of Merthyr Tydfil and Aberdare, while natives of the irontowns of Monmouthshire accounted for over a quarter of the 363 (37.9 per cent) who hailed from other Welsh counties. The remaining third of this adult population were from England, predominantly from the two counties of Gloucester and Somerset. The vast majority of the in-migrants who had settled at Llwynypia lived in the ‘Scotch Houses’, which had been built by the Glamorgan Coal Company from the late 1860s onwards. The accommodation provided in the terraced rows compared favourably with the smaller colliery houses which were erected 14

Census of England and Wales, 1891, Volume III. Ages, Condition as to Marriage, Occupations and Birth-places of the Population, Division IX: Monmouthshire and Wales (London, 1893), p. 549.


159


Number Welsh Both

English

Total


English

Total

Heads 84 Wives 79 Children2 144 Relatives 26 Servants/maidservants 6 Boarders/lodgers 45 Visitors –

130 116 290 42 10 85 9

199 175 516 68 10 230 11

413 370 950 136 26 360 20

20.3 21.4 15.2 19.1 23.1 12.5 –

31.5 31.4 30.5 30.9 38.5 23.6 45.0

48.2 47.3 54.3 50.0 38.5 63.9 55.0

100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0

Total

682

1209

2275

16.9

30.0

53.1

100.0

1 2

384


elsewhere in the Rhondda during the same period, for all were double-fronted houses, with two ground floor and three upstairs rooms, and long gardens to the front.15 However, over 40 per cent of the 415 families shared their homes with other families and therefore lived in accommodation of only two or three rooms. One five-roomed house in Holyrood Terrace was home to three families, whose members totalled eighteen individuals. The John family, who hailed from Glamorgan and who comprised two adults and eight children, occupied three rooms in the house, while the remaining two rooms were shared by members of the Brooks and Rees families. Occasionally, families of different linguistic ability shared living accommodation. At one house in Llwynypia Terrace, the monoglot Welsh-speaking Lewis family shared three rooms, while the remaining two rooms were occupied by Enoch and Louise Williams and their 6-year-old niece, all of whom spoke English only. Situations such as this were rare, however, since the majority of households contained at least one member who could speak English, and only in 46 (11.1 per cent) of the 415 households were all members returned as Welsh monoglots. In 149 (35.9 per cent) households, all members spoke English only, while all members of 55 (13.3 per cent) households spoke both Welsh and English. In the remaining 165 households the linguistic ability of household members varied, with one or more individuals returned as bilingual, monoglot English and/or monoglot Welsh speakers. In view of the number and status of members who spoke either language in these linguistically mixed households, it may be inferred that English was the language commonly spoken in the vast majority of such homes. 15

Fisk, Housing in the Rhondda, p. 30.

160


The household structure of Llwynypia displayed the characteristic features of a young mining settlement which had attracted a disproportionate number of adult male to female in-migrants, for nearly 90 per cent of all households comprised a married couple and their children. Given that such a large proportion of the male and female adult populations hailed from some of the more Anglicized districts of Wales and from England and beyond, the overwhelming majority of married couples were returned as English speakers. As Table 5 shows, nearly half the heads of household and wives were returned as speaking English only. A generational decline in the proportion of Welsh speakers was also noticeable, for 84.8 per cent of the 950 ‘children’ born to these established families spoke English, and nearly two-thirds of these were monoglot English speakers. In many households the presence of English-speaking non-nuclear family members such as relatives, visitors, boarders and lodgers served to consolidate the position of the English language within the home environment. The 360 boarders and lodgers who had taken up accommodation with families at Llwynypia were overwhelmingly English in speech: 315 (87.5 per cent) were English speakers, of whom 230 (73.0 per cent) were monoglots. In view of the already dominantly English-speaking character of the nuclear family unit, the lodging population of Llwynypia should be regarded less as an initiator of linguistic change but rather as a force which strengthened existing linguistic allegiances. By 1891 the English language had already established itself as the principal medium of communication within the majority of the homes of Llwynypia. Table 6 shows the language spoken by children in the 274 households headed by two parents, and reveals the extent to which the English language was spoken within the family unit. In over half the 274 households either one or both parents, and all children, were returned as monoglot English speakers. The 110 households headed by two non-Welsh-speaking parents account for 40.1 per cent of the total and evidently few of the children in these English-speaking households had acquired any knowledge of the Welsh language. Only in four households were any children able to speak Welsh. In two instances, an individual child was returned as a bilingual speaker, and it would appear that the ability to speak Welsh was related to experiences at the workplace. For example, Richard Lewis, a 23-year-old collier, could speak both Welsh and English even though his Monmouthshire-born parents and three younger sisters were all monoglot English speakers. The linguistic situation prevailing in the remaining two households is rather more difficult to understand or explain. Of the five children born to James and Rosina Hale, a monoglot English-speaking couple from Gloucestershire, the two youngest were returned as monoglot Welsh speakers. Similarly, the two younger children of the three born to William and Jane Cook, a monoglot English-speaking couple who also hailed from Gloucestershire, spoke Welsh only. In both households, the Welsh-speaking children were under 6 years of age and, unlike their older siblings who were natives of Gloucestershire, they had been


161





Total

108 1 5 –

16 11 11 106

9 1 2 4

133 13 18 110

81.2 7.7 27.8 –

12.0 84.6 61.1 96.4

6.8 7.7 11.1 3.6

100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0

114

144

16

274

41.6

52.6

5.8

100.0

Welsh: monoglot Welsh and bilinguals; English: monoglot English; Mixed: mixture of Welsh-speaking and non-Welsh-speaking children in the same household.

born in the county of Glamorgan. Although it is possible that the Welsh-born children had acquired knowledge of the Welsh language outside their homes, it is hard to believe that they were unable to communicate with their parents through the medium of English. It is possible that their parents misinterpreted the ‘language question’ on the census schedules and differentiated between the linguistic ability of their children on the basis of their place of birth. In contrast to the situation within English-speaking households where the overwhelming majority of children were of the same linguistic ability as their parents, a process of intergenerational linguistic change was clearly underway in the homes of Welsh speakers. In 25 (18.8 per cent) of the 133 households headed by two Welsh-speaking parents, some or all of the children were unable to speak Welsh, as were some or all of the children in 25 (80.6 per cent) of the 31 households headed by one Welsh-speaking parent. In three households the parents were monoglot Welsh speakers who were apparently ignorant of the language spoken by their children. At the home of the monoglot Welsh-speaking couple, Evan and Margaret Thomas, the evidence of a generational linguistic shift was especially clear. Although Evan Thomas, a retired coal miner from Rhymney, Monmouthshire, was a deacon at Salem Welsh Congregational chapel, Llwynypia, this did not guarantee that Welsh was the language of his own home.16 Thomas Thomas, his 35-year-old son, and Ann, his 20-year-old daughter, both of whom were natives of Pen-tyrch, Glamorgan, were Welsh speakers, but Evan, his 16-year-old son and John, his 10-year-old grandson, who were both natives of the Rhondda, were returned as speaking English only.

16

Adroddiad Blynyddol Eglwys Annibynol Salem, Llwynypia am y flwyddyn 1893 (Tonypandy, 1893), p. 1.


162




W B W B E B E E W

37 – 1 2 – 1 – – 1

8 2 2 48 1 2 – – 1

1 1 – 14 8 10 106 3 1

6 – – 11 1 2 4 – –

52 3 3 75 10 15 110 3 3

71.2 – 33.3 2.7 – 6.7 – – 33.3

15.4 1.9 66.7 33.3 66.7 – 64.0 18.7 10.0 80.0 13.3 66.7 – 96.4 – 100.0 33.3 33.3

42

64

144

24

274

15.3

23.4

52.6

11.5 – – 14.7 10.0 13.3 3.6 – –

100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0

8.7

100.0


However, as Table 7 shows, the majority of the Welsh-speaking parents of Llwynypia were also proficient in the English language: of the 133 households headed by a Welsh-speaking married couple, either one or both parents in 81 (60.9 per cent) households were also able to speak English. In 93 (69.9 per cent) of the 133 households, the children were also English speakers and in 33 instances some or all of the children were unable to speak Welsh. Ordinary mining families from Glamorgan comprised the majority of such households, with three notable exceptions. Only the eldest child of the bilingual schoolmaster, Thomas John and his wife Margaret, was able to speak Welsh; the other three, who were between 3 and 10 years old, were monoglot English speakers. The two children born to John and Margaret Jones, a bilingual couple who kept a grocer’s shop, were unable to speak Welsh, as were the youngest eight of the nine children born to the colliery fireman George Edmunds, whose Carmarthenshire-born wife, Esther, was also a bilingual speaker. The decline in the use and status of the Welsh language in the homes of Llwynypia was no doubt furthered by the continuing stream of in-migrants who arrived at the settlement from predominantly English-speaking districts. Young adult males in search of employment took up lodgings in the homes of local families and their presence contributed to the already dominantly Englishspeaking character of the workplace and its wider community. The lodging population of Llwynypia accounted for 15.8 per cent of the total population and boarders or lodgers were found to be living in nearly half the 415 households. As Table 8 shows, the overwhelming majority of this largely male population were


163


Number Welsh


Both

English

Total

14 2 3 8 1 4 3 2 2 3 1 1 – 1

33 10 6 7 4 6 1 4 3 1 2 – 1 1

16 11 9 1 10 1 4 – – – – – – 3

63 23 18 16 15 11 8 6 5 4 3 1 1 5

22.2 8.7 16.7 50.0 6.7 36.4 37.5 33.3 40.0 75.0 33.3 100.0 – 20.0

England

–

4

172

176

Other3

–

–

1

Total

45

85

230

Glamorgan Montgomeryshire Pembrokeshire Cardiganshire Monmouthshire Merioneth Radnorshire Denbighshire Carmarthenshire Caernarfonshire Breconshire Anglesey Flintshire Wales2

1 2 3

English

Total

52.4 43.5 33.3 43.8 26.7 54.5 12.5 66.7 60.0 25.0 66.7 – 100.0 20.0

25.4 47.8 50.0 6.3 66.6 9.1 50.0 – – – – – – 60.0

100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0

–

2.3

97.7

100.0

1

–

–

100.0

100.0

360

12.5

23.6

63.9

100.0

Excluding 4 individuals whose place of birth was not given. County unknown. Place of birth: Ireland 1.

English speakers. Although nearly half the lodgers were natives of Wales, only a handful hailed from the predominantly Welsh-speaking counties, while men from the more Anglicized counties of Glamorgan, Montgomery and Pembroke provided the bulk of the Welsh-born population. Given their origin, it is not surprising that nearly three-quarters of the Welsh natives were able to speak English; over 40 per cent of them were monoglot English speakers. Natives of England, who hailed mainly from the two counties of Gloucester and Somerset, comprised nearly half the remaining lodging population. They were clearly a strong Anglicizing force, for only 4 of the 176 English-born lodgers were able to speak Welsh. It is significant that all four men who had acquired knowledge of the Welsh language lived in households where members of the host family were Welsh speakers. George Addis, a 34-year-old bilingual miner from West Dean in Gloucestershire, lodged with a monoglot Welsh-speaking family at Campbell Terrace. Since he was the only bilingual member of the household, it would appear that Addis acted as an interpreter for his monoglot Welsh-speaking hosts and the three non-Welsh-speaking lodgers from Iron Acton,

164

Figure 1. Percentage of monoglot English speakers in the ‘Scotch Houses’, Llwynypia


Image Not Available


Gloucestershire, who shared lodgings with him. Overall, however, the vast majority of lodgers resided in households where members of the host family were of a similar linguistic ability. Only 12 of the 230 monoglot English-speaking lodgers stayed in households where members of the host family were unable to speak English, and only 4 of the 45 monoglot Welsh-speaking lodgers lived in households where all other members spoke English only. Since a considerable proportion of the householders of Llwynypia were themselves English in speech and origin, non-Welsh-speaking lodgers experienced little difficulty in finding accommodation with English-speaking hosts and, in many respects, their presence served to strengthen the already dominant position of the English language in the community. Members of the lodging population were often related to one another, or hailed from the same districts, and many stayed together upon their arrival at Llwynypia. Henry, Arthur and Charles Holder of Longdon in Worcestershire lodged together in a house at Rosedale Terrace, while William and Harry Colburn of Gloucestershire, and Arthur and Ernest Riddick of Somerset, shared accommodation in two houses at Holyrood Terrace. Since the majority of the English in-migrants stayed with relatives or acquaintances from their home districts, there was little opportunity or need for them to familiarize themselves with the Welsh language and culture. A glance at the surnames and birthplaces of the English lodgers and their host families reveals the extent to which the migration and subsequent reception of English in-migrants was motivated by ties of blood and neighbourhood. The movement of several individuals from Tetbury in Gloucestershire to Llwynypia appears to have been spearheaded by John Sparrow, a 39-year-old miner, who lived with his Monmouthshire-born wife and five young children at Amelia Terrace. Ten years previously, John Sparrow and his wife were the only members of the Sparrow family who lived at Llwynypia, but by 1891 they had been joined by relations and friends from Tetbury, none of whom spoke Welsh. Only a few doors away from the Sparrow family’s home in Amelia Terrace, one George Sparrow of Tetbury and his family shared three rooms with Robert and Maurice Ball, two lodgers who also hailed from Tetbury. The remaining two rooms of the terraced house were occupied by John and Henrietta Ball, a married couple from Tetbury. In the house next door, John and Charles Hayes of Tetbury lodged with a family from Somerset, while the neighbouring house was home to Arthur Sparrow, his wife and young daughter, and Charles Cleverley, a 17-year-old lodger who was also a native of Tetbury. The linguistic character of the fourteen rows of terraces which comprised the ‘Scotch Houses’ was largely determined by the existence of such close-knit family and neighbourhood networks (Figure 1). Since a large proportion of the early inmigrants who settled at Llwynypia were English speakers, it was not surprising that over half the residents (aged 2 years and over) of eleven of the terraces were unable to speak Welsh. In five of the terraces the proportion of non-Welsh

165

166


speakers exceeded 60 per cent, and at Campbell Terrace, where eight of the fourteen households were monoglot English speaking, over 70 per cent of the eighty residents were unable to speak Welsh. Only in two streets, namely Ayton Terrace and Grange Terrace, were over 60 per cent of the residents able to speak Welsh, but even here the vast majority of Welsh speakers were bilingual and the proportion of residents who could speak English also exceeded 60 per cent. Residents of the ‘Scotch Houses’ were mainly ordinary miners and their families, and members of the professional or managerial class were to be found in the superior semi-detached residences known as the ‘Villas’. The heads of the two households who occupied Hillside Villas were Mary Williams, a widow of independent means who shared her home with her son, a law student, and William Hughes, an insurance agent, whose three sons were employed as a colliery clerk, a colliery cashier and a schoolteacher. Apart from Margaret, the monoglot Welsh-speaking wife of William Hughes, and Gwendoline, his monoglot English-speaking niece, all other members of both households were proficient in both Welsh and English. The four houses known as Glamorgan Villas were occupied by managers and foremen employed in the service of the Glamorgan Coal Company and its associated industries. Only the two Welshmen, Dan Evans and James Lloyd, one a colliery manager and the other a colliery foreman, were fluent in both Welsh and English. The Englishmen, Thomas Lea and Edward Day, who were foremen at the colliery and coke works respectively, and Andrew Jackson Anderson, a colliery manager who hailed from Dalkeith in Scotland, spoke English only. Anderson was one of three Scotsmen who occupied positions of authority within the Glamorgan Coal Company. His fellow countrymen, John Gilmour, a colliery engineer, and William Walker Hood, agent and general manager of the colliery company, were prominent members of the community and lived in large detached houses on the outskirts of the main settlement of Llwynypia. Gilmour, a monoglot English speaker who also owned the Ivor Hael Hotel and was secretary of the Llwynypia Workmen’s Institute and Reading Room, lived at Llwynypia House with his Welsh-speaking wife and servant, both of whom had been born locally. W. Walker Hood, son of Archibald Hood, founder of the Llwynypia collieries, was absent from his home at Glyncornel House on the night of the census and it is not known, therefore, whether he had any knowledge of the Welsh language. His housekeeper and servant who were in charge of the house during his absence, and Peter Buchanan, his Scottish-born coachman who lived at Glyncornel Stables, were all monoglot English speakers. The vast majority of the other officials of the Glamorgan collieries who were residents of Llwynypia were also English speakers. David Walters, a land and mine surveyor from Cardiff who was also a teacher of shorthand, spoke English only, while John Jenkins and James Richards, mining agents from Glamorgan who lived next door to one another in Salem Terrace, spoke both Welsh and English.


Four of the ten men employed as colliery firemen or overmen were monoglot English speakers, four were bilingual, and the remaining two were monoglot Welsh speakers. Thomas Jones and John Morgan, the two checkweighers who hailed from the counties of Glamorgan and Brecon, were also returned as speaking Welsh only, even though the majority of the ordinary miners who employed them were unable to speak Welsh. Over half the 690 Llwynypia men who were employed at the Glamorgan collieries were monoglot English speakers, and only 17.9 per cent of the total workforce were unable to speak English. The dominantly English-speaking character of the mining workforce reflected the fact that nearly 40 per cent of the employees were Englishmen. Moreover, of the 420 men born in Wales, only a third hailed from the predominantly rural and Welshspeaking districts, while 265 (63.1 per cent) were natives of the two industrial counties of Glamorgan and Monmouth. Over half the 595 men who were employed as skilled miners and hauliers were unable to speak Welsh, while 182 (30.6 per cent) spoke both Welsh and English and 115 (19.3 per cent) spoke Welsh only. Nearly 40 per cent of the skilled workforce were natives of the counties of Glamorgan and Monmouth, while over a third had been born in England. Only 66 of the 136 colliers who hailed from other parts of Wales were natives of the three dominantly Welsh-speaking counties of Carmarthen, Cardigan and Pembroke. Within the ranks of the lower-skilled workforce, the presence of Welsh-born and Welsh-speaking men was even less evident. Of the 51 men who were employed as colliery labourers, pithead and surface workers, 33 (64.7 per cent) were natives of England and only 9 (17.6 per cent) were able to speak Welsh. The men employed in the small subsidiary industries attached to the Glamorgan collieries were also dominantly English in speech and origin. Of the twenty-six men who worked at the Hood coke works, all were English speakers, but only three were also proficient in the Welsh language. Eighteen of the twenty-six coke workers were Englishmen, the majority of whom hailed from Devon and Somerset, while the remaining eight Welshmen were natives of Glamorgan, Monmouth and Pembroke. At the colliery brickworks, where four men and six females were employed, the two male brickyard labourers were monoglot English speakers from Devon and Wiltshire. Forty-eight (84.2 per cent) of the 57 general labourers who earned their living at Llwynypia were also unable to speak Welsh, and 35 (61.4 per cent) of them were natives of England. Although only two of the ten men who were employed in the service of the Taff Vale Railway were Englishmen, all except Thomas Richards, a monoglot Welsh-speaking railway porter from Lampeter in Cardiganshire, were English speakers. Four of the nine English speakers were unable to speak Welsh, while the remaining five bilingual speakers included David Howell, the stationmaster who hailed from Llan-non in Carmarthenshire, and two of the five railway platelayers who lived at Taff Cottages alongside the railway line.

167


168

Only a handful of the residents of Llwynypia earned their living from commercial enterprises which were not directly related to the production or transportation of coal and its associated industries. The grocer’s shop and the hairdressing business situated next to the Ivor Hael Hotel were the only substantial dealing houses in Llwynypia, and it is likely that local residents travelled to the larger commercial settlement of Tonypandy in order to buy all their household goods and provisions. Apart from the twenty-two females who were engaged as lodging-house keepers, only fourteen individuals were employed within the dealing sector, and all but two were English speakers. John Jones, the proprietor of the grocery business at Llwynypia, was a native of Llanfynydd in Carmarthenshire and spoke both Welsh and English. He was assisted in the shop by Henry Hibbs, a 19-year-old monoglot English speaker from Bristol. John Griffiths, the barber, who kept a hairdressing business and a small shop next door, was a monoglot Welsh speaker from Pontrhydfendigaid in Cardiganshire.17 It is likely that he was assisted by Morgan Phillips, a 16-year-old barber and native of Llwynypia who lived nearby and who was also returned as a monoglot Welsh speaker. At the Ivor Hael Hotel, the public house owned by John Gilmour, an engineer at the Llwynypia colliery, both the barmaid and the waitress were local girls who spoke both Welsh and English. Other individuals who kept small businesses at Llwynypia included the coal merchants, William Morgan and David Butler, both of whom spoke English, and two elderly females who traded directly from their homes. Elizabeth Jenkins, a monoglot English speaker who hailed from Cornwall, ran a greengrocery shop from the two rooms she occupied at Cambrian Terrace, while Eleanor Jenkins, a monoglot Welsh speaker from Fishguard, Pembrokeshire, kept a small shop at her home in Llwynypia Terrace. The educational needs of local residents were served by the Llwynypia Colliery British School which had been extended in 1890 to meet the requirements of the 590 children and 245 infants who were in attendance. Established in 1865 by the Glamorgan Coal Company, Llwynypia school provided education for the children of workers employed by the company.18 The poet and author, William Thomas (Glanffrwd) (1843–90), was the school’s first headmaster, but by 1891 this position had been filled by Thomas John, a bilingual speaker who officiated as the census enumerator for Llwynypia and who later became president of the National Union of Teachers and editor and director of the Rhondda Leader newspaper.19 John was assisted at the school by the schoolmistress, Ann Morgan, and three young teachers, Sarah Richards, Anne Raynham and William Hughes, 17

18

19

Kelly’s Directory of Monmouthshire, and the Principal Towns and Places of South Wales (London, 1891), p. 445. Leslie Wynne Evans, ‘Colliery Schools in South Wales in the Nineteenth Century’, NLWJ, X, no. 2 (1957), 137–66; W. J. Rhys, ‘Cynnyrch yr Anghydffurfwyr yng Nghymoedd Rhondda’, TCHBC (1961), 30–4. Chris Williams, Democratic Rhondda: Politics and Society, 1885–1951 (Cardiff, 1996), pp. 36, 52.


all of whom spoke both Welsh and English. Six of the eleven assistant or pupil teachers were also returned as bilingual speakers, while four spoke English only. David Rhys, a 14-year-old pupil teacher from Trealaw, claimed to be unable to speak English, but since the vast majority of his contemporaries were English speakers it seems unlikely that he could have carried out his work as a pupil teacher effectively without some knowledge of the language. Of the 265 school pupils enumerated at Llwynypia, only 31 (11.7 per cent) were returned as monoglot Welsh speakers, 82 (30.9 per cent) were bilingual and 152 (57.4 per cent) were monoglot English speakers. Two other individuals who were employed within the public service and professional sector were David Jones, the relieving officer, and Henry Pearce, the policeman. Although both men were linguistically qualified to serve the Englishspeaking population of Llwynypia, only Jones, a native of Breconshire, was also fluent in the Welsh language. The Wiltshire-born police officer could answer to the call of English speakers only, and those who required the assistance of a Welsh-speaking police officer would have to travel to Tonypandy, where one of the six policemen was bilingual. It is possible that the services of these policemen were in great demand in April 1891 for a band of theatrical performers and fairground entertainers were present in the neighbourhood on the night of the census. Six monoglot English-speaking actors who hailed from England and Ireland had taken up lodgings at three houses in Dewinton Terrace and they might well have been associates of the larger group of showmen and musicians who occupied seven caravans at neighbouring Tonypandy.20 Twenty-one of the twenty-six travellers were monoglot English speakers from England, America and the counties of Montgomery, Monmouth, Flint and Radnor, while six monoglot Welsh speakers from Glamorgan and Montgomeryshire shared a caravan with a family of monoglot English showmen headed by William Dainter of Worcester. The only bilingual member of the troupe was Albert Ebley, the 3-year-old son of the Essex-born actor Edward Ebley. The young boy was probably the nephew of William Ebley, a professional photographer from Essex, who occupied another caravan with his wife Miriam. It seems likely that this group of performers were members of the Edward Ebley Theatrical Company, a travelling theatre company which visited the industrial towns of south Wales during the late nineteenth century and gave performances at popular showground venues such as Pandy Field, Tonypandy.21 Since this was a settlement wholly dependent upon the coal industry, there were few opportunities of employment for the female population of Llwynypia. Only 118 females, comprising 17 per cent of the total female population (aged 10 years and over), were gainfully employed, compared with 90.6 per cent of the 20 21

1891 Census Enumerators’ Returns, PRO, RG 12/4426, Pontypridd Registration District. Cecil Price, ‘Portable Theatres in Wales, 1843–1914’, NLWJ, IX, no. 1 (1955), 65–92.

169


170

male population of the same age. Six females, aged between 19 and 23, were employed in the brickworks owned by the Glamorgan collieries.22 Apart from Charlotte Davies, a bilingual 23-year-old brick-moulder from Merthyr Tydfil, the remaining five females spoke English only. Both Elizabeth Mitchell and Marianne Parry were also unable to speak Welsh, although their work as a nurse and a postal clerk brought them into direct contact with the general public. The remainder of the occupied females of Llwynypia were employed as dressmakers, milliners, domestic servants or lodging house keepers, and carried out their work within the confines of their own homes. The majority of females engaged upon such occupations were natives of Glamorgan and, although nearly 60 per cent were able to speak Welsh, only ten individuals were unable to speak English. By 1891 the English language had securely established its position as the dominant language at Llwynypia. Only a small minority of the population was unable to speak English and knowledge of the Welsh language was declining steadily between the generations. Few of the in-migrants hailed from the dominantly Welsh-speaking counties of Wales, and the men and women who came to the area from the industrialized districts of Glamorgan and Monmouth were joined by families from the west of England and beyond. The role played by non-Welsh natives in the early development of the collieries and settlement of Llwynypia may well have been influential in attracting a more Anglicized mining workforce to the area, while at the same time dissuading a large number of Welsh-speaking in-migrants from settling there. Since over half the population were returned as monoglot English speakers in 1891, the ability to speak Welsh was clearly not reckoned to be an essential qualification for employment either within the coal industry or in many positions which required close contact with members of the public. As a result, it is not surprising that several Welsh-speaking parents had come to the conclusion that the Welsh language would not prove of any value to future generations brought up at Llwynypia.


Industrial class AGRICULTURE Farming Relative assisting 22


–

1

–


1

A photograph of the brickworkers who were employed at Llwynypia in the 1880s is reproduced in David Egan, Coal Society: A History of the South Wales Mining Valleys, 1840–1980 (Llandysul, 1987), p. 78.


Industrial class Agricultural labourers Farm servant Breeding Veterinary surgeon, farrier Total % MINING Coal Managers Engineers/surveyors Agents Clerks Firemen/overmen Checkweighers Miners/hauliers Machine operators Craftsmen Labourers Pithead/surface workers Doorboys Others Stone quarrying Quarry contractor Quarryman Brickmaking Brickmakers Labourers Other Total % BUILDING Operatives Stonemasons Bricklayers Plasterer Slaters Carpenters Painters Apprentices/assistants Labourers Railways Platelayers Total %


– 1

2 –

2 1

1 1 16.7

1 3 50.0

– 2 33.3

2 6 100.0

– – – – 2 2 115 – – 4 – 1 –

1 – 2 2 4 – 182 4 2 2 3 1 3

1 2 – 2 4 – 298 1 – 32 10 2 8

2 2 2 4 10 2 595 5 2 38 13 4 11

– –

1 –

– 1

1 1

– – 1 125 17.9

1 – – 208 29.9

– 2 – 363 52.2

1 2 1 696 100.0

– – – 1 3 – – 1

4 – 1 1 3 2 1 1

9 2 – 1 14 3 1 1

13 2 1 3 20 5 2 3

– 5 9.3

2 15 27.8

3 34 62.9

5 54 100.0

171


– –

1 –

4 1

5 1

– –

1 16.7

5 83.3

6 100.0


172

Industrial class


MANUFACTURING Machinery, tools, watches, etc. Skilled manual – 3 Apprentice – – Iron and steel Foreman – 1 Skilled manual 4 8 Apprentices/assistants 3 2 Tinplate Skilled manual 1 – Coke Foreman – – Skilled manual – 2 Apprentices/assistants – – Labourers – 1 Carriages and harnesses Skilled manual – 5 Cotton, flax, etc. Rope splicer – – Dress Skilled manual – 1 Apprentices/assistants – 1 Food Confectioner 1 – Unspecified Engineers, engine drivers, etc. 4 21 Labourer – – Total 13 45 % 10.9 37.8 TRANSPORT Railways Stationmaster Engine drivers/stokers/ signalmen Porters Roads Coachman Carmen, carriers, etc. Total % DEALING Coal Coal merchants Food Grocer

1 1

4 1

– 7 4

1 19 9

–

1

1 17 2 3

1 19 2 4

6

11

1

1

3 –

4 1

–

1

14 1 61 51.3

39 1 119 100.0

–

1

–

1

– 1

2 –

– 1

2 2

– 2 3 13.0

– 7 10 43.5

1 8 10 43.5

1 17 23 100.0

–

1

1

2

–

1

–

1


3 –

17 2

10 2

30 4

3 8.8

19 55.9

12 35.3

34 100.0


Industrial class


Greengrocer – Assistant – Tobacco, drink and lodging Innkeeper – Lodging house keepers – Barmaids – General dealers General shopkeeper – Hawker – Shop assistants 1 Others and unspecified Journeyman tailor – Total 1 % 11.1 INDUSTRIAL SERVICES Banking, insurance, accounts Insurance agents – Total – % –

– –


– –

– 1

– 1

–

–

1

1

– – –

– – –

– – –

– 3 –

1 8 2

– 11 –

1 22 2

– – –

– 1 2

– 1 3

1

–

–

1

– 2 22.2

1 6 66.7

1 9 100.0

4 14.8

11 40.7

12 44.4

27 100.0

2 2 100.0

– – –

2 2 100.0

–

–

1

1

–

–

–

1

1

2

–

3

–

3

2

–

5

4

9

3 12 100.0

– – –

– 8 47.1

3 9 52.9

3 17 100.0

– –

4 –

14 –

12 2

30 2

PUBLIC SERVICES AND PROFESSIONALS Central administration Post Office clerk – – – Local administration Relieving officer – 1 – Police Constable – – 1 Law Law student – – 1 Medicine Nurse – – – Education Headteachers, schoolteachers – 2 – Assistant teachers, pupil teachers 1 1 – Religion Theological students – 2 – Art, literature, science Actors – – 3 Total 1 7 4 % 8.3 58.3 33.3 DOMESTIC SERVICES Indoor service Maidservants Domestic nurses

173

– –

– –

– 1 1 1

2


174

Industrial class Outdoor service Coachmen and grooms Gardeners Extra service Charwoman, laundry woman Hairdressers Total %


– –

4 –

5 2

9 2

– 2 2 15.4

– – 4 30.8

– – 7 53.8

– 2 13 100.0

3 3 5.3

6 6 10.5

48 48 84.2

57 57 100.0

TOTAL OCCUPIED %

154 15.5

302 30.5

535 54.0


19 31.7

12 20.0

School pupils %

8 18.6


OTHERS General labourers Total %


1

1

–

2

5 14.7

15 44.1

14 41.2

34 100.0

991 100.0

12 10.2

54 45.8

52 44.1

118 100.0

29 48.3

60 100.0

109 20.7

171 32.4

247 46.9

527 100.0

16 37.2

19 44.2

43 100.0

3 6.1

17 34.7

29 59.2

49 100.0

330 30.2

583 53.3

1094 100.0

124 17.9

242 34.9

328 47.2

694 100.0

8 Dowlais (Glamorgan) MARI A. WILLIAMS

Situated two miles to the north-east of Merthyr Tydfil, in a bleak landscape around a thousand feet above sea level, the town of Dowlais owes its existence to the ironworks which were established there during the latter half of the eighteenth century. The first furnace was opened at Dowlais in 1759, but a new era in the history of the Dowlais Ironworks began in 1767 when the management of the works was taken over by John Guest, a native of Broseley in Shropshire. Following the establishment of the Plymouth (1763), Cyfarthfa (1765–6) and Penydarren (1784) works nearby, a sweeping transformation took place in the physical and industrial landscape of Merthyr Tydfil as hundreds of workers, who hailed mainly from neighbouring Welsh counties, flocked to the area in search of employment.1 Indeed, the remarkable scale of the movement of population into the district from the Welsh rural areas led one commentator at the time to describe Merthyr Tydfil as the ‘California and Australia of the Welsh’.2 Between 1801 and 1851 the population of Merthyr Tydfil grew sixfold, from 7,705 to 46,378, and the town, which established itself as the largest in Wales in 1801, retained that position until 1881 when it was overtaken by Cardiff.3 The overwhelming majority of the inhabitants of Merthyr Tydfil during this period were Welsh both in origin and tongue, and as William Thomas (Glanffrwd) (1843–90) pointed out in 1885, the language spoken by those who laboured in the ironworks of the district was a mixture of the dialects of Cardiganshire, Pembrokeshire, Glamorgan and Breconshire, the counties from which the early Welsh in-migrants had originated.4 1 2

3

4

John A. Owen, The History of the Dowlais Iron Works, 1759–1970 (Risca, 1977), pp. 11–14. D. Edwards, ‘Nodweddion Brodorol Dosbarth Gweithiol Gwent a Morganwg’, Y Traethodydd, XII (1856), 455–64. Harold Carter and Sandra Wheatley, Merthyr Tydfil in 1851: A Study of the Spatial Structure of a Welsh Industrial Town (Cardiff, 1982), p. 8. ‘Nid iaith Morganwg ydyw iaith gweithiau Merthyr ac Aberdâr, ond cymysgedd a wneir i fyny o dafodiaith Ceredigion, Penfro, Morganwg, a Brycheiniog’ (‘The language of the works of Merthyr and Aberdare is not the language of Glamorgan, but a mixture of the dialects of the counties of Cardigan, Pembroke, Glamorgan and Brecon’). Glanffrwd, ‘Gwlad, Pobl, Iaith a Defion Morganwg’, Y Geninen, III (1885), 14–20.


176

The industrial settlement of Dowlais grew rapidly during the first decades of the nineteenth century as a result of the extraordinary expansion in the undertakings of the Dowlais Iron Company. Between 1817 and the mid-1820s production at the works doubled, and the total yearly output of pig-iron increased from 12,524 tons from seven furnaces to 22,287 tons from ten furnaces.5 By the 1830s Dowlais had overtaken Cyfarthfa as the greatest iron-producing concern in south Wales. In the decades which followed fervent activity in the field of railway construction brought a new demand for iron products and the Dowlais Ironworks received large orders for iron rails from railway companies as far afield as north America, Germany, Russia, Hungary and Italy.6 In order to meet the increased demand for iron rails, the Dowlais Iron Company expanded its business and in 1839 the new Ivor Works, named after Ivor Bertie – son of John Josiah Guest, the manager, who was himself the grandson of the founder – was erected to the north-west of the main settlement, and a new rolling mill was built the following year.7 Iron production reached its peak at Dowlais during the mid-1840s, at which time the works employed over 7,300 men, women and children and covered an area of some 40 acres.8 From Dowlais House, the home which John Josiah Guest built for himself immediately to the north of the ironworks c.1817–18,9 future generations of the Guest family could survey the town which the family enterprise had been responsible for creating. In addition to building much of the workers’ housing, the iron company established nearly all the civic, social and educational centres which served the people of Dowlais. In 1844 a fortress-like market hall, a reading room and library were established in the town, and during the 1850s and 1860s, following the death of Sir J. J. Guest, the Dowlais Central School and a new library and reading rooms were erected in his memory at the expense of his widow, Lady Charlotte.10 The iron company also played an instrumental role in the religious life of the town and founded the church of St John in 1823 and the Welsh church of St Mair in 1872.11 By the mid-nineteenth century, however, the golden age of the south Wales iron industry was coming to an end, and the Dowlais Ironworks, like its rival companies, faced many new challenges. The rising costs involved in the mining of local ironstone – one of the basic resources required for the manufacture of iron – coincided with an era of significant technological developments in the mass 5

6 7 8 9 10 11

Trevor Boyns, Dennis Thomas and Colin Baber, ‘The Iron, Steel and Tinplate Industries, 1750–1914’ in A. H. John and Glanmor Williams (eds.), Glamorgan County History. Volume V. Industrial Glamorgan from 1700 to 1970 (Cardiff, 1980), p. 112. Ibid., p. 115. Ibid. Owen, The History of the Dowlais Iron Works, p. 35. Ibid., pp. 11–24. John B. Hilling, Cardiff and the Valleys: Architecture and Townscape (London, 1973), p. 110. Kelly’s Directory of Monmouthshire, and the Principal Towns and Places of South Wales (London, 1891), p. 335.

DOWLAIS (GLAMORGAN)

production of steel. The Dowlais Iron Company reacted quickly to the changes and in 1856 it became one of the first iron manufacturers in south Wales to adopt the Bessemer method of steel production. Although iron continued to be manufactured at Dowlais for many decades, the company now concentrated its efforts upon steel production and in 1859, under the leadership of William Menelaus, the general manager of the works between 1856 and 1882, construction work on a huge three-tier rolling mill, the ‘Goat Mill’, began.12 Further developments associated with the production of steel included the erection of three tinplate mills in 1879, two new Siemens-Martin open hearth furnaces in 1889, and the construction of a new iron and steel works at East Moors, Cardiff, during the late 1880s.13 Ironstone had been imported to Cardiff Docks from Bilbao in Spain since the 1870s, and the decision to locate the new works at a site adjacent to the docks brought about substantial savings in transport costs. In addition to making significant advancements in the production of iron and steel, the Dowlais Iron Company expanded its interests in the coal industry. In 1859 the company entered the sale-coal trade and opened up the coal reserves of nearby Fochriw and Penydarren. By 1891 over 4,000 people were employed in the collieries owned by the company, and approximately 3,700 tons of coal were extracted daily.14 However, the metal-related industries retained their position as the main employer at Dowlais in 1891, and the 5,500 men and women employed at the town’s iron and steel works produced 700 tons of iron and 2,400 tons of steel rails each week.15 Like previous generations of Dowlais men and women, the lives of the overwhelming majority of the c.16,500 people who resided in the town by 1891 continued to be dominated by the industrial empire of the Guest family. For those who lived in the narrow and steep rows of small houses which had been erected haphazardly under the shadow of the huge iron and steel works,16 the noise, smoke and noxious sulphuric fumes which emanated from the mills, furnaces and tips served as a constant reminder of the central role which the iron company played in their lives. Those who sought refuge from harsh living and working conditions found solace and salvation at the myriad public houses and the thirteen Nonconformist chapels (ten of which were Welsh causes) which flourished in the

12

13 14

15 16

Michael Atkinson and Colin Baber, The Growth and Decline of the South Wales Iron Industry, 1760–1880 (Cardiff, 1987), p. 63. Owen, The History of the Dowlais Iron Works, pp. 81, 83. Kelly’s Directory, p. 335; Reports from Commissioners, Inspectors and Others, Vol. 5, Mines, South Wales District (No. 13) (PP 1892 (c6625) XII), pp. 70–1. Owen, The History of the Dowlais Iron Works, p. 83; Kelly’s Directory, p. 335. Hilling, Cardiff and the Valleys, p. 100; Jeremy Lowe, Welsh Industrial Workers’ Housing, 1775–1875 (Cardiff, 1989), p. 29; Kate Sullivan, ‘ “The Biggest Room in Merthyr”: WorkingClass Housing in Dowlais, 1850–1914’, WHR, 17, no. 2 (1994), 155–85.

177


178

town in 1891.17 The spiritual needs of the Irish in-migrants who had flocked to Dowlais in the wake of the Great Famine (c.1845–8), had also been met with the establishment of a Roman Catholic church dedicated to St Iltutus (Illtud) in 1846.18 This study of 6,454 residents (aged 2 years and over) of seven of the seventeen census enumeration districts of Dowlais in 1891 incorporates the area immediately to the north of the great Dowlais works and to the south of the Ivor Works, and includes both the central retail district and some of the poorer working-class districts of the town where the Irish population formed a dominant presence.19 Over three-quarters of the 1,255 households within the boundaries of this sample area lived in accommodation of four rooms or less and in over half such cases the number of individuals in each dwelling exceeded five. Thirteen individuals, comprising a married couple, their seven children and four male boarders, were found to be living in one three-roomed house at Ivor Street, while another married couple and their eight children, whose ages ranged from 2 to 16 years, shared their two-roomed home at Lower Thompson Court with one male lodger. As Table 1 shows, this sample of Dowlais was one of the more Anglicized areas in the Merthyr Tydfil Registration District. Although the proportion of bilingual speakers enumerated in Dowlais was very similar to that returned in the whole of the registration district, the proportions of monoglot Welsh and monoglot English speakers varied considerably between the two areas. Nearly half the 6,454 inhabitants of Dowlais were unable to speak Welsh, while those who were unable to speak English comprised only 18.2 per cent of the total. Conversely, less than a third of the total population of the Merthyr Tydfil Registration District were unable to speak Welsh, while those who were unable to speak English constituted nearly one third of the total population of 109,707. Although the English language had established itself as the main means of communication in Dowlais by 1891, Welsh remained the dominant tongue of the older residents. Table 2, which provides a breakdown of the linguistic ability of the population according to age, shows that over 70 per cent of the 201 men and women aged over 65 were Welsh speakers, and that 79 (56.0 per cent) of these 17

18

19

See J. Thomas, Hanes Eglwysi Annibynol Cymru. Cyfrol V (Dolgellau, 1891), pp. 222–4; Richard Jones, Hanes Eglwys y Bedyddwyr ym Moriah, Dowlais o’r agoriad hyd Mehefin 1af 1895 (Dowlais, 1895); D. Cunllo Davies, Hanes Eglwys y Methodistiaid Calfinaidd yn Hermon, Dowlais (Y Bala, 1905); Llawlyfr Canmlwyddiant Eglwys Gynulleidfaol Bethania, Dowlais, 1822–1922 (Merthyr Tydfil, 1922); Canmlwyddiant Eglwys Gynulleidfaol Gwernllwyn, Dowlais, 1851–1951 (Aberdâr, 1951); J. Ronald Williams and Gwyneth Williams, History of Caersalem, Dowlais (Llandysul, 1967). See K. T. Weetch, ‘The Dowlais Ironworks and its Industrial Community, 1760–1850’ (unpubl. University of London MSc thesis, 1963), pp. 56–7; Ursula Masson, ‘The Development of the Irish and Roman Catholic Communities of Merthyr Tydfil and Dowlais in the Nineteenth Century’ (unpubl. University of Keele MA thesis, 1975); Kelly’s Directory, p. 335. It should be noted that the returns of 419 individuals from enumeration district no. 8 – an area which was home to the Irish community – were missing from the enumerators’ books.

DOWLAIS (GLAMORGAN)

179

Table 1: Language spoken by populations of Dowlais, Merthyr Tydfil Registration District, Glamorgan and Wales (2 years and over) Number Welsh Dowlais1 1177 Merthyr Tydfil R.D.2 35244 Glamorgan3 142346 Wales4 508036 1 2 3 4

Both

English

Total

2270 3007 6454 39812 34651 109707 177726 326481 646553 402253 759416 1669705

Percentage Welsh

Both

English

Total

18.2 32.1 22.0 30.4

35.2 36.3 27.5 24.1

46.6 31.6 50.5 45.5

100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0



Both

English

Total

2–5 6–14 15–24 25–44 45–64 65+

102 219 203 323 251 79

166 487 592 659 304 62

308 516 770 942 411 60

576 1222 1565 1924 966 201

Total

1177

2270

3007

6454

Age

Percentage Welsh

Both

English

Total

17.7 17.9 13.0 16.8 26.0 39.3

28.8 39.9 37.8 34.3 31.5 30.8

53.5 42.2 49.2 49.0 42.5 29.9

100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0

18.2

35.2

46.6

100.0

spoke Welsh only. The overwhelming majority of those included within this age group were Welsh by birth, and over half were natives of the three south-western counties of Wales. However, the origins and linguistic character of the younger adult population provided a stark contrast to this situation. Although the majority of adults between 45 and 64 years of age were also proficient in the Welsh language, the proportion of monoglot Welsh speakers had declined as sharply as the proportion of monoglot English speakers had increased. The pattern was repeated within the 24–44 age group, where only 16.8 per cent of the population were returned as being unable to speak English, and nearly half the 1,924 individuals spoke English only. Young adults aged between 15 and 24 returned the lowest proportion of monoglot Welsh speakers, while infants between 2 and 5 years old returned the highest proportion of non-Welsh speakers. The rapid decline in the use of the Welsh language among the young people of the Merthyr Tydfil area was frequently remarked upon during the latter half of the


180

nineteenth century.20 In his history of Pontypridd and the Rhondda Valleys, published in 1903, Owen Morgan (Morien) related the story of a Cardiganshire man who had spent the winter months working as a labourer on the coal patches of Dowlais. On his return to his native county he told his family that ‘the most outstanding thing he had witnessed there was little children talking English to each other. “They speak it”, said he, “as if it were Welsh itself ’’ ’.21 The Welsh religious leaders of Dowlais were particularly concerned by the failure of a growing number of the younger generation to comprehend the Welsh language. Indeed, in the late 1870s, the Revd Thomas Morgan, minister of Caersalem Welsh Baptist Chapel – the oldest Welsh Nonconformist cause in Dowlais – began holding Welsh classes for the younger members of his congregation in a bid to improve their knowledge of the native tongue.22 The classes held at the elementary and board schools of Dowlais, where teachers emphasized the importance of proficiency in the English language, no doubt militated against such efforts and of the 685 children returned as ‘scholars’ 300 (43.8 per cent) were monoglot English speakers and 297 (43.4 per cent) were bilingual, while only 88 (12.8 per cent) were returned as monoglot Welsh speakers. As an industrial settlement which owed its existence to the development of the ironworks, the town of Dowlais had attracted a disproportionate number of male to female in-migrants from the neighbouring Welsh districts and, in later years, from Ireland. The different migration, social and work experiences of the male and female populations had a direct bearing upon their linguistic abilities and, as Table 3 shows, a greater proportion of the female population was able to speak Welsh. Nearly 60 per cent of the 2,837 females were returned as Welsh speakers, and over a third of these were monoglots, while over half the males spoke English only. The greatest variation in the linguistic ability of the male and female populations was recorded within the adult age groups. In the 15–44 age group, where males accounted for nearly 60 per cent of the total population of 3,489, less than a third of the 2,084 males were able to speak Welsh, compared with 81.9 per cent of the 1,405 females. Strikingly, female adults were far more local in origin than their male counterparts: 81.6 per cent of the 1,405 females had been born in Wales, compared with 60.5 per cent of the 2,084 males. Over a quarter of the males were natives of Ireland, and they comprised nearly half the monoglot English-speaking men enumerated within this age group. Overall, however, as Table 4 shows, the town of Dowlais was inhabited by a far more local-born population.

20

21 22

See E. G. Ravenstein, ‘On the Celtic Languages in the British Isles, a Statistical Survey’, Journal of the Royal Statistical Society, XLII (1879), 616; D. Isaac Davies, ‘Cymru Ddwyieithog’, Y Geninen, III (1885), 209. Owen Morgan (Morien), History of Pontypridd and Rhondda Valleys (Pontypridd, 1903), p. 9. J. Ronald Williams and Gwyneth Williams, History of Caersalem, Dowlais, p. 41.

DOWLAIS (GLAMORGAN)

181


Total

Number Sex Welsh Both

English

Total


English

Total


58 44 107 112 92 111 179 144 135 116 33 46

85 81 234 253 292 300 355 304 160 144 29 33

141 167 263 253 501 269 665 277 261 150 30 30

284 292 604 618 885 680 1199 725 556 410 92 109

20.4 15.1 17.7 18.1 10.4 16.3 14.9 19.9 24.3 28.3 35.9 42.2

29.9 27.7 38.7 40.9 33.0 44.1 29.6 41.9 28.8 35.1 31.5 30.3

49.6 57.2 43.5 40.9 56.6 39.6 55.5 38.2 46.9 36.6 32.6 27.5

100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0

M F

602 575

1155 1115

1860 1147

3617 2837

16.6 20.3

31.9 39.3

51.4 40.4

100.0 100.0

Natives of Glamorgan, the majority of whom were Welsh speakers, accounted for over 70 per cent of the 4,820 Welsh-born population (aged 2 years and over), while the remainder hailed mainly from the counties of Carmarthen, Monmouth, Brecon, Cardigan and Pembroke. The monoglot English-speaking population of Dowlais was clearly derived from two main sources: the 1,106 Irish-born individuals accounted for 36.8 per cent of the monoglot English speakers, while 37 per cent hailed from Glamorgan. The overwhelming majority of the Glamorgan-born non-Welsh speakers were natives of Dowlais, and a significant proportion of these were descendants of the first generation of Irish in-migrants. The failure of the Irish community to learn Welsh was a striking feature of the linguistic profile of Dowlais in 1891. Despite the claims put forward by D. Isaac Davies in 1885 that a large proportion of the Irish community of Dowlais were proficient in the Welsh language,23 only 13 of the 1,106 Irish men and women included in this sample were Welsh speakers, three of whom were enumerated as monoglots. The ten bilingual speakers, all of whom were between 20 and 46 years old, comprised five men and five women, the former of whom were all employed in the iron and coal industries. Although three Irish-born individuals were entered in the census returns as monoglot Welsh speakers, some doubts must be raised as to the validity of this claim. It is possible that Edward Cartwright, the census enumerator, made an error when he filled in the language statements of the husband and wife, John and Bridget Kirby, and John Ronan, one of the two 23

D. Isaac Davies, ‘Cymru Ddwyieithog’, 208.


182


Number Welsh


Both

English

Total

749 138 41 60 99 26 – 9 25 8 6 2 – 2

1702 130 93 102 75 43 16 23 13 1 1 4 4 –

1112 5 138 66 1 33 81 9 – – 1 1 – 1

3563 273 272 228 175 102 97 41 38 9 8 7 4 3

21.0 50.5 15.1 26.3 56.6 25.5 – 22.0 65.8 88.9 75.0 28.6 – 66.7

England

6

32

425

463

Ireland

3

10

1093

Other3

1

16

1175

2265

Glamorgan Carmarthenshire Monmouthshire Breconshire Cardiganshire Pembrokeshire Radnorshire Montgomeryshire Caernarfonshire Anglesey Flintshire Merioneth Denbighshire Wales2

Total 1 2 3

English

Total

47.8 47.6 34.2 44.7 42.9 42.2 16.5 56.1 34.2 11.1 12.5 57.1 100.0 –

31.2 1.8 50.7 28.9 0.6 32.4 83.5 22.0 – – 12.5 14.3 – 33.3

100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0

1.3

6.9

91.8

100.0

1106

0.3

0.9

98.8

100.0

38

55

1.8

29.1

69.1

100.0

3004

6444

18.2

35.1

46.6

100.0

Excluding 10 individuals whose place of birth was not given. County unknown. Place of birth: Scotland 12, America 11, Australia 5, Poland 4, Germany 4, France 3, Russia 3, India 3, Africa 2, South America 2, Canada 1, Istanbul 1, Isle of Wight 1, Jersey 1, Switzerland 1, at sea 1.

Irish-born lodgers present in their home. In the census enumerator’s book the entries for the three monoglot Welsh-speaking Irish natives followed those for a monoglot Welsh-speaking family, and it is possible that the enumerator mistakenly used ditto marks to fill in the following entries in the language column. Michael Sullivan, the second Irish lodger who lived with John and Bridget Kirby, who was entered at the top of a new page in the enumerator’s book, was returned as a monoglot English speaker. Although contemporary reports suggest that a significant proportion of the Irish in-migrants who settled in the irontowns of south Wales spoke Irish, none of the census enumerators of Dowlais recorded any instance of an Irish speaker.24 Similarly, no account was 24

See John Denvir, The Irish in Britain from the Earliest Times to the Fall and Death of Parnell (2nd ed., London, 1894), p. 306. See also the claims made by Arthur E. Guest, son of John J. and Charlotte

DOWLAIS (GLAMORGAN)

made of the native languages spoken by the German, Polish, and Russian-born residents of the town, all of whom were returned as speaking English only. Indeed, it could be argued, therefore, that the association of the Irish and other non-Welsh-born individuals with a dominantly monoglot English-speaking culture should be regarded as a statement of their non-affiliation with the indigenous Welsh language and culture rather than as a true reflection of their linguistic abilities. As was the case in several large urban settlements elsewhere in England and Wales, the Irish-born residents of Dowlais were not only separated from other members of the community by their cultural and religious affiliations, but also by their physical distance from the host community.25 In Dowlais the streets immediately to the north of the Goat Mill and to the south and south-west of Lower Union Street were dominated by Irish natives and their descendants. Street names such as Catholic Row, Irish Row and Shamrock Cottages, as well as the existence of a Shamrock Inn at Brecon Street (an establishment which was owned by the Irishman, Daniel O’Leary), testified to the strong Irish presence in the area. Living conditions were particularly poor in the Irish district and many of the small dwellings situated in the narrow alleys and courts were severely overcrowded. Writing in 1880, Charles Wilkins noted that these ‘narrow gullies of streets’ were ‘tenanted chiefly by the humblest of working people’.26 Timothy Murray, a 79year-old native of Cork, his wife, four adult children and four school-age grandchildren occupied two rooms at a house in Star Inn Court, to the rear of Sand Street, while at Bute Court, a row of five two-roomed dwellings – all of which were occupied by Irish-born heads – Ellen Hennessey, a 60-year-old widow, shared her home with her 3-year-old grandson and six male lodgers, all of whom were natives of Ireland. The overwhelming majority of the inhabitants of the two enumeration districts which broadly incorporated the Irish district spoke English. Only 154 (8.9 per cent) of the 1,717 residents were unable to speak English and over 60 per cent were monoglot English speakers. It was in this area also that the greatest proportion of monoglot and dominantly English-speaking households was enumerated. In total, nearly a third of the 1,255 households of Dowlais were monoglot English-speaking households, while the occupants of 264 (21.0 per

25

26

Guest, at a meeting of the Catholic Registration Association in Cardiff in 1880, Western Mail, 20 March 1880. I am grateful to Dr Paul O’Leary for this reference. See John Hickey, ‘The Origin and Development of the Irish Community in Cardiff’ (unpubl. University of Wales MA thesis, 1959); idem, Urban Catholics: Urban Catholicism in England and Wales from 1829 to the present day (London, 1967); C. Roy Lewis, ‘The Irish in Cardiff in the MidNineteenth Century’, Cambria, 7, no. 1 (1980), 13–41; Frances Finnegan, Poverty and Prejudice: A Study of Irish Immigrants in York, 1840–1875 (Cork, 1982); Paul O’Leary, ‘Immigration and Integration: A Study of the Irish in Wales, 1798–1922’ (unpubl. University of Wales PhD thesis, 1989). Charles Wilkins, ‘A Saturday Night at Dowlais’, Tales and Sketches of Wales (Cardiff, 1880), p. 238.

183


184

Table 5: Language spoken by relation to head of household (2 years and over)1 Relation to head Number of household Welsh Heads 298 Wives 208 Children2 449 Relatives 104 Servants/maidservants 9 Boarders/lodgers 99 Visitors 10 Others3 – Total 1 2 3

1177


Both

English

Total

434 337 993 175 119 190 20 1

510 365 1084 176 61 779 30 1

1242 910 2526 455 189 1068 60 2

24.0 22.9 17.8 22.9 4.8 9.3 16.7 –

2269

3006

6452

18.2

English

Total

34.9 37.0 39.3 38.5 63.0 17.8 33.3 50.0

41.1 40.1 42.9 38.7 32.3 72.9 50.0 50.0

100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0

35.2

46.6

100.0

Excluding 2 individuals whose relationship to the head of household was not given. Includes adopted children and stepchildren. One Roman Catholic curate and one son of a servant.

cent) households comprised a mixture of Welsh speakers and non-Welsh speakers. Only in 587 (46.8 per cent) households were all members able to speak Welsh, and in 184 (31.3 per cent) such households each person was unable to speak English. Just as the Irish had tended to congregate in one part of the town, so had the in-migrants who had come to Dowlais from the dominantly Welsh-speaking counties of south-west Wales shown a similar inclination to settle together.27 Nearly 90 per cent of the 184 monoglot Welsh-speaking households were to be found in the three enumeration districts which incorporated the streets immediately to the west and to the south of the Ivor Works. The majority of the 577 household heads enumerated in these districts were Welsh both in tongue and origin: over two-thirds were Welsh speakers, and nearly 40 per cent of the 431 Welsh-born heads were natives of the counties of Carmarthen, Brecon, Cardigan or Pembroke. The language spoken within the homes of Dowlais varied considerably, therefore, from one part of the town to another, according to the place of birth of the household members. As Table 5 shows, nearly 60 per cent of the 1,242 household heads were Welsh speakers, and over 40 per cent of these were monoglots, while the remaining 510 (41.1 per cent) spoke English only. Two-thirds of the household heads were Welsh by birth, while 270 (21.7 per cent) were natives of Ireland, and 129 (10.4 per cent) hailed from England. Over half the Welsh-born 27

Sir Thomas Phillips, Wales: The Language, Social Condition, Moral Character, and Religious Opinions of the People . . . (London, 1852), pp. 31–2.

DOWLAIS (GLAMORGAN)

185




Total


Total

325 4 13 2

11 8 26 233

30 4 4 4

366 16 43 239

94.2 7.7 30.2 0.8

3.0 84.6 60.5 97.5

2.7 7.7 9.3 1.7

100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0

344

278

42

664

51.8

41.9

6.3

100.0


heads were natives of Glamorgan – around two-thirds of whom were from Dowlais itself – while the majority of the remainder hailed from the counties of Carmarthen, Brecon, Monmouth and Cardigan. The overwhelming majority of the Welsh-born heads, including those born in the counties of Glamorgan and Monmouth, were Welsh speakers. Only 57 of the 416 Glamorgan-born heads were unable to speak Welsh, and at least 50 of these were of Irish descent. Over half the 510 monoglot English-speaking heads enumerated in the sample were of Irish birth, while the remainder hailed mainly from England. Although the 910 wives were far more local in origin, their linguistic ability differed very little from that of the household heads: nearly 60 per cent were Welsh speakers, while 365 (40.1 per cent), the majority of whom hailed from Ireland, spoke English only. A similar proportion of monoglot English speakers was recorded among members of the second generation and few of the offspring of monoglot English-speaking parents had acquired any knowledge of the Welsh language. Conversely, the proportion of monoglot Welsh speakers had declined sharply from one generation to the next, and nearly 70 per cent of the 1,442 Welsh-speaking ‘children’ were also proficient in the English language. The vast majority of non-nuclear family members, such as relatives, servants and lodgers were also English speakers. Lodgers constituted a particularly strong monoglot English-speaking presence in the homes of Dowlais and 72.9 per cent of the 1,068 boarders and lodgers were returned as monoglot English speakers. Table 6, which shows the language spoken by ‘children’ (aged between 2 and 46) in households headed by two parents, reveals the nature of intergenerational linguistic change within the homes of Dowlais. There was clearly very little evidence that any linguistic shift had taken place within the homes of monoglot English speakers, for only in 6 (2.5 per cent) of the 239 households headed by two non-Welsh-speaking parents were any children returned as being able to speak

186


Welsh. However, in 41 (11.2 per cent) of the 366 households headed by two Welsh-speaking parents, some or all of the children were returned as non-Welsh speakers. In households where only one parent spoke Welsh, an even greater proportion of the children were returned as non-Welsh speakers. Only in 17 (28.8 per cent) of the total 59 households were all children returned as Welsh speakers, while in 42 (71.2 per cent) of the households, some or all of the children spoke English only. In 43 of the 59 households, the mother was the Welshspeaking parent, a fact which reflected the dominantly male character of migration into Dowlais. The influence of the Welsh-speaking mother upon the language of the home was clearly stronger than that of the Welsh-speaking father, and in households where the mother spoke Welsh the children were more likely to be proficient in the mother tongue. Marriages between Welsh-speaking and non-Welsh-speaking partners were uncommon, however, and constituted only 8.9 per cent of the total sample of 664. There was very little evidence of any intermarrying between the Irish inmigrants or their descendants and members of the native Welsh population, and the Irish families, who formed a significant proportion of the monoglot Englishspeaking households, remained largely isolated from the linguistic and cultural influences of the host community. Only in three of the households headed by two Irish-born monoglot English parents were any of the children able to speak Welsh. John Doyle, a 20-year-old labourer born at Cwmafan in Glamorgan, and the Irish-born brothers, Patrick and John Lane (aged 34 and 30 respectively) were proficient in Welsh and English. Of the four children born to the Irish couple, Henry and Ellen Morley, only their second child, 12-year-old Clara, could speak Welsh. A similar situation was recorded in the remaining three households where children of monoglot English-speaking parents had been returned as Welsh speakers. In the home of a Radnorshire-born couple who lived at Horse Street, only the two elder sons who worked as colliery hauliers were Welsh speakers, while their four younger siblings spoke English only. The 7-year-old daughter of Andrew Schonhart, a German-born jeweller, spoke both Welsh and English, while her 14-year-old sister, also born at Dowlais, spoke English only. Similarly, M. H. Rosewarne, a 30-year-old infant teacher at Penydarren school and the daughter of a Cornish-born boilermaker, was the only member of her family who could speak Welsh. A very different situation prevailed in the Welsh-speaking homes of Dowlais, where the vast majority of parents and an even greater proportion of their children were bilingual speakers. As Table 7 shows, either one or both parents in 227 (62.0 per cent) of the 366 partnerships between two Welsh speakers were able to speak English. The children in 221 (97.4 per cent) of the 227 households could also speak English, and in 31 (13.7 per cent) instances some or all of the children spoke English only. Many of the children of monoglot Welsh-speaking parents were also proficient in the English language and had clearly acquired knowledge

DOWLAIS (GLAMORGAN)

187




W B W B E B E E W

107 – 3 3 – – – – –

22 10 5 175 4 11 2 – 2

2 – – 9 7 25 233 1 1

8 1 2 19 4 3 4 – 1

139 11 10 206 15 39 239 1 4

76.9 – 30.0 1.5 – – – – –

15.8 1.4 90.9 – 50.0 – 84.9 4.4 26.7 46.7 28.2 64.1 0.8 97.5 – 100.0 50.0 25.0

5.8 9.1 20.0 9.2 26.7 7.7 1.7 – 25.0

100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0

183

161

83

49

476

38.4

33.8

10.3

100.0

17.4


of the language outside the home environment. Some or all of the children in 32 (23.0 per cent) of the 139 households headed by two monoglot Welsh-speaking parents spoke English, and in ten such households some or all of the children were unable to speak Welsh. For example, Catherine Willis, the 23-year-old widowed daughter of a monoglot Welsh-speaking couple from Tredegar, claimed to be ignorant of her parents’ native tongue. As members of the Welsh-speaking population of Dowlais became increasingly familiar with the English language, there was little need for monoglot English speakers to acquire knowledge of the Welsh language. Members of the Irish community, who formed such a large proportion of the monoglot Englishspeaking population of Dowlais, and who tended to live and work among people of their own linguistic and cultural background, had few opportunities or incentives to learn Welsh. The dominantly English-speaking character of their homes and immediate street environment was further strengthened by the continuous influx of Irish in-migrants to the town. As Table 8 shows, nearly half the 1,063 lodgers whose place of birth was given were natives of Ireland, and they accounted for nearly two-thirds of the 777 monoglot English-speaking lodgers. Of the 408 lodgers born in Wales, the majority were natives of Dowlais itself, and at least 50 of the 72 Glamorgan-born monoglot English speakers were of Irish descent. A relatively small proportion of lodgers hailed from the predominantly Welsh-speaking counties of the south-west, from where earlier generations of inmigrants had flocked to work in the ironworks of Dowlais. Like their Irish-born counterparts, the majority of such lodgers had taken up accommodation with


188


Number Welsh


Both

English

Total

35 9 17 9 – 9 2 3 5 – 1 1 1 –

111 13 19 11 2 11 5 3 3 2 – – – –

72 20 – 7 25 – 5 6 – – – – – 1

218 42 36 27 27 20 12 12 8 2 1 1 1 1

16.1 21.4 47.2 33.3 – 45.0 16.7 25.0 62.5 – 100.0 100.0 100.0 –

England

4

2

126

132

Ireland

1

2

505

Other3

–

5

Total

97

189

Glamorgan Monmouthshire Carmarthenshire Breconshire Radnorshire Cardiganshire Montgomeryshire Pembrokeshire Caernarfonshire Denbighshire Anglesey Flintshire Merioneth Wales2

1 2 3

English

Total

50.9 30.9 52.8 40.7 7.4 55.0 41.7 25.0 37.5 100.0 – – – –

33.0 47.6 – 25.9 92.6 – 41.7 50.0 – – – – – 100.0

100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0

3.0

1.5

95.5

100.0

508

0.2

0.4

99.4

100.0

10

15

–

33.3

66.7

100.0

777

1063

9.1

17.8

73.1

100.0

Excluding 5 individuals whose place of birth was not given. County unknown. Place of birth: Scotland 7, America 3, France 3, Canada 1, South Africa 1.

their fellow countrymen but, unlike previous generations of in-migrants from the rural Welsh districts, few were unable to speak English. Nearly a third of all households in Dowlais provided accommodation for boarders or lodgers, the vast majority of whom were single, adult males, and many of the poorer families of the town depended upon the extra monies which could be earned by taking in paying guests. Many of the small dwellings situated in the Irish district provided a home for several lodgers who no doubt occupied the same beds in their turn after completing their alternate shifts at the ironworks.28 At one house in Lower High Street nine Irish-born men, all of whom were employed as general labourers, had taken up lodgings with an Irish family comprising a married couple and four children of school age. William and Honora Mahoney, another Irish-born couple, shared their home in Sand Street with their three young children and seven male lodgers, all of whom hailed from Cork, the native city of 28

Wilkins, Tales and Sketches of Wales, p. 238.

DOWLAIS (GLAMORGAN)

their hosts. Only one dwelling in the sample was officially recognized as a ‘lodging house’, and the overwhelming majority of lodgers were, therefore, accommodated in ordinary family homes. The ‘common lodging house’ in George Street, owned by Timothy O’Sullivan, an Irishman who lived in the house next door, was occupied by twenty-eight adults – one female and twenty-seven males – the latter of whom were all employed as labourers in the ironworks. Despite the industrial developments occurring elsewhere in the South Wales Coalfield by this period, it is clear that a considerable number of male in-migrants continued to arrive at Dowlais in search of employment with the Dowlais Iron Company. Over half the occupied male population included in this sample were directly employed in the metal and coal industries, while the livelihood of the overwhelming majority of the remainder, whether general labourers or dealers, was wholly dependent upon the fortunes of the heavy industries. The dominantly English-speaking character of the occupied male population reflected the fact that an increasing proportion of the in-migrants who had arrived at Dowlais in recent years hailed from outside Wales: of the 2,839 occupied males (aged 10 years and over), over half were unable to speak Welsh, while only 459 (16.2 per cent) individuals were unable to speak English. The origins and linguistic character of those engaged within the heavy industries, however, varied considerably between the coal and metal-related trades. The coal-mining workforce was overwhelmingly Welsh in tongue and origin: nearly 90 per cent of the workforce of 588 males and 11 females had been born in Wales, and 456 (76.1 per cent) of these were Welsh speakers. Like the majority of the skilled mining workforce, David Lloyd, the colliery clerk, and David Edwards, the checkweigher, were Glamorgan-born men who spoke both Welsh and English. Although a slightly higher proportion of the unskilled workforce hailed from England and Ireland, the majority of the seventy-five men and women employed as colliery labourers and surface workers could also speak Welsh. However, the coal-mining industry employed less than a quarter of the occupied male population, and the majority of adult males earned their living in the iron and steelworks of the Dowlais Iron Company. Compared with the coalmining workforce, a far greater proportion of the 921 males and 20 females engaged in the manufacture of iron and steel were of non-Welsh origin; indeed, 398 (42.3 per cent) individuals were natives of Ireland, and only 7 were able to speak Welsh. In total, over 60 per cent of the workforce were unable to speak Welsh, compared with only 140 (14.9 per cent) individuals, the majority of whom were natives of Dowlais, who were unable to speak English. In addition to the men engaged directly in the manufacture of iron and steel, the Dowlais Iron Company employed craftsmen such as stonemasons, carpenters and blacksmiths, and ancillary workers such as the thirteen ostlers who cared for the Company horses at the Dowlais Stables. The only managers included in this sample were David Jenkins, the Dowlais-born manager of the steelworks, who spoke both

189


190

Welsh and English, and John Mitchell, a monoglot Welsh speaker from Sirhowy, who was manager at the mills of the Ivor Works. Edward Pritchard Martin JP, general manager of the Dowlais Iron Company since 1882, lived at Gwernllwyn House, Caeharris, a large detached residence situated to the south-east of the Ivor Works. Although Martin lived outside the boundaries of this sample area, it is worth noting that he and his wife, both natives of Merthyr, and their six Welshborn children were all returned as monoglot English speakers. However, the majority of the employees who worked within the company offices spoke Welsh. Gomer Matthews, who worked as an agent for the company, and the four men who were employed as clerks, were all natives of Dowlais, and apart from Frank Clements, a 17-year-old monoglot English speaker, all were proficient in both Welsh and English. Ten of the fifteen men engaged as foremen at the works were also Welsh speakers, six of whom were monoglots. The majority of the 404 skilled men who worked under the supervision of the managers, foremen and timekeepers at the iron and steel works had also been born in Wales and were Welsh speakers. With the adoption of new working processes and the transfer to steel production, the functions of the ‘gentleman puddler’, once regarded as the ‘aristocrat of the skilled working class’,29 had become increasingly obsolete and only fifty-six puddlers were included in this sample. The overwhelming majority were Welshmen, and of the forty-one who spoke Welsh, fifteen were unable to speak English. Only nine Irishmen had gained entry to this highly-skilled profession and their absence from the ranks of the other skilled occupations, such as rollermen, moulders, roughers and rail straighteners was equally striking. Less than a quarter of the 391 Irishmen and women employed within the iron and steel works were skilled workers, and the overwhelming majority of the remainder worked as labourers. In total, the Irish-born workers accounted for 61.9 per cent of the 489 unskilled and labouring workforce, while 59 of the 107 Glamorgan-born men and women engaged as labourers were of Irish descent. The dominantly English-speaking character of the unskilled workforce reflected its non-Welsh origins and nearly 80 per cent of the 489 workers were returned as speaking English only. The Irish-born workers dominated the ranks of other low status and lowskilled occupations at Dowlais. Nearly 60 per cent (260) of the 438 general labourers included in this sample were natives of Ireland and, apart from John Kirby and John Ronan, the two Irishmen who were returned as monoglot Welsh speakers, all of them spoke English only. A large proportion of the Glamorganborn labourers were also of Irish descent and unable to speak Welsh. The twentyseven men employed at the coke works associated with the Dowlais ironworks were also monoglot English speakers. Seventeen men, including Thomas Landers, the foreman, were natives of Ireland, while the nine Welshmen who hailed from 29

Owen, The History of the Dowlais Iron Works, p. 81.

DOWLAIS (GLAMORGAN)

Dowlais and Rhymney in Monmouthshire were all of Irish descent. Eighteen of the nineteen men employed at the Dowlais gasworks were also non-Welsh speakers. Only four of the nineteen had been born in Wales, and one of these, namely John Leary of Dowlais, was clearly of Irish parentage; the remainder hailed from Ireland and England. The number of females employed by the Dowlais Iron Company had fallen dramatically since the 1860s, when the metal-related industries were the third highest employer of females in the area and over 600 women were employed in the mines, quarries, forges and furnaces of the ironworks.30 By 1891 the metal industries ranked as the sixth highest employer of females in the district, and only twenty females from this sample were employed at the ironworks, the majority of whom were engaged as labourers and fish-plate cleaners. Eleven of the twenty female workers spoke Welsh, five of whom were monoglots, and nine females, eight of whom had been born in Ireland or were of Irish descent, were unable to speak Welsh. The brickworks associated with the ironworks also provided some employment for the local female population and thirty-two women, the majority of whom were in their teens, were engaged in the manufacture of refractory bricks. Of the seven males and thirty-two females who worked at the brickworks, only seven individuals, all of whom had Irish connections, were unable to speak Welsh. The majority of the occupied female population, however, were engaged within the domestic sphere as lodging house keepers, domestic servants and dressmakers. Apart from Timothy O’Sullivan, the Irishman who kept the large lodging house at George Street, the remainder of the lodging house keepers enumerated in this sample were females charged with the care of two or more boarders or lodgers within their own homes. Nearly two-thirds of the female lodging house keepers were monoglot English speakers, and of these over 60 per cent were Irish by birth. In addition to keeping lodgers, the female members of poor households often undertook laundry or charring work in order to supplement their lowly family income. Domestic service also provided an important means of employment for the female population and 217 females, over 40 per cent of whom were related to their employers, were in service at the homes of ordinary workmen or with local retailers and dealers. Over half the 217 domestic servants were bilingual, while 58 (26.7 per cent) were monoglot English speakers and 34 (15.7 per cent) monoglot Welsh speakers. The tradesmen and dealers of Dowlais whose businesses were situated mainly along the length of High Street and Union Street constituted the only substantial middle-class presence in this sample. Excluding the 232 lodging house keepers, 30

Susan Edwards, ‘A Report on the Employment of Women and Children in the Dowlais Ironworks, 1866’, Annual Report of the Glamorgan Archivist, 1983, pp. 15–17. See also Angela V. John, By the Sweat of their Brow: Women Workers at Victorian Coal Mines (London, 1984).

191


192

nearly two-thirds of the 265 men and women who were engaged within the dealing sector were bilingual, while 56 (21.1 per cent) spoke English only and 36 (13.6 per cent) spoke Welsh only. The landlords of thirty-nine of the forty-eight public houses included in this sample were Welsh speakers, and seven of these – including Louisa Parry and Elizabeth Lewis, the landladies of the Britannia and the Flag and Castle Inns – spoke no English. Even so, six of the fifteen young men and women who worked as barmaids and inn servants, and all five of the pianists who were employed in some of the livelier hostelries of the town were unable to speak Welsh. The vast majority of the shopkeepers who traded in the essential provisions of food and clothing were Welsh speakers. Of the twenty-four grocers, only J. Hillman, a Gloucestershire-born man who kept a shop in the High Street, was unable to speak Welsh. Seven grocers, four of whom hailed from the counties of Carmarthen and Pembroke, and all of whom were over 45 years old, were returned as monoglot Welsh speakers. Similarly, only two of the thirteen individuals who kept boot shops and drapery establishments were unable to speak Welsh. Five of the ten drapers hailed from the three south-western Welsh counties of Carmarthen, Cardigan and Pembroke. The Welsh-born drapers tended to employ shop assistants of a similar linguistic and geographical background. Only two of the twenty-six drapers’ assistants were unable to speak Welsh, and twelve of the twenty-four Welsh speakers were natives of the three south-western counties of Wales. The ‘Dowlais Drapery Company’, a large shop situated in the High Street and owned by William Jones, a native of Llanddeusant in Carmarthenshire, employed seven shop assistants, all of whom spoke both Welsh and English, and four of whom hailed from west Wales. The only non-Welsh-speaking draper was Joseph Freedman, a 22-year-old native of Warwickshire, who managed an outfitters’ business on the same premises as Alfred, his Dowlais-born brother, who worked as a pawnbroker and outfitter. Both were members of the small Jewish community of dealers and shopkeepers which had settled in the Merthyr area since the middle of the nineteenth century after fleeing from anti-Semitism in the central European states.31 The trade directory which lists the addresses of commercial premises in Dowlais in 1891 includes eleven under Jewish names, seven of which were situated within the boundaries of this sample. They included three pawnbrokers: Herman Gittlesohn32 and Harris Isaacs (who was described as a draper in the trade directory), both of whom were born in Russia, and Harris Freedman, a 40-yearold native of Poland, who was probably related to the young brothers, Joseph and Alfred Freedman. Hyman Harris, a 25-year-old Russian, had established his own 31

32

Anthony Glaser and Ursula R. Q. Henriques, ‘The Valleys Communities’ in Ursula R. Q. Henriques (ed.), The Jews of South Wales: Historical Studies (Cardiff, 1993), pp. 45–67. Julian Gittelsohn, a pawnbroker who traded from the same address as Herman in Brecon Street was summoned in 1884 for overcharging a customer by 3½d. Ibid., p. 53.

DOWLAIS (GLAMORGAN)

business as a furniture dealer in the High Street, while three other émigrés, Jacob Hyman of Poland, and Franz and Andrew Schonhart, two German-born men who were probably related, traded as jewellers and watchmakers. Apart from Dora, the 7-year-old Dowlais-born daughter of Andrew Schonhart, the Jewish businessmen, their assistants and all members of their families were returned as monoglot English speakers. Two other foreign-born dealers earned their living as travelling herbalists. They were Juan and Alicia Clark, a married couple who, although born in Buenos Aires and Philadelphia respectively, were bilingual speakers. The majority of those who were employed in senior positions within the public service sector and whose work, therefore, involved close contact with all members of the community, were bilingual speakers. Diana Morris, a 55-year-old Tregaron-born widow who was in charge of the library and reading room in the High Street, was proficient in both Welsh and English, as was Edward Rees, the police inspector, and the two police sergeants based at the Dowlais Police Station in nearby Market Street. However, five of the eight police constables, three of whom were Englishmen, spoke English only. Cole Isaac Thomas, a 45-year-old native of Dowlais who was employed as an estate agent but also served as the deputy registrar of births and deaths for the Upper Merthyr Tydfil Subdistrict and was one of the seventeen census enumerators of Dowlais in 1891, was also a bilingual speaker.33 Although knowledge of Welsh was an asset in his everyday work, it appears that there was no place for the language within his own home: both his Monmouthshire-born wife, Emily, and their 4-year-old Dowlais-born daughter, Mina, were returned as monoglot English speakers. Similarly, although John Davies, the 38-year-old postmaster was bilingual, his wife, Mary, a native of Cwmafan in Glamorgan, and six of their children were unable to speak Welsh. Both William and Annie, the two older children, assisted their father at the post office as assistant postmaster and telegraphist. The two young men employed as post and telegraph messengers were also monoglot English speakers, one of whom hailed from Southampton, whereas the 15-year-old girl who was employed as a report carrier was returned as a monoglot Welsh speaker. Only a minority of the occupied population enumerated in this sample were employed within professional occupations and very few were unable to speak English. Joseph Griffiths, a monoglot English speaker from Welshpool and manager of the bank situated in Market Street, was assisted by Arthur Evans, a young bilingual clerk from St Dogmaels in Pembrokeshire. Two of the three accountants, both of whom hailed from Dowlais, were also bilingual speakers, while George Roberts, a 42-year-old native of Haverfordwest, spoke English only. William Whitcombe and E. Hughes Jones, two assistant medical surgeons who practised at the surgery in the High Street, and Eliza Evans and Ellen 33

Kelly’s Directory, p. 338.

193


194

Protheroe, two elderly midwives, were the only individuals employed within the medical profession. Whitcombe, a 26-year-old native of Kent, spoke English only, while his Flintshire-born colleague spoke both Welsh and English. Of the two Carmarthenshire-born midwives, Ellen Protheroe was the only one who was able to speak English. Robert Pearson Cresswell FRCS, the surgeon of the Dowlais Iron Company who also served as Medical Officer and Public Vaccinator in Merthyr Tydfil, was not included in this sample, but a glance at his census returns reveals that the 46-year-old native of Worcester was unable to speak Welsh. Similarly, very few of the men and women who ministered to the spiritual and educational needs of the people of Dowlais resided within the boundaries of this sample. Hugh Robinson, assistant minister at Moriah Welsh Baptist Chapel and a native of Nercwys in Flintshire, and David Davies, a Methodist minister from Llanbadarn Fawr in Cardiganshire, were the only two Welsh-speaking Nonconformist ministers included in this sample. Robinson, along with all members of his family, was returned as a monoglot Welsh speaker, but his educational background and the fact that he moved from Dowlais in 1893 to take charge of an English cause at Aberdare belies this statement.34 Like the overwhelming majority of their communicants, the two Roman Catholic priests who lived at the priory of St Iltutus Roman Catholic Church were both non-Welsh speakers. John Cuthbert Pippet was a native of Somerset, while Caspar Bruno Kengelbacher, the curate, hailed from Schevvy in Switzerland. Knowledge of the Welsh language was clearly not deemed to be a necessary qualification for senior positions within the schools of Dowlais. Matthew Hirst, a native of Kirkbymoorside in Yorkshire and headmaster of the elementary school, together with the schoolmistresses, Miriam Maskelyne of Cheltenham and Isabella Williams of Penydarren, were all monoglot English speakers. Fourteen of the remaining sixteen teachers, only one of whom was male, were proficient in both Welsh and English. It seems probable, given their Irish surnames, that Mary Ryan and Hannah Quinn, the two remaining monoglot English-speaking teachers, and Anna Callaghan, a 17-year-old monoglot English-speaking pupil teacher, were employed at the newly-built Catholic elementary school (est. 1887), where the majority of the 426 pupils who regularly attended were also probably non-Welsh speakers.35 Apart from Mary Powell, a 16-year-old from Aberdare who was returned as a monoglot Welsh speaker, the remaining eight female assistant or pupil teachers were bilingual speakers. Two monoglot English-speaking music teachers were also included in this sample. Amy Griffiths, a 20-year-old from Cardiff, was visiting the home of an ironworker and his family at Watercourse Street, while Selina Hooper, a 28-year-old native of Dowlais, who was entered as 34 35

Jones, Hanes Eglwys y Bedyddwyr yn Moriah, Dowlais, p. 16. Kelly’s Directory, p. 340.

DOWLAIS (GLAMORGAN)

195

a music teacher in the census, was listed in the local trade directory as a ‘fancy dealer’. Clearly the linguistic character of the irontown of Dowlais had changed appreciably since the first half of the nineteenth century when the overwhelming majority of its working population were Welsh in tongue and origin. By 1891 the position of the Welsh language had been severely weakened and the overwhelming majority of the inhabitants of the town, particularly within the younger age groups, were English speakers. The influx of in-migrants from Ireland from the late 1840s onwards had played an important role in transforming the linguistic and cultural map of the town, for very few of the Irish-born residents and their descendants had acquired any knowledge of the Welsh language. Moreover, while non-Welsh-born in-migrants had continued to arrive in increasing numbers at the town in search of employment, a significant proportion of the indigenous, Welsh-speaking population had moved away from Dowlais since the mid-1850s to take up higher-paid work within the coal industry elsewhere in south Wales.


Industrial class AGRICULTURE Farming Farmer Agricultural labourer Breeding Sick horse dresser Dealing Hay dealer Total % MINING Coal Clerk Checkweigher Miners/hauliers Machine operators Craftsman Labourers Pithead/surface workers Others Stone


– –

– –

1 1

1 1

–

–

1

1

1 1 25.0

– – –

– 3 75.0

1 4 100.0

– – 163 2 – 11 1 1

1 1 238 1 1 14 10 3

– – 101 2 – 20 8 10

1 1 502 5 1 45 19 14


1 4

4 –

– 2

5 6


196

Industrial class Quarrymen Labourers Brickmaking Brickmakers Labourers Other Waterworks Workers Total %

Language spoken Males Welsh Both English Total 1 1

1 1

5 5

7 7

1 1 1

2 1 –

– 1 –

3 3 1

– 183 30.0

– 274 44.8

2 154 25.2

2 611 100.0

– 1 1

2 – 1

2 1 2

19 3 1 20 1 1 2 10

17 4 – 10 4 – 1 18

51 7 1 43 5 1 3 35

10

15

33

– 69 37.3

– 72 38.9

1 185 100.0

– 1 6 3

4 – 31 1

4 1 40 4

–

3

3

–

–

1

6 3 150 6

5 1 175 7

18 4 404 17

BUILDING Management Civil engineer/surveyor – Foreman – Apprentice/assistant – Operatives Stonemasons 15 Bricklayers – Plasterer – Carpenters/joiners 13 Plumbers/painters – Gas fitter – Apprentices/assistants – Labourers 7 Road, railway making, etc. Railway labourers/navvies/ platelayers 8 Other construction labourer 1 Total 44 % 23.8 MANUFACTURING Machinery, tools, watches, etc. Proprietors – Foreman – Skilled manual 3 Apprentices/assistants – Unskilled manual/ labourers – Shipbuilding Skilled manual 1 Iron and steel Managers/agents/ foremen 7 Clerks – Skilled manual 79 Apprentices/assistants 4


13 2

9 1

6 1

28 4

20 46.5

14 32.6

9 20.9

43 100.0

DOWLAIS (GLAMORGAN)

Industrial class


Unskilled manual/ labourers 41 Others 4 Tinplate Skilled manual 1 Earthenware, coals and gas, chemicals, etc. Foreman – Skilled manual 1 Apprentice – Unskilled manual/ labourers – Wood, furniture, paper, etc. Skilled manual 1 Carriages and harnesses Foreman – Skilled manual – Unskilled manual/ labourers – Woollens Skilled manual – Dress Skilled manual 7 Apprentices/assistants – Food, drink, tobacco Proprietor – Skilled manual – Unskilled manual/ labourer – Printing Skilled manual – Unspecified Managers/foremen – Engine drivers/stokers/ firemen/fitters 24 Machinists/mechanics 1 Apprentices/assistants – Labourers – Total 174 % 13.8 TRANSPORT Warehouses Clerical Messengers, porters Railways Clerk/booking office

46 2

382 3

469 9

1

–

2

– 1 –

1 26 1

1 28 1

–

17

17

2

4

7

1 7

– 3

1

197


5

6

9

20

1 10

–

–

1

1

–

1

–

1

–

1

2

–

2

10 –

8 –

25 –

20 2

50 10

17 3

87 15

– 3

– 5

– 8

– 4

– 10

1 –

1 14

–

1

1

1

–

1

2

–

2

65 2 2 2 325 25.8

76 2 2 2 760 60.4

165 5 4 4 1259 100.0

31 22.3

77 55.4

31 22.3

139 100.0

– –

– 3

1 1

1 4

–

1

3

4


198

Industrial class Engine drivers/stokers/ signalmen Porters Roads Cabman, coachmen Carriers, hauliers, etc. Others Total %



3 2

14 1

11 1

28 4

– 9 – 14 16.3

– 16 2 37 43.0

3 11 4 35 40.7

3 36 6 86 100.0

–

–

–

–

1

–

1

7 17

2 1

10 18

– 1

3 6

– 1

3 8

11 1 14 2 26

5 – 1 1 5

17 1 20 3 39

– 3 2 2 1

4 1 2 4 8

– – – – 2

4 4 4 6 11

1 23 1 – –

2 8 – 1 –

3 36 1 1 –

2

9

1

12

29 –

50 2

152 –

231 2

1

3

4

–

5

8

13

– 4 – – 1

1 – 1 4 5

1 4 1 4 6

3 1

– 2

3 3

1 –

– –

1 –

– –

1 1

– –

1 1

– – –

– 1 –

– 1 –

– 2 1

1 3 2

– 1 1

1 6 4

2

–

4

DEALING Raw materials Flannel dealer – Dress Drapers etc. 1 Assistants – Food Butchers, fishmongers 1 Milksellers, cowkeepers – Grocers 5 Greengrocers – Assistants 8 Tobacco, drink and lodging Tobacconists – Innkeepers, publicans 5 Beerseller – Lodging house keepers – Coffee house keepers – Cellarmen, barmaids, assistants – Furniture and household utensils Furniture and picture dealer – Ironmongers, hardware – Jeweller – Pawnbrokers – Assistants – Chemists, druggists Chemists – Assistants – Stationery and publications Stationer, bookseller – Librarian – General dealers Shopkeeper – Hawkers, hucksters – Assistants – Others and unspecified Merchants, brokers, agents 2

DOWLAIS (GLAMORGAN)

Industrial class Auctioneer Salesmen, commercial travellers Total %


199


–

1

–

1

– 22 12.0

2 119 64.7

– 43 23.4

2 184 100.0

– 43 13.7

1 104 33.2

– 166 53.0

1 313 100.0

1 2 1 1 5 62.5

1 1 1 – 3 37.5

2 3 2 1 8 100.0

– – – –

1 1 2 50.0

1 1 2 50.0

2 2 4 100.0

2 2

– 1

– –

1 –

1 1

3 –

1

1

–

2

2

–

14

4

18

– – 5

1 –

8 –

1 2

10 2

2 1 1 1 –

1

1

–

2

3

–

–

3

3

3 38 100.0

4 10.3

24 61.5

11 28.2

39 100.0

INDUSTRIAL SERVICES Banking, insurance, accounts Bank service – Accountants – Commercial clerks – Apprentices/assistants – Total – % –

PUBLIC SERVICES AND PROFESSIONALS Central administration Post Office, telegraph officials – 1 1 Post Office clerks etc. – – 2 Local administration Sanitary inspector – – 1 Defence Army officer – – 1 Police Inspector – 1 – Sergeants – 2 – Constables – 3 5 Medicine Medical assistants – 2 1 Midwives – – – Education Headteachers, schoolteachers – 1 1 Assistant teachers, pupil teachers – – – Music teachers – – – Students – 5 – Religion Roman Catholic priests – – 2 Methodist minister – 1 – Baptist minister 1 – – Theological student – 1 – Church and chapel servants – – – Amusement Musicians – – 3 Art, literature, science Engravers, signwriters – 3 – Total 1 20 17 % 2.6 52.6 44.7

1 1 1 2 8


200

Industrial class


DOMESTIC SERVICES Indoor service Maidservants Domestic nurses Outdoor service Coachmen and grooms Gardeners Extra service Charwomen, laundry women Hairdressers Total %

– –

– –

– –

– –

– –

1 –

12 2

13 2

– – – –

– 2 3 16.7

– 1 15 83.3

– 3 18 100.0

2 18 20 4.5

2 34 36 8.1

4 386 390 87.4

8 438 446 100.0

TOTAL OCCUPIED %

459 16.2

888 31.3

1492 52.5


7 16.7

13 30.9

School pupils %

31 16.0


OTHERS Managers/foremen General labourers Total %


34 –

125 4

58 1

217 5

18

30

25

73

52 17.6

159 53.9

84 28.5

295 100.0

2839 100.0

150 18.0

380 45.6

303 36.4

833 100.0

22 52.4

42 100.0

291 24.4

447 37.4

457 38.2

1195 100.0

84 43.3

79 40.7

194 100.0

37 15.4

100 41.7

103 42.9

240 100.0

985 32.0

1593 51.8

3075 100.0

478 21.1

927 40.9

863 38.1

2268 100.0

9 Pontardawe (Glamorgan) GWENFAIR PARRY

Pontardawe is situated in the parish of Llan-giwg in the heart of the Swansea Valley. At the end of the nineteenth century it was a sizeable village and an important steel and tinplate centre. The opening of the canal from Hen Neuadd near Aber-craf to Swansea in 1799 was a significant milestone in the development of the district, but this essentially peaceful, agricultural neighbourhood was not transformed until 1838 when the Primrose coal mine was sunk in the parish of Cilybebyll to supply the Ystalyfera Iron Works with steam and bituminous coal. In 1835 William Parsons of Pontardawe opened an iron and tin works which had three water-driven mills. The works subsequently passed into the hands of William Gilbertson, a native of Surrey, in 1861, and under his management they were expanded until, by the time of his death in 1882, there were nine mills, a coke-smithy and a workforce of about 300 men. Under the management of his son, Albert Gilbertson, the works were further developed and in 1890 two new steel furnaces were added and the mills adapted for steam power. The influence of the Gilbertson family on the commercial progress of the district cannot be overemphasized. Following their arrival in Pontardawe, both the works and the village expanded and prospered simultaneously. In 1883 the family added to its wealth and influence by purchasing the Glantawe Tinplate Works established by David Williams of Clydach, among others, in 1877. The district was also home to another tinplate works which had been built on the site of the old Ynysmeudwy brickworks by Messrs Esiah Rees and Company in 1879. The advent of the railway in 1860 was also an undeniable advantage since it enabled tinplate to be transported directly to Swansea dock. Local coal mines also benefited from the development and, although they continued to carry some of their output by canal, by 1890 a track connected the Primrose and Waunycoed pits with the railway.1 1

John Morris Davies, ‘The Growth of Settlement in the Swansea Valley’ (unpubl. University of Wales MA thesis, 1942), pp. 72–5; J. E. Morgan (Hirfryn), Hanes Pontardawe a’r Cylch (Abertawe, 1911), p. 8; Dafydd Morganwg, Hanes Morganwg (Aberdâr, 1874), p. 353; E. H. Brooke, Monograph on the Tinplate Works in Great Britain (Swansea, 1932), pp. 54, 68–9; D. Trevor Williams, The Economic Development of Swansea and of the Swansea District to 1921 (Cardiff, 1940),


202

As a result of these industrial developments, the population of the parish of Llan-giwg increased substantially. The total population in 1801 was 829, but by 1891 it had increased more than tenfold to a total of 9,707.2 Pontardawe grew swiftly and became one of the most populous towns in the valley. ‘Sixty years ago’, wrote J. E. Morgan (Hirfryn) in 1911, ‘the population was quite small: a cottage here and there; there was not a house to be seen from Pont Ynys y Gelynnen to Craig Llangiwc, apart from two pairs of white houses on either side of the road’ (‘Trigain mlynedd yn ôl nid oedd y boblogaeth ond ychydig: ambell i fwthyn yma a thraw; nid oedd d} i’w ganfod o Bont Ynys y Gelynnen hyd at Graig Llangiwc, oddigerth dau gwpl o dai gwynion ar bob tu i’r heol’).3 By the end of the nineteenth century, however, many rows of terraced houses had been built and Pontardawe had become a bustling centre with a number of shops and public houses, a post office, police station, smithy, foundry, brewery, chemical works and a woollen factory.4 The children were educated at the board school which had been erected in 1885 for 200 boys, 200 girls and 250 infants.5 The church of St Peter’s, whose elegant spire was one of the district’s principal features, was opened in 1862 and accommodated 650 worshippers. English services were held on Sunday mornings and Welsh services in the evening. There was also a church seating 370 which had been built in 1886 by Albert Gilbertson of Glan-rhyd in memory of his father, and which catered for the non-Welshspeaking population.6 In the Nonconformist chapels, however, the language of worship was Welsh.7 The Calvinistic Methodists, Congregationalists, Baptists, Wesleyans and Unitarians established six churches between them, mostly between 1840 and 1870 when the population was growing rapidly.8 Significantly, no English chapel was opened in the locality until 1903, an indication of the increase in the English-speaking population by that time.9

2

3 4

5 6 7

8

9

pp. 52–126; John Henry Davies, History of Pontardawe and District (Llandybïe, 1967), pp. 57, 59; J. D. H. Thomas, ‘Social and Economic Developments in the Upper Swansea Valley, with particular reference to the Parish of Llangiwg, 1770–1880’ (unpubl. University of Wales MA thesis, 1974), pp. 61–2. See also Colin Baber and L. J. Williams (eds.), Modern South Wales: Essays in Economic History (Cardiff, 1986), pp. 145–51. Ieuan Gwynedd Jones, ‘The Swansea Valley: Life and Labour in the Nineteenth Century’ in idem, Communities: Essays on the Social History of Victorian Wales (Llandysul, 1987), p. 198. Morgan, Hanes Pontardawe, p. 8. Kelly’s Directory of Monmouthshire, and the Principal Towns and Places of South Wales (London, 1891), pp. 536–40. Morgan, Hanes Pontardawe, p. 34; Kelly’s Directory, p. 537. Morgan, Hanes Pontardawe, pp. 91–2; Davies, History of Pontardawe, p. 137. D. Gareth Evans, ‘The Growth and Development of Organised Religion in the Swansea Valley, 1820–1890’ (unpubl. University of Wales PhD thesis, 1978). Ibid., pp. 92–101; Kelly’s Directory, p. 537. See also Adroddiad Eglwys Anibynol Tabernacl, Pontardawe am y Flwyddyn 1901, yn nghyd a Braslun o Hanes yr Eglwys am yr Ugain Mlynedd Diweddaf (Ystalyfera, 1902) and T. R. Lloyd, Y Methodistiaid Calfinaidd ym Mhontardawe, eu Hanes o’u Cychwyniad hyd 1905 (Merthyr Tydfil, 1906). Morgan, Hanes Pontardawe, p. 127.

PONTARDAWE (GLAMORGAN)

Two important features characterized the social life of Pontardawe and the surrounding villages of the Swansea Valley. One was the strength of the workingclass community, a community memorably described by Ieuan Gwynedd Jones: Nid oedd osgoi cymeriad dosbarth gweithiol y trefi a’r pentrefi diwydiannol hyn yng Nghwm Tawe. Tystiai popeth yngl}n â hwy i’r ffaith lywodraethol honno: pensaernïaeth y trefgorddau, arddull eu hadeiladau, maint ac amlygrwydd y capeli yn eu strydoedd unffurf-isel a’r olwg ddigynllun ar y cyfan; yr heidiau o w}r a gwragedd, hen ac ifanc, i gyd yn byw nid nepell o’u llefydd gwaith, pawb wedi’u gwisgo’n briodol ar gyfer eu tasgau yn y ffwrneisi a’r melinau, y gefeiliau a’r siediau, y pyllau glo a’r peiriandai, a phawb, heb eithriad, dan ddisgyblaeth rhythmau gwaith.10 (One could not avoid the working-class character of these industrial towns and villages in the Swansea Valley. Everything about them testified to this fact: the architecture of the townships, the style of their buildings, the size and prominence of the chapels in their uniformly-low streets and their totally unplanned appearance; the crowds of men and women, both young and old, all of whom lived near their place of work, each one dressed appropriately for the tasks facing them at the furnaces and mills, the smithies and sheds, the coal mines and engine houses, and everyone, without exception, disciplined by the routine of their work.)

The second feature was the people’s appetite for cultural pursuits. Although, according to T. J. Morgan, they had corns on their hands or scars on their faces,11 they sought to enrich their lives by joining cultural societies and taking part in bardic contests and eisteddfodau.12 Under the influence of the temperance movement and tonic sol-fa, choral singing increased in popularity. In 1862 William Griffiths (Ivander) (1830–1910), who lived in Pontardawe from 1850 to 1867, established the Swansea Valley Choral Union,13 and Pontardawe was also the birthplace of the tenor Ben Davies (1858–1943), one of the most popular singers in Britain at the time.14 It is also worth bearing in mind that the rich vocabulary and syntactic wealth which characterized the Swansea Valley dialect were fortified in a society with such close networks, at work and in leisure and worship.15 Although the Welsh language was not as strong in the town of Pontardawe as it was in the Registration District of Pontardawe, the most Welsh district in 10

11 12

13

14 15

Ieuan Gwynedd Jones, ‘Y Ddinas a’i Phentrefi’ in Hywel Teifi Edwards (ed.), Cwm Tawe (Llandysul, 1993), p. 94. T. J. Morgan, Diwylliant Gwerin ac Ysgrifau Eraill (Llandysul, 1972), p. 45. Idem, ‘Peasant culture in the Swansea Valley’ in Stewart Williams (ed.), Glamorgan Historian. Volume 9 (Barry, n.d.), pp. 105–22. Rhidian Griffiths, ‘Musical life in the nineteenth century’ in Prys Morgan (ed.), Glamorgan County History. Volume VI. Glamorgan Society 1780–1980 (Cardiff, 1988), p. 373. Y Bywgraffiadur Cymreig 1941–1950 (Llundain, 1970), s.v. Benjamin Davies (1858–1943). Robert Owen Jones, ‘Tafodiaith Cwm Tawe’ in Edwards (ed.), Cwm Tawe, pp. 211–39.

203


204

Table 1: Language spoken by populations of Pontardawe, Pontardawe Registration District, Glamorgan and Wales (2 years and over) Number Welsh

Both

English


Total

Pontardawe1 511 694 169 1374 Pontardawe R.D.2 13655 5132 1590 20377 Glamorgan3 142346 177726 326481 646553 Wales4 508036 402253 759416 1669705 1 2 3 4

37.2 67.0 22.0 30.4

50.5 25.2 27.5 24.1

English

Total

12.3 7.8 50.5 45.5

100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0

Excluding 18 individuals whose language was not given. Excluding 1,221 individuals whose language was not given and 2 who spoke other languages. Excluding 4,981 individuals whose language was not given and 2,355 who spoke other languages. Excluding 12,833 individuals whose language was not given and 3,076 who spoke other languages.


Both

2–5 6–14 15–24 25–44 45–64 65+

77 129 95 124 68 18

38 168 209 176 92 11

19 53 33 33 26 5

134 350 337 333 186 34

Total

511

694

169

1374

Age

English

Total

Percentage Welsh

Both

English

Total

57.5 36.9 28.2 37.2 36.5 52.9

28.4 48.0 62.0 52.8 49.5 32.4

14.2 15.1 9.8 10.0 14.0 14.7

100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0

37.2

50.5

12.3

100.0

Glamorgan, Table 1 reveals that 87.7 per cent of the town’s population (aged 2 years and over) were able to speak Welsh and that 12.3 per cent spoke English only. This meant that the Welsh language was stronger here than in the rest of Glamorgan and the rest of Wales. Nevertheless, half the population were bilingual and were clearly vulnerable to Anglicizing influences. Table 2, which provides a breakdown of the linguistic ability of the population according to age, reveals that over 80 per cent of the inhabitants spoke Welsh in each age group. Although only a minority in all age groups were English monoglots, it is significant that Welsh monolingualism was chiefly a characteristic of the older generation and of children in the 2–5 age group. Since nearly six out of ten children in this age group had no English, it is clear that the mother tongue was


205


Age

Sex

2–5


32 45 63 66 46 49 60 64 34 34 6 12

M F

241 270

6–14 15–24 25–44 45–64 65+

Total

English

Total


20 18 75 93 97 112 93 83 50 42 4 7

6 13 23 30 18 15 18 15 14 12 2 3

58 76 161 189 161 176 171 162 98 88 12 22

55.2 59.2 39.1 34.9 28.6 27.8 35.1 39.5 34.7 38.6 50.0 54.5

339 355

81 88

661 713

36.5 37.9

English

Total

34.5 23.7 46.6 49.2 60.2 63.6 54.4 51.2 51.0 47.7 33.3 31.8

10.3 17.1 14.3 15.9 11.2 8.5 10.5 9.3 14.3 13.6 16.7 13.6

100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0

51.3 49.8

12.2 12.3

100.0 100.0

spoken in a number of homes and that its transference to the next generation was a natural process. Nevertheless, the increase (19.6 per cent) in the percentage of bilingual children between the 2–5 and 6–14 age groups indicates that, despite their commitment to the native language, Welsh-speaking parents were unable to counteract the Anglicizing influence of the education system. On the other hand, it is likely that some parents were anxious for their children to learn English, the language of opportunity and advancement. There was a further increase of 14 per cent in the percentage of bilingual people between the 6–14 and 15–24 age groups, and this confirms that a large number of Welsh-speaking young people had learnt English before their fifteenth birthday. It is also significant that 75 (56.0 per cent) of the 134 pupils (aged 10 and over) enumerated by the census were registered as bilingual and that a smaller proportion (43 or 32.1 per cent) were Welsh monoglots. Because their social networks were more varied and open, a relatively high proportion of adults in the working-age groups (25–64) were bilingual, but the proportion fell as the population grew older. Indeed, the percentage of bilingual adults in the 45–64 age group exceeded that of the older (65+) age group by 17.1 per cent. Table 3 reveals that the linguistic ability of the population hardly varied according to gender. This was not surprising since the social networks of both males and females were firmly rooted in the community. Pontardawe was a selfsufficient and homogeneous society in which many of the natives intermarried and consequently ties of kinship were strong.16 A large proportion (206 or 46.1 16

Jones, ‘Y Ddinas a’i Phentrefi’, p. 92.


206


Number Welsh


Both

English

Total

407 78 2 18 5 – – – – 1 –

570 53 20 18 4 7 1 2 – – 1

83 – 16 1 – – 1 – 1 – –

1060 131 38 37 9 7 2 2 1 1 1

38.4 59.5 52.6 48.6 55.6 – – – – 100.0 –

England

–

13

64

77

Other2

–

5

2

511

694

168

Glamorgan Carmarthenshire Pembrokeshire Breconshire Cardiganshire Monmouthshire Radnorshire Flintshire Montgomeryshire Merioneth Caernarfonshire

Total 1 2

English

Total

53.8 40.5 52.6 48.6 44.4 100.0 50.0 100.0 – – 100.0

7.8 – 42.1 2.7 – – 50.0 – 100.0 – –

100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0

–

16.9

83.1

100.0

7

–

71.4

28.6

100.0

1373

37.2

50.5

12.2

100.0

Excluding one individual whose place of birth was not given. Place of birth: Ireland 3, Scotland 1, Germany 1, America 1, Patagonia 1.

per cent) of employed males earned their living alongside relatives and neighbours in the tinplate works. The networks of females were also closely knit because their lives revolved around the home, the chapel and the neighbourhood. It is also significant that the geographical backgrounds of the sexes were similar: 509 (75.5 per cent) males and 569 (79.2 per cent) females had been born in Glamorgan and, following the same pattern, similar percentages (41 or 6.1 per cent in the case of males and 36 or 5.0 per cent in the case of females) hailed from England. In-migration was chiefly responsible for the growth in the population of Pontardawe. In 1841 a third of the population of the parish of Llan-giwg were incomers.17 By 1891, however, 639 (48.0 per cent) had been born outside the parish. In his portrait of the Swansea Valley in the nineteenth century, Ieuan Gwynedd Jones noted that, without exception, incomers hailed from nearby parishes in the counties of Glamorgan, Brecon and Carmarthen.18 Table 4 proves that the nature of in-migration into Pontardawe was also extremely local. Of the 1,060 (77.2 per cent) individuals who hailed from Glamorgan, 692 (65.3 per cent) were natives of the parish of Llan-giwg, and another 211 had their roots in the 17 18

Jones, ‘The Swansea Valley’, p. 199. Ibid.


nearby parishes of Llangyfelach and Cilybebyll.19 About one in ten were natives of Carmarthenshire and one in twenty of Breconshire and Pembrokeshire, but a comparatively small number had been born elsewhere in Wales. Welsh was spoken by 92.2 per cent of those born in Glamorgan and, although more than half were also able to speak English, 38.4 per cent were monoglot Welsh speakers. Natives of Carmarthenshire and Breconshire almost without exception spoke Welsh and a fair proportion were monolingual, particularly in the case of Carmarthenshire people, about two-thirds of whom had no English. Another factor which maintained the position of the Welsh language and its culture in the district was the small number of incomers from England. Only 77 (5.6 per cent) of the population had been born beyond Offa’s Dyke, most of whom hailed from the counties of Hereford (11), Devon (10), Cumberland (8), Lancashire (8), Somerset (7) and Worcestershire (7). Clearly the great majority of these incomers had not learnt enough Welsh to be able to register themselves as bilingual. Since more than half the population of Pontardawe could speak both languages, it is likely that English-speaking families felt hardly any pressure to learn Welsh. Only seven had been born outside Wales and England: these comprised three Irishmen, a Scotsman, a German and returnee Welsh emigrants from Patagonia and America. Since this was a community which attracted incomers from neighbouring parishes, it is not surprising that everyone spoke Welsh in as many as 220 households (78.6 per cent). Although 82 (37.3 per cent) of these were monolingual, it should be borne in mind that 99 (45.0 per cent) of the 220 were bilingual homes where each person was able to speak English as well as Welsh. Only ten families had no Welsh, but it is worth noting that everyone spoke English in 146 households (30.6 per cent), and that 37 (25.3 per cent) of these included some monoglot English speakers. Although 58 (20.7 per cent) households consisted of extended families and 11 (3.9 per cent) were single-occupation households, the vast majority (211 or 75.4 per cent) were nuclear families. Table 5 reveals that nine of every ten heads of household, wives and children spoke Welsh and, although more than half were bilingual, around four out of every ten were Welsh monoglots. Since the linguistic ability of these groups was very similar, the basic family unit evidently continued to produce a substantial proportion of Welsh speakers. A higher proportion of other relatives were familiar with the English language because nearly two-thirds were enumerated as bilingual. Those who were not related to the head of household were also more likely to be able to speak English. It was spoken by 29 (76.3 per cent) maidservants, but since 16 (84.2 per cent) of the bilingual maidservants lived with Welsh-speaking families, and 9 (90.0 per cent) of those who were English monoglots were in service in homes where all or at least some members had no 19

W. E. Minchinton, The British Tinplate Industry (Oxford, 1957), pp. 109–10.

207


208


Number Welsh Both

English

Total


English

Total

Heads 106 Wives 86 Children1 267 Relatives 26 Servants/maidservants 9 Boarders/lodgers 16 Visitors 1 Others2 –

144 109 345 54 19 19 3 1

30 22 86 4 10 15 1 1

280 217 698 84 38 50 5 2

37.9 39.6 38.3 30.9 23.7 32.0 20.0 –

51.4 50.2 49.4 64.3 50.0 38.0 60.0 50.0

10.7 10.1 12.3 4.8 26.3 30.0 20.0 50.0

100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0

Total

694

169

1374

37.2

50.5

12.3

100.0

1 2

511

Includes adopted children and stepchildren. One apprentice, one prisoner.

Welsh, they were hardly the agents of linguistic change. Among lodgers, 34 (68.0 per cent) were able to speak English and 15 (30.0 per cent) were unable to speak Welsh. Since 11 (22.0 per cent) of them were natives of the counties of Pembroke, Brecon and Radnor, and another 11 (22.0 per cent) hailed from outside Wales, this was not unexpected. Monoglot English lodgers were doubtless responsible for introducing foreign influences into some homes since 11 of the 15 (73.3 per cent) lived with Welsh-speaking families and, in three instances, with families enumerated as having no English. Nevertheless, only 95 (6.9 per cent) of the population were without family connections and boarders and lodgers were present in less than a quarter (64 or 22.9 per cent) of the district’s homes. Marriage patterns were evidently a means of strengthening linguistic and cultural bonds, for the great majority of married couples in Pontardawe spoke the same language. Seventy-four (94.9 per cent) monoglot Welsh-speaking husbands were married to monoglot Welsh wives and, in the same way, 99 (86.8 per cent) bilingual husbands had bilingual wives. As a result parents were more likely to transmit the mother tongue to their children and it was significant that both parents spoke Welsh in as many as 141 (84.4 per cent) homes. Table 6, which focuses on the language spoken by children in monolingual and linguistically mixed homes, reveals that children tended to adopt the language of their parents. There were monoglot Welsh parents in 60 homes and in 54 instances (90.0 per cent) the children were all monoglot Welsh speakers. In only four homes were the children, or at least the older ones, bilingual. The number of children enumerated as bilingual was eleven, that is to say, only 4.7 per cent of the 232 born to parents with no English. Although small in number, these instances prove that the language of parents was not the only factor to influence the


209



W W B B B E E W

90.0 6.7 100.0 – 50.0 12.5 11.3 80.3 – 42.9 – 62.5 – 10.0 – 100.0

Total

W B W B E B E E

54 2 4 8 – – – –

4 – 1 57 3 5 1 1

– – – 3 3 2 7 –

2 – 3 3 1 1 2 –

60 2 8 71 7 8 10 1

68

72

15

12

167

40.7

43.1

– – – 4.2 14.3 12.5 70.0 –

3.3 – 37.5 4.2 14.3 12.5 20.0 –

100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0

9.0

7.2

100.0


linguistic ability of children. In the school, the workplace and society in general, they were prone to Anglicizing influences. In a community where there was increasing pressure on people to be bilingual, it was not surprising that most married couples with children spoke English as well as Welsh. This was the situation in 71 (42.5 per cent) households and it was perfectly natural that a higher proportion of children in such homes were able to speak both languages. Indeed, in 58 (81.7 per cent) homes all, or at least some, of the children were bilingual and only in eight homes did the younger generation continue to be monoglot Welsh speakers. It is also significant that monoglot English-speaking children were found in only 5 (7.0 per cent) households. In two of these, some of the children were bilingual. In Herbert Street, for example, where Morgan Davies, a bilingual tinplate worker and a native of the parish of Llan-giwg, lived, his wife and older children, who were natives of the same parish, were also bilingual. However, his younger children, born in Workington in Cumberland, were enumerated as having no Welsh. In the case of three families, Welsh had been lost altogether. Although no member of these families had been born in England, it is perhaps significant that the family heads were employed as a chemical works manager, a colliery clerk and a highways surveyor. Households where both parents were English monoglots numbered only 10 (6.0 per cent) and only in three of these were some or all of the children bilingual. Thomas Beale, a labourer in the chemical works, hailed originally from Devon, but the birthplace of his children indicates that the family had lived in the neighbourhood for at least sixteen years, and as a consequence all his children were Welsh speakers. The children of the other two families had probably learnt Welsh at work. Albert Howells, a


210

24-year-old tinplate worker and native of Llan-giwg, could speak both Welsh and English, but his parents and sister were monoglot English speakers who hailed from Pembrokeshire. Barnett and Jane Webb were both natives of Stogursey in Somerset, and their eldest son, a 21-year-old blacksmith, was the only Welsh speaker in the family. It is also significant that in this parish there were hardly any linguistically mixed marriages. In only sixteen homes did one parent speak Welsh and, although the number was small, the evidence suggests that it was the mother rather than the father who exerted the greater linguistic influence on their offspring. The children spoke Welsh in 6 (75.0 per cent) of the 8 homes where the mother was the Welsh speaker, but in only 4 (57.1 per cent) of the 7 homes where the father was the Welsh speaker. It is evident, however, that the general tendency in such homes was for the children to adopt English, and this was hardly surprising since English was the language common to both parents. In one home in Herbert Street, the father, a miner from Cilybebyll in Glamorgan, was enumerated as a monoglot Welsh speaker, the mother, a native of Breconshire, as a monoglot English speaker, and the children, who were born in Glamorgan, as bilingual – proof that the evidence of the census cannot always be relied upon. Table 7 reveals that 206 (41.6 per cent) of occupied males and 19 (13.8 per cent) occupied females (aged 10 years and over) were employed in the essentially Welsh-speaking tinplate industry. Welsh was spoken by 212 (94.2 per cent) of the employees, and although 126 (56.0 per cent) were bilingual, only 13 (5.8 per cent) were monoglot English speakers. The tinworks were generally small and thus attracted workers from neighbouring districts. In the case of Pontardawe, many of the workers had been miners prior to the exhaustion of local coal seams.20 As a result, it is not surprising that 125 (79.1 per cent) of the skilled workers were natives of Glamorgan and that 82 (51.9 per cent) had their roots in the parish of Llan-giwg. Another 25 (15.8 per cent) were natives of the counties of Carmarthen and Brecon, while only 8 (5.1 per cent) hailed from England or beyond. In the case of 55 (34.8 per cent) of them, Welsh was the only medium of communication and only 9 (5.7 per cent) were monoglot English speakers. Of the unskilled workers, 56 (96.6 per cent) had also been born in Glamorgan and a higher proportion (40 or 69.0 per cent) were natives of the parish of Llan-giwg than in the case of the craftsmen. Fifty-five (94.8 per cent) of these workers spoke Welsh, of whom more than half (31 or 53.4 per cent) were monoglots. In order to communicate effectively in the workplace, those who held important positions were obliged to speak English as well as Welsh. The three managers and two foremen were bilingual Glamorgan men and their families also spoke both languages. Nor were there monoglot Welsh speakers working in the offices. Of 20

Trevor Boyns, ‘Industrialisation’ in R. A. Griffiths (ed.), The City of Swansea: Challenges and Change (Stroud, 1990), pp. 42–3.


the three clerks who were enumerated, two were bilingual and one had no Welsh. For the most part, only Welshmen who could speak English were eligible for promotion in the coal industry also.21 The overman and two clerks were bilingual natives of Llan-giwg and Llangyfelach in Glamorgan. The clerk, Thomas Morgan, probably considered Welsh an inferior language and an obstacle to progress because, even though both he and his wife were Welsh speakers, his children, who had been born locally, were enumerated as monoglot English speakers. However, William Lewis, the Cwmafan-born fireman, was a monoglot Welsh speaker. The nine miners were natives of Glamorgan and Carmarthenshire and only one, namely Thomas Morgan, a bilingual native of Llansamlet, could speak English. Thomas Beynon, a 22-year-old from Pwllcrochan in Pembrokeshire, was the only labourer enumerated as having no Welsh. Since Beynon was a lodger, it is probable that he had not been living in the locality long enough to be able to declare himself bilingual. Since this was a thriving commercial centre, it is hardly surprising that 422 (72.1 per cent) of the occupied population of Pontardawe earned their living as builders, manufacturers and dealers. 355 were male and 67 female, and although 90.3 per cent spoke Welsh, more than half (56.4 per cent) were bilingual. Only 9.7 per cent were monoglot English speakers, but within the building sector in which nearly one in five builders had been born in England, the percentage was 21.2. They included a stonemason from Herefordshire, who was in lodgings locally, a father and two sons from Kent, Cumberland and Lancashire, who earned their living as bricklayers, a painter and decorator from Worcestershire, and a gas fitter from Somerset. Only a small minority (34 or 8.7 per cent) of local manufacturers and dealers spoke English only, but it is significant that 28 (71.8 per cent) of the dealers were bilingual compared with 195 (55.7 per cent) of the manufacturers. Some 329 (94.0 per cent) of the manufacturers had been born in Wales and 261 of them (74.6 per cent) had their roots in Glamorgan. Furthermore, 26 (66.7 per cent) of the dealers hailed from that county, while the rest were natives of Carmarthenshire, Breconshire, Pembrokeshire and Monmouthshire. It is clear, therefore, that commercial contacts were mainly responsible for the higher proportion of bilingualism among tradespeople. The highest proportion of monoglot Welsh speakers was to be found among grocers and publicans. Of the eighteen who were enumerated, six had no English. Nevertheless, in a community where more than one in ten of the population had no Welsh, it is certain that the livelihood of many small businessmen depended on their ability to communicate in both languages.

21

Hugh Thomas, ‘The Industrialization of a Glamorgan Parish’, NLWJ, XIX (1975–6), 194–208, 227–42, 345–61.

211

212


This was also the case in the professions and public services. Only twenty-five were employed in this sector but their influence was incontrovertible. One of the most prominent was Griffith Griffiths of Bryn Celyn, a doctor who was also a medical officer and public health official with the Pontardawe Union. He was a native of Cilybebyll and, although he and his family were bilingual, the nurse whom he employed to care for his children was a monoglot English speaker. Isaac Morgan, the Calvinistic Methodist minister, was a bilingual native of Llanfair-ary-bryn in Carmarthenshire. Griffith Evans, a theological student from the parish of Llan-giwg, was also bilingual, whereas Evan Evans, the Baptist minister from Dowlais, was a monoglot Welsh speaker. As was to be expected, every one of the four teachers and six pupil teachers was able to speak English as well as Welsh. Seven hailed from Glamorgan and the only two English-born individuals were of Welsh stock, namely Pollie Davies, a 17-year-old pupil teacher from Workington in Cumberland, and Elizabeth Davies, a 34-year-old schoolmistress born in Aldershot in Hampshire. The local postmen were also familiar with English. Both of those enumerated were bilingual natives of the parish of Llan-giwg, and it appears that one must have learnt English in his official capacity since his family were monoglot Welsh speakers. The appointment of English-speaking outsiders to keep law and order was common in the industrial valleys of south Wales at this time, and the police constables, George Bolter and Alexander Allan, were English monoglots from London and Scotland. They lodged with John Giddings, the police inspector, who hailed from Marsden in Wiltshire. His wife, who hailed from Llangyfelach in Glamorgan, was bilingual and he, too, was able to speak Welsh, but his older children spoke English only. One of the children was employed as a commercial clerk. Only one of the nine connected with insurance and accounts was a monoglot Welsh speaker, namely Stephen Jones, a 41-yearold insurance collector from the parish of Llan-giwg. The English language also reigned supreme among the staff of the railway. The three ticket collectors enumerated were English speakers from Radnorshire, Yorkshire and Bedfordshire, and the engine driver and platelayer were bilingual natives of Breconshire and Carmarthenshire. That was not the case, however, in the agricultural sector where thirteen of the fourteen in employment were Welsh speakers and only one, namely Charles Poole, a 15-year-old farm labourer from London, was a monoglot English speaker. Welsh was the daily language of most of the inhabitants of Pontardawe and for more than a third of them it was the only medium of oral communication. The local and thoroughly Welsh nature of in-migration into the district enabled the mother tongue to flourish in the tinplate works and, to a large extent, to continue as the language of the hearth, the chapel, the street and the public house. But although Welsh was an essential part of the profile of this society, it should be emphasized that 57.6 per cent of Welsh speakers were also able to speak English. As a consequence, there was no need for the few English-speaking incomers to be


213

linguistically and culturally assimilated. On the other hand, there was growing pressure on the natives to become bilingual since English was the language which reigned supreme at school, in business, the public services and the professions.


Industrial class


AGRICULTURE Farming Farmers Relatives assisting Farm servant Dealers Cattle dealer Total %

1 – –

5 3 –

– – 1

6 3 1

– 1 9.1

1 9 81.8

– 1 9.1

1 11 100.0

MINING Coal Clerks Fireman/overman Miners Labourer Total %

– 1 8 – 9 64.3

2 1 1 – 4 28.6

– – – 1 1 7.1

2 2 9 1 14 100.0

–

1

–

1

5 – – 4 – – 2

3 – 2 6 2 – –

1 3 – – 2 1 –

9 3 2 10 4 1 2

– 11 33.3

1 15 45.5

– 7 21.2

1 33 100.0

BUILDING Management Surveyor of highways Operatives Stonemasons Bricklayers Plasterers Carpenters Painters/decorators Gas fitter Labourers Railways Platelayer Total %


1 –

– 2

– –

1 2

1 33.3

2 66.7

– –

3 100.0


214

Industrial class


MANUFACTURING Machinery, tools, watches, etc. Skilled manual – 1 Iron and steel Managers – 1 Skilled manual 8 10 Assistants – 5 Tinplate Managers/foremen – 5 Clerks – 2 Skilled manual 55 92 Assistant – 1 Unskilled manual/ labourers 24 16 Gas, chemicals, etc. Skilled manual – 4 Labourers 1 – Wood Skilled manual 3 – Carriages and harnesses Saddler – 1 Woollens Skilled manual 4 3 Dress Skilled manual 3 11 Apprentices/assistants – 1 Drink Skilled manual 1 1 Labourer – – Unspecified Clerk – – Engine drivers/stokers 3 6 Apprentice – 1 Total 102 161 % 35.2 55.5 TRANSPORT Ocean navigation Stoker on steam ships Railways Ticket collectors Engine driver Roads Cab driver Hauliers Total %

2

3

1 4 –

2 22 5

– 1 9 –

5 3 156 1

1

41

1 1

5 2

–

3

–

1

1

8

3 –

17 1

1 1

3 1

1 – – 27 9.3

1 9 1 290 100.0

–

–

1

1

– –

– 1

3 –

3 1

1 3 4 36.4

– 1 2 18.2

– 1 5 45.4

1 5 11 100.0


–

2

–

2

7

8

2

17

13 –

22 2

3 1

38 3

20 33.3

34 56.7

6 10.0

60 100.0


Industrial class


DEALING Coal Coal merchant – 1 Dress Drapers 1 2 Food Butchers 1 1 Grocers 2 8 Assistants 1 1 Tobacco, drink and lodgings Publicans 2 2 Barmaids – – Furniture and household utensils Furniture dealer 1 – Ironmongers – 2 Assistants – 2 Stationery and publications Newsagent – 1 Others and unspecified Land agent – 1 Commercial travellers – 2 Total 8 23 % 25.0 71.9 INDUSTRIAL SERVICES Banking, insurance, accounts Insurance service 1 Accountant – Assistants – Total 1 % 11.1

1 1 5 7 77.8

215


–

1

–

3

– 1 –

2 11 2

2 –

– 2

– –

2 2

– –

4 –

– –

1 2

– –

1 2

– – –

1 2 2

–

1

– – 1 3.1

1 2 32 100.0

2 28.6

5 71.4

– –

7 100.0

– – 1 1 11.1

2 1 6 9 100.0

1

–

3

–

3

1

–

5

–

5

PUBLIC SERVICES AND PROFESSIONALS Central administration Civil service officer – 1 – Postmen – 2 – Police Inspector – 1 – Constables – – 2 Medicine Physician – 1 – Education Schoolteachers – 1 – Assistant teachers, pupil teachers – 1 –

1 2 1 2 1


216

Industrial class


Religion CM minister – Baptist minister 1 Theological student – Amusement Harpist – Art, literature, science Sculptors – Shorthand journalist – Total 1 % 27.8


1 – 1

– – –

1 1 1

1

–

1

3 1 14 61.1

– – 2 11.1

3 1 17 100.0

– –

8 100.0

– –

8 100.0

–

–

2

2

18

31

9

58

– –

1 2

1 3

2 5

– – – –

– 1 4 40.0

– – 6 60.0

– 1 10 100.0

2

–

–

2

20 33.3

31 51.7

9 15.0

60 100.0

OTHERS Managers General labourers Total %

– 9 9 45.0

2 4 6 30.0

– 5 5 25.0

2 18 20 100.0

TOTAL OCCUPIED %

46 32.7

245 54.8

56 12.5

447 100.0

43 31.1

80 58.0

15 10.9

138 100.0


9 60.0

6 40.0

– –

15 100.0

129 38.5

173 51.6

33 9.9

335 100.0

School pupils %

19 34.5

30 54.5

6 10.9

55 100.0

24 30.4

45 57.0

10 12.6

79 100.0


281 54.4

62 12.0

517 100.0

196 35.5

298 54.0

58 10.5

552 100.0

DOMESTIC SERVICES Indoor service Servants/maidservants Outdoor service Coachman, groom Gardeners Extra service Laundry women Hairdresser Total %

10 Cwmaman (Carmarthenshire) MARI A. WILLIAMS

Situated in the heart of the anthracite coalfield of Carmarthenshire, the small tinplate and coal-mining settlement of Cwmaman was one of several rapidlydeveloping communities in the Aman Valley in 1891. Although local inhabitants had mined for coal and iron ore in the valley for several centuries, this sparselypopulated, rural district had remained largely undeveloped until the midnineteenth century.1 Poor transport communications between the valley and neighbouring districts had hindered its economic progress, and it was not until the early 1840s, when the Llanelly Dock Railway opened the first five miles of its branch from Pantyffynnon to Brynaman (then known as Gwter Fawr), that the first industrial developments took place.2 In 1848 an ironworks was established at Brynaman by the newly-founded Amman Anthracite Coal and Iron Company and by 1868 six puddling furnaces and three rolling mills were in production at the works. The success of the venture brought a new demand for anthracite coal, and several drift mines and pits, among them Gelliceidrim, Bryn-lloi, Cae’r bryn, Betws, Pantyffynnon and Cwmaman collieries, were sunk along the length of the valley.3 No large export market had been created for anthracite during this period, however, and coal remained a subsidiary industry, dependent upon the iron and tinplate trades which flourished in the surrounding districts during the 1870s.4 In 1872 a three-mill tinplate works was erected by the Amman Iron Company at Brynaman and, by the 1880s, two new works had been established lower down the valley at Cwmaman. Situated on land immediately adjacent to the railway, in an area rich in the essential raw materials of coal, lime and water, the tinplate 1 2

3

4

D. Trumor Thomas, Hen Gymeriadau Plwyf y Bettws (2nd ed., Ammanford, 1912), pp. 19–20. D. S. M. Barrie, A Regional History of the Railways of Great Britain. Vol. 12, South Wales (2nd ed., Nairn, 1984), p. 218. Edward Henry Brooke, Chronology of the Tinplate Works of Great Britain (Cardiff, 1944), pp. 135–6; Donald Davies, ‘The Llwchwr and Amman Valleys to 1939: A Study in Industrial Development’ (unpubl. University of Wales MA thesis, 1959), p. 63; Huw Walters, Canu’r Pwll a’r Pulpud: Portread o’r Diwylliant Barddol Cymraeg yn Nyffryn Aman (Cyhoeddiadau Barddas, 1987), pp. 24, 213. See Brooke, Chronology of the Tinplate Works of Great Britain, p. 174.


218

works at Glanaman (est. 1881) and Garnant (est. 1882) quickly prospered by concentrating on small, specialized orders which the larger mills could not accept.5 The success of the tinplate industry had an immediate impact upon the social, economic and cultural life of the Aman Valley as a steady flow of in-migrants arrived in the district in search of employment at the new works. Writing in Y Gwladgarwr in 1880, a local correspondent marvelled at the nature of the changes which had occurred in the district in such a short period: Hynod y fath ddylanwad nerthol sydd gan fasnach ar amgylchiadau ardaloedd. Y mae hyn i’w weld yn eglur yn ardal Cwmaman. Nid oedd yr un fasnach o bwys yn cael ei chario yn mlaen yma ond y fasnach loawl; ond erbyn heddiw y mae gweithfa alcan newydd wedi cael ei adeiladu yma, ac alcan wedi dechrau cael ei wneyd yma. Mawr y cynhwrf y mae wedi wneyd yma! Gwelir y masnachwyr yn fychain a mawrion ar eu gorau yn estyn cortynau eu preswylfeydd, er mwyn cyfarfod ag angen mawr y dyeithriaid sydd yn parhau i ddylifo i’r lle.6 (The powerful influence which commerce can exert upon the situation of districts is remarkable. Nowhere is this more evident than in the Cwmaman district. Apart from coal, no other industry was carried on here; but today a new tinplate works has been erected here, where tinplate is now produced. What commotion has been caused here! Merchants, both large and small, are busy expanding their premises in order to meet the needs of the newcomers who continue to flow into the area.)

Between 1881 and 1891 the population of the local parish of Betws grew from 1,738 to 2,417.7 New houses were built near the works to accommodate the growing population, and the isolated rural hamlets of the Aman Valley soon developed into small industrial villages. The sudden growth of the new and, as yet, unnamed settlements clearly created some difficulties for local residents, and for the railway and postal authorities. In 1880 the people of Cross Inn decided to rename their village Ammanford in a bid to bring to an end the confusion caused by the existence of numerous other villages called Cross Inn in Carmarthenshire and Cardiganshire. Similar problems were experienced at Cwmaman, which was frequently confused with Cwmaman, Aberdare, in Glamorgan, and in 1884 the railway station at Cross Keys, Cwmaman, was renamed Glanaman. From then on, the cluster of houses which had developed around the station and the tinworks were known as Glanaman, while the 5

6 7

Ibid., pp. 13, 98–9; Ioan A. Matthews, ‘The World of the Anthracite Miner’ (unpubl. University of Wales PhD thesis, 1995), p. 14. Y Gwladgarwr, 19 November 1880. David Glyn Jones, ‘An Economic and Historical Survey of the Development of the Anthracite Industry with Special Reference to the Swansea Valley’ (unpubl. University of Wales MA thesis, 1923), p. 8. See also Davies, ‘The Llwchwr and Amman Valleys to 1939’.

CWMAMAN (CARMARTHENSHIRE)

settlement at the upper end of Cwmaman, close to the county border with Glamorgan, was named Garnant.8 Although the collieries and tinplate works initiated many social and economic changes in the lives of the people of Cwmaman, the livelihood of a significant proportion of the local population remained inextricably bound to the land. The majority of the colliers and tinplate workers of Cwmaman hailed from the surrounding agricultural districts and many continued to farm smallholdings which provided a valuable source of income during frequent stoppages at the works. Men without such additional means were forced to leave their home districts and ‘tramped’ from one colliery to another in search of work.9 The social and cultural values upheld by the people of Cwmaman reflected many aspects of this rural tradition and great significance continued to be attached to the old rural customs, superstitions and folklore of the district. The vibrant Welsh-language religious, cultural and literary life of late-nineteenth-century Cwmaman was also firmly rooted in this rural past.10 Renowned as one of the strongholds of Nonconformity in Wales during the nineteenth century, the first Nonconformist meeting place in the Aman Valley was established at Bethel chapel, Cwmaman, in 1773.11 By the early 1840s the Calvinistic Methodists and the Baptists had established causes at Tabernacl (est. 1841) and Bethesda (est. 1843) respectively, and it was not until 1843 that the first Anglican Church was built in the area following the formation of the ecclesiastical parish of Christ Church, Cwmaman.12 The Nonconformist chapels of the Aman Valley continued to prosper as the new industrial workings attracted a steady stream of workers and their families into the area. To meet the demands of the growing population, a new chapel was established by the Congregationalists at Bethel Newydd, Glanaman, in 1876, where J. Towyn Jones (1858–1925), who later became Liberal MP for Llanelli (1918–22), was ordained pastor in 1885.13 The increase in the population of the Aman Valley from the mid-nineteenth century onwards coincided with a period of intense activity by the National Society and the British and Foreign Schools Society to promote education among the working classes. Educational standards at the early voluntary schools of the 8

9

10

11 12

13

T. S. Williams, ‘Rhydaman a’r Cylch’ in Undeb Bedyddwyr Cymru, Y Llawlyfr (Ammanford, 1933), p. 33; Walters, Canu’r Pwll a’r Pulpud, p. 26. Walters, Canu’r Pwll a’r Pulpud, p. 26; William Glasnant Jones, Cyn Cof Gennyf a Wedyn (Abertawe, 1949), pp. 6–9. See W. J. Phillips, ‘Watcyn Wyn (1844–1905)’ and Islwyn Jones, ‘“Gwydderig oedd ddihareb”’ in Hywel Teifi Edwards (ed.), Cwm Aman (Llandysul, 1996), pp. 26–42, 43–87. Dyfnallt, ‘Bro Amanw’, Y Genhinen, V, no. 4 (1955), 207. James Morris, Hanes Methodistiaeth Sir Gaerfyrddin (Dolgellau, 1911), p. 305; Arthur Williams, Tabernacl, Glanaman. Ei Phenblwydd a’i Hanes (Rhydaman, 1941); J. T. Jones, ‘Hanes Bedyddwyr Rhydaman’ in Undeb Bedyddwyr Cymru, Y Llawlyfr, p. 61; Kelly’s Directory of Monmouthshire, and the Principal Towns and Places of South Wales (London, 1895), p. 81. John Jenkyn Morgan (Glan Berach), Hanner Canrif o Hanes Eglwys Annibynnol Bryn Seion, Glanaman, Sir Gaerfyrddin (Abertawe, 1957), p. 14.

219


220

Table 1: Language spoken by populations of Cwmaman, Llandeilo Fawr Registration District, Carmarthenshire and Wales (2 years and over) Number Welsh Cwmaman1 1168 Llandeilo Fawr R.D.2 13327 Carmarthenshire3 63345 Wales4 508036 1 2 3 4

Both 169 5151 36937 402253

English

Total

16 1353 926 19404 11751 112033 759416 1669705


12.5 26.5 33.0 24.1

English Total 1.2 4.8 10.5 45.5

100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0

Excluding 2 individuals whose language was not given. Excluding 92 individuals whose language was not given and one who spoke other languages. Excluding 583 individuals whose language was not given and 69 who spoke other languages. Excluding 12,833 individuals whose language was not given and 3,076 who spoke other languages.

area, where monoglot Welsh-speaking pupils were taught through the medium of English, were far from satisfactory, and a damning report on the standards of literacy and numeracy among the pupils of the day school held at Christ Church appeared in the infamous ‘Blue Books’ reports produced by the Education Commissioners in 1847.14 Nevertheless, English remained the language of education within the schools of Cwmaman throughout the nineteenth century. A National School was established at Garnant in 1842 and the British School at Bryn-lloi, Glanaman, opened its doors on 2 January 1865. It was not until 1877, seven years after the passing of the 1870 Education Act, that the Glanaman British School joined the Llandeilo Fawr, Llandyfeisant and Betws United District School Board, and from 1884 the children of the district were educated at the newlyerected Glanaman Board School.15 The educational needs of the older generation were not neglected, however, and reading rooms housing a wide range of Welsh and English publications were established at the old British school, Bryn-lloi, in November 1884, and at Garnant in March 1890.16 Despite the strongly Anglicized nature of the schools in the district, the overwhelming majority of the inhabitants of Cwmaman remained ignorant of the 14

15

16

Reports of the Commissioners of Inquiry into the State of Education in Wales . . . in three parts. Part I. Carmarthen, Glamorgan and Pembroke (London, 1847) (PP 1847 (870) XXVII), p. 276. For evidence of the use which was made of the ‘Welsh Note’ at Woodland Castle School – an establishment run by Richard William, a former soldier – see J. Gwili Jenkins (ed.), Adgofion Watcyn Wyn (Cardiff, 1907), pp. 15–16 and John Jenkyn Morgan, ‘Richard William. Yr Hen Ysgolfeistr Ungoes, 1790–1875’, Y Tyst, 23 February 1956. John Jenkyn Morgan, ‘Hen Ysgolion ac Ysgolfeistri Dyffryn Aman’, Y Tyst, 29 March, 12 April, 17 May, 28 June 1956; Huw Walters, Ysgol Glanaman: Y Ganrif Gyntaf, 1884–1984 (Clydach, 1983), pp. 11–19; idem, ‘Rhai o Ysgolion Cynnar Cwmaman’ in Olwen Richards, Hanes Ysgol y Garnant (Rhydaman, 1990), p. 11. Dafydd Thomas, ‘Darllenfa Glanaman’, Cymru, XX, no. 119 (1901), 324; Walters, Canu’r Pwll a’r Pulpud, pp. 238–9.


221


Both

2–5 6–14 15–24 25–44 45–64 65+

136 292 251 290 142 57

13 37 42 53 16 8

1 4 5 3 3 –

150 333 298 346 161 65

Total

1168

169

16

1353

Age

English

Total

Percentage Welsh

Both

English

Total

90.7 87.7 84.2 83.8 88.2 87.7

8.7 11.1 14.1 15.3 9.9 12.3

0.7 1.2 1.7 0.9 1.9 –

100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0

86.3

12.5

1.2

100.0

English language in 1891. As Table 1 reveals, only 16 of the 1,353 inhabitants (aged 2 years and over) were unable to speak Welsh, while 1,168 individuals, comprising 87.4 per cent of the Welsh-speaking population, spoke Welsh only. Situated in the Registration District of Llandeilo Fawr – the registration district which returned the highest proportion of Welsh speakers in Carmarthenshire in 1891 – the small settlement of Cwmaman remained largely undeveloped at this period. Lacking the commercial and administrative establishments of neighbouring market towns and industrial villages, it is clear that few Anglicizing influences had been brought to bear upon the social and cultural life of this selfcontained, semi-rural community. The Welsh language was the principal medium of communication among both the young and elderly residents of Cwmaman in 1891. As Table 2 shows, only a handful of young children between the ages of 2 and 5 had any knowledge of the English language, and only eight of the sixty-five Welsh-speaking individuals aged over 65 were returned as bilingual speakers. Although only a small number of individuals within each age group were able to speak English, knowledge of the English language was greatest among working adults and children of school age: nearly three-quarters of the 185 individuals who were returned as English speakers were between 6 and 44 years of age. The number of English speakers enumerated within these age groups, however, remained extremely small. Only 28 (14.4 per cent) of the 194 children (between the ages of 6 and 14) enumerated as ‘scholars’ were able to speak English, and the overwhelming majority of the 644 adults aged between 15 and 44 were also monoglot Welsh speakers. Very little variation was recorded in the linguistic ability of the male and female populations. Indeed, as Table 3 shows, the proportions of males and females returned as speaking Welsh and/or English were identical: of the 672 males and 681 females, 86.3 per cent spoke Welsh only, 12.5 per cent spoke both Welsh and English, and 1.2 per cent were returned as speaking English only. Even within the


222


Total

Number Sex Welsh

Both

English

Total


English

Total


58 78 153 139 121 130 156 134 70 72 22 35

6 7 15 22 22 20 28 25 8 8 5 3

– 1 3 1 1 4 1 2 3 – – –

64 86 171 162 144 154 185 161 81 80 27 38

90.6 90.7 89.5 85.8 84.0 84.4 84.3 83.2 86.4 90.0 81.5 92.1

9.4 8.1 8.8 13.6 15.3 13.0 15.1 15.5 9.9 10.0 18.5 7.9

– 1.2 1.8 0.6 0.7 2.6 0.5 1.2 3.7 – – –

100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0

M F

580 588

84 85

8 8

672 681

86.3 86.3

12.5 12.5

1.2 1.2

100.0 100.0

adult age groups, where different work and social experiences could have given rise to differences in the linguistic abilities of males and females, the proportions of Welsh and English speakers remained almost identical. Unlike many of the agricultural districts of south-west Carmarthenshire, which lost a considerable proportion of their young adult male population to the mining valleys of Glamorgan during the latter half of the nineteenth century, the new employment opportunities created in the collieries and tinplate works of Cwmaman made it possible for local men to remain in their own communities.17 Moreover, the small scale of the industrial developments which had occurred in the Cwmaman district by 1891 had not led to a substantial movement of males into the area and, consequently, the adult sex ratio was evenly balanced. These factors had important implications for the position of the Welsh language in the district and it is not surprising, therefore, that the overwhelming majority of the predominantly local-born male and female populations were returned as monoglot Welsh speakers. A clear picture of the localized nature of the movement of population into Cwmaman is provided in Table 4. Nearly 80 per cent of the 1,353 inhabitants were natives of the county of Carmarthen, and the overwhelming majority hailed from the local parishes of Betws and Llandeilo Fawr. All except one of the 1,067 individuals who had been born in Carmarthenshire spoke Welsh while 90.9 per 17

See Russell Davies, Secret Sins: Sex, Violence and Society in Carmarthenshire 1870–1920 (Cardiff, 1996), pp. 14–16.


223


Number Welsh


Both

English

Total

969 177 9 5 – 1 3 2 2 –

97 53 5 2 4 1 – – – 2

1 10 – – 1 1 – – – –

1067 240 14 7 5 3 3 2 2 2

90.8 73.7 64.3 71.4 – 33.3 100.0 100.0 100.0 –

England

–

4

3

7

Other1

–

1

–

1168

169

16

Carmarthenshire Glamorgan Cardiganshire Breconshire Pembrokeshire Monmouthshire Radnorshire Flintshire Merioneth Montgomeryshire

Total 1

English

Total

9.1 22.1 35.7 28.6 80.0 33.3 – – – 100.0

0.1 4.2 – – 20.0 33.3 – – – –

100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0

–

57.1

42.9

100.0

1

–

100.0

–

100.0

1353

86.3

12.5

1.2

100.0

Place of birth: America.

cent of the remainder were monoglot Welsh speakers. Apart from the 240 Glamorgan-born individuals, the majority of whom originated from the neighbouring Swansea Valley, very few men and women from other parts of Wales had made their home at Cwmaman. Although the majority of the Glamorgan-born residents were proficient in the Welsh language, a greater proportion were also familiar with the English language, and ten individuals were returned as speaking English only. In-migrants from England numbered only seven, four of whom were returned as bilingual speakers. Two of the four Welsh speakers had obvious family connections with the district, but the remaining two were young London-born males employed as servants by a local farmer and merchant. Although both young men had acquired sufficient knowledge of the Welsh language to be returned as bilingual, the same could not be said of Clement Gash, a third London-born teenager, who was employed as a general servant in an ironmonger’s shop. Both his employer and the vast majority of customers who frequented the shop were monoglot Welsh speakers, but the young servant was returned as speaking English only. It is likely that the three English-born young servants were industrial schoolboys who were sent in increasing numbers to the rural districts of Carmarthenshire during the late nineteenth century from the reformatory schools of London. The remaining two English-born individuals appear to have moved to the area as a direct result of the industrial developments which had occurred in the


224

Aman Valley. Joseph Newbould, a coal agent and owner of the Glanaman brickworks, was a native of Greasbrough in Yorkshire, while Sarah Lewis, the young wife of a local-born Welsh speaker, hailed from the neighbouring Yorkshire town of Rawmarsh. Sarah Lewis was possibly related to Joseph Hargreaves, an industrialist who hailed from Wakefield in Yorkshire and who had established collieries at Gwauncaegurwen in the 1860s.18 By 1891 Hargreaves had settled at Brynaman House, Brynaman, with his wife, also a native of Wakefield, and five monoglot English-speaking children, all of whom had been born at Rawmarsh. Such examples of English-speaking families were extremely rare, however, for Welsh was the only language spoken in the overwhelming majority of the homes of Cwmaman. In 282 (97.6 per cent) of the 289 households in the district all members were returned as Welsh speakers, and in 80 per cent of such homes Welsh was the only language spoken by the occupants. In spite of the dominantly monoglot Welsh-speaking character of the district, however, very few Welshlanguage census schedules were distributed among householders in the Aman Valley in 1891. Speaking at a meeting of the East Carmarthenshire Liberal Association in May 1891, the Revd J. Towyn Jones complained that the census authorities had not only failed to distribute sufficient Welsh forms in the district but that some enumerators had refused to accept the Welsh forms and compelled householders to complete them in English.19 In view of such administrative difficulties, it was perhaps not surprising that only sixty-three families made use of Welsh-language census schedules in Cwmaman. In only two households were all members entered as non-Welsh speakers. At Bryn-teg, Thomas Jenkins, a 47-year-old coal miner from Margam in Glamorgan, and his four Neath-born children were all returned as English monoglots. Similarly, at Glanaman Post Office, Joseph Tracey, a 54-year-old sub-postmaster from Pembrokeshire, and Margaret, his 26-year-old Glanaman-born daughter, both claimed to be non-Welsh speakers. In view of the fact that the overwhelming majority of the inhabitants of Cwmaman were monoglot Welsh speakers, it is difficult to believe that such individuals could live and work within the community without possessing some knowledge of the native tongue. Yet these English speakers clearly did not believe they were sufficiently proficient in Welsh to enter themselves as bilingual speakers on the census form. The situation prevailing in two other households, where non-Welsh-speaking individuals lived in apparent linguistic isolation with monoglot Welsh-speaking families, provides further evidence of the ambiguous nature of the statements received in response to the language question posed in the 1891 census. Johnny Campbell, a 50-yearold monoglot English speaker from Swansea, was employed as a servant in the 18 19

Matthews, ‘The World of the Anthracite Miner’, p. 12. The Welshman, 30 May 1891.


225


Number Welsh Both

Heads 246 Wives 191 Children1 616 Relatives 60 Servants/maidservants 30 Boarders/lodgers 18 Visitors 7 Total 1

1168


English

Total

42 31 72 12 10 – 2

3 1 9 – 3 – –

291 223 697 72 43 18 9

84.5 85.7 88.4 83.3 69.8 100.0 77.8

169

16

1353

86.3

English

Total

14.4 13.9 10.3 16.7 23.3 – 22.2

1.0 0.4 1.3 – 6.9 – –

100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0

12.5

1.2

100.0


home of Thomas and Mary Thomas, a monoglot Welsh couple from Llandeilo. Similarly, Clement Gash, the monoglot English teenager from London, was employed by the ironmonger Lewis Jenkins, who, along with his wife, children and other employees, spoke Welsh only. Overall, however, the Welsh language was spoken by nearly every family in Cwmaman. Table 5, which provides a breakdown of the linguistic ability of household members, reveals that Welsh was the dominant language within the basic family unit: over 85 per cent of the heads of household, wives and children were returned as Welsh monoglots. Very few Anglicizing influences had been brought to bear upon the homes of Cwmaman and although a slightly higher proportion of non-nuclear family members such as relatives, servants and visitors were returned as speaking English, the vast majority of such individuals – who comprised only a small proportion of the total population – were also proficient in the Welsh language. The future of the Welsh language at Cwmaman appeared secure, for there was little evidence that knowledge of the native tongue was waning among members of the younger generation. The overwhelming majority of ‘children’ in the district spoke Welsh only, and of the eighty-one who could speak English only nine were unable to speak Welsh. Further evidence of the linguistic continuity which existed between the younger and older residents of Cwmaman is furnished in Table 6, which provides a detailed examination of the language spoken by children in nuclear family households. The parents in all 176 households spoke Welsh and over 85 per cent of these were headed by two monoglot Welsh speakers. Like their parents, the children in the majority of such homes were also unable to speak English, and only in seven households were some or all of the children returned as speaking English. Clearly some children, therefore, had acquired knowledge of the English language outside the home, either at school or at their place of work. Only in one of the 176 households were


226


W B W B E B E E W


143 1 6 3 – – – – –

2 1 – 11 – – – – –

– – – – – – – – –

5 – 2 2 – – – – –

150 2 8 16 – – – – –

95.3 1.3 50.0 50.0 75.0 – 18.8 68.8 – – – – – – – – – –

– – – – – – – – –

3.3 – 25.0 12.5 – – – – –

100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0

153

14

–

9

176

86.9

–

5.1

100.0

8.0


any children returned as being unable to speak Welsh and some doubts must be raised as to the validity of their language statements. The two older children of the six born to the monoglot Welsh speakers, John and Mary Madge, spoke Welsh only, but the four younger children were entered as monoglot English speakers. Although all the offspring of bilingual parents were also Welsh speakers, it is evident that a far greater proportion of such children were being brought up with some knowledge of the English language. Households headed by two bilingual parents numbered only sixteen, but in eleven such homes the children were all proficient in both Welsh and English. It is worth noting that the fathers in four of the eleven households occupied positions of some authority within the collieries and tinplate works of Cwmaman, and such parents, who were only too aware of the growing social and economic importance of the English language, were clearly keen to impart a knowledge of the language to their children. Nevertheless, the Welsh language remained the only language spoken by the majority of the population of Cwmaman both at home and at work. Table 7 reveals that the overwhelming majority of the occupied male and female populations (aged 10 years and over) were unable to speak English. Only four of the 449 males and one of the 127 females were unable to speak Welsh. Although knowledge of the English language was clearly a useful qualification to those who occupied positions of authority either within the local heavy industries or as public servants, the bulk of the ordinary working population spoke Welsh only. By 1891 the tinplate industry had established its position as the single largest employer at Cwmaman, and just over a third of working males and nearly a


quarter of working females earned their living at the tinplate works. All 191 employees of the tinplate industry were Welsh speakers, and apart from the 34 individuals who spoke both Welsh and English, the remainder were monoglots. The bilingual employees included William Protheroe, manager of the tinworks, and Thomas Thomas, a 46-year-old tinplate superintendent, both of whom hailed from Llanelli, a town which had earned the name ‘tinopolis’ owing to the large number of tinplate works situated within its environs.20 David Phillips, who hailed from the parish of Betws and was employed as a clerk at the works, was also bilingual but, like the vast majority of those who worked under his supervision, Morgan Rees, a 34-year-old tinplate superintendent from the nearby parish of Llan-giwg in Glamorgan, spoke Welsh only. Most of the thirty females who were employed as tinplate openers or dusters were local-born women aged between 14 and 28. Apart from Elizabeth Jones, a 25-year-old native of Solfach in Pembrokeshire, and Jane Lewis, a 14-year-old English-born girl, who spoke both Welsh and English, the remaining twenty-eight female tinplate workers spoke Welsh only. Although the overwhelming majority of the tinplate workers were natives of the local parishes of Betws and Llandeilo Fawr, it should be noted that a third of the workforce hailed from the neighbouring county of Glamorgan, notably from the Swansea Valley where several tinplate works were situated. Over a third of the sixty-four Glamorgan-born tinplate workers spoke English, and it is possible that their presence served to familiarize the local-born workforce with the notion of bilingualism since there was a greater proportion of English speakers among the Carmarthenshire-born tinplate workers than among the coal miners. It is striking also that the tinplate workers of Cwmaman were generally younger than those employed at the collieries. Over 70 per cent of the 132 men who worked in the coal industry were over the age of 25, and nearly a third of them were older than 45 years of age. Conversely, over 60 per cent of the men employed at the tinplate works were under 25, and the majority were between 15 and 19 years old. The sons of local miners, young men such as William and John Walters of Pontaman Cottage, and Evan and Richard Rogers, Caeglas-isaf, were prominent among these tin workers. However, few of the older colliers of Cwmaman appeared to have been attracted to the new tinplate works of the district. Indeed, it was claimed that during the early years of tinplate manufacture in the Aman Valley the elderly miners of Cwmaman had looked down their noses at the new breed of tinplate workers who had moved into the area, regarding them almost as ‘a foreign class’.21 In 1891 the Cwmaman collieries continued to be worked by an overwhelmingly local and dominantly monoglot Welsh-speaking workforce. Of 20 21

See John Edwards (ed.), Tinopolis: Aspects of Llanelli’s Tinplate Trade (Llanelli, 1995). Dyfnallt, ‘Bro Amanw’, 211.

227


228

the 132 men employed in the coal industry, only nine spoke English, and over 85 per cent hailed from the county of Carmarthenshire. Of the six men who occupied positions of authority within the industry, only the three who were employed in the colliery offices were proficient in the English language, namely, Llewelyn Hughes, a colliery cashier from Cardiganshire, and the two colliery clerks, Thomas Price and Samuel Jones, who were natives of Carmarthenshire and Montgomeryshire respectively. However, David Jones, a 53-year-old colliery proprietor from Llan-giwg in Glamorgan, and Richard Thomas and John Hicks, the Carmarthenshire-born overman and checkweigher, spoke Welsh only. English speakers were conspicuously absent among the ranks of the ordinary mining workforce. Only six of the 126 men were able to speak English, and one of these, namely Thomas Jenkins, a Margam-born collier, claimed to be ignorant of the language spoken by his colleagues. Of the five bilingual miners, John Jenkins, a 22-year-old collier from the parish of Betws, was the only native of Carmarthenshire; the remainder hailed from the counties of Glamorgan and Brecon. Apart from the collieries and tinplate works, few other industries had been established at Cwmaman by 1891. The Glanaman brickworks, owned by Joseph Newbould, a monoglot English speaker from Yorkshire, provided employment for only four men enumerated in the sample. All four were Welsh speakers, but only John Matthews and his uncle, John Hughes, both natives of Neath in Glamorgan, spoke English also. Eight men were also employed by the Great Western Railway Company on the railway line which had played such an instrumental role in the industrial development of the Aman Valley. Apart from John Jones, a 22-year-old fireman from Llandybïe, and William Morris, a 46year-old signalman from Betws, both of whom were bilingual, the remainder of the railway employees, including David Griffiths, the local-born stationmaster, spoke Welsh only. The careers of such individuals appeared to have been in some jeopardy by the early 1890s, for if the Great Western Railway Company were to decide to follow the example set by the London and North Western Railway Company (LNWR), only English speakers would be appointed to positions of responsibility within the railway industry in the future.22 The Welsh-speaking railway employees of the Aman Valley clearly felt threatened by such developments and members of the Betws parish council, who met for the first time at Glanaman in January 1895, resolved to send a letter to the managers of the LNWR to protest against the adoption of such a policy.23 In spite of industrial developments in Cwmaman during the late nineteenth century, a significant proportion of the population remained dependent upon the 22

23

For a detailed examination of the language policy pursued by the LNWR, and of the reaction of the Welsh people to the policy, see Dot Jones, The Coming of the Railways and Language Change in North Wales 1850–1900 (Aberystwyth, 1995), pp. 8–14. Thomas, Hen Gymeriadau Plwyf y Bettws, p. 69.


land. Sixty-seven men and women were directly employed within the agricultural industry, the majority of whom worked on small farms scattered around the district. The vast majority of the farming community were monoglot Welsh speakers, and only seven of the sixty-seven individuals were returned as speaking English. The bilingual speakers included three teenage children who assisted their parents on the farm, and Robert Seamon, a 15-year-old from London, who was probably an industrial schoolboy sent to the district to work as a farm servant. It is probable that the ten men who were enumerated as general labourers were also occasionally hired by local farmers. Apart from Joseph Williams, a 71-year-old bilingual speaker born in Birmingham, the remaining nine were monoglot Welsh speakers from Carmarthenshire. The living and working conditions endured by farmers and their employees were extremely harsh, and it was not surprising, therefore, that the sons of several farming families took up employment at the new tinplate works of Cwmaman, where higher wages could be earned. At Abernant-glas, only John Jones, the elder of the two sons, had remained at home on the farm, while David, his 18-year-old brother was employed as a furnaceman at the tinworks. The sons of Barnant Coch, Powell-ddu and Foel farms were also employed at the tinworks and only the daughters were left to assist their parents with the farm work. Thirteen monoglot Welsh-speaking females were also employed as indoor maidservants on local farms. In total, only ten of the thirty-nine maids – the majority of whom were in service in the homes of colliers, tinplate workers and merchants – were English speakers. Margaret Rees, a 27-year-old native of Monmouthshire, who was employed as a housekeeper at the home of Joseph Newbould, a monoglot English-speaking brick manufacturer, was the only indoor servant returned as a monoglot English speaker. The small, semi-rural community of Cwmaman lacked a substantial industrial or professional middle class, and only a handful of individuals held positions of authority as public servants and officials. As might be expected, given their educational backgrounds, the majority of those employed within the public service and professional sector were proficient in the English language. The majority also hailed from Welsh districts outside the locality. David Griffiths, vicar of Cwmaman, was a native of Llangynllo in Cardiganshire. His knowledge of the two languages served him well at Christ Church, where part of the services were held in English.24 Although Welsh was the only language heard within the walls of the Nonconformist chapels of Cwmaman, the two Nonconformist ministers who were enumerated in the sample were also able to speak English. James Thomas, minister at Bethesda Baptist chapel, hailed from Glynneath in Glamorgan, while John Oliver, minister at Tabernacl Welsh Calvinistic 24

See The Cwmamman Parish Magazine, a publication which first appeared in January 1893 and which contained mostly English-language articles.

229


230

Methodist chapel since 1881, was a native of Llanbadarn Fawr, Cardiganshire.25 A number of young men in the district had also been attracted by the prospects of a career in the ministry, and four local-born men, aged between 16 and 26, were enumerated as theological students. Only John Harris, the 16-year-old son of Glanrafon farm, was proficient in the English language and the remaining three – Joseph Walters, and two brothers, David Glanaman Jones (1867–1951) and William Glasnant Jones (1869–1951) – spoke Welsh only. The two brothers were students at the Gwynfryn Academy, the celebrated theological college established in Ammanford in 1880 by Watkin Hezekiah Williams (Watcyn Wyn, 1844–1905), the Nonconformist preacher and poet.26 In his autobiography, Cyn Cof Gennyf a Wedyn, published in 1949, W. Glasnant Jones recalled that more than a dozen of his contemporaries at Bethel Congregational chapel, Cwmaman, had embarked upon a career in the ministry, presumably at the same institution. Indeed, Glasnant’s younger brother, Ebenezer Aman Jones (1873–1953), a pupil teacher at the elementary school in 1891, also followed in the footsteps of his two older siblings by enrolling as a theological student at the Gwynfryn school. Unlike the Gwynfryn Academy, where Watcyn Wyn ensured that his students were steeped in the literature and history of their native land, the Welsh language and culture received scant attention in the day schools of Cwmaman.27 Indeed, the Welsh language was forbidden at the Glanaman Board School under the headship of Thomas Thomas, a 32-year-old native of New Quay in Cardiganshire, who had been appointed schoolmaster in 1880.28 Outside the school environment, however, Thomas played a prominent role in the Welsh religious and cultural life of Cwmaman and, although both he and his wife could speak English, he had requested a Welsh-language schedule form during the taking of the 1891 census. Thomas was assisted at the school by Morgan Lewis, a 29-yearold bilingual teacher and assistant overseer from Betws. However, in spite of the stern measures taken to ensure that local children acquired some knowledge of the English language at school, the vast majority of the scholars of the district were proficient in their mother tongue only. Margaretta Thomas, a 13-year-old from Llanrhidian, Gower, was the only one of the five pupil teachers who could speak English, while eight out of ten of the 194 children (aged between 6 and 14) entered as ‘scholars’ spoke Welsh only. The instruction received at the day schools of Cwmaman was clearly not a formative influence in the lives of many local children, and it is probable that the Sunday schools and classes held in the Welsh Nonconformist chapels played a far more significant role in their education. The 25 26

27

28

Williams, Tabernacl, Glanaman, p. 10. See Geraint Dyfnallt Owen, Ysgolion a Cholegau yr Annibynwyr (Llandysul, 1939), pp. 196–200; Walters, Canu’r Pwll a’r Pulpud, p. 148. Owen, Ysgolion a Cholegau yr Annibynwyr, pp. 198–9; Walters, Ysgol Glanaman, p. 15; Thomas, Hen Gymeriadau Plwyf y Bettws, p. 60. Walters, Ysgol Glanaman, p. 22.


attendance rate at the day schools of this semi-rural community may also have left much to be desired. Thomas Jones, a 55-year-old native of the parish, who was entrusted with the responsible post of school attendance officer, also officiated as one of the two census enumerators at Cwmaman in 1891.29 Although literacy in both Welsh and English was an essential qualification for such positions of authority, Jones was entered as a monoglot Welsh speaker. Sarah Jones, wife of Thomas Jones, was one of a handful of dealers and merchants who traded at Cwmaman in 1891. Like the vast majority of her customers at Bryn-lloi shop, Sarah spoke Welsh only. Other monoglot Welshspeaking shopkeepers included the booksellers, Daniel Williams and Job Phillips, and Lewis Jenkins and Phillip Rees, an ironmonger and a tailor, who both traded at Commercial Place. The publicans at three of the four public houses in Cwmaman – the Cross Keys, the Angel and the Half Moon Inn – were also all monoglot Welsh speakers. In total, only five of the sixteen men and two of the eleven females employed as dealers and traders were proficient in the English language. The bilingual speakers included the grocers, Jane Gravel, Clifton House, and Griffith Rees, Bon Marche; Sarah Morgan, patron of the Amman Inn; Noah Phillips, a timber merchant; and two young shop assistants. John Jones, a 20-year-old native of Pembrokeshire was employed by a local butcher, while William Ware, a 21-year-old from London, worked for James Rees, a monoglot Welsh-speaking merchant who traded at Manchester House. Clement Gash, another London-born shop assistant employed by Lewis Jenkins, the ironmonger, was the only non-Welsh speaker to earn a living in the dealing houses of Cwmaman. Other individuals whose livelihoods depended upon their ability to communicate with all members of the public included Joseph Tracey, the subpostmaster, and Ebenezer Morgan and Jonah Jones, both of whom were employed as insurance agents. The two young agents, both natives of the Aman Valley, were fluent in Welsh and English. Surprisingly, however, given the nature of his responsibilities as a public servant in a dominantly monoglot Welshspeaking community, Joseph Tracey, a 54-year-old from Pembrokeshire, was returned as speaking English only.30 Overall, however, the English language had made few inroads into the lives of the people of Cwmaman by 1891. Although the new industrial developments had brought about many changes in the physical landscape and in the social and economic life of the region, the modest scale and the localized nature of the coal and tinplate industries and their workforce had ensured that the Welsh language remained the only language spoken by the overwhelming majority of the population across all age groups. In spite of the attention devoted to the teaching of the English language in schools, only a small minority of the children of 29 30

Thomas Jones was the father of W. Glasnant Jones. It appears that Joseph Tracey was also an accomplished builder for in 1887 he undertook the restoration work inside Tabernacl CM chapel. Williams, Tabernacl, Glanaman, p. 9.

231


232

Cwmaman were returned as having any knowledge of the language. Furthermore, the vast majority of the adult working population – including industrialists, dealers and several men who occupied positions of some standing within the community – were also ignorant of the English language.


Industrial class


AGRICULTURE Farming Farmers, graziers Relatives assisting Agricultural labourers Farm servants Total %

28 14 3 2 47 90.4

2 1 1 1 5 9.6

– – – – – –

30 15 4 3 52 100.0

1 – 1 1 103 6 11

– 3 – – 5 – –

– – – – 1 – –

1 3 1 1 109 6 11

1

–

–

1

– 2 – 126 91.3

– 1 1 10 7.2

1 – – 2 1.4

1 3 1 138 100.0

8 6

1 –

– –

9 6

3 17 89.4

1 2 10.5

– – –

4 19 100.0

MINING Coal Proprietor Clerks Overman Checkweigher Miners/hauliers Machine operators Labourers Stone Quarryman Brickmaking Proprietor Brickmakers Labourer Total % BUILDING Operatives Stonemasons Carpenters/joiners Railways Railway labourers/ platelayers Total %


5 6

– 2

– –

5 8

2 13 86.7

– 2 13.3

– – –

2 15 100.0


Industrial class MANUFACTURING Iron and steel Skilled manual Apprentice/assistant Labourer Tinplate Managers/foremen Clerk Skilled manual Unskilled manual/ labourers Wood Skilled manual Dress Skilled manual Unspecified Engine drivers/fitters Total % TRANSPORT Ocean navigation Seaman Railways Stationmaster Fireman/signalman Porters Total %


5 2 1

– – –

– – –

5 2 1

2 – 86

2 1 24

– – –

4 1 110

41

5

–

46

1

1

–

2

11

–

–

6 155 82.0

1 34 18.0

1 1 – 5 7 77.8

DEALING Raw materials Timber merchant – Wool merchant 1 Dress Assistant 1 Food Butcher 1 Grocers 3 Greengrocer – Assistants – Tobacco, drink and lodging Innkeepers, publicans 1 Lodging house keeper – Barmaid – Furniture and household utensils Ironmonger 1 Assistants 1

233


28

2

–

30

11

26

2

–

28

– – –

7 189 100.0

54 93.1

4 6.9

– –

58 100.0

–

–

1

– 2 – 2 22.2

– – – – –

1 2 5 9 100.0

1 –

– –

1 1

–

–

1

– 1 – 1

– – – –

1 4 – 1

1 1 2

1 – –

– – –

2 1 2

– – –

– – –

1 – –

1 1 1

1 – –

– – –

2 1 1

– –

– 1

1 2


234

Industrial class


Chemists, druggists Chemists – Assistants – Stationery and publications Bookseller 1 Assistant – General dealers Assistant – Others and unspecified Merchant 1 Assistant – Total 11 % 68.7 INDUSTRIAL SERVICES Banking, insurance, accounts Insurance service 1 Total 1 % 50.0

3 1

– 2

3 3

– –

– –

1 –

1

–

–

1

–

–

–

1

–

–

1

– 1 4 25.0

– – 1 6.3

1 1 16 100.0

9 81.8

2 18.2

– –

11 100.0

1 1 50.0

– – –

2 2 100.0

3

1

–

4

1 14 100.0

3 75.0

1 25.0

– –

4 100.0

– – –

29 29 74.4

9 9 23.1

1 1 2.6

39 39 100.0

PUBLIC SERVICES AND PROFESSIONALS Central administration Post Office official – – 1 Local administration School attendance officer 1 – – Education Headteachers, schoolteachers – 2 – Assistant teachers, pupil teachers 1 – – Student 1 – – Religion Clergyman – 1 – CM minister – 1 – Baptist minister – 1 – Theological students 3 1 – Art, literature, science Sculptor – 1 – Total 6 7 1 % 42.9 50.0 7.1 DOMESTIC SERVICES Indoor service Maidservants Total %

– – –


– – –

– – –

1 1

2 1 1 1 1 1 4


235

Industrial class




9 9 90.0

1 1 10.0

– – –

10 10 100.0

TOTAL OCCUPIED %

379 84.4

66 14.7

4 0.9

449 100.0

108 85.0

18 14.2

1 0.8

127 100.0


22 91.7

1 4.2

1 4.2

24 100.0

291 85.3

45 13.2

5 1.5

341 100.0

School pupils %

53 88.3

6 10.0

1 1.7

60 100.0

42 82.4

8 15.7

1 2.0

51 100.0


73 13.7

6 1.1

533 100.0

441 85.0

71 13.7

7 1.3

519 100.0


11 Fishguard (Pembrokeshire) GWENFAIR PARRY

Fishguard is a market town and harbour on the northern coast of Pembrokeshire about fifteen miles from Haverfordwest. At the beginning of the nineteenth century it was little more than a remote and insignificant village whose inhabitants earned a meagre living building boats, mending sails, salting fish, burning lime and weaving creels.1 Many kept body and soul together by fishing and it was not unusual to see small boats returning to harbour at Lower Fishguard laden with mackerel and herring. Many local youths earned a living under sail and appreciable numbers of them became expert sailors.2 Shipbuilding was an important industry in the ports and coves of west Wales in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, and although the main centres were New Quay and Aberaeron in Cardiganshire, it is known that thirty-five ships were built in Fishguard between 1767 and 1846. The last ship to be built at Fishguard was Gwaun Maid (1846).3 Most of these vessels were one-mast sloops, but brigs, brigantines and schooners also figured among them. Such ships were owned by a great variety of people, including sea captains, farmers, sailors, shopkeepers, yeomen and even widows.4 The majority of these boats left Fishguard for the small harbours and coves of south-west Wales, but they also sailed back and fore to Bristol and Ireland, and even plied as far as Quebec and the Baltic with cargoes of timber.5 The principal exports were oats, barley, butter and cheese, but as the century wore on more emphasis was placed on importing culm, limestone, coal, bricks and basic commodities.6 The harbour was in its heyday during the 1850s 1 2 3 4

5

6

Fishguard and Goodwick Urban District: The Official Guide (Croydon, 1957), p. 16. Eirwyn George (ed.), Abergwaun a’r Fro (Llandybïe, 1986), p. 129. R. S. L. Scott, ‘The Port of Fishguard’, PH, no. 2 (1986–7), 67. J. Geraint Jenkins, Maritime Heritage – The Ships and Seamen of Southern Ceredigion (Llandysul, 1982), pp. 72–123; R. S. L. Scott, ‘Historical, Economic and Urban Geography of Fishguard and Goodwick’ (unpubl. University of Wales MA thesis, 1965), pp. 49, 51. B. J. George, ‘Pembrokeshire Sea-Trading before 1900’, Field Studies, II, no. 1 (1964), 1–39; Scott, ‘Historical, Economic and Urban Geography of Fishguard and Goodwick’, p. 23. David W. Howell (ed.), Pembrokeshire County History. Vol. IV. Modern Pembrokeshire 1815–1974 (Haverfordwest, 1993), p. 68.


238

but, with the advent of the railways and a growing demand for larger boats, seafaring activity waned and the harbour went into decline. This is reflected in the population statistics. Between 1801 and 1851 the number of inhabitants increased from 1,503 to 2,316, but by 1891 the population had fallen to 1,898. Not until the turn of the century, following the decision of the Great Western Railway to re-route Irish traffic from Neyland to Fishguard, did the local economy revive.7 During the latter half of the nineteenth century the economy therefore came to rely increasingly on the growing importance of Fishguard as a market town. In 1880 the town was described as: . . . a parish, a market town, sea port, and parliamentary borough . . . situated on a steep cliff, on the seashore, at the influx of the river Gwaine, which forms a spacious bay, where vessels may ride safely in five or six fathoms of water . . . The town is divided into two portions (the upper and the lower), by the river, over which is a stone bridge of five arches. The upper town occupies the eminence, and includes the greater proportion of the inhabitants, with the church, markethouse, and principal shops; the lower part skirts the estuary, and is principally inhabited by mariners and fishermen. With the exception of a little flannel weaving, no manufactures exist here, corn, butter, and herrings comprising its chief trade.8

The square on the higher ground of Upper Fishguard was the focal point of this vibrant commercial life and although at the time it was a fairly modest service centre it had a market place, a temperance hall, numerous shops and public houses, as well as various public buildings such as a county police station, a post office and an income tax office.9 There was also a church where Welsh and English services were held, and three chapels established by the Baptists, the Calvinistic Methodists and the Congregationalists.10 But if the Welsh language and the native culture found refuge in places of worship, the same could not be said of the day schools. English was the medium of instruction at the national school, originally built for boys in 1850 but later extended to welcome infants (1852) and girls (1882).11 There is little doubt that the native language was widely spoken in Fishguard. Unlike south-west Pembrokeshire where English predominated, this small town was situated in an area which was a bastion of the Welsh language and a custodian 7

8

9

10 11

David John Owen, The Origin and Development of the Ports of the United Kingdom (2nd ed., London, 1948), p. 274; J. P. Morris, The North Pembrokeshire and Fishguard Railway (Lingfield, 1969), pp. 17–18. Quoted in Lewis Lloyd, ‘The Ports and Shipping of Cardigan Bay’, Cymru a’r Môr, no. 4 (1979), 51. Kelly’s Directory of Monmouthshire, and the Principal Towns and Places of South Wales (London, 1891), p. 235. Ibid. Ibid.

FISHGUARD (PEMBROKESHIRE)

of its culture.12 It appears that the English–Welsh divide or Landsker had remained relatively unchanged since the days of George Owen of Henllys.13 According to the Revd Thomas Davies: ‘It is true that, if anything, English is gaining ground; but this encroachment is as slow and gradual as that of the south Pembrokeshire coastline in the face of the storms of the Irish sea’ (‘Y mae’n wir mai’r Saesneg sydd yn ennill, os dim; ond mae symudiad y llinell hon bron mor araf a graddol ag eiddo llinell glannau y rhan Saesneg o flaen ystormydd môr Iwerddon’).14 According to the Pembrokeshire Herald on 6 November 1896: ‘The inhabitants of north Pembrokeshire are Welsh in language and customs. Welsh only is heard in Nonconformist places of worship; so also in rural Welsh churches. In meetings, political, religious or literary, Welsh is the language mostly employed. It is also the tongue heard along the streets and roads. English as a rule is restricted to the higher classes. Judging from the census reports, I should think that 70 per cent at least of the north Pembrokeshire folk speak Welsh. Their customs are also similar to other Welsh parts. Local eisteddfodau are pretty numerous whilst “monthly meetings” and “cymanfa ganu” are equally prevalent.’15 Looking back on his childhood in the district at the beginning of the twentieth century, Rob Lewis recalled that his mother had only a rudimentary knowledge of English. She knew many lullabies, all of which were in Welsh. Welsh was spoken in almost every home, and although most people had sufficient English to meet their needs, they were not fluent English speakers.16 In 1906 the Revd Arthur W. Wade-Evans, a native of Fishguard, published an article on the dialect, intonation and vocabulary of his native town.17 He feared there was some truth in the claim that the Welsh of Fishguard was ‘poor Welsh’ (‘Cwmrag gwâl’), owing to the increasing influence of spoken English and the tendency of the inhabitants of ports such as Fishguard to ‘import’ English words and expressions.18 But Wade-Evans strongly defended the unique dialect – ‘Cwmrag gatre’ (‘home Welsh’) – spoken in the homes of Fishguard: It is commonly supposed in Fishguard that the Welsh spoken there is poor stuff – Cwmrag gwâl. If this opinion is held because Fishguard Welsh is full of English words, idioms and grammatical forms, then it is a very true one. Thus: ‘Ma ’i’n costi four shillings a wechinog i fynd i Swansea’ is horrible – Cwmrag gwâl iawn. This of course is 12 13

14 15 16 17

18

Brian S. John, ‘The Linguistic Significance of the Pembrokeshire Landsker’, PH, 4 (1972), 7. Gwenllian Awbery, Cymraeg Sir Benfro (Llanrwst, 1991), p. 7. See also eadem, Pembrokeshire Welsh: A Phonological Study (National Museum of Wales, 1986). Thomas Davies, ‘Penfro Gymreig a Seisnig ei Phobl’, Y Beirniad, IV (1914), 233. Pembrokeshire Herald, 6 November 1896. Rob Lewis, Brith yw Brethyn Bywyd (Llandysul, 1980), pp. 15, 35. A. W. Wade-Evans, ‘Fishguard Welsh (Cwmrag Abergwaun)’, Transactions of the Guild of Graduates for the Year 1906 (1907), 21–34. Geraint H. Jenkins (ed.), The Welsh Language before the Industrial Revolution (Cardiff, 1997), pp. 104–5.

239


240

Table 1: Language spoken by populations of Fishguard, Haverfordwest Registration District, Pembrokeshire and Wales (2 years and over) Number Welsh Fishguard1 543 Haverfordwest R.D.2 7086 Pembrokeshire3 13673 Wales4 508036 1 2 3 4

Both 739 5982 10804 402253

English

Total

121 1403 17643 30711 51959 76436 759416 1669705


52.7 19.5 14.1 24.1

English Total 8.6 57.4 68.0 45.5

100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0

Excluding 17 individuals whose language was not given. Excluding 226 individuals whose language was not given and 19 who spoke other languages. Excluding 1,684 individuals whose language was not given and 43 who spoke other languages. Excluding 12,833 individuals whose language was not given and 3,076 who spoke other languages.

an extreme example. If, however, Fishguard Welsh is thought to be poor Welsh because it differs from Bible or Book Welsh, then most certainly it is not true. Thus: ‘Ma’r wên yn ware ar y porfa’ is as real Welsh as ‘Mae yr oen yn chwareu ar y glaswellt’ – the difference being that the first is a sub-dialect of Dimetian Welsh spoken but never written, whilst the latter, the Welsh of the Bible, is the standard literary Welsh recognised in every part of Wales whatever the local dialect may be.19

As revealed in the Revd Meredith Morris’s excellent glossary of Cwm Gwaun, included in his volume, A Glossary of Demetian Dialect (1910), the inhabitants of Fishguard and its environs were proud of their dialect.20 As late as the 1930s the older inhabitants were still strongly Welsh in character although there were signs of decline in the use of the language by that time, particularly among the children.21 However, the evidence of the census reveals that the mother tongue was not under threat in 1891. As Table 1 shows, of the 1,403 inhabitants (aged 2 years and over) as many as 1,282 (91.4 per cent) spoke Welsh and 543 (38.7 per cent) were monoglot Welsh speakers. Nine out of ten of Fishguard’s inhabitants spoke Welsh, compared with five out of ten of the inhabitants of Wales as a whole and three out of ten in Pembrokeshire. Although only a comparatively small proportion of the people were monoglot English speakers, it should be emphasized that more than half were bilingual, a proportion three times greater than that which obtained for Haverfordwest Registration District. Bilingualism was clearly gaining ground – an 19 20 21

Wade-Evans, ‘Fishguard Welsh’, 22. See Awbery, Pembrokeshire Welsh, passim. Fishguard and Goodwick: Official Guide (Cheltenham, 1935), p. 6.


241


Both

2–5 6–14 15–24 25–44 45–64 65+

85 120 70 97 107 64

41 155 133 186 139 85

13 25 19 31 27 6

139 300 222 314 273 155

Total

543

739

121

1403

Age

English

Total

Percentage Welsh

Both

English

Total

61.2 40.0 31.5 30.9 39.2 41.3

29.5 51.7 60.0 59.2 50.9 54.8

9.3 8.3 8.5 9.9 9.9 3.9

100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0

38.7

52.7

8.6

100.0

inevitable trend since an appreciable number of local people were in regular contact with tradespeople from south-west England and Ireland. The education system clearly facilitated the spread of bilingualism among young people, and parents approved of this since English was the language of opportunity and promotion. Table 2 reveals that nearly two-thirds of pre-school age children were monoglot Welsh speakers, a fact which bears witness to the strength of the mother tongue in the home and in Sunday school. But if Welsh was the language of the Sunday schools, English, and English alone, was the language of the day schools. It is therefore not surprising that as many as 51.7 per cent of the children between the ages of 6 and 14 were bilingual, compared with 29.5 per cent between 2 and 5. This bears out the evidence available for the linguistic ability of the children registered as school pupils: of these, 55 (36.4 per cent) were monoglot Welsh speakers, 86 (57.0 per cent) bilingual, and 10 (6.6 per cent) monoglot English speakers. Local economic opportunities caused the percentage who spoke both languages to reach a high point among young people and adults between the ages of 15 and 44, before falling to some extent as the population grew older. Only a comparatively small number of inhabitants, whether young or old, were monoglot English speakers and, in view of the fact that members of some of their families were monoglot Welsh speakers, the accuracy of their linguistic claims must be doubted. In Wallis Street, for example, James Howell, a 58-year-old labourer from Martletwy spoke only English, while his wife and youngest child, both of whom were born in Fishguard, were monoglot Welsh speakers. It appears, therefore, that there was growing pressure on the members of this community to become bilingual, but even so the mother tongue remained strong and was spoken by over 90 per cent of the population in each age group. Bilingualism was proceeding apace among males and females in the locality and although their linguistic ability was on the whole quite similar, Table 3 reveals that


242


Total

Number Sex Welsh

Both

English

Total



44 41 59 61 31 39 36 61 36 71 23 41

16 25 76 79 54 79 70 116 62 77 45 40

9 4 6 19 8 11 19 12 13 14 1 5

69 70 141 159 93 129 125 189 111 162 69 86

63.8 58.6 41.8 38.4 33.3 30.2 28.8 32.3 32.4 43.8 33.3 47.7

M F

229 314

323 416

56 65

608 795

37.7 39.5

English

Total

23.2 35.7 53.9 49.7 58.1 61.2 56.0 61.4 55.9 47.5 65.2 46.5

13.0 5.7 4.3 11.9 8.6 8.5 15.2 6.3 11.7 8.6 1.4 5.8

100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0

53.1 52.3

9.2 8.2

100.0 100.0

it varied to some extent according to age group. The numbers are too small to enable us to make reliable generalizations in the case of young children, but it is evident that greater numbers of boys between the ages of 6 and 14 were bilingual than girls: 46 (62.2 per cent) of the 74 boys enumerated as school pupils were bilingual, compared with 40 (51.9 per cent) of the 77 girls. It is also significant that in the groups over the age of 24 more males than females spoke English. This is not surprising, given that the social and economic experiences of males and females were quite different. Only 195 (29.6 per cent) females over the age of 10 were gainfully occupied, 126 (64.6 per cent) of whom were either maidservants or seamstresses working in the locality. The rest were housewives, and because their lives were restricted to the home, the chapel and the immediate neighbourhood, their social networks were extremely limited and their attachment to Welsh stronger. On the other hand, as many as 323 (69.2 per cent) men were in employment, and since one in ten were sailors and many had left home in search of work, it was hardly surprising that females comprised 60 per cent of the population between the ages of 25 and 64. Furthermore, the social contacts and work experience of males were more various and their familiarity with the English language greater. It is striking that more males than females were monoglot English speakers in the working age cohorts (i.e. between 25 and 64). Their place of birth was doubtless a significant factor. Fifteen (46.9 per cent) males hailed from outside Wales in comparison with 6 (23.1 per cent) females. Nevertheless, as many as 1,264 (90.5 per cent) of the inhabitants of Fishguard were natives of Pembrokeshire and, as Table 4 reveals, 1,184 (93.7 per cent) of


243


Number Welsh

Both

English

Total


516 10 7 4 1 – – – –

668 18 15 12 6 4 1 2 1

80 3 1 2 – 2 2 – –

1,264 31 23 18 7 6 3 2 1

40.8 32.2 30.4 22.2 14.3 – – – –

England

–

8

21

29

Other2

–

4

8

538

739

119

Pembrokeshire Glamorgan Cardiganshire Carmarthenshire Monmouthshire Breconshire Denbighshire Flintshire Montgomeryshire

Total 1 2

English

Total

52.8 58.1 65.2 66.7 85.7 66.7 33.3 100.0 100.0

6.3 9.7 4.3 11.1 – 33.3 66.7 – –

100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0

–

27.6

72.4

100.0

12

–

33.3

66.7

100.0

1396

38.5

52.9

8.5

100.0

Excluding 7 individuals whose place of birth was not given. Place of birth: Scotland 4, Ireland 2, Russia 2, Chile 2, Barbados 1, Australia 1.

them spoke Welsh. Although only a small minority were monoglot English speakers, more than half were bilingual. It is also worth noting that 862 (68.2 per cent) of those whose roots were in the county were born in Fishguard, and 94.9 per cent were Welsh speakers. Only 91 (6.5 per cent) of the population came from the rest of Wales – mainly from the counties of Glamorgan, Cardigan and Carmarthen – and a higher proportion of these incomers (75.8 per cent) had a knowledge of English. Nevertheless, the majority of the English-speaking inhabitants had come from England. Most hailed from the counties of Gloucester, Lancashire and Devon, and the native language was beyond the grasp of three of every four of them. Since every one of the English-speaking newcomers belonged to English-speaking households and since their adopted society was fast becoming bilingual, there was scarcely any pressure on them to learn Welsh. It is also significant that three of those who were able to speak the native language had married local Welsh people and that another two were of Welsh descent. There were only twelve people from other countries living in the locality. They hailed from countries as far apart as Scotland, Ireland, Russia, Barbados, Chile and Australia, and the four who were bilingual had either been living in Fishguard for at least thirty years or had returned to their families in the area. The census shows that Welsh was not in crisis in the homes of Fishguard. Everyone spoke the native language in 337 (84.7 per cent) of the 398 households and Welsh was the only medium of communication in 118 (29.6 per cent) of


244


Number Welsh Both

English

Total


English

Total

Heads 133 Wives 80 Children1 242 Relatives 36 Servants/maidservants 32 Boarders/lodgers 16 Visitors 4 Others2 –

221 96 289 44 53 31 1 4

28 13 42 16 6 13 3 –

382 189 573 96 91 60 8 4

34.8 42.3 42.2 37.5 35.2 26.7 50.0 –

57.9 50.8 50.4 45.8 58.2 51.7 12.5 100.0

7.3 6.9 7.3 16.7 6.6 21.7 37.5 –

100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0

Total

739

121

1403

38.7

52.7

8.6

100.0

1 2

543

Includes adopted children and stepchildren. 2 apprentices and 2 assistants.

these. Although everyone could speak English in 195 (49.0 per cent) households, only 12 (6.2 per cent) of these were monoglot English speaking, and 139 were bilingual homes where everyone could speak both languages. Since the native language and its culture still flourished in this community, it can only be assumed that Welsh was the language commonly spoken in these bilingual homes. As far as their size and composition were concerned, there was nothing unusual about the town’s households: 237 (59.5 per cent) consisted of between three and seven members, but on average there were four to each house. Since only 146 (36.7 per cent) of the local houses had fewer than five rooms, overcrowding was not common. The nuclear family lay at the heart of the social structure, and 250 (63.9 per cent) families fell into this category: 210 consisted of married couples with children and the rest were childless. There were also sixty-nine people who lived alone and seventy-two extended families. Moreover, as many as 101 (25.4 per cent) households included members who were not related to the head of household. In all, they made up 11.6 per cent of the population – 6.5 per cent were in service, 4.3 per cent were boarders or lodgers, 0.5 per cent were visitors, and 0.3 per cent were apprentices and assistants. Because of their mobility and the wider range of their social contacts, the individuals most likely to introduce foreign influences into the community were outsiders with no obvious family connections. Table 5 reveals that a comparatively high proportion (58.2 per cent) of maidservants were bilingual, and since every one of these earned a living in middle-class bilingual homes, this was hardly surprising. Consider, for instance, the case of Margaret Edwards, a 20-yearold maid from Eglwyswrw in Pembrokeshire. She was employed by Thomas


Bennett, a wine and spirit merchant from the south of the county. Although both he and his wife, a native of Fishguard, were bilingual, his children were enumerated as having no Welsh, even though they had been born and bred in the town. English was therefore almost certainly the language of the home, and Margaret would inevitably have acquired some knowledge of English while in their service. Only six maids were unable to speak Welsh (four from Pembrokeshire and two from England), and since four of them were employed by bilingual families, they must have been partly responsible for the Anglicization of such homes. Boarders and lodgers were also more likely to be able to converse in English. Forty-four (73.3 per cent) of them spoke the language, 31 (70.5 per cent) of whom were bilingual and 13 (29.5 per cent) of whom were monoglot English. Boarders or lodgers were enumerated in 43 (10.8 per cent) of local homes, most of which were owned by small businessmen. Their average age was 26, and although 18 (30.0 per cent) were married or widowed, as many as 42 (70.0 per cent) were single. Thirty-four (56.7 per cent) were women and an appreciable number (33 or 55.0 per cent) were either children, paupers or retired people. Another 28.3 per cent were professional men and manufacturers and, possibly, people who had become familiar with the English language in the workplace. Although as many as 37 (61.7 per cent) were natives of Pembrokeshire and 23 (62.2 per cent) of them spoke English, the highest proportion of English speakers came from outside the county. Indeed, twelve of the fourteen were born in other parts of Wales, and each one of the nine born in England, Ireland and Scotland, spoke English. Since all the bilingual lodgers lived with Welsh-speaking families, there were few opportunities for them to exert Anglicizing influences. Indeed, it is far more likely that they strengthened linguistic and cultural ties. Every one of the monoglot English-speaking lodgers also lived in homes where Welsh was spoken, an arrangement which was a means not only of altering the language of the hearth but also, possibly, of acquainting those lodgers with the native language. Visitors were another group whose social networks were more open. Only eight were enumerated in the vicinity of Fishguard, half of whom were able to speak English. They included three English-speaking waggoners from Hampshire, Wiltshire and Surrey, who lodged with the bilingual family of Gwynne Jones, a local carpenter who lived in Hotipas Street. Despite the presence of those with no evident family connections, Welsh remained strong in the homes of Fishguard. Table 5 reveals that as many as 92.7 per cent of the local children spoke Welsh, and that 42.2 per cent of them had no English. This was not surprising since 114 (90.5 per cent) of the married couples with children were Welsh speakers. Linguistically mixed marriages were therefore certainly not a factor in the decline of the mother tongue in this town. Writing in 1910 T. L. Evans noted that seldom did the young men of Pembrokeshire venture outside their locality in search of wives, and although outsiders regularly passed

245


246



W W B B B E E E

93.8 100.0 71.4 12.1 – – – –

W B W B E B E W

Total

45 1 5 7 – – – –

2 – 2 41 1 1 1 –

– – – 4 – – 5 –

1 – – 6 – 2 1 1

48 1 7 58 1 3 7 1

58

49

9

10

126

4.2 – 28.6 70.7 100.0 66.7 14.3 –

– – – 6.9 – – 71.4 –

2.0 – – 10.3 – 33.3 14.3 100.0

100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0

46.0 38.9

7.1

7.9

100.0


through Fishguard, only thirteen marriages between partners of different linguistic ability were recorded by the census.22 Thus local marriage patterns reinforced the Welsh character of the inhabitants: 60 (96.8 per cent) monoglot Welsh-speaking males had married monoglot Welsh-speaking wives and, similarly, 81 (84.4 per cent) bilingual males had married bilingual wives. Table 6 reveals that there was hardly any linguistic slippage in homes where both parents were monoglot Welsh speakers. In as many as 45 (93.8 per cent) such homes English was a foreign language, and in only three of them were the children, or at least the older ones, able to speak English. Once one Welsh-speaking parent had a grasp of English, the children were also more likely to be familiar with English, and this was the case in two of the eight homes headed by one bilingual and one monoglot Welsh parent. When both parents were bilingual, the transmission of English was even more apparent, the language being spoken by children in 51 (87.9 per cent) of those homes. There was also evidence of definite linguistic change, since in four of those homes the children had no Welsh. Their parents must therefore have held the native language in low esteem and were concerned that it would be of no advantage to them in the world of commerce and industry. It is also significant that the heads of families were professional men and tradesmen – people who were, by and large, more likely to favour the virtues of English. In only five homes was Welsh spoken by one parent, and in two of these the children were bilingual. In two of the homes where the father had no Welsh and the children 22

T. L. Evans, The People of Pembrokeshire (Tenby, 1910), p. 22.


were of mixed linguistic ability, the fact that the younger children were monoglot Welsh speakers and the older children able to speak both languages betokens the influence of the mother on the upbringing and linguistic ability of her children. Since there were few incomers from England in the region, homes where both parents were non-Welsh speakers were rare. There were seven such homes in the locality and in five of these the children remained monoglot English speakers. Since English was the language of the home and school, there was no incentive for them to learn Welsh. On the other hand, the children of Frederick Pratt of Torquay and Thomas Williams of Haverfordwest (or at least the older ones) were enumerated as bilingual. Table 7 reveals that 518 (46.0 per cent) of Fishguard’s inhabitants were in employment. The town had an important maritime tradition and the livelihood of 41 (12.7 per cent) men was inextricably linked with seafaring and its associated industries. There were six captains, thirty sailors or stewards, three fishermen, one customs officer and a sailmaker. All except one were Welsh speakers. Forty (97.6 per cent) had been born in Wales – thirty-eight in Pembrokeshire, one in Monmouthshire and one in Cardiganshire. It is also worth noting that as many as thirty-one were natives of the town of Fishguard. Nevertheless, it is apparent that knowledge of the English language was an important qualification for the maritime trade since twenty-eight of them were bilingual, including the sailmaker, the customs officer and all six captains. Two-thirds of the ordinary seamen were also able to speak English, but this was not true of two of the three fishermen. Only one Englishman figured among them, namely Simon Blank, a 41-year-old ship’s steward from Devon who was married to a bilingual 29-yearold woman from Fishguard. The daily needs of the inhabitants were served by a large number of builders, craftsmen and tradesmen. About 90 per cent of these spoke Welsh and more than 85 per cent were natives of Pembrokeshire. Yet there were differences among them. The census reveals that those employed in the building trade were more likely to use the native language than those in the other sectors. Although 17 (39.5 per cent) were bilingual, 25 (58.1 per cent) remained monoglot Welsh speakers, and the only monoglot English speaker was Thomas Andrews, a carpenter from Manchester who lodged in Hamilton Street. Since this was the period when many craftsmen were beginning to establish businesses, a higher proportion of manufacturers had a knowledge of English. It was spoken by 86 (66.1 per cent) of them, and of these 80 were bilingual and 6 had no Welsh. The social contacts of local shopkeepers and innkeepers were even more numerous. It was therefore to be expected that their number would include the highest proportion of English speakers. Indeed, only 14 (17.5 per cent) were enumerated as monoglot Welsh speakers. Among the eleven who spoke English only were a stationer and an innkeeper from Haverfordwest, an ironmonger from Denbighshire, and a hotelier from Gloucestershire. Bearing in mind that the wives and children of some of

247

248


these were bilingual and that Welsh was the dominant language of the community, it is difficult to accept that they were not familiar with the native tongue. The trade directories of the period reveal that there were two banks in the locality, namely Lloyds Bank, managed by Gwynne Austin Roberts, and the London and Provincial Bank under the management of James William Quilter. There is no doubt that English was essential in these institutions. Although only one banker was enumerated in the census, he was a fluent English-speaking native of the town of Carmarthen. The insurance collector and Inland Revenue officer were also English speakers; the former was a bilingual native of St Nicholas in Pembrokeshire while the latter was a monoglot Englishman from Newark in Nottinghamshire. At the post office, too, knowledge of both languages was required. With the exception of William Johnston, a 15-year-old messenger boy who could only speak the mother tongue, the postmaster, the postman and postal clerk were bilingual natives of Pembrokeshire. Since two of them belonged to monoglot Welsh-speaking families, it is probable that they had learnt English in the workplace and only used it in that particular domain. As might be expected, no monoglot Welsh speakers worked in local government, nor in the police force. Peter Lewis, the registrar of births and deaths, and James Gwynne, the rate collector, had been born in the vicinity and both were bilingual. The police constable, who hailed from Llanfyrnach in Pembrokeshire, and the deputy chief constable, a native of Llandyfaelog in Carmarthenshire, were also bilingual, but the sergeant, Joseph Phillips, spoke English only. He and his English-speaking family were natives of Haverfordwest, and since his youngest child was only 2 years old it may be that he had not lived in the district long enough to be able to be enumerated as bilingual. Those who catered for the legal, medical, educational and spiritual needs of the inhabitants were almost without exception English speakers. Of the 32 living in the neighbourhood, 5 (15.6 per cent) had no Welsh, 26 (81.3 per cent) were bilingual, and one had no English. The monoglot Welsh speaker was Stephen Howell, a 21-year-old student who lived with his monoglot family in West Street. Given that education was provided through the medium of English in the colleges, and that his father kept a grocer’s and ironmonger’s shop in the town, it is unlikely that he was not familiar with English. Among those enumerated as having no Welsh was a young solicitor from south Pembrokeshire, a doctor from Somerset who was married to a monoglot English speaker from Barbados, and three teachers, including James Drew, the headmaster of the national school, who hailed from Warwickshire. John Morgan Owen, a native of Pembrokeshire and one of the locality’s bilingual doctors, was a man of considerable standing since he was also a medical officer of the Haverfordwest Union. Although he was married to a bilingual woman from Carmarthenshire, his children were enumerated as monoglot English speakers, and it can be assumed, therefore, that he had come to regard English as a mark of social superiority.


249

Those employed in the farming industry were more firmly attached to their mother tongue than the other groups. Fifteen of the seventeen who were enumerated had been born in Pembrokeshire, and as many as 13 (76.5 per cent) were monoglot Welsh speakers. All could speak Welsh, and only four could communicate in English. Perhaps the social contacts of these four were more varied than those of their fellow workers. The widow Maria Morgan, who lived at Hotipas House, had spent part of her life in Castlemaine in Australia, where her daughter Emma, also a farmer, was born. The other bilingual farmers were Walter Williams of Cefn-y-dref, who had been born in Chile, and John Lloyd of Plas-yfron, a native of Castleblythe in Pembrokeshire who had also lived in Spital and Nevern in the same county. Welsh also reigned supreme in the domestic services sector. But although 105 (90.5 per cent) employees in this sector were able to speak Welsh, 59 (50.9 per cent) were bilingual, 36 of whom were maids in middle-class homes. In general, therefore, there was no cause for concern about the future of Welsh in Fishguard. The language reigned in the home and the workplace, in the chapel and in popular culture, and for nine out of ten people it was the language of daily life. But although the mother tongue was an inextricable part of the social fabric, and settlers from England and linguistically mixed marriages were quite rare, more than half the population were bilingual, and the trend towards bilingualism in every age group above 6 years old was unmistakable. This development is attributable to the education system, to the desire of parents that their children should master ‘the language of progress’, and to daily intercourse in the world of business, especially maritime trade with Ireland and ports in the West Country. The livelihood of local shopkeepers and businessmen depended on their ability to communicate effectively in both languages. The long-term trend, therefore, was towards bilingualism.


Industrial class AGRICULTURE Farming Farmers Agricultural labourers Farm servants Fishing Fishermen Total %


3 6 3

2 – –

– – –

5 6 3

2 14 82.4

1 3 17.6

– – –

3 17 100.0


1

2

–

3

1 33.3

2 66.7

– –

3 100.0


250

Industrial class


MINING Coal Miners Total %

1 1 50.0

– – –

1 1 50.0

2 2 100.0

BUILDING Operatives Stonemasons Carpenters/joiners Apprentices Labourer Total %

10 11 3 1 25 58.1

5 11 1 – 17 39.5

– 1 – – 1 2.3

15 23 4 1 43 100.0

2

–

3

1

–

1

5 1

– –

7 1

– –

1 1

2 1

1

–

4

1

–

2

7 –

– –

7 1

3

–

5

4

–

4

11 –

– –

24 –

15 2

30 5

2 1

47 8

1 2 – 39 56.6

1 – – 3 4.3

4 2 1 69 100.0

– –

4 2

– –

4 2

17 27.9

41 67.2

3 4.9

61 100.0

MANUFACTURING Machinery etc. Skilled manual 1 Shipbuilding Skilled manual – Iron and steel Skilled manual 2 Apprentice – Tin Skilled manual 1 Apprentice – Leather etc. Tanners 3 Wood, furniture, etc. Cooper, cutter 1 Carriages and harnesses Saddlers – Apprentice 1 Wool Skilled manual 2 Cotton etc. Skilled manual – Dress Skilled manual 13 Apprentices/assistants – Food, drink, tobacco Skilled manual 2 Apprentices/assistants – Labourer 1 Total 27 % 39.1



Industrial class


TRANSPORT Warehouses and docks Customs officer – Ocean navigation Captains – Seamen, ship’s stewards 9 Roads Carman – Cabmen, coachmen – Toll collector – Total 9 % 20.0

1

–

1

6 20

– 1

6 30

1 3 1 32 71.1

– 3 – 4 8.9

1 6 1 45 100.0

–

1

– –

7 7

2 – – –

6 1 6 3

1

3

1 – –

8 – –

2

3

–

2

1

1

– –

DEALING Coals Coal merchant – 1 Dress Drapers 1 6 Assistants – 7 Food Butchers, fishmongers 1 3 Milkseller – 1 Grocers 4 2 Assistants 1 2 Tobacco, drink and lodging Wine and spirit merchants – 2 Inn and hotel keepers, publicans – 7 Lodging house keepers – – Assistants – – Furniture and household utensils Ironmongers 1 – Chemists Chemists – 2 Stationery and publications Stationer – – General dealers General shopkeeper – – Hawkers 1 2 Unspecified Merchants – 3 Auctioneers – 2 Total 9 40 % 15.8 70.2 INDUSTRIAL SERVICES Banking, insurance, accounts Bank service –

1

251


–

1

–

1

–

1

–

1

5 –

5 –

– 1

10 1

– – –

2 2 2

1 – –

3 2 2

– 3

– –

1 1

– 1

1 2

1 – 8 14.0

4 2 57 100.0

5 21.7

15 65.2

3 13.0

23 100.0

–

1


252

Industrial class Insurance service Total %

Language spoken Males Welsh Both English Total – – –

1 2 100.0

– – –

PUBLIC SERVICES AND PROFESSIONALS Central administration Civil service officer – – 1 Post Office officials 1 4 – Local administration Registrar of births – 1 – Rate collector – 1 – Police Deputy Chief Constable – – 1 Sergeant – – 1 Constable – 1 – Law Barristers – 2 1 Clerk – 1 – Medicine Physicians – 1 1 Education Headteachers, schoolteachers – 2 2 Pupil teachers – 1 – Students 1 1 – Religion Clergymen – 3 – CM ministers – 4 – Congregational minister – 1 – Baptist ministers – 2 – Theological students – 2 – Art, literature Photographers – 1 1 Art student – – 1 Total 2 29 8 % 5.1 74.4 20.5 DOMESTIC SERVICES Indoor service Servants/maidservants 1 Domestic nurses – Outdoor service Grooms 1 Gardeners 1 Extra service Laundry women – Other – Total 3 % 18.8


1 2 100.0

1 5 1 1 1 1 1 3 1 2

4 1 2

– –

5 1

1 –

6 1

2 1 39 100.0

–

1

–

1

– –

7 87.5

1 12.5

8 100.0

31 3

36 3

4 –

71 6

8 1 43 43.0

11 – 50 50.0

1 2 7 7.0

20 3 100 100.0

3 4 1 2 2

2 –

– –

3 –

6 1

– 4

7 6

– – 9 56.3

– – 4 25.0

– – 16 100.0


253

Industrial class




18 18 54.5

11 11 33.3

4 4 12.1

33 33 100.0

TOTAL OCCUPIED %

108 33.4

182 56.3

33 10.2

323 100.0

66 33.8

115 59.0

14 7.2

195 100.0


19 27.1

45 64.3

6 8.6

70 100.0

150 38.9

206 53.4

30 7.8

386 100.0

School pupils %

26 35.1

46 62.2

2 2.7

74 100.0

29 37.7

40 51.9

8 10.4

77 100.0


273 58.5

41 8.8

467 100.0

245 37.2

361 4.9

52 7.9

658 100.0


12 Aberystwyth (Cardiganshire) ROBERT SMITH

In 1891 Aberystwyth was unrivalled as the largest urban area in Cardiganshire and the principal focus of the commercial life of the surrounding countryside. The population of the town had grown during the nineteenth century from 1,758 in 1801 to 5,189 in 1851 and to 7,021 by 1891. The endeavours of private citizens had led to the creation of institutions such as the Literary, Scientific and Mechanics Institute, established in 1850, the Temperance Hall, built in 1864, the Aberystwyth Infirmary, established in 1821 and significantly enlarged in 1885, and the Assembly Rooms which, after 1875, included a fine public library.1 Further signs of progress were evident in the architectural refinement of elegant houses, such as those in North Parade, Laura Place and along the seafront, and the imposing business premises in Great Darkgate Street and Terrace Road.2 Victorian civic endeavour was also clearly reflected in the efforts of the town’s municipal bodies. An imposing town hall and town clock were constructed between 1842 and 1844, and the buildings erected by the Aberystwyth School Board in 1873 were noted for their architectural quality. As early as 1880 the town had the advantage of a supply of clean water, derived from Llyn Llygad Rheidol, and it also benefited from the protection offered by a borough police force after 1837.3 Aberystwyth was a vibrant town, noted as a stronghold of the radical, Nonconformist ethos which shaped Victorian Wales. Its image encapsulated the ideals of a society avid for education and anxious to promote economic and social progress. Its vitality was reflected in markets and fairs and in the flourishing trading centre 1

2

3

W. J. Lewis, Born on a Perilous Rock (Aberystwyth, 1980), pp. 11–16, 182–4, 200–12; Gwyn A. Williams, The Making of a Unitarian: David Ivon Jones 1883–1924 (London, 1995), p. 17. Harold Carter and Sandra Wheatley, ‘Residential Patterns in Mid-Victorian Aberystwyth’ in Ieuan Gwynedd Jones (ed.), Aberystwyth 1277–1977 (Llandysul, 1977), pp. 46–84; Douglas Hague, ‘The Architecture of the Town’, ibid., pp. 88–95; H. M. Colvin, ‘An Architectural Sideshow – Aberystwyth in the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries’, Wales, IV, 6 (1945), 68–72. See also the chapters in Geraint H. Jenkins and Ieuan Gwynedd Jones (eds.), Cardiganshire County History. Volume III. Cardiganshire in Modern Times (Cardiff, 1998). Lewis, Born on a Perilous Rock, pp. 7–16.


256

which provided for the commercial needs of a large rural hinterland.4 The harbour formed the centre of a thriving maritime sector which had links with South America as well as a regular trade with ports throughout the British Isles. Over a hundred of the town’s inhabitants in 1891 were recorded as sailors, harbour workers and shipbuilders, and sea fishing contributed appreciably to the strength of the local economy.5 Aberystwyth also benefited from the development of Cardigan Bay as a holiday resort. Thousands of visitors flocked to the town to take advantage of its balmy climate and to enjoy the natural beauty of the adjoining countryside, notably the renowned waterfalls at Devil’s Bridge, or to visit places of antiquity such as Strata Florida.6 The construction of attractions such as the pier, the promenade and the castle gardens meant that by 1891 Aberystwyth was a popular tourist resort visited each summer by growing numbers of visitors from the Midlands and the home counties.7 These were entertained by troupes of dancers and concert parties replete with the latest English songs and comedy sketches. Thus English swiftly established itself as the language of popular entertainment in Aberystwyth.8 Likewise, English was the language of political and public life in the town, even though the majority of its public figures were able to speak Welsh.9 Only five of the town’s sixteen councillors were recorded as monoglot English speakers in 1891 and thirteen of the nineteen magistrates listed in Aberystwyth were bilingual. There is, however, little evidence that Welsh was considered an appropriate language for the conduct of municipal government. Following the ‘democratic revolution’ of the 1880s, municipal leadership passed to individuals such as Peter Jones, Caleb Williams and D. C. Roberts, sturdy pillars of Welsh and Nonconformist endeavour who habitually appealed to a sense of Welsh nationhood on political platforms, but who also unquestioningly accepted that English was the language of official business.10 Vigorous political debates in Aberystwyth were always reported by mainly English newspapers. No Welsh paper emanated from Aberystwyth in a period recognized as the golden age of the radical Welshlanguage press. The Cambrian News, established as a campaigning Liberal paper in 1869, included numerous Welsh columns, but its editorial comment and most local reports were in English. Its Conservative rival, The Aberystwyth Observer, included even less Welsh-language material. 4

5 6 7 8 9

10

Idem, ‘The condition of labour in mid-Cardiganshire in the early nineteenth century’, Ceredigion, IV, no. 4 (1963), 321–5. William Troughton, ‘The Barque Hope of Aberystwyth’, Ceredigion, XII, no. 3 (1995), 85–101. Cardigan Bay Visitor, 30 June 1896. Cambrian News, 20 June 1893; Cardigan Bay Visitor, 19 June 1897. Cambrian News, 11 August 1893. Ieuan Gwynedd Jones, ‘Cardiganshire Politics in the mid-nineteenth Century’, Ceredigion, V, no. 1 (1964), 14–41; K. O. Morgan, ‘Cardiganshire Politics: the Liberal Ascendancy 1885–1923’, ibid., V, no. 4 (1967), 311–46. Ibid.

ABERYSTWYTH (CARDIGANSHIRE)

In many respects Aberystwyth in 1891 typified the thrusting, enterprising society portrayed by Henry Richard in Letters and Essays on Wales, published in 1866.11 The landscape was dominated by towering chapels such as Seilo, Tabernacl, Bethel and Seion, where celebrated ministers such as Thomas Levi and Job Miles displayed their mastery of the Welsh language in their weekly sermons.12 Their presence, combined with that of the chapel deacons, provided Aberystwyth with a devout élite which was determined to uphold rigorous moral standards, Sabbatarianism and temperance.13 The Welsh-speaking Nonconformist chapels could accommodate over 3,500 worshippers and their congregations were able to partake in an extraordinarily rich variety of literary, educational and social activities in the weekday culture of the vestry and the Sunday schools, where Welsh was the natural medium of instruction. The pre-eminence of these chapels, however, was increasingly being challenged by the growth of English-medium worship. English services were held in the Temperance Hall as early as the summer season in the 1860s and their success led to the building of English chapels in Newfoundland Street, Portland Street, Queen’s Road and Alfred Place.14 Likewise, Aberystwyth witnessed the fruits of a revival in the Anglican church. Two imposing churches were built, Holy Trinity in 1886, and St Michael’s in 1890, the latter in desirable surroundings opposite the college.15 English was the language of worship in both churches and the only provision made by the Anglican church for those who wished to worship in Welsh was a small chapel-at-ease in Gray’s Inn Road. The establishment of English churches and chapels owed much to the desire of religious leaders to provide for the spiritual needs of visitors. Yet, at the same time, it is clear that the English-speaking population of the town was large enough to sustain these places of worship and that some of those who could speak Welsh were enticed to worship in English. Aberystwyth was also noted as a seat of learning and played a pivotal role in the development of education in Wales. The town was served by an endowed grammar school, renowned for its academic record, and in 1870 it became the first borough in Wales to adopt a school board as a means of implementing the Education Act of that year.16 The highlight of the town’s association with Welsh 11 12

13 14 15

16

Henry Richard, Letters and Essays on Wales (London, 1866), pp. 185–220. E. D. Jones, Trem ar Ganrif yn hanes Eglwys Gynulleidfaol Baker Street, Aberystwyth (Aberystwyth, 1978), pp. 3–11; Moelwyn I. Williams, Y Tabernacl Aberystwyth, 1785–1985 (Aberystwyth, 1986), pp. 32–47; F. W. Jones, Canmlwydd Seilo Aberystwyth (Aberystwyth, 1963), pp. 15–31; Llewelyn Morgan, Hanes Wesleyaeth yn Aberystwyth (Aberystwyth, 1911), pp. 25–43. Cambrian News, 18 August 1893; Williams, The Making of a Unitarian, pp. 14–20. W. J. Lewis, The English Congregational Church Aberystwyth, 1866–1966 (Aberystwyth, 1966). Ieuan Gwynedd Jones, ‘Religion and Politics: the rebuilding of St Michael’s Church, Aberystwyth and its political consequences’, Ceredigion, VII, no. 2 (1973), 117–30. Griffith G. Davies, ‘Addysg Elfennol yn Sir Aberteifi 1790–1902’, Ceredigion, IV, no. 4 (1963), 359; A. L. Trott, ‘Aberystwyth School Board and Board School 1870–1902’, ibid., II, no. 1 (1952), 3–17; idem, ‘The implementation of the 1870 Forster Education Act in Cardiganshire’, ibid., III, no. 3 (1959), 207–30.

257


258

academic endeavour was the opening of the college in 1872; by 1891 some 170 students were resident in the town, including over a hundred from Wales.17 Despite the strength of the Welsh language in Aberystwyth, nurtured in sizeable Sunday school classes, English was the dominant language of learning in the town in the late nineteenth century. James Bradbury, master of the board school in 1891, was a monoglot English speaker and James Griffiths, his counterpart at the national school, was also unacquainted with the language spoken by the vast majority of children in the town. Ardwyn, the prestigious grammar school founded in 1874, was noted for its Anglicized ambience, and although a number of its former pupils contributed to Welsh letters, the school failed to nurture its scholars in the native tongue.18 A similar Anglicized atmosphere was evident in the college, where English was the language of the classroom and administration. The staff included eminent Welsh men of letters, such as Thomas Charles Edwards, Daniel Silvan Evans and J. E. Lloyd, but little attempt was made to develop a distinctive Welsh identity and, although a Celtic Society was established in 1889, the majority of its meetings were held in English.19 Although Aberystwyth appeared to be a progressive, enlightened society which created civic institutions and gloried in scholastic achievement, life was far less rewarding in its poorer quarters. According to the 1891 census, 1,638 (23.3 per cent) of the town’s population lived in houses with fewer than five rooms. Overcrowding and insanitary conditions were rife. Houses located in courtyards behind the main thoroughfares were regularly condemned as unfit for human habitation by the town’s vociferous newspaper editor, John Gibson.20 Average attendance at the town’s elementary schools was poor. Some 15 per cent of children in the board school were absent at any given time and the figure was substantially higher at the national school.21 Throughout the nineteenth century parts of Aberystwyth were noted for their squalor and disease, and public authorities, who willingly invested in schemes to develop the town as a holiday resort, stood accused of failing a substantial body of underprivileged citizens.22 A total of 6,683 individuals (aged 2 years and over) were enumerated in 1,558 households in Aberystwyth in April 1891. There is no record of the language spoken by forty individuals, and five individuals could speak foreign languages. Two monoglot Italian musicians from Rome lodged in a house in Trefechan, and a lecturer in languages at the college recorded three monoglot French speakers as 17

18

19 20 21 22

E. L. Ellis, The University College of Wales Aberystwyth 1872–1972 (Cardiff, 1972), pp. 40–6; T. I. Ellis, John Humphreys Davies 1871–1926 (Lerpwl, 1963), p. 37. Huw Spencer Lloyd, The History of Aberystwyth County School (Ardwyn) (Aberystwyth, 1996), pp. 13–105. Ellis, John Humphreys Davies, p. 37. Cambrian News, 31 July 1891. Annual Report of the Committee of Council on Education, 1891 (PP 1890–1 XXVII). Dot Jones, ‘Pauperism in the Aberystwyth Poor Law Union 1870–1914’, Ceredigion, IX, no. 1 (1980), 78–101.


259

Table 1: Language spoken by populations of Aberystwyth, Aberystwyth Registration District, Cardiganshire and Wales (2 years and over)

Aberystwyth1 Aberystwyth R.D.2 Cardiganshire3 Wales4 1

2 3 4

Number Welsh

Both

1751 11971 61624 508036

3482 6136 17111 402253

English

Total

1402 6635 2169 20276 3979 82714 759416 1669705


52.5 30.3 20.7 24.1

English Total 21.1 10.7 4.8 45.5

100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0

Excluding 40 individuals whose language or age was not given, 3 who spoke French and 2 who spoke Italian. Excluding 74 individuals whose language was not given and 7 who spoke other languages. Excluding 255 individuals whose language was not given and 10 who spoke other languages. Excluding 12,833 individuals whose language was not given and 3,076 who spoke other languages.

members of his household. The census records 1,751 as monoglot Welsh speakers, 3,482 as bilingual and 1,402 as monoglot English speakers. A total of 5,233 (78.9 per cent) of the inhabitants (aged 2 years and over) of Aberystwyth were recorded as being able to speak Welsh and almost as many, 4,884 (73.6 per cent), were able to speak English. The Welsh-speaking proportion was considerably lower than the figure for the Aberystwyth Registration District, where 89 per cent were recorded as Welsh speakers, or the figure for Cardiganshire as a whole, where 95 per cent of those over 2 years of age were Welsh speakers. Moreover, the evidence suggests that Aberystwyth was by far the most Anglicized area of Cardiganshire. Only just over a quarter of the town’s population were recorded as monoglot Welsh speakers, compared with nearly three-quarters in the county as a whole. The proportion of monoglot English speakers was also far higher in Aberystwyth. However, the proportion of the town’s Welsh-speaking population was higher than the average figure for Wales as a whole and, despite the presence of a body of monoglot English speakers, a large majority of the town’s population were able to speak Welsh. An analysis of the linguistic ability of the population according to age groups offers further evidence of the spread of bilingualism in Aberystwyth. Young people account for the majority of the population and there is little evidence that the town had become a retirement centre for large numbers of elderly English speakers as was the case in some of the coastal resorts of north Wales. The census records that nearly half the population were under 25, and that 1,547 (23.3 per cent) were between 15 and 24 years old. Over three-quarters of the population of each age group, except those between 2 and 5 years old, were able to speak Welsh and this proportion exceeded 80 per cent among the older age groups. Monoglot Welsh speakers were most numerous among the elderly and the very young.


260


Both

English

Total

2–5 6–14 15–24 25–44 45–64 65+

167 311 299 400 376 198

167 638 922 939 627 189

119 283 326 362 238 74

453 1232 1547 1701 1241 461

Total

1751

3482

1402

6635

Age

Percentage Welsh

Both

English

Total

36.8 25.2 19.3 23.5 30.3 43.0

36.9 51.8 59.6 55.2 50.5 41.0

26.3 23.0 21.1 21.1 19.2 16.0

100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0

26.4

52.5

21.1

100.0

However, although 36.8 per cent of children between 2 and 5 years old were monoglot Welsh speakers, this age group also included the highest proportion of monoglot English speakers, reflecting the importance of the language of the home for those who had no experience of formal schooling and who had limited opportunities to fraternize with other children. Despite the fact that teaching a basic understanding of English was a cardinal aim of the Welsh Victorian day schools, nearly a quarter of the children of school age remained monoglot Welsh speakers. The lowest proportions of monoglot Welsh speakers were recorded in the 15–24 and 25–44 age groups, suggesting that the nature of the local economy, together with the effects of the education system, promoted a knowledge of English among young adults in Aberystwyth. The highest proportion of monoglot Welsh speakers was recorded among those over 45 years of age, especially those aged 65 or over who had received few opportunities for formal schooling. As shown in Table 3, women accounted for 3,864 (58.2 per cent) of the population of Aberystwyth. There was little difference in the proportion of males and females among those under 15 years of age and the difference among those aged over 65 can be attributed to the fact that women tended to live longer than men. However, 59.3 per cent of those between the ages of 15 and 24 and 60.6 per cent of those between 25 and 44 were female. This was to some extent a reflection of the structure of the economy in Aberystwyth and the opportunities which existed for young women to gain employment as maids in hotels or boarding houses and in private residences. A total of 675 individuals, 12.1 per cent of the population over 10 years old, were employed in the domestic service sector, of whom 267 (39.6 per cent) were single women between the ages of 15 and 24. Only 93 (18.5 per cent) of the 504 female domestic servants were recorded as monoglot Welsh speakers, while 343 (68.1 per cent) were bilingual. Of the maids, 379 were natives of Cardiganshire and a significant number came from surrounding rural areas where little, if any, English was spoken. The strength


261


Total

Number Sex Welsh

Both

English

Total



85 82 140 171 125 174 159 241 137 239 72 126

80 87 296 342 390 532 370 569 266 361 85 104

59 60 126 157 115 211 141 221 99 139 26 48

224 229 562 670 630 917 670 1031 502 739 183 278

38.0 35.8 24.9 25.5 19.8 19.0 23.7 23.4 27.3 32.3 39.3 45.3

M 718 F 1033

1487 1995

566 836

2771 3864

25.9 26.7

English

Total

35.7 38.0 52.7 51.0 61.9 58.0 55.2 55.2 53.0 48.8 46.4 37.4

26.3 26.2 22.4 23.5 18.3 23.0 21.1 21.4 19.7 18.9 14.3 17.3

100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0

53.6 51.6

20.5 21.7

100.0 100.0

of bilingualism among domestic servants suggests that the experience of living in Aberystwyth contributed to the spread of bilingualism and that those from the rural areas who spoke both languages were in a stronger position to gain employment as servants in the town. Fewer opportunities, however, existed for young men. Aberystwyth was devoid of any large-scale industrial or manufacturing base and, despite the importance of seafaring, few males could hope to earn wages akin to those paid in heavy industries in areas such as south Wales. Although the level of male out-migration is unclear, it is apparent that the town did not witness a degree of male in-migration to match the in-migration of females. This resulted in a marked gender imbalance in the town.23 Gender had little impact on the Welsh language, however, and bilingualism was increasingly prevalent among both sexes in all age groups. The differences between the sexes among those under 14 years of age were small, although a slightly lower proportion of girls were recorded as monoglot Welsh speakers. A somewhat higher proportion of females in the 15–24 age group were recorded as monoglot English speakers, but this might have been a reflection of the tendency of the heads of English households to record the whole household as monoglot English, including domestic servants born in rural Cardiganshire. A slightly higher 23

Bob Owen, ‘Ymfudo o Sir Aberteifi i Unol Daleithiau America o 1654 hyd 1860’, Ceredigion, II, no. 4 (1955), 225–40; Ann Kelly Knowles, Calvinists Incorporated: Welsh immigrants on Ohio’s Industrial Frontier (Chicago, 1997), pp. 1–90; Gwyneth Francis-Jones, Cows, Cardis and Cockneys (Talybont, 1984), pp. 19–32.


262


Number Welsh

Cardiganshire 1602 Montgomeryshire 31 Glamorgan 25 Carmarthenshire 16 Merioneth 19 Caernarfonshire 19 Pembrokeshire 3 Denbighshire 10 Monmouthshire 1 Breconshire – Radnorshire 1 Anglesey 3 Flintshire –


Both

English

Total

2848 112 94 64 61 41 27 27 17 15 6 11 10

344 84 38 19 8 6 32 6 19 14 22 1 5

4794 227 157 99 88 66 62 43 37 29 29 15 15

33.4 13.7 15.9 16.2 21.6 28.7 4.9 23.3 2.8 – 3.4 20.0 –

English

Total

59.4 49.3 59.9 64.6 69.3 62.1 43.5 62.8 45.9 51.7 20.7 73.3 66.7

7.2 37.0 24.2 19.2 9.1 9.2 51.6 13.9 51.3 48.3 75.9 6.7 33.3

100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0

England

15

138

722

875

1.7

15.8

82.5

100.0

Other2

–

11

57

68

–

16.1

83.9

100.0

1745

3482

1377

6604

26.4

52.7

20.9

100.0

Total 1 2

Excluding 31 individuals whose place of birth was not given. Place of birth: Ireland 30; Scotland 16; America 8; Germany 6; Australia 2; Channel Islands 2; India 2; Gibraltar 1; Switzerland 1.

proportion of females aged 45 or over were recorded as monoglot Welsh speakers, while men of the same age were recorded as bilingual. Social and economic determinants explain these differences. Of the females between 15 and 24 years of age, 574 (62.6 per cent) were recorded as being in employment, the majority of whom were engaged as domestic servants. However, employed women accounted for 393 (38.1 per cent) in the 25–44 age group and only 326 (32.1 per cent) among those aged over 45. The evidence suggests that those women whose lives revolved around the daily chores of the home and the immediate neighbourhood were more likely to remain monoglot Welsh speakers than those in paid employment. The majority of the population were either natives of the town or the immediate hinterland. More than half, 3,440 (52.1 per cent), had been born in the town itself, including 3,120 (90.7 per cent) who were able to speak Welsh, and of whom 972 (31.2 per cent) were monoglot Welsh speakers. The town was also home to 1,354 born in other parts of Cardiganshire, of whom 1,330 (98.2 per cent) were able to speak the native language. These figures suggest that Aberystwyth witnessed a steady flow of in-migrants from the rural districts of


Cardiganshire which served to strengthen the Welsh language in the town. Yet only 646 (47.7 per cent) of those born in Cardiganshire, but outside the town of Aberystwyth, recorded themselves as monoglot Welsh speakers. Over a quarter of the town’s population were in-migrants from outside Cardiganshire. A total of 867 hailed from other Welsh counties, including 227 from the neighbouring county of Montgomery. The majority of migrants from Wales were Welsh speakers, including 143 (63.0 per cent) from Montgomeryshire and 339 (82.7 per cent) from the counties of Glamorgan, Carmarthen, Merioneth and Caernarfon. As in the case of migrants from other areas of Cardiganshire, the proportion of monoglot Welsh speakers from other Welsh counties was comparatively small. Only 31 (13.7 per cent) of those born in Montgomeryshire declared themselves unable to speak English and the portion of Welsh monoglots only exceeded a fifth of the total in the cases of in-migrants from Merioneth and Caernarfonshire. The census records that as many as 875 (13.2 per cent) of the town’s inhabitants were born in England. These included 153 (17.5 per cent) who spoke Welsh, 138 of whom were bilingual and 15 monoglot Welsh. Most of the Welsh speakers born in England hailed from London, Liverpool and the Shropshire border, areas with a strong concentration of Welsh speakers, and there is little evidence to suggest that in-migrants from England or further afield mastered Welsh as a result of living in Aberystwyth. Individual examples such as the Welsh-speaking Scotsman, David Naismith, a shoemaker born in Glasgow who was a lodger in Vaynor Street, suggests that some newcomers successfully integrated with the Welsh speakers in Aberystwyth, but it is impossible to reach any firm conclusions on account of the absence of evidence of family connections with Wales. Only sixty-eight of the town’s inhabitants were born outside England and Wales, a remarkably small number in view of the importance of the maritime trade in Aberystwyth and the prevalence of foreign-born seafarers in other ports in Wales. Only thirty of the town’s population came from Ireland and a mere sixteen Scots were recorded. Eleven of those born outside England and Wales spoke Welsh, including three born in America to parents who had returned to their native land. The inmigrants who lived in Aberystwyth were employed in a variety of occupations and it does not appear that they were attracted to the town by opportunities in any particular trade or profession. As a result, their influence was witnessed in numerous spheres in Aberystwyth, and their contribution to the Anglicization of the town should not be underestimated. A total of 1,558 households were recorded in Aberystwyth in 1891. The average number of inhabitants to each one was 4.3, although fewer than three inhabitants were recorded in 358 (23.0 per cent) houses, while more than seven people were enumerated in 173 (11.1 per cent) cases. Only 588 (37.7 per cent) of the town’s households could be described as nuclear families, since 223 households included an extended family, and individuals who were unrelated to the head of household were enumerated in 519 households. This latter group

263


264

Table 5: Language spoken by relation to head of household (2 years and over)1 Relation to head of household Heads Wives Children2 Relatives Servants/maidservants Boarders/lodgers Visitors Others3 Total 1 2 3

Number Welsh

Both

English Total


English

Total

475 239 670 126 103 78 30 29

808 400 1326 290 370 168 63 38

275 169 488 124 77 145 71 35

1558 808 2484 540 550 391 164 102

30.5 29.6 27.0 25.8 16.5 19.9 18.3 28.4

51.9 49.5 53.4 54.8 63.8 43.0 38.4 37.3

17.6 20.9 19.6 19.4 19.7 37.1 43.3 34.3

100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0

1750

3463

1384

6597

26.5

52.5

21.0

100.0

Excluding 38 individuals whose relationship to the head of household was not given. Includes adopted children and stepchildren. 28 pupils, 5 patients, a prisoner at the police station, 67 inmates at the Aberystwyth workhouse and one individual described as a stranger.

represented 1,245 of the total population of Aberystwyth, of which 550 (44.2 per cent) were domestic servants, 391 (31.4 per cent) were boarders or lodgers and 164 (13.2 per cent) were visitors. Since over 80 per cent of the population of Aberystwyth were Welsh born and Welsh speaking, the Welsh language retained a strong position in the majority of homes. It was spoken by everyone in 1,158 (74.3 per cent) of the homes of Aberystwyth and in 464 (40.1 per cent) such homes, all household members were recorded as monoglot Welsh speakers. However, in 311 (20.0 per cent) households, every member was recorded as a monoglot English speaker. Significantly, the majority of monoglot Welshspeaking households – 347 (74.8 per cent) – were located in the area around the harbour and in Trefechan and Penparcau, neighbourhoods which retained an identity and social structure distinct from that of the town itself. Welsh was clearly in a position of strength in Aberystwyth, but English was increasingly gaining ground. Monoglot English speakers were present in 441 (28.3 per cent) homes, either as members of the family, as boarders or lodgers or visitors, and this inevitably resulted in the use of English in several households where Welsh was the language of the majority. The census records that 391 boarders and lodgers were resident in 234 (15.0 per cent) households in Aberystwyth and that a further 80 households offered accommodation to visitors. The majority of lodgers had been born in Wales, with 38.4 per cent natives of Cardiganshire. Those lodgers from outside the county came from a variety of locations, and the town did not contain any large number of migrants from any one area. The majority of lodgers were Welsh speakers,


although only 78 (19.9 per cent) were monoglot Welsh speakers while 145 (37.1 per cent) spoke English only. Nearly a third of lodgers born in England were able to speak Welsh. A large majority of the heads, wives and children who provided accommodation for lodgers in their homes were Welsh speakers: Welsh was the only language spoken by 181 (26.2 per cent) of these individuals. It is likely that lodgers strengthened linguistic and cultural ties in those houses where Welsh was spoken by each member of the household. However, monoglot English lodgers were recorded in seventy-seven Welsh or bilingual households and this was clearly a means of familiarizing those families with English. At the same time, the majority of the houses which included lodgers regularly welcomed guests during the tourist season and their occupiers were therefore exposed to the English tongue by means of the steady stream of predominantly English-speaking visitors who came to Aberystwyth each summer. Their presence inevitably influenced the language used by other household members and the tourist trade, together with the more permanent influence of English lodgers, were important Anglicizing factors. Despite the presence of English-speaking lodgers and visitors in numerous households in Aberystwyth, Welsh remained the stronger language in most homes. As Table 6 reveals, the marriage patterns within nuclear families consolidated the Welshness of Aberystwyth. As many as 171 (95.5 per cent) monoglot Welshspeaking men were married to monoglot Welsh-speaking wives, while 242 (80.3 per cent) bilingual men had married bilingual wives. The fact that the language was spoken by some or all of the children in 425 (97.2 per cent) cases where both partners spoke Welsh indicates that the vast majority ensured that their children spoke the language. In those households where a mixture of monoglot Welsh and bilingual speakers lived, younger children were less likely to speak English, and this suggests that the English language was learnt outside the immediate environs of the home, either in school or in the street. Both parents were bilingual in 242 (41.2 per cent) of the 588 nuclear families in Aberystwyth, both were recorded as monoglot Welsh speakers in 171 households (29.1 per cent), while in 27 households one parent could speak Welsh only. Significantly, there were only twenty-four instances of a monoglot Welsh speaker married to a bilingual partner, compared with seventy-five instances of a monoglot English speaker married to a partner conversant in both languages. Some caution has to be exercised when assessing the evidence of three households where the census suggests that married couples were unable to communicate with each other in the same language. These included William Thomas, a monoglot Welsh speaker who lived in Railway Terrace with his wife, Emily, a monoglot English speaker, and Evan Davies, a monoglot Welsh fisherman from Prospect Street, who was officially recorded as being unable to converse with his monoglot English wife and daughter! The evidence suggests that the generational shift from Welsh to English was not evident in Aberystwyth. Monoglot Welsh-speaking children were enumerated in

265


266



W W B B B E E W E

86.5 16.6 5.5 4.1 – – – – 100.0

Total

W B W B E B E E W

148 1 1 10 – – – – 1

15 5 12 202 14 18 3 – –

– – – 12 23 10 69 2 –

8 – 5 18 4 6 1 – –

171 6 18 242 41 34 73 2 1

161

269

116

42

588

8.8 – 83.4 – 66.6 – 83.5 4.9 34.1 56.0 52.9 29.4 4.1 94.5 – 100.0 – –

27.4 45.7

19.7

4.7 – 27.9 7.5 9.9 17.7 1.4 – –

100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0

7.1

100.0


148 (86.5 per cent) of the 171 households headed by two monoglot Welshspeaking parents. Each child born to one monoglot Welsh-speaking parent and one bilingual parent also spoke Welsh. However, although the majority of children born to Welsh-speaking parents spoke Welsh, a higher percentage of the younger generation could also speak English. Of the 242 households where both parents were bilingual, 202 (83.4 per cent) recorded that the children were similarly conversant in both languages. Only in 12 (4.9 per cent) bilingual households were all children recorded as monoglot English speakers. However, the Welsh language was extremely weak in the linguistically mixed households of Aberystwyth. In 33 (44.0 per cent) of the 75 households where one parent was bilingual and the other a monoglot English speaker, none of the children spoke Welsh. The mother was the main influence on the language of the child in linguistically mixed households of this kind. The children were recorded as bilingual in eighteen of the thirty-four households where the mother spoke Welsh, and as monoglot English speakers in twenty-three of the forty-one households where the father was bilingual and the mother a monoglot English speaker. Since so many of the town’s Welsh-speaking inhabitants also spoke English, it was possible for a considerable number of the residents to conduct their daily lives entirely through the medium of English. It appears, therefore, that it was not necessary for the children of monoglot English households to learn the native language. English was the only language spoken by the children in 69 of the 73 (94.5 per cent) households headed by monoglot English-speaking parents and there were only four examples where the children of English-speaking parents


were recorded as bilingual. In one case, only the older children could speak Welsh. At the Plough public house in Mill Street, which was kept by Samuel Black and his wife Emma, the three older children were recorded as speaking both languages while the two younger children were monoglot English speakers. On the whole, therefore, the majority of the children of Aberystwyth spoke the same language as their parents. Very few children with monoglot English parents could speak Welsh, while the overwhelming majority of children born to Welshspeaking parents could also speak the native tongue. However, the evidence suggests that there were fewer monoglot Welsh speakers among the younger generation. It is clear, therefore, that the language of the parents was only one factor in determining the language of the children. The fact that the children of monoglot Welsh-speaking parents could speak English as well as their mother tongue suggests that they were influenced by the school and the workplace and by a host of other social and cultural factors. In a lively portrayal of life in Aberystwyth at the end of the nineteenth century, Gwyn A. Williams noted that although ‘there was never much of a “working class” in the town . . . it was full of workers’.24 That description chimes well with the image of a town characterized by a petite bourgeoisie of shopkeepers, craftsmen and boarding house keepers. Table 7 reveals that as many as 3,156 people, 55.9 per cent of the population over 10 years of age, were recorded as employed in some capacity, including a high proportion who were self-employed and a large number who earned a living from tourism during the summer but who sought other employment out of season. Female heads of household represented 46 (33.8 per cent) of the town’s lodging house keepers, and married women whose husbands undertook other work were also prominent in this trade. Their earnings were a valuable supplement to the meagre wages received by men engaged in casual, low-paid work associated with the harbour and the tourist trade.25 The importance of the tourist industry is reflected in the number of domestic servants in Aberystwyth, the largest single occupation group in the town. The majority of male and female domestic servants were Welsh speakers although only 18.8 per cent were monoglot Welsh. The evidence suggests that those in domestic service in Aberystwyth recognized the need to obtain at least some knowledge of the English language, not least in order to converse with visitors. The census also indicates that servants who spoke both languages were preferred by many employers and that even in households where all members could speak Welsh a knowledge of English was desirable. Aberystwyth’s role as a commercial centre was reflected in the fact that a total of 1,422 workers were employed in the dealing, industrial services and manufacturing sectors. The town boasted three foundries, three large enamelled 24 25

Williams, The Making of a Unitarian, p. 14. Cambrian News, 28 June 1893.

267


268

slate works, a tannery, brewery and two printworks, and a considerable trade was also undertaken in timber and agricultural implements. In addition the town enjoyed the services of an array of retailers and merchants, including several substantial private businesses.26 Of those employed in these sectors, 841 (59.1 per cent) were recorded as being proficient in both Welsh and English and significant numbers of monoglot Welsh speakers were found among butchers, grocers and dressmakers and among those who secured employment at sea, in road haulage or as foundry workers. Welsh was the natural language of daily conversation for many of those who earned their living in the bustling and prosperous business community in Aberystwyth. Rarely, however, did Welsh figure as the language of official business. Advertising was conducted almost entirely through the medium of English, and a glance at contemporary photographs indicates that English was the language which appeared above the door of most business premises. English was the language of official transactions and of banking in Aberystwyth, as elsewhere, and although the majority of those who held public office in the town were bilingual, Welsh was rarely used in the conduct of municipal business in spite of the fact that thirty-six of the forty-six employed in banking, insurance and accounts were recorded as being able to speak Welsh and that Welsh speakers represented 60.3 per cent of the 383 employed in the public services or other professional work. The ranks of officialdom were dominated by men such as Daniel Rees Davies, a general practitioner who also served as the borough medical officer of health, Arthur Hughes, the town clerk, Henry Humphreys, the postmaster, William Jones, master of the Aberystwyth workhouse and the chief constable Howell Evans, all of whom were able to speak both languages. The majority of these bilingual professional men recorded that their children also spoke Welsh, although the children of Arthur Hughes, George Bonsall, a prominent general practitioner, and the solicitor, Edgar Atwood, spoke English only. Further revealing evidence is obtained from a survey of officers employed by Cardiganshire County Council. The county council was formed in 1889 and controlled by Nonconformist, Welsh-speaking Liberals who prided themselves on their progressive approach to public business.27 However, the senior officers they appointed were more Anglicized than those employed by other public bodies in Aberystwyth. Henry Fryer, a monoglot English native of Dorset, was appointed county clerk; the county treasurer, Joseph Perrott, and Lloyd Snape, a scientist at the college who was retained as county analyst, were also unable to speak Welsh.28 Such men played a prominent part in Liberal politics and English-speaking 26

27

28

Kelly’s Directory of Monmouthshire, and the Principal Towns and Places of South Wales (London, 1891), pp. 52–64. The County Councils Association, The Jubilee of County Councils, 1889–1939: Fifty Years of Local Government (London, 1939), Cardiganshire edition. Welsh Gazette, 1 December 1921; The English Congregational Church, Portland Street, Aberystwyth, Church Report 1899 (Aberystwyth, 1900); Morgan, ‘Cardiganshire Politics’, 311–46.


Nonconformity in the town and the fact that they were unfamiliar with the Welsh language does not appear to have hampered their progress. The impressive railway station occupied a prominent position towards the centre of the town and the railway provided the life blood of the town’s commercial life and tourist trade. It employed forty-one men in Aberystwyth in 1891, the majority of whom were employees of the Cambrian Railway Company, which made a determined effort to recruit English speakers and to ensure that English was the language of communication on the railway.29 This can be attributed, at least in part, to a desire to avoid any confusion among workers and passengers. More than half of the town’s railway workers were monoglot English speakers, including the stationmaster, Tom Kilvington, a Yorkshireman, two railway inspectors, five clerks and seven engine drivers. Men speaking both languages were found mainly among signalmen or those responsible for maintaining the track, and the only monoglot Welsh speakers were employed as station porters and cleaners. The railway provided visible proof of the benefits of acquiring a knowledge of the English language in so far as it demonstrated the social prestige enjoyed by senior officials and engine drivers and also the manner in which monoglot Welsh speakers were assigned menial and unskilled posts. Although few people were directly employed as railway staff, the station played a crucial role in the economic life of Aberystwyth and its influence clearly reinforced the views of those who regarded English as the language of selfimprovement and social progress. The railway was one example of a growing number of domains dominated by monoglot English speakers. No fewer than 90 per cent of those resident in the military barracks in Penglais were monoglot English speakers, as were the other military personnel billeted in houses in the town. Likewise, prominent academics such as W. J. Johnston, James Brough, C. H. Herford and J. M. Angus presided over households where only domestic servants spoke the native tongue. By 1891 this English community had already begun to create its own social and cultural institutions. Its strength was such that religious leaders were required to provide opportunities for English-language worship. Their existence challenged the notion of the chapel as the custodian of the Welsh language, not least because their membership included prominent Welsh speakers such as Thomas Charles Edwards, D. M. Lewis and William Williams. Moreover, although ministers such as the Revd T. A. Penry and the Revd T. Wynne-Jones, who tended to the needs of those congregations, spoke Welsh, both recorded their children as monoglot English speakers. In so doing they followed a pattern set by the Anglican clergy. Both the Revd David Williams, vicar of Holy Trinity, and his colleague, the Revd J. H. Prothero at St Michael’s, spoke both languages but recorded their 29

Dot Jones, The Coming of the Railways and Language Change in North Wales, 1850–1900 (Aberystwyth, 1995).

269

270


children as monoglot English speakers. Father Thomas Carolan, a native of Derry who served as the town’s Roman Catholic priest, was a monoglot English speaker, as was his maid, a 14-year-old from his home town. Such homes were islands of Englishness and, since bilingualism was so deeply-entrenched, such individuals were not obliged to come into contact with monoglot Welsh speakers and their children felt little need to speak Welsh in order to assimilate in the wider community. The 1891 census emphasized the complex nature of Aberystwyth at the end of the nineteenth century. In many ways the town displayed the archetypal characteristics of Victorian Wales, dominated by an assertive business community and a ‘theocracy’ of ministers and elders. The town proudly proclaimed its role as a holiday resort of some distinction and as a centre for Welsh learning. The distinctive social pattern evident in Aberystwyth set the town apart from the rustic, unaffected qualities of its rural hinterland and gave rise to an urban community often characterized by élitism. These features were reflected in the linguistic pattern revealed by the census. Only a quarter of the town’s population were recorded as monoglot Welsh speakers and they were largely concentrated in more impoverished districts such as Trefechan or Penparcau. The vast majority of those who lived in the town itself were bilingual and over a fifth were monoglot English speakers. Moreover, the town was exposed to a wide variety of powerful Anglicizing influences. The arrival of the Cambrian railway in the 1860s connected the town to English commercial centres and was itself an influence which promoted the use of English. Likewise the education system contributed immensely to the spread of English, while the Anglicized nature of the college did little to instil a sense of pride in their native tongue among the people of Aberystwyth. Official business and formal commercial transactions were conducted through the medium of English and the town’s dependency on the custom of English tourists inevitably encouraged the use of English by its citizens. Despite the presence of these influences, however, Welsh remained a language of daily conversation. For many of those who lived in the rural area surrounding Aberystwyth, English was an unfamiliar foreign tongue. They looked to Aberystwyth for goods and services and many undertook a monthly pilgrimage to its market, thereby ensuring that Welsh continued to be spoken on a regular basis by the town’s businessmen, public servants and hoteliers. Few people appear to have taken a conscious decision not to admit to speaking Welsh, and few Welshspeaking families withheld the language from their children. Only a small minority of monoglot English families learnt Welsh, however, and the apparent willingness of Welsh speakers in Aberystwyth to converse in English meant it was possible for a small but important section of the town’s population to live their lives through the medium of English. Few voices were raised in opposition to this Anglicization and the town’s public leaders do not appear to have been unduly concerned about the fortunes of the Welsh language. This indifference, and the


271

willingness on the part of Welsh speakers to adopt another language, meant that monoglot English speakers could exercise immense influence on the language of daily life and serve to erode the position of Welsh in Aberystwyth at the end of the nineteenth century.


Industrial class AGRICULTURE Farming Farmers Agricultural labourers Farm servants Breeding Farrier Dealers Cattle dealers Poultry dealers Corn merchant Assistants Fishing Fisherman Total %


10 5 10

6 2 1

5 1 –

21 8 11

–

–

1

1

2 – – –

10 – 1 2

8 – – –

20 – 1 2

1 28 43.1

– 22 33.8

– 15 23.1

1 65 100.0

1 40

– 1

1 56

3 – – 1

1 1 – 4

4 1 1 5

1 1

– –

1 1

– 47 66.2

– 7 9.9

1 71 100.0

–

1

1

MINING Coal Mine agent – Miners 15 Lead Lead mine agents – Clerk – Miner 1 Others – Other stone quarrying Proprietor – Stonecutter – Waterworks Worker 1 Total 17 % 23.9 BUILDING Management Architect

–


1

1

–

2

2

–

–

2

3 75.0

1 25.0

– –

4 100.0


272

Industrial class


Surveyors – Builders 1 Assistant 1 Operatives Stonemasons 28 Plasterers 5 Carpenters/joiners 26 Painters 14 Gas fitters – Apprentices 6 Road, railway making Road labourer 1 Railway platelayers – Total 82 % 36.4 MANUFACTURING Machinery, tools, watches, etc. Skilled manual 6 Apprentices – Labourer – Shipbuilding Skilled manual 11 Iron and steel Foundry manager – Skilled manual 17 Apprentices/assistants 1 Tin, zinc, copper, lead, etc. Skilled manual – Unskilled manual – Earthenware, coals and gas, etc. Managers/foremen – Skilled manual 3 Unskilled manual/ labourers – Leather, hair, glue, etc. Skilled manual 8 Wood, furniture, paper, etc. Foreman at sawmills 1 Skilled manual 6 Unskilled manual – Carriages and harnesses Skilled manual 6 Woollens Weaver 1 Cotton, flax, lace, etc. Skilled manual 2

– 3 –

2 – –

2 4 1

37 10 37 25 1 6

1 1 – 16 1 –

66 16 63 55 2 12

– 2 121 53.8

– – 22 9.8

1 2 225 100.0

20 3 1

9 2 –

35 5 1

9

–

20

– 31 5

1 7 –

1 55 6

4 –

1 1

5 1

3 8

1 2

4 13

3

–

9


–

–

1

1

3

–

1

–

1

1

18

1

1

–

2

– 15 1

– 5 –

1 26 1

14

5

25

–

–

1

1

–

3


Industrial class Dress Skilled manual Apprentices Food, drink, tobacco Manager Clerks Skilled manual Assistants Labourer Printing Newspaper proprietor Manager Clerks Skilled manual Apprentices Other Unspecified Engine drivers/stokers/ fitters Machinists Apprentices Total %


34 –

39 1

3 –

76 1

– – 8 – –

1 1 19 2 1

– 2 9 1 –

1 3 36 3 1

– – – 10 – –

1 – 1 30 3 –

– 1 – 5 1 1

1 1 1 45 4 1

7 – 2 123 28.3

18 – 7 251 57.7

2 – 1 61 14.0

27 – 10 435 100.0

1 6

– 1

1 9

16

–

20

41

5

72

1 7

5 5

6 12

7 3

7 4

14 9

4 10 11 1 108 55.7

2 1 6 1 37 19.1

7 13 29 2 194 100.0

TRANSPORT Warehouses and docks Warehouse manager – Messengers, porters 2 Ocean navigation Captains, pilots 4 Seamen, ship’s stewards and cooks 26 Railways Stationmasters/officials – Clerks/booking office – Engine drivers/stokers/ signalmen – Porters 2 Roads Livery stable keepers, cab/bus owners 1 Cabmen, coachmen 2 Carmen, carriers, etc. 12 Others – Total 49 % 25.2

273


69 5

142 12

24 –

235 17

6 –

9 1

3 1

18 2

– –

– –

1 1

1 1

–

2

1

3

81 28.8

168 59.8

32 11.4

281 100.0


274

Industrial class


DEALING Coal Coal merchants 3 Assistant 1 Raw materials Timber merchants – Cloth dealers – Dress Drapers etc. – Assistants 3 Food Butchers, fishmongers 10 Milksellers 4 Butter seller – Grocers 11 Greengrocers – Assistants 8 Tobacco, drink and lodging Tobacconists – Wine and spirit merchants 1 Inn and hotel keepers, publicans 3 Lodging and boarding house keepers 1 Coffee and eating house keepers 1 Cellarmen, inn servants, assistants 1 Furniture and household utensils Furniture and picture dealers – Earthenware, china, glass – Ironmongers – Jewellers – Assistants – Chemists, druggists Chemists – Apprentices/assistants 1 Stationery and publications Stationers 2 Librarian – Bill poster – Assistants – General dealers General shopkeepers 1 Hawkers, hucksters, costers 2 Rag dealers – Assistants 1


5 –

2 –

10 1

5 1

1 1

6 2

18 32

4 –

22 35

1 –

4 4

3 3

8 7

12 3 – 23 1 35

11 – – 1 1 5

33 7 – 35 2 48

2 11 1 17 2 –

5 4 – 17 – 5

– – – 2 1 –

7 15 1 36 3 5

1 3

– –

1 4

–

–

1

1

12

10

25

4

11

9

24

8

2

11

21

87

17

125

–

1

2

2

6

–

8

5

5

11

–

12

14

26

1 1 6 1 2

1 3 1 – 5

2 4 7 1 7

– – – –

– 1 1 1

1 – 2 –

1 1 3 1

6 8

– –

6 9

4 1 1 –

– – – –

6 1 1 –

–

–

3

3

1

1

1

3

–

1

2

8

4

3

15

5 – –

5 – 1

12 – 2

1 1 1

3 1 1

1 – 2

5 2 4


Industrial class


275


Others and unspecified Merchants, brokers, agents 4 Auctioneers, valuers – Salesmen, commercial travellers 3 Assistants – Total 61 % 17.2

4 2

3 –

11 2

–

1

–

1

12 2 220 62.1

9 – 73 20.6

24 2 354 100.0

–

1

–

1

73 23.8

170 55.6

63 20.6

306 100.0

INDUSTRIAL SERVICES Banking, insurance, accounts Bank service – Insurance service 3 Accountants 1 Commercial clerks – Assistant – Total 4 % 8.9

10 5 10 6 1 32 71.1

1 3 – 5 – 9 20.0

11 11 11 11 1 45 100.0

–

–

1

1

– –

– –

1 100.0

1 100.0

3

–

–

1

1

18

–

2

2

4

–

1

–

1

–

1

–

1

–

2

–

2

PUBLIC SERVICES AND PROFESSIONALS Central administration Civil service officers – – 5 Civil service clerk – 1 – Post Office, telegraph officials – 3 – Post Office clerks, telephone service 1 16 1 Local administration County, municipal officers 1 2 1 Registrar of births, marriages and deaths – – – Poor Law officials – 2 1 Workhouse staff – 1 – School attendance officers – 2 – Sanitary inspector – 1 – Defence Army officers – 1 16 Soldiers 4 11 5 Army pensioners – 2 1 Police Inspectors – 3 – Sergeant – 1 – Constables – 6 – Law Barristers, solicitors – 14 – Law student 1 – – Law clerks – 21 2

5 1

4 – 3 1 2 1 17 20 3 3 1 6 14 1 23


276

Industrial class


Medicine Surgeons, physicians, practitioners – Medical students, assistants – Dentists – Nurses – Education Lecturers – Headteachers, schoolteachers – Pupil teachers – Music teachers – Students 1 Religion Clergymen – Roman Catholic priest – CM ministers 1 Other Methodist minister – Congregational ministers – Baptist ministers – Other Nonconformist ministers 1 Theological students 1 Evangelist, Salvation Army officers – Cemetery keeper – Chapel keepers 1 Amusement Musicians – Billiards, games service – Art, literature, science Painters, sculptors, engravers 1 Photographers 2 Art students/assistants – Journalists – Reporters – Total 15 % 5.3 DOMESTIC SERVICES Indoor service Servants/maidservants Nurses Institution servants Outdoor service Grooms Gardeners Gamekeeper


7 1 2 –

3 6 2 –

10 7 4 –

–

4

2

6

1

7

8

–

1

1

2

7 2 1 22

9 – – 24

16 2 1 47

1 2 – –

10 11 3 5

21 8 – 18

32 21 3 23

9 – 3 1 2 2

– 1 – – – –

9 1 4 1 2 2

5 6

– 1

6 8

1 1 –

– – –

1 1 1

–

1

2

3

–

1

–

1

2 –

2 1

4 1

2 1 2 1 3 171 60.6

3 2 1 1 1 96 34.0

6 5 3 2 4 282 100.0

–

–

1

1

3 3.0

42 41.6

56 55.4

101 100.0

4 – 1

7 – –

– – –

11 – 1

93 4 –

343 12 –

68 6 1

504 22 1

4 3 –

16 6 1

6 3 –

26 12 1


277

Industrial class



Extra service Cooks Laundry women Caretakers Hairdressers Chimney sweeps Total %

– – – 2 – 14 21.9

– – 2 2 1 35 54.7

– – 1 3 2 15 23.4

– – 3 7 3 64 100.0

2 30 – –

2 35 2 –

5 6 – 2

9 71 2 2

129 21.1

394 64.5

88 14.4

611 100.0

OTHERS Managers/supervisors General labourers Total %

– 62 62 55.9

1 34 35 31.5

– 14 14 12.6

1 110 111 100.0

1 1 2 75.0

1 – 1 25.0

– – – –

2 1 3 100.0

TOTAL OCCUPIED %

455 24.6

1042 56.4

349 19.0

1846 100.0

291 22.3

776 59.4

240 18.3

1307 100.0


98 49.5

48 24.2

52 26.3

198 100.0

501 29.2

830 48.4

385 22.4

1716 100.0

School pupils %

75 31.1

124 51.5

42 17.4

241 100.0

81 23.9

172 50.7

86 25.4

339 100.0


1214 53.1

443 19.4

2285 100.0

873 26.0

1778 52.9

711 21.1

3362 100.0


13 Tregaron (Cardiganshire) GWENFAIR PARRY

Tregaron is an extensive parish in the depths of Cardiganshire, situated in a long valley between the slopes of Mynydd Bach and the bare uplands of Pumlumon to the east. Although wheat and oats were grown in the more fertile low-lying parts, at the end of the nineteenth century most of the land was boggy moorland, and the scattered population earned a living by raising stock.1 The only social centre of any importance was Tregaron, a town with a population of 887 in 1891. The town is frequently associated with the famous marshland known as Cors Caron,2 or Cors Goch (Red Marsh) as it was known locally, where O. M. Edwards was enchanted by its cotton grass.3 It is also inextricably linked with the name of its most eminent son, Henry Richard, the political reformer and ‘Apostle of Peace’ who died three years before the census was held.4 Tregaron was also noted for its fairs and cattle markets and was one of the principal assembly points for the drovers on their way across the mountains into England. During the first half of the century it was a centre of the cattle trade.5 The two most important fairs in the district were Ffair Garon, held in Tregaron in March, and Ffair Dalis, held in Lampeter in May.6 The author and historian W. Ambrose Bebb (1894–1955), who was brought up at Camerfawr, a farm between Tregaron and Pontrhydfendigaid, described the bustle of those days as follows:

1

2 3 4

5

6

Edward Watson, ‘The West Coast Region’ in E. G. Bowen (ed.), Wales: A Physical, Historical and Regional Geography (London, 1957), p. 297; Ieuan Gwynedd Jones, ‘The Tregaron of Henry Richard’, Ceredigion, XI, no. 2 (1990), 148–9; Roy Lewis and Sandra Wheatley, ‘The Towns of Cardiganshire, 1800–1995’ in Geraint H. Jenkins and Ieuan Gwynedd Jones (eds.), Cardiganshire County History. Volume III. Cardiganshire in Modern Times (Cardiff, 1998), p. 215. Evan Jones, Ar Ymylon Cors Caron (Aberystwyth, 1967). Owen Edwards, Yn y Wlad (Wrecsam, 1927), pp. 40–8. Geraint H. Jenkins, ‘Henry Richard (1812–1888)’ in D. Ben Rees (ed.), Oriel o Heddychwyr Mawr y Byd (Lerpwl, 1983), pp. 18–25. Emrys Jones, ‘Tregaron. The Sociology of a Market Town in Central Cardiganshire’ in Elwyn Davies and Alwyn D. Rees (eds.), Welsh Rural Communities (Cardiff, 1962), pp. 73–4. Evan Jones, Cerdded Hen Ffeiriau (Aberystwyth, 1972), p. 40.


280

. . . ‘prif-ddinas y mawn’ yn danfon ambell gennad o gampwr i ladd mawn ar y Gors, gan eu gosod yn wyrthiol union a rhesol ar fin y geulan, ac i’w ‘codi’ yn eu hiawn hyd rhwng bonion y grug, – a’r Bont Rhyd Fendigaid a’r Ffair Rhos, a Swyddffynnon ac Ystrad Meurig yn gyrru eu dynion i lawr heibio bob dydd Mawrth, a’u da a’u gwartheg unwaith yn y mis. Dau begwn y byd hwnnw ydoedd y ‘troad’ rhyngof a Thregaron, a ‘phen-y-rhiw’ rhyngof a’r Bont, a thrwyddynt y tramwyai’r bobl i mewn iddo.7 (. . . ‘the capital city of peat’ sending an occasional expert messenger to cut peat on the Marsh, arranging the blocks exactly and evenly in straight rows on the edge of the bank, to be picked up between the stumps of the heather, – and Pontrhydfendigaid and Ffairrhos, and Swyddffynnon and Ystrad Meurig sending their men down every Tuesday, and their cattle once a month. The two poles of this world were the ‘bend’ between me and Tregaron, and the ‘top of the hill’ between me and Bont, and between these poles people passed to and fro into my world.)

These travellers, particularly the drovers, brought news of the outside world to the inhabitants of rural areas. According to one rhymester: Mae Tregaron fach yn mwgi, Nid oes fater ta hi’n llosgi, Os bydd newydd drwg ar gered, Yn Nhregaron cewch ei glywed.8 (Tregaron is on fire, It doesn’t matter if it burns down, If there is bad news around, You will hear it in Tregaron.)

The woollen industry was also an important part of the economy of the district during the latter half of the century. This was essentially a cottage industry, and most of the ‘factories’ registered in the census returns were small businesses in the hands of local families. In a district such as Tregaron, where resources were scant, the woollen industry provided the means by which the inhabitants could make ends meet and in the 1850s most of the town’s population were employed as weavers.9 Another industry which flourished in the locality up to 1870 was lead mining. The richest mines were situated in the parishes of Llanwnnws and Ysbyty Ystwyth, to the north of Tregaron, but by the 1880s the main veins had been completely exhausted and the price of lead had fallen substantially. The Lisburne works near Pont-rhyd-y-groes was the chief employer in 1891, but it, too, had 7 8 9

Robin Chapman, W. Ambrose Bebb (Caerdydd, 1997), p. 17. R. J. Colyer, The Welsh Cattle Drovers (Cardiff, 1976), p. 93. Jones, ‘Tregaron’, pp. 74–5; J. Geraint Jenkins, The Welsh Woollen Industry (Cardiff, 1969), pp. 247–308.

TREGARON (CARDIGANSHIRE)

seen better times. In Cwmystwyth, where the recession was at its most severe, the population declined by more than a third between 1881 and 1891, and as a consequence a quarter of the houses were unoccupied.10 The crisis was compounded by the agricultural recession of the 1880s11 and also by the decline of the woollen industry. Although the population of the town of Tregaron had continued to grow throughout the nineteenth century, the number of people living in the parish had fallen from 1,733 in 1851 to 1,575 in 1891. Many had left the area to seek employment in the south Wales coal mines: in 1851 some 8,000 Cardiganshire people lived in south Wales alone, i.e. three times the total population of the Registration District of Tregaron.12 Others headed for London, while a considerable number of families and individuals ventured as far as America. Most of the emigrants were young people between the ages of 20 and 35. Official statistics reveal that more males than females left the Registration District of Tregaron during the latter half of the nineteenth century, and successive Registrars General observed that the imbalance of the sexes was more pronounced in Cardiganshire than elsewhere in England and Wales.13 For the purpose of this study, fourteen enumeration districts were examined, encompassing not only the parish of Tregaron but also parts of the parishes of Llanfihangel Lledrod, Llanwnnws and Ysbyty Ystwyth, where the lead mines were situated. The total population (aged 2 years and over) was 3,294 and, as Table 1 reveals, 83.8 per cent were monoglot Welsh speakers, 15.3 per cent were bilingual, and 0.9 per cent spoke English only. Thus 99.1 per cent of the inhabitants had a knowledge of Welsh and 16.2 per cent a knowledge of English. This was not surprising since they lived in the most Welsh-speaking registration district in Wales. In the Registration District of Tregaron 98.7 per cent of the population spoke Welsh and, although 12.2 per cent of these could also speak English, only 1.3 per cent had no Welsh at all. It is significant that, compared with the registration district, a higher proportion of the sample population were bilingual. This may be attributed to the fact that 26.9 per cent of the sample lived in the town of Tregaron. This town was a busy commercial centre, and since English was the language of business and commerce, tradespeople were obliged to acquire a knowledge of English as well as Welsh. Nevertheless, the Welsh language was more widely spoken in Tregaron than in the rest of Cardiganshire, and in view of the fact that Cardiganshire was the most Welsh-speaking county in Wales, this was of considerable significance. It is no exaggeration to say that the Welsh language was an integral part of the lives of Cardiganshire folk. According to Evan Islwyn, a native of the area: 10 11 12 13

W. J. Lewis, Lead Mining in Wales (Cardiff, 1967), pp. 170–201. John Davies, The History of Wales (London, 1990), pp. 443–5. Jones, ‘The Tregaron of Henry Richard’, 150. Ibid.

281


282

Table 1: Language spoken by populations of Tregaron, Tregaron Registration District, Cardiganshire and Wales (2 years and over)

Tregaron1 Tregaron R.D.2 Cardiganshire3 Wales4 1 2 3 4

Number Welsh

Both

2762 7268 61624 508036

504 907 17111 402253

English

Total

28 3294 106 8281 3979 82714 759416 1669705


15.3 10.9 20.7 24.1

English Total 0.9 1.3 4.8 45.5

100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0

Excluding one individual who was deaf and dumb. Excluding 11 individuals whose language was not given. Excluding 255 individuals whose language was not given and 10 who spoke other languages. Excluding 12,833 individuals whose language was not given and 3,076 who spoke other languages.

Y Gymraeg, digymar yw, – iaith hydrefn A iaith ddidranc ydyw; Hon fu, sydd, ac a fydd byw, Er estron a’i fawr ystryw.14

(The Welsh language is unequalled, – an orderly language, A language which will not die; It has lived, lives, and will live, Despite the foreigner and his great cunning.)

According to Cassie Davies, people in the locality worked hard, were bound together both in work and leisure, and at the end of their working day would congregate in each other’s homes to create their own entertainment, thereby keeping alive their native traditions (‘pobl yr ardal yn cydweithio a chydymdrechu yn galed a dygn, yn un cwlwm cymdeithasol, ac wedi diwrnod gwaith yn casglu yn nhai ei gilydd am sgwrs a chwmni a llawen chwedl gan greu eu diddanwch a’u difyrrwch eu hunain yn unol â thraddodiad eu cenedl’).15 It is also evident that the Welsh language was much more predominant in Tregaron than in Wales as a whole, where seven of every ten people spoke English, of whom about twothirds had no Welsh at all. Table 2 reveals that Welsh was the principal medium of communication of more than 98 per cent of the inhabitants of Tregaron, regardless of their age. The 14

15

Dan Jones, ‘Adgof Hiraeth’, Cymru, XLI, no. 243 (1911), 165–70; idem, ‘Chwe Chymeriad’, ibid., LXV, no. 387 (1923), 118–19. Cassie Davies, Hwb i’r Galon (Abertawe, 1973), p. 22.


283


Both

2–5 6–14 15–24 25–44 45–64 65+

316 610 438 590 525 283

13 112 128 137 88 26

2 – 3 14 6 3

331 722 569 741 619 312

Total

2762

504

28

3294

Age

English

Total

Percentage Welsh

Both

English

Total

95.5 84.5 77.0 79.6 84.8 90.7

3.9 15.5 22.5 18.5 14.2 8.3

0.6 – 0.5 1.9 1.0 1.0

100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0

83.8

15.3

0.9

100.0

percentage of monoglot Welsh speakers was high (90.7 per cent) among the elderly but at its highest among children between 2 and 5 years of age. The only children enumerated as monoglot English speakers in this group were John Davies, a 4-year-old boy born in London, and Irene Phillips, the 2-year-old daughter of Thomas Phillips, the rector. Since the rector and his wife were both bilingual, the former a native of Carmarthenshire and the latter of Pembrokeshire, they had probably deliberately rejected Welsh in their home because academic success and economic progress were associated with the English language.16 English was certainly the language of the day schools and for that reason 15.5 per cent of the children between 6 and 14 years of age were bilingual. However, only 228 of the district’s children were enrolled as pupils, and since 175 (76.8 per cent) of these remained monoglot Welsh speakers, it is evident that education was not a significant influence. Since people of working age (15–44 years) were more mobile and had a wider range of social contacts, a higher proportion were familiar with English: the percentage of bilingual speakers was highest among young adults between 15 and 24 but decreased as the population grew older. The very small percentage of monoglot English speakers hardly varied between the different age groups, and twenty-four of the twenty-six who were 15 years of age or older were incomers from England (20), Ireland (3) and Scotland (1). Bilingualism was therefore a relatively recent phenomenon in this society and monoglot English speakers were, almost without exception, outsiders. In Table 3, which shows the inhabitants’ linguistic ability according to sex as well as age, it is evident that there was hardly any difference between the linguistic ability of males and females, regardless of their age. In each age group, the difference between the percentage of non-Welsh speakers was no more than 1.9 16

D. C. Rees, Tregaron: Historical and Antiquarian (Llandyssul, 1936), p. 30. Thomas Phillips was educated at St David’s College, Lampeter, and was vicar of Tregaron between 1887 and 1897.


284


Total

Number Sex Welsh M F M F M F M F M F M F

Both

English

Total


English

Total

175 141 302 308 180 258 228 362 205 320 113 170

8 5 53 59 56 72 60 77 49 39 11 15

1 1 – – 2 1 9 5 5 1 – 3

184 147 355 367 238 331 297 444 259 360 124 188

95.1 95.9 85.1 14.9 75.6 77.9 76.8 81.5 79.2 88.9 91.1 90.4

4.3 3.4 14.9 16.1 23.5 21.8 20.2 17.3 18.9 10.8 8.9 8.0

0.5 0.7 – – 0.8 0.3 3.0 1.1 1.9 0.3 – 1.6

100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0

M 1203 F 1559

237 267

17 11

1457 1837

82.6 84.9

16.3 14.5

1.2 0.6

100.0 100.0

per cent and, similarly, the percentage of Welsh speakers did not vary by more than 1.8 per cent. However, the linguistic ability of the Welsh-speaking population varied somewhat between the ages of 25 and 64: 19.6 per cent of the males were bilingual compared with 14.4 per cent of females, while 84.4 per cent of the females were monoglot Welsh speakers compared with 77.9 per cent of males. Since the percentages of Cardiganshire-born males (91.7 per cent) and females (94.0 per cent) in these age groups were similar, it is probable that the difference in linguistic ability was largely attributable to their contacts in the workplace. As many as 528 (95.1 per cent) males were gainfully employed, compared with 260 (32.3 per cent) of their female contemporaries. Table 4 reveals a close connection between linguistic ability and place of birth. Some 3,139 (95.4 per cent) of the individuals included in the sample hailed from Cardiganshire and 1,913 (60.9 per cent) of these were natives of Caron-is-clawdd (1,079), Lledrod (410) and Ysbyty Ystwyth (424). They spoke Welsh without exception and the native language was the only medium of communication for more than eight out of ten of these inhabitants. A small minority (98 or 3.0 per cent) hailed from other Welsh counties, mainly Carmarthen, Glamorgan and Montgomery, and although all except one of these were Welsh speakers, 47 (48.0 per cent) were also able to speak English. It is also significant that, of all the inhabitants, only 48 (1.8 per cent) had been born beyond Offa’s Dyke. Most of these hailed from the counties of Middlesex (17), Cornwall (8) and Lancaster (6), but natives of the counties of York (2), Buckingham (1), Worcester (2), Warwick


285


Number Welsh

Cardiganshire 2706 Carmarthenshire 10 Glamorgan 12 Montgomeryshire 13 Breconshire 2 Radnorshire 3 Denbighshire 1 Pembrokeshire – Merioneth 2 Monmouthshire 3 Anglesey 1 Caernarfonshire 1 South Wales – Flintshire 1


Both

English

Total

432 12 10 6 5 3 3 2 1 1 1 1 2 –

1 – – 1 – – – 1 – – – – – –

3139 22 22 20 7 6 4 3 3 4 2 2 2 1

86.2 45.5 54.5 65.0 28.6 50.0 25.0 – 66.7 75.0 50.0 50.0 – 100.0

English

Total

13.8 54.5 45.5 30.0 71.4 50.0 75.0 66.7 33.3 25.0 50.0 50.0 100.0 –

0.0 – – 5.0 – – – 33.3 – – – – – –

100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0

England

5

22

21

48

10.4

45.8

43.8

100.0

Other2

1

1

4

6

16.7

16.7

66.6

100.0

2761

502

28

3291

83.9

15.2

0.9

100.0

Total 1 2

Excluding 3 individuals whose place of birth was not given. Place of birth: Ireland 4, Scotland 2.

(2), Shrewsbury (2), Somerset (1), Gloucester (1), Cambridge (1), Derby (1), Devon (1), Durham (1), Essex (1) and Westmorland (1) lived in the area also. Twenty-seven (56.3 per cent) of these incomers were able to speak Welsh, of whom five, including four individuals who had been born in Welsh-speaking communities in London, were monoglots. Eleven of the twenty-two who were bilingual also hailed from London and, judging by their surnames, ten of these were of Welsh descent. According to an article published in the Welsh Gazette in 1929, many young people from Tregaron had settled in London since the 1880s, but their roots were deep in their native Cardiganshire and they maintained close contact with their relatives, and often returned to spend the rest of their days in Tregaron after making their fortune in London.17 The fact that these emigrants maintained regular contact with their rural, Welsh-speaking background had important implications as far as the language was concerned. Not only did it strengthen the Welsh community in London but it also served to familiarize the inhabitants of Tregaron and district with English-language culture. Of those born 17

Welsh Gazette, 11 July 1929.

286


in England, only 21 (45.2 per cent) were unable to speak Welsh. This was not unexpected considering that four of them were temporary lodgers in the neighbourhood, five were married to Welsh-born but English-speaking spouses, and two had moved into the area, with their families, from England. Among them was a monoglot English-speaking labourer from London who was married to a monoglot Welsh speaker from Caernarfonshire, and one agricultural labourer and two farm servants from Liverpool who had no Welsh. The fact that these farmhands were employed by monoglot Welsh speakers indicates that the evidence of the census is not always wholly reliable and that the monoglot Welsh element may have been exaggerated. Very few individuals included in the sample hailed from beyond England and Wales; four came from Ireland and two from Scotland, and they comprised as little as 0.2 per cent of the population. Two of these spoke the indigenous language, namely Bridget Driscol, a bilingual pedlar from Cork, and Lawrence Thomas, a monoglot Welsh-speaking boy born in Scotland to Jane Thomas, a monoglot Welsh speaker from Lledrod in Cardiganshire. Welsh was indisputably the predominant language in the homes of Tregaron. In as many as 771 (90.3 per cent) households each member spoke Welsh and in 656 (85.1 per cent) of these no other language was used. Only one household (0.1 per cent) was made up entirely of non-Welsh speakers, and although everyone spoke English in 61 (7.1 per cent) households, 50 (82.0 per cent) of these homes were bilingual, in that all the inhabitants spoke both languages. Although 270 (31.6 per cent) households comprised fewer than three members, and another 128 (15.0 per cent) had more than six, the average number per household was four. The nuclear family was the basic social unit, and 502 (58.8 per cent) of the locality’s families fell into this category; 61 (12.2 per cent) consisted of childless married couples, while the remainder (441) were married couples with children. In many cases the parents were elderly and the ‘children’ well into adulthood. At Tan-y-graig in the settlement of Blaencaron, for example, John Evans, a 73-yearold widower, lived with his 28-year-old son and 34-year-old daughter, and at a nearby farm a 49-year-old spinster lived with her 82-year-old mother. It was not uncommon for unmarried children to live together into old age following the death of their parents. Some 210 (24.6 per cent) local families also included relatives such as grandchildren, nieces and nephews. Another 132 (15.5 per cent) households, around one in every seven, were single-occupation households since a significant number of the inhabitants were unmarried; this reflected not only the custom of marrying late in life but also the imbalance between the sexes. In the Registration District of Tregaron 15.3 per cent of males and 23.4 per cent of females between the ages of 55 and 64 were unmarried at a time when the corresponding percentages for Wales as a whole were 10 per cent and 9.4 per cent respectively. In the Tregaron sample, only 1,272 (66.4 per cent) of the population over the age of 20 were married or widowed; 251 (32.0 per cent) males and 393 (34.7 per cent) females were single.


287


Number Welsh Both

English

Total


English

Total

Heads 691 Wives 378 Children2 1193 Relatives 235 Servants/maidservants 214 Boarders/lodgers 17 Visitors 2 Others3 29

117 65 220 37 36 15 6 8

6 6 3 2 5 6 – –

814 449 1416 274 255 38 8 37

84.9 84.2 84.3 85.8 83.9 44.7 25.0 78.4

14.4 14.5 15.5 13.5 14.1 39.5 75.0 21.6

0.7 1.3 0.2 0.7 2.0 15.8 – –

100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0

Total

504

28

3291

83.8

15.3

0.9

100.0

1 2 3

2759

Excluding 3 individuals whose relationship to the head of household was not given. Includes adopted children and stepchildren. 26 inmates at the workhouse, 7 assistants and 4 apprentices.

Table 5 reveals that Welsh was the predominant language of local families. More than 98 per cent of heads of household, wives and children were able to speak the mother tongue and more than 85 per cent were Welsh monoglots. It is therefore evident that the family unit reproduced a large proportion of Welsh speakers, and since children comprised 43 per cent of the population this boded well for the future of the language. There is no doubt that other relatives were also strongly Welsh in language and character. Of those who were Welsh speakers 13.6 per cent were bilingual, compared with 15.1 per cent in the case of the nuclear family. Almost one in ten (312 or 9.6 per cent) of the population had no apparent family connections. Such individuals were present in 178 (24.0 per cent) of the district’s homes and, with the exception of the predominantly monoglot Welsh-speaking maidservants, members of this group were more likely to be able to communicate in English. More than half (21 or 55.3 per cent) of the boarders and lodgers spoke English and 6 (4.0 per cent) of them had no Welsh. Since 11 (30.6 per cent) were professional men and tradesmen, and 16 had been born outside Cardiganshire (9 in other Welsh counties, 5 in England and 2 in Ireland), this was not surprising. Each one of the bilingual lodgers lived with Welshspeaking families and it is therefore likely that they reinforced linguistic and cultural bonds rather than weakened them. Five of the six monoglot English speakers also lived with Welsh-speaking families, an arrangement which no doubt contributed to the Anglicization of such families. A comparatively high proportion of visitors also had a knowledge of English. Only one of these had been born beyond Offa’s Dyke (namely Charlotte Jones, a bilingual woman who


288

Table 6: Language of children (aged 2 years and over) in households headed by monoglot and bilingual parents Linguistic ability Linguistic ability of children of parents Number of households Father Mother Welsh Both English Mixed Total W W B B B E E Total

W B W B E B E


249 2 8 6 – – –

10 3 4 25 3 1 –

– – – 2 – – –

2 4 4 5 – – 1

261 9 16 38 3 1 1

95.4 22.2 50.0 15.8 – – –

38.3 33.3 25.0 65.8 100.0 100.0 –

– – – 5.3 – – –

0.8 44.4 25.0 13.1 – – 100.0

100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0

265

46

2

16

329

30.5 14.0

0.6

4.9

100.0


kept a hotel in Bristol), but among the rest there was a sheep dealer, a Calvinistic Methodist minister, a theological student, a seamstress and a hotel-keeper – all of whom had learnt a certain amount of English because of the nature of their work and training. Since the percentage of visitors was as low as 0.2 per cent they had no lasting influence on the language of the community. Marriage patterns were clearly a means of reinforcing the commitment of local inhabitants to their mother tongue, since only four examples of marriages between Welsh speakers and monoglot English speakers were recorded: 329 (76.5 per cent) monoglot Welsh-speaking males had married monoglot Welsh-speaking wives and, in the same way, 49 (55.7 per cent) bilingual males had married bilingual wives. Thus the transmission of Welsh to the next generation was certain. As Table 6 reveals, Welsh was spoken by 324 (98.5 per cent) married couples with children and as many as 261 (80.6 per cent) of these couples were monoglot Welsh speakers. In 249 (95.4 per cent) homes where both parents had no English, the children, too, were monoglot Welsh speakers, and in only twelve homes were some or all of the children bilingual. In homes where one parent had a knowledge of English, there were fewer monoglot Welsh-speaking children. In 15 (60.0 per cent) such homes some of the children, if not all, were bilingual. It also appears that the mother had the stronger influence in maintaining the native language within the family. The children were able to speak both languages in seven of the nine homes where the mother was bilingual, but in only eight of the sixteen homes where the father was bilingual. Both parents were bilingual in thirty-eight homes, in the majority of which (25 or 65.8 per cent) all the children were bilingual. In five homes the older children were able to speak both languages and the younger ones Welsh only, an indication that Welsh was the language of


the home and that older members of the family became acquainted with English at school and at work. Consider, for example, John Jenkins, the bilingual draper and grocer who lived with his bilingual wife Margaret at Compton House. The older children were in their teens and assisted their parents in the shop, where they heard English spoken daily, whereas the youngest child (8 years old) was enumerated as a monoglot Welsh speaker. Only two homes had lost the indigenous language completely. In both cases the parents were bilingual, but they had chosen not to transmit the native tongue to their children. The heads of both these families were men of some standing in the community, one being a rector and the other an inspector of nuisances. There were only four households where Welsh was spoken by one parent only and, in each case, the children spoke English as well as Welsh, an unsurprising fact considering that English was the language which the parents had in common. It is also significant that there was only one home where both parents had no Welsh. They and their children had been born in Cornwall, and although the older children were enumerated as monoglot English speakers, the youngest son, a 17-year-old schoolboy, had acquired some knowledge of Welsh, probably by associating with local Welsh speakers. Tregaron and district was, above all, an agricultural community. Table 7 reveals that 47.1 per cent of males and 26.5 per cent of females (aged 10 or over) were directly connected with agriculture, a percentage which would rise to 61.7 per cent if maids in service in local farmhouses were included. Needless to say, the overwhelming majority of individuals employed in this sector were thoroughly Welsh in origin and language. Some 538 (96.4 per cent) were natives of Cardiganshire and 553 (99.1 per cent) were Welsh speakers. Indeed Welsh was the only medium of communication for 488 (87.5 per cent) of these individuals. Only five were enumerated as monoglot English speakers. They included two farm servants and an agricultural labourer from Liverpool and another labourer of Scottish descent. Three of these were employed by families who, although enumerated as being unable to speak English, must have had a smattering of the language. Since two of these employees had Welsh surnames, it is possible that they, too, had some knowledge of the native tongue. There is also some evidence of the spread of English in the agricultural sector since 18 (8.5 per cent) local farmers were enumerated as bilingual. Significantly, a higher proportion (12 or 19.0 per cent) of the younger men who assisted on the farms were able to speak both languages. Women who earned a living in the same way were less likely to be able to speak English. In their case, the corresponding percentages were 6.1 per cent and 15 per cent. Although they had all been born locally, six of the nine who dealt in cattle or horses had a knowledge of English as well as Welsh. The families of four of these people, or at least their wives and older children, were also able to speak English. Only one tradesman had no Welsh, namely Robert Taft, a 32-year-old horse

289


290

dealer from Chaddesden in Derbyshire who lodged at the Ivy Bush public house. It appears, therefore, that although English was a useful qualification in the agricultural trade it was not yet essential, provided the traders confined their activities to Wales. The lead mining industry provided employment for 137 (15.5 per cent) local men. The evidence reveals that there was a linguistic and social gap between managers and administrators on the one hand and the workforce on the other. Some 115 (98.3 per cent) of the miners had been born and bred in Cardiganshire; they all spoke Welsh and 105 (89.7 per cent) had no English. Only one was an Englishman by birth, namely Peter Garland, a native of St Agnes in Cornwall, who had learnt sufficient Welsh to be enumerated as bilingual. Significantly, his wife was registered as a monoglot English speaker. The seven labourers, thirteen ore dressers (of whom eight were women) and the 20-year-old woman employed as an assistant in the office of the Lisburne works were Welsh monoglots, while the agent Richard Crouch, a native of Constantine in Cornwall, and the clerk, Frederick Roberts, who hailed from Marytavy in Devon, were monoglot English speakers. Large numbers of craftsmen and tradespeople also lived in the neighbourhood.18 Many had established businesses in Tregaron, where people sought goods and various services. In 1891 the town’s inhabitants included general traders and grocers, three drapers, three shoemakers, two hosiers, a tailor, butchers, chemists, a leather worker and a china dealer. The nine public houses and four hotels, the surgery, the solicitor’s office and the branch of the London and Provincial Bank were further proof of the town’s importance as a commercial centre catering for a wide area. The census reveals that 259 (98.9 per cent) of the craftsmen working in the building and manufacturing sectors spoke Welsh, and that 216 (82.4 per cent) had no English. There was a high proportion of monoglot Welsh speakers among the stonemasons, carpenters, blacksmiths, seamstresses, milliners and those employed in the woollen industry. Of the 220 employed in these sectors, 208 (94.5 per cent) were natives of Cardiganshire and only two (0.9 per cent) hailed from outside Wales. Only three manufacturers were monoglot English speakers, namely Edward Leslie, a compositor from Killarney in Ireland, who lodged at Pendre House with Jane Jones, a 58-year-old widow enumerated as a monoglot Welsh speaker, and two saddlers, one of whom was William Rutter who hailed from Bradford in Yorkshire and had moved to the district with his wife, a native of Warwickshire. The other was Frederick Lancaster, a native of Buckinghamshire who lodged at London House with David Jones, a saddler and shoe shop proprietor. David Jones completed a Welsh census form and was enumerated as a monoglot Welsh speaker despite his various business contacts. A large proportion 18

See, for instance, J. Geraint Jenkins, ‘Rural Industry in Cardiganshire’, Ceredigion, VI, no. 1 (1968), 90–126.


of the tradespeople (104 or 88.9 per cent) were also natives of Cardiganshire. But although only one non-Welsh-speaking person was to be found among them, namely Michael Burke, a pedlar from Dublin in Ireland, it is significant that 64 (55.2 per cent) of the Welsh speakers could also speak English. Another group who were likely to be able to communicate in English were railway workers. The train came to Tregaron in 1867 following the opening of the Great Western line from Carmarthen to Aberystwyth. The English language was inextricably linked to this new form of transport. The railway agent and his family were natives of Carmarthenshire and were all bilingual. The porter, a native of Tregaron, was also able to speak English, although the rest of his family were monoglot Welsh speakers. On the other hand, the ticket collector, who came into regular contact with the public, had no English. Generally, however, monoglot Welsh speakers were appointed to the most lowly positions. The four platelayers and their foreman were monoglot Welsh-speaking natives of the counties of Cardigan, Montgomery and Carmarthen, and this, together with the prestige enjoyed by officials, bears out the view that English was the language of opportunity and preferment. English was just as essential in the post office. Although the two postmen were local Welsh-speaking monoglots, the postmaster, Thomas Jones (who was not included in the sample), was a bilingual native of Breconshire. The commercial directories of the time reveal that, in addition to looking after the post office, he was also a chemist, dentist and grocer.19 He had two assistants, one from Cardiganshire and the other from London, and they, too, were familiar with English. As for the professionals, the majority were able to speak both languages. The medical needs of the locality were the responsibility of Evan Lloyd, a bilingual native of Llanbadarn Odwyn in Cardiganshire, who was also medical officer for the Tregaron Union. Both Robert and Rowland Rowlands, two brothers from Llanddewibrefi who were medical students, were also English speakers. In the field of education the situation was much the same. Local children received their education in the British school which had been established in 1859 and also in the national school opened in 1872.20 Although there were no monoglot English speakers among the eleven teachers enumerated, seven of them were bilingual. Similarly, seven of the eleven pupil teachers and three of the five students were bilingual. They would all warn the children that Welsh would be of little use to them once they had passed Llanio bridge, three miles south of Tregaron.21 In total, therefore, 17 (63.0 per cent) employees in the education sector were able to speak both languages, a percentage appreciably higher than the corresponding percentage for the population as a whole (15.3 per cent). 19

20 21

Kelly’s Directory of Monmouthshire, and the Principal Towns and Places of South Wales (London, 1891), p. 551. Jones, ‘Tregaron’, p. 100. Davies, Hwb i’r Galon, p. 49.

291


292

Doubtless one of the main influences on the lives of the inhabitants of this area was the Nonconformist religion represented by the chapels. A Calvinistic Methodist cause was established in Tregaron in 1774 and a Wesleyan cause in 1808. As a result of the efforts and determination of the Revd Ebenezer Richard, one of the main organizers of the Calvinistic Methodists in the early nineteenth century, a number of Sunday schools were established in which the Welsh language and its culture thrived.22 The five ministers who lived in the district of Tregaron in 1891 (four of whom were Calvinistic Methodists and one Wesleyan) were Welsh speakers from the counties of Cardigan, Montgomery and Caernarfon, and although they all spoke Welsh at home, four of them were bilingual. In the battle to save the souls of the local people, Welsh speakers were also appointed by the established Church. The two rectors, natives of Cardiganshire and Carmarthenshire respectively, were both bilingual, but it is significant that Thomas Phillips, rector of Tregaron, enumerated his children as monoglot English speakers. The census reveals that public administration was almost without exception in the hands of local, bilingual individuals. They included a superintendent registrar, an inspector of nuisances, two school attendance officers and four Poor Law officials, among whom were the master and mistress of the Tregaron workhouse. The police sergeant and three constables who kept law and order in the district were also bilingual, but the bailiff of the county court, who hailed from Newtown in Montgomeryshire, was a monoglot English speaker. It is therefore evident that Welsh was necessary in order to communicate with local people, but that a knowledge of English was essential at a higher administrative level. In key areas such as administration, commerce and the professions, therefore, the English language was gaining ground and bilingualism was becoming increasingly important, particularly in the town of Tregaron. Other agents of Anglicization were the railway, returnees who had spent part of their lives in England and, perhaps above all, the education system. Yet, few Welsh speakers completely abandoned their mother tongue. Very few English incomers had settled in the area, and since Welsh was still widely used it was inevitable that most of them were acculturated. Welsh reigned supreme in the home, in places of worship and in the world of agriculture, the lead mining industry and the rural crafts. Since about eight of every ten of the population had no English there was hardly any threat to the mother tongue in the district of Tregaron at the end of the nineteenth century.

22

Rees, Tregaron: Historical and Antiquarian, pp. 45–53; M. E. Morgan, Cipdrem ar Hanes Tregaron a’r Cylch (Llanbedr, 1910), pp. 19–29.


293


Industrial class AGRICULTURE Farming Bailiffs Farmers Relatives assisting Agricultural labourers Farm servants Shepherds Woodmen Dealers Cattle dealers Sheep dealers Horse dealers Fishing Fisherman Total % MINING Coal Miners Lead Agent Clerks Miners Skilled manual Ore dressers Labourers Total % BUILDING Management Clerks Assistant Operatives Stonemasons Carpenters Painters Apprentice Roads and railways Road labourers Platelayers Total %


2 195 51 31 67 7 4

– 18 12 3 6 1 1

– – – 2 2 – –

2 213 63 36 75 8 5

1 4 1

2 1 4

– – 1

3 5 6

– 363 87.1

1 49 11.7

– 5 1.2

1 417 100.0

4

–

–

4

– – 105 2 5 7 123 89.8

– – 12 – – – 12 8.7

1 1 – – – – 2 1.5

1 1 117 2 5 7 137 100.0

– –

2 1

– –

2 1

14 22 – 1

3 4 1 –

– – – –

17 26 1 1

3 5 45 80.4

– – 11 19.6

– – – –

3 5 56 100.0


46 68 3 7 1

3 12 – 1 –

– – – – –

49 80 3 8 1

125 88.7

16 11.3

– –

141 100.0

1

–

–

1

8

–

–

8

9 100.0

– –

– –

9 100.0

–

1

–

1

– –

1 100.0

– –

1 100.0


294

Industrial class


MANUFACTURING Shipbuilding Apprentices/assistants 2 Iron and steel Skilled manual 12 Apprentice 1 Leather Skilled manual 1 Wood Skilled manual 1 Carriages and harnesses Skilled manual 3 Wool Skilled manual 10 Unskilled manual 1 Cotton, flax, etc. Skilled manual 1 Apprentice 1 Dress Skilled manual 42 Apprentices/assistants 2 Food, drink, tobacco Skilled manual 2 Printing Skilled manual – Total 79 % 84.0 TRANSPORT Railways Agent Ticket officer Porter Roads Cabmen Carriers, carters Total % DEALING Raw materials Wood dealer Dress Drapers etc. Assistants Food Butchers Milkseller

2

–

4

2 –

– –

14 1

–

–

1

–

–

1

1

2

6

– –

– –

10 1

– –

– –

1 1

4 1

– –

1


27 3

– –

– –

27 3

46 3

53 2

14 4

– –

67 6

–

3

7

1

–

8

1 12 12.8

1 3 3.2

2 94 100.0

92 82.9

19 17.1

– –

111 100.0

– 1 –

1 – 1

– – –

1 1 1

1 3 5 55.6

2 – 4 44.4

– – – –

3 3 9 100.0

–

1

–

1

5 5

4 2

– –

9 7

1 1

1 4

– –

2 5

4 –

1 1

– –

5 1

–

1

–

1


Industrial class


Grocers 10 7 Assistants 3 2 Tobacco, drink and lodging Publicans 4 7 Lodging house keepers – – Eating house keeper – – Inn servants 1 1 Furniture and household utensils China dealer – – Assistant – 1 Chemists Chemists – 2 Assistants – 2 General dealers General dealer 1 – Hawkers – 2 Others and unspecified Merchants – 1 Auctioneer – 1 Total 33 35 % 47.8 50.7 INDUSTRIAL SERVICES Banking, insurance, accounts Insurance service – Total – % –

1 1 100.0

295


– –

17 5

5 3

4 3

– –

9 6

– – – –

11 – – 2

2 3 1 –

5 – – 4

– – – –

7 3 1 4

– –

– 1

1

–

–

1

– –

2 2

– 1

1 3

2

2

–

4

– – 1 1.4

1 1 69 100.0

–

1

–

1

19 43.2

25 56.8

– –

44 100.0

– – –

1 1 100.0

– –

1 1

– –

1 1

2

2

–

4

PUBLIC SERVICES AND PROFESSIONALS Central administration Post Office officials 2 – – Post Office clerk 1 – – Local administration County official – – 1 Registrars of births 1 1 – Poor Law officials – 3 – School attendance officers 1 – – Vaccination officer – 1 – Other local official – 1 – Police Sergeant – 1 – Constables – 3 – Medicine Physician – 1 – Medical students – 2 – Education Headteachers, schoolteachers 2 5 –

2 1 1 2 3 1 1 1 1 3 1 2

7


296

Industrial class Assistants, pupil teachers Students Religion Clergymen CM ministers Wesleyan minister Theological students Church servant Amusement Musician Total %

Language spoken Males Welsh Both English Total 2 2

4 3

– –

6 5

– 1 – 1 –

2 3 1 3 –

– – – – –

– 13 27.1

– 34 70.8

Language spoken Females Welsh Both English Total 2

3

–

5

2 4 1 4 –

1

–

–

1

– 1 2.1

– 48 100.0

– 5 38.5

1 8 61.5

– – –

1 13 100.0

1 –

– –

24 –

159 1

29 1

– –

188 2

DOMESTIC SERVICES Indoor service Servants/maidservants 23 Domestic nurses – Outdoor service Coachman 1 Gardeners 2 Gamekeepers – Extra service Laundry women – Total 26 % 86.7

– – 2

– – 1

1 2 3

1

–

–

1

– 3 10.0

– 1 3.3

– 30 100.0

22 183 85.5

1 31 14.5

– – –

23 214 100.0

OTHERS General labourers Indefinite occupations Total %

16 2 18 75.0

3 – 3 12.5

3 – 3 12.5

22 2 24 100.0

TOTAL OCCUPIED %

705 79.7

164 18.5

16 1.8

885 100.0

433 81.2

100 18.8

– –

533 100.0


90 86.5

14 13.5

– –

104 100.0

747 85.0

122 13.9

10 1.1

879 100.0

School pupils %

85 72.0

33 28.0

– –

118 100.0

90 81.8

20 18.2

– –

110 100.0


211 19.1

16 1.4

1107 100.0

1270 83.4

242 15.9

10 0.7

1522 100.0

14 Builth Wells (Breconshire) DAVID LLEWELYN JONES

Builth Wells is a market town in the county of Breconshire, and in Victorian times was a focal point for surrounding villages and hamlets. Local craftsmen and farmers would bring their produce to Builth on market day and annual fairs attracted a great deal of activity and interest. Historically, the town was renowned for its alleged role in the downfall of Llywelyn ap Gruffudd, Prince of Wales. John Gifford, in his capacity as the new custodian of the castle, refused to grant refuge to the Prince who was later killed on the banks of the river Irfon by Adam de Frankton. As a result, much to their disapproval, the people living in the district where Llywelyn was slain were called ‘Bradwyr Buallt’ (the Traitors of Builth).1 In the early modern period the town was a modest centre for the distribution of local produce. However, following a fire in 1691, which completely gutted the buildings on Wilcock Street and caused damage in excess of £12,000, the town was renovated and modernized.2 By the eighteenth century it had blossomed into a busy and prosperous market town.3 The nature of Breconshire’s economy was one of self-sufficiency,4 and towns such as Builth and Hay-on-Wye succeeded in becoming pivotal centres for selling local goods and products.5 In 1743 a solicitor from Shropshire who visited Builth market stated that all the business was carried out through the medium of Welsh, and that the town crier ‘said Oyes three times, then went on with the business in Welsh and concluded in English “God Bless the King and the Lord of the Manor” ’.6 Following improvements in communication, the town developed into an important commercial centre. In 1779 a bridge was erected which linked the counties of Brecon and Radnor, and in 1823 the road between Newtown and 1

2 3 4 5

6

Owen R. Ashton, A Short History of Builth Wells from Medieval to Modern Times (2nd ed., 1974, Builth), pp. 7–8. Theophilus Jones, A History of the County of Brecknockshire (Brecon, 1911), p. 1. Sam Adams, ‘Thomas Jeffrey Llewelyn Pritchard’, Brycheiniog, XXI (1984–5), 54. J. Geraint Jenkins, ‘Rural industry in Brecknock’, ibid., XIV (1970), 1. Jacqueline Morris, ‘Hay-on-Wye – Local Economy in the Nineteenth Century’, ibid., XXII (1986–7), 112–19. Ashton, A Short History of Builth Wells, p. 15.


298

Builth was built at a cost of £10,000. Builth was ideally situated for the coming of the railways, and when the station was built in 1864 it heralded a new chapter in the development of the town.7 New means of communication meant that the element of self-sufficiency within the economy diminished, but the town flourished as a result of improved accessibility for tourists. Evidence of new-found prosperity is indicated by the building of two market halls in 1876–7 and Builth Cottage Hospital in 1896–7.8 In addition to being a market town, Builth Wells thrived as a result of the popularity of the water spas. Although Builth always remained in the shadow of Llandrindod as a resort for spa bathers, the spas played a significant role in the prosperity of the town. Within the vicinity of Builth there were two mineral springs, Park and Glanne Wells, and these became popular following the glowing reports they received from Dr Daubeney, a Professor at Oxford, who confirmed that the quality of the waters was superior to that of the waters of Llandrindod.9 During the Edwardian period Llandrindod Wells, Llanwrtyd Wells and Builth Wells all reaped the benefits of having such valuable commodities in their area and experienced ‘a halcyon age of Regency-type splendour and gaiety’.10 Not only were the mineral waters an attraction to visitors, but the area was also enticing for anglers, for the river Wye contained trout, salmon, and roach.11 In 1903 A. G. Bradley described the town in a favourable manner, but advised visitors to avoid it during the holiday season since it was infested with ‘Joes and Jills of the Glamorgan collieries, who flock hither to drink the most potent saline water that the heart of dyspeptic could desire, and to wash it down, when the day’s régime is over, with generous libations of Cwrw-dda’.12 Since Builth Wells straddled the border of Breconshire and Radnorshire, and was only twenty miles from England, it was inevitable that the linguistic pattern of the town would be vulnerable to Anglicizing influences. The Welsh language had declined dramatically in Radnorshire by the end of the eighteenth century, and by 1847, according to the Revd Henry Mogridge, vicar of Old Radnor, ‘the English language has quite superseded the Welsh in the county, and the dialect is particularly good, but the river Wye forms a barrier, Welsh being much spoken on the opposite bank of Brecknockshire’.13 But although Welsh continued to be ‘much spoken’ in rural parts of Breconshire, the English language had been gaining ground swiftly from the late eighteenth century: 7

8

9 10 11 12 13

Peter E. Baughan, A Regional History of the Railways of Great Britain, North and Mid Wales (Nairn, 1991), p. 209. Ashton, A Short History of Builth Wells, p. 16; J. B. Sinclair and R. W. D. Fenn, Builth Wells (Stroud, 1993), pp. 26–7. D. P. Davies, Builth Wells and its Vicinity (Builth Wells, 1867), pp. 41–2. Kenneth O. Morgan, Rebirth of a Nation: Wales 1880–1980 (Oxford, 1981), p. 129. Llandrindod Wells and the Spas of Central Wales (London, 1899), p. 97. A. G. Bradley, Highways and Byways in South Wales (London, 1903), p. 63. Reports of the Commissioners of Inquiry into the State of Education in Wales . . . in three parts. Part II. Brecknock, Cardigan, Radnor, and Monmouth (London, 1847) (PP 1847 (871) XXVII), p. 107.

BUILTH WELLS (BRECONSHIRE)

The language of the inhabitants of Breconshire holding small farms, as well of the lower rank of people, is principally the British or Welsh, except upon the borders of the Wye in the hundred of Talgarth, where the vile English jargon, some time back introduced into Radnorshire, has crept into use, of late years indeed, the English language has become more general throughout the county than it was during the former and greater part of the last century . . . 14

In their Report into the state of education in Wales in 1847, the Commissioners concluded that 42.6 per cent of the population of Breconshire used English as the ‘fireside language’ while the percentage dramatically increased to 90.7 per cent in Radnorshire. Edward Davies, Professor of Theology at Brecon College, stated that more Welsh could be heard in the streets of Breconshire than during previous years and he doubted whether the English language was gaining ground in the towns of Breconshire: judging from the fact that religious worship is generally conducted in all the Welsh towns in the Welsh language. In the country it is altogether Welsh, except on the borders. Twice as many use the Welsh language now, as did forty years ago.15

However, several natives of Breconshire strongly advocated the more widespread use of English. The Revd David Charles, Principal of Trefeca College in Brecon, stated that English was encroaching so swiftly that it was only a matter of time before it superseded the Welsh language: The English language is fast gaining ground in this neighbourhood, so much so that the Welsh will not continue to be the prevailing language in a few years. The admixture of both English and Welsh in the dialect at present spoken renders it highly desirable that the people be correctly taught in the language they will have to use in future.16

Some strongly resented the survival of the Welsh language, and believed that its decline would benefit the moral and social etiquette of the inhabitants. The Revd James Denning, curate of St Mary’s Church in Brecon, informed the Commissioners: Teach English, and bigotry will be banished . . . I cannot too strongly express my opinion about the necessity of getting rid of the Welsh language . . . banish the Welsh language, and Englishmen would come and reside here, and thus a healthy tone would

14 15 16

NLW, MS Castell Gorfod no. 37. Reports into the State of Education in Wales, II, p. 101. Ibid., p. 96.

299


300

Table 1: Language spoken by populations of Builth Wells, Builth Registration District, Breconshire, Radnorshire and Wales (2 years and over)

Builth Wells1 Builth R.D.2 Breconshire3 Radnorshire4 Wales5 1 2 3 4 5

Number Welsh

Both

5 858 5228 75 508036

271 1828 13699 924 402253

English

Total

1336 1612 4745 7431 31086 50013 15270 16269 759416 1669705

Percentage Welsh Both 0.3 11.5 10.4 0.5 30.4

16.8 24.6 27.4 5.7 24.1

English Total 82.9 63.9 62.2 93.8 45.5

100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0

Excluding 27 individuals whose language was not given. Excluding 37 individuals whose language was not given and 4 who spoke other languages. Excluding 307 individuals whose language was not given and 15 who spoke other languages. Excluding 54 individuals whose language was not given and 3 who spoke other languages. Excluding 12,833 individuals whose language was not given and 3,076 who spoke other languages.

be given to society . . . give us English schools, and you may, under God, be made the means of conferring on poor Wales a great and lasting blessing.17

During a visit to the Calvinistic Methodist Sunday school in Builth in 1846, Jelinger C. Symons commented favourably on the quality of the English spoken by the pupils. He noted that the older children were able to communicate in Welsh, while the younger children conversed through the medium of English, which suggests that the change in the language spoken by the inhabitants of Builth occurred during the first half of the nineteenth century: We were struck with the purity of the English spoken; and this appears singular when it is considered that this parish is on the very verge of the district where Welsh is the language of the people; indeed, in this very school, whilst all the young persons were reading and speaking English correctly the elder ones were assembled by themselves and were reading the Welsh Testament, questioning each other, as is the custom, upon the passages they read.18

It is significant that one of the reasons why Llandovery was preferred to Builth as the site for a grammar school in 1848 was that the latter was suffering from ‘the encroachment of the English language’ in the area.19 Table 1 reveals that by 1891 the majority of the population of Builth Wells were monoglot English, and that the percentage of monoglot English speakers was much higher than that recorded in the Registration District of Builth and the 17 18 19

Ibid., p. 99. Ibid., p. 135. Colin P. F. Hughes, Builth Wells High School: A Centenary History 1896–1996 (Builth Wells, 1996), p. 3.


301

Table 2: Language spoken by age (2 years and over)

Age

Number Welsh

Both

English

Total

Percentage Welsh

Both

English

Total

2–5 6–14 15–24 25–44 45–64 65+

– 2 – – 1 2

9 19 41 88 76 38

101 307 290 363 209 66

110 328 331 451 286 106

– 0.6 – – 0.3 1.9

8.2 5.8 12.4 19.5 26.6 35.8

91.8 93.6 87.6 80.5 73.1 62.3

100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0

Total

5

271

1336

1612

0.3

16.8

82.9

100.0

county of Brecon. Since Builth Wells was situated on the border between Radnorshire and Breconshire, it was not surprising that its linguistic pattern more strongly resembled that of Radnorshire than Breconshire: 82.9 per cent of the population of Builth Wells were recorded as monoglot English, and a further 16.8 per cent were bilingual. The town of Builth Wells was divided into two enumeration districts in the 1891 census, but since the railway station of Builth Wells was situated in the parish of Llanelwedd that particular enumeration district was also included in the sample. Table 2, which reveals the language spoken by the people of Builth Wells according to age, highlights the fact that English speakers were dominant within all age groups. The fact that the highest percentage of those able to speak Welsh could be found among those aged 65 and over and the lowest percentage among the under 15-year-olds demonstrates that the loss of Welsh had occurred within three generations. It is significant that of the 150 registered as ‘scholars’, 139 (92.7 per cent) were returned as monoglot English, with a further 10 (6.7 per cent) stating that they were bilingual. The only monoglot Welsh scholar was Elizabeth Jones, a 10-yearold Carmarthenshire girl who was staying with her uncle, David Pugh, at 1 Warwick House. Several observers have drawn attention to the fact that the Anglicized character of education in Wales in the second half of the nineteenth century played a critical role in transforming the language of children. Evidence of such linguistic change can be found in the parish of Cray, where the teacher Ebenezer Field wrote in 1872 that he was obliged to caution his pupils for speaking Welsh in school and in the playground. His successor, Nathaniel Evans, failed to convince the children of the necessity to speak English.20 However, the situation was very different in Builth Wells. Although a difference of 2.4 per cent 20

Glenville Powell, ‘Hanes Plwyf Crai, 1851–1951, Rhan II’, Brycheiniog, X (1964), 51–2.


302


Age

Sex

2–5


– – – 2 – – – – – 1 1 1

M F

1 4

6–14 15–24 25–44 45–64 65+

Total


English

Total

4 5 9 10 15 26 50 38 37 39 21 17

54 47 137 170 126 164 156 207 100 109 29 37

58 52 146 182 141 190 206 245 137 149 51 55

– – – 1.1 – – – – – 0.7 1.9 1.8

136 135

602 734

739 873

0.1 0.5

English

Total

6.9 9.6 6.2 5.5 10.6 13.7 24.3 15.5 27.0 26.2 41.2 30.9

93.1 90.4 93.8 93.4 89.4 86.3 75.7 84.5 73.0 73.1 56.9 67.3

100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0

18.4 15.5

81.5 84.0

100.0 100.0

can be seen in the number of bilinguals aged between 2 and 5 and those between 6 and 14, the fact that the overwhelming majority of individuals in all age categories were monoglot English speakers strongly implies that English was the language of the home. The majority of Welsh-speaking pupils who attended school in the town hailed from the surrounding rural areas, and it was not until December 1908 that Welsh was introduced into the curriculum of the county school (est. 1896), following the intervention of Owen M. Edwards in his capacity as Chief Inspector of the Welsh Department.21 Such action, however, had little impact on linguistic patterns in the town itself, and in 1910 it was claimed that children were not able to understand the language of their forefathers since the younger generation had adopted the English tongue.22 Table 3 shows the language spoken by the population of Builth according to age and sex. Although males were more likely to migrate to Builth, the percentage of both indigenous males and females was significant. Of the 873 females (aged 2 years and over) living in Builth, 468 (53.6 per cent) were born within the county of Breconshire, and a further 189 (21.6 per cent) originated from Radnorshire. Of the 739 males, 362 (49.0 per cent) had remained in their native county of Brecon, while 137 (18.5 per cent) had been born in Radnorshire. Females accounted for 55.6 per cent of the 782 inhabitants between 15 and 44 years of age. Over 84 per cent of males (aged 10 years and over) were gainfully 21 22

Hughes, Builth Wells, p. 30. ‘I godi’r hen iaith yn ei hôl’, Cymru, XXXVIII, no. 226 (May 1910), 245.


occupied, compared with 42 per cent of females. Table 3 highlights the contrast in language ability of both sexes in Builth, although it must be stressed that the majority of both sexes were monoglot English, 81.5 per cent in the case of males compared with 84 per cent of females. The overall percentages suggest that males were more inclined to be bilingual. However, the pattern varied according to age categories. Females comprised the majority of bilingual persons in the 2–5 and 15–24 age groups, yet the percentages were completely reversed in the other age categories. The most significant of these was the post–65 category, where 41.2 per cent of males were bilingual, compared with 30.9 per cent of females. Although four of the five monoglot Welsh individuals were female, they represented a mere fraction of the population. The most striking statistic in Table 3 is the increase in the proportion of monoglot English speakers at the expense of bilingual speakers: of those aged 65 and over, 41.2 per cent of males and 30.9 per cent of females were bilingual, but the percentages dwindled to 6.9 per cent and 9.6 per cent respectively in the 2–5 age category. The percentages prove that the process of Anglicization was not based on gender, and that it influenced both sexes alike. Table 4, which lists the birthplace of the inhabitants of Builth Wells, reveals that the overwhelming majority of the population had been born and bred in Wales: 1,323 (82.1 per cent) were of Welsh origin, 808 (61.1 per cent) of whom were natives of Breconshire and 325 (24.6 per cent) of whom hailed from Radnorshire. The 266 individuals born in England accounted for 16.5 per cent of the total. The majority of the English-born individuals were between 15 and 44 years old, and since they formed but a small minority of the people in this age group it is evident that migration was not wholly responsible for the increasing use of English in Builth Wells. Many of those aged 2 years and over were natives of Builth Wells: 487 (30.2 per cent) stated they had been born in the town, and a further 54 claimed that Llanelwedd was their birthplace. An examination of the birthplaces of the 843 individuals aged 25 years and over reveals that 331 (39.3 per cent) hailed from Breconshire and 202 (24.0 per cent) from Radnorshire. Therefore, 63.2 per cent of the population aged 25 and over were born in the locality, and 74.3 per cent of these were monoglot English speakers. In order to gain a more detailed picture of the linguistic situation in Builth Wells, it is necessary to concentrate upon the correlation between the two languages within individual households. Of the 348 households enumerated in the census, 226 (64.9 per cent) were headed by a married person, 45 (12.9 per cent) by a single person, and 77 (22.1 per cent) by a widower. Of the 843 aged 25 and over, 473 (56.1 per cent) were married, 247 (29.3 per cent) were single and 123 (14.6 per cent) were widowers. In view of the fact that females outnumbered males by 130 in Builth Wells, it is not surprising that the number of married males over the age of 25 was 240 (60.9 per cent), compared with 232 (51.7 per cent) married females. Children comprised 36.8 per cent of the population and were

303


304


Number Welsh

Both

English

Total


English

Total

Breconshire Radnorshire Glamorgan Montgomeryshire Carmarthenshire Monmouthshire Cardiganshire Denbighshire Merioneth Pembrokeshire Flintshire Caernarfonshire Wales2

1 – – 1 3 – – – – – – – –

160 20 21 11 24 3 15 3 3 1 4 1 –

647 305 27 30 8 21 1 4 3 5 – – 1

808 325 48 42 35 24 16 7 6 6 4 1 1

0.1 – – 2.4 8.6 – – – – – – – –

19.8 6.2 43.8 26.2 68.6 12.5 93.8 42.9 50.0 16.7 100.0 100.0 –

80.1 93.8 56.2 71.4 22.8 87.5 6.2 57.1 50.0 83.3 – – 100.0

100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0

England

–

5

261

266

–

1.9

98.1

100.0

Other3

–

–

22

22

–

–

100.0

100.0

Total

5

271

1335

1611

0.3

16.8

82.9

100.0

1 2 3

Excluding one whose place of birth was not given. County unknown. Place of birth: Ireland 8, America 5, Scotland 4, India 2, Germany 1, Isle of Man 1, East Indies 1.

present in 61.5 per cent of all households. As has been highlighted in earlier tables, it is clear that very few of the younger generation were conversant with the Welsh language since 550 (92.9 per cent) of them were monoglot English speakers. Table 5 reveals that there was not one monoglot Welsh speaker among the heads of household and their wives and that 252 (72.6 per cent) heads of household were monoglot English. The fact that 139 (40.1 per cent) heads originated from Breconshire and a further 100 (28.8 per cent) from Radnorshire suggests that the preservation of the language was not among the priorities of the local people. Forty-one (11.8 per cent) heads of household hailed from other parts of Wales, and 62 (17.9 per cent) were of English birth. Of the 95 heads who described themselves as bilingual, 57 (60.0 per cent) originated from Breconshire, 9 (9.5 per cent) from Radnorshire, and a further 28 (29.5 per cent) from other parts of Wales. A similar pattern emerges regarding the wives’ birthplace: 126 (61.8 per cent) were natives of either Radnorshire or Breconshire, while 31 (15.2 per cent) originated from other parts of Wales, and 43 (21.1 per cent) from England. Of the 43 wives registered as bilingual, 29 (67.4 per cent) had been born either in


305


Number Welsh Both

English

Total


English

Total

Heads Wives Children2 Relatives Servants/maidservants Boarders/lodgers Visitors Others3

– – – 3 – – – 2

95 43 42 14 34 31 5 7

252 161 550 90 135 96 14 36

347 204 592 107 169 127 19 45

– – – 2.8 – – – 4.4

27.4 21.1 7.1 13.1 20.1 24.4 26.3 15.6

72.6 78.9 92.9 84.1 79.9 75.6 73.7 80.0

100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0

Total

5

271

1334

1610

0.3

16.8

82.9

100.0

1 2 3

Excluding 2 individuals whose relationship to the head of household was not given. Includes adopted children and stepchildren. 42 inmates at workhouse, 2 vagrants at workhouse, 1 nurse at workhouse.

Breconshire or Radnorshire, while the remaining 14 (32.6 per cent) hailed from other counties in Wales. Table 6 provides a more detailed picture of the language spoken in the homes of Builth Wells. Only a small percentage of nuclear families were able to speak Welsh. English was the only language spoken by the parents and children in 105 (70.9 per cent) households. One parent spoke Welsh in twenty-five homes, and in twenty-four of these linguistically mixed households the children were monoglot English speakers. In only eighteen homes were both parents able to speak Welsh. Of these, ten households recorded that the children were also Welsh speakers. Four of the ten heads of household had been born in Breconshire, two in Carmarthenshire, one in each of the counties of Montgomery, Glamorgan and Merioneth, and one, namely Marmaduke Howell, a 60-year-old solicitor, in Middlesex. He had been born in Islington, but his wife hailed from Llanddewi Fach in Radnorshire, and their ten children, aged between 8 and 30, had been born in Builth Wells. They employed two local girls as maids, one of whom was bilingual. The language spoken by the other one is not stipulated. Seven of the ten bilingual families lived in close proximity to one another. Thomas Richards, a carpenter foreman, lived with his wife and three children at Gwernyfed, near the row of houses known as the Terrace, where Rees Bebb, Thomas Price and David Williams and their families lived. Owen Williams, a Calvinistic Methodist minister, lived at the Strand Grove Villa, which was situated near 1 Strand Terrace, the home of Marmaduke Howell, and 1 Warwick House, the residence of David Pugh and his family. It is likely that members of the families residing in these seven houses socialized with one another regularly.


306


W B W B E B E E W


– – – – – – – – –

– – – 10 – – – – –

– – – 7 14 10 105 – –

– – – 1 – 1 – – –

– – – 18 14 11 105 – –

– – – – – – – – – – 55.6 38.9 – – 100.0 – – 90.9 – – 100.0 – – – – – –

– – – 5.5 – 9.1 – – –

– – – 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 – –

–

10

136

2

148

–

1.3

100.0

6.8

91.9


Only in one household headed by bilingual parents were the children returned as being of mixed linguistic ability. David Samuel of Erwgilfach Farm was a native of Llanfechan, while his wife Mary and their seven children had been born in Llanafan Fawr. The five older children, aged between 14 and 32, were bilingual, but Vaughan and Alfred, aged 8 and 11 respectively, were monoglot English speakers. Of the seven households where both parents were bilingual, but had not reared their children to speak Welsh, five heads were from Breconshire and two from Carmarthenshire. Of the twenty-five households where one of the parents were bilingual, only one had children of mixed linguistic ability; the rest had been brought up as monoglot English speakers. Theophilus Boulrer, a 46-year-old relieving officer and registrar of births and deaths, was born in the parish of Llandegley in Radnorshire, but had settled with his family at 1 Pendre Villa. He was an English monoglot, while his wife, Margaret, a native of Rhewl in Denbighshire, was bilingual. Their four children had been born in Builth, but only the eldest, John, an 11-year-old scholar, was able to communicate in both languages; the other three, aged between five and ten, were English monoglots. The Boulrers employed a 24-year-old maid from nearby Aberedw, and she also was an English monoglot. There were also two visitors staying at the Boulrers’ residence, namely Sarah Ellis, a 35-year-old schoolmistress from Swansea, and 4year-old Evangeline Ellis, a native of Pwllheli, both of whom were bilingual. Although Thomas Boulrer’s eldest child was bilingual, the fact that the younger children were monoglot English speakers suggests that English was the language used predominantly in their home and that Welsh was gradually losing ground.


307


Number Welsh

Both

English

Total


English

Total

Breconshire Radnorshire Glamorgan Montgomeryshire Carmarthenshire Monmouthshire Cardiganshire Pembrokeshire Flintshire Wales1

– – – – – – – – – –

14 – 3 2 3 1 5 – 2 –

17 10 3 5 2 4 – 3 – 1

31 10 6 7 5 5 5 3 2 1

– – – – – – – – – –

45.2 – 50.0 28.6 60.0 20.0 100.0 – 100.0 –

54.8 100.0 50.0 71.4 40.0 80.0 – 100.0 – 100.0

100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0

England

–

1

49

50

–

2.0

98.0

100.0

Other2

–

–

2

2

–

–

100.0

100.0

Total

–

31

96

127

–

24.4

75.6

100.0

1 2

County unknown. Place of birth: Ireland 2.

Although Builth was renowned for its wells, which attracted a considerable number of visitors, comparatively few boarders, lodgers and visitors were present on the night of the census. This was not surprising since it was conducted during the spring. Boarders or lodgers were present in 72 (20.7 per cent) households and totalled 127 in number. Seventy-six (59.8 per cent) of them were unmarried males, and although there was not one monoglot Welsh speaker among them, 31 (24.4 per cent) were registered as bilingual, and a further 96 (75.6 per cent) as monoglot English. Forty-one (32.3 per cent) of the lodgers were natives of either Breconshire or Radnorshire, while 34 (26.8 per cent) had been born in other counties in Wales, and 50 (39.4 per cent) in England. The greatest number of lodgers under the same roof – i.e. eighteen – were to be found at the home of William Roberts in Market Street. The house contained twenty-three bedrooms and was officially registered as a lodging house. William Roberts, a native of Brecon, was registered as bilingual, while his wife, a native of Hereford, was a monoglot English speaker. Four of their lodgers were registered as bilingual, two of whom had been born in Breconshire, while the other two were natives of Flintshire and Monmouthshire. There were four instances where the lodger and head of household originated from the same parish; for example, John Morgan, a bilingual assistant overseer from Llanddewi’r-cwm in Breconshire, had lodgings in the home of Abram Davies, a monoglot English butcher who was also a native of


308

Llanddewi’r-cwm. Of the nineteen visitors registered in Builth, fourteen were monoglot English, and eleven were single females. Six hailed from either Breconshire or Radnorshire, six from other counties in Wales, and six from England. The only foreign visitor in Builth Wells at the time of the census was Francis Fultin, a 56-year-old German spinster who was staying with Edward Thomas at Welfield. When the first census was conducted in 1801, a total of 677 individuals were enumerated in Builth Wells, 148 (21.9 per cent) of whom were employed in agriculture and 161 (23.8 per cent) in trade.23 In his study of the main occupations of the people of Builth in the 1841 and 1851 censuses, Owen Ashton categorized three main sources of employment in the area: ‘farm labourers working on the land roughly from the age of twelve, young women who were in service by fourteen and finally tradesmen with their many shop assistants’.24 By 1891, 832 of the inhabitants of Builth Wells were gainfully occupied, and accounted for 61.1 per cent of the population (aged 10 years and over). As Table 8 shows, the percentage of employed males (84.1 per cent) was double the percentage of employed females (42.0 per cent). The number of individuals earning a living in the agricultural sector had fallen to 48 (5.8 per cent), 17 (35.4 per cent) of whom were bilingual. Although the importance of agriculture to the local economy had diminished, the number of people who earned their living in manufacturing and the domestic services had increased: 162 (19.5 per cent) of the occupied population were employed in the former class, twenty-eight of whom described themselves as dressmakers, while a further nine were registered as apprentice or assistant dressmakers. Of the individuals employed as manufacturers, not one was a monoglot Welsh speaker and only 26 (16.0 per cent) were bilingual. 208 (25.0 per cent) of the occupied population stated that they were employed in the domestic services sector; of these 32 (15.4 per cent) were bilingual and one was monoglot Welsh. It is hardly surprising that 169 (54.0 per cent) of the women in employment worked in the domestic services sector, and that the vast majority (76.9 per cent) were employed as indoor servants. The fact that the manufacturing and domestic services sectors provided employment for 44.8 per cent of the population (aged 10 years and over) of Builth indicates that the new service industries were playing a prominent role in the economic structure of the town. In 1891 the overwhelming majority of the inhabitants of Builth Wells were monoglot English; only 16.8 per cent of the population were able to converse in both English and Welsh. Over 90 per cent of those under the age of fifteen were monoglot English, and this clearly demonstrates that the younger generations

23 24

NLW, MS Castell Gorfod no. 37. Ashton, A Short History of Builth Wells, p. 23.


309

were not encouraged to retain the language of their forefathers and that the future of the Welsh language in Builth Wells was extremely precarious. Although many families had moved into the area, in-migration cannot be held solely responsible for the process of Anglicization since over 60 per cent of the population were natives of Breconshire or the neighbouring county of Radnorshire, and the vast majority of these were monoglot English speakers. At the turn of the twentieth century A. G. Bradley observed that Welsh was the language heard on the streets on market day, although the linguistic pattern of the area had changed appreciably: The languages mingle here to some extent, though, as a regular tongue, Welsh has fallen back from the Wye, within the last century, some five to ten miles, and now follows a wavering line from the top of the Epynt range across the Irfon valley into the congenial mountain wilderness to the northward, where it will no doubt defy the aggressor. There is plenty of Welsh however, spoken in Builth town, and on market days there are many visitors who can speak nothing else.25

Despite Bradley’s optimism, in Builth, as elsewhere in the county, the inhabitants had succumbed to the notion that the English language was synonymous with prosperity and respectability. As a result, by the end of the nineteenth century the Welsh language was very much a marginal tongue in the town and its future in severe jeopardy.


Industrial class AGRICULTURE Farming Farmers, graziers Relatives assisting Agricultural labourers Farm servants Woodman Nurserymen, seedsmen Land service Land draining Breeding Farrier 25


– – – – – –

6 1 4 2 – –

7 – 7 7 1 2

13 1 11 9 1 2

–

–

2

2

–

1

–

1

Bradley, Highways and Byways in South Wales, p. 69.


– –

1 –

1 1

2 1

–

–

1

1


310

Industrial class Dealing Cattle dealers/drovers Total % BUILDING Management Contractor/builder Architect’s clerk Operatives Stonemasons Bricklayer Plasterers Carpenters/joiners Plumbers/painters/ glaziers Apprentices Labourers Road, railway making Road labourer Railway labourers/ platelayers Total %


– – –

2 16 36.4

2 28 63.6

4 44 100.0

– –

1 –

– 1

1 1

– – – –

2 – 2 4

9 1 2 21

11 1 4 25

– – –

– – –

13 6 8

13 6 8

–

–

1

1

– – –

4 13 16.9

2 64 83.1

6 77 100.0

– –

9 3

9 3

3

7

10

– –

1 1

1 1

–

3

3

– –

12 6

12 6

– –

6 1

6 1

–

1

1

7 –

16 3

23 3

MANUFACTURING Machinery, tools, watches, etc. Skilled manual – Apprentices/assistants – Iron and steel Skilled manual – Earthenware Proprietors – Assistant – Leather Skilled manual – Wood, furniture, paper, etc. Skilled manual – Unskilled manual – Carriages and harnesses Skilled manual – Unskilled manual – Woollens Labourer – Dress Skilled manual – Apprentices/assistants –


– –

1 25.0

3 75.0

4 100.0

–

1

–

1

– –

1 100.0

– –

1 100.0

–

–

1

1

– –

7 3

26 6

33 9


Industrial class Food, drink, tobacco Proprietor Manager Skilled manual Apprentices/assistants Unskilled manual/ labourers Printing Skilled manual Apprentice Unspecified Engine drivers/fitters Apprentices/assistants Total % TRANSPORT Warehouses Messengers Ocean navigation Ship owner Railways Stationmaster/officials Clerks/booking office Engine drivers/stokers/ signalmen Porters Roads Cabmen, coachmen Carmen, carriers, cartmen Other Total % DEALING Coal Coal merchants Raw materials Timber merchants, wood dealers Dress Drapers etc. Assistants Food Butchers, fishmongers Provision dealers, grocers Greengrocers


– – – –

1 – 3 –

– 1 7 6

1 1 10 6

–

1

3

4

– –

– –

1 1

1 1

– – – –

– – 15 13.5

5 3 96 86.5

5 3 111 100.0

–

–

5

5

–

–

1

1

– –

1 1

5 5

6 6

– –

1 1

8 7

9 8

–

–

4

4

– – – –

1 1 6 12.5

7 – 42 87.5

8 1 48 100.0

–

2

1

3

–

1

2

3

– –

– 2

4 5

– – –

2 2 –

9 3 1

311


– –

– 1

4 3

4 4

– –

11 21.6

40 78.4

51 100.0

4 7

– –

– 1

1 7

1 8

11 5 1

– –

4 –

7 1

11 1


312

Industrial class


Assistants – 2 Tobacco, drink and lodging Wine merchant – – Inn and hotel keepers, publicans – 4 Lodging and boarding house keepers – 1 Coffee house keeper – – Cellarmen, inn servants, assistants – – Furniture and household utensils Furniture dealer – – Earthenware, china, glass dealers – – Ironmongers – – Assistants – – Chemists, druggists Chemists – – Assistant – 1 Stationery and publications Stationers, booksellers, newsagents – – General dealers General shopkeeper – 1 Hawkers – 2 Assistants – – Others and unspecified Merchants, agents – 1 Auctioneer and house agent – – Assistant – – Total – 21 % – 23.3 INDUSTRIAL SERVICES Banking, insurance, accounts Bank service – Insurance service – Commercial clerks – Total – % –

6 1 2 9 69.2

12

14

1

1

8

Language spoken Females Welsh Both English Total –

–

5

5

12

–

1

9

10

– –

1 –

– –

3 –

10 1

13 1

5

5

–

3

9

12

–

–

–

–

1

1

2 2 2

2 2 2

–

–

1

1

3 –

3 1

–

–

–

–

2

2

– 1 1

1 3 1

– –

1 1

1 6

2 7

5 1 1 69 76.7

6 1 1 90 100.0

– –

14 18.7

61 81.3

75 100.0

1 1 2 4 30.8

7 2 4 13 100.0

–

1

1

2

PUBLIC SERVICES AND PROFESSIONALS Central administration Civil service officer – – 1 Post Office, telegraph officials – 2 4 Post Office clerks, telephone service – – 2

1 6 2


Industrial class


Local administration County officer Poor Law officials Defence Soldier Police Sergeant Constable Law Solicitors Law clerks Medicine Surgeons, general practitioners Medical student Dentist Education Headteachers, schoolteachers Assistant teacher, pupil teacher Music teachers Religion Clergymen CM minister Congregational minister Theological student Amusement Musicians Art, literature, science Photographer Total % DOMESTIC SERVICES Indoor service Servants/maidservants Domestic nurses Outdoor service Coachmen and grooms Gardeners Gamekeepers Extra service Charwomen, laundry women Hairdressers Others Total %

– –

– 3

1 2

1 5

–

–

1

1

– –

1 –

– 1

1 1

– –

3 2

2 4

5 6

– – –

1 1 –

3 – 1

4 1 1

–

2

1

– –

– 1

– – – –

313


–

–

1

1

3

–

2

2

4

1 1

1 2

– –

– –

1 3

1 3

5 1 1 1

2 – – –

7 1 1 1

–

1

1

2

– – –

– 25 46.3

1 29 53.7

1 54 100.0

– –

3 27.3

8 72.7

11 100.0

– –

1 –

6 –

7 –

1 –

20 2

109 7

130 9

– – –

1 2 –

6 16 2

7 18 2

– – – – –

– – – 4 10.3

– 3 2 35 89.7

– 3 2 39 100.0

–

6

23

29

– 1 0.6

– 28 16.6

1 140 82.8

1 169 100.0


314

Industrial class




– – –

8 8 18.6

35 35 81.4

43 43 100.0

– – –

2 2 100.0

– – –

2 2 100.0

TOTAL OCCUPIED %

– –

117 22.4

402 77.6

519 100.0

1 0.3

60 19.2

252 80.5

313 100.0

1 3.3

6 20.0

23 76.7

30 100.0

2 0.6

61 17.7

281 81.7

344 100.0

– –

4 5.9

64 94.1

68 100.0

1 1.1

6 6.8

81 92.0

88 100.0


127 20.6

489 79.2

617 100.0

4 0.5

127 17.0

614 82.4

745 100.0

Residual population % School pupils %

15 Llanidloes (Montgomeryshire) DAVID LLEWELYN JONES

Llanidloes, a market town in south Montgomeryshire, was described by Thomas Pennant in the 1770s as ‘a small town with a great market for yarn, which is manufactured into fine flannels, and sent weekly by waggon-loads to Welshpool’.1 Since the middle of the sixteenth century the woollen industry had played an important part in the economy of Montgomeryshire, and the county was blessed with assets which might have enabled the industry to flourish. However, such promise never materialized, primarily due to lack of organization, capital and vision.2 Nevertheless, the woollen industry remained an important feature of the economic fabric of Llanidloes. Although many weavers were people who earned their living in agriculture and used the woollen industry as a means to supplement their income, the industry gradually became more mechanized and centralized. However, the bulk of the weaving was carried out by hand in the large storeyed houses and ‘weaving shops’ built during the early decades of the nineteenth century, and it is estimated that some 795 weavers worked over 800 handlooms in Llanidloes by the early 1830s.3 The population of the parish of Llanidloes increased dramatically as a result of the expansion in the woollen trade, and more than doubled during the first half of the nineteenth century when it grew from 2,282 in 1801 to 4,604 by 1851. This rapid population increase gave rise to new social and economic pressures, and the harsh living and working conditions endured by the textile workers of the town became the source of considerable discontent. The Chartist movement of the late 1830s received much support among the textile workers of Montgomeryshire and in April 1839 the protests of the Llanidloes workers culminated in a riot which lasted some five days until the arrival of the troops.4 1 2 3

4

John Rhys (ed.), Tours in Wales, by Thomas Pennant, Esq. (Caernarfon, 1883), p. 184. J. Geraint Jenkins, The Welsh Woollen Industry (Cardiff, 1969), p. 116. Pigot and Co.’s National Commercial Directory for 1828–29 (Manchester, 1829), p. 1162; NLW, MSS ex 1247 (i); Jenkins, The Welsh Woollen Industry, p. 150. See T. Islwyn Morris, One Hundred Years Ago: The Story of the Montgomeryshire Chartists (Aberystwyth, 1939).


316

Although the woollen industry continued to flourish in Llanidloes until the beginning of the twentieth century and remained an invaluable asset to the town and its people, decline was inevitable as a result of lack of capital and fierce competition from such regions as Yorkshire.5 During the 1860s the Glyn-hafren and Glan-clywedog factories were combined to form the ‘Welsh Flannel, Tweed and Woolstapling Company’, and by 1891 the woollen industry of Llanidloes was almost entirely in the hands of three large companies, namely the Phoenix Flannel Company, the Cambrian Flannel Company, and the Montgomeryshire Flannel Company Ltd.6 The social and economic fortunes of late-nineteenth-century Llanidloes also benefited greatly from the successful working of the lead mines in the surrounding districts, particularly from the 1840s onwards. Several mines were to be found in the area, but the most significant and productive was the mine at Y Fan, situated a few miles to the north of Llanidloes. Under the careful guidance of the considerably experienced manager, Captain William Williams, a rich vein was struck in the mid-1860s, and the share prices of the London company which owned the Van mine increased from £4.5s. in 1868 to £83 in 1870.7 In 1874 an estimated 700 men were employed in the mine,8 and two years later production reached its maximum when 6,840 tons of lead were extracted.9 Experienced lead miners from Ystumtuen and Cwmystwyth in Cardiganshire as well as local Montgomeryshire men sought employment at the mine, and soon the place was brimming with activity. Such prosperity helped to enliven the sociocultural life of the community, and choirs and eisteddfodau became particularly popular during this time. The role of Llanidloes as a bustling market town and commercial centre had been secured in 1838 when local tradesmen established a flannel market. Small family businesses flourished and Llanidloes became particularly well-known as an important printing centre in Montgomeryshire. In 1827 the Welsh Wesleyan Methodist Bookroom moved from Llanfair Caereinion to the Elephant Buildings in Long Bridge Street, Llanidloes, and two of the leading Welsh denominational monthly journals were published here, namely Yr Eurgrawn Wesleyaidd, under the editorship of the Revd John Williams, and Trysor i Blentyn.10 In 1830 John Jones (Idrisyn) established the Albion-Wasg in the town, where he published a new periodical for children, entitled Y Winllan, while John Mendus Owen, formerly an apprentice to John Jones, published several important books on Welsh choral 5 6

7

8 9 10

E. Ronald Morris, Llanidloes Town and Parish: An Illustrated Account (Llanidloes, 1993), p. 14. Jenkins, The Welsh Woollen Industry, pp. 161–2; Sutton’s Directory of North Wales for 1889–90 (Manchester, 1890), p. 348. Edward Hamer, ‘A Parochial Account of Llanidloes’, MC, V (1872), 31; W. J. Lewis, Lead Mining in Wales (Cardiff, 1967), pp. 181–2. NLW, MSS ex 1247 (i). Morris, Llanidloes Town and Parish, p. 15. J. Iorwerth Davies, ‘The History of Printing in Montgomeryshire 1789–1960: The Printers of Llanidloes’, MC, 73 (1985), 38–42.

LLANIDLOES (MONTGOMERYSHIRE)

music, including Gramadeg Cerddoriaeth (1838) – the first book on the rudiments of music to be published in the Welsh language – written by the Revd John Mills (Ieuan Glan Alarch) (1812–73), a native of the town.11 Other members of the Mills family played a prominent role in the social and cultural life of Llanidloes, and were among the leading members of the town’s Welsh literary and musical societies in the early nineteenth century. Indeed, since so many prominent and gifted bards and musicians lived in Llanidloes during this period, the town was known as ‘Llanllenorion’ (Literary Parish). A new literary society was established during the early twentieth century, with David Davies MP, of Llandinam, as its president but, unlike the societies which thrived in the town in previous decades, its activities were rarely held through the medium of the native tongue.12 The decline of the Welsh language in Llanidloes during the course of the nineteenth century was frequently commented upon by local observers. There is no doubt that Anglicizing influences gained considerable ground in the domains of education and religion, particularly during the latter half of the century. According to the evidence of the Education Commissioners of 1847, ‘no county in North Wales has been so much neglected in respect of education’ as Montgomeryshire, and together with Newtown, Llanllwchaearn and Llanfair Caereinion, Llanidloes was noted as having suffered ‘the worst consequence from the want of education’.13 The British school established at Llanidloes in 1844 was forced to close after six months because of poor attendance and, according to the 1847 Education Report, only 196 pupils were registered at the national school in Smithfield Street, which had been established in 1845. Henry Vaughan Johnson, one of the commissioners, reported that both the schoolmaster and schoolmistress at the national school had been born in England and did not understand a word of Welsh. In addition to criticizing the area’s educational provision, the commissioner also made scathing comments concerning the ‘flagrant immorality of the people of Llanidloes, in respect of drunkenness, illegitimacy, and profanity’.14 The Welsh language received little support in the religious institutions of the town during this period. While giving evidence to the Commissioners on Municipal Corporations in 1833, John Davies, vicar of Llanidloes parish, remarked that nearly twice as many people attended the English services than the Welsh morning service and sermon held on alternate Sundays. By 1873 the only Welsh services and sermons held in the parish church were on Sunday afternoons. In the Welsh Nonconformist chapels of Llanidloes, services continued to be held entirely in the native tongue, although it appeared that some churches were under 11 12 13

14

Ibid., 44. ‘Llanllenorion’, Cymru, XXXV, no. 206 (1908), 107–12. Reports of the Commissioners of Inquiry into the State of Education in Wales . . . in three parts. Part III. North Wales (London, 1847) (PP 1847 (872) XXVII), pp. 139–54. Ibid.

317


318

increasing pressure to introduce English-language services. When the Revd David Lloyd Jones became minister of the newly-built China Street Calvinistic Methodist Chapel in the early 1870s, he strongly supported the notion that religious instruction should be provided through the medium of English in order to meet the spiritual requirements of the younger generation. Members of his church clearly agreed with this viewpoint and in 1872–3 a new chapel was built by the Calvinistic Methodists at Bethel Street to meet the requirements of those who wished to worship in English.15 As E. Ronald Morris has observed: By the last decade of the 19th century, a process of anglicisation had begun. The causes for it are many, some deliberate and intentional, working through the new day schools, others the result of apathy and lack of awareness of the language’s value and the age old literary heritage it contained. The chapels eventually became English language institutions, with the exception of the large China Street (Calvinistic Methodist or Presbyterian) Church.16

All these factors had a considerable bearing on the linguistic profile of Llanidloes and several writers were acutely aware of the changes which were under way. As early as 1828 Walter Davies (Gwallter Mechain) commented upon the linguistic situation prevailing in the churches of the district, and noted that: The population of Llangurig and Llanidloes, on the southern side of the Severn, are mostly Welsh, and the Welsh Service predominates in these churches; but whether English be read every third or every fourth Sunday, I cannot say. Down the Severn from Llanidloes, the population becomes gradually more Anglicised.17

Writing in the early 1870s, Edward Hamer described the people of Llanidloes as ‘essentially Welsh’, but he was also aware of the social and economic changes which had gradually changed the linguistic pattern during the previous twenty years: The development of the flannel-trade, improvement in the prospect of the mines of the locality, and lastly, the construction of the Cambrian and Mid Wales systems of railways, may be mentioned among the chief causes of this alteration.18

15

16 17

18

Elias Jones, John Williams, T. Charles Williams (eds.), Cofiant a Phregethau y Diweddar Barchedig David Lloyd Jones, M.A., Llandinam (2nd ed., Wrexham, 1909), p. 34. Morris, Llanidloes Town and Parish, p. 19. D. Silvan Evans (ed.), The English Works of the Rev. Walter Davies (3 vols., Aberystwyth, 1868), III, pp. 438–9. Hamer, ‘A Parochial Account of Llanidloes’, 16.


319

Table 1: Language spoken by populations of Llanidloes, Newtown Registration District, Montgomeryshire and Wales (2 years and over)

Llanidloes1 Newtown R.D.2 Montgomeryshire3 Wales4 1 2 3 4

Number Welsh

Both

190 2784 16414 508036

1182 5870 15846 402253

English

Total

1081 2453 12000 20654 31770 64030 759416 1669705


48.2 28.4 24.8 24.1

English Total 44.1 58.1 49.6 45.5

100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0

Excluding 22 individuals whose language was not given. Excluding 114 individuals whose language was not given. Excluding 312 individuals whose language was not given and 17 who spoke other languages. Excluding 12,833 individuals whose language was not given and 3,076 who spoke other languages.

Hamer estimated that in 1871 some three-quarters of the inhabitants of Llanidloes were able to understand Welsh, about half of whom were bilingual and a quarter of whom were monoglot Welsh, while the remaining quarter were monoglot English speakers. In 1879 E. G. Ravenstein argued that, although Llanidloes was still relatively Welsh in character, the English language was fast encroaching upon the area and ‘Welsh is gradually being forgotten’.19 The historian Kenneth O. Morgan has expressed the opinion that a harmonious relationship existed between the two languages: ‘The mores of the people, say between Welsh-speaking Llanidloes and English-speaking Welshpool in Montgomeryshire . . . were long happily adjusted to these worlds of dual cultures and dual identities . . . and caused little friction between the different communities.’20 However, no matter how idyllic the relationship between the languages might have been, it was inevitable that one would gradually supersede the other. By 1891 the total population of the town of Llanidloes was 2,574. Of the 2,453 individuals (aged 2 years and over) who made a statement regarding their linguistic ability, the overwhelming majority were proficient in the English language. As Table 1 reveals, only 190 (7.7 per cent) individuals were returned as monoglot Welsh speakers, while 1,182 (48.2 per cent) were bilingual and 1,081 (44.1 per cent) spoke English only. Table 2, which shows the language spoken by the people of Llanidloes according to age, reveals that the linguistic changes had occurred within three generations. Nearly 20 per cent of those aged 65 and over were monoglot Welsh, while the figure dwindled to 3.3 per cent in the case of those between 6 and 14 19

20

E. G. Ravenstein, ‘On the Celtic Languages in the British Isles, a Statistical Survey’, Journal of the Royal Statistical Society, XLII (1879), 610. Kenneth O. Morgan, Rebirth of a Nation: Wales 1880–1980 (Oxford, 1981), p. 242.


320


Both

English

Total

2–5 6–14 15–24 25–44 45–64 65+

10 19 15 39 63 44

36 152 198 311 335 150

138 402 253 189 72 27

184 573 466 539 470 221

Total

190

1182

1081

2453

Age

Percentage Welsh

Both

English

Total

5.4 3.3 3.2 7.2 13.4 19.9

19.6 26.5 42.5 57.7 71.3 67.9

75.0 70.2 54.3 35.1 15.3 12.2

100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0

7.7

48.2

44.1

100.0

years old. Conversely, the percentage of monoglot English speakers increased by 100 per cent between the 25–44 and 6–14 age groups. The highest proportion of monoglot English speakers was recorded among young children between 2 and 5 years of age and, clearly, the great majority of the younger generation were brought up in an English-speaking environment. This is further endorsed by the fact that 388 (71.3 per cent) of the 544 children recorded as ‘scholars’ in the census were monoglot English speakers, while 140 (25.7 per cent) spoke both Welsh and English, and 16 (3.0 per cent) were returned as monoglot Welsh. Table 3, which provides a breakdown of language ability according to sex and age, shows that little difference emerged in relation to the language spoken by the male and female populations of Llanidloes: 56 per cent of males and 55.9 per cent of females were able to speak Welsh. However, slight variations in the linguistic ability of Welsh-speaking males and females were recorded. In all age groups, a greater proportion of monoglot Welsh speakers prevailed among the female population than among the males, the difference being nearly 10 per cent among the population aged 65 years and over. In-migration cannot be held solely responsible for the change within the linguistic pattern of the town since the overwhelming majority of the population were natives of Montgomeryshire. It is significant, however, that the increase in the percentage of monoglot English speakers occurs between the 25–44 and 45–64 age groups. Only 6 per cent of females aged between 45 and 64 were English by birth, compared with 8.7 per cent of those in the 25–44 age category. In relation to males, only 6.4 per cent of those aged between 45 and 64 hailed from England, compared with 16 per cent of those in the 25–44 age group. Such statistics suggest that in-migration within the economically active age groups had been a contributory factor in the encroachment of the English language in Llanidloes. It is striking, however, that females outnumbered males in Llanidloes in 1891. Among individuals aged between 15 and 44, females comprised 63.2 per cent of the total population of


321


Total

Number Sex Welsh

Both

English

Total



6 4 8 11 7 8 10 29 26 37 14 30

14 22 85 67 72 126 123 188 148 187 70 80

60 78 199 203 85 168 73 116 29 43 12 15

80 104 292 281 164 302 206 333 203 267 96 125

7.5 3.8 2.7 3.9 4.3 2.7 4.9 8.7 12.8 13.9 14.6 24.0

M F

71 119

512 670

458 623

1041 1412

6.8 8.4

English

Total

17.5 21.2 29.1 23.9 43.9 41.7 59.7 56.6 72.9 70.0 72.9 64.0

75.0 75.0 68.2 72.2 51.8 55.6 35.4 34.7 14.3 16.1 12.5 12.0

100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0

49.2 47.5

44.0 44.1

100.0 100.0

1,005, and it is evident that a significant proportion of the adult and mobile male population had recently left Llanidloes, presumably in search of employment in the rapidly-expanding industrial communities of south Wales or the midlands and north-west of England. Table 4, which offers an insight into the birthplace of the inhabitants of Llanidloes, reveals that the overwhelming majority were natives of Montgomeryshire. A total of 2,040 (83.5 per cent) individuals had been born in the county, of whom 1,558 (76.4 per cent) were natives of Llanidloes itself. A further 230 (9.4 per cent) hailed from other parts of Wales, mainly from the two neighbouring counties of Radnor and Cardigan, while only 158 individuals (6.5 per cent) were English by birth. The fourteen individuals who hailed from other countries included six Scots, three Irish, two returnee emigrants from America and one 35year-old monoglot English-speaking railway clerk, born in Barbados. An examination of the place of origin of the 1,230 individuals aged 25 and over revealed that 977 (79.4 per cent) were natives of Montgomeryshire, while only 79 (6.4 per cent) hailed from England. These figures strongly suggest that the shift towards bilingualism, which had occurred in the town during previous decades, had been primarily initiated among the indigenous population rather than as a direct result of the influx of incomers. A detailed examination of the language spoken within the individual homes of Llanidloes reveals the extent to which the English language had encroached upon home and family life by 1891. Some or all members of 621 (94.1 per cent) of the 660 households enumerated in the town in 1891 were proficient in the English


322


Number Welsh


Both

English

Total

168 1 9 1 1 – – 2 5 – 1 1 –

1056 15 25 5 14 2 4 9 7 11 5 4 1

816 32 2 28 7 18 11 2 1 1 3 – 2

2040 48 36 34 22 20 15 13 13 12 9 5 3

8.2 2.1 25.0 2.9 4.6 – – 15.4 38.5 – 11.1 20.0 –

England

–

18

140

158

Other2

–

2

12

189

1178

1075

Montgomeryshire Radnorshire Cardiganshire Glamorgan Denbighshire Breconshire Monmouthshire Flintshire Merioneth Caernarfonshire Carmarthenshire Anglesey Pembrokeshire

Total 1 2

English

Total

51.8 31.2 69.4 14.7 63.6 10.0 26.7 69.2 53.8 91.7 55.6 80.0 33.3

40.0 66.7 5.6 82.4 31.8 90.0 73.3 15.4 7.7 8.3 33.3 – 66.7

100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0

–

11.4

88.6

100.0

14

–

14.3

85.7

100.0

2442

7.7

48.2

44.0

100.0

Excluding 11 individuals whose place of birth was not given. Place of birth: Scotland 6, Ireland 3, Isle of Man 2, America 2, West Indies 1.

language and only in 39 (5.9 per cent) households were all members returned as speaking Welsh only. The occupants of 114 (18.4 per cent) of the 621 households spoke English only, while in 260 households the linguistic ability of members varied and both monoglot Welsh and English and bilingual individuals were housed under the same roof. Only in 247 of the 621 households (39.8 per cent) were all members returned as speaking both Welsh and English. Although the family unit had played a prominent role in the woollen industry of Montgomeryshire during the nineteenth century, by 1891 the depopulation which had occurred as a result of the decline of the industry had had a substantial effect on the family structure in Llanidloes. Of the 660 households only 50.1 per cent were headed by married couples, while 190 households (28.8 per cent) were headed by widows and widowers. The marriage rate for both sexes was very similar – 30.9 per cent of females and 31 per cent of males aged between 20 and 29 were married. The majority of the 657 heads of household were natives of Montgomeryshire and were mostly Welsh speaking: 435 (66.2 per cent) were bilingual, 78 (11.9 per cent) spoke Welsh only, while 144 (21.9 per cent) were monoglot English. Only 42 (6.4 per cent) heads of household had been born in England, ten of whom were natives


323


Number Welsh Both

Heads Wives Children2 Relatives Servants/maidservants Boarders/lodgers Visitors Total 1 2

English

Total


English

Total

78 38 46 14 2 9 3

435 209 361 77 48 43 8

144 82 661 108 35 33 17

657 329 1068 199 85 85 28

11.9 11.6 4.3 7.0 2.3 10.6 10.7

66.2 63.5 33.8 38.7 56.5 50.6 28.6

21.9 24.9 61.9 54.3 41.2 38.8 60.7

100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0

190

1182

1081

2451

7.8

48.1

44.1

100.0


of the neighbouring English county of Shropshire, and all except two were monoglot English speakers. Table 5, which provides a detailed breakdown of the linguistic ability of various members of the household unit, provides clear evidence of the extent to which knowledge of the Welsh language had declined within the homes and families of Llanidloes. Although the majority of heads of household and wives were bilingual, over 60 per cent of the ‘children’ – who comprised 43.6 per cent of the total population and were present in 428 (64.8 per cent) households – were unable to speak the native tongue. Table 6 is based on an analysis of the linguistic ability of the 1,049 children who belonged to the 234 nuclear families in the town. The number of families in which parents were able to converse in both languages was considerable and twothirds of the 234 households were headed by two Welsh-speaking parents. However, only in 84 (53.8 per cent) of the 156 households headed by two Welsh-speaking parents were all the children also able to speak Welsh. In the remaining 72 (46.2 per cent) households some or all of the children had been brought up as monoglot English speakers. In households where only one parent spoke Welsh, it was common practice for the children to be brought up without knowledge of the native tongue. Indeed, in only two of the forty households headed by one Welsh-speaking parent were all the children returned as Welsh speakers. David Jones, a bilingual draper from Trefeglwys, was one of the nineteen heads of household who had completed a Welsh-language census form, and he had also ensured that John, his 7-year-old son, spoke Welsh, even though his wife Sarah was a monoglot English speaker. It is significant that two other Welsh speakers were members of the Jones household, namely Sarah Pugh, a 21year-old maidservant, and John Jones, a 35-year-old draper’s assistant. At 2 Woodlands, Ellen Jervis, a 30-year-old bilingual native of Llangurig, was


324





Total

84 1 1 –

55 19 16 38

17 1 2 –

156 21 19 38

53.8 4.8 5.3 –

35.3 90.4 84.2 100.0

10.9 4.8 10.5 –

100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0

86

128

20

234

36.8

54.7

8.5

100.0

Welsh: monoglot Welsh and bilinguals; E: monoglot English; Mixed: mixture of Welsh-speaking and nonWelsh-speaking children in same household.

instrumental in ensuring that the Welsh language was transmitted to her children. Although her husband, David Jervis, a wool dyer, was a monoglot English speaker, the three older children (aged between 4 and 7) were all returned as bilingual speakers. Significantly, however, the Welsh language had not been acquired by any of the children in the thirty-eight households headed by two monoglot English-speaking parents. Over half the heads of such households were natives of England, and it is evident that they felt no need to learn the Welsh language nor to ensure that their children did so. Table 7 provides a more detailed picture of the process of language transmission among the 234 nuclear families noted above by revealing whether the Welshspeaking parents and their children were monoglot or bilingual. Only in 16 (10.3 per cent) of the 156 households headed by two Welsh-speaking parents were both parents returned as monoglot Welsh speakers. It is significant that only in nine of the sixteen households were the children also returned as Welsh monoglots. In five households, all the children were proficient in both Welsh and English, while some or all of the children in the remaining two homes had been entered as monoglot English speakers. For example, the two young sons of the Trefeglwysborn couple, Evan and Elizabeth Jones of 12 Lower Green Street, were returned as monoglot English, even though their parents claimed to be monoglot Welsh speakers. Under the circumstances it is difficult to believe that this was an accurate reflection of the linguistic situation in the Jones household, but it is clear that linguistic influences beyond the hearth were playing a crucial role in immersing the offspring of monoglot Welsh speakers in the English language. The greatest incidence of this generational shift from Welsh to English was found in the 130 households headed by two bilingual parents, for in 69 (53.1 per cent) such homes all or some of the children were entered as English monoglots. Among the Welsh-speaking parents whose children were enumerated as


325

Table 7: Language of children (aged 2 years and over) in households headed by monoglot and bilingual parents Linguistic ability Linguistic ability of children of parents Number of households Father Mother Welsh Both English Mixed Total W W B B B E E W E

W B W B E B E E W

Total

9 – 3 1 – – – – –

5 4 2 60 1 1 – – –

1 – – 54 18 15 38 1 1

1 – 1 15 1 2 – – –

16 4 6 130 20 18 38 1 1

13

73

128

20

234

Linguistic ability of children Percentage Welsh Both English Mixed Total 56.2 – 50.0 0.8 – – – – –

31.2 6.3 100.0 – 33.3 – 46.2 41.5 5.0 90.0 5.6 83.3 – 100.0 – 100.0 – 100.0

5.6 31.2

54.7

6.3 – 16.7 11.5 5.0 11.1 – – –

100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0

8.5

100.0


monoglot English speakers were John Humphreys, a police sergeant; William Davies, the parish clerk and registrar of births and deaths in the Upper Llanidloes Registration Subdistrict; Pryce Davies, an inland revenue officer; the Revd John Griffiths, minister of the Baptist chapel; and the Revd John Silin Jones, minister of the Congregational chapel in Shortbridge Street. The linguistic situation prevailing in the home of John Owen, a 36-year-old painter from Trefeglwys, provides a good example of the process of linguistic change taking place within many Welsh-speaking families. Both John Owen and his wife, Jane, were bilingual natives of the town, but all four of their children (aged between 2 and 11) were monoglot English speakers, while Mary Hughes, Jane’s 80-year-old mother, who lived with the family, was a monoglot Welsh-speaking native of nearby Llandinam. Within this household, therefore, the linguistic ability of the family members had changed within three generations. Clearly, a significant number of the Welsh-speaking parents of Llanidloes either believed the native tongue would be of no advantage to their children or did not feel sufficiently confident in transmitting the language to their children. In his autobiography, published in 1944, Sir Percy Watkins (1871–1946) recollects that his mother, who hailed from Llanidloes, ‘spoke little Welsh, though she understood it moderately well . . . as a family we seldom spoke Welsh at home, mainly, I suppose, because my mother was more at home in English’.21 Such lack of confidence merely added to the complicated linguistic pattern of the 21

Percy Watkins, A Welshman Remembers (Cardiff, 1944), pp. 5–11.


326


Number Welsh

Both

English

Total


English

Total

Montgomeryshire Glamorgan Monmouthshire Cardiganshire Denbighshire Pembrokeshire Flintshire Caernarfonshire Anglesey

6 – – 1 1 – – – 1

34 – – 3 1 – 1 1 2

14 3 1 – – 1 – 1 –

54 3 1 4 2 1 1 2 3

11.1 – – 25.0 50.0 – – – 33.3

63.0 – – 75.0 50.0 – 100.0 50.0 66.7

25.9 100.0 100.0 – – 100.0 – 50.0 –

100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0

England

–

1

12

13

–

7.7

92.3

100.0

Other1

–

–

1

1

–

–

100.0

100.0

Total

9

43

33

85

10.6

50.6

38.8

100.0

1

Place of birth: Scotland.

community. Only in one household in Llanidloes were the children of bilingual parents returned as monoglot Welsh speakers. The three children born to Hugh Hughes, a Flintshire-born Wesleyan minister, and his wife Mary, were all enumerated as monoglot Welsh speakers. All three children had been born in Machynlleth, a town in west Montgomeryshire where the Welsh language was far more widely spoken than in Llanidloes.22 It is fair to assume, however, that the children were certain to become conversant with the English language once they were subjected to external influences, especially at school. In some households the process of intergenerational linguistic change may have been influenced by the presence of individuals outside the family circle such as boarders and lodgers. As Table 8 shows, eighty-five boarders and lodgers were enumerated, and they were present in seventy-one households. Over half of the lodgers were bilingual, while 9 (10.6 per cent) were monoglot Welsh speakers and the remaining 33 (38.8 per cent) spoke English only. The majority of lodgers were single males. Fifty-four (63.5 per cent) of them were natives of Montgomeryshire, including twenty-nine who had been born in Llanidloes itself, and nine who hailed from nearby Trefeglwys and Newtown. Only 14 (16.5 per cent) individuals had been born beyond Wales, and significantly only one of these English-born lodgers was able to speak Welsh. Daniel Jones, a 19-year-old bank 22

David Llewelyn Jones, ‘The Welsh Language in Montgomeryshire c. 1800–1914’ in Geraint H. Jenkins (ed.), Language and Community in the Nineteenth Century (Cardiff, 1998), pp. 63–99.


clerk, was a native of Oswestry in Shropshire, a town which had long-standing connections with Wales and was home to a large Welsh-speaking community. Among the lodgers enumerated at Llanidloes in 1891 was John Thomas (1838–1905), the celebrated photographer.23 Thomas, who was bilingual and a native of Llanfair Clydogau in Cardiganshire, lodged with Joseph and Sarah Rich, a monoglot English-speaking couple, in their home in the High Street. Of the 85 lodgers enumerated in Llanidloes in 1891, 53 (62.4 per cent) were staying with families of the same linguistic ability as themselves. Ann Ashton, a 63-year-old bilingual widow, who lived in High Street, provided accommodation for Robert Griffith, a 52-year-old bank accountant from Anglesey who was also bilingual. Ashton employed Martha Jones, a 21-year-old maidservant from Llanidloes, and she, too, could speak both languages. In some instances, the lodger offered the only opportunity for the head of household to practise his or her ability in one or other of the two languages. Two bilingual men, namely Edward Jones, a 60-year-old flannel weaver, and David Lewis, a 36-year-old draper’s assistant, boarded with Mary Jones and her sons at 4 Church Street. Although Mary Jones was bilingual, her children were monoglot English speakers, and the presence of the two Welsh-speaking boarders provided her with an opportunity to speak Welsh within the confines of her home. Conversely, the presence of non-Welsh-speaking boarders and lodgers in dominantly Welsh-speaking households must have served to familiarize Welsh speakers with the English language. Overall, however, just as lodgers tended to stay with families of a similar linguistic and cultural background, so did the Welsh and English-speaking families of Llanidloes show a similar inclination to reside near people with whom they shared linguistic, cultural and social traits. The greatest percentage of Welsh speakers resided in the second enumeration district of the Registration Subdistrict of Lower Llanidloes, an area which included Hafren Street, Dyfnant and Wellington Terraces and Lower Green Street, where several old weaving ‘shops’ were situated. Here, 14 per cent of the 444 inhabitants (aged 2 years and over) were monoglot Welsh speakers, 43.4 per cent were bilingual, and 42.6 per cent spoke English only. Although the majority of the residents of this district were able to speak English, many Welsh-speaking families had settled in the area and 13 (33.3 per cent) of the 39 monoglot Welsh-speaking households of Llanidloes were to be found here. A high percentage of monoglot Welsh speakers lived in Lower Green Street, where seven of the thirty-seven households comprised monoglot Welsh speakers only. Of the 141 residents of Lower Green Street (aged 2 years and over) who stipulated their language ability, 28 (19.9 per cent) were monoglot Welsh speakers, 59 (41.8 per cent) were bilingual, and 54 (38.3 per cent) spoke 23

See Hilary Woollen and Alistair Crawford, John Thomas 1838–1905, Photographer (Llandysul, 1977).

327

328


English only. Nine out of ten of the residents of the street were natives of Montgomeryshire, of whom 76 (59.8 per cent) were Welsh speakers: 54 were bilingual and 22 spoke Welsh only. Only two of the inhabitants of Lower Green Street had been born outside Wales, namely Sarah Powell, a 45-year-old native of Liverpool who spoke both Welsh and English, and John Manuel, a 33-year-old joiner who hailed from Manchester and spoke English only. There were sufficient monoglot Welsh speakers living in Lower Green Street to enable them to communicate with one another regularly in their native tongue. At 2 Lower Green Street lived David and Mary Morgan, an elderly married couple who hailed from Llangurig and Llanidloes respectively, and who spoke Welsh only. Four doors down, in 6 Lower Green Street, lived another monoglot Welsh-speaking couple, namely David and Sarah Mills of Llanidloes. The Mills family had two lodgers, namely William Owen, a 56-year-old monoglot Welsh-speaking agricultural labourer from Llanidloes, and David Rees, a 6-year-old boy from the town who was returned as speaking English only. Further down the street at number 24 lived another monoglot Welsh-speaking family: Jane Wood hailed from Penegoes in west Montgomeryshire, while her husband, John, a 47-year-old mason, and their four young children, had all been born in Llanidloes. The greatest number of monoglot English speakers lived in the second enumeration district situated in the Registration Subdistrict of Upper Llanidloes. Of the 362 residents (aged 2 years and over) who had stipulated their language ability, 191 (52.8 per cent) spoke English only, 146 (40.3 per cent) were bilingual, and only 25 (6.9 per cent) were monoglot Welsh speakers. In Foundry Terrace and Cambrian Place, situated near the railway station, 76 (57.6 per cent) of the 132 inhabitants were English monoglots, while 47 (35.6 per cent) were bilingual, and 9 (6.8 per cent) spoke Welsh only. The great majority of the inhabitants of Foundry Terrace and Cambrian Place were natives of Montgomeryshire: 111 (84.1 per cent) had been born in the county, including 89 (80.2 per cent) who had been born in Llanidloes. Of the thirty households in these two streets, a third were occupied by monoglot English speakers, and only one household consisted entirely of monoglot Welsh speakers. English monoglots were even more prominent in Idloes Terrace, a row of houses situated near the railway foundry, where 25 (64.1 per cent) of the 39 inhabitants were monoglot English. The only monoglot Welsh speaker living in Idloes Terrace was Edward Hughes, a 74-year-old retired farmer from Llanarmon in Denbighshire, who boarded with William Hughes, a monoglot Englishspeaking carriage and railway engineer from Shropshire. Seven of the fourteen occupants of Idloes Terrace who recorded a specific occupation stipulated that their work was connected with the nearby railway. Vaughan Davies, the stationmaster, hailed from Bridell in Pembrokeshire, while Margaret, his 25-yearold daughter, was a native of Peterborough in Northamptonshire. Both were


monoglot English speakers, as was Beatrice Astley, a 21-year-old native of Llanwnnog, who worked as a barmaid in the refreshment rooms at the railway station. In total, twenty-four of the inhabitants of Llanidloes earned a living from the railway and, as Table 9 shows, sixteen of these railway employees were monoglot English speakers, while only eight were proficient in the Welsh language. Evan Jones, a 55-year-old native of Llanidloes, who worked in the railway warehouse, was the only monoglot Welshman employed by the railway company. According to Edward Hamer, writing in the 1870s, the opening of the new railway line from Newtown to Llanidloes in 1859 had a detrimental effect on the Welsh language in the town, a claim confirmed by the evidence of the 1891 census.24 In view of the importance of the woollen industry in Llanidloes, it is not surprising that textile workers loom large in the census returns. Of the 1,146 men and women (aged 10 years and over) who specified their occupation, 305 (26.6 per cent) were employed as wool and flannel manufacturers. Over 90 per cent of the workforce were natives of Montgomeryshire, the overwhelming majority of whom hailed from the town of Llanidloes itself. Over two-thirds of the skilled workforce of 125 men and 175 women were Welsh speakers: 37 (12.3 per cent) spoke Welsh only, while 164 (54.7 per cent) were bilingual. Of the 148 weavers, 18 (12.2 per cent) were monoglot Welsh, 37 (25.0 per cent) were monoglot English, and the majority were proficient in both languages (62.8 per cent). William Humphreys, a 35-year-old monoglot English speaker from Newtown, was the only individual who held a clerical post in the offices of one of the town’s woollen manufacturers, and he was employed as secretary of the Welsh Mills Company which specialized in the manufacture of hosiery. By 1891 the lead mining industry of south-west Montgomeryshire was facing difficult times. The Van mine to the north of Llanidloes was over £3,000 in debt, and in 1892 it discontinued work for two years.25 According to the census returns for Llanidloes, only twenty-four men were employed within the lead mining industry in 1891. Apart from John Kitto, a mining engineer who hailed from Cornwall, Henry Hancock, a mining engineer’s clerk from Radnorshire, and John Jones, a 15-year-old miner, the remaining twenty-one men employed as lead miners were Welsh speakers. Of these, four Montgomeryshire-born miners and an elderly miner from Flintshire were monoglot Welsh speakers. Welsh was also the predominant language in the agricultural sector. Of the twenty individuals thus employed, five male agricultural labourers and one female farm caretaker – all of whom hailed from Llanidloes and its environs – were monoglot Welsh speakers and only five individuals were returned as monoglot English speakers.

24 25

Hamer, ‘A Parochial Account of Llanidloes’, 16. Lewis, Lead Mining in Wales, p. 189.

329


330

The majority of the men and women who earned their living as dealers and tradesmen were also proficient in the native tongue, and over 70 per cent of the 110 males and 65 females were returned as Welsh speakers. Twenty-one of the twenty-eight drapers and their assistants, and forty-two of the fifty-seven food dealers and their assistants, spoke both Welsh and English. At the nineteen hotels, inns and public houses of Llanidloes, only the publicans of the Van Vaults, the King’s Head and the Mount Inn were unable to speak Welsh, while the remaining sixteen were bilingual. Only a handful of the Welsh-speaking dealers were unable to speak English, however, and it is evident that knowledge of the English language was an essential qualification to ensure commercial success in a town where over 40 per cent of the population were non-Welsh speakers. All twenty-two of the men employed in the industrial services sector as bank employees, accountants, insurance agents and commercial clerks also spoke English. Ten men, including Hugh Jones, a 51-year-old native of Anglesey, who was manager of the Llanidloes branch of the London and Provincial Bank, spoke both Welsh and English, while the remaining twelve men were monoglot English speakers. Such individuals served the business interests of both the retailers and the various manufacturing industries based in the town. Llanidloes remained an important centre for the publishing industry in 1891, and it was at the printing offices of John Henry Mills, the Welsh-speaking son of the composer Richard Mills (1809–44), that the weekly newspaper, The Montgomeryshire Echo – which John Mills founded and edited – was published from 1886 onwards.26 It is significant that of the seventy-two men and women who earned a living either as public servants or within the professions, almost 40 per cent were monoglot English speakers. English was spoken by nineteen of the twenty men and women employed in the fields of law and medicine, although it should be noted that twelve individuals, including John Humphreys, a 47-year-old police sergeant from Newtown, Thomas Morris, a 36-year-old surgeon from Machynlleth, and six of the eleven solicitors and solicitors’ clerks, were also proficient in the Welsh language. In total, only three professionals or public servants were returned as monoglot Welsh, namely Elizabeth Evans, a 57-year-old nurse from Llangurig, and two members of the teaching profession who were natives of Llanidloes. The parents and siblings of both David Jones, a 23-year-old schoolmaster, and Maggie Jones, a 26-year-old assistant schoolmistress, were also enumerated as monoglot Welsh speakers, but in view of their occupation it is difficult to believe that the two young teachers had no knowledge of the English language. Overall, however, the majority of the sixteen schoolteachers enumerated in Llanidloes in 1891 spoke English only – a fact which testifies to the Anglicized character of the schools at that time. Thomas Williams, headmaster of the national school, was a monoglot English speaker from Nuneaton in 26

Davies, ‘The History of Printing in Montgomeryshire 1789–1960’, 47–8.


331

Warwickshire. Jemima Phillips, the infants’ mistress at the school, and Theresa Fursey, infants’ mistress at Gland{r Board School, were also unable to speak the native tongue. Although Hugh Jerman (1836–95), headmaster of the privatelyrun Severn Grove Academy, was a bilingual native of Llanidloes, it is unlikely that pupils in his school received any education through the medium of Welsh. Jerman was assisted at the school by three of his five children, none of whom were Welsh speakers. In stark contrast to the situation prevailing in the schools of Llanidloes, the Welsh language was spoken by all the individuals holding positions of responsibility within the town’s religious institutions. The clergymen, Llewelyn Thomas and William Roberts, hailed from the counties of Caernarfon and Cardigan respectively. Apart from Maurice Griffiths, minister of the English Calvinistic Methodist chapel, who hailed from Machynlleth, all the other five Nonconformist ministers hailed from Welsh counties other than Montgomeryshire. The only non-Welsh speakers enumerated within the religious sector were L. Carter and C. Bellamy, two Englishwomen who served with the Salvation Army as lieutenant and captain respectively. In 1910 Llewellyn Phillips, a solicitor from Llanidloes, informed members of the Royal Commission on the Church of England and other religious bodies in Wales and Monmouthshire that Llanidloes was one of the ‘Welsh portions’ of Montgomeryshire.27 The evidence of the 1891 census contradicts this view. It reveals that Llanidloes was very much a bilingual town in which Anglicizing trends were uppermost. The Welsh language was rarely used in any official capacity and it was evident that its position as the language of the hearth was also under considerable threat as increasing numbers of Welsh-speaking parents failed to transmit knowledge of the native tongue to their offspring.


Industrial class AGRICULTURE Farming Farmers Relative assisting Agricultural labourers Farm servant 27


– – 5 –

1 – 6 –

1 – 2 –

2 – 13 –


–

–

1

1

1

–

–

1

Royal Commission on the Church of England and Other Religious Bodies in Wales and Monmouthshire, Minutes of Evidence. Vol IV. Book III (London, 1911), pp. 196–218 (PP 1910 (Cd. 5435) XVII).


332

Industrial class Woodman Fishing Fishermen Total % MINING Coal Miners/hauliers Lead Engineer Clerk Miners Brickmaking Brickmakers Total % BUILDING Management Civil engineers/ land surveyors Builders Operatives Stonemasons Bricklayers Carpenters Plumbers/painters/ glaziers Apprentices Labourers Roads Road labourers Total %

Language spoken Males Welsh Both English Total –

1

–

1

– 5 27.8

1 9 50.0

1 4 22.2

2 18 100.0

1

2

2

5

– – 5

– – 16

1 1 1

1 1 22

– 6 19.3

1 19 61.3

1 6 19.3

2 31 100.0

– –

– 2

2 1

2 3

5 – 1

9 – 13

2 2 6

16 2 20

– 1 –

2 – 2

6 1 –

8 2 2

1 8 14.0

1 29 50.9

– 20 35.1

2 57 100.0

2

7

9

5 1

6 –

12 1

–

1

1

– 1

1 –

1 1

MANUFACTURING Machinery, tools, watches, etc. Skilled manual – Iron and steel Skilled manual 1 Labourer – Tin Apprentice – Gas Manager – Skilled manual –


1 50.0

– –

1 50.0

2 100.0

1

2

–

3


Industrial class


Leather Skilled manual – Assistant – Wood, furniture Skilled manual – Apprentice – Labourer – Carriages and harnesses Skilled manual – Apprentice – Wool Clerk – Skilled manual 17 Assistants – Unskilled manual/ labourers – Dress Skilled manual 3 Apprentices 1 Food, drink, tobacco Skilled manual – Printing Skilled manual – Apprentices – Unspecified Foremen 1 Engine drivers/stokers/ firemen/fitters 1 Total 24 % 9.5

5 –

3 1

8 1

3 – 1

2 1 –

5 1 1

2 –

1 1

3 1

– 75 2

1 33 –

1 125 2

–

2

2

27 –

12 2

3

333


20

89

66

175

42 3

6 –

48 1

25 1

79 2

4

7

3

7

–

10

3 2

1 –

4 2

1

–

2

7 140 55.6

9 88 34.9

17 252 100.0

30 11.2

147 54.6

92 34.2

269 100.0

2

2

–

4

– –

1 –

2 3

3 3

TRANSPORT Warehouses Warehousemen Railways Stationmaster/officials Clerks/booking office Engine drivers/stokers/ signalmen Porters Roads Coachman Carriers, cartmen Total %

– 1

6 –

9 2

15 3

– – 3 8.1

– 7 16 43.2

1 1 18 48.7

1 8 37 100.0

DEALING Coal Coal merchants/agents

–

6

1

7


334

Industrial class


Raw materials Timber merchants – 3 Oil dealer – 1 Dress Drapers etc. – 9 Assistants – 11 Food Butchers – 6 Grocers – 12 Fruit dealer – 1 Assistants – 6 Tobacco, drink and lodging Inn and hotel keepers, publicans – 5 Lodging and boarding house keepers – – Coffee and eating house keepers – – Inn servants, assistants – 1 Furniture and household utensils Earthenware, china – 1 Ironmongers, hardware – 5 Assistants – 3 Chemists, druggists Chemists – 4 Assistants – 1 Stationery and publications Stationers, booksellers – – General dealers General shopkeepers – – Hawkers 2 3 Assistants – 1 Others and unspecified Assistants – – Total 2 79 % 1.8 71.4 INDUSTRIAL SERVICES Banking, insurance, accounts Bank service – Insurance service – Accountants – Commercial clerks – Total – % –

2 1 1 6 10 45.5

– –

3 1

2 3

11 14

2 2 – 5

8 14 1 11

3


1 –

1 –

– 1

2 1

1

17

1

19

–

–

4

4

8

–

11

–

11

–

–

1

2

2

5

– –

– 1

– –

5 1

– 4

5 5

– – 3

1 5 6

–

–

1

1

–

–

1

1

– 2

4 3

–

1

–

1

2

2

– 4 –

– 9 1

– – –

2 2 2

– 2 –

2 4 2

– 29 26.8

– 110 100.0

– 3 4.6

2 46 70.8

– 16 24.6

2 65 100.0

3 – 1 8 12 54.5

5 1 2 14 22 100.0

PUBLIC SERVICES AND PROFESSIONALS Central administration Inland Revenue officer – 1 –

1


Industrial class


Post Office officials Local administration County court bailiff Registrars of births, marriages and deaths Poor Law officials School attendance officer Other local officials Police Sergeant Law Solicitors Law clerks Medicine Surgeons, physicians, practitioners Medical students, assistants Nurse Midwives Education Headteachers, schoolteachers Assistant teachers, pupil teachers Religion Clergymen CM ministers Congregational minister Baptist minister Wesleyan minister Theological students Salvation Army officials Church/chapel officers Amusement Musician Art, literature, science Photographers Total % DOMESTIC SERVICES Indoor service Servants/maidservants Outdoor service Coachmen and grooms Gardeners

335


–

2

1

3

–

1

–

1

– – – –

2 1 1 2

– 1 – –

2 2 1 2

–

1

–

1

– –

2 4

1 4

3 8

–

1

1

2

– – –

2 – –

1 – –

3 – –

1 –

– 2

– –

1 2

1

2

2

5

–

–

9

9

–

1

1

2

1

1

5

7

– – – – – – – –

2 2 1 1 1 3 – 1

– – – – – – – –

2 2 1 1 1 3 – 1

– –

– 1

2 –

2 1

–

1

–

1

– 1 2.0

2 37 74.0

– 12 24.0

2 50 100.0

2 9.1

4 18.2

16 72.7

22 100.0

–

5

3

8

6

62

50

118

– –

2 3

2 4

4 7


336

Industrial class


Gamekeeper Mole catcher Extra services Cleaner, charwomen, laundry women Hairdressers Other Total %

– –

1 1

– –

1 1

– – – – –

1 1 – 14 56.0

– 1 1 11 44.0

1 2 1 25 100.0

OTHERS General labourers Indefinite occupations Total %

4 – 4 10.2

26 3 29 74.4

6 – 6 15.4

TOTAL OCCUPIED %

53 8.3

382 59.6


7 8.5

School pupils %


3

17

7

27

9 6.2

79 54.5

57 39.3

145 100.0

36 3 39 100.0

–

2

–

2

– –

2 100.0

– –

2 100.0

206 32.1

641 100.0

45 8.9

278 55.0

182 36.0

505 100.0

40 48.8

35 42.7

82 100.0

61 10.8

313 55.6

189 33.6

563 100.0

1 0.8

34 26.3

94 72.9

129 100.0

4 3.2

33 26.6

87 70.2

124 100.0


456 53.5

335 39.3

852 100.0

110 9.2

624 52.3

458 38.4

1192 100.0

16 Rhyl (Flintshire) GWENFAIR PARRY

Until the latter half of the nineteenth century, when it became one of the most popular seaside towns in north Wales, the tourist resort of Rhyl was little known. It was not mentioned by the celebrated writer Thomas Pennant, who visited the area towards the end of the eighteenth century, and the ‘small mean town’ on the edge of Morfa Rhuddlan referred to by the travel-writer Richard Fenton in 1808 was not Rhyl but Abergele.1 By the 1830s Rhyl boasted two hotels, a number of boarding houses and several cottages which were used as summer homes by the affluent people of the district, but it was not until the opening of the railway line from Chester to Holyhead in 1848 that the town began to develop rapidly.2 Soon, measures to facilitate the development of the town as a tourist resort were taken: the sand dunes were levelled, and a promenade and roads were built, as well as innumerable guest houses and hotels. Public baths, a library, a market hall and pavilion were also erected, and the town became a truly popular centre for ordinary folk as well as for the wealthy who enjoyed strolling at leisure along the promenade. Visitors from Liverpool, Manchester and the populous towns of the English Midlands were among the hundreds attracted by Rhyl’s sea and sunshine, and although Caledfryn at the Rhyl Eisteddfod of 1853 expressed the view that the railways would not prove to be an Anglicizing influence, others believed that this was inevitable and to be welcomed.3 For example, on the occasion of the opening of the Denbigh to Rhyl line on 14 October 1858, E. G. Salisbury declared: ‘I, for one, am not ashamed to say – and I say it here boldly – that I shall be delighted to see the Welsh people Anglicised.’4 The population doubled during the summer months owing to the influx of visitors. Another striking phenomenon was the rapid growth of the town’s population. Between 1841 and 1

2

3 4

Thomas Pennant, Tours in Wales (Caernarvon, 1883); Richard Fenton, Tours in Wales (London, 1917), p. 150. Philip Lloyd, ‘Tref ar y Tywod’ in H. Desmond Healy (ed.), Y Rhyl a’r Cyffiniau (Llandybïe, 1985), p. 125. ‘Scorpion’ [Thomas Roberts] (ed.), Cofiant Caledfryn [no imprint], p. 146. T. Gwynn Jones, Cofiant Thomas Gee (Dinbych, 1913), p. 144.


338

1891 the number of inhabitants had multiplied more than sevenfold, from 974 to 6,474.5 At the end of the Victorian era the town of Rhyl was surrounded by an extremely rich cultural region. G. J. Williams maintained that the survival of the cultural traditions of the Welsh nation was largely attributable to the strong literary tradition of the Vale of Clwyd and its environs (‘. . . dylwn ychwanegu mai hwn yw’r rhanbarth pwysicaf yng Nghymru o ddechrau’r bymthegfed ganrif hyd y ddeunawfed ganrif, ac mai’r bywyd llenyddol a fu’n nodweddu’r wlad yma sydd, i raddau helaeth, yn egluro parhad traddodiadau diwylliannol cenedl y Cymry hyd ein dyddiau ni’).6 This is where the Anglicizing influences which flooded in from the east and the stream of Welshness which flowed down the slopes of Hiraethog and through the Vale of Clwyd coalesced.7 The National Eisteddfod was held in the town in 1892 and it is significant that the Lord Mayor of London, the Marquess of Bute and Lord Mostyn were among the worthies invited onto the stage, and that the Literature Committee eagerly accepted Lord Penrhyn’s generous offer of a £10 prize for an essay on ‘The Advantages of being able to speak English’.8 Nevertheless, a reporter known as ‘Rhen Wr Llwyd’ (‘The Old Grey Man’) claimed that this Eisteddfod had done more for the Welsh language than had any other Eisteddfod for many years. ‘The Programme was bilingual; and if anyone spoke English for too long everyone shouted for Welsh. This is as it should be’ (‘Yr oedd y Rhaglen yn ddwyieithawg; ac os elai Seisonaeg ambell un i ymyl bod ar yr hwyaf, gwaeddid ar unwaith am Gymraeg. Y mae hyn mal y dylai fod’).9 The Welsh Wesleyan-Methodist newspaper, Y Gwyliedydd (1877–1909), published weekly in Rhyl, was a staunch supporter of the Welsh language.10 At the time of the 1891 census the editor claimed: Yr ydym mor eiddigus a neb dros barhad y Gymraeg; ac yr ydym yn eiddigus hefyd am i bob Cymro fod yn arddelwr ei genedl, ei wlad, a’i iaith. Mae epil Dic-shion-dafydd yn wrthrychau ein dygasedd. Ond y maent yn bodoli, ac yn fwy lluosocach nag y mae aml un yn ei feddwl.11 (We are among the most ardent in our support of the survival of the Welsh language; and we are eager also that each Welshman should profess his allegiance to his nation, his country and his language. The offspring of Dic-shion-dafydd are objects of our hatred. But they do exist, and there are more of them than many might imagine.) 5 6 7 8 9 10

11

Joseph William Jones, Rhyl: The Town and its People (Rhyl, 1970), p. 7. G. J. Williams, ‘Traddodiad Llenyddol Dyffryn Clwyd a’r Cyffiniau’, TDHS, 1 (1952), 20. Emyr Roberts, ‘Y Rhyl a’r Cyffiniau’ in Healy, Y Rhyl a’r Cyffiniau, p. 33. Ibid., p. 41. Y Gwyliedydd, 14 September 1892, p. 1. Beti Jones, Newsplan. Report of the Newsplan project in Wales. Adroddiad ar gynllun Newsplan yng Nghymru (London and Aberystwyth, 1994), p. 131. Y Gwyliedydd, 22 April 1891, p. 4.

RHYL (FLINTSHIRE)

339

Table 1: Language spoken by populations of Rhyl, St Asaph Registration District, Flintshire and Wales (2 years and over)

Rhyl1 St Asaph R.D.2 Flintshire3 Wales4 1

2 3 4

Number Welsh

Both

489 10410 10484 508036

2910 11452 16879 402253

English

Total

2360 5759 5820 27682 12862 40225 759416 1669705


50.5 41.4 42.0 24.1

English Total 41.0 21.0 32.0 45.5

100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0

Excluding 31 individuals whose language was not given, 4 who spoke other languages, and 2 who were deaf and dumb. Excluding 152 individuals whose language was not given and 6 who spoke other languages. Excluding 298 individuals whose language was not given and 78 who spoke other languages. Excluding 12,833 individuals whose language was not given and 3,076 who spoke other languages.

The Welsh language was also given due prominence in the five Welsh Nonconformist churches established in the town from the 1840s onwards. But although these churches strengthened the Welsh character of their members and enriched their language and culture, it is significant that four English causes were also established in the town during the same period. This underlines the fact that the linguistic abilities of in-migrants flocking into the area were mixed.12 The established Church also catered for the two linguistic communities: two churches provided for the spiritual needs of the English speakers and one for the needs of the Welsh.13 The educational requirements of the inhabitants were not neglected either and the town boasted several private and public schools where pupils were constantly urged to speak ‘the language of progress’.14 Owing to its popularity as a tourist resort and, to a lesser extent, as a place of retirement for middle-class people, Rhyl had become considerably Anglicized by 1891. As Table 1 reveals, as many as 5,270 (91.5 per cent) of the town’s inhabitants spoke English compared with only 3,399 (59.0 per cent) who spoke Welsh. Although the percentage of bilingual speakers exceeded that of the Registration District of St Asaph by 9.1 per cent, it is significant that only 8.5 per cent were monoglot Welsh speakers, and that 41 per cent had no Welsh at all. Some 20.8 per cent of the population of the Registration District of St Asaph lived in Rhyl and it is significant that 40.5 per cent of that district’s monoglot English population were residents of the town. Rhyl, therefore, was an Anglicized 12

13 14

Royal Commission on the Church of England and Other Religious Bodies in Wales and Monmouthshire, Nonconformist County Statistics, Volume VI, pp. 146–7 (PP 1911 (Cd. 5437) XVIII). Sutton’s Directory of North Wales (Manchester, 1889–90), p. 276. Ibid.


340


Both

English

Total

2–5 6–14 15–24 25–44 45–64 65+

48 62 64 114 122 79

188 601 667 821 488 145

211 528 489 617 396 119

447 1191 1220 1552 1006 343

Total

489

2910

2360

5759

Age

Percentage Welsh

Both

English

Total

10.7 5.2 5.2 7.3 12.1 23.0

42.1 50.5 54.7 52.9 48.5 42.3

47.2 44.3 40.1 39.8 39.4 34.7

100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0

8.5

50.5

41.0

100.0

town located in the district of St Asaph within which 79 per cent of the inhabitants spoke the native language. Nearly 80 per cent of the Welsh speakers of Flintshire and 99.3 per cent of its monoglot Welsh population resided in this district. Although the percentage of monoglot English speakers in Wales as a whole was greater than that of Rhyl, it is evident that the monoglot Welsh element was much less a feature of the town than of other districts. As Table 2 reveals, the majority of the population in all age groups were English speakers. The percentage varied from 77 per cent in the case of the older generation (aged 65 years and over) to 94.8 per cent in the 15–24 age group. The percentage of monoglot English speakers was at its highest among children between 2 and 5 years of age; 171 (81.0 per cent) of these, or their parents, had been born beyond Offa’s Dyke. Another 20 (9.5 per cent) were the children of Welsh speakers who had not transmitted the mother tongue to their offspring. At 29 Vale Road, for example, lived Owen Richards, a county court bailiff and native of Merioneth, and his Caernarfonshire-born wife, Maria, who kept a greengrocer’s shop. Both were bilingual, but their children, who had been born in Rhyl, were enumerated as monoglot English speakers. Although the linguistic slippage was not considerable, the number of Welsh speakers among the younger generation was beginning to decline: only 54.9 per cent of children under 15 years of age spoke the language, compared with 61.8 per cent of adults over 45. However, the most obvious proof of intergenerational linguistic shift is evident among the monoglot Welsh population. Less than a quarter of the population, regardless of age, were monoglot Welsh speakers, but whereas nearly a quarter of adults aged 65 and over were monoglot Welsh speakers, only about 5 per cent of young people aged between 6 and 24 were unable to speak English. However, the native language must have been the medium of communication in some homes since one out of every ten children under 6 years of age were monoglot Welsh speakers. Even so, the education system and the wider social networks created in

RHYL (FLINTSHIRE)

341


Total

Number Sex Welsh

Both

English

Total



25 23 35 27 24 40 51 63 54 68 34 45

94 94 298 303 273 394 357 464 217 271 53 92

111 100 239 289 151 338 203 414 148 248 40 79

230 217 572 619 448 772 611 941 419 587 127 216

10.9 10.6 6.1 4.4 5.4 5.2 8.3 6.7 12.9 11.6 26.8 20.8

M F

223 266

1292 1618

892 1468

2407 3352

9.3 7.9

English

Total

40.9 43.3 52.1 48.9 60.9 51.0 58.4 49.3 51.8 46.2 41.7 42.6

48.3 46.1 41.8 46.7 33.7 43.8 33.2 44.0 35.3 42.2 31.5 36.6

100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0

53.7 48.3

37.0 43.8

100.0 100.0

the workplace ensured that bilingualism reached its peak among those between 6 and 44 years of age. A total of 1,121 school pupils were enumerated in Rhyl and, although 40.7 per cent of these were English monoglots and 6.5 per cent spoke Welsh only, 52.8 per cent were bilingual. Table 3 reveals that the percentage difference between monoglot Welshspeaking males and females was negligible, but that the linguistic ability of the sexes varied considerably in the case of English speakers. More females were unable to speak Welsh than males and this tendency was at its most evident in the 15–44 age group: 43.9 per cent of the 1,713 females had no Welsh compared with 33.4 per cent of the 1,059 males. On the other hand, as many as 59.5 per cent of males were bilingual compared with 50.1 per cent of females. This fact may be attributed to their place of birth. Some 46.7 per cent of males had been born in Flintshire, 24.1 per cent in the rest of Wales and 29.1 per cent in England and elsewhere. In the case of females, however, only 38 per cent had been born in Flintshire, and as many as 39.3 per cent had their roots outside Wales. As many as 541 (71.9 per cent) of the monoglot English females hailed from England, mainly Lancashire, Staffordshire, Cheshire and Warwickshire, and another 54 (7.2 per cent) were from Ireland, Scotland and overseas. A total of 317 (42.2 per cent) were gainfully occupied and it is significant that a third of these were employed as maidservants. It is also worth remembering that females made up 58.2 per cent of Rhyl’s population and that there was an appreciable imbalance between the sexes among the working-age groups: the number of females exceeded that of males by 41.9 per cent in the 15–24 age group and by 35.1 per cent in the 25–44 age


342


Number Welsh


Both

English

Total

293 132 14 6 17 1 – – – 2 5 – – 1

1835 533 157 78 62 10 1 2 6 14 23 3 1 1

524 92 19 3 – 16 5 2 – 1 11 3 5 –

2652 757 190 87 79 27 6 4 6 17 39 6 6 2

11.0 17.4 7.4 6.9 21.5 3.7 – – – 11.8 12.8 – – 50.0

England

11

171

1462

1644

Other2

2

11

170

484

2908

2313

Flintshire Denbighshire Caernarfonshire Anglesey Merioneth Glamorgan Monmouthshire Breconshire Carmarthenshire Cardiganshire Montgomeryshire Pembrokeshire Radnorshire South Wales

Total 1 2

English

Total

69.2 70.4 82.6 89.7 78.5 37.0 16.7 50.0 100.0 82.4 59.0 50.0 16.7 50.0

19.8 12.2 10.0 3.4 – 59.3 83.3 50.0 – 5.9 28.2 50.0 83.3 –

100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0

0.7

10.4

88.9

100.0

183

1.1

6.0

92.9

100.0

5705

8.5

51.0

40.5

100.0

Excluding 54 individuals whose place of birth was not given. Place of birth: Ireland 73, Scotland 50, America 6, India 6, South Africa 5, France 5, Germany 7, Newfoundland 5, Isle of Man 6, Africa 4, Australia 2, Canada 2, East Indies 2, Jersey 2, Italy 2, West Indies 1, South America 1, Belgium 1, Austria 1, Finland 1, Hungary 1.

group. Since Rhyl was an extremely prosperous holiday resort, employment opportunities for the fair sex were plentiful. Even during the 1830s females comprised 55 per cent of the population compared with 50 per cent in contiguous parishes.15 The English character of the town of Rhyl was largely attributable to the birthplace of its inhabitants. Less than half (46.5 per cent) of the population hailed from Flintshire, and although 80.2 per cent of these were able to speak Welsh, 19.8 per cent were English monoglots and as many as 69.2 per cent bilingual. A total of 1,727 (65.1 per cent) had been born in Rhyl and it is significant that 24.5 per cent of these were unable to speak Welsh, compared with 10.9 per cent for the rest of the county. Some 1,113 (19.5 per cent) hailed from other counties in north Wales, namely Denbigh, Caernarfon, Anglesey and Merioneth, and natives of these areas provided the town with much of its Welsh character: 89.8 per cent 15

K. Davies, ‘The Growth and Development of Settlement and Population in Flintshire, 1801–1851’, FHSJ, 25 (1971–2), 89.

RHYL (FLINTSHIRE)

were Welsh speakers and 15.2 per cent had no English. Only a comparatively small number (113) hailed from south and mid-Wales and fewer of these were able to speak Welsh: 62 per cent were Welsh speakers and 38 per cent were monoglot English. However, the largest proportion of English speakers hailed from England. More than a quarter (28.8 per cent) of the town’s inhabitants hailed from beyond Offa’s Dyke: 99.3 per cent were fluent in English and 88.9 per cent were monoglot English speakers. Indeed, 71.1 per cent of the town’s non-Welsh-speaking population had been born in England. Some 465 (28.3 per cent) of these English incomers were from Lancashire, and as many as 323 were natives of the cities of Liverpool (240) and Manchester (83). Another 370 (22.5 per cent) hailed from Cheshire and Staffordshire, while others were natives of Warwickshire (151), Shropshire (117), Middlesex (98) and Yorkshire (72). Since the English language was so widely spoken in the neighbourhood there was no need for these incomers to learn Welsh. Only 182 (11.1 per cent) were enumerated as being either monoglot Welsh speakers (11) or bilingual (171), 85 of whom were male and 97 female. For the purposes of this study, more detailed consideration was given to the 118 who were 18 years of age and over. Of these, ninety-one had Welsh surnames and, of the remaining twenty-seven, six had married Welsh-speaking wives, five were in lodgings or in service in Welsh-speaking homes, and three had Welsh-speaking parents. Another four had obviously acquired the native language in the workplace, since their families were monoglot English speakers. One of these was Arthur Alger of 9 West Parade, a dealer in heavy crystal who hailed from Ashton-under-Lyne in Lancashire. He was able to speak both languages, but he evidently did not think it necessary for his wife and children to follow his example. It appears, therefore, that he had learnt Welsh in order to further his own economic interests and that he was little concerned with the future of the language and its culture. Of the eleven enumerated as Welsh monoglots, it is significant that five hailed from Liverpool and two from Manchester, two cities with flourishing Welsh communities at that time. Residing in the town also were 183 inhabitants who had been born in countries other than England and Wales. Although they comprised only 3.2 per cent of the population, it is worth noting that as many as 92.9 per cent of them were monoglot English speakers. Some 73 per cent were Irish, and although they had not settled together in any one district, the Catholic Church in Wellington Road doubtless provided a focus for their social activities and a means of nurturing a sense of cultural unity among them. Another forty-two (two of whom spoke Gaelic) hailed from Scotland, but there were also people from such countries as Germany, France, Austria, Belgium, Italy, Finland, America, Canada, Australia and India. Two were enumerated as Welsh monoglots, namely William Williams, the eldest child of Elinor Williams, a monoglot Welsh speaker from Llanefydd in Denbighshire, who had spent at least four years in Paris Hill in the United States, and Beatrice Evans, a young girl born

343


344


Number Welsh Both

English

Total


English

Total

Heads 167 Wives 92 Children2 123 Relatives 32 Servants/maidservants 35 Boarders/lodgers 17 Visitors 10 Other3 7

655 419 1144 185 284 131 39 22

408 281 873 172 176 201 149 13

1230 792 2140 389 495 349 198 42

13.6 11.6 5.7 8.2 7.1 4.9 5.1 16.7

53.3 52.9 53.5 47.6 57.4 37.5 19.7 52.4

33.2 35.5 40.8 44.2 35.5 57.6 75.2 30.9

100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0

Total

2879

2273

5635

8.6

51.1

40.3

100.0

1

2 3

483

Excluding 59 patients, 19 nurses, 16 pupils, 3 matrons, one prisoner and one teacher in a private school, and 25 individuals whose relationship to the head of household was not given. Includes adopted children and stepchildren. 11 apprentices, 30 assistants and one provision dealer’s partner.

in the Khasia hills of India, who was visiting Maria Evans, a monoglot Welsh speaker and native of Rhyl, who ran a milliner’s business in Market Street. Since a third of the population hailed from England and beyond, and nearly nine of every ten of those born in Wales spoke English, it is not surprising that English was the dominant language in most of the town’s homes. English was spoken by all members of 2,123 (91.0 per cent) households and was the only language spoken in 509 of these homes. Although everyone was able to speak Welsh in 756 (32.4 per cent) households, 606 (26.0 per cent) of these were bilingual homes and only 67 (2.9 per cent) consisted entirely of monoglot Welsh speakers. Although many boarding houses, hotels and middle-class homes employed maids and assistants, and non-nuclear family members were present in 607 (26.0 per cent) of the town’s households, five was the average number of each household and the nuclear family was at the heart of the social structure. Some 1,208 (51.8 per cent) households included children and, as Table 5 reveals, these family units were usually familiar with the English tongue. Indeed, more than 85 per cent of household heads, wives and children were able to speak English and more than half were bilingual. Significantly, the highest proportion of English speakers was to be found among the younger generation. Since children comprised 37.3 per cent of the population and were present in 52.2 per cent of the homes of the neighbourhood, this had serious implications for the future of the Welsh language. Table 5 reveals that almost one in five of the population had no apparent family connections and that a higher percentage of these non-nuclear family members

RHYL (FLINTSHIRE)

345

Table 6: Language of children (aged 2 years and over) in households headed by monoglot and bilingual parents Linguistic ability Linguistic ability of children of parents Number of households Father Mother Welsh Both English Mixed Total W W B B B E E E Total

W B W B E B E W

27 1 – 7 – – – –

24 12 2 231 8 9 2 –

1 – – 27 33 15 136 –

6 1 2 7 3 3 1 1

58 14 4 272 44 27 139 1

35

288

212

24

559

Linguistic ability of children Percentage Welsh Both English Mixed Total 46.6 7.1 – 2.6 – – – –

41.4 85.7 50.0 84.9 18.2 33.3 1.4 –

1.7 – – 9.9 75.0 55.6 97.8 –

10.3 7.1 50.0 2.6 6.8 11.1 0.7 100.0

100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0

6.3 51.5

37.9

4.3

100.0


were either bilingual, as in the case of domestic servants, or English speaking, as in the case of boarders, lodgers and visitors. It is worth noting that as many as threequarters of the visitors were monoglot English speakers, not an unexpected fact since 138 (69.7 per cent) had been born outside Wales. Bearing in mind that 67.7 per cent were staying with English-speaking families, it is almost certain that they served to reinforce the English character of those homes rather than as agents of linguistic shift. The same was true in the case of boarders and lodgers since the majority of monoglot English speakers boarded with English-speaking families. Many families must already have experienced some linguistic slippage since the percentage of Welsh-speaking children was 17.8 per cent less than the corresponding percentage for heads of household and their wives, and the percentage of English-speaking children exceeded that of adults by 35.4 per cent. An examination of the linguistic ability of children in linguistically mixed and homogeneous homes will shed further light on this language shift. Table 6 reveals that both parents spoke Welsh in 348 (62.3 per cent) nuclear families. Even so, in as many as 78.2 per cent of these homes the head of household and his wife were bilingual, and only in 58 (16.7 per cent) homes were both parents monoglot Welsh speakers. In 72 (12.8 per cent) households Welsh was spoken by only one parent and in another 139 (24.9 per cent) both parents were unable to speak Welsh. Thus, in 501 (89.6 per cent) of the households of Rhyl, either one parent or both were able to speak English and in 493 (98.4 per cent) such homes the children were also English speakers. It is therefore evident that there was no great pressure on the children of monoglot English parents to learn Welsh. In only 3 (2.2 per cent) of the 139

346


households headed by two non-Welsh-speaking parents were the children, or at least some of them, acquainted with the native language. All the children born to Richard and Bridget McWalter of 2 Greenfield Station were bilingual. Richard was a police constable and hailed from Ireland, while his wife was a native of Breconshire; with the exception of their eldest 17-year-old son, who had been born in Cheshire, the other seven children had been born and brought up in Gwesbyr in Flintshire. A similar situation existed at 4 John Street where Fred Malius, a 29-year-old carpenter and only son of Samuel and Eliza Malius, natives of London and Barnstaple respectively, had a knowledge of Welsh as well as English. In the home of the Cheshire-born couple, William and Esther Pendleton, the eldest child, who was a pedlar and also a native of Cheshire, had no Welsh, but the rest of the family, all of whom had been born in Rhyl, were able to speak both languages. Since a growing number of Welsh-speaking children were able to speak English, the monoglot English children were less likely to be assimilated. Children in as many as 297 (85.3 per cent) of the households where the parents were Welsh speakers were able to speak English, and the transmission of English was more likely when both parents were bilingual. Even in 31 (53.4 per cent) of the households headed by two monoglot Welsh-speaking parents, the children, or at least some of them, could speak English and, in one case, had no Welsh. For example, at 2 Wellington Terrace, Roland Roberts, a Liverpool-born quarryman, and his Caernarfonshire-born wife, Jane, were enumerated as monoglot Welsh speakers, whereas their adopted son, who had been born in Rhyl, spoke English only. Since the family also kept non-Welsh-speaking lodgers, it is hard to believe that both the household head and his wife were totally ignorant of the English language. In linguistically mixed homes, where Welsh was spoken by only one parent, the English language was dominant. It was spoken by the children in every one of these homes and was the only medium of communication in 48 (66.7 per cent) of them. It is also significant that Welsh was more likely to survive in those homes where the mother, and not the father, was the Welsh speaker. The English language penetrated not only into the town’s homes but also into various social domains. Table 7 shows that 2,513 (53.2 per cent) of the population (aged 10 years or over) were in employment, of whom 231 (9.2 per cent) spoke Welsh only, 1,421 (56.5 per cent) spoke both languages, and 861 (34.3 per cent) spoke English only. Thus 1,652 (65.7 per cent) of the occupied population had a knowledge of Welsh and 2,282 (90.8 per cent) had a knowledge of English. Rhyl was a prosperous market town where economic opportunities abounded: its streets teemed with craftsmen, tradesmen and small businessmen. Evidence of its role as a holiday resort was also widely apparent. Indeed, Slater’s Directory for 1895 shows that Abbey Street, Aquarium Street, Bedford Street, Crescent Road, East Parade, Edward Henry Street, Elwy Street, John Street, Queen Street, Water Street and West Parade were well-provided with guest houses and

RHYL (FLINTSHIRE)

Image Not Available

Figure 1. Language spoken by inhabitants of enumeration districts of Rhyl 347


348

hotels.16 According to the census, there were 149 boarding house keepers (23 males and 126 females) in the town; as many as 140 (94.0 per cent) of these were English speakers and 78 (52.3 per cent) of them spoke English only. With the exception of three instances where monoglot English lodgers were staying in monoglot Welsh-speaking homes, the landlords were fluent in the language spoken by their guests and often hailed from the same place. Some seventy-eight of the lodging houses were owned by English-born individuals. Only twenty-two of these lodging houses were occupied on the night of the census, and twenty of the lodgers enumerated had been born beyond Offa’s Dyke. In the thirty-one boarding houses kept by natives of Flintshire the pattern was less clear. Twenty of these had no guests on census night, but five of the remaining eleven had Welshspeaking guests and seven had guests from England. Every one of the 39 hoteliers and publicans were able to speak English, 22 (56.4 per cent) of whom were English monoglots. This is not surprising since there were among them eighteen English-born individuals, one Irishman and one Scotsman. The grandest hotels were situated in the fashionable area near the eastern promenade. It was to this area also that the richest English people were attracted and consequently as many as 74.2 per cent of the inhabitants of enumeration district 13 were unable to speak Welsh (see Figure 1). A completely different situation prevailed in the southern part of the town – an area which had not benefited as much from the tourist trade and which was inhabited by the greatest proportion of Welsh speakers. The English language was also the predominant language in the field of entertainment: of the fifteen earning their living as entertainers, all except one were able to speak English, and six were English monoglots. Since their main concern was to provide entertainment for almost exclusively English-speaking visitors, there was no need for them or their families to learn Welsh. Members of this group included singers, musicians and comedians, as well as bathing attendants, people who worked on the pier and a bicycle-riding instructor. Only a very small minority of those employed in the commercial sector were unable to speak English. It was spoken by as many as 576 (93.7 per cent) individuals and only 39 (6.3 per cent) were enumerated as monoglot Welsh speakers. Since they communicated regularly with English-speaking customers, it was inevitable that they became more and more familiar with English words and expressions. It was therefore not surprising that as many as 280 (80.5 per cent) of the Welsh-born tradespeople (188 of whom were natives of Flintshire) were bilingual. It is also significant that 251 (40.8 per cent) hailed from England, and that 233 (92.8 per cent) were monoglot English speakers. Indeed, 84.7 per cent of Rhyl’s non-Welsh-speaking tradespeople had roots outside Wales, and a third hailed from the cities of Birmingham (26), London (21), Liverpool (19) and Manchester (16). A similar pattern was found in the manufacturing sector where 16

Slater’s Directory of North and Mid Wales (Manchester, 1895), pp. 396 et seq.

RHYL (FLINTSHIRE)

345 (92.2 per cent) had a knowledge of English (222 were bilingual and 123 spoke English only) and 283 (82.0 per cent) were incomers from England. Once again, only a comparatively small number (16) of these incomers could speak the native tongue and, judging by their surnames, half of these were of Welsh descent. The building sector had not attracted as many English people. Of the 256 employed in this sector, 141 (55.1 per cent) were natives of Flintshire and only 39 (15.2 per cent) had been born outside Wales. Consequently, 210 (82.0 per cent) spoke Welsh and the proportion of monoglot English speakers was much smaller (46 or 18.0 per cent). This is not surprising since the social networks of the tradespeople and manufacturers, who by this time were setting up businesses in the town, would have been more numerous. A branch line connected Rhyl to the main London and North Western Railway. The railway served as a means of promoting a knowledge of English in the town, not only because it carried day trippers from England but also because the company generally employed English speakers.17 Forty-seven people were employed on the railway, eight of whom were platelayers responsible for maintenance work. Apart from these workers, who were, for the most part, bilingual Welshmen from the locality, a third of the remaining workers hailed from Cheshire, Lancashire and Middlesex. Nineteen (48.7 per cent) of these had no Welsh at all, including the inspector, the guard and most of the ticket collectors and engine drivers. It is evident, however, that Welshmen who spoke fluent English had ample opportunity for promotion since both stationmasters were bilingual natives of Flintshire. Only one was enumerated as a Welsh monoglot, namely John Owen, a signalman from Denbigh. Since most of his fellow-workers were English speakers and some members of the family with whom he lodged had no Welsh, it seems unlikely that he was unfamiliar with English. The medical requirements of the neighbourhood were met by five doctors and their three assistants, four dentists, two nurses and two midwives, fourteen of whom were able to communicate in English and two in Welsh only. The monoglot Welsh speakers were Margaret Williams, a 61-year-old midwife from Abergele in Denbighshire, and John Howell, a student. Considering that English was the main medium of education at the time, it is hard to believe that he was totally ignorant of the English tongue. The nine individuals who had no Welsh included two doctors from Staffordshire, a phrenologist from Derbyshire, a dental assistant from London and a student from Cheshire. Two of the three monoglot English speakers who had been born in Wales were the children of English-born in-migrants, but the third was a young dentist who had been born in Rhyl and was the son of Henry and Maria Parry of 3 Brighton Road, bilingual natives of the 17

Dot Jones, The Coming of the Railways and Language Change in North Wales, 1850–1900 (Aberystwyth, 1995), p. 8.

349

350


counties of Caernarfon and Merioneth respectively. Henry Parry was enumerated as a ‘gentleman’ and he clearly did not consider that his children would benefit from learning the mother tongue. English was also the dominant language in the education sector. All the seventy-one individuals employed in this field were able to speak English and 59 (83.1 per cent) had no Welsh. This is not surprising given that 47 (66.2 per cent) had been born in England, seven in Ireland, two in Scotland and one in Belgium. Not a single monoglot Welsh speaker figured among those who catered for the spiritual needs of the townspeople at this time. Although 16 (61.5 per cent) were bilingual and nineteen had been born in Wales, ten had no Welsh and nine hailed from England and elsewhere. Among the nonWelsh speakers were four clergymen, a Catholic priest and two ministers who served the English chapels of the town. In legal circles, too, English was predominant. Of the thirty-one employed in this field, twenty-nine spoke English and seventeen were unable to speak any other language. Only two were enumerated as monoglot Welsh speakers, namely Thomas Jones, a solicitor who hailed from Rhuddlan, and John Davies, a clerk who had been born in Rhyl. The situation was much the same in the public services sector where nonEnglish speakers were rare exceptions. Henry Powell, the postmaster and a native of Shrewsbury, and five of the eight telegraphists living in the town were all monoglot English speakers. Five of the six postmen, on the other hand, were bilingual and one of them, namely Hugh Edwards of Llanrwst, had no English. In the world of central and local government the only Welsh-speaking Welshman was Merioneth-born Owen Rowlands, a county court bailiff. The remaining officers, including a civil service superintendent, an income tax collector and an inspector of nuisances, were monoglot English-speaking natives of Lancashire and Staffordshire. Three of the town’s police officers also hailed from outside Wales. The sergeant and one of the three constables were bilingual natives of nearby Prestatyn and of Haverfordwest in Pembrokeshire, while the inspector and other two policemen were natives of Ireland and Scotland and had no Welsh. In the industrial services sector, 34 (94.4 per cent) men spoke English, eleven of whom were monoglots. The only two monoglot Welsh speakers were Joseph Griffiths, an insurance collector from Meliden in Flintshire, and Hugh Edwards, a commercial clerk from Penmaen-mawr in Caernarfonshire, who also preached in the Congregational chapel in Owen Street. The mother tongue was stronger among agricultural workers: 37 (78.7 per cent) individuals employed in this sector spoke Welsh, 13 (27.6 per cent) of whom were monoglots. Twenty-three were natives of Flintshire and the rest hailed from Denbighshire and Anglesey. Only ten were enumerated as monoglot English speakers, eight of whom were English by birth. They included farmers who had come to the locality from Shropshire, Buckinghamshire and Hampshire, and corn merchants from Cheshire, Staffordshire and Kent who were temporary residents in the town. In the domestic services sector as many as 481 (72.1 per

RHYL (FLINTSHIRE)

351

cent) had been born in Wales, 468 (70.2 per cent) of whom spoke the native tongue. Even so, 397 (59.5 per cent) were bilingual and 199 (29.8 per cent) were monoglot English speakers. Some 480 (72.0 per cent) were maids employed by middle-class families. In all, 44.9 per cent of the women who were gainfully occupied earned their living in this way, and although 344 (71.7 per cent) had been born in Wales, more than a quarter (136 or 28.3 per cent) hailed from England or elsewhere. 148 (30.8 per cent) had no Welsh and it is significant that 81.6 per cent of these worked in homes where one or more members were monoglot English speakers who hailed from England. It is evident, therefore, that they did not serve as Anglicizing influences in Welsh-speaking homes. By the same token, 26 (74.3 per cent) Welsh-speaking maids were in service with Welsh-speaking families. Nevertheless, the great majority of maids were able to speak both languages, and since their employers and their families often spoke English this was not surprising. In many ways, therefore, Rhyl was an Anglicized town by 1891. As a consequence of the coming of the railway in the 1850s, the town had become an extremely accessible and attractive resort for the people of northern England and the English Midlands and a place where two languages and two cultures coexisted.18 More than a quarter of its inhabitants were monoglot English inmigrants, and since they were so numerous they were not obliged to learn Welsh. Conversely, there was growing pressure on the Welsh speakers to become bilingual, and although the mother tongue remained strong in some homes and as the language of religion, English was given pride of place in the schools and reigned supreme in commerce and in the public and professional sectors. Only a minority of small children and elderly people were enumerated as monoglot Welsh speakers and for a large section of the population the language of their daily life was English.


Industrial class AGRICULTURE Farming Farmers Agricultural labourers Farm servants 18


1 8 1

3 6 6

3 – –

7 14 7


1

1

–

2

W. T. R. Pryce, ‘Welsh and English in Wales 1750–1971: A Spatial Analysis based on the Linguistic Affiliation of Parochial Communities’, BBCS, XXVIII, part 1 (1978), 24–30.


352

Industrial class Land service Agricultural machine proprietor Dealers Cattle dealers Corn merchants Wool dealer Fishing Fishermen/women Total % MINING Lead Miners Brickmaking Manager Brickmakers Total % BUILDING Management Architect Civil engineers/surveyors Contractors/builders Foreman Apprentice/assistant Operatives Stonemasons Bricklayers Plasterers Slaters etc. Carpenters Plumbers, painters, etc. Apprentices Labourers Railways Platelayers Total %



–

1

–

1

– – –

2 – –

1 3 –

3 3 –

– –

1 –

– 1

1 1

– 10 24.4

4 22 53.7

2 9 21.9

6 41 100.0

2 3 50.0

– 2 33.3

– 1 16.7

2 6 100.0

1

1

–

2

– 1 2 33.3

1 2 4 66.7

– – – –

1 3 6 100.0

– – 1 – –

1 1 10 1 –

– 5 2 – 2

1 6 13 1 2

– 7 1 1 7 1 – 2

9 26 19 2 62 39 9 5

1 1 – – 8 21 1 2

10 34 20 3 77 61 10 9

–

–

1

1

– 20 7.8

6 190 74.5

2 45 17.6

8 255 100.0

– –

– –

1 100.0

1 100.0

5

10

15

7 1

– –

9 1

–

–

1

1

MANUFACTURING Machinery, tools, watches, etc. Skilled manual – Shipbuilding Skilled manual 2 Labourer –

RHYL (FLINTSHIRE)

Industrial class


Iron and steel Manager/foreman – Skilled manual 3 Apprentice/assistant – Tin etc. Skilled manual – Labourers – Earthenware etc. Manager – Skilled manual 2 Leather etc. Skilled manual 1 Wood, furniture, etc. Manager – Skilled manual 1 Apprentices – Labourers – Carriages and harnesses Skilled manual 4 Apprentices – Cotton etc. Foreman – Dress Manager – Skilled manual 4 Apprentices/assistants – Food Foreman – Clerk – Skilled manual 1 Apprentices/assistants – Printing Manager – Skilled manual 1 Apprentices/assistants 1 Unspecified Proprietor – Skilled manual – Apprentices/assistants – Other – Total 20 % 9.0 TRANSPORT Warehouses Labourers, assistants Ocean navigation Captains Seamen

– 14 1

2 1 1

2 18 2

3 2

– –

3 2

1 5

– 5

1 12

1

–

2

1 6 2 2

– 5 – –

1 12 2 2

11 1

12 1

27 2

–

1

1

– 25 3

1 12 1

– 1 17 3

353 Language spoken Females Welsh Both English Total

–

–

1

1

1 41 4

8 –

59 9

37 5

104 14

1 – 7 1

1 1 25 4

1 –

17 6

6 1

24 7

1 12 2

– 2 3

1 15 6

– 1 3 – 131 58.7

1 3 1 1 72 32.3

1 4 4 1 223 100.0

9 6.0

91 60.3

51 33.8

151 100.0

–

4

–

4

–

–

1

1

– 1

2 9

– 4

2 14


354

Industrial class Railways Stationmasters/officials Clerks/booking office Engine drivers, signalmen, etc. Porters Roads Cab and bus owners Cabmen Carriers, carters Others Total %


– –

1 3

2 5

3 8

1 –

7 7

7 5

15 12

1 1 9 1 14 12.3

3 13 13 – 62 54.4

2 10 1 2 38 33.3

6 24 23 3 114 100.0

6

2

8

–

–

3

7 1

– –

7 1

6 12

12 6

20 7 21 3 43

DEALING Coal Coal merchants – Coal heavers and labourers 3 Raw materials Timber merchants, wood dealers – Cloth dealer – Dress Drapers 3 Assistants – Food Butchers, fishmongers 2 Milksellers – Grocers 7 Greengrocers 1 Assistants 9 Tobacco, drink and lodging Tobacconists – Wine and spirit merchants 1 Inn and hotel keepers, publicans – Lodging and boarding house keepers 1 Eating house keepers – Cellarmen, inn servants – Furniture and household utensils Furniture dealers – Earthenware, china, glass – Ironmongers – Assistants –


–

1

–

1

– – –

1 2 66.7

– 1 33.3

1 3 100.0

21 18

– –

4 8

6 9

10 17

8 2 3 1 9

30 9 31 5 61

–

–

2

2

– 1 –

7 2 8

4 – 1

11 3 9

–

2

2

–

–

2

2

4

4

9

13

13

26

–

4

9

13

6 – 8

16 – 8

23 – 16

8 – –

56 1 7

62 2 26

126 3 33

2 – 3 7

4 1 1 –

6 1 4 7

–

–

1

1

RHYL (FLINTSHIRE)

Industrial class


Chemists Chemists – Assistants – Stationery and publications Booksellers, newsagents – Assistants – General dealers General shopkeepers – Hawkers 1 Rag dealers – Assistants – Other and unspecified Merchants, brokers, etc. – Auctioneers – Salesmen 2 Total 30 % 8.2 INDUSTRIAL SERVICES Banking, insurance, accounts Bank service – Insurance service 1 Accountants – Commercial clerks 1 Total 2 % 5.6


– 2

3 3

3 5

4 2

4 5

8 7

– –

– 1

2 1

2 2

– 2 – –

5 3 1 2

5 6 1 2

– – – –

1 1 – 3

1 1 1 6

2 2 1 9

4 6 9 198 54.0

6 3 12 139 37.9

10 9 23 367 100.0

9 3.6

103 41.5

136 54.8

248 100.0

6 4 5 8 23 63.9

3 1 2 5 11 30.5

9 6 7 14 36 100.0

–

–

4

4

PUBLIC SERVICES AND PROFESSIONALS Central administration Civil service officers – 2 2 Post Office, telegraph officials 1 7 4 Post Office clerks 1 10 3 Local administration County, municipal officers – 1 2 Poor Law official – – 1 Vaccination officer – – 1 Other local officials – 4 – Clerk – – 1 Defence Army officers – – 3 Soldiers – – 3 Army pensioner – – 1 Coastguards – – 2 Police Inspector – – 1 Sergeant – 1 – Constables – 1 2

4 12 14

3 1 1 4 1 3 3 1 2 1 1 2


356

Industrial class


Law Barristers, solicitors Clerks Medicine Physicians Medical students, assistants Dentists Nurses Midwives Education Headteachers, schoolteachers Assistants, pupil teachers Music teachers Students Religion Clergymen Roman Catholic priest CM ministers Congregational ministers Baptist ministers Wesleyan ministers Theological students Salvation Army officers Church servants Amusement Harpists Entertainers, pier masters Games Art and literature Artists Photographers Author, editor, journalists Reporter Total % DOMESTIC SERVICES Indoor service Servants/maidservants Domestic nurses Institution servants Outdoor service Coachmen and grooms Gardeners

1 1

7 5

8 8

16 14

–

2

3

5

1 – – –

1 – – –

1 4 – –

3 4 – –

– – – –

– – 1 –

7 4 3 4

7 4 4 4

– – – – – – – – –

3 – 3 3 1 3 1 1 1

4 1 – – 1 1 1 1 –

7 1 3 3 2 4 2 2 1

– – 1

1 1 4

– 2 4

1 3 9

– – – – 6 3.6

– 2 2 – 68 40.5

2 6 2 1 94 55.9

2 8 4 1 168 100.0

7 – –

11 – –

7 – –

25 – –

– 3

5 17

2 8

7 28


–

–

1

1

– 1

1 1

1 –

2 2

– – –

7 3 1

26 11 4

33 14 5

–

1

1

2

–

1

–

1

–

1

–

1

–

–

1

1

1 1.5

16 23.9

49 74.6

66 100.0

35 1 –

297 17 3

148 7 5

480 25 5

RHYL (FLINTSHIRE)

Industrial class



Extra service Cleaners, laundry women 2 Caretakers – Hairdressers – Chimney sweeps – Other – Total 12 % 15.0

– 1 1 1 2 38 47.5

– 1 11 1 – 30 37.5

2 2 12 2 2 80 100.0

23 –

40 2

8 –

71 2

– 59 10.0

– 359 61.2

1 169 28.8

1 587 100.0

OTHERS Manager General labourers Indefinite occupations Total %

– 33 1 34 21.8

– 100 9 109 69.9

1 11 1 13 8.3

1 144 11 156 100.0

– – – –

2 1 3 60.0

– 2 2 40.0

2 3 5 100.0

TOTAL OCCUPIED %

150 10.4

845 58.4

451 31.2

1446 100.0

81 7.6

576 54.0

410 38.4

1067 100.0


16 8.0

73 36.5

111 55.5

200 100.0

137 8.9

683 44.8

705 46.3

1525 100.0

School pupils %

11 4.7

133 57.1

89 38.2

233 100.0

9 3.6

127 50.4

116 46.0

252 100.0


1051 56.0

651 34.6

1879 100.0

227 8.0

1386 48.7

1231 43.3

2844 100.0


17 Rhosllannerchrugog (Denbighshire) GWENFAIR PARRY

Rhosllannerchrugog is an industrial, populous town not far from Wrexham. It stands on a strip of high ground with the hills of Cyrn-y-brain as a backdrop, and overlooks the broad acres of the Vale of Maelor. Although it developed in the wake of the Industrial Revolution and is located within a stone’s throw of Offa’s Dyke, its Welsh spirit was robust enough to flourish in the face of English influences and the town has remained largely Welsh in character until comparatively recently.1 The inhabitants were renowned not only for their thriving cultural life but also for the singularity of their dialect which abounded with such idiosyncratic terms and idioms as to render it almost unintelligible to outsiders.2 Writing in 1944, Ronald Griffith observed: ‘Indeed, the people of Rhos do have a language, their own language. It is, of course, Welsh, but ... [it is] Rhosllannerchrugog Welsh’(‘Oes, y mae i “bobl Rhos” iaith, eu hiaith briod eu hunain. Wrth gwrs, yr iaith Gymraeg ydyw, ond Cymraeg Rhosllannerchrugog yn unig’).3 The distinctive nature of their dialect is reflected in the Revd William Phillips’s comments on the relationship between the residents of Rhosllannerchrugog and those of the nearby villages of Cefn-mawr and Coed-poeth: Os bu ysbryd y llwyth yn teyrnasu trwy ardal o gwbl, wel, trwy ardal y Rhos y gwelais i ef yn teyrnasu ar ei gryfaf. Dyna’r pam yr edrychais i a’m cyfoedion, fel y gwnaethai ein teidiau o’n blaenau, yn gilwgus onid hefyd braidd yn ddirmygus ar bobl y Cefn; ac am yr un rheswm y teimlem yn gas tuag at bobl Coedpoeth. Hwntws oedd y naill; pobl ’r ochr draw oedd y lleill. Pobl y Cefn yn methu yngan y llythyren ‘h’ gan gyfeirio at ‘fy nad’ yn lle fy nhad; holi wedyn am waith yr ‘Afod’ ac nid am yr Hafod, a gofyn ‘be magat ti gyn?’ a ninnau’n fawr gwell am y clawdd yn gofyn ‘be sgin ti?’ Ar yr ochr arall inni soniai brodorion Cypoeth am ryw ‘Ffewyth John’ ac am ‘ffet i’ a gollwyd yn y gwynt, a ninnau bob amser yn sôn am ‘yng ngewyth Sam’ ac am ‘yng nghet’.4 1 2

3 4

H. D. Hughes, Y Chwarel a’i Phobl (Llandybïe, 1960), p. 11. Mari C. Jones, Language Obsolescence and Revitalization: Linguistic Change in Two Sociolinguistically Contrasting Welsh Communities (Oxford, 1998), pp. 156–7. Ronald Griffith, ‘Iaith Pobl Rhos’, Yr Eurgrawn Wesleaidd, CXXXVI, no. 4 (1944), 121. William Phillips, ‘Mor las oedd fy llannerch.’ Rhos-llannerch-rugog. Atgofion (Caernarfon, 1955), p. i.


360

(If tribal spirit ever reigned in an area, it was in the Rhos area that I saw it at its strongest. That is why my peers and I, like our grandfathers before us, looked frowningly, but also rather scornfully, at the residents of Y Cefn, and for the same reason, hated those who lived in Coedpoeth. The former were southerners, the latter were people ‘from the other side’. The Cefn people couldn’t pronounce the letter ‘h’, and would refer to ‘fy nad’ [‘my father’] instead of ‘fy nhad’; then they would enquire about work at the ‘Afod’ instead of the Hafod and ask ‘be magat ti gyn?’ while we were not much better on the opposite side of the fence with ‘be sgin ti?’ [‘what have you got?’] On the other side of us the residents of Cypoeth would refer to some ‘Ffewyth John’ [‘Uncle John’] and ‘ffet i’ [‘my hat’] which had been blown away while we would always refer to ‘yng ngewyth Sam’ and ‘yng nghet’.)

In 1891 the community boasted a vigorous Welsh life and was a bastion of the native culture in a district where two languages were in continuous contention and the cultural boundary between them was slowly pushing westwards. For the purpose of this study six enumeration districts, encompassing most of Rhosllannerchrugog and including 5,286 individuals (aged 2 years and over), were examined. Of these, 49.3 per cent were enumerated as Welsh monoglots, 41.6 per cent as bilingual, and 9.1 per cent as English monoglots. Thus 90.9 per cent of the population had a knowledge of Welsh and 50.7 per cent a knowledge of English. As Table 1 reveals, the town, by and large, was considerably more Welsh in character than the Registration District of Wrexham, Denbighshire, and Wales as a whole. Although coal had been mined in Rhosllannerchrugog and its environs since the early eighteenth century, the industry did not prosper in the locality until the decline of the Flintshire mines and the emergence of a flourishing iron industry after 1800. The coming of the canal played a key role in this process, and in its wake the number of companies which moved into the area increased.5 The industry went into decline towards the end of the 1820s, and the unrest among the miners was so considerable that the Riot Act had to be read to them, although it had to be translated into Welsh before they could understand it!6 However, once the miners became aware of the fact that coal could be used for new purposes the industry recovered somewhat. Several pits were sunk for the extraction of gas and coal for fires and, subsequently, as fuel for trains and steamships. However, economic recovery was chiefly precipitated by the success of the brickyards from 1865 onwards.7 By the latter half of the century the district 5

6

7

J. Rhosydd Williams, Hanes Rhosllannerchrugog (Rhosllannerchrugog, 1945), p. 11; W. T. R. Pryce, ‘The Social and Economic Structure of Northeast Wales, 1750–1890’ (unpubl. Lanchester Polytechnic College PhD thesis, 1971), p. 51. Emlyn Rogers, ‘Notes at random on eighteenth-century Denbighshire’, TDHS, VI (1957), 40, 53–66. George G. Lerry, ‘The Industries of Denbighshire from Tudor Times to the Present Day’, TDHS, VII (1958), 45; A. H. Dodd, The Industrial Revolution in North Wales (2nd ed., Bristol, 1971), p. 193.

RHOSLLANNERCHRUGOG (DENBIGHSHIRE)

361

Table 1: Language spoken by populations of Rhosllannerchrugog, Wrexham Registration District, Denbighshire and Wales (2 years and over) Number Welsh Rhosllannerchrugog1 2605 Wrexham R.D.2 10604 Denbighshire3 37195 Wales4 508036 1

Both 2200 16641 35030 402253

English

Total

481 5286 30810 58055 38310 110535 759416 1669705


41.6 28.7 31.7 24.1

English Total 9.1 53.0 34.7 45.5

100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0

Excluding 52 individuals whose language was not given, 4 German speakers, 2 Irish speakers and one who spoke Irish and English. Excluding 355 individuals whose language was not given and 34 who spoke other languages. Excluding 606 individuals whose language was not given and 50 who spoke other languages. Excluding 12,833 individuals whose language was not given and 3,076 who spoke other languages.

2 3 4

boasted more than twenty, admittedly small, coal mines, but the backbone of the industry was the Hafod y Bwlch pit, near Johnstown, where most of the population were employed.8 According to the 1891 census, 1,358 (72.7 per cent) of the men of Rhos depended directly upon the coal industry and the associated brick and terracotta works for their livelihood. As in other mining communities, the proportion of women employed was small: they represented 17.5 per cent of the workforce and the great majority were employed as maids. The population of Rhosllannerchrugog increased substantially as a result of these industrial initiatives. Between 1811 and 1891 the community had grown from a moderate-sized village with 1,244 inhabitants into a leading industrial town with a population of around 7,000. Within less than a century, therefore, the population had increased more than fivefold. Although natural growth was an important factor, particularly during the latter half of the century, in-migration also played a key role.9 People flocked to the area from nearby rural parishes, and many houses were built to accommodate them, although little consideration was given to planning or architectural design. Indeed, the Blue Books described Rhos as ‘worse than Merthyr Tydfil’; many of the one-roomed houses measured between nine and twelve square feet, and the appalling sanitary conditions bred disease and despair.10 Conditions had scarcely improved by 1891 when more than 80 per cent of the houses had fewer than five rooms.

8

9 10

George G. Lerry, The Collieries of Denbighshire – Past and Present (Wrexham, 1940), p. 159; Williams, Hanes Rhosllannerchrugog, p. 13. Pryce, ‘Social and Economic Structure of Northeast Wales’, p. 104. Williams, Hanes Rhosllannerchrugog, p. 12.


362

Table 2: Population distribution by age and sex1 Number Males

Females

Total

Percentage Males

Females

Total

0–4 5–14 15–24 25–44 45–64 65+

391 686 608 740 406 98

400 651 474 661 415 122

791 1337 1082 1401 821 220

49.4 51.3 56.2 52.8 49.5 44.5

50.6 48.7 43.8 47.2 50.5 55.5

100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0

Total

2929

2723

5652

51.8

48.2

100.0

Age

1

Excluding 4 individuals whose age or sex was not given.

Table 2, which examines the distribution of population according to sex and age, provides ample proof of the community’s ability to renew itself through natural growth. The most notable features are the imbalance between the sexes and the youthfulness of the mining community: 37.7 per cent of the population were under 15 years of age and only 18.4 per cent were older than 45. There was some imbalance between the sexes among people of working age as compared with the under-15 age group, particularly in the case of younger adults. Young men were at their most mobile at this time of life and, as expected, one of the consequences of the imbalance between the sexes was a high marriage rate among the fair sex: 281 (65.2 per cent) of females in their twenties were married, compared with 250 (45.5 per cent) of their male contemporaries. There were more females in the middle-age or elderly categories than males. Socially, Rhos was a working-class, self-sufficient, and closely-knit community. Some have argued that the survival of the Welsh language in the district can be attributed to the independent nature of the people who had settled there.11 Sociolinguists have revealed that the preservation of language is related to the density of social networks, and many biographies refer to the ‘love of community’, ‘street loyalty’ and ‘tribal spirit’ which characterized the district.12 One observer maintained that the local people constituted one large family and that it would be difficult to find two families who were not related either by blood or by marriage.13 But the neighbourly character of the community was not simply attributable to family ties. As already emphasized, most of the men were coal miners and their shared experiences of hardship, uncertainty and danger fostered among them a strong feeling of comradeship and solidarity. The 11 12 13

Phillips, ‘Mor las oedd fy llannerch’, p. 108. Ibid., p. i. T. W. Jones, ‘Pobl y Rhos’, Y Genhinen, XII, no. 4 (1962), 201.


363


Both

English

Total

2–5 6–14 15–24 25–44 45–64 65+

340 582 513 642 423 104

211 495 478 607 320 89

59 106 84 138 70 24

610 1183 1075 1387 813 217

Total

2604

2200

481

5285

Age

1

Percentage Welsh

Both

English

Total

55.7 49.2 47.7 46.3 52.0 48.0

34.6 41.8 44.5 43.8 39.4 41.0

9.7 9.0 7.8 9.9 8.6 11.0

100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0

49.3

41.6

9.1

100.0

Excluding one whose age was not given.

Nonconformist chapels also strengthened this social cohesion since they played an important cultural as well as religious role. The influx into the town during the latter half of the century and the substantial growth of Nonconformity provided the means by which the Welsh language was given institutional support. Although the Baptists and Calvinistic Methodists established English causes in the town, by the end of the century the Welsh denominations had thirteen chapels in the district, with a total of 5,792 members.14 The percentage of church members was therefore as high as 80 per cent. Despite the strength of the Welsh language and its culture, however, it should be stressed that 50 per cent of the inhabitants were also able to speak English. Table 3 reveals that there was hardly any linguistic slippage between the generations: 89 per cent of the population aged 65 and over spoke Welsh, and as many as 90.8 per cent of children aged between 2 and 14, a high proportion (51.4 per cent) of whom were monoglot Welsh speakers. This suggests that education was for many children an attenuated experience, and that the influence of Sunday schools was possibly greater than that of the day schools. Nevertheless, it should be emphasized that 34.6 per cent of children aged between 2 and 5 were bilingual, and that the percentage rose to 41.8 per cent in the case of children between 6 and 14 years old. This corresponds to the evidence available regarding the linguistic ability of the town’s ‘scholars’ aged 2 years or over: of the 341 included in the sample, 48.4 per cent were able to speak English and as many as 40 per cent were bilingual. This Anglicization was an indication of the parents’ desire to steep their children in ‘the language of progress’, and there can be no doubt that education 14

Royal Commission on the Church of England and Other Religious Bodies in Wales and Monmouthshire, Appendices to Minutes of Evidence. Church of England. Volume V, Appendix III, pp. 100–1 (PP 1911 (Cd. 5436) XVIII); ibid., Nonconformist County Statistics, Volume VI, pp. 128–9 (PP 1911 (Cd. 5437) XVIII).


364

Table 4: Language spoken by age and sex (2 years and over)1 Age 2–5 6–14 15–24 25–44 45–64 65+

Total 1

Number Sex Welsh

Both

English

Total



164 176 282 299 313 200 344 299 213 210 44 60

96 115 274 221 245 233 320 287 150 170 42 47

27 32 66 40 51 33 70 68 40 30 11 13

287 323 622 560 609 466 734 654 403 410 97 120

57.1 54.5 45.3 53.4 51.4 42.9 46.7 45.6 52.9 51.2 45.4 50.0

M 1360 F 1244

1127 1073

265 216

2752 2533

49.4 49.1

English

Total

33.4 35.6 44.1 39.5 40.2 50.0 43.6 44.0 37.2 41.5 43.3 39.2

9.4 9.9 10.6 7.1 8.4 7.1 9.5 10.4 9.9 7.3 11.3 10.8

100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0

41.0 42.4

9.6 8.5

100.0 100.0

Excluding one whose age was not given.

was an important influence in determining the children’s language of play and the language they spoke at home. Nevertheless, only a small minority had abandoned the language completely. Of the fifty-nine English monoglots recorded in the 2–5 age group, only three were children of Welsh speakers, and it is significant that one was the child of a schoolmaster and another of a colliery manager. Workplace contacts ensured that bilingualism reached its peak in the 15–24 age group and remained comparatively high before declining as the population aged. The percentage of English monoglots did not vary a great deal by age group, but the proportion of non-Welsh speakers was higher among people aged 65 and over: this is hardly surprising since 16 (66.7 per cent) of them had been born in England. It is possible that they had moved to the area in order to be reunited with younger relatives who had already settled there. Table 4 reveals that the percentage of monoglot English males and females was similar in each age group, and that the number of bilingual females exceeded bilingual males in the 15–24 age group. This can be attributed to the fact that the majority of them were employed as maidservants, mainly in comparatively affluent English-speaking homes. It is significant that two-thirds of the maids were in their early twenties and that 59 per cent of them were bilingual. Most of the males worked alongside their neighbours and relatives in the coal mines, and their various social networks were a means of reinforcing their Welsh character: monoglot Welsh-speaking males outnumbered females in the 15–64 age categories. In the 6–14 age group, however, the girls were more likely to be


monoglot Welsh speakers than the boys: of the 182 female pupils, 58.8 per cent were monoglot Welsh speakers and only 33.5 per cent were bilingual, whereas 43.4 per cent of the 159 male pupils were monoglot Welsh speakers and as many as 47.7 per cent were bilingual. Most of the monoglot Welsh speakers aged 65 and over were female. Rhosllannerchrugog comprised a total of 1,255 households in 1891. Of these, 1,017 (81.0 per cent) were nuclear families, consisting of 852 married couples with children and 165 childless couples. 174 (13.9 per cent) were extended families, and the remaining 64 (5.1 per cent) were single-occupation households. The married couple, therefore, lay at the heart of the social structure and occasionally provided lodgings for relatives or for other individuals. For this reason, the size of households varied considerably. Although the average number of inhabitants in each household was five, 248 (19.8 per cent) houses accommodated two people or less, 35 (2.8 per cent) accommodated ten or more, and the remaining 972 (77.5 per cent) accommodated between three and nine people. With regard to the position of the Welsh language, it is significant that individuals with no obvious family connections were to be found in only 160 (12.7 per cent) households and comprised as little as 4.4 per cent of the population. Of these, 1.4 per cent were maids, 2.7 per cent were lodgers, and 0.3 per cent were visitors. As Table 5 reveals, a higher proportion of these less settled groups were able to speak English: the percentage exceeded the corresponding percentage for heads of household and their relatives by 21 per cent. As many as 64 (88.9 per cent) of the maids were natives of Denbighshire, 57 (89.1 per cent) of whom hailed from the parish of Ruabon. None the less, 62.5 per cent were able to speak English as well as their mother tongue. Only six hailed from England, and since one of them lived in a bilingual household and the rest were employed by English-speaking families, there was no need for them to learn Welsh. Boarders and lodgers, too, were likely to introduce Anglicizing influences. The average age of the boarders and lodgers, 124 (86.7 per cent) of whom were male and 108 (75.5 per cent) of whom were unmarried, was 32 years. 67.9 per cent of them spoke English and a comparatively high proportion (28.0 per cent) had no Welsh. This can be attributed mainly to their place of birth and the fact that they were migrants. The highest proportion of Welsh speakers (97 or 96.0 per cent) were to be found among the 101 (68.2 per cent) who came from Denbighshire, although around half (52 or 51.5 per cent) of these were also fluent in English. Only ten hailed from other parts of Wales; one was a monoglot Welsh speaker, four were bilingual and five were monoglot English speakers. Most of the non-Welsh-speaking lodgers hailed from England: of the 37 English-born individuals, as many as 35 (94.6 per cent) were unable to speak the native tongue. This was not surprising since, by and large, newcomers tended to lodge with people who hailed from their native districts, usually a family who had previously moved into the area. 94 per cent of the Denbighshire-born lodgers

365


366


Number Welsh Both

English

Total


English

Total

Heads Wives Children2 Relatives Servants Boarders/lodgers Visitors Others3

633 473 1305 118 21 46 4 1

500 418 1067 94 45 57 9 5

104 83 191 52 6 40 5 1

1237 974 2563 264 72 143 18 7

51.2 48.6 50.9 44.7 29.2 32.2 22.2 14.3

40.4 42.9 41.6 35.6 62.5 39.9 50.0 71.4

8.4 8.5 7.5 19.7 8.3 28.0 27.8 14.3

100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0

Total

2601

2195

482

5278

49.3

41.6

9.0

100.0

1 2 3

Excluding 8 individuals whose relationship to the head of household was not given. Includes adopted children and stepchildren. 4 apprentices, 2 assistants and one nurse.

lived with families whose head of household also hailed from Denbighshire. Moreover, as many as 95 (94.1 per cent) lived with Welsh-speaking families. Many of them may have been related to their hosts: at 4 Owen Street, for example, Arthur and Llewelyn Bellis – both monoglot Welsh speakers from Ruabon – lodged with the monoglot Welsh family of Enoch Bellis, also a native of Ruabon. In such cases, lodgers served to reinforce family and cultural bonds, and by being accepted into society in this way they had an opportunity of making contacts with the Welsh-speaking community. A third of the English-born lodgers lived with families who originated from England, and around half of them lived with English-speaking families. Although the rest lived with Welsh-speaking families, only 6 (15.0 per cent) such families comprised monoglot Welsh speakers only. Another category likely to have a knowledge of English were the visitors, most of whom were women and children visiting relatives. Fourteen of the eighteen visitors enumerated were natives of Denbighshire and, of these, only four were monoglot English speakers, namely 64-year-old John Giller, a localborn agricultural labourer, 24-year-old Berkam White, who hailed from Bristol and was manager of an earthenware works, 30-year-old Sarah Dodd from Oakengates in Shropshire, and 11-year-old Elisabeth Forester from Bolton in Lancashire. Table 5 reveals that only a small minority (7.5 per cent) of the children were unable to speak Welsh and that 50.9 per cent were monoglot Welsh speakers. This is proof of the tenacity of the Welsh environment in which they had been raised, and since children comprised 48.6 per cent of the population and were present in 67.9 per cent of the homes, the future of the native language seemed


bright. Nevertheless, it is worth noting that 49.1 per cent also had a knowledge of English. In view of the fact that the English language was associated with economic and social progress, it is possible that the percentage of children declared bilingual tells us more about the pride of parents in the linguistic ability of their offspring than of their prowess in the two languages. It is also possible that most of these bilingual children had bilingual parents. In the district of Rhosllannerchrugog there were 378 households headed by two monoglot Welshspeaking parents and in only 3.2 per cent of these homes were the children able to speak English. On the other hand, the children in 12 per cent of the forty-two English-speaking homes were familiar with Welsh, presumably because they played with Welsh-speaking children or attended Welsh-medium Sunday schools. This kind of assimilation was not unexpected in a community where the Welsh language reigned supreme and where only 3.6 per cent of the families consisted entirely of monoglot English speakers. An examination of the evidence provided by the census with regard to language transmission within individual families can broaden our understanding of these linguistic processes. Although as many as 57.5 per cent of the married couples with children were able to speak Welsh and 38.7 per cent were able to speak English, only 4.4 per cent of the marriages were linguistically mixed, i.e. where only one partner was able to speak Welsh. It should be noted that intermarriages of this kind did not necessarily mean marriages between members of two different nationalities, since one partner could be a monoglot English speaker and the other bilingual, regardless of nationality. Curiously, there were some instances of marriage between monoglot Welsh and monoglot English speakers – an indication, possibly, that some responses to the language question reflected nationality rather than linguistic ability. If the census is to be believed, it was impossible for Emanuel and Ann Jones of Chapel Street to communicate with each other! Table 6 reveals the linguistic ability of children in mixed and homogeneous homes; the most evident trend was for children to adopt the language of their parents. This was the case in 69.3 per cent of families headed by Welsh-speaking parents, but in as many as 45.3 per cent of English-speaking homes the children also had a knowledge of the indigenous language. In mixed homes English was the dominant language and had been transmitted to children in 62.5 per cent of cases – a fact which confirms the theory that the high status language normally prevails in such homes.15 But it is also evident that linguistic slippage in favour of English was greater in those homes where the father was the only Welsh speaker than in homes where it was spoken only by the mother. Thus, despite the father’s 15

See, for instance, H. Giles, R. Y. Bourhis and D. M. Taylor, ‘Towards a Theory of Language in Ethnic Group Relations’ in Howard Giles (ed.), Language, Ethnicity and Intergroup Relations (London, 1977), p. 314; René Appel and Pieter Muysken, Language Contact and Bilingualism (London, 1987), p. 35.

367


368




Total


Total

662 6 14 291

277 14 26 338

16 3 1 14

955 23 41 643

69.3 26.1 34.1 45.3

29.0 60.9 63.4 52.6

1.7 13.0 2.4 2.1

100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0

973

655

34

1662

58.5

39.4

2.0

100.0

W: monoglot Welsh and bilinguals; E: monoglot English; Mixed: mixture of Welsh-speaking and nonWelsh-speaking children in same household.

role as the authoritative head of the family, the mother was without doubt the major influence with regard to her children’s linguistic ability. This was certainly the view of J. E. Southall, the educationist and printer from Newport, and also that of the editors of contemporary Welsh periodicals, who stressed the mother’s duty to transmit the native tongue to members of the next generation.16 It must be acknowledged, however, that it is difficult to distinguish between the influence of the home and that of wider societal forces. It must also be borne in mind that the linguistic patterns mentioned above were not only related to language ability but also to differing attitudes towards the two languages. Another difficult task is to calculate precisely how many English-speaking incomers had been assimilated into the local community. It is possible, for example, that a person born in England had moved into the neighbourhood in his early childhood, and were that to be the case the analysis would be quite different. We must therefore assume that we are dealing with individuals who moved into the district and became familiar with Welsh as adults. The enumerators’ returns reveal that only 200 of the inhabitants of the district had been born beyond Offa’s Dyke, and fifty-one of these (thirty males and twenty-one females) claimed to have some knowledge of the Welsh language. Bearing in mind that the census was not concerned with linguistic competence, it is possible that a higher proportion of English people had an elementary knowledge of Welsh but chose not to declare it. As Ieuan Gwynedd Jones has pointed out, a bilingual society consists of Welsh speakers with some knowledge of English and English speakers with some knowledge of Welsh.17 Nevertheless, an examination of the surnames of the 16

17

J. E. Southall, Preserving and Teaching the Welsh Language in English Speaking Districts (Newport, 1897); see, for instance, Y Gymraes (1850–1); Y Frythones (1879–90). Ieuan Gwynedd Jones, Communities: Essays in the Social History of Victorian Wales (Llandysul, 1987), p. 229.


369


Number Welsh

Denbighshire 2472 Flintshire 32 Merioneth 33 Montgomeryshire 11 Caernarfonshire 5 Anglesey 7 Glamorgan 2 Cardiganshire 5 Monmouthshire – Carmarthenshire 1 Radnorshire – Pembrokeshire – South Wales –


English

Total

4715 127 58 28 20 16 11 8 3 2 2 1 1

52.4 25.2 56.9 39.3 25.0 43.8 18.2 62.5 66.7 50.0 – – –

42.4 48.0 43.1 53.6 75.0 56.2 72.7 37.5 33.3 50.0 – 100.0 –

5.2 26.8 – 7.1 – – 9.1 – – – 100.0 – 100.0

100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0

Both

English

Total

1997 61 25 15 15 9 8 3 2 1 – 1 –

246 34 – 2 – – 1 – 1 – 2 – 1

England

17

54

182

253

6.7

21.3

71.9

100.0

Other2

1

6

8

15

6.7

40.0

53.3

100.0

2586

2197

477

5260

49.1

41.8

9.1

100.0

Total 1 2

Excluding 26 individuals whose place of birth was not given. Place of birth: Scotland 8, America 3, Australia 2, Ireland 1, Germany 1.

English-born Welsh speakers suggests that 31 (60.0 per cent) had family connections with Rhos. Several had returned from the cities of Liverpool, Manchester and London, bringing with them Anglicizing influences; moreover, frequent contact with relatives across the border was bound to have a detrimental impact on the native tongue. Twenty such individuals had been assimilated in the true sense of the word. Nine of them (seven men and two women) were married to Welsh-speaking spouses and some of these had applied themselves to learning the native language. Others were introduced to the language in the workplace, and used it for economic advantage alone; one such person was Albert Wilson, a bilingual collier from Shropshire who was married to a monoglot English wife. It is likely that the young miner, Rowland Hill, also learnt Welsh at work, since he lodged with an English-speaking family from Cheshire. He was the only Englishborn lodger to be enumerated as a Welsh speaker. Cultural and social assimilation depended also on settlement patterns, and these patterns were often connected to the geographical origin of individuals. The most convincing explanation of the Welsh character of Rhos is the birthplace of its inhabitants. As Table 7 reveals, only a small minority were born outside Wales. Incomers from England comprised hardly 5 per cent of the population: of these,


370

185 (73.1 per cent) were natives of Shropshire (63), Lancashire (60), Staffordshire (37) and Cheshire (25). Nearly three-quarters of the incomers were monoglot English speakers, 21.3 per cent were bilingual and 6.7 per cent monoglot Welsh. Only fifteen hailed from other countries: eight from Scotland and the rest from America (3), Australia (2), Ireland (1) and Germany (1). Compared with the English-born in-migrants, a higher proportion of these (7 or 46.7 per cent) had some knowledge of the native tongue, and since six of them had returned from Welsh-speaking settlements in Australia and America this was not surprising. In 4 Hall Street, for example, lived Joseph Bellis, a monoglot Welsh-speaking collier born in New South Wales in Australia. Five of the Bellis family lived nearby at 4 Owen Street, each one a monoglot Welsh speaker from Ruabon. Only twentyeight of the inhabitants of Rhos hailed from south Wales, twenty of whom were able to speak English, including five English monoglots. The vast majority (89.6 per cent) of the inhabitants were natives of Denbighshire and another 4.4 per cent came from the neighbouring counties of Flint, Merioneth, Montgomery and Caernarfon. Since Rhos was not a recently established community, 3,454 of its inhabitants were natives of the town, but it is known that their forefathers had migrated from agricultural communities in the west. The majority of those employed in the coal mines hailed from neighbouring parishes, among the most frequently mentioned of which were Llandysilio, Llangollen, Llansanffraid Glynceiriog, Llanarmon Dyffryn Ceiriog and Llanrhaeadr-ym-Mochnant. Bearing in mind that 65.3 per cent of the inhabitants of Denbighshire in 1891 had a knowledge of Welsh, it is significant that as many as 94.8 per cent of the Denbighshire-born inhabitants of Rhos were able to speak the language, 52.4 per cent of whom were Welsh monoglots. Selective migration was clearly at work here. Welsh speakers had made a conscious decision to settle in the neighbourhood and, although attracted mainly by comparatively high wages, cultural motives also loomed large. Migration is essentially a social process and one which cannot be fully understood without considering the migrants’ connections and information networks, and their attachment to family and kin. It is known that the inhabitants kept in close touch with their relatives in rural areas, thus constantly rekindling their Welshness. This kind of migration doubtless gave the Welsh language a firm foundation in the neighbourhood, and it can be argued, as did Brinley Thomas, that industry was responsible for extending the life of the Welsh language in at least one part of the north-east coalfield.18 In sharp contrast, the nearby town of Johnstown attracted in the main Englishspeaking people. Of its 423 (88.7 per cent) English-speaking inhabitants, 240 (50.3 per cent) had no Welsh and 183 (38.4 per cent) were bilingual. Although only 103 (21.0 per cent) hailed from England, it appears, judging by their 18

Brinley Thomas, ‘Wales and the Atlantic Economy’, Scottish Journal of Political Economy, VI (1959), 181–92.


Image Not Available

Figure 1. Language spoken by inhabitants of enumeration districts of Rhosllannerchrugog 371


372

surnames, that many more were of English descent. They came in droves from various places in Shropshire, Cheshire and Lancashire. The Revd Griffith Owen of Wrexham commented upon this settlement in 1914: ‘The place has an English name and, to a large extent, English is the language spoken there. We do not know why, while nearby highly-populated Rhos is so loyal to the Welsh language’ (‘Enw Seisnig . . . sydd i’r lle, a Saesneg i fesur helaeth yw’r iaith. Paham hyn nis gwyddom, tra y mae’r Rhos, aml ei phobl sydd yn ymyl, mor ffyddlon i’r Gymraeg’).19 There was therefore a tendency for the Welsh and English-speaking inhabitants to live apart, both geographically and socially. A. H. Dodd attributed this to the fact that two ‘streams’ met here – the eastern stream, which strengthened the English character of the English-speaking areas, and the western stream which reinforced the Welsh-speaking areas.20 These streams also had some effect on the social structure of Rhosllannerchrugog. As the map of the town’s enumeration districts reveals, the Welsh language was at its strongest in the most western and northern districts, while the eastern part was inhabited by a comparatively high proportion of monoglot English speakers, and the central area by the bilingual business community. The highest proportion of monoglot Welsh speakers were to be found in enumeration district 8, where as many as 739 (74.2 per cent) individuals were unable to speak any English. Of the 257 English speakers enumerated, only 45 (4.5 per cent) had no Welsh. Of the household heads, 226 (9.8 per cent) were natives of Denbighshire and only 9 (3.6 per cent) had been born in England. In Mount Pleasant Terrace, one of the streets with the highest proportion of Welsh speakers, 77 (81.0 per cent) of the inhabitants were unable to speak English and only 4 (4.2 per cent) were unable to speak Welsh. With the exception of a monoglot English labourer from Pen-y-mynydd in Flintshire and a bilingual collier from Hanley in Staffordshire, every head of household in this street (27 in all) were natives of Denbighshire (Figure 2). The great majority (161 or 82.1 per cent) of the inhabitants residing in enumeration district 9, one of the two districts where the town’s bilingual population was concentrated, were also natives of Denbighshire. Of the 839 who lived there, as many as 617 (73.5 per cent) could speak both languages, while 162 (19.3 per cent) were monoglot Welsh speakers, and 60 (7.2 per cent) monoglot English speakers. They had presumably learnt English in the workplace: of the 361 who were in employment, 112 (31.0 per cent) were builders, craftsmen, tradesmen and professional men. In the town as a whole, however, only 483 (22.1 per cent) were thus employed. A typical street was 19 20

Griffith Owen, Hanes Methodistiaeth Sir Fflint (Dolgellau, 1914), p. 147. A. H. Dodd, ‘Welsh and English in East Denbighshire: a historical retrospect’, THSC (1940), 52. See also W. T. R. Pryce, ‘Industrialism, Urbanization and the Maintenance of Culture Areas: north-east Wales in the mid-nineteenth century’, WHR, 7, no. 3 (1975), 329–30; idem, ‘Language Areas in North-East Wales c.1800–1911’ in Geraint H. Jenkins (ed.), Language and Community in the Nineteenth Century (Cardiff, 1998), pp. 56–7.


Image Not Available

Figure 2. Language of households in three streets in Rhosllannerchrugog Butcher Street, where 95 (84.7 per cent) of the inhabitants were bilingual and twenty-four of the twenty-seven household heads hailed from Denbighshire. A different picture emerged in enumeration district 7, where the English monoglot element was at its most prominent. Here, one of every ten of the household heads had been born in England and as many as 190 (17.0 per cent) inhabitants had no Welsh, a fairly high proportion compared with the 253 (9.9 per cent) enumerated in the town as a whole. Of these, 84 lived in three streets on the outskirts of Johnstown, in the south of the district, namely Maelor Road, Gutter Hill and Furnace Bank. On average, 164 (85.9 per cent) of the residents of these streets

373

374


spoke English, and 84 (44.0 per cent) had no Welsh. A more detailed examination of the birthplace of the twenty-one household heads in Furnace Bank reveals that 7 (33.3 per cent) were natives of Cheshire, Shropshire, Staffordshire, Warwickshire and Cornwall, and that 3 (14.3 per cent) were natives of the counties of Merioneth and Flint. The fact that people of similar linguistic and geographical backgrounds tended to settle together suggested a degree of social and cultural organization. Sifting processes were at work on more than one level and the clustering had implications for the newcomers and settled population alike. This geographical concentration of Welsh speakers strengthened the native language by promoting the development of strong social networks. Similarly, robust enclaves of English speakers in Johnstown were able to maintain their own identity because there were insufficient Welsh people to create a Welsh linguistic hegemony. Moreover, English speakers were under fewer economic and cultural pressures to learn Welsh than Welsh speakers were to learn English. Table 8, which reveals the linguistic ability of the inhabitants of Rhosllannerchrugog by occupation, raises a number of interesting questions regarding the language spoken in the industrial services sector and in the wider social sectors such as public services, administration, education and religion. There is no doubt that Welsh was the dominant language in the coal mines: 1,225 (94.8 per cent) of those employed in the coal industry were Welsh speakers, and although 458 (35.4 per cent) were bilingual, only 67 (5.2 per cent) were unable to speak the native tongue. The miners themselves were thoroughly Welsh in language and background: 1,134 (93.1 per cent) had been born in Denbighshire. The highest proportion of Welsh speakers, 710 (62.6 per cent) of whom were monoglots and 397 (35.0 per cent) bilingual, were also to be found among the Denbighshire-born inhabitants. Only forty-five hailed from other parts of Wales, and a higher proportion of these were able to speak English: 20 (44.4 per cent) were bilingual and 3 (6.7 per cent) were English monoglots. The highest proportion of monoglot English miners came from England: although they numbered only 39 (3.0 per cent), 35 (89.7 per cent) spoke English, and 23 (59.0 per cent) were monoglot English speakers. Compared with the miners, a higher proportion of machine-operators, labourers and pithead workers were fluent in English: it was spoken by 31 (66.0 per cent), 10 (21.3 per cent) of whom were monoglots. This was not surprising because, although 49 (81.7 per cent) had been born in Denbighshire, one in ten had been born over the border in Shropshire, Cheshire, Lancashire and Northumberland. It is also worth noting that 13 (21.7 per cent) of these workers were women working at the pithead, each one a Welsh speaker from Rhosllannerchrugog or Wrexham. If Welsh was the language of the great majority of workers, this was not the case among their superiors. Enumerated in the sample were two managers, two engineers, a clerk and a foreman, each of whom was familiar with English, and four of whom had no Welsh at all. Among them was the manager William Taylor, a married man from Lancashire who lodged with a bilingual family in the


town, and the engineers William and Charles Gittens, two brothers born in Denbighshire to a family who had moved into the area in search of employment at the furnaces at Bersham. It is hard to believe that these men were totally ignorant of the Welsh language. With the exception of one monoglot Welshman who had become a foreman, by and large it was the English-speaking Welshmen who had the best prospects of promotion. Looking back at his childhood in Rhos at the turn of the nineteenth century, William Phillips was proud of ‘the gentlemanly element’ (‘elfen o hen fonedd’) which was part of his inheritance: both his grandfather and two great-uncles had held high positions in industry, one as an overseer at the Kenyon colliery on the outskirts of the town, another as supervisor of a Staffordshire ironworks and another as a foreman in the brickworks of J. C. Edwards. But it is fair to note that their success was mainly attributable to the fact that they had received a private English-medium education.21 A man’s opportunities, therefore, depended on his ability to speak English, and the inevitable result was to create social pressures in its favour as it began to be recognized as the most dignified and authoritative language in the world of business. This was probably the reason why Enoch Jones, a bilingual manager from Abermarddu in Flintshire, and his Welsh-speaking wife, a native of Coed-poeth, raised their eight children as monoglot English speakers! William Phillips recalls a similar character, one Morys Kyffin, an innkeeper who was also a part-time fireman at the Hafod colliery; he raised a large family, all of whom turned their back upon the Welsh language.22 It is likely that fluent Welsh speakers such as these abandoned their mother tongue since they considered it to be an inferior language – an attitude which was common in a situation where one language was gaining prestige at the expense of the other. In general, therefore, there was a clear linguistic divide between the predominantly Welsh-speaking workforce and the managers and administrators who were, almost without exception, English speakers. As for the public services, the position of the Welsh language was less secure. The needs of the local population were served by a variety of manufacturers such as blacksmiths, cartwrights, tailors, seamstresses and cobblers, and although 168 (80.0 per cent) were natives of Denbighshire and 177 (83.9 per cent) spoke Welsh, as many as 111 (52.6 per cent) were bilingual. Clearly, therefore, bilingualism was becoming increasingly important in meeting the demands of their daily lives. Furthermore, 34 (16.1 per cent) were monoglot English speakers, 8 (23.5 per cent) of whom were employed at the local brickworks and hailed from counties such as Staffordshire, Nottinghamshire, Cheshire and Lancashire. There may have been a few tradespeople among these manufacturers since it was during this time that craftsmen were beginning to open their own shops. Inevitably, this widened the circle of their social contacts and as a result they became increasingly 21 22

Phillips, ‘Mor las oedd fy llannerch’, p. iv. Ibid., p. 67.

375

376


familiar with the English language. It is not surprising, therefore, that 82 (61.2 per cent) of the town’s tradesmen were fluent in both languages. Fifty-five (59.1 per cent) operatives in the building sector were also bilingual, but only a small minority (4 or 4.3 per cent) were non-Welsh speakers and had been born in England. On the other hand, all the five men employed as contractors or civil engineers were English speakers, two of whom were monoglots. Another group of workmen who were likely to be English speakers were the railwaymen. Since the middle of the nineteenth century Rhosllannerchrugog had been surrounded by branches of the Great Western Railway, and there were stations at Wrexham and Ruabon. The fireman, pointsman and driver were all local men and spoke both Welsh and English. However, despite the fact that they needed to communicate regularly with the public, the two railway clerks were monoglots. One was Iestyn Powell, a native of Brymbo in Flintshire. Although he lived with his bilingual brother and Welsh monoglot mother, he was enumerated as a monoglot English speaker, possibly because he considered the English language as a means of aspiring to a higher social class and of gaining the respect and admiration of his contemporaries. The other clerk, John Williams of Rhos, was a monoglot Welsh speaker, whereas his wife spoke English only. This probably reflected once more the confusion caused by the ambiguity of the language question in the census: i.e. whether it referred to one’s linguistic ability or which language was in constant use. The only railway labourer was a monoglot English speaker from Cheshire, a county well served with railways. In the education sector, many Welsh speakers believed that English was the medium of all useful knowledge and an advantage in climbing the social ladder. Some achieved this by becoming teachers, and it is significant that in the neighbourhood of Rhos only one of the teachers was a monoglot Welsh speaker. Of the remaining twelve, nine (75.0 per cent) were bilingual and three (25.0 per cent) were English monoglots, percentages which were appreciably higher than the corresponding ones for the population as a whole. Six of these teachers were natives of Denbighshire, but four hailed from other parts of Wales, another two from Worcestershire and one from America. Seven of the eight pupil teachers also had a knowledge of English and included two sisters who had no Welsh, namely Edith and Mary Graham from Bersham. It appears, moreover, that Welsh was not spoken in the homes of some of these teachers. Although they were both bilingual, Edward Jones and Richard Powell brought up their children as monoglot English speakers. The English language had penetrated to a certain extent into the world of religion and in a devout community such as Rhos this was a linguistic domain of considerable importance. Six Nonconformist ministers lived in the neighbourhood and although they hailed from the Welsh counties of Denbigh, Merioneth, Anglesey and Cardigan, all except one were bilingual. The rector, Thomas Jones, was a native of Llanrhystud in Cardiganshire. Although he was fluent in both


languages, it appears that English was the language of his home since his younger children were unable to speak Welsh. However, John Owen, the young curate and a native of Llandysilio in Denbighshire, was a monoglot Welsh speaker and one of the few who filled in a Welsh census schedule. In a district where Nonconformity and the Welsh language were strong, the Church could not risk appointing a monoglot English-speaking clergyman. Unlike religion, which was considered to be the territory of the native language, the world of administration had long been associated with the English language. Arthur Roberts, the school attendance officer, was a bilingual local man. The police sergeant, too, was able to speak both languages – a necessary qualification in a community where half the inhabitants were monoglot Welsh speakers and one in every ten a monoglot English speaker. In the professions, moreover, the importance of English had long been recognized. The Irish-born surgeon was a monoglot English speaker, while the local general practitioner was a bilingual native of Rhos. Although the solicitor hailed from nearby Rhostyllen, he was unable to speak Welsh. In general, however, the Welsh character of the town remained strong. Welsh speakers poured in from agricultural parishes to the west, and by maintaining strong links with their rural backgrounds their attachment to their language and native culture was reinforced. The coal mines also attracted English people, although they tended to settle in other communities, where they established their own social networks and institutions. In addition to this linguistic separation, an abundance of economic and social factors proved crucial to the preservation of the Welsh language in Rhos: it was a closely knit, self-sufficient community with a nucleus of comparatively settled young and elderly people. Although there was an increase in bilingualism among children and also in the commercial, public and professional sectors, Welsh was the principal language of everyday life in Rhosllannerchrugog and the town remained an island of Welshness in the bilingual or frontier zone.


Industrial class AGRICULTURE Farming Bailiffs Farmers Relative assisting Agricultural labourers


– 4 1 7

3 9 – 16

– 2 – 8

3 15 1 31


377


378

Industrial class Farm servant Breeding Horse proprietor Total % MINING Coal Managers Engineers Clerk Foreman Miners Machine operators Labourers Pithead/surface workers Other Brickmaking Managers Clerks Brickmakers Labourers Other Waterworks Worker Total % BUILDING Management Civil engineers Contractors/builders Operatives Stonemasons Bricklayers Plasterers Slaters Carpenters Plumbers/painters/ glaziers Labourers Roads and railways Road labourer Platelayer Total %

Language spoken Males Welsh Both English Total –

–

1

1

– 12 23.1

1 29 55.8

– 11 21.1

1 52 100.0

– – – – 740 4 8 4 2

1 – 1 – 429 11 5 5 2

1 2 – 1 53 3 5 2 –

2 2 1 1 1222 18 18 11 4

– – 18 3 1

1 3 26 8 1

2 – 10 5 1

– 780 57.4

1 494 36.4

– –


3 6

2 2

– –

5 8

3 3 54 16 3

1 1 1

1 2 2

– – –

2 3 3

– 85 6.2

1 1359 100.0

12 57.1

9 42.9

– –

21 100.0

1 2

1 1

2 3

4 15 2 5 4

9 20 – 2 14

2 1 – – –

15 36 2 7 18

2 2

6 4

1 –

9 6

– – 34 34.0

– – 58 58.0

1 1 8 8.0

1 1 100 100.0


Industrial class


MANUFACTURING Machinery etc. Manager – Skilled manual – Apprentice – Iron and steel Skilled manual 6 Apprentice – Tin Skilled manual – Apprentice – Earthenware etc. Managers – Skilled manual 1 Apprentices/assistants – Labourer – Leather etc. Skilled manual – Wood, furniture, etc. Skilled manual 2 Labourer – Carriages and harnesses Manager – Skilled manual – Apprentice – Dress Skilled manual 19 Apprentices/assistants – Food, drink Skilled manual – Apprentices/assistants 1 Printing Proprietor – Skilled manual – Apprentices/assistants – Unspecified Engine drivers etc. 4 Apprentices/assistants 1 Total 34 % 26.2 TRANSPORT Railways Clerks Engine driver, fireman, pointsman Roads Cab and bus owner

– 1 –

1 – 1

1 1 1

7 –

4 1

17 1

1 1

– –

1 1

1 3 – –

1 5 1 1

2 9 1 1

–

1

1

6 1

5 –

13 1

– 2 1

1 – –

1 2 1

9 1

4 –

2 1

379


1 4

2 1

– –

3 5

–

–

1

1

32 1

23 1

36 2

4 –

63 3

– –

2 2

3 –

1 2

– –

4 2

1 1 4

– – –

1 1 4

23 1 67 51.5

3 – 29 22.3

30 2 130 100.0

32 39.5

44 54.3

5 6.2

81 100.0

1

–

1

2

–

3

–

3

–

–

1

1


380

Industrial class


Carmen, carriers, cartmen, etc. Total %

5 6 35.3

4 7 41.2

DEALING Coal Coal merchant – 1 Dress Drapers 1 1 Assistants – 1 Food Butchers, fishmongers 3 19 Milksellers – – Grocers 10 20 Assistants 3 11 Tobacco, drink and lodging Inn and hotel keepers, publicans 3 11 Temperance House keeper – – Barmaids – – Furniture and household utensils Furniture dealer – 1 Earthenware dealer – – Chemists Assistant – 1 Stationery and publications Bookseller 1 – Assistant – 1 General dealers General shopkeepers 1 – Assistants 2 – Unspecified Assistant – 1 Total 24 68 % 23.8 67.3 INDUSTRIAL SERVICES Banking, insurance, accounts Insurance service 2 Total 2 % 33.3

4 4 66.7

2 4 23.5

11 17 100.0

–

1

– –


– – –

1 1 100.0

– – –

1 1 100.0

2 1

1

–

–

1

1 1 2 1

23 1 32 15

– – 7 –

1 1 4 2

– – – –

1 1 11 2

3

17

3

4

1

8

– –

– –

– 1

1 –

– 1

1 2

– –

1 –

1

–

–

1

–

1

– –

1 1

1 –

2 2

3 1

1 –

– –

4 1

– 9 8.9

1 101 100.0

17 51.5

14 42.4

2 6.1

33 100.0

– – –

6 6 100.0

PUBLIC SERVICES AND PROFESSIONALS Local administration School attendance officer – 1 – Defence Soldier 1 – –

1 1


Industrial class Police Sergeant Law Solicitor Medicine Surgeon, general practitioner Nurse Midwife Education Headteachers, schoolteachers Assistant teachers, pupil teachers Religion CM ministers Congregational minister Baptist ministers Salvation Army officers Amusement Actors Art, literature Author Total %


381


–

1

–

1

–

–

1

1

– – –

1 – –

1 – –

2 – –

– –

1 1

– –

1 1

–

3

–

3

1

6

3

10

–

1

–

1

1

4

2

7

– – 1 –

3 1 1 1

– – – –

3 1 2 1

–

–

2

2

–

–

1

1

–

–

2

2

– 2 10.5

1 14 73.7

– 3 15.8

1 19 100.0

2 8.7

12 52.1

9 39.1

23 100.0

–

–

–

62

78

10

150

– 6

1 5

– 1

1 12

68 41.7

84 51.5

11 6.7

163 100.0

DOMESTIC SERVICES Indoor service Maidservants – Outdoor service Coachmen and grooms 2 Gardeners – Extra service Cook – Laundry women – Hairdressers 1 Total 3 % 30.0

– 1

– 3

2 4

– – 1 2 20.0

– – 2 5 50.0

– – 4 10 100.0


25 25 32.5

34 34 44.2

18 18 23.4

77 77 100.0

TOTAL OCCUPIED %

922 49.3

777 41.5

172 9.2

1871 100.0

131 40.8

163 50.8

27 8.4

321 100.0


44 43.1

44 43.1

14 13.7

102 100.0

695 47.9

627 43.2

129 8.9

1451 100.0


382

Industrial class



School pupils %

69 43.4

75 47.2

15 9.4

159 100.0

107 58.8

61 33.5

14 7.7

182 100.0


896 42.0

201 9.4

2132 100.0

933 47.7

851 43.6

170 8.7

1954 100.0

18 Llanymawddwy (Merioneth) GWENFAIR PARRY

Llanymawddwy is a remote village and parish in the mountainous solitudes of Merioneth. It nestles in a long, narrow valley where the rivers Pumrhyd and Dyfi meet, about five miles north-west of Dinas Mawddwy on the road to Bala. According to Charles Ashton, writing in the second half of the nineteenth century, it was an insignificant-looking village and the few houses were, for the most part, poor and dismal in appearance (‘Y mae y pentref yn un digon distadl yr olwg arno: y mae yr ychydig dai sydd ynddo, gan mwyaf, yn isel a salw yr olwg’).1 The district was also extremely poor in natural resources. Rough slopes and boggy moorlands extended in every direction, and since the climate was wet and the soil barren the inhabitants could hope for no more than a precarious, cheerless living from the rearing and selling of sheep. The little arable land was located on the flat valley floor where hay was grown to feed the animals in winter. Oats were the only crop which flourished on such stony ground, but barley was also grown where the soil was suitable. Life in a rural community such as this was doubtless extremely hard: farmers worked unremittingly from dawn to dusk throughout the year, and their wives and children also helped in the struggle to keep the wolf from the door.2 According to the 1891 census, 143 (63.9 per cent) of the wage earners of Llanymawddwy (110 men and 39 women) scraped a living in this way. In 1891 the total population of the parish was 449, compared with 685 in 1851. This depopulation was clearly due to the fact that many people had turned their backs on the effects of agricultural depression and looked to the industrial towns for better opportunities.3 The parish of Llanymawddwy was a close-knit community. Since the neighbourhood was an economic as well as a social unit, all daily necessities were 1 2

3

Charles Ashton, ‘Eglwys Llanymmawddwy’, Yr Haul, IV, no. 42 (1888), 161. Ieuan Gwynedd Jones, Explorations and Explanations: Essays in the Social History of Victorian Wales (Llandysul, 1981), p. 96; E. G. Bowen (ed.), Wales: A Physical, Historical and Regional Geography (London, 1957), p. 296. On depopulation in Merioneth, see V. Challinor Davies, ‘Some Geographical Aspects of the Decline in the Rural Population of Wales, with Special Reference to Merioneth’, JMHRS, II, pt. 1 (1953), 58–64.


384

available within its boundaries. The inhabitants were deeply rooted in their native community and the majority spent most of their lives in the area. Geographical factors confirmed the separateness of this insular community. The former Archbishop A. G. Edwards recorded how, in 1834, his parents had arrived at this remote parish on horseback, and it was no doubt equally inaccessible towards the end of the century.4 Whenever the occasional outsider ventured into the district he was given a cool, if not hostile, reception. According to William Hutton, who visited Dyffryn Mawddwy at the turn of the eighteenth century, local people stared at him with curiosity and fear.5 The community was therefore isolated from the outside world, and seldom did external influences impinge upon it. At the turn of the nineteenth century, Abraham Morris observed that the inhabitants were less receptive to the forces of Anglicization than their neighbours in Montgomeryshire.6 The Berwyn hills served as a rampart against English culture and, moreover, the inhabitants upheld their native Welsh traditions. As was the case throughout the county of Merioneth, the loyalty of the inhabitants to their cultural heritage surpassed that of the people of Wales in general.7 This was probably due to the depth and robustness of their social networks. The parishioners knew every living soul in the district, and the great majority were related to one another either by blood or marriage. Furthermore, the church and its traditions were an integral part of village life. In the words of Charles Ashton: ‘Rarely does one find a warmer congregation and one so keen to take part in the service. And we believe that the religious zeal of this parish compares favourably with any other parish of a similar size in Wales’ (‘Anaml y ceir cynnulleidfa fwy gwresog yn yr addoliad, ac yn ymuno yn fwy aiddgar yn y gwasanaeth nag a geir yma. A chredwn fod cymmaint o sel dros yr Eglwys i’w ganfod yma, yn ol rhif y boblogaeth, ag a geir yn odid un yng Nghymru’).8 In 1791 the rural dean David Rees, vicar of Penegoes, was full of praise for the congregation at Llanymawddwy. Llanymawddwy had been his first cure and he had never since encountered parishioners who responded so thoughtfully, or whose Welsh was so faultless.9 In this respect we should bear in mind that the parish had been blessed with a long succession of patriotic clerics who believed passionately in the antiquity of the Welsh nation and revered its traditions and literature.10 The most renowned among them were Henry Thomas Edwards, John Williams (Ab Ithel) and Rowland Jones, three clerics who served the spiritual needs of the parish between 1834 and 1862 and who laboured 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Mary Ellis, ‘Eglwys y Plwyf, Llanymawddwy’, JMHRS, VII, pt. 3 (1975), 242–3. Thomas Roscoe, Wanderings and Excursions in North Wales (London, 1853), p. 325. Abraham Morris, Merionethshire (Cambridge, 1913), p. 65. Ibid. Charles Ashton, ‘Eglwys Llanymmawddwy’, Yr Haul, IV, no. 43 (1888), 203. Ellis, ‘Eglwys y Plwyf’, 238. See Alun Hughes, Eglwys Llanymawddwy (Talybont, 1998), pp. 18–19.

LLANYMAWDDWY (MERIONETH)

385

Table 1: Language spoken by populations of Llanymawddwy, Dolgellau Registration District, Merioneth and Wales (2 years and over)

Llanymawddwy1 Dolgellau R.D.2 Merioneth3 Wales4 1 2 3 4

Number Welsh

Both

399 9995 45856 508036

27 2810 12023 402253

English

Total

2 428 1016 13821 3621 61500 759416 1669705


6.3 20.3 19.5 24.1


100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0

Excluding one individual whose language was not given. Excluding 75 individuals whose language was not given and 6 who spoke other languages. Excluding 368 individuals whose language was not given and 35 who spoke other languages. Excluding 12,833 individuals whose language was not given and 3,076 who spoke other languages.

unstintingly on behalf of the Welsh language and its culture at a time when intelligent Welshmen were beginning to embrace English values.11 While others endeavoured to demonstrate the advantages of learning English, these clerics realized the importance of teaching their parishioners through the medium of Welsh, the community’s only language. In his reply to Bishop William Cleaver in 1809, the curate, David Davies, observed that occasionally a school was held in the church for the purpose of teaching children to read the catechism and also to read and write Welsh. Regarding the instruction usually given during Lent, he noted: ‘Dr Leicter’s lectures are sometimes read to them translated into Welsh by one Jones, late vicar of Pennant.’12 Later that year, the churchwardens emphasized that instruction was given through the medium of Welsh since it was the predominant language of Wales. Needless to say, this state of affairs was scorned by the Education Commissioners of 1847: ‘The boys were not disorderly, but primitive and uncouth in their manner. They know nothing of the English Language, and only 5 are learning to read English. The master is a labourer and weaver. He understands very little English, and has had very little education. He has never been trained to teach.’13 Although a national school had been set up in the area by the 1890s,14 Welsh was still the language of the overwhelming majority of its inhabitants, as the 1891 census shows: of the 428 individuals (aged 2 years and over), 93.2 per cent were enumerated as monoglot Welsh speakers, 6.3 per cent as bilinguals, and 0.5 per cent as monoglot English speakers. Thus 99.5 per cent of the population had a knowledge of Welsh and 6.8 per cent a knowledge of English. It 11 12 13

14

Ellis, ‘Eglwys y Plwyf’, 243–7. Ibid., 240–1. Reports of the Commissioners of Inquiry into the State of Education in Wales . . . in three parts. Part III. North Wales (London, 1847) (PP 1847 (872) XXVII), p. 135. Sutton’s Directory of North Wales (Manchester, 1889–90), p. 326.


386

Table 2: Language spoken by age (2 years and over)

Age

Number Welsh

Both

English

Total

Percentage Welsh

Both

English

Total

2–5 6–14 15–24 25–44 45–64 65+

39 92 62 93 77 36

– 5 5 9 5 3

– – 1 1 – –

39 97 68 103 82 39

100.0 94.8 91.2 90.3 93.9 92.3

– 5.2 7.4 8.7 6.1 7.7

– – 1.5 1.0 – –

100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0

Total

399

27

2

428

93.2

6.3

0.5

100.0

is significant, moreover, that every family except two had completed a Welshlanguage census form. As Table 1 reveals, the percentage of Welsh speakers was higher than that of the county of Merioneth and Wales in general. Llanymawddwy was, therefore, a predominantly Welsh-speaking area. As Table 2 reveals, the overwhelming majority in all age groups spoke the native tongue, and there was no evidence of linguistic erosion among the younger generation. The percentage of Welsh speakers exceeded 98 per cent among adults and children of all ages, and English was a foreign language to children between 2 and 5 years old. Only five could speak English in the 6–14 age group, and since these individuals hailed from the counties of Anglesey, Carmarthen and Glamorgan, this was almost certainly attributable to their place of birth and the fact that they were migrants. Since Welsh was so much a part of daily life, education as an instrument of Anglicization exercised comparatively little effect. Only forty-one children (aged 10 years and over) were enumerated as ‘scholars’ – twenty-five boys and sixteen girls – and it is significant that only three (7.3 per cent) of these were bilingual and that the remainder (92.7 per cent) were Welsh monoglots. A small and stable percentage of the population over the age of 14 were able to speak both languages: this percentage reached a high point of 8.7 per cent in the 25–44 age group, and a low point of 6 per cent in the 45–64 group. This may be attributed to their geographical and occupational backgrounds. Eleven (50.0 per cent) were natives of Montgomeryshire, a county insulated from the more vibrant Welsh culture to the west by the mountains of Merioneth, and which looked towards England for its trade. Three others hailed from the counties of Cardigan, Pembroke and Glamorgan. The eight born in Merioneth were a 30year-old farmer, an elderly woman who was visiting relatives, a widow whose husband was an Englishman, a maidservant employed in a bilingual home, and four individuals who had either spent some time outside the county or whose parents were incomers. The majority were employed in agriculture, but there were also maids, quarrymen, a rector and a schoolmaster among them. Only two


387


Sex

2–5


21 18 51 41 39 23 42 51 40 37 18 18

– – 3 2 3 2 6 3 2 3 1 2

– – – – – 1 – 1 – – – –

21 18 54 43 42 26 48 55 42 40 19 20

100.0 100.0 94.4 95.3 92.9 88.5 87.5 92.7 95.2 92.5 94.7 90.0

– – 5.6 4.7 7.1 7.7 12.5 5.5 4.8 7.5 5.3 10.0

– – – – – 3.8 – 1.8 – – – –

100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0

M F

211 188

15 12

– 2

226 202

93.4 93.1

6.6 5.9

– 1.0

100.0 100.0

6–14 15–24 25–44 45–64 65+

Total

English

Total


Age

English

Total

claimed to be unable to speak the native language, namely Fanny Griffiths, a 33year-old woman from Llanfechain, who was married to the monoglot Welshspeaking proprietor of the Sun Inn, and Jane Hamer, their 22-year-old maid who hailed from Abermule. As Table 3 reveals, the difference between the linguistic ability of the sexes was negligible: all the males and 99 per cent of the females were able to speak Welsh, and similar percentages of both sexes were Welsh monoglots. In a community where Welsh was inextricably linked to the home, the place of worship and the workplace, and where the economic and social experiences of the sexes were very similar, this is not surprising. For both males and females alike, their world was confined within the parish boundaries and their roots deep in their native soil. As Table 4 reveals, the majority of the inhabitants hailed from a thoroughly Welsh background. As many as 368 (86.0 per cent) were natives of Merioneth and they were all Welsh speakers, 360 of whom were monoglots and 8 bilingual. Forty-three (10.0 per cent) hailed from Montgomeryshire and, as might be expected, a higher proportion (11 or 25.6 per cent) of these were fluent in English, and two spoke no Welsh. Only 16 (3.7 per cent) had been born in other parts of Wales, and half of these were able to speak English. It is significant that only one came from England, namely Katie Davies, the monoglot Welsh granddaughter of Owen Davies of Maeslenddu. Perhaps the Welsh-speaking community of Manchester, where she had been born, was strong enough to preserve her Welsh. The backbone of this rural community, therefore, were local-born inhabitants, and it is significant that as many as 257 (or 59.9 per cent of the


388


Number Welsh

Merioneth Montgomeryshire Cardiganshire Glamorgan Denbighshire Carmarthenshire Caernarfonshire Pembrokeshire Lancashire Total


Both

English

Total

English

Total

360 30 5 1 2 – – –

8 11 1 3 – 2 1 1

– 2 – – – – – –

368 43 6 4 2 2 1 1

97.8 69.8 83.3 25.0 100.0 – – –

2.2 25.6 16.7 75.0 – 100.0 100.0 100.0

– 4.7 – – – – – –

100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0

1

–

–

1

100.0

–

–

100.0

399

27

2

428

93.2

6.3

0.5

100.0

population) were natives of the parish, and that another 74 (17.2 per cent) hailed from nearby Mallwyd and Dinas Mawddwy. The home was one of the bastions of Welshness in Llanymawddwy. Everyone spoke Welsh in as many as 97 (99.0 per cent) households, and 86 (87.8 per cent) comprised monoglot Welsh speakers only. There was not a single non-Welshspeaking household and only three households where all members were bilingual. Each household had, on average, four or five members, and although 62 (63.3 per cent) were nuclear families (52 with children and 10 without), 26 (26.5 per cent) were extended families, and 10 (10.2 per cent) homes were occupied by single people, some of whom would presumably marry later in life: 92.3 per cent of males and 75 per cent of females in the 20–29 age group were unmarried, compared with 31 per cent and 29.4 per cent in the 30–39 age group. Of the 250 who were over 20 years old, only 68 per cent were married or widowed; 32.5 per cent of males and 29.8 per cent of females were unmarried. Individuals with no obvious family connections were to be found in 36 (36.7 per cent) households: of these, 31 (31.6 per cent) were maidservants, 4 (4.1 per cent) were lodgers, and 2 (2.0 per cent) were visitors. In total, they comprised 12.6 per cent of the population, and since they were generally more mobile they were more likely to have some knowledge of English. Table 5 confirms this, but since the numbers are so small it is difficult to draw any definite conclusions. The English-speaking visitor was Catherine Williams, a 75-year-old widow born in Llanymawddwy, who was visiting John Jones’s monoglot Welsh family at T}-nant. The Englishspeaking lodger was D. O. Morris, a 14-year-old youth from Caernarfon who lived with Thomas Lewis and his family at Llwyngwilym, all of whom were Welsh monoglots. Since the vast majority of the labourers and maidservants


389


Number Welsh Both

English

Total


English

Total

Heads 91 Wives 61 Children1 167 Relatives 34 Servants/maidservants 42 Boarders/lodgers 4 Visitors 1

7 2 12 – 4 1 1

– 1 – – 1 – –

98 63 179 34 47 5 2

92.9 95.2 93.3 100.0 89.3 80.0 50.0

7.1 3.2 6.7 – 8.5 20.0 50.0

– 1.6 – – 2.1 – –

100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0

Total

27

2

428

93.2

6.3

0.5

100.0

1

399


employed on the district’s farms were local people, it is not surprising that 42 (89.3 per cent) had no English. Nevertheless, it is worth noting that 5 (10.6 per cent) did have some knowledge of the language. Three of the four bilingual individuals hailed from Montgomeryshire, and two of them were employed by people from the same county. Catherine Morgans and Elizabeth Jones were in service with the bilingual families of Robert Jones of Llannerch and John Jenkins, the curate, but the others worked in monoglot Welsh households. Jane Hamer of Abermule was the monoglot English-speaking maid and, as we have already seen, she earned her living at the local public house. Another fact revealed in Table 5 is the unmistakable Welsh character of the children: each child spoke the native tongue and as many as 167 (93.3 per cent) were Welsh monoglots. Since they comprised 41.8 per cent of the population and were present in 52 (53.1 per cent) households, there was no cause for concern regarding the future of the Welsh language. In a neighbourhood such as this, where 50 (98.0 per cent) married couples with children spoke the language, it was naturally transmitted to the next generation. Since the greater part of the population was restricted to its native district, it was inevitable that local marriage patterns would reinforce the Welsh character of the inhabitants: 59 (98.3 per cent) monoglot Welsh-speaking men had married monoglot Welsh-speaking wives and, similarly, 57 (96.6 per cent) monoglot Welsh-speaking women had married monoglot Welsh-speaking husbands. In 48 (94.1 per cent) homes the parents spoke no English and the same was true of their children. At 2 Brynbedw, where the father was a bilingual native of Meifod and the mother a monoglot Welsh speaker from Carno, the children spoke English as well as Welsh. Similarly at Ty’nsimdde, where both parents were bilingual and hailed from the counties of Glamorgan and Pembrokeshire respectively. At T} Isaf the father and children


390

spoke only Welsh, while the mother was a monoglot English speaker. Since there were no ‘English incomers’ in the neighbourhood, the linguistically mixed marriage had not weakened the position of the native tongue. Table 6 reveals that 147 (80.3 per cent) local men were gainfully occupied and that 74.8 per cent worked on the land. As many as 86 (52.1 per cent) women were also in employment, 95.3 per cent of whom were either employed on the land or were in service. There is no doubt that Welsh was the language of the agricultural world: it was spoken by everyone directly connected with farming, and 143 (96.0 per cent) were monoglot Welsh speakers. Since eighty-eight of them had their roots in Llanymawddwy, and only fourteen hailed from beyond the boundaries of Merioneth (ten from Montgomeryshire, three from Cardiganshire and one from Denbighshire), this was only to be expected. It appears, however, that there were more male than female English speakers: 6 males (5.5 per cent) were enumerated as bilingual. One of them was John Lloyd of Llangadfan, a 24-year-old bailiff and preacher who helped Mary Jones and her daughter (both local-born monoglot Welsh speakers) on Tyddynwilcock farm. The bilingual farmers were Hugh Pugh Jones of Tynyceunant, a native of Llannerchfydaf whose family were monoglot Welsh speakers, and Robert Jones of Llannerch, a widower from Llanymawddwy whose four sons could speak English – the two elder brothers had been born at Llanwddyn in Montgomeryshire and were both shepherds. Mathew Tye, a bilingual farm servant, was also a native of Montgomeryshire, and hailed from the village of Kerry. He was employed by Jonathan and Mary Davies of Pant-glas, both of whom were Welsh monoglots and natives of Montgomeryshire. Also living in the parish were ten waggoners who transported hay, manure and various other loads along the rough lanes of the neighbourhood. With the exception of William Evans of T} Uchaf, who hailed from Comins-coch in Montgomeryshire, they were all indigenous to Merioneth and only one had any command of English, namely Morris Jones of Llanymawddwy, the youngest son of Robert Jones of Llannerch. The overwhelming majority of the maids were also Welsh speakers: as many as 37 (86.0 per cent) were natives of Merioneth and only 6 (14.0 per cent) had any knowledge of English, five of whom were bilingual and one of whom was a monoglot English speaker. Although most of the inhabitants of Llanymawddwy were employed in the agricultural sector, the numerous rural craftsmen also had an important role to play.15 Within the parish lived a tailor, a blacksmith, a weaver, a seamstress, and a miller, as well as cobblers, cartwrights and stonemasons, and their chief function was to serve the daily needs of the community. Since they worked locally, they did not need to be able to speak English. Of the sixteen individuals employed in the building and manufacturing sectors, thirteen had been born in the locality and 15

J. Geraint Jenkins, ‘Rural Industry in Merioneth’, JMHRS, VIII, pt. 1 (1977), 1–15.


the other three hailed from Montgomeryshire. The only English speaker among them was a 29-year-old weaver from Newtown. It is possible that the social contacts of some craftsmen were more numerous than others since it was not always easy to distinguish between manufacturers and dealers. Despite the fact that the shoemaker Richard Davies and the tailor John Jones were, according to the commercial directories, small businessmen, they were enumerated as monoglot Welsh speakers. The same was true of the grocers Margaret Lewis and Sarah Thomas, and of the publican Evan Griffiths, who sold beer and porter at the Sun Inn. The sub-postmaster was also unable to speak English. Those who served the educational and spiritual needs of the people, however, were more likely to be able to speak English. One of the few families whose members were all bilingual was that of Henry Edmunds, the schoolmaster, and a native of St David’s in Pembrokeshire. His wife hailed from Swansea and the children had been born at Pontarddulais and Llangamarch. The rector, John Jenkins, was a native of Cilcennin in Cardiganshire, and his wife hailed from Llanwnnog in Montgomeryshire. They were both bilingual, and employed two local girls as maids. Like his predecessors, Jenkins would have been aware of the importance of language and national identity, and the need to communicate effectively with his flock. Welsh was doubtless also essential to the spiritual life of the Nonconformist chapels established by the Congregationalists and Wesleyan Methodists. One of the preachers was John Lloyd, the bilingual bailiff from Llangadfan and the other was Hugh Evans of Tan-y-foel, a farmer with no knowledge of English. Five of the seven men employed in the slate quarries of Dinas Mawddwy were also unable to speak English. The two who were enumerated as bilingual were Thomas Jones of Meifod in Montgomeryshire and his son Henry, who had been born locally. It is abundantly clear, therefore, that Llanymawddwy in 1891 was a robust Welsh-speaking community and that Welsh was the only language of almost all its inhabitants. Because of the poor state of the roads and the impenetrable mountains which surrounded it, the community was insulated from Anglicizing influences, and there was no pressure to become bilingual. Despite the presence of some English speakers such as the bailiff, the schoolmaster, the rector, and a handful of people born outside Merioneth, Welsh was the daily language of the community. In the home, the church and the chapels, in the fields and in the workplace, no other language was spoken; Welsh was ubiquitous.

391


392


Industrial class


AGRICULTURE Farming Bailiff Farmers Relatives assisting Agricultural labourers Farm servants Total %

– 64 – 12 16 104 94.5

1 2 – – 1 6 5.5

– – – – – – –

1 66 – 12 17 110 100.0

MINING Slate Quarrymen Labourer Total %

4 1 5 71.4

2 – 2 28.6

– – – –

6 1 7 100.0

2

–

–

2

1 3 100.0

– – –

– – –

1 3 100.0

–

–

1

–

–

2

–

–

3

1

–

1

–

–

3

–

–

1

– 1 8.3

– – –

1 12 100.0

BUILDING Operatives Stonemasons Roads Road labourer Total %

MANUFACTURING Iron and steel Skilled manual 1 Wood, furniture, etc. Labourers 2 Carriages and harnesses Skilled manual 3 Cotton, flax, etc. Skilled manual – Dress Skilled manual 3 Food, drink, tobacco Skilled manual 1 Unspecified Engine driver 1 Total 11 % 91.7


38 1

– –

– –

38 1

39 100.0

– –

– –

39 100.0

1

–

–

1

1 100.0

– –

– –

1 100.0


Industrial class


TRANSPORT Roads Waggoners Total %

9 9 90.0

DEALING Food Grocers – Tobacco, drink and lodging Publican 1 Total 1 % 100.0


1 1 10.0

– – –

10 10 100.0

–

–

–

2

–

–

2

– – –

– – –

1 1 100.0

2 100.0

– –

– –

2 100.0

37

5

1

43

PUBLIC SERVICES AND PROFESSIONALS Defence Naval officer 1 – – Education Schoolmaster – 1 – Religion Clergyman – 1 – Total 1 2 – % 33.3 66.7 – DOMESTIC SERVICES Indoor service Maidservants – Outdoor service Groom 1 Extra service Laundrywoman – Total 1 % 100.0

393

1 1 1 3 100.0

–

–

–

–

–

1

– – –

– – –

– 1 100.0

1 38 86.4

– 5 11.4

– 1 2.3

1 44 100.0

135 91.8

12 8.2

– –

147 100.0

80 93.0

5 5.8

1 1.2

86 100.0

11 100.0

– –

– –

11 100.0

57 90.5

5 7.9

1 1.6

63 100.0

24 96.0

1 4.0

– –

25 100.0

14 87.5

2 12.5

– –

16 100.0


13 7.1

– –

183 100.0

151 91.5

12 7.3

2 1.2

165 100.0

TOTAL OCCUPIED % Residual population % School pupils %


19 Blaenau Ffestiniog (Merioneth) GWENFAIR PARRY

One of the principal characteristics of the quarrying communities, apart from their strong Nonconformist tradition and political radicalism, was their staunch Welsh character. Writing in Y Tyst in 1867, a correspondent declared that no Irishman would dare show his face in such places and that English people were not welcome either.1 By the last quarter of the nineteenth century these districts had become bastions of the Welsh language and had made a significant contribution to its cultural tradition. The quarrymen had been steeped in their native culture and their strong sense of nationhood was reflected in their beliefs and activities. Welsh was without exception the medium of their daily intercourse, and scarcely a handful were fluent in English. ‘Welsh is the language of the home, the street, the quarry, the farm and the sanctuary’, claimed a guidebook to Bethesda in 1911 and, doubtless, the same was true of Blaenau Ffestiniog by the end of the nineteenth century.2 The location of Blaenau Ffestiniog in a relatively remote part of Merioneth probably contributed to the strong position of the Welsh language, since it is apparent that its culture and traditions were best maintained in the most inaccessible places. Towards the end of the eighteenth century this was an insignificant, sparsely-populated district whose inhabitants earned their living by rearing sheep and knitting stockings.3 During the following century, however, as a result of the initiative of outsiders the town became such a focal point for substantial industrial and social change that it became an integral part of the economy of modern Britain.4 The slates, which lay in rich layers deep in the earth, attracted investment and people to the town, and the population of the parish of Ffestiniog increased from 732 in 1801 to 11,234 in 1881.5 The town grew suddenly and, with the advent of the railways and the success of the overseas market, production of slate

1 2 3 4 5

Y Tyst, 20 July 1867. Quoted in R. Merfyn Jones, The North Wales Quarrymen 1874–1922 (Cardiff, 1982), p. 56. Y Genedl Gymreig, 21 June 1882. Jones, The North Wales Quarrymen , p. 1. G. J. Williams, Hanes Plwyf Ffestiniog (Wrexham, 1880), pp. 134–5.


396

increased from 45,000 tons in 1851 to 150,000 tons in 1881.6 During the final decade of the century, however, the industry found itself on the verge of a deep recession which would last until the outbreak of the Great War. The demise began in 1878 as a consequence of a slump in the building industry, and by 1891 the population had fallen to 11,073. Some workers were laid off when the number of quarries was reduced from eighteen to fourteen and the workforce decreased from 4,022 to 3,784 over the same period.7 The centre of activity in the year of the census focused on the large quarries of Oakeley, Llechwedd, Foty and Maenofferen, which in total employed 2,939 or 77.7 per cent of the neighbourhood’s quarrymen.8 Since this was a thoroughly working-class community, its occupational structure showed hardly any variation. Of the population sampled, 941 or nearly 70 per cent of the men in employment were directly dependent on the slate industry. The percentage may have been higher because some of the community’s craftsmen and labourers also relied on the industry. Not unexpectedly, the employment opportunities for women were limited: of the 1,686 people gainfully occupied, only 284 or 16.8 per cent were women, and apart from a few teachers and seamstresses, most were maids in service in the homes of the petite bourgeoisie. The extensive changes which occurred in Ffestiniog clearly had a substantial effect on the pattern and constitution of the population of the district. The 1841 census reveals that the number of males in the parish exceeded the number of females by 13.5 per cent and that 44 per cent of the population were young men between 15 and 35 years of age.9 In time, however, this imbalance disappeared as the population became increasingly stable. In 1891, therefore, males exceeded females by only 5 per cent and young men comprised no more than 17.4 per cent of the population. Marriage certificates reveal that many local women married young men who had moved into the district, but since these incomers were fluent Welsh speakers such marriages reinforced the Welsh character of their homes as the mother tongue was passed on to the next generation.10 Since nearly 40 per cent of the inhabitants were under the age of 15 in 1891, this augured well for the local indigenous culture. The industrialization of Ffestiniog had far-reaching social effects, and the inmigrants who settled there formed a thoroughly Welsh working-class society which had strong and multifarious networks. People were reluctant to yield to external social and linguistic pressures, and there are many references to the tribal 6 7

8 9 10

John Davies, History of Wales (London, 1990), p. 406. List of Mines in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and the Isle of Man, for the Year 1895 (London, 1896), pp. 230–4; J. Gordon Jones, ‘The Ffestiniog Slate Industry: The Industrial Pattern, 1831–1913’, JMHRS, VI, part II (1970), 197, 199. List of Mines, pp. 230–4. J. Gordon Jones, Trem ar Hanes Ffestiniog 1800–1914 (Caernarfon, 1990), p. 4. Ibid.

BLAENAU FFESTINIOG (MERIONETH)

closeness and neighbourliness which gave the community its special character.11 Furthermore, the great majority of the inhabitants were staunch Nonconformists and many were well acquainted with the Bible.12 Indeed, it was an extraordinarily religious society: at the close of the century the parish of Ffestiniog had forty-one Nonconformist chapels and the number of seats exceeded the total population by 5,041.13 Most of the chapels were erected between 1820 and 1880, especially during the decades 1860–80 when in-migration into the district from the countryside reached its peak. Although an English chapel had been built in Blaenau in 1882, the Welsh language and the Welsh causes dominated, and the three main denominations – the Calvinistic Methodists, the Congregationalists and the Baptists – enjoyed unprecedented success in the area. Sunday schools were hugely popular, as were eisteddfodau, cultural societies and the Band of Hope, and the influence of the chapel also left its mark on the activities in the quarrymen’s cabins.14 The chapels not only provided spiritual sustenance, but also promoted a working-class culture conducted entirely in Welsh, and within their unadorned walls members were taught to read and to enhance their command of the native language. The chapels also served to unite a people who lacked an urban tradition by nurturing a sense of community and a common culture. Moreover, the close association between religion and language was essential to the preservation of Welsh. Quarrymen were also avid readers and keen supporters of the periodicals and newspapers which poured from the press during the nineteenth century. ‘There is no section of the community which has more direct contact with the Welsh press, particularly by virtue of their reading’ (‘Nid oes un dosbarth yn dal cysylltiad mwy uniongyrchol â’r wasg Gymreig, yn enwedig trwy eu darlleniadau’), wrote William Jones (Ffestinfab) in 1879, and another observer commented that were the support of the quarrymen to be lost, ‘the ventures which are so successful as the means of education would be sure to suffer a heavy blow, and even their very existence would be threatened’ (‘Pe y collid gafael ar y chwarelwyr y byddai yr anturiaethau sydd mor llwyddiannus fel cyfryngau addysg yn sicr o gyfarfod â dyrnod drom, ac hyd yn nod elfenau darfodedigaeth’).15 Research carried out in the late 1870s revealed that as many as 8,000 different periodicals and newspapers were being delivered to various parts of Ffestiniog every month.16 Sales and 11

12

13

14 15 16

See, for instance, Tecwyn Vaughan Jones, Pont dros Atgof: Tystiolaeth Lafar o’r Blaenau (Caernarfon, 1991), p. 33; Gwyn Thomas, Yn Blentyn yn y Blaenau (Caernarfon, 1981), p. 4. Thomas, Yn Blentyn yn y Blaenau, p. 25; Emrys Evans, Criw Diddan, D{r Oer (Caernarfon, 1992), p. 24. Royal Commission on the Church of England and Other Religious Bodies in Wales and Monmouthshire, Nonconformist County Statistics, Volume VI, pp. 306–9 (PP 1911 (Cd. 5437) XVIII). Jones, Trem ar Hanes Ffestiniog, p. 17. William Jones (Ffestinfab), Hanes Plwyf Ffestiniog a’r Amgylchoedd (Blaenau Ffestiniog, 1879), p. 84. Ibid.

397


398

Table 1: Language spoken by the populations of Blaenau Ffestiniog, Ffestiniog Registration District, Merioneth and Wales (2 years and over)

Blaenau Ffestiniog1 Ffestiniog R.D.2 Merioneth3 Wales4 1 2 3 4

Number Welsh

Both

3439 21457 45856 508036

706 4216 12023 402253

English

Total

73 4218 685 26358 3621 61500 759416 1669705


16.7 16.0 19.5 24.1


100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0

Excluding 11 individuals whose language was not given. Excluding 160 individuals whose language was not given and 26 who spoke other languages. Excluding 368 individuals whose language was not given and 35 who spoke other languages. Excluding 12,833 individuals whose language was not given and 3,076 who spoke other languages.

readership were just as buoyant at the end of the century and in 1907 it was recorded that the quarrymen were the heaviest subscribers to Y Geninen, Y Dysgedydd, Y Drysorfa, Y Genedl Gymreig, Yr Herald Cymraeg, Gwalia, Y Goleuad, Y Werin, and Yr Eco Cymraeg.17 This appetite for Welsh-language reading matter was yet another indication of the vitality of the mother tongue in the quarrying districts. The Welsh culture of the period had exercised a considerable influence on the quarrymen and they, too, played their part in enriching and strengthening this culture. For the purposes of this study a sample was made of three of the census enumerators’ books for Blaenau Ffestiniog with a view to examining the linguistic profile of 4,229 of its inhabitants. These lived in the commercial centre of the town and in rows of uniform terraced housing. No information was available regarding the linguistic ability of eleven inhabitants, but of the remaining 4,218, 81.5 per cent were enumerated as monoglot Welsh speakers, 16.7 per cent as bilinguals, and 1.7 per cent as English monoglots. Thus 98.2 per cent of the inhabitants had a knowledge of the Welsh language and 18.4 per cent a knowledge of English. As Table 1 shows, the town and its hinterland possessed a stronger Welsh-language character than the county of Merioneth and had twice as many Welsh speakers as the average for Wales as a whole. There is therefore no doubt that in 1891 Welsh was the predominant language of the community; only a minority were able to speak English and non-Welsh speakers were very rare exceptions. Table 2 reveals that more than 95 per cent of the population in all age groups were able to speak Welsh and that the highest proportion of monoglot Welsh 17

Evidence of the Revd D. H. Williams. Royal Commission on the Church of England and Other Religious Bodies in Wales and Monmouthshire, Minutes of Evidence. Volume II. Book I (London, 1910), questions 7337–47 (PP 1910 (Cd. 5433) XV).


399


Both

2–5 6–14 15–24 25–44 45–64 65+

416 889 528 959 521 120

41 144 184 231 97 9

5 6 6 42 11 3

462 1039 718 1232 629 132

Total

3433

706

73

4212

Age

1

English

Total

Percentage Welsh

Both

English

Total

90.0 85.6 73.5 77.8 82.8 90.9

8.9 13.9 25.6 18.8 15.4 6.8

1.1 0.6 0.8 3.4 1.7 2.3

100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0

81.5

16.8

1.7

100.0

Excluding 6 individuals whose age was not given.

speakers were to be found among the youngest and oldest members of the community. The future of the mother tongue was therefore assured among the younger generation. Nevertheless, it is worth noting that the number of bilingual children in the 6–14 age group exceeded those in the 2–5 age group by 5 per cent. Although the part played by education in the process of language decline should not be exaggerated, this increase in bilingualism was probably attributable to the influence of the day schools. The sample included 432 ‘scholars’ and, although 81 per cent of these were monoglot Welsh speakers, 18 per cent could also speak English. The increase in bilingualism among the 6–14 and 15–24 age groups indicates that a small proportion had learnt English before reaching the age of 15, and although the percentage decreased as the population grew older it remained comparatively high in the working-age categories. It is worth noting that 203 (48.9 per cent) of the bilingual population between the ages of 15 and 44 had been born outside the county of Merioneth (176 in other parts of Wales, 22 in England and 5 overseas) and that 156 (54.0 per cent) of the 289 who were gainfully occupied were employed in the manufacturing, dealing and professional sectors. Only 57 (19.7 per cent) were quarrymen, nearly half of whom hailed from the counties of Caernarfon, Denbigh and Anglesey. The extremely small and stable percentages of non-Welsh-speaking inhabitants reveal that the future of the Welsh language was secure among young and old alike: bilingualism was only beginning to gain ground, mostly among children of school age and adults in the working-age categories. As Table 3 reveals, there was very little difference between the linguistic ability of the sexes, although it is worth noting that the number of English-speaking females exceeded the number of males by 8 per cent in the 15–24 age group, and that bilingualism among the fair sex reached its peak in this particular age category. This suggests that for women in service such employment was not only an effective means of familiarizing young girls from


400


Total 1

Number Sex Welsh

Both

English

Total



192 224 462 427 309 218 499 460 292 238 43 68

18 23 72 72 89 95 119 112 44 55 3 4

3 2 3 3 2 4 18 24 7 5 – 2

213 249 537 502 400 317 636 596 343 298 46 74

90.1 90.0 86.0 85.1 77.2 68.8 78.5 77.1 85.1 79.9 93.5 91.9

8.5 9.2 13.4 14.3 22.3 30.0 18.7 18.8 12.8 18.5 6.5 5.4

1.4 0.8 0.6 0.6 0.5 1.2 2.8 4.0 2.0 1.7 – 2.7

100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0

M 1797 F 1635

345 361

33 40

2175 2036

82.6 80.3

15.9 17.7

1.5 2.0

100.0 100.0

English

Total

Excluding 7 individuals whose age or sex were not given.

rural areas with urban life but also of acquainting them with the English language. In this respect it should be borne in mind that sixty-four of the females employed as maids were around 20 years of age and that one-third of them were able to speak English. The number of maidservants enumerated in Blaenau, however, was comparatively small: only 3.2 per cent of the sample were thus employed, the vast majority (95.6 per cent) of whom were Welsh speakers from the counties of Merioneth, Caernarfon and Denbigh. Indeed, only a minority of the inhabitants (8.7 per cent) of the neighbourhood had no obvious family connections. More than four out of five families were nuclear families and children were extremely numerous. They comprised 47.9 per cent of the population and were present in 80 per cent of the homes. Families could therefore be large, but although 4.7 per cent of the households consisted of nine or more members, the great majority (77.5 per cent) had six or less, and the average number in each house was five. This was doubtless an indication of the improvement in the quality of local housing by the 1890s. Although there was serious overcrowding in the barracks where quarrymen were quartered up until the end of the century, only a third of the homes had fewer than five rooms in 1891. The strength of the Welsh language in the homes of the district is illustrated in Table 4, which shows the linguistic ability of the inhabitants of Blaenau Ffestiniog according to their relationship with the head of household. It is evident, for


401


Number Welsh Both

English

Total


English

Total

Heads 762 Wives 596 Children2 1688 Relatives 125 Servants/maidservants 102 Boarders/lodgers 143 Visitors 13 Others3 6

147 126 319 28 28 40 7 10

20 23 10 4 6 9 – 1

929 745 2017 157 136 192 20 17

82.0 80.0 83.7 79.6 75.0 74.5 65.0 35.3

15.8 16.9 15.8 17.8 20.6 20.8 35.0 58.8

2.2 3.1 0.5 2.5 4.4 4.7 – 5.9

100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0

Total

705

73

4213

81.5

16.7

1.7

100.0

1 2 3

3435

Excluding 5 individuals whose relationship to the head of household was not given. Includes adopted children and stepchildren. 7 apprentices, 8 assistants, one porter and one medical student.

example, that family ties were not weakened by boarders and lodgers; they were to be found in only 12 per cent of households and represented barely 5 per cent of the population. Although a considerable number of lodgers were to be found in Blaenau Ffestiniog in the earlier period, the population had become more settled by the 1890s. Furthermore, the vast majority of the boarders and lodgers enumerated were thoroughly Welsh in background and language: 161 (83.9 per cent) hailed from the counties of Merioneth, Caernarfon, Denbigh and Anglesey, and 183 (93.3 per cent) spoke the native language. It should also be emphasized that since 82.1 per cent of the bilingual lodgers lived with Welsh-speaking families they were not responsible for the erosion of the language. Most lodgers were tradesmen, teachers and railway employees, and it is significant that only 7 (18.0 per cent) were quarrymen. The nine English monoglots hailed from England, Ireland and America, and seven of them lodged with Welsh-speaking families, an arrangement which not only encouraged the lodgers to learn Welsh, but which also provided their hosts with an opportunity of becoming accustomed to the English language. Many of the visitors were also bilingual. The majority had come to visit relatives or acquaintances, but it is possible that some had come to survey the area and assess its future prospects before deciding whether or not to settle there permanently. Nevertheless, they were so few in number that their influence on the community would have been minimal. Also revealed in Table 4 is the undeniable Welsh character of the children: as many as 1,688 or 83.7 per cent were Welsh monoglots. This was unmistakable proof of the strength of the mother tongue on the hearth and of the enormous influence of the Sunday school – ‘the nearest thing we have ever had to a national

402

Figure 1. Language of households in some of the streets of Blaenau Ffestiniog


Image Not Available


Welsh education system’ (‘y peth agosaf a gawsom erioed at gyfundrefn addysg genedlaethol Gymraeg’), according to R. Tudur Jones.18 It also shows that the Anglicizing influence exercised by the elementary and voluntary schools was not as detrimental in Blaenau as elsewhere. Education was a somewhat fragmentary experience for the majority of the local children and, in view of the fact that parents were doubtless keen to supplement their income by sending their sons to the quarry, a good English education was not a priority.19 As a result, Blaenau Ffestiniog was one of the strongholds of the Welsh language. Monoglot Welsh speakers lived in as many as 698 (74.3 per cent) households and, although everyone was able to speak English in 88 (9.4 per cent) homes, only 5 families (0.3 per cent) consisted entirely of monoglot English speakers. This is reflected in Figure 1, which reveals that 70 per cent or more of the household heads in a selection of streets were Welsh monoglots despite the fact that some were employed as tradesmen or earned their living in the public services and professional sector. Linguistically mixed marriages were also few and far between. Some 92.6 per cent of monoglot Welsh-speaking men were married to monoglot Welsh-speaking wives, and, similarly, 74.4 per cent of bilingual men were married to bilingual wives. Local marriage patterns therefore demonstrated a high proportion of linguistic selectivity which served to strengthen the language and the indigenous culture. Furthermore, since as many as 361 (95.3 per cent) married couples were able to speak Welsh, the language was transmitted naturally and smoothly to the next generation. As Table 5 reveals, there was not a single home where the children of Welsh speakers were unable to speak the native language. In 69.1 per cent of the homes of the district both parents were monoglot Welsh speakers who cherished their language and ensured that it was transmitted to their children. Indeed, in only 6 (2.3 per cent) such homes were the children able to speak any English. There was some evidence of linguistic change in those homes where one parent was familiar with English: the children in 9 (23.7 per cent) such homes were also able to speak English, whereas in homes where both parents were bilingual, the children were also bilingual in 36 (59.0 per cent) households. In only three homes were both parents unable to speak Welsh, and their children, without exception, spoke English. Two of these families were associated with the transport sector and were newcomers to the locality. The third family, however, had settled in the area some years previously and since they employed a monoglot Welsh-speaking maid it seems unlikely that they were totally ignorant of the native tongue. Only 15 (2.6 per cent) linguistically mixed marriages (that is, in which only one partner was able to speak Welsh) were recorded and, not unexpectedly, the

18 19

R. Tudur Jones, ‘Yr Eglwysi a’r Iaith yn Oes Victoria’, LlC, 19 (1996), 148. Ernest Jones, Stiniog (Caernarfon, 1988), p. 59.

403


404

Table 5: Language of children (aged 2 years and over) in households headed by Welsh-speaking and non-Welsh-speaking parents Linguistic ability Linguistic ability of children of parents Number of households Father Mother Welsh Both English Mixed Total


W W B B B E E E W

96.9 57.1 41.2 16.4 25.0 16.7 – 50.0 100.0

Total

W B W B E B E W E

254 12 7 10 1 1 – 1 3

6 6 3 36 2 5 – – –

– – – – 1 – 3 1 –

2 3 7 15 – – – – –

262 21 17 61 4 6 3 2 3

289

58

5

27

379

2.3 – 28.6 – 17.6 – 59.0 – 50.0 25.0 83.3 – – 100.0 – 50.0 – –

76.3 15.3

1.3

0.8 14.3 41.2 24.6 – – – – –

100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0

7.1

100.0


position of the Welsh language was more precarious in these homes than in homes where both parents spoke Welsh. Indeed, whereas monoglot Welshspeaking children were enumerated in as many as 84.2 per cent of the linguistically homogeneous homes, the corresponding percentage in linguistically mixed homes was as low as 40 per cent. This reveals that although linguistically mixed couples transmitted the native language to their children a fair proportion of such children were bilingual. In the case of Blaenau Ffestiniog, no evidence emerged to the effect that children generally adopted the language of their mother, and neither did the census findings confirm the theory that the higher status language was adopted in such linguistically mixed homes. Although children in 9 (60.0 per cent) such homes were able to speak English, Welsh was spoken in 13 (86.7 per cent) of them. This is hardly surprising in a predominantly Welsh-speaking community of this kind. Since only 79 (1.8 per cent) non-Welsh-born adults were enumerated in the sample, it was inevitable, for economic and social reasons, that they, too, learnt the language. It is not known how long these incomers had been living in Blaenau Ffestiniog, but thirty-six, that is to say nearly half of them, were able to speak Welsh, seven were Welsh monoglots and twenty-nine were bilingual. It is difficult to reach definite conclusions about some of these incomers, but twentyseven of them were married to Welsh speakers and another four lodged with Welsh-speaking families. Judging by their surnames, it might easily be assumed that many had family ties in the neighbourhood. It was not unusual for quarrymen


who had experienced hardship or who had failed to make ends meet to emigrate, and in its early days, at least, the North Wales Quarrymen’s Union fully supported such ventures.20 Although the attractions of the New World proved irresistibly strong for the majority, some still hankered after their homeland and continued to speak their native language in their new surroundings. One such was William Jones, a monoglot Welsh-speaking quarryman born in Pennsylvania but who later made his home in Blaenau Ffestiniog. Prominent among the other incomers who had Welsh names and who spoke the language were natives of north Wales who had established pockets of Welshness in the cities of Liverpool, Manchester and London. Of the forty-one who had not learnt the language, the close relatives of twenty-three were able to speak Welsh and, in nine cases, were monoglot Welsh speakers! These people would certainly have communicated with local people in the workplace and in chapel, thus familiarizing themselves with Welsh and the cultural riches associated with the language. It is possible, therefore, that some incomers who claimed to be non-Welsh speakers did in fact have some knowledge of the native tongue, and a higher proportion an understanding of the language, since, as is well-known, the census did not seek information about the degree of linguistic proficiency. The principal determinant of the Welsh character of Blaenau Ffestiniog was the birthplace of the inhabitants. As Table 6 reveals, the slate industry drew its workforce almost entirely from the Welsh-speaking counties of north Wales: as many as 62.6 per cent of the population hailed from Merioneth, 18.7 per cent from Caernarfonshire, 8 per cent from Denbighshire and 4.1 per cent from Anglesey. Since 99.8 per cent of these incomers were able to speak Welsh and 84.7 per cent were monoglot Welsh speakers, they reinforced the Welsh character of their adopted community. At parish level, the local character of the inmigration was even more striking: of the 2,596 born in Merioneth, 78.8 per cent were natives of the parish of Ffestiniog, and 9.9 per cent hailed from the contiguous parishes of Llanfrothen, Maentwrog, Penmachno, Trawsfynydd and Dolwyddelan. Among the other parishes or towns mentioned in the census were Llanrwst, Penrhyndeudraeth, Porthmadog, Pwllheli, Bethesda and Amlwch, all of which were either market towns, ports in decline or towns with an industrial tradition. The overwhelming majority, however, hailed from a rural background, and the 1881 census contains frequent references to farm labourers who had made their way to Blaenau Ffestiniog in order to escape the effects of the agricultural depression.21 In general, therefore, it is evident that the pattern of in-migration into the area conformed with Arthur Redford’s conclusion ‘that all the rising centres of industry and commerce were attracting workers by a process of shortdistance migration from the surrounding country . . . there was a fairly uniform 20 21

Ibid., p. 36. Jones, Trem ar Hanes Ffestiniog, p. 4.

405


406


Number Welsh

Merioneth 2202 Caernarfonshire 645 Denbighshire 270 Anglesey 153 Montgomeryshire 44 Flintshire 25 Cardiganshire 13 Glamorgan 10 Pembrokeshire 6 Carmarthenshire – Radnorshire – Monmouthshire 2 Wales2 –


Both

English

Total

376 129 59 19 21 21 7 9 1 3 – – 1

8 1 1 – 1 – 1 – – – 1 – –

2596 775 330 172 66 46 21 19 7 3 1 2 1

84.8 83.2 81.8 89.0 66.7 54.3 61.9 52.6 85.7 – – 100.0 –

English

Total

14.5 16.6 17.9 11.0 31.8 45.7 33.3 47.4 14.3 100.0 – – 100.0

0.3 0.1 0.3 – 1.5 – 4.8 – – – 100.0 – –

100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0

England

14

32

52

98

14.3

32.6

53.1

100.0

Other3

4

7

7

18

22.2

38.9

38.9

100.0

3388

685

72

4145

81.7

16.5

1.7

100.0

Total 1 2 3

Excluding 73 individuals whose place of birth was not given. County unknown. Place of birth: Ireland 7, Scotland 3, America 5, Peru 2, Chile 1.

lessening in the intensity of migration as the distance from the absorbing centre increased’.22 Unlike the valleys of south Wales, the economy of Blaenau Ffestiniog was neither sufficiently robust nor centrally placed to attract a heterogeneous population. There were no substantial concentrations of people from other countries to threaten the dominance of the Welsh language. Only eighty-five people of Irish stock lived in Merioneth in 1891, one of the smallest proportions among all the counties of Wales. Only a very small number of in-migrants from overseas (0.4 per cent), from south Wales (0.8 per cent) and from England (2.4 per cent) lived in Blaenau Ffestiniog. This meant that the inhabitants were culturally homogeneous and were not pressurized to acquire a knowledge of English. Many rural traditions had doubtless survived in the new industrial society and the workforce kept in close contact with local agriculture by renting and working parcels of land or keeping cattle. For example, a manager of one of the Blaenau quarries informed members of the Royal Commission on Labour in 1892 that 22

Arthur Redford, Labour Migration in England, 1800–1815 (Manchester, 1965), pp. 183–5.


some workmen were smallholders who travelled long distances to their place of work.23 This was of immeasurable benefit to the inhabitants since it was a means of maintaining their Welsh character and reinforcing their attachment to their language and native culture. The Welsh character of the slate industry was therefore successfully preserved. ‘Welsh was the language of the workers’, wrote D. Lloyd Hughes, ‘and when the quarries brought them to work and live more closely with one another, the path was clear for their Welsh talents to demonstrate their worth’ (‘Cymraeg oedd iaith y gweithwyr, a phan ddaeth tyfiant y gweithfeydd â hwy i weithio a byw yn fwy clòs at ei gilydd yr oedd y ffordd yn glir i’w hathrylith Gymreig ddangos ei gwerth’).24 Since the output of the north Wales quarries far outstripped that of their English counterparts, the industry began to regard itself as thoroughly Welsh, and it was natural that the minutes and accounts of the North Wales Quarrymen’s Union should be kept in the native language.25 Indeed, the overwhelming majority of the quarrymen were unable to conduct a conversation in English: ‘The quarrymen of Ffestiniog’, wrote E. G. Ravenstein in 1879, ‘are stated to speak Welsh only.’26 As Table 7 reveals, their lack of English was just as evident in 1891 when as many as 790 (91.5 per cent) were enumerated as monoglot Welsh speakers. Only five individuals had no grasp of the native language, and they comprised two Irishmen, an Englishman from Bristol and two Welshmen who were married to English wives. However, bearing in mind the Welsh character of the quarries and how essential it was for workers to be able to communicate with one another in such dangerous working conditions, their language statements cannot be accepted unconditionally. The handful of labourers included in the sample were also Welsh-speaking Welshmen – men who had left agricultural communities in the counties of Merioneth, Denbigh and Caernarfon in order to take advantage of the shorter working hours and weekend breaks.27 It was not surprising, therefore, that Welsh was the idiom of the quarryman’s craft and that the daily language of the quarry was both vigorous and refined. On this basis, some went as far as to claim that the Welsh had been blessed with an innate gift for handling slate, that they were quarrymen by instinct, and that no Englishman could hope to become masters of the craft. In 1942, recalling the golden age of the industry, John Williams related an anecdote of his father’s about an English-born quarry manager. On seeing a quarryman sitting down and smoking idly, the manager asked the foreman, ‘Do you allow such a thing?’ The 23

24 25 26

27

Evidence of William Arthur Darbishire. Royal Commission on Labour, 1891–4, Minutes of Evidence, Group A, Volume II, question 9410. H. D. Hughes, Y Chwarel a’i Phobl (Llandybïe, 1960), p. 11. Jones, The North Wales Quarrymen, p. 59. E. G. Ravenstein, ‘On the Celtic Languages in the British Isles, a Statistical Survey’, Journal of the Royal Statistical Society, XLII (1879), 619. John Williams, ‘Atgofion Chwarelwr’, Y Llenor, XXI, no. 4 (1942), 133.

407


408

latter replied that the man was not idling but, rather, studying the nature of the rock and planning how to extract it and get the best out of it. Williams was convinced that this proved that only Welshmen were able to hew the rock. After all, one of the quarry’s celebrated proverbs was: ‘A quarry cannot be worked in English’ (‘Ni ellir gweithio chwarel yn Saesneg’).28 A hundred years earlier, during the 1840s, a ballad-monger had written: Os bydd eisiau cael swyddogion, Danfon ffwrdd a wneir yn union, Un ai Gwyddel, Sais neu Scotsman, Sydd mewn swyddau braidd ymhobman. Mewn gweithfeydd sydd yma’n Nghymru Gwelir Saeson yn busnesu; Rhaid cael Cymry i dorri’r garreg, Nid yw’r graig yn deall Saesneg.29 (If there is need for officials, they are sent for at once. Those in jobs everywhere are either Irishmen, Englishmen or Scotsmen. In the works here in Wales the English interfere; you must have Welshmen to hew the rock, the rock does not understand English.)

To an Englishman, therefore, all social aspects of the quarry would be completely alien. The practical work was carried out, almost exclusively, by Welshmen. The sample included two supervisors and four under-managers, all of whom were born locally and able to speak Welsh. Since three of them were monoglot Welsh speakers, it appears that English was not essential for their daily tasks. In the case of clerks, however, an ability to speak English was necessary. But although all three were bilingual, they, too, were natives of Blaenau Ffestiniog and their families were monoglot Welsh speakers. In this working-class community, therefore, no linguistic gulf existed between the management and clerical staff on the one hand and the workforce on the other. Even so, the managers of the large quarries were Englishmen. The only manager included in the sample was Walter Andrews, an unmarried native of Bulmer in Essex who was totally ignorant of the Welsh language and unfamiliar with the culture of the quarryman. He was no exception: in 1889 all the directors of the Cwmorthin quarry were also Englishmen.30 This irked the quarrymen and there was bitter criticism of the practice of appointing English-speaking managers who understood very little about the craft of quarrying slate. At a conference of 28 29 30

Ibid., 129–35. Quoted in Jones, The North Wales Quarrymen, p. 78. Jones, Trem ar Hanes Ffestiniog, p. 2.


the North Wales Quarrymen’s Union in 1881, for example, it was unanimously agreed that the English element was hindering the industry and that Englishmen in positions of authority were preventing the practical managers from carrying out their duties at work.31 Furthermore, the main quarries were owned by Englishmen bearing names such as Holland, Greaves and Casson. Under the circumstances, it is not surprising that the fragile relationship between workers and masters stemmed partly from the discord between the two cultures. Blaenau Ffestiniog was, above all, an industrial community. Yet it was not an entirely working-class society. The substantial population had to be fed, clothed and housed, and tradesmen and craftsmen took advantage of the higher wages paid to quarrymen. Even in a society as plebeian as this, progress brought a modest degree of professionalism and specialism in its wake. Of the 1,686 people in employment, 199 (11.8 per cent) were engaged in the manufacturing sector and included blacksmiths, tailors, seamstresses, bakers and machine-makers. Ninetyone (45.7 per cent) hailed from Merioneth and 78 (39.2 per cent) from the counties of Caernarfon, Denbigh and Anglesey. It is therefore not surprising that 190 (95.5 per cent) of these manufacturers were Welsh speakers, of whom 70 were monoglots and 120 bilingual. A similar pattern obtained in the building sector where 36 (80.0 per cent) came from the counties of Merioneth, Caernarfon and Denbigh, and where Welsh was spoken by 44 (97.8 per cent). The great majority (70.7 per cent) had no knowledge of English and only one Englishman figured among them. He was a platelayer from London, and although his 14-yearold son had been born in Colchester in Essex, his wife, a native of Llanfairfechan, claimed to be a Welsh monoglot – further proof that the evidence of the census is not always entirely reliable. The vast majority of the tradespeople were also Welsh speaking, but in contrast to the craftsmen a significant proportion were bilingual. More than 80 per cent of the shopkeepers and publicans in the sample hailed from the counties of north Wales (Merioneth, Caernarfon, Denbigh and Anglesey) and although 93.6 per cent were able to speak Welsh, 45.4 per cent declared that they were also familiar with English. A mastery of English was doubtless essential in order to succeed in the world of commerce. Thomas Ellis, a purveyor of sweetmeats from Llanarmon in Denbighshire, and William Griffiths, a sewing-machine representative from Tal-y-llyn were both able to speak English, although their children, or at least the youngest among them, were monoglot Welsh speakers. Among the monoglot English incomers were two commercial travellers from Lancashire and a hawker from Yorkshire, a fish and game dealer from Worcestershire, a grocer from Liverpool, a shoe dealer and his wife from Staffordshire, and finally the manageress of the London and North Western Hotel who hailed from Worcestershire and apparently did not see fit to employ local Welsh people since her staff were 31

Y Genedl Gymreig, 24 May 1882.

409


410

English speakers drawn from London, Lancashire, Buckinghamshire, Ireland and Caernarfonshire. The English language also penetrated the world of finance and accountancy, and, although 94.4 per cent of employees in the industrial services sector were Welsh speakers, 72.2 per cent of them were bilingual. As the nineteenth century drew to a close, there were two impressive banks in Blaenau. One was the North and South, as it was known, and Slater’s Directory for 1889–90 shows that it was managed by W. G. Casson, a monoglot Englishman. The other was owned by Messrs Pugh, Jones and Company and managed by a bilingual native of Ruthin.32 The two bank clerks included in the sample were also bilingual: one was a lodger who hailed from Llanddeiniolen and the other a visitor from Bala. Indeed, there were only four monoglot Welsh speakers in this sector, an insurance collector from Llanwenllwyfo in Anglesey and three commercial clerks from the counties of Merioneth and Caernarfon. Individuals employed in the comparatively new services such as the Post Office and the railways followed a similar pattern. The postmaster, Robert H. Hughes, was a native of Ffestiniog, and although both he and his wife, who hailed from Gwaunysgor in Denbighshire, were bilingual, his children were monoglot Welsh speakers. The sub-postmistress, a native of Holyhead, and the postmen, William and Thomas Jones, two young brothers from Blaenau Ffestiniog, were also bilingual, as were most of those employed on the railway. Following the boom in the slate industry, Blaenau Ffestiniog was connected to three main railway lines, namely the London and North Western from the direction of Llandudno, the Great Western from Bala, and the Cambrian via the Ffestiniog Railway from Porthmadog, all of which posed a threat to the Welsh character of the community. The Cambrian was the only railway company in north Wales to employ appreciable numbers of monoglot Welsh speakers in 1891.33 Indeed, four years later, it was claimed that the London and North Western Railway Company had dismissed workers from Blaenau Ffestiniog because they were unable to speak English. This enraged the Ffestiniog Town Council, especially since the company insisted on appointing monoglot Englishmen as clerks in districts as Welsh as Blaenau Ffestiniog.34 The census reveals that R. W. Davies, the stationmaster included in the sample, was a bilingual native of Glyn Ceiriog in Denbighshire – proof that it was not impossible for a bilingual Welshman to secure such a post. However, the clerk Thomas Tidmass was an English speaker from Hereford. Two other non-Welsh-speaking railwaymen were James Pufton, the goods foreman, who came from Radnorshire and was married to a monoglot Englishwoman from 32 33

34

Sutton’s Directory of North Wales (Manchester, 1889–90), pp. 302–7. Dot Jones, The Coming of the Railways and Language Change in North Wales 1850–1900 (Aberystwyth, 1995), p. 16. Ernest Jones, Senedd Stiniog: Hanes Cyngor Dinesig Ffestiniog, 1895–1974 (Blaenau Ffestiniog, 1975), pp. 21–2.


Staffordshire, and James Morris, a signalman from Shrewsbury, whose wife was from Denbighshire. Despite the fact that this family had lived in Blaenau Ffestiniog for at least four years, their children were enumerated as non-Welsh speakers. The reluctance of railway employees to learn Welsh may be associated with their mobility and also their perception that English was a language which carried higher social status. Nevertheless, the guard Thomas Webb, who hailed from Northumbria, had learnt Welsh. Monoglot Welsh speakers, however, normally held subordinate posts. With the exception of a signalman, the only monoglot Welsh speakers were the porter and eight of the nine platelayers, who hailed from north Wales. The ability to communicate in Welsh was essential to those employed in the professional sector. Although no monoglot Englishmen figured among the doctors and solicitors, 5 (83.3 per cent) had a knowledge of English as well as Welsh. The majority were natives of the counties of Merioneth, Caernarfon and Denbigh, and their families, without exception, also spoke Welsh. In the world of education, only one female teacher was enumerated as unable to speak Welsh. She was a native of Manchester and lodged with one of the local bilingual families. Even so, 13 teachers (76.5 per cent), 11 pupil teachers (73.3 per cent) and 4 students (66.7 per cent) had a knowledge of English as well as Welsh, and in many homes they were the only English speakers. On the other hand, it is significant that as many as 80.6 per cent of the ‘scholars’ (aged 10 years and over) were monoglot Welsh speakers, despite the fact that the education system was thoroughly Anglicized. Bilingualism was fast gaining ground among the religious leaders of the locality. With the exception of two Wesleyan ministers, the Nonconformist ministers all had a knowledge of English. This was not surprising, bearing in mind the prestige which the language enjoyed in the denominational colleges and the flourishing English causes supported by the religious leaders of the day.35 Since the families of these ministers were also able to speak English, it is possible that they spoke English at home. Indeed, this was said to be common practice among Nonconformist ministers in the Victorian age.36 As a rule, the commitment to Welsh was considerably weaker in the Church, but since Blaenau Ffestiniog was one of the strongholds of Nonconformity the established Church could not afford to appoint a non-Welsh-speaking clergyman. The rector, Richard Davies, was a Welshman from Tregaron, who was waited upon by a monoglot Welsh maid from Ffestiniog. Nor was the English language dominant in the field of local government. Both the assistant superintendent and the school attendance officer were local monoglot Welsh speakers, and it is evident from contemporary commercial directories that 35 36

Jones, ‘Yr Eglwysi a’r Iaith’, 163. Ibid.

411


412

various employees of the Board of Guardians and the Local School Board were Welsh, at least by name. It is clear, nonetheless, that an ability to speak English was desirable among those responsible for keeping the peace. The policeman, Thomas Theodore, a native of Llanfair Caereinion in Montgomeryshire, and the sergeant, Griffith Griffiths, of Llanfor near Bala, and their families, were all bilingual. No justice of the peace was included in the sample, but the magistrate, John Parry Jones, a bank manager, was bilingual. On the other hand, the bailiff of the county court, William Parry, was a monoglot Welsh speaker from Newborough in Anglesey. Although bilingualism was proceeding apace in the commercial, public and professional sectors, Welsh was without doubt the principal language of this community. It was the language of home and chapel, of quarry cabin and cavern, and for the great majority of the population it was the only medium of communication. The fact that Blaenau was a westward-facing town protected by mountains to the rear meant that it was not as vulnerable to English influences as the mining districts of south Wales, and for that reason there were few pressures on the inhabitants to learn English. Of paramount importance was the fact that the quarrymen had flocked from nearby agricultural areas and continued to maintain strong links with their rural backgrounds. All the elements of Welshness were contained in their society and way of life, and by virtue of their celebrated cultural activity Blaenau Ffestiniog had become one of the strongholds of the Welsh language.


Industrial class AGRICULTURE Farming Farmers Farm servants Shepherds Dealers Flour merchant Total % MINING Slate Managers/supervisors Clerks Miners


3 2 2

– – –

– – –

3 2 2

1 8 100.0

– – –

– – –

1 8 100.0

3 – 790

3 3 68

1 – 5

7 3 863


1

1

–

2

1 50.0

1 50.0

– –

2 100.0


Industrial class Slate cutters Labourers Others Copper Miner Total % BUILDING Management Civil engineers Contractors/builders Operatives Stonemasons Slaters Carpenters/joiners Painters Gas fitter Apprentice Railways Platelayers Total %

Language spoken Males Welsh Both English Total 19 10 22

8 5 3

– – –

27 15 25

1 845 89.8

– 90 9.6

– 6 0.6

1 941 100.0

1 2

1 –

– –

2 2

7 2 10 5 – –

1 1 – 4 1 1

– – – – – –

8 3 10 9 1 1

8 35 77.8

– 9 20.0

1 1 2.2

9 45 100.0

1

1

13

2 1

– –

10 1

– 1

– –

1 3

– –

– –

1 1

– –

– –

2 1

– 5 –

– 2 –

1 40 2

1

1

3

2 –

1 –

5 1

MANUFACTURING Machinery, tools, watches, etc. Skilled manual 11 Iron and steel Skilled manual 8 Assistant – Earthenware Manager 1 Skilled manual 2 Wood, furniture, paper Skilled manual 1 Apprentice 1 Woollens Skilled manual 2 Apprentice 1 Dress Proprietor 1 Skilled manual 33 Apprentices 2 Food, drink, tobacco Skilled manual 1 Printing Skilled manual 2 Apprentice 1

413


1

–

–

1

43 5

26 3

– –

69 8


414

Industrial class



Unspecified Warehouse foreman Engine drivers etc. Apprentice Total %

– 21 – 88 72.7

49 62.8

29 37.2

– –

78 100.0

TRANSPORT Ocean navigation Sailors 1 Railways Stationmaster, guard – Clerk – Signalmen, stokers, goods foreman, pointsman 1 Porters 1 Roads Car proprietor 1 Bus driver – Carters, carriers 10 Total 14 % 48.3 DEALING Coal Coal merchants 4 Dress Drapers etc. 3 Assistants 4 Food Butchers, fishmongers 4 Milksellers 3 Grocers 10 Greengrocer – Assistants 2 Tobacco, drink and lodging Tobacconist 1 Inn and hotel keepers, publicans 2 Lodging house keepers – Assistants 1 Furniture and household utensils Earthenware and glass 1 Assistant – Chemists, druggists Chemists –

1 9 1 24 19.8

– 3 – 8 6.6

1 33 1 121 100.0

1

–

2

2 –

– 1

2 1

5 2

2 –

8 3

– – 1 11 37.9

– 1 – 4 13.8

1 1 11 29 100.0

1

–

5

7 5

1 –

11 9

– 1

2 1

– –

2 2

3 – 6 – 6

1 – – – –

8 3 16 – 8

7 – –

3 1 1

1 – –

11 1 1

–

–

1

3 – 2

– – 1

5 – 4

1 3 3

3 1 2

1 – 1

5 4 6

– 1

– –

1 1

2

–

2


Industrial class


Stationery and publications Booksellers 2 General dealers General shopkeepers, dealers 3 Hawkers – Assistants 5 Unspecified Merchants, brokers, etc. 5 Commercial travellers – Assistant 1 Total 51 % 49.0 INDUSTRIAL SERVICES Banking, insurance, accounts Bank service – Insurance service 1 Accountant – Commercial clerks 3 Total 4 % 23.5

2

–

4

3 2 –

– 1 –

6 3 5

1 3 – 47 45.2

– 2 – 6 5.8

3 1 1 8 13 76.5

– – – – – –

PUBLIC SERVICES AND PROFESSIONALS Central administration Post Office officials – 3 – Local administration County officer 1 – – Poor Law official 1 – – School attendance officer 1 – – Police Sergeant – 1 – Constable – 1 – Law Solicitors 1 2 – Clerk 1 – – Medicine Physicians – 3 – Medical students, assistants – 4 – Nurses – – – Education Headteachers, schoolteachers 1 8 – Assistant teachers, pupil teachers 3 5 – Students 2 4 –

415


2 –

2 1

– –

4 1

6 5 1 104 100.0

17 45.9

17 45.9

3 8.1

37 100.0

3 2 1 11 17 100.0

– – –

– – –

1 1 100.0

1 1 100.0

3

–

1

–

1

4 –

–

2

–

2

9

2

5

1

8

8 6

1

6

–

7

1 1 1 1 1 3 1 3


416

Industrial class Religion Clergyman CM ministers Congregational ministers Baptist minister Wesleyan ministers Theological student Amusement Musician Performer Billiards Art and literature Photographers Journalists Total %


– – – – 2 –

1 3 2 1 – 1

– – – – – –

1 3 2 1 2 1

– – –

– – 1

– – –

– – 1

– – 13 22.8

2 2 44 77.2

– – – –

– –

DOMESTIC SERVICES Indoor service Servants/maidservants 2 Domestic nurses – Outdoor service Gardeners 2 Extra service Charwomen, laundrywomen – Hairdressers 1 Chimney sweep – Total 5 % 55.6


1 –

– 1

– –

1 1

2 2 57 100.0

4 20.0

15 75.0

1 5.0

20 100.0

– –

2 –

104 4

27 2

4 –

135 6

2

–

4

– – 1 3 33.3

– 1 – 1 11.1

– 2 1 9 100.0

6

–

–

6

114 77.6

29 19.7

4 2.7

147 100.0

OTHERS General labourers Unspecified Total %

66 1 67 93.1

5 – 5 6.9

– – – –

71 1 72 100.0

TOTAL OCCUPIED %

1130 80.6

245 17.5

26 1.9

1401 100.0

185 65.0

91 31.9

9 3.1

285 100.0


76 90.5

8 9.5

– –

84 100.0

847 80.4

180 17.0

27 2.6

1054 100.0

School pupils %

183 81.0

41 18.1

2 0.9

226 100.0

165 80.1

40 19.4

1 0.5

206 100.0


294 17.2

29 1.7

1712 100.0

1197 77.5

311 20.1

36 2.3

1544 100.0

20 Porthmadog (Caernarfonshire) GWENFAIR PARRY

Porthmadog is a market town and port on the eastern side of Eifionydd. At the beginning of the nineteenth century the land on which the town stood was little more than a sandy wilderness, but thanks to the vision and enterprise of W. A. Madocks, a harbour was built in 1824 which enabled Porthmadog to supersede Ynys Gyngar as the transhipment point for Ffestiniog slates. The opening of the Ffestiniog Railway in 1836 facilitated the transportation of slates from the quarries to the quays and ushered in a remarkably prosperous phase in the history of Porthmadog. The town grew and sprang to life as sailors and tradespeople filled its streets. Up to 1867 it was the headquarters for the export of Ffestiniog slate, but in the wake of the great fire which gutted the city of Hamburg in 1842 it established a close commercial connection with Germany – an association which proved extremely lucrative even during the depression of the 1870s. Among the most frequently visited German ports were Harburg, Bremen, Papenburg, Stettin, Kiel and Dantzig, but ships also plied regularly between Porthmadog and Scandinavia, and Ffestiniog slates thus found their way to the distant cities of Warsaw, Cape Town, Buenos Aires and Perth.1 The commercial link with Liverpool was also of paramount importance. In 1843, Miss Maddocks, New Dove and the Albert sailed for Merseyside on a regular basis, and other ships docked there occasionally, sometimes on their way back from foreign parts, and at other times in order to collect coal or supply the cities of northern England with slates.2 It was not long before Porthmadog became renowned for the splendid ships which were built there, and shipbuilding became an important part of its trade and a prominent factor in its expansion and success. The first ship, the Two Brothers, was built by Henry Jones in 1824 and by 1860 he and his son had built around sixty ships, including sloops, schooners, barques and brigs.3 In 1841, with the assistance of 1

2 3

J. Gordon Jones, ‘The Ffestiniog Slate Industry: The Industrial Pattern, 1831–1913’, JMHRS, VI, part 2 (1970), 210; W. M. Richards, ‘Some Aspects of the Industrial Revolution in South Caernarvonshire’, TCHS, 5 (1944), 75. Aled Eames, Pobol Môr y Port (Caernarfon, 1993), p. 11. Ibid., p. 5; Edward Davies, Hanes Porthmadog, ei Chrefydd a’i Henwogion (Caernarfon, 1913), p. 24.


418

Samuel Holland, a key commercial institution was created, namely the Mutual Ship Insurance Society. The mere existence of this society was unmistakable proof of the value and importance of the shipbuilding industry, and it proved of enormous benefit to the shipping trade until 1917.4 Between 1850 and 1870 – the golden age of the shipbuilding industry – more than a hundred maritime craftsmen earned a living in Porthmadog, and the value of the ships built each year was between £20,000 and £25,000.5 In those days the harbourside yards were hives of activity; ropemakers, sailmakers and all manner of craftsmen toiled incessantly to the regular beat of the wooden mallets used for caulking ships, and it was not unusual to see two or three new vessels hoisting sail in one day.6 Only one ship, the Richard Greaves, was built between 1879 and 1891, but with the revival of the slate trade in the 1890s the shipbuilding industry was given a new lease of life. This was the heyday of the celebrated ‘Western Ocean Yachts’, which were built in the shipyards of David Jones and David Williams between 1891 and 1913. Because of the flourishing trade with Germany and the demand for suitable ships to frequent the ports of Newfoundland and Labrador, Porthmadog continued to produce these graceful wooden schooners at a time when other countries were building hefty steamships. By 1892 more slate was being exported from Porthmadog than ever before – 98,959 tons by ship and 54,878 tons by train.7 The growth of trade led inevitably to an increase in population. Statistics relating to the population of the town itself are not available, but since the population of the surrounding districts remained relatively stable during the nineteenth century it is appropriate to consider the figures relating to the parish of Ynyscynhaearn, in which Porthmadog is situated. In 1801 only 525 people resided in the parish but by 1851 their numbers had swelled to 2,437 and a further increase during the next thirty years brought the total number of inhabitants to 5,506.8 In less than a century, therefore, the population increased more than tenfold. For many youths eager to escape a meagre existence on the land, the prospect of going to sea proved an irresistible attraction, and they came in droves to the quaysides in search of new opportunities. Most of those who flocked into Porthmadog were country people from neighbouring districts, but some hailed from outside Wales and it was not unusual for foreigners to marry local women and settle in the community. With the coming of the railway and a slump in the overseas market, the town’s maritime activity also went into decline and by 1891 the population had fallen to 5,097. Even so, 301 or 29.9 per cent of occupied 4 5 6 7

8

Davies, Hanes Porthmadog, p. 26. Ibid., p. 25. Myfanwy Morris, Porthmadog (Caernarfon, 1985), p. [2]. Eames, Pobol Môr, pp. 19, 23–4. See also Emrys Hughes and Aled Eames, Porthmadog Ships (Caernarfon, 1975). Davies, Hanes Porthmadog, p. 24.

PORTHMADOG (CAERNARFONSHIRE)

males were still engaged in the maritime trade at the beginning of the 1890s: 66 were involved in the building of boats, 38 worked on the quayside, and 197 were either shipowners, captains or ordinary seamen. The German and Scandinavian seamen who regularly docked at the harbour gave this vibrant maritime community a cosmopolitan air. Nevertheless, the Welsh language retained its dominance in most social domains. According to contemporary observers, ships’ crews and their captains were fluent Welsh speakers and although many of the local people were familiar with English, Welsh was the language heard and spoken everyday in markets and shops.9 Among the institutions which nurtured the native tongue were the Nonconformist chapels: between 1827 and 1879 eight Welsh chapels were built in the town by the four main denominations, namely the Congregationalists, Baptists, Wesleyans and Calvinistic Methodists.10 Clearly, the spiritual and cultural needs of the inhabitants were not neglected and although it is not known how regularly they were attended, more than 3,000 people were members of the various causes at the turn of the nineteenth century. A determined attempt was made to establish an English cause in the town, but since the population was robustly Welsh in both language and spirit, few supported the idea. It appears that the cause at Tremadog was poorly attended because its services were held in English and the English services established by the Congregationalists and Wesleyans in the 1870s lacked lustre.11 Despite the apparent lack of support, the Methodists pressed ahead and established an English cause in 1893. This attempt to provide spiritual sustenance for Englishspeaking incomers was hardly surprising since it is well known that religious leaders of the day enthusiastically supported the English cause not only in industrial areas but also in places such as Betws-y-coed and Bala.12 The handful of English people who took communion in the church at Tremadog were unsympathetic towards the needs of their Welsh-speaking members and, consequently, the Welsh were deprived of religious advantages in their own language until R. Isaac Jones (Alltud Eifion) began to hold Welsh services at the national school in Porthmadog in 1859. These were held in the morning and in the evening, with one English service in the afternoon, and since the cause prospered St John’s Church was built for the Welsh flock in 1873.13 Soon afterwards an attempt was made to meet the educational needs of the inhabitants, and one observer claimed that there was not a town in Wales which could offer better provision in that respect.14 Before the establishment of the local School Board in 1877, the town boasted a British school, 9 10

11 12 13

14

H. D. Hughes, Y Chwarel a’i Phobl (Llandybïe, 1960), p. 13. Royal Commission on the Church of England and Other Religious Bodies in Wales and Monmouthshire, Nonconformist County Statistics, Volume VI, p. 110 (PP 1911 (Cd. 5437) XVIII). Davies, Hanes Porthmadog, p. 86. Ibid.; A. H. Williams, Cymru Oes Victoria (Cardiff, 1973), p. 32. Davies, Hanes Porthmadog, pp. 88–9; I. Morgan Jones, A Brief History of the Churches of Portmadoc (Gloucester, 1962), p. 7. Davies, Hanes Porthmadog, p. 92.

419


420

Table 1: Language spoken by populations of Porthmadog, Ffestiniog Registration District, Caernarfonshire and Wales (2 years and over)

Porthmadog1 Ffestiniog R.D.2 Caernarfonshire3 Wales4 1 2 3 4

Number Welsh

Both

1843 21457 78780 508036

1366 4216 28330 402253

English

Total

155 3364 685 26358 12604 119714 759416 1669705


40.6 16.0 23.7 24.1

English Total 4.6 2.6 10.5 45.5

100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0

Excluding 2 individuals whose language was not given and 25 who spoke other languages. Excluding 160 individuals whose language was not given and 26 who spoke other languages. Excluding 545 individuals whose language was not given and 55 who spoke other languages. Excluding 12,833 individuals whose language was not given and 3,076 who spoke other languages.

established in 1838, a national school, established in 1857, as well as several successful private schools, and these institutions would become powerful agents of linguistic change. The Welsh language was frowned upon, for instance, in the boarding school kept by Anne and Mary Rees whose father, William Rees (Gwilym Hiraethog), corresponded with them in English and composed English prayers to be used in school services.15 The same was true in the case of the intermediate school, as W. R. Hughes, a native of the town, confirms: ‘English was the language of the school, of course, and I did not hear a word of Welsh during my time there, although Welsh was the sole language of yard and playground. When I first went there, I thought the schoolmasters and mistresses were English people, but I soon realized that there were only two English people there’ (‘Saesneg oedd iaith yr ysgol wrth gwrs, ac ni chlywais i air o Gymraeg tra bûm yno, er mai Cymraeg oedd unig iaith yr iard a’r cae chwarae. Pan euthum yno i ddechrau, tybiwn mai Saeson oedd yr athrawon a’r athrawesau, ond buan y sylweddolais mai dim ond dau Sais oedd yno i gyd’).16 The 1891 census reveals that Welsh was the predominant language in Porthmadog (Table 1). The town lay within the boundaries of two registration districts consisting of 746 households and, together with the crews of boats at anchor in the harbour at the time, the total population (aged 2 years and over) numbered 3,391. Of these, two failed to provide information regarding their linguistic ability, while twenty-five others declared themselves to be speakers of Danish (18), Swedish (2), Russian (2), Dutch (1), Irish (1) and French (1). The majority of these were sailors, and since communication was important at sea it is unlikely that they could only converse in their native languages. For example, it is 15

16

Thomas Roberts and David Roberts, Cofiant y Parch. W. Rees, D.D. (Gwilym Hiraethog) (Dolgellau, 1893), pp. 385–90. W. R. Hughes, Melys Gofio (Caernarfon, 1981), p. 20.


421


Both

2–5 6–14 15–24 25–44 45–64 65+

253 501 300 377 301 111

36 281 342 401 241 64

18 9 40 49 30 9

307 791 682 827 572 184

Total

1843

1365

155

3363

Age

1

English

Total

Percentage Welsh

Both

English

Total

82.4 63.3 44.0 45.6 52.6 60.3

11.7 35.5 50.1 48.5 42.1 34.8

5.9 1.1 5.9 5.9 5.2 4.9

100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0

54.8

40.6

4.6

100.0


doubtful whether David Jenkins of Aberystwyth and his crew would have been able to cope, since they were monoglot natives of countries as various as Scotland, Sweden, Finland, the Netherlands and Mauritius. Similarly, it is difficult to believe that the onion seller who had settled in the town was a French monoglot since his 13-year-old daughter spoke Welsh only. However, of the remaining 3,364 inhabitants, 1,843 (54.8 per cent) were monoglot Welsh speakers, 1,366 (40.6 per cent) were bilingual, and 155 (4.6 per cent) were monoglot English. Thus, 3,209 (95.4 per cent) of the inhabitants had a knowledge of Welsh and 1,521 (45.2 per cent) a knowledge of English. The percentage of Welsh speakers therefore closely mirrored that of the Registration District of Ffestiniog (97.4 per cent), was a little higher than the percentage for Caernarfonshire (89.5 per cent), and greatly exceeded the percentage for the whole of Wales (54.5 per cent). Nevertheless, it is important to stress that a high percentage (40.6 per cent) of the inhabitants of Porthmadog were bilingual, an inevitable development in view of the business contacts and flourishing coastal trade which were so much part of the town’s daily life. An examination of the linguistic ability of the inhabitants by age group provides a clearer picture of this development. Table 2 shows that over 90 per cent of adults and children in all age groups were able to speak Welsh and that the percentage of monoglot Welsh speakers was high among the elderly and the young, especially in the case of children under 6 years of age. It should be noted, however, that 35.5 per cent of children between the ages of 6 and 14 spoke English as well as Welsh. Some of these children had doubtless become familiar with English by playing with non-Welsh-speaking friends or because their parents had urged them to acquire a command of English in the belief that it would provide greater social and economic opportunities in the future. It is more likely, however, that they learnt English at school. The census provides information


422


Total 1

Number Sex Welsh

Both

English

Total



132 121 261 240 134 166 144 233 132 169 43 68

16 20 142 139 158 184 181 220 129 112 39 25

8 10 4 5 23 17 29 20 16 14 4 5

156 151 407 384 315 367 354 473 277 295 86 98

84.6 80.1 64.1 62.5 42.5 45.4 40.7 49.3 47.7 57.3 50.0 69.4

10.3 13.2 34.9 36.2 50.2 50.0 51.1 46.5 46.6 38.0 45.3 25.5

5.1 6.6 1.0 1.3 7.3 4.6 8.2 4.2 5.8 4.7 4.7 5.1

100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0

M F

846 997

665 700

84 71

1595 1768

53.0 56.4

41.7 39.6

5.3 4.0

100.0 100.0

English

Total


about the linguistic ability of 792 pupils living in Porthmadog, and although 537 (67.8 per cent) were monoglot Welsh speakers and only 14 (1.8 per cent) monoglot English speakers, 241 (30.4 per cent) were bilingual. There is, therefore, no doubt that the education system weakened the position of the Welsh language, and the growth of bilingualism in the 6–14 and 15–24 age cohorts suggests that a significant number of those who spoke Welsh only in early childhood had learnt English before reaching the age of fifteen. Greater social intercourse and contacts at the workplace ensured that the percentage who spoke both languages remained comparatively high in the 25–44 age group but fell as the population grew older. Above all, therefore, Table 2 reveals the growth of bilingualism, and in the vanguard of that process were children of school age and adults of working age. The unchanging percentages of non-Welsh speakers proves that English monolingualism was not increasing at that time. There was very little difference in the linguistic ability of the sexes in the 2–5 and 6–14 age groups (Table 3). Nevertheless, the percentage of bilingual girls was slightly higher than that of bilingual boys, an indication, perhaps, that a higher proportion of local girls had received some education. It is also evident that there were more bilingual males than females in the age groups over 24, especially among the older generation. This may be attributable to the longevity of females compared with males and, perhaps more importantly, to their different economic and social networks. As many as 1,009 (91.4 per cent) of males (aged 10 years and


423


Number Welsh

Caernarfonshire 1516 Merioneth 211 Anglesey 34 Cardiganshire 15 Denbighshire 15 Montgomeryshire 17 Flintshire 8 Pembrokeshire 6 Carmarthenshire 3 Glamorgan 1 Breconshire – South Wales 1


English

Total

2474 404 78 61 50 47 25 14 10 9 3 1

61.3 52.2 43.6 24.6 30.0 36.2 32.0 42.9 30.0 11.1 – –

37.4 47.8 53.8 75.4 70.0 53.2 56.0 42.9 70.0 88.9 33.3 –

1.3 – 2.6 – – 10.6 12.0 14.3 – – 66.7 100.0

100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0

Both

English

Total

925 193 42 46 35 25 14 6 7 8 1 –

33 – 2 – – 5 3 2 – – 2 –

England

12

56

79

147

8.2

38.1

53.7

100.0

Other2

4

7

29

40

10.0

17.5

72.5

100.0

1843

1365

155

3363

54.8

40.6

4.6

100.0

Total 1 2

Excluding one individual whose birthplace was not given. Place of birth: Ireland 16, Scotland 7, Guernsey 3, America 3, France 2, Australia 1, Bavaria 1, Denmark 1, Germany 1, Holland 1, Isle of Man 1, Jersey 1, Mauritius 1, South Africa 1.

over and excluding schoolchildren) were gainfully occupied and, as has already been noted, 29.8 per cent of them were employed in seafaring and its related industries. With so many sailing the seven seas, it was not surprising that almost two-thirds of the population in the 25–44 age group were female. During their travels, the menfolk made various social contacts and consequently became more familiar with the English language. The social circumstances of women, on the other hand, were quite different. The dearth of work opportunities meant that only 410 (32.3 per cent) of those aged 10 or over were in employment, and about a half (217 or 52.9 per cent) earned their living as domestic servants. On the whole, therefore, the female population tended to be comparatively stable and immobile. Women’s lives revolved around the home, the street and the chapel and it was within these less formal domains that they established and maintained contact with one another. As a result, their networks were more robust than those of the male population and the native language was stronger. It is noticeable, however, that there were as many bilingual females as males in the 15–24 age group and that bilingualism among females reached its peak in this age group. In this respect it should be borne in mind that 141 or 65.9 per cent of those in


424

service were young females aged between 15 and 24, and that 68 of them were bilingual. It is evident, too, that in the working age cohorts (between 15 and 44) more males than females were monoglot English speakers. Of these males, 41 (78.8 per cent) had been born outside Wales, 26 (50.0 per cent) of them in England and 15 (28.8 per cent) in other countries. But although 19 (51.3 per cent) of the women in the same age group also hailed from England, only 6 (16.2 per cent) had been born overseas. Table 4 reveals that the overwhelming majority of the population were of local origin. As many as 2,956 (87.9 per cent) of the inhabitants hailed from the counties of Caernarfon, Merioneth and Anglesey, and 2,921 (98.8 per cent) of them were Welsh speakers. Nevertheless, 1,160 (39.7 per cent) of these Welsh speakers were also proficient in the English language, mainly because many of them were sailors and traders who had moved to Porthmadog from older ports in Ll}n and Ardudwy. As many as 1,601 or 47.6 per cent of the inhabitants were natives of the parish of Ynyscynhaearn and the town was home to people from Pwllheli, Barmouth, Caernarfon, Penrhyndeudraeth, Beddgelert and Blaenau Ffestiniog. The contribution made by other Welsh counties was comparatively weak; the percentage born outside the three counties of north Wales was only 6.5 per cent, while the percentage of inhabitants born in the counties of south Wales (namely Glamorgan, Brecon, Pembroke and Carmarthen) was a mere 1.1 per cent. English had a wider currency in most of these counties and it is not surprising, therefore, that 154 (70.0 per cent) of their natives were English speakers: 142 (64.5 per cent) were bilingual and 12 (5.5 per cent) English monoglots. Although the town had already established itself as a tourist resort, only 147 (4.4 per cent) of its inhabitants had been born in England. The largest proportion (27.2 per cent) hailed from Lancashire, but a third were from Shropshire, Cheshire and Middlesex, and 10 per cent were natives of Devon and Cornwall. Welsh was so prevalent in Porthmadog that no less than 38 per cent of the English incomers had mastered the language. Another 8 per cent claimed that Welsh was their only language, and since most of these had returned from Welsh communities in Liverpool, this was not surprising. As in the case of other ports, a number of foreign-born individuals were enumerated in the town – people who, through their various contacts, were bound to bring alien influences. As many as 41 per cent were of Irish stock and 7.9 per cent were Scots, but the rest had their origins in countries as various as the Isle of Man, Jersey, France, Germany, Bavaria, Denmark, the Netherlands, Mauritius and Australia. Although it is known that several foreign-born sailors married local women, settled in the district and learnt Welsh, Table 4 reveals that the percentage who had been assimilated (17.5 per cent) was lower than the corresponding figure for English people.17 However, a handful of those people born overseas were returned as 17

A. E. James, Atgofion am Borthmadog a’r Cylch (Dinbych, 1982), p. 9.


425


Number Welsh Both

Heads 379 Wives 243 Children2 935 Relatives 111 Servants/maidservants 101 Boarders/lodgers 44 Visitors 13 Others3 16 Total 1 2 3

1842


English

Total

325 164 548 87 100 59 15 66

33 29 33 11 4 14 3 25

737 436 1516 209 205 117 31 107

51.4 55.7 61.7 53.1 49.3 37.6 41.9 1.9

1364

152

3358

54.9

English

Total

44.1 37.6 36.1 41.6 48.8 50.4 48.4 61.7

4.5 6.7 2.2 5.3 1.9 12.0 9.7 23.4

100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0

40.6

4.5

100.0

Excluding 6 individuals whose relationship to the head of household was not given. Includes adopted children and stepchildren. Ships’ crews, captains and their wives (105), one apprentice and one assistant.

monoglot Welsh speakers, namely a 13-year-old French girl who had arrived in Porthmadog with her family as a small child, a 5-year-old Irish girl who had been adopted by a Welsh-speaking postmaster, and two others who had spent their early years in one of the Welsh settlements in America. There were 746 households in Porthmadog in 1891. They varied greatly in size: 19.8 per cent had fewer than three members and 11.9 per cent had more than seven. Nevertheless, the average number in each household was five, and since only 150 homes (20.1 per cent) had fewer than five rooms, overcrowding was far from common. In terms of household structure, no unusual pattern emerged: 70 per cent were nuclear families (60 per cent consisting of married couples with children and the rest childless), 20 per cent were extended families, and 10 per cent consisted of one person only. Furthermore, 30 per cent of the households included occupants who were not related to the family and such individuals made up a tenth of the population – 6.3 per cent were domestic servants, 3.6 per cent boarders and lodgers and 1 per cent visitors. Needless to say, a higher percentage of these more mobile groups were able to speak English (Table 5). In a market town such as Porthmadog, the only work available to local women was as maids in the homes of the lower middle classes and many thereby became familiar with English. Although half these young women were monoglot Welsh speakers and as many as 89.7 per cent hailed from the counties of Caernarfon and Merioneth, the remainder had learnt English well enough to be enumerated as bilingual. As for boarders and lodgers, their ability to speak English was even more marked, with 50.4 per cent enumerated as bilingual and 12 per cent as English monoglots. Of the 98 (83.8 per cent) born in Wales, 73 (74.5 per cent) were natives of the

426


counties of Caernarfon and Merioneth. Although as many as 37 lodgers (50.7 per cent) from these counties were bilingual, a higher proportion of those born elsewhere in Wales were able to speak English: 16 (64.0 per cent) were bilingual and 2 (8.0 per cent) were monoglot English speakers. In total, 18 (15.4 per cent) of the boarders and lodgers hailed from England and other countries and, as might be expected, a high percentage were English speakers, 11 (61.1 per cent) of whom were monoglots and 6 (33.3 per cent) bilingual. Apart from their place of birth and mobility, their ability to speak English may be attributed to their economic and social circumstances. Seventy-four (63.2 per cent) were employed in manufacturing or transport, and 57.1 per cent of these individuals could speak English, while 75 per cent of the remainder, who were employed either as dealers, public servants or professionals, were also English speakers. Since these bilingual lodgers lived with Welsh-speaking families, it is highly unlikely that they posed a threat to the native language. Indeed, it is more probable that they reinforced linguistic and cultural ties. Ten of the monoglot English-speaking lodgers also lived with Welsh-speaking families, a state of affairs which not only served to acquaint their hosts with the English language but also to familiarize the lodgers with Welsh. Visitors, too – many of whom (22 or 70.9 per cent) were natives of Merioneth and Caernarfonshire and were related to the heads of household through blood or marriage – were likely to bring unfamiliar influences into the community. It is evident also that the highest proportion of Welsh monoglots (61.7 per cent) was to be found among children, and since they comprised 46.6 per cent of the population and were present in 535 homes (71.7 per cent), this had implications for the survival of the Welsh language. Nevertheless, more than a third were enumerated as having some grasp of the English language. There is no doubt that Welsh was spoken in most homes in Porthmadog. In as many as 675 (90.5 per cent) households, it was spoken by everyone, and in 299 (44.3 per cent) of these households all members were monoglot Welsh speakers. Only nine families spoke English only. Although all or some members of 376 (50.4 per cent) households were bilingual, it is unlikely, given that Welsh was the dominant language of the community, that English would have been the principal medium of communication among these families. Marriage patterns consolidated the Welsh character of the town: 209 (55.0 per cent) monoglot Welsh husbands had married monoglot Welsh wives and, in the same way, 79 per cent of bilingual males were married to bilingual wives. Table 6 reveals that as many as 307 (93.9 per cent) married couples with children were able to speak Welsh and that all had transmitted the language to their offspring. In households where children were of mixed linguistic ability, as a rule the younger children were Welsh monoglots and the older ones bilingual. English was therefore more likely to be first heard at school and, perhaps more especially, in the workplace rather than in the home. For example, at 156 High Street Owen Hughes, a coal merchant, and his wife Mary, both monoglot Welsh speakers and natives of Caernarfonshire, had six


427

Table 6: Language of children (aged 2 years and over) in households headed by Welsh-speaking and non-Welsh-speaking parents Linguistic ability Linguistic ability of children of parents Number of households Father Mother Welsh Both English Mixed Total W W B B B E E Total

W B W B E B E


151 3 13 20 – – –

10 – 9 62 5 – 4

– – – – 1 – 4

7 4 4 24 1 2 3

168 7 26 106 7 2 11

89.9 42.9 50.0 18.9 – – –

6.0 – 34.6 58.5 71.4 – 36.4

– – – – 14.3 – 36.4

4.2 57.1 15.4 22.6 14.3 100.0 27.3

100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0

187

90

5

45

327

57.2 27.5

1.5

13.8

100.0


children between the ages of 10 and 26, all born in Porthmadog. The four younger children (three were at school and one was a milliner) spoke Welsh only, while the older children – a 19-year-old theological student and a 26-year-old schoolteacher – were bilingual. There was hardly any linguistic slippage in homes where both parents were monoglot Welsh speakers. In as many as 151 (89.9 per cent) such homes, English remained a foreign language, and only in 17 (10.1 per cent) households were the children, or at least the older ones, bilingual. There was nothing unusual about such families, apart from the fact that the ‘children’, almost without exception, were in their twenties and had become acquainted with the English language through the associations which they had formed with English speakers in their capacity as loaders, blacksmiths, carpenters, ministers and traders. Once one parent had a grasp of English, the children were also more likely to become proficient in the language, and this was the case in 17 (51.5 per cent) of these homes. When both parents were bilingual, the transmission of English was even more evident, with children in as many as 86 (81.1 per cent) such homes being returned as English speakers. There was, however, no evidence of definite linguistic change because not a single person was enumerated as a monoglot English speaker. The number of households where only one parent spoke Welsh was so small that it is difficult to draw firm conclusions, but it was found that only one of these households contained children who could not speak Welsh. Their father was a bilingual train inspector from Pwllheli, but since their mother was a monoglot English speaker from Shrewsbury and the children were not yet of school age, it was hardly surprising that they were also unable to speak Welsh. In

428


only 11 homes were both parents monoglot English speakers and in 7 (63.6 per cent) of these the children had a command of the native language. It is therefore certain that the Welshness of the community was robust enough to assimilate English speakers. Fifteen of these non-Welsh-speaking parents hailed from England, but three were from Wales, three from Scotland and one from Ireland. Most of the children had been born in Porthmadog and it is significant that those enumerated as monoglot English speakers were members of middle-class families – three of the household heads in the non-Welsh-speaking homes were a solicitor, a quarry manager and a tax officer. Porthmadog was home to 120 (57 men and 63 women) non-Welsh-born adults in 1891, and they constituted barely 4 per cent of the population (aged 2 years and over). One can only speculate as to how many had been linguistically assimilated for it is not known how long they had been living in the town. However, judging by their surnames, it is quite likely that the forefathers of 32 (26.4 per cent) hailed from the area. The census reveals that a third (41 or 34.2 per cent) of these incomers were Welsh speakers, 34 of whom were bilingual and 7 Welsh monoglots. In total, 99 (81.8 per cent) hailed from England, while 7 were from Ireland, 4 from Scotland, 3 from Guernsey and one from each of the following countries: the Isle of Man, Jersey, Bavaria, the Netherlands, Denmark, Australia and America. A higher proportion (17 or 77.3 per cent) of those born in countries other than England or Wales had remained monoglot English speakers, and it is significant that nine were lodgers or sailors, and that five were married either to English natives, foreigners, or English-speaking Welsh people. Conversely, of the four who were able to speak the native language, two were lodging with Welsh-speaking families and two were married to local women. Similarly, of the thirty English-born Welsh speakers, eleven (six males and five females) had married local Welsh people, and four (three lodgers and one domestic servant) lived with Welsh-speaking families. Significantly, the fact that ten of the English-born Welsh speakers, three of whom spoke Welsh only, hailed from Liverpool demonstrates the strength and vigour of the Welsh community on Merseyside at the time. By the end of the nineteenth century, Porthmadog was a flourishing entrepôt and, as has already been noted, most of its inhabitants were involved in the seafaring trade. The Welsh character of local seamen has already been referred to but, as Table 7 reveals, their experiences as travellers had provided many with the opportunity of learning English. Although the four shipowners residing in the town were natives of Merioneth and Cardiganshire, three of them were bilingual. Similarly, most of the captains had a knowledge of English as well as Welsh. English was spoken by 72 per cent of the ordinary seamen but, unlike their superiors, one in five had no Welsh, a fact which is not surprising since 10.7 per cent were natives of such counties as Devon and Cornwall, and 10.2 per cent hailed from Ireland, Scotland or overseas. Nevertheless, the remainder were from


Wales, as many as 43.5 per cent from Caernarfonshire, and 79.1 per cent of them spoke the native tongue. Welsh was the language most commonly heard among maritime craftsmen – whether they were blacksmiths, carpenters, ropemakers, sailmakers, or makers of blocks and seating. But although none of these were enumerated as monoglot English speakers, half of them were familiar with the English language. The majority of the craftsmen (52 or 86.7 per cent) were natives of Caernarfonshire, while 6 (10.0 per cent) hailed from the counties of Merioneth, Anglesey and Cardigan. Two foreign-born men worked alongside them, one of whom was a bilingual sailmaker from the Isle of Man who had married a monoglot Welsh woman from Pwllheli. The other, a youth born in America to parents who hailed from Llanddeiniolen and Ffestiniog, was a monoglot Welsh speaker. The two apprentice shipbuilders were monoglot Welsh speakers from nearby districts, while the two labourers who earned a living on the quayside (one was a Welsh monoglot and the other bilingual) were local Welshmen. Furthermore, as many as 47 (84.0 per cent) of the 56 general labourers in the locality were unable to speak English and all were able to speak Welsh. For those who enjoyed more lucrative forms of employment or who sold boats and maritime equipment the ability to speak English was desirable. English was spoken by the two ship surveyors enumerated in the sample, one of whom was a monoglot English speaker from Pembrokeshire. Ships’ chandlers and brokers, on account of their business dealings, were also more likely to be English speakers. Although the five men hailed from Porthmadog, Beddgelert and Aberdyfi, three were bilingual. Also lodging in the town was Charles Benson, a shipping agent from Birmingham. The local ships’ insurance collectors were Welsh speakers from Porthmadog and Dolgellau, and although one of them was familiar with English, proficiency in that language was clearly not deemed to be essential to undertake such work. Another group who were likely to have dealings with non-Welsh speakers were the railway staff. The terminus of the Ffestiniog Railway, the first narrow gauge line of its kind, was situated in Porthmadog. To the great convenience of the public, a regular passenger service was opened in the 1860s and at around the same time, in 1867, the Cambrian Railway was extended from Barmouth to Pwllheli. Although the railway is generally associated with English speakers and Anglicization, the Ffestiniog line was noteworthy for the number of Welshspeaking Welshmen it employed. The Cambrian line, with its headquarters in Oswestry, was also more Welsh in character than the other major railways, namely the Great Western and the London and North Western. The three stationmasters and two guards at Porthmadog were all bilingual. Four of them were natives of Caernarfonshire and only one hailed from England, namely Thomas Jones, a native of Shropshire who lodged with a fishmonger from Devon and his bilingual family. Perhaps he had come to the town as a temporary worker.

429

430


Every ticket collector was bilingual: two came from Ll}n and the other two were natives of Nottinghamshire who had moved to the district as children. The six monoglot English speakers were employed as engine drivers, firemen and pointsmen. Five hailed from England and one from Montgomeryshire, and of these four had children who had learnt Welsh. Five monoglot Welsh speakers were similarly employed, proof that preference was not always given to English speakers. The porters were all Welsh speakers, and three of them were bilingual. However, four of the five platelayers had been born in England and three were monoglot English speakers. As well as being a transport centre with important commercial and exporting links, Porthmadog was a prosperous market town. Farmers and tradespeople from the surrounding rural areas flocked to the town’s fairs and markets, and its various institutions bore witness to its prosperity and renown. Indeed, by the end of the nineteenth century it boasted iron and lime works, flour and saw mills, a post office, two banks, three hotels, two public houses, several chapels and schools, as well as a market hall. The daily needs of the townspeople were catered for by a host of builders, manufacturers and tradespeople, of whom more than 95 per cent spoke Welsh. Indeed, in each of these groups, around 70 per cent were natives of Caernarfonshire and more than 90 per cent had been born in Wales. However, differences in the linguistic ability of the employees of the various industrial sectors were apparent. Although a higher percentage of foremen were bilingual in comparison with common workmen, the native language was evidently stronger in the building sector than in the other sectors. All its employees were Welsh speakers and 51.4 per cent spoke Welsh only. A fine line existed between manufacturers and tradespeople during this period, and it is significant that the number of English speakers was almost 10 per cent higher in the case of the latter, a fact which bears witness to their wider range of social contacts. Only seven were monoglot English speakers – the manageress and one of the maids at the Queen’s Hotel, a shopkeeper from Bradford, a publican from London, a shipping agent from Birmingham, a wine and spirit merchant from Gloucestershire, and a young shoemaker whose parents were Irish. Bearing in mind that some of these inmigrants had been living in the community for ten years or more and that several were in regular contact with local people, it is difficult to accept that they had not acquired some knowledge of Welsh. For those earning a living in banking, insurance and accounting, the ability to speak English was even more important. Although only 2 of the 35 had no Welsh, as many as 21 (61.8 per cent) were bilingual. The same was true of the comparatively privileged and educated group who were employed within the public services and professional sector and catered for the medical, educational and spiritual needs of the townspeople. Only a hundred earned their living in this way, but their importance far exceeded their number and a higher percentage (83 per cent) were fluent in English than in any other group. Although 17 were


enumerated as monoglot Welsh speakers, 83 were able to speak English and as many as 74 (70.1 per cent) were bilingual. Those unable to speak Welsh included a young telegraphist from Lichfield in Staffordshire, an income tax officer from London, a Wesleyan minister from Liverpool, and two solicitors – one from Shropshire and the other a native of Porthmadog whose father was Edward Breese of Morfa Lodge, a solicitor and antiquary of some standing in the neighbourhood. It is also worth noting that five of the non-English speakers were pupil teachers, even though the education system was strongly pro-English. The Welsh language was at its strongest in the agricultural sector, in which all twenty-nine people spoke Welsh and three of every four were monoglots. With the exception of Albert Bromwich, a monoglot English-speaking foreman from London, those employed in the slate industry were also Welsh in origin and speech; indeed, 69 per cent were monoglot Welsh speakers. Although 243 of those employed in the domestic services sector were able to speak Welsh, 112 were bilingual, of whom 103 were maidservants. There were also six who were unable to speak Welsh, namely a barber from London, a gardener from Shrewsbury and four maids from Shropshire, Cheshire, Lancashire and Gloucestershire. Three of the monoglot English-speaking maids attended to the needs of tradespeople from Llanystumdwy, Llangynyw and Bristol, while the other earned a living at the home of Llywelyn Hughes, rector of the parish of Ynyscynhaearn, a native of Corris who, nevertheless, favoured the use of English in his own home. In general, therefore, the Welsh language was strong in Porthmadog and an integral part of community life. But although it was spoken by more than 95 per cent of the population, it is also significant that 40 per cent of the inhabitants were bilingual. This development was mainly attributable to the education system and the maritime trade. A third of all adult males were engaged in maritime activity and, by sailing the seven seas and visiting foreign ports on a regular basis, the seafarers among them inevitably gained a command of the English language. Tradespeople and merchants, whose social networks were more open than those of the population in general, were also more proficient in English, and although the inhabitants remained loyal to their native language, the indications were that commercial links would, in time, lead to a substantial reduction in the number of Welsh monoglots.

431


432


Industrial class AGRICULTURE Farming Farmers Agricultural labourers Farm servants Dealers Corn, flour merchants Total % MINING Slate Managers/foremen Clerks Miners Slate dresser Labourers Other Waterworks Worker Total %


6 5 9

2 3 –

– – –

8 8 9

2 22 78.6

1 6 21.4

– – –

3 28 100.0

2 1 20 – 5 1

3 4 2 1 2 –

1 – – – – –

6 5 22 1 7 1

– 29 67.4

1 13 30.2

– 1 2.3

1 43 100.0

2 4 1 –

– – – –

2 4 2 2

3 – 1 12

– – – –

8 1 2 28

11 2

– –

20 5

1 1 38 47.5

– 3 3 3.7

1 5 80 100.0

BUILDING Management Architects – Civil engineers – Builders 1 Assistants 2 Operatives Stonemasons 5 Bricklayer 1 Plasterers 1 Carpenters 16 Plumbers/painters/ glaziers 9 Apprentices 3 Road and railway making Road labourer – Platelayers 1 Total 39 % 48.8


–

1

–

1

– –

1 100.0

– –

1 100.0


Industrial class


MANUFACTURING Machinery, tools, watches, etc. Skilled manual 3 12 Apprentice – 1 Shipbuilding Ship surveyors – 1 Skilled manual 30 30 Apprentices 2 – Labourers 1 1 Iron and steel Skilled manual 23 14 Apprentices – 2 Labourer 1 – Tinplate, brass, etc. Skilled manual 2 1 Labourer – 1 Gas Gasworks manager – 1 Stoker – 1 Leather etc. Skilled manual 2 1 Wood, furniture, etc. Skilled manual 4 6 Apprentice/assistant – 2 Labourers – 2 Carriages and harnesses Skilled manual 4 6 Apprentices 1 1 Cotton, flax, etc. Manager 1 – Dress Proprietor – 1 Skilled manual 17 23 Apprentices/assistants 2 5 Food, drink, tobacco Manager/foreman 1 – Skilled manual 5 7 Apprentices/assistants 1 – Printing Skilled manual – 2 Unspecified Engine drivers etc. 15 3 Apprentices/assistants 3 3 Total 118 127 % 47.0 50.6 TRANSPORT Warehouses and docks Managers/supervisors

–

3

– –

15 1

1 – – –

2 60 2 2

– – –

37 2 1

– –

3 1

– –

1 1

–

3

1 – –

11 2 2

1 –

11 2

–

1

– 2 –

433


–

1

–

1

1 42 7

37 2

30 2

1 –

68 4

1 – –

2 12 1

– –

2 2

2 –

4 2

–

2

– – 6 2.4

18 6 251 100.0

39 49.4

37 46.8

3 3.8

79 100.0

1

4


434

Industrial class


Loaders 13 Porters and dock labourers 9 Ocean navigation Ship owners 1 Captains 5 Seamen, ship’s stewards and cooks 49 Railways Stationmasters/guards – Booking officers – Engine drivers, stokers, pointsmen 5 Porters 1 Roads Cabmen 2 Carmen, carriers, cartmen 12 Total 97 % 34.2

8

–

21

4

–

13

3 13

– –

4 18

91

35

175

5 4

– –

5 4

8 3

6 –

19 4

– 3 145 51.1

– – 42 14.8

2 15 284 100.0

–

2

–

DEALING Coal Coal merchants 2 – Raw materials Timber/slate merchants – 8 Dress Drapers, shoe sellers 7 6 Assistants 8 9 Food Butchers, fishmongers 7 12 Milkseller 1 – Grocers 12 6 Greengrocers – – Assistants 5 8 Tobacco, drink and lodging Wine and spirit merchants – 1 Inn and hotel keepers, publicans 1 5 Beerseller 1 – Lodging and boarding house keepers – – Inn servants, assistants 2 2 Furniture and household utensils Earthenware, china, glass – 2 Ironmongers 1 1 Assistants 2 2 Ship material suppliers Chandlers 1 2


1 1 100.0

– – –

– – –

1 1 100.0

8

1

–

–

1

1 –

14 17

3 –

2 6

– –

5 6

– – – – –

19 1 18 – 13

3

–

–

3

7 2 1

3 – 1

– – –

10 2 2

1

2

1 –

7 1

4

2

–

6

– –

– 4

4 –

7 6

– 2

11 8

– – –

2 2 4

1 1 –

– – 1

– – –

1 1 1

–

3


Industrial class


Chemists Chemists – Assistants – Stationery and publications Stationers, booksellers – General dealers General shopkeepers, dealers – Hawkers 1 Assistants – Unspecified Merchants, brokers, agents 3 Auctioneer 1 Commercial traveller – Total 55 % 38.2 INDUSTRIAL SERVICES Banking, insurance, accounts Bank service – Insurance service 2 Accountants – Commercial clerks 10 Total 12 % 35.3

435


4 2

– –

4 2

–

1

–

1

4

–

4

–

1

–

1

1 1 –

1 – –

2 2 –

2 – 1

– 1 2

– – –

2 1 3

7 – 1 84 58.3

1 – – 5 3.5

11 1 1 144 100.0

30 46.2

33 50.8

2 3.0

65 100.0

9 2 3 7 21 61.8

– – – 1 1 2.9

9 4 3 18 34 100.0

– – –

– – –

1 1 100.0

1 1 100.0

–

1

1

2

PUBLIC SERVICES AND PROFESSIONALS Central administration Income tax officer – – 1 Post Office, telegraph officials 2 2 1 Post Office clerks, messengers 1 4 – Local administration County official – 1 – Poor Law official – 1 – Other local officials 2 – – Clerical staff – 1 – Defence Army officer – – 1 Police Inspector – 1 – Sergeant – 1 – Constable – 1 – Law Barristers, solicitors 1 8 2 Law clerks 1 6 1

1 5 5 1 1 2 1 1 1 1 1 11 7


436

Industrial class Medicine Physicians Medical students, assistants Dentists Education Headteachers, schoolteachers Assistant teachers, pupil teachers Religion Clergymen CM ministers Congregational ministers Baptist minister Wesleyan minister Theological student Salvation Army officers Chapel maidservant Amusement Billiards Art, literature, etc. Photographer Authors, journalists Total %



–

4

–

4

– 1

4 2

– –

4 3

–

4

–

4

–

4

1

5

3

4

–

7

2

11

–

13

– 1 – 1 – – – –

2 3 2 – – 1 3 –

– – – – 1 – – –

2 4 2 1 1 1 3 –

– –

1 1

– –

1 1

–

–

1

1

– 2 15 19.2

1 – 56 71.8

– – 7 9.0

1 2 78 100.0

2 9.1

18 81.8

2 9.1

22 100.0

– –

– –

1 –

110 5

103 4

4 –

217 9

1 10 1

– 3 –

– – –

1 13 1

127 52.7

110 45.6

4 1.7

241 100.0

DOMESTIC SERVICES Indoor service Servants/maidservants 1 Domestic nurses – Outdoor service Coachmen and grooms 1 Gardeners 1 Extra service Cook – Laundry women – Office cleaner – Hairdressers 1 Total 4 % 50.0

1 –

– 1

2 2

– – – 1 2 25.0

– – – 1 2 25.0

– – – 3 8 100.0


9 1 10 16.9

– 1 1 1.7

56 3 59 100.0

47 1 48 81.4


437

Industrial class



TOTAL OCCUPIED %

439 43.5

502 49.8

68 6.7

1009 100.0

199 48.5

199 48.5

12 2.9

410 100.0


51 53.7

40 42.1

4 4.2

95 100.0

464 54.0

351 40.9

43 5.0

859 100.0

School pupils %

93 60.8

59 38.6

1 0.6

153 100.0

108 57.4

79 42.0

1 0.5

188 100.0


601 47.9

73 5.8

1257 100.0

771 52.9

630 43.2

56 3.8

1457 100.0


21 Trefdraeth (Anglesey) GWENFAIR PARRY

Trefdraeth is a rural parish of approximately 3,241 acres situated in the hundred of Malltraeth, around five miles south-west of Llangefni and two miles to the east of Bodorgan station.1 In 1891, apart from the small villages of Bethel and Malltraeth Yard, it comprised small farms and scattered smallholdings bearing such enchanting names as Rhos-y-bol, Sarnmalwod, Gallt-y-balch and Tyddyncrythor. The inhabitants earned their living mainly from the land, and farmers, craftsmen and labourers were the backbone of the community. Although there were sand dunes and rabbit warrens to be found along the shoreline, for the most part the parish was a patchwork of moorland and fertile meadows, and since the climate was mild and the soil fertile, crops such as corn, wheat, barley and oats were grown, and also an abundance of potatoes, swedes, turnips, beans and peas. Cattle, sheep and pigs were reared to supply the markets of Liverpool and the industrial districts of Caernarfonshire with meat and butter.2 During the final decades of the nineteenth century, however, the farmers of Trefdraeth faced hard times as a result of the depression in the agricultural industry, and the Land Question and Church tithes became burning issues.3 The population fell from 894 in 1881 to 800 in 1891, but migration into the towns had already begun in mid-century when the total population was 994. Changes in farming methods probably accounted for this move away from the land: fewer crops were grown and farmers had come to rely increasingly on machinery to cut hay and corn. As Table 1 reveals, this had a profound effect on the profile of the population. Since so many young people had left the district, there was a comparatively high proportion of adults between 45 and 64 years of age. There were, moreover, fewer males than females in the parish, which confirms the general view that they were more mobile than their female contemporaries. The 1

2 3

R. T. Williams (Trebor Môn), Enwau Lleoedd yn Mon a’u Tarddiad (Bala, 1908), p. 177. See also Melville Richards (ed.), Atlas Môn (Llangefni, 1972). Williams, Enwau Lleoedd yn Mon, p. 23. E. A. Williams, Hanes Môn yn y bedwaredd ganrif ar bymtheg (Llangefni, 1927), p. 136.


440

Table 1: Population distribution by age and sex Age

Number Males

Females

Total

Percentage Males

Females

Total

0–4 5–14 15–24 25–44 45–64 65+

43 94 65 79 70 29

41 94 70 94 72 48

84 188 135 173 142 77

51.2 50.0 48.1 45.7 49.3 37.7

48.8 50.0 51.9 54.3 50.7 62.3

100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0

Total

380

419

799

47.6

52.4

100.0

community was therefore less able to renew itself by natural growth and it is significant that only 10.5 per cent of the population was under 5 years of age. Those who left the district certainly did not forget their roots, for family ties were extremely important to the people of Trefdraeth. They lived in a close-knit community in which the awareness of kinship was acute, and their relationship with nature was extraordinarily close. Since the great majority rarely ventured far beyond the parish boundaries, their sense of local patriotism flourished to a far greater degree than in the towns, and strangers visiting the neighbourhood aroused considerable curiosity. The established Church also had a special place in their affections, especially during the eighteenth century. Villagers flocked to the parish church to take communion, and were christened, married and buried there. It was therefore not surprising that parishioners were aroused to righteous anger by the appointment of Thomas Bowles – a monoglot Englishman – as the incumbent of Trefdraeth and Llangwyfan in 1766, at a time when the inhabitants of both parishes, with only five exceptions, were monoglot Welsh speakers. Conscious of the importance of language and deeply rooted in the Welsh traditions of church and community, the parishioners feared that the new rector would undermine their mother tongue and weaken the Church.4 Such concerns were shared by the Revd William Jones, the parish priest of neighbouring Llanbeulan, in 1840: Mawr i’w ddymuno ydyw i weinidogion yr Eglwys fod yn fwy hyddysg â’r iaith Gymraeg! . . . Yn gyffredinol y maent hwy yn perthyn i rai o’r dosbarthau uchaf o’r bobl, ac addysgir hwynt o’u maboed yn yr iaith Saesneg . . . Y mae y diffyg o hyn wedi cael effaith lled fawr, o natur niweidiol i lwyddiant yr Eglwys.5

4

5

O. Hughes (Tyswyn), Hanes Plwyf Trefdraeth (Bangor, [c.1903]), pp. 30–1; Geraint H. Jenkins, Cadw T} Mewn Cwmwl Tystion (Llandysul, 1990), p. 205. Williams, Hanes Môn, p. 201.

TREFDRAETH (ANGLESEY)

(It is greatly to be desired that ministers of the Church should be more learned in the Welsh language! . . . They generally belong to the upper classes, and they are educated from youth in the English language . . . This shortcoming has had quite a considerable and detrimental effect on the success of the Church.)

By the 1890s many middle-class people had turned their back on the Church and sought spiritual sustenance in the Nonconformist chapels where the Welsh language was duly cherished and respected. Between 1812 and 1816 three Nonconformist chapels had been established in the parish by two of the main denominations, namely the Calvinistic Methodists and the Wesleyan Methodists, and by the turn of the nineteenth century they boasted a total of 423 members.6 Nor were the educational needs of the people neglected. In response to the efforts and earnest entreaties of Robert Williams, who was appointed rector of the parish in 1826, a national school was built in the village of Bethel in 1828, the first of its kind in the surrounding parishes.7 However, little support was given to the Welsh language in such schools. The Revd Daniel Rowlands, who later became Principal of the Normal College of North Wales, voiced two particular criticisms regarding the education he received in Llangefni: Yn un peth, yr oedd yr holl addysg yn Saesneg, a minnau, fel yn wir yr oll o’r plant, heb wybod dim ond Cymraeg . . . Yr wyf yn cofio dweyd wrth fy nhad fod y Deon Cotton o Fangor yn yr ysgol un diwrnod, a’i fod yn fy nghanmol am ddarllen; ond fy mod yn poeni am nad oeddwn yn deall ond ychydig iawn o’r hyn a ddarllennwn am eu bod yn Saesneg . . . Y blinder arall a deimlwn yn ‘Ysgol yr Hall’ oedd, fy mod, gyda’r plant ereill, oeddent bron i gyd yn blant Ymneillduwyr, yn gorfod myned yn orymdaith ar y Sul i’r Eglwys, ac yn gorfod dysgu ac adrodd y Catecism yn barhaus.8 (For one thing, the education was entirely in English, and I, like all the other children, in fact, knew nothing but Welsh . . . I remember telling my father that Dean Cotton from Bangor had come to school one day, and that he praised my reading; but that I was worried because I understood only very little of what I read because it was in English . . . The other thing which concerned me at ‘the Hall School’ was that I, together with the other children, had to go in procession to Church on Sundays and had to learn and recite the Catechism although our parents were nearly all Nonconformists.)

Indeed, it was claimed that the schools simply taught children to bow and curtsy to the clergy and their families, and to affluent landowners and English visitors. 6

7 8

Royal Commission on the Church of England and Other Religious Bodies in Wales and Monmouthshire, Nonconformist County Statistics, Volume VI, pp. 12–13 (PP 1911 (Cd. 5437) XVIII). Hughes, Hanes Plwyf Trefdraeth, p. 51. Daniel Rowlands, ‘Damwain a dygwydd y dyddiau gynt’, Y Geninen, XXVI, no. 3 (1908), 203; Williams, Hanes Môn, p. 253.

441


442

Table 2: Language spoken by populations of Trefdraeth, Bangor Registration District, Anglesey and Wales (2 years and over)

Trefdraeth Bangor R.D.1 Anglesey2 Wales3 1

Number Welsh

Both

646 22137 23200 508036

101 10640 7201 402253

English

Total

16 763 3504 36281 2059 32460 759416 1669705


13.2 29.3 22.2 24.1


100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0

Excluding 180 individuals whose language was not given and 15 who spoke other languages. Excluding 365 individuals whose language was not given and 11 who spoke other languages. Excluding 12,833 individuals whose language was not given and 3,076 who spoke other languages.

2 3

By the end of the nineteenth century the people of Anglesey were becoming more familiar with the English language. With the advent of the railway and steamships, commercial contacts with Dublin and Liverpool increased, and more and more English people visited the island and settled there. It became easier for penurious young males to venture as far as Liverpool and Manchester with a view to making their fortune as craftsmen and tradesmen. This doubtless opened the door to new influences and customs, and it was not long before English fashions were adopted: Erbyn 1880 peth tra anghyffredin ydoedd gweled merch ym Môn yn gwisgo hêt silc, pais o stwff cartref, bêcwn a siôl. Yr oedd y ‘crinoline’, y boneti bychain Ffrengig, ac yn ddiweddarach, y ‘bustle’ yn cael cymaint o groeso gan ferched Môn ac a gawsant gan ferched Lloegr. Ac yr oedd yr hen fwydydd, a’u prif ddefnydd yn geirch, yn colli eu blâs gan genhedlaeth pobl y bara gwyn, wedi i flawd gwenith ddyfod mor rhad. Mae hyd yn oed eu henwau’n ddieithr erbyn heddyw – llymru, picws mali, a brwas.9 (By 1880 a young woman was rarely seen in Anglesey wearing a silk hat, a petticoat of homespun cloth, a bedgown and shawl. The crinoline, small French bonnets, and later the bustle were becoming as popular with the women of Anglesey as with their English contemporaries. And a taste for the old-fashioned dishes based mainly on oats was declining among a generation which preferred white bread, once wheat flour had become so cheap. Even their names have become unfamiliar – llymru (flummery), picws mali (oatcake in buttermilk), and brwas (crushed oat-bread steeped in boiling meatstock).)

Nevertheless, the Welsh character of Anglesey remained robust. As late as 1902, one visitor claimed that in most villages there were very few Welsh people 9

Williams, Hanes Môn, p. 321.


443


Both

2–5 6–14 15–24 25–44 45–64 65+

62 153 105 142 114 69

– 12 28 26 27 8

3 5 2 5 1 –

65 170 135 173 142 77

Total

645

101

16

762

Age

1

English

Total

Percentage Welsh

Both

English

Total

95.4 90.0 77.8 82.1 80.3 89.6

– 7.1 20.7 15.0 19.0 10.4

4.6 2.9 1.5 2.9 0.7 –

100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0

84.6

13.3

2.1

100.0


who were fluent in English, and that the little English they spoke was stilted and virtually incomprehensible.10 For the vast majority of the inhabitants of Trefdraeth, Welsh was the only medium of communication: of the 763 people (aged 2 years and over), 84.7 per cent were enumerated as monoglot Welsh speakers, 13.2 per cent as bilinguals, and 2.1 per cent as monoglot English speakers. Thus 97.9 per cent of the inhabitants had a knowledge of Welsh and 15.3 per cent of English. As Table 2 reveals, parishioners were considerably more reluctant to yield to exterior linguistic pressures than their counterparts in Anglesey and Wales as a whole. Since Welsh was such an important part of the daily life of the people of Trefdraeth, it was widely spoken by young and old alike. Table 3 reveals that the mother tongue was strong among the younger generation and that a very substantial proportion of the children were monoglot Welsh speakers. Only 20 (8.5 per cent) children under the age of 15 spoke English. Eleven of these came from bilingual homes and another five hailed from England. It should also be borne in mind that 89.4 per cent of the 179 ‘scholars’ were unable to speak English, an indication that the influence of the home, chapel and local culture was stronger than that of the education system. Furthermore, it is probable that many local children received an incomplete education. When commissioners visited Anglesey in 1868 to enquire into the state of agriculture, they complained that the children of agricultural labourers did not attend school because they were forever gathering swedes.11 Yet, there were some whose attitudes towards the Welsh language appeared to have initiated linguistic change. At Cefn-gwynt lived Margaret Griffiths, a seamstress and widow from Caernarfon, who was enumerated as a monoglot English speaker. Even though her daughters Laura (11 years old), Fanny 10 11

Charles G. Harper, The Holyhead Road (2 vols., London, 1902), II, p. 320. Ibid., p. 134.


444


Total 1

Number Sex Welsh

Both

English

Total


English

Total


29 33 80 73 51 54 66 76 57 57 26 43

– – 4 8 14 14 11 15 13 14 3 5

2 1 1 4 – 2 2 3 – 1 – –

31 34 85 85 65 70 79 94 70 72 29 48

93.5 97.1 94.1 85.9 78.5 77.1 83.5 80.9 81.4 79.2 89.7 89.6

– – 4.7 9.4 21.5 20.0 13.9 15.9 18.6 19.4 10.3 10.4

6.5 2.9 1.2 4.7 – 2.9 2.5 3.2 – 1.4 – –

100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0

M F

309 336

45 56

5 11

359 403

86.1 83.4

12.5 13.9

1.3 2.7

100.0 100.0

Excluding one male whose age was not given.

(9 years old) and Lizzie (5 years old), were born in the parish they, too, were enumerated as non-Welsh speakers. This denial of the native tongue was probably directly associated with the higher economic and cultural status of the English language. Margaret no doubt shared the opinion of the maid who had waited upon George Borrow at an inn in Pentraeth several decades before: ‘English’, she declared, ‘is the most useful language.’12 In this neighbourhood, therefore, the education system was not a conduit which allowed the penetration of English. The inhabitants were much more likely to become familiar with that language in the workplace or by intercourse with incomers who had settled in their midst. Both English and Welsh were spoken by 81 adults (18.0 per cent) between the ages of 15 and 64, and the percentage varied from 15 per cent in the 25–44 age group to 20.7 per cent in the case of the 15–24 age group. It is certain that the geographical and vocational background of these individuals had provided them with a knowledge of English. Twenty-four (29.6 per cent) had been born outside Anglesey – 21 in the counties of Caernarfon, Merioneth, Denbigh and Montgomery, and 3 beyond Offa’s Dyke. Of the 58 in employment, 23 (39.7 per cent) were farmers, but another 35 (60.3 per cent) were manufacturers, tradesmen and professional people. The small number of non-Welsh-speaking inhabitants indicates that the mother tongue was not under threat and that there was clearly no friction between the two languages and 12

George Borrow, Wild Wales (2 vols., London, 1862), I, p. 382.


445


Number Welsh


Both

English

Total

615 21 2 2 1 –

72 13 7 2 – 1

3 3 – – – –

690 37 9 4 1 1

89.1 56.8 22.2 50.0 100.0 –

England

5

5

8

18

Other2

–

–

2

646

100

16

Anglesey Caernarfonshire Merioneth Denbighshire Flintshire Montgomeryshire

Total 1 2

English

Total

10.4 35.1 77.8 50.0 – 100.0

0.4 8.1 – – – –

100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0

27.8

27.8

44.4

100.0

2

–

–

100.0

100.0

762

84.8

13.1

2.1

100.0

Excluding one individual whose birthplace was not given. Place of birth: Scotland 2.

cultures; in every age group the native language was dominant. As Table 4 reveals, neither sex was more prone to English influences than the other. In the case of males and females alike, more than 97 per cent spoke Welsh and about 85 per cent were monoglot Welsh speakers. Since their economic experiences were very similar and their social networks firmly rooted in the community, this was to be expected. The fact that the overwhelming majority of the inhabitants had been born in Anglesey accounts for the strong position of the Welsh language in the parish. Table 5 reveals that 690 (90.6 per cent) individuals were natives of the county and that as many as 89.1 per cent spoke no English. Local people formed the nucleus of the community: 343 (45.0 per cent) had been born and brought up in Trefdraeth and 340 (99.1 per cent) spoke Welsh (304 were monoglot and 36 bilingual). Only 52 (6.8 per cent) individuals hailed from other Welsh counties: 37 from Caernarfon, 9 from Merioneth, 4 from Denbigh and one from both Flint and Montgomery. A higher proportion of these incomers (44.2 per cent on average) were bilingual, particularly those who hailed from Merioneth. These Merioneth-born individuals had doubtless learnt English at their place of work. They included a justice of the peace, a clergyman and a schoolmaster, both from Dolgellau, a tradesman from Corris, and a maid from Ffestiniog. Only twenty had been born beyond Offa’s Dyke (eighteen in England and two in Scotland), ten of whom had learnt Welsh. Judging by their surnames, it is possible that eight may have had relatives in the neighbourhood. It is also significant that they included four females who had married local males, three males who had married local


446


Number Welsh Both

Heads 155 Wives 103 Children2 271 Relatives 46 Servants/maidservants 62 Boarders/lodgers 3 Visitors 4 Other3 1 Total 1 2 3

645


English

Total

25 18 33 11 10 1 2 1

4 1 9 2 – – – –

184 122 313 59 72 4 6 2

84.2 84.4 86.6 78.0 86.1 75.0 66.7 50.0

101

16

762

84.6

English

Total

13.6 14.8 10.5 18.6 13.9 25.0 33.3 50.0

2.2 0.8 2.9 3.4 – – – –

100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0

13.3

2.1

100.0

Excluding one individual whose relationship to the head of household was not given. Includes adopted children and stepchildren. 2 apprentices.

females, and four who had returned from Welsh-speaking communities in the cities of Liverpool and Manchester, and that the only one who could be said to have no Welsh-speaking connections was living on his own. Among the nonWelsh-speaking inhabitants born in England were the children of David Evans, a bilingual draper from Corris who was married to a bilingual native of Llangadwaladr. It would appear that the family had only recently returned from London since their youngest son (who was not yet a year old) had been born in Camberwell. Two others enumerated as having no Welsh were the widow, Margaret Williams, and a young boy, Richard Hughes, both of whom hailed from Liverpool. Since they were surrounded by the native language and since Richard lived with his aunt, a monoglot Welsh speaker, it is difficult to accept that they had no Welsh. Very few forces threatened to jeopardize the position of the Welsh language in the homes. Welsh was spoken in 189 (97.4 per cent) of the 194 households in the parish, and as many as 147 (75.8 per cent) were monoglot Welsh households. There were only nine households where all members spoke English and four of these were English only households. There was nothing unusual in the size and make-up of local families: 125 (64.4 per cent) consisted of between 3 and 7 members, and although 48 were extended families and 21 consisted of only one person, the nuclear family made up the core of the social structure (103 were married couples with children and 48 were childless). Forty-four households (22.7 per cent) included members who were not related to the head of the family and those who had no obvious family connections formed 11 per cent of the population – 9.4 per cent were maids, 0.5 per cent boarders and lodgers, 0.8 per


447

Table 7: Language of children (aged 2 years and over) in households headed by Welsh-speaking and non-Welsh-speaking parents Linguistic ability Linguistic ability of children of parents Number of households Father Mother Welsh Both English Mixed Total


W W B B B E E

96.0 2.7 75.0 2.5 100.0 – – 66.7 – – – – – –

Total

W B W B E B E

72 3 4 – – – –

2 1 – 4 – – –

– – – 1 – – –

1 – – 1 – – –

75 4 4 6 – – –

79

7

1

2

89

88.8

7.9

– – – 16.7 – – –

1.3 – – 16.7

100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0

1.1

2.2

100.0


cent visitors and 0.3 per cent apprentices. These groups, on account of their mobility, were more likely to bring external influences into the district and, although they were small in number, Table 6 reveals that a high proportion of lodgers, visitors and apprentices had a knowledge of English. It is also evident that relatives could weaken the Welsh character of the home since they provided not only a system of internal contacts but also links with the outside world. Another fact revealed in Table 6 is the incontrovertible Welshness of the children. Welsh was spoken by 304 (97.1 per cent) and as many as 271 (86.6 per cent) were monoglot Welsh speakers. Since they formed 41.1 per cent of the population and were present in more than half the community’s homes, the prospects of the Welsh language were extremely bright. Indeed, since every married couple with children spoke Welsh, its transmission to the next generation was assured (Table 7). In seventy-five homes there lived monoglot Welshspeaking parents, and in only three were the children, or at least the older children, bilingual. These families had no special characteristics. Without exception they were natives of Anglesey and, in the case of two families, the ‘children’ were young adults who helped their parents on the farm. Only at Carreg-ceiliog-bach could it be said that the English language had penetrated the home by means of the education system. This family had six children between the ages of 11 and 24; the three older children were farmers who spoke only Welsh, and the three younger children, who were of school age, were bilingual. In eight homes one parent was able to speak English, and although the children remained monoglot Welsh speakers in seven of these, the children living at Dewisdyddyn farm were bilingual. These children had been born in Trefdraeth, and it is worth

448


noting that it was their mother, a native of the district, who had a command of English. Children were far more likely to have a knowledge of English when both their parents were conversant with the language. In only six homes were both parents bilingual and, apart from one home where the younger children were monoglot Welsh speakers, all the children were bilingual also. It is significant that there were no linguistically mixed marriages in the parish. Since the great majority of the inhabitants rarely left their native district, it was inevitable that marriage patterns in the community should reinforce their Welsh character. Eighty-seven (94.6 per cent) of the district’s monoglot Welsh-speaking males, for instance, had married monoglot Welsh-speaking wives and, in the same way, 86 (94.5 per cent) monoglot Welsh-speaking females had monoglot Welsh-speaking husbands. Table 8 reveals that 245 (81.7 per cent) of males in Trefdraeth were gainfully occupied and that 141 (57.6 per cent) of them were employed in the agricultural sector. 106 (32.1 per cent) females were also in employment, and 36 (34.0 per cent) worked on the land. There is no doubt that Welsh was the dominant language in the world of agriculture. It was spoken by 174 (98.3 per cent) employees and as many as 149 (84.2 per cent) were monoglots. Since 169 (95.5 per cent) were Welsh speakers from Anglesey and 88 (49.7 per cent) were natives of Trefdraeth, this was not unexpected. Only two were monoglot English speakers, namely Robert and Barbara Young, a brother and sister who hailed from Scotland. Nevertheless, 10 (16.9 per cent) local farmers were able to speak English as well as Welsh. The percentage of those who were bilingual (25.0 per cent) was higher still among the younger relatives, both sons and daughters, who assisted on the farm. Three agricultural tradesmen also lived in the area; one was bilingual, namely Griffith Griffiths, a cattle dealer from Llanfair-yn-neubwll who lived with his monoglot Welsh relatives at Treddafydd-fawr. The poultry dealer was a monoglot English speaker from Holmbrook in Cumberland, while the butter seller was a monoglot Welsh speaker from Trefdraeth. The great majority of maids employed on the farms were Welsh monoglots. Three hailed from the counties of Caernarfon and Merioneth, while the rest had been born locally. Nevertheless, 9 (16.4 per cent) had a knowledge of English, and it is significant that four were in service with such public figures as John Pryce, the clergyman, and Griffith Williams, justice of the peace, both of whom were bilingual. Craftsmen and artisans played a vital role in the local economy, and since they served local needs there was hardly any pressure on them to learn English. With the exception of John Jones, a bilingual native of Crewe who was in charge of the team of local platelayers, all those employed in the building sector were monoglot Welsh speakers from Trefdraeth and nearby parishes, and of the eighteen manufacturers living in the neighbourhood, only four spoke English. Three of them, together with their families, were bilingual, namely the shoemaker William Parry, who hailed from Llanfechell, the tailor, William Jones, who had been born in Trefdraeth, and the draper, David Evans, a native of Merioneth who had spent at


least twelve years in London. The only monoglot English speaker enumerated was a seamstress from Caernarfon, and since her children had been brought up in Trefdraeth, it is unlikely that she was totally ignorant of the Welsh language. Of the eighteen dealers in the district, 13 (72.2 per cent) were monoglot Welsh speakers and five were bilingual. They included William Lloyd, a grocer from Llangwm in Denbighshire, Elizabeth Hughes, a native of Shropshire who sold beer at the Joiner’s Arms, and Anne Leech, a game dealer from Trefdraeth who lived with her bilingual sister, the village postmistress. Although the great majority of craftsmen and dealers were monoglot Welsh speakers, the same could not be said of those employed in the public services and professional sector: 15 (88.9 per cent) were bilingual and one had no Welsh at all. Ellen Leech, the postmistress, was a native of Trefdraeth, and spoke both Welsh and English. One of the two local postmen was also bilingual, namely Robert Thomas, a native of Edern in Caernarfonshire. Edward Thomas, the other postman, was a monoglot Welsh speaker from Aberffraw. The policeman was also bilingual and since his wife and children were enumerated as monoglot Welsh speakers he had doubtless learnt English in order to carry out his duties more effectively. Not unexpectedly, Griffith Williams of Trefeilir, the justice of the peace, was a fluent English speaker. He was a native of Merioneth and his family and the servants he employed were bilingual. The same was true of the doctor, John Rowlands, a native of Llangoed who lived at Parc-glas. All the teachers of the parish could also speak English, and one of them, namely Elizabeth Russell from Calne in Wiltshire, had no Welsh. David Thomas (Dewi Meirion), headmaster of the national school, was a native of Dolgellau, and had come to the neighbourhood in middle age from Llanrhaeadr-ym-Mochnant. He was said to be an accomplished poet and some of his children were splendid singers; he was certainly held in high regard in the district.13 Another Merioneth-born man who was able to speak English was the Anglican clergyman, John Pryce. Educated at Jesus College, Oxford, he had served briefly as curate of Dolgellau and headmaster of the grammar school there. In 1887 he was appointed Archdeacon of Anglesey and Bangor, and during his ministry he published several authoritative books on the history of the Early Church.14 He had three children, and since two of them had no Welsh he was probably not a zealous champion of the native language and culture. Only two Nonconformist ministers were enumerated in the census, namely Owen Williams of Cefn Trefeilir, a monoglot Welshman born in Trefdraeth, and John Roberts, a visiting bilingual Methodist minister from Bangor, who was staying with the widow Anne Williams.

13 14

Hughes, Hanes Plwyf Trefdraeth, p. 57. Ibid., pp. 37–8. Among his publications are The Ancient British Church (London, 1878), Notes on the History of the Early Church (London, 1892) and Yr Eglwys Foreuol (Bangor, 1893).

449


450

Although bilingualism was proceeding apace among the middle strata of Trefdraeth, the Welsh language remained inextricably woven into this society and formed an essential part of its cultural and communal life. Welsh was used in the home, the workplace and the church, and the great majority of the inhabitants spoke no other language. No doubt the railway and contacts with the commercial world had been a means to familiarize some individuals with the English language, but since Welsh was spoken on a daily basis throughout the neighbourhood the future well-being of the mother tongue was secure in 1891.

Table 8. Language spoken by occupation (10 years and over)

Industrial class AGRICULTURE Farming Farmers Relatives assisting Agricultural labourers Farm servants Land service Machine operator Breeding Horse breakers/keepers Dealers Cattle dealer Poultry dealer, butter seller Total % MINING Slate Miners Total % BUILDING Operatives Stonemasons Carpenters/joiners Painter Apprentice Railway Platelayers Total %


38 18 43 19

6 6 3 1

1 – – –

45 24 46 20

1

–

–

1

2

1

–

3

–

1

–

1

– 121 85.8

– 18 12.8

1 2 1.4

1 141 100.0

2 2 100.0

– – –

– – –

2 2 100.0

7 4 1 1

– – – –

– – – –

7 4 1 1

12 25 96.2

1 1 3.8

– – –

13 26 100.0


10 16 1

4 3 –

– 1 –

14 20 1

1 28 77.8

– 7 19.4

– 1 2.8

1 36 100.0


Industrial class


MANUFACTURING Iron and steel Blacksmith 1 Wood Coopers 2 Carriages and harnesses Skilled manual 2 Dress Skilled manual 4 Apprentices/assistants 2 Food Miller, baker 1 Total 12 % 80.0 TRANSPORT Ocean navigation Seamen Roads Coachman Carriers, carters Total %

451


–

–

1

–

–

2

–

–

2

3 –

– –

7 2

– 1

– –

1 –

1 1

– 3 20.0

– – –

1 15 100.0

1 2 66.7

– – –

– 1 33.3

1 3 100.0

3

1

–

4

1 5 9 90.0

– – 1 10.0

– – – –

1 5 10 100.0

–

1

–

1

– – –

2 4 1

–

1

–

1

– –

– 1

–

1

–

1

–

1

– – – – –

– 2 1 14 100.0

1

–

–

1

– 1 25.0

1 3 75.0

– – –

1 4 100.0

2

–

1

–

1

DEALING Coal Coal merchant – 1 Dress Draper 1 – Food Butchers, game dealer 2 – Grocers 3 1 Assistant 1 – Tobacco, drink and lodging Publican – – Assistant 1 – Furniture and household utensils Ironmonger 1 – General dealers Shopkeeper – – Hawkers 2 – Assistants 1 – Total 12 2 % 85.7 14.3

PUBLIC SERVICES AND PROFESSIONALS Central administration Post Office officials 1 1 –


452

Industrial class Local administration County official Police Constable Law Solicitor Medicine Physician Medical apprentice Education Headteachers, schoolteachers Assistant teachers Religion Clergyman CM minister Other Nonconformist minister Total %


–

1

–

1

–

1

–

1

–

1

–

1

– –

1 1

– –

1 1

– –

2 –

– –

2 –

– –

1 1

– –

1 1

1 2 16.7

– 10 83.3

– – –

–


– –

2 2

1 –

3 2

1 12 100.0

– –

5 83.3

1 16.7

6 100.0

–

–

46

9

–

55

DOMESTIC SERVICES Indoor service Maidservants – Outdoor service Grooms 1 Gardeners 1 Gamekeepers 1 Extra service Laundry woman – Total 3 % 50.0

1 1 –

– – 1

2 2 2

– 2 33.3

– 1 16.7

– 6 100.0

– 46 82.1

1 10 17.9

– – –

1 56 100.0


17 – 17 89.5

2 – 2 10.5

– – – –

19 – 19 100.0

1 1 100.0

– – –

– – –

1 1 100.0

TOTAL OCCUPIED %

203 82.9

39 15.9

3 1.2

245 100.0

78 73.6

25 23.6

3 2.8

106 100.0


11 84.6

2 15.4

– –

13 100.0

163 86.7

22 11.7

3 1.6

188 100.0


453

Industrial class



School pupils %

39 92.9

3 7.1

– –

42 100.0

26 72.2

7 19.4

3 8.3

36 100.0


44 14.7

3 1.0

300 100.0

267 80.9

54 16.4

9 2.7

330 100.0


22 ‘More people speak it than ever before’ GERAINT H. JENKINS, GWENFAIR PARRY and MARI A. WILLIAMS

In the early 1890s the educationalist J. E. Southall made the perfectly valid point that even well-informed people were generally ignorant of the linguistic condition of Wales,1 and so they remained until the publication in 1893 of the General Report of the Census of England and Wales, 1891, which included two pages only on ‘Languages in Wales and Monmouthshire’, thereby providing the first official snapshot of linguistic profiles on the basis of individual counties and registration districts.2 The Report revealed that the best part of a million people spoke Welsh, but that bilingual speakers and monoglot English speakers were in the majority in the densely-populated industrial and urban areas of south Wales and the borderlands. The following statistics are based on registration counties: Table 1: Language spoken by populations of the counties of Wales in 1891 (2 years and over)1

County

Number Welsh


Both

English

Total

Monmouthshire 9816 Glamorgan 142346 Carmarthenshire 63345 Pembrokeshire 13673 Cardiganshire 61624 Breconshire 5228 Radnorshire 75 Montgomeryshire 16414 Flintshire 10484 Denbighshire 37195 Merioneth 45856 Caernarfonshire 78780 Anglesey 23200

29743 177726 36937 10804 17111 13699 924 15846 16879 35030 12023 28330 7201

217664 326481 11751 51959 3979 31086 15270 31770 12862 38310 3621 12604 2059

257223 646553 112033 76436 82714 50013 16269 64030 40225 110535 61500 119714 32460

3.8 22.0 56.5 17.9 74.5 10.4 0.5 25.6 26.0 33.6 74.6 65.8 71.5

Wales

402253

759416 1669705

30.4

1

508036

English

Total

11.6 27.5 33.0 14.1 20.7 27.4 5.7 24.8 42.0 31.7 19.5 23.7 22.2

84.6 50.5 10.5 68.0 4.8 62.2 93.8 49.6 32.0 34.7 5.9 10.5 6.3

100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0

24.1

45.5

100.0

Excluding those individuals whose language was not given and those who spoke other languages. 1 2

J. E. Southall, Wales and her Language (Newport, 1892), p. iii. Census of England and Wales, 1891, Vol. IV. General Report with Summary Tables and Appendices (London, 1893), pp. 81–3.


456

On the basis of these statistics, in 1978 Glyn Lewis sought to measure at county level the demographic status of the Welsh language by constructing an identity index (i.e. the Welsh-speaking total expressed as a percentage of the total population of each county) and a distribution index (i.e. the Welsh-speaking total of the county expressed as a percentage of the national Welsh-speaking total).3 Three distinctive groups emerged. The first, with a mean intensity index of more than 90 per cent, included Cardigan (95), Merioneth (95), Anglesey (94), Caernarfon (90) and Carmarthen (90). The second group, with an intensity index of between 51 and 68 per cent, included Flint (68), Denbigh (66), Montgomery (52) and Glamorgan (51). The third group, with an intensity index of between 10 and 50 per cent, included Brecon (40), Pembroke (37), Monmouth (20) and Radnor (10). The first group, whose mean intensity index was 93 per cent, comprised agricultural communities in north and west Wales. The second group, with a mean of 59 per cent, consisted of industrialized or semi-industrialized counties. The third, whose mean was 27 per cent, included either traditional Englishries or border communities. When judged on the distribution index, however, the counties with the highest intensity index had a relatively low distribution index of 42 per cent. Conversely, the industrialized and semi-industrialized counties with an average intensity index had a relatively high distribution index of 50 per cent. The third group, which scored poorly in the intensity index, fared no better in the distribution index. At the registration district level, the General Report of 1893 indicated striking regional variations. The fifty-two registration districts were tabulated as follows: Table 2: Language spoken by populations of registration districts of Wales in 1891 (2 years and over)1 Registration district MONMOUTHSHIRE Chepstow Monmouth Abergavenny Bedwellte Pontypool Newport

3

Number Welsh

Both

English

Total

30 29 361 6805 351 2240

249 306 2420 15105 3499 8164

18042 26098 21985 38833 33426 79280

18321 26433 24766 60743 37276 89684

Percentage Welsh

0.2 0.1 1.4 11.2 0.9 2.5

Both

1.3 1.2 9.8 24.9 9.4 9.1

English Total

98.5 98.7 88.8 63.9 89.7 88.4

100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0

Glyn Lewis, ‘Migration and the Decline of the Welsh Language’ in Joshua A. Fishman (ed.), Advances in the Study of Societal Multilingualism (The Hague, 1978), pp. 263–351.

‘MORE PEOPLE SPEAK IT THAN EVER BEFORE’

Registration district

Number Welsh

GLAMORGAN Cardiff Pontypridd Merthyr Tydfil Bridgend Neath Pontardawe Swansea Gower CARMARTHENSHIRE Llanelli Llandovery Llandeilo Fawr Carmarthen

English

Total

3120 40507 35244 11806 14740 13655 22417 857

19395 138276 46487 50005 39812 34651 17329 19243 20493 17793 5132 1590 27229 57099 1849 7824

160791 136999 109707 48378 53026 20377 106745 10530

25366 6804 13327 17848

17630 3570 5151 10586

6161 688 926 3976

PEMBROKESHIRE Narberth Pembroke Haverfordwest

6520 67 7086

3392 1430 5982

CARDIGANSHIRE Cardigan Newcastle Emlyn Lampeter Aberaeron Aberystwyth Tregaron

10285 15501 7230 9369 11971 7268

BRECONSHIRE Builth Brecon Crickhowell Hay RADNORSHIRE Knighton Rhayader

Percentage Welsh

Both

English

Total

1.9 29.6 32.1 24.4 27.8 67.0 21.0 8.1

12.1 33.9 36.3 35.8 38.6 25.2 25.5 17.6

86.0 36.5 31.6 39.8 33.6 7.8 53.5 74.3

100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0

49157 11062 19404 32410

51.6 61.5 68.7 55.0

35.9 32.3 26.5 32.7

12.5 6.2 4.8 12.3

100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0

7445 26871 17643

17357 28368 30711

37.6 0.2 23.1

19.5 5.0 19.5

42.9 94.7 57.4

100.0 100.0 100.0

4575 2231 1713 1549 6136 907

679 549 328 148 2169 106

15539 18281 9271 11066 20276 8281

66.2 84.8 78.0 84.7 59.0 87.8

29.4 12.2 18.5 14.0 30.3 10.9

4.4 3.0 3.5 1.3 10.7 1.3

100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0

858 2767 1585 18

1828 5347 5781 743

4745 7095 10921 8325

7431 15209 18287 9086

11.5 18.2 8.7 0.2

24.6 35.2 31.6 8.2

63.9 46.6 59.7 91.6

100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0

1 74

102 822

10048 5222

10151 6118

0.0 1.2

1.0 13.4

99.0 85.4

100.0 100.0

MONTGOMERYSHIRE Machynlleth 6548 Newtown 2784 Forden 91 Llanfyllin 6991

3144 5870 1254 5578

645 12000 14172 4953

10337 20654 15517 17522

63.3 13.5 0.6 39.9

30.4 28.4 8.1 31.8

6.2 58.1 91.3 28.3

100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0

16879

12862

40225

26.0

42.0

32.0

100.0

FLINTSHIRE Holywell

10484

Both

457


458

Registration district

Number Welsh

Both

English

Total

DENBIGHSHIRE Wrexham Ruthin St Asaph Llanrwst

10604 7283 10410 8898

16641 4037 11452 2900

30810 1053 5820 627

58055 12373 27682 12425

18.3 58.9 37.6 71.6

28.7 32.6 41.4 23.3

53.0 8.5 21.0 5.1

100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0

MERIONETH Corwen Bala Dolgellau Ffestiniog

9642 4762 9995 21457

4179 818 2810 4216

1645 275 1016 685

15466 5855 13821 26358

62.3 81.3 72.3 81.4

27.0 14.0 20.3 16.0

10.6 4.7 7.4 2.6

100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0

CAERNARFONSHIRE Pwllheli 17568 Caernarfon 30767 Bangor 22137 Conwy 8308

2783 6633 10640 8274

860 1500 3504 6740

21211 38900 36281 23322

82.8 79.1 61.0 35.6

13.1 17.0 29.3 35.5

4.1 3.9 9.7 28.9

100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0

2077 5124

327 1732

13993 18467

82.8 62.9

14.8 27.7

2.3 9.4

100.0 100.0

ANGLESEY Anglesey Holyhead

11589 11611

Percentage Welsh

Both

English Total

Source: Census of England and Wales, 1891, Volume III. Ages, Condition as to Marriage, Occupations and Birthplaces of the Population, Division IX: Monmouthshire and Wales (London, 1893), Table 24, pp. 561–2. 1

Excluding those individuals whose language was not given and those who spoke other languages.

These figures underlined the substantial disparities which had emerged between the numbers of Welsh speakers in rural and industrial counties and also the extent to which the South Wales Coalfield had become a sociocultural melting pot in which people of different geographical, linguistic and cultural backgrounds lived and worked together. In five of the six registration districts of Cardiganshire, for instance, over 95 per cent of the population could speak Welsh, and in neighbouring Merioneth none of the four registration districts fell below 89 per cent. By comparison, the percentage of Welsh speakers within the eight registration districts of Glamorgan ranged from 14 per cent in Cardiff to 92.2 per cent in Pontardawe, while in the four registration districts of Denbighshire the percentages ranged from 47 per cent in Wrexham to 94.9 per cent in Llanrwst.4 Even at this level, therefore, there were appreciable variations, and it is easy to understand 4

The most comprehensive introduction to Welsh demography is Dot Jones, Statistical Evidence relating to the Welsh Language 1801–1911 / Tystiolaeth Ystadegol yn ymwneud â’r Iaith Gymraeg 1801–1911 (Cardiff, 1998). For the social implications of demographic change, see Michael Anderson’s chapter in F. M. L. Thompson (ed.), The Cambridge Social History of Britain 1750–1950. Volume 2. People and their Environment (Cambridge, 1990), pp. 1–70.


Image Not Available

Figure 1. Language spoken by the inhabitants of the twenty sample areas

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why J. E. Southall believed that the census results showed that the Welsh language, both at national and regional level, was poised at a delicate and critical crossroads.5 Nevertheless, the broad demographic picture of the state of the language as presented in the General Report of the 1891 census does not do justice to the subtle and complex profiles which existed at local level and it is certainly no substitute for the rich data contained in the census enumerators’ books for 1891 which provided the material for micro-level scrutiny in this study. In many of the communities studied a rich linguistic kaleidoscope emerged which revealed the ambiguities, tensions and paradoxes of an evolving situation. On the basis of the evidence collected, the twenty case studies fall into four identifiable categories: monoglot Welsh rural communities (3); rural market towns or ports (4); tourist resorts (2); industrial or urban settlements (11). Each of these groups will now be dealt with in turn. Champions of the native tongue must have been greatly heartened to discover that over half a million people were monoglot Welsh speakers in 1891. Three of the selected communities – Tregaron, Llanymawddwy and Trefdraeth – were located in what E. G. Bowen designated ‘Inner Wales’,6 and were representative of the degree to which the geographical configuration of Wales has helped to preserve the structure of Welsh-speaking strongholds. The thoroughgoing Welshness of these communities was made possible largely by the protection afforded by the formidable mountain core. The most heavily monoglot Welsh parish was Llanymawddwy, set in the wildly grand fastnesses of rural Merioneth. Communications were lamentable in these parts and the rugged mountain terrain which surrounded the community were intimidating barriers to external contact and stimuli, and served to insulate the 482 inhabitants (aged 2 years and over), 399 of whom were monoglot Welsh and only two of whom knew no Welsh, from Anglicizing influences. The great majority were natives of Merioneth and only one inhabitant (a Lancastrian) had been born outside Wales. Bilingual inhabitants were the exception to the rule and opportunities to acquire even the most rudimentary grasp of English were severely circumscribed. Socio-economic networks were wholly Welsh, both the Church and Nonconformity were robust champions of the Welsh language, and heads of household and their wives handed down their native tongue to their children without exception. For all practical purposes, the rural parish of Trefdraeth in south-west Anglesey was also a monoglot Welsh community. Even the close proximity of the Irish ‘post road’ and the London and North Western Railway (which ran through nearby Bodorgan) had left little impression on this relatively sheltered, selfcontained agricultural community. In 1773 it had been estimated that only five 5 6

Southall, Wales and her Language, p. 362. E. G. Bowen, ‘The Geography of Wales as a Background to its History’ in Ian Hume and W. T. R. Pryce (eds.), The Welsh and their Country (Llandysul, 1986), pp. 64–87.


persons out of 500 had any grasp of English.7 By 1891, 117 persons out of 763 in the sample could speak English, but of far greater significance is the fact that 646 inhabitants (84.7 per cent), nearly all of whom had been born in Anglesey, were Welsh monoglots. As was the case in Llanymawddwy, the influence of the home (every married couple with children spoke Welsh) and the pulpit was much stronger than that of the Anglicizing schools and in every single age group the native tongue was dominant. Ten of the eighteen inhabitants born in England had acquired Welsh and the rest presumably were able to communicate adequately even though they were recorded as monoglot English speakers. Although the small number of professional middling sorts were bilingual, their dealings with the local inhabitants were invariably and perhaps inevitably in Welsh. The third essentially monoglot Welsh community was the upland parish of Tregaron, located in the relatively remote mountain and moorland districts of rural Cardiganshire and celebrated for its extensive bog (Cors Caron), sheepwalks, cattle fairs, fine salmon and trout, small farms and tai unnos.8 Here the bulk of the population hovered precariously on the thin dividing line between subsistence and poverty, so much so that large numbers of its young males had abandoned the hills for the El Dorado of industrial south Wales or had sought their fortunes in America. As many as 99.1 per cent of the population spoke Welsh and less than a fifth had any grasp of English. Indeed, of all the registration districts in Wales, Tregaron had the highest proportion of Welsh speakers. The concept of bilingualism was scarcely understood and the tiny minority of monoglot English speakers who had ventured to settle in the parish were in no position to exercise any erosive linguistic influence. On the contrary, they were swiftly acculturated. In agriculture, crafts and lead mining, the proportion of Welsh speakers was more than 98 per cent and the bulk of them were natives of Cardiganshire. ‘In Tregaron’, wrote J. E. Southall in 1895, ‘the Welsh language has avenged itself on Monmouth and Chepstow by only allowing 1¼ per cent of the population to remain in ignorance of it.’9 Although drovers, hosiers and ‘Garden Girls’ (Merched y Gerddi) who tramped to and from London diffused English words and phrases in the community,10 the native tongue was deeply woven into the fabric of rural life. In each of these relatively self-contained communities Welsh was spoken by such an overwhelming majority for it to be dominant as the everyday medium of communication. Monoglot Welsh inhabitants were bound together by ties of blood, family and community, and there were little or no signs of linguistic erosion in the home, in the workplace or in the spiritual domain. Strangers were 7

8 9 10

The Depositions, Arguments and Judgment in the Cause of the Church-Wardens of Trefdraeth, in the County of Anglesea, against Dr Bowles (London, 1773), pp. 11–13, 17, 19, 22–4, 27–8, 31–2, 35–6. D. C. Rees, Tregaron: Historical and Antiquarian (Llandyssul, 1936). J. E. Southall, The Welsh Language Census of 1891 (Newport, 1895), p. 16. John Williams-Davies, ‘ “Merched y Gerddi” – mudwyr tymhorol o Geredigion’, Ceredigion, VIII, no. 3 (1978), 291–303.

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regarded with a degree of mistrust and suspicion, and since Welsh monoglottism was so powerfully entrenched the acculturation of English-speaking in-migrants was eminently achievable. Although this study is not concerned with the quality of spoken Welsh (a subject on which contemporaries were curiously silent), it should be emphasized that within such monoglot communities Welsh was a richly expressive tongue through which the social traditions, cultural heritage and native lore were transmitted from generation to generation. In such communities, too, inhabitants were more acutely aware than most that language and culture were cornerstones of Welsh nationality. In Llanymawddwy local people still cherished the memory of, and embroidered tales about, Gwylliaid Cochion Mawddwy (The Red Bandits of Mawddwy), the band of thieves who were sent to the gallows for flouting Tudor justice and administration.11 The people of Trefdraeth, too, took pride in the manner in which their forefathers in the eighteenth century had expelled Dr Thomas Bowles – ‘The Spotted Englishman’ (Y Sais Brith) – a rotund, monoglot English septuagenarian whose animus against Welsh had threatened to undermine community values.12 Nor were the people of Tregaron reluctant to celebrate the career of their most famous son, Henry Richard, one of the most vigorous defenders of the language and nationality of Wales in Victorian times and whose statue was unveiled in Tregaron square two years after the 1891 census. Richard was convinced that there was ‘a lurking conviction at the bottom of most Englishmen’s hearts, that no people can be really civilised who don’t talk English’.13 The truth is, however, that monoglot Welsh speakers were able to cope perfectly happily with life through the medium of their native tongue and their taste for ‘solid reading’ and ‘old literary treasures’ rendered them anything but ‘uncivilised’.14 In linguistic terms, therefore, the physical core of Wales was much more robust than its periphery. Yet, by the time of the 1891 census, ‘Outer Wales’ was increasingly encroaching on the linguistic core of ‘Inner Wales’. J. E. Southall was greatly exercised by the fact that English was ‘stealthily and surely eating its way into the heart of Wales’.15 The bilingual zone along the borderlands of east Wales was snaking ever further westwards into Welsh-speaking strongholds and establishing bridgeheads wherever the commercial value of English was recognized and 11 12

13

14

15

Thomas Pennant, Tours in Wales (3 vols., London, 1810), II, pp. 232–4. Geraint H. Jenkins, ‘ “Horrid Unintelligible Jargon”: The Case of Dr Thomas Bowles’, WHR, 15, no. 4 (1991), 494–523. Henry Richard, Letters on the Social and Political Condition of the Principality of Wales (London, n.d.), p. 1. Ibid., pp. 35, 39; according to Bedwyr Lewis Jones (Iaith Sir Fôn [1983], p. 9), ‘In the local deeplyrooted society . . . language has accumulated harvests of experience and perceptiveness and imagination and consciousness over many generations’ (‘Yn y gymdeithas leol, ddwfn ei gwreiddiau . . . mae iaith wedi cronni cynaeafau profiad a sylwgarwch a dychymyg ac ymwybyddiaeth dros genedlaethau lawer’). Southall, Wales and her Language, p. 352.


prized. Fertile low-lying valleys were convenient points of entry for the English tongue and in several communities where Welsh and English had coexisted, if somewhat uneasily, the balance was clearly tilting towards English. In Radnorshire long-standing Anglicizing influences meant that Welsh had vanished from the lips of all but a thousand of its inhabitants, and parts of Breconshire were threatening to follow suit. In Montgomeryshire, too, according to Southall, the future of Welsh was ‘trembling in the balance’.16 The territorial advance of the bilingual zone was hastened by improved communications, notably the coming of the railways. The principal road and rail routes ran from east to west, thereby strengthening economic and cultural links with towns like Shrewsbury, Oswestry and Welshpool. The fortunes of the Welsh language within the bilingual zone were closely associated with the economic functions of market towns, both large and small. Commercial centres provided a modest range of retail, craft, professional and legal services for the benefit of their inhabitants and those of the rural hinterland.17 In general, trading groups placed a high premium on English and regular social and economic intercourse with border towns exposed rural inhabitants to Anglicizing influences. Although its socio-economic influence was local and limited, the modest market town of Builth Wells, which straddled the counties of Brecon and Radnor, was representative of the heavily Anglicized border towns of mid-Wales. The buying and selling of agricultural produce bulked large in the local economy, but in the wake of changes in the town’s commercial structure growing numbers of tourists came ‘to take the waters’ in its well-regarded spas. In Builth, Welsh was very much a marginal and marginalized tongue. Little or no Welsh was spoken, except when the rural populace flocked into the town on fair or market day. The five monoglot Welsh speakers and the 271 bilingual speakers who made up 17.1 per cent of the total population were massively overshadowed by the 1,336 (82.9 per cent) monoglot English speakers who dominated all age groups. The marked disparity between the number of its Welsh speakers and those in the Registration District of Builth and indeed the county of Brecon stemmed from the proximity of the town to Radnorshire, the most Anglicized county in Wales. Little sympathy for the plight of the native language was evinced by the town’s prosperous middling sorts and it is clear that Anglicizing processes in the Wye valley had intensified as the nineteenth century unfolded. Not a single head of household or wife was registered as a monoglot Welsh speaker and since English was the language of local schools and daily discourse in the town it is not surprising that only one child in every ten under the age of 15 could speak Welsh. In the border counties the use of the English language was far more prevalent in the fertile, lowlying valleys and wherever commercial exchanges prospered in the towns. The 16 17

Idem, Welsh Language Census, p. 19. See Harold Carter, The Towns of Wales (Cardiff, 1965) and Harold Carter and C. Roy Lewis, An Urban Geography of England and Wales in the Nineteenth Century (London, 1990).

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census evidence suggests that language patterns discovered in Builth Wells were also characteristic of towns like Crickhowell, Brecon and Llandrindod, all of which had low Welsh-speaking populations. The bilingual frontier, accentuated by urban pockets of English dominance, was shifting ever further westward.18 In Montgomeryshire, too, market towns like Welshpool and Newtown provided agencies or springboards from which English was able to make significant inroads into the core of ‘Inner Wales’.19 From the mid-Victorian period onwards railways were breaking down traditional barriers, driving the bilingual zone towards the Pumlumon range, and strengthening the status of English at community level along the Severn valley. At Llanidloes, a cross-shaped town of four main streets which met at the old Market Hall, the Welsh-language culture which had been sustained by vigorous printing presses and Nonconformist chapels was progressively undermined by the bilingualism ushered in as a result of the development of flannel manufacturing, the lead industry, and the construction of the Cambrian Railway.20 By 1891 fewer than 200 inhabitants of the town were monoglot Welsh speakers, and 92.3 per cent of the population could speak English. Most parents, especially in bilingual households, raised their children as English monoglots, and fluency in Welsh was increasingly becoming the preserve of middle-aged and elderly people. In the towns of Montgomeryshire, English was the language of commerce. Market towns which also served as ports on the west coast were conduits through which the English language could penetrate the rural hinterland. Located on the extended peninsula of Pembrokeshire and to the north of the celebrated Landsker, the small market town and maritime port of Fishguard depended heavily on its local coastal trade with West Country ports, notably Bristol, and with Ireland. Cargoes of timber, coal, culm, bricks and limestone were imported, while barley, oats, butter and cheese were the main exports. But not until the turn of the nineteenth century would Fishguard’s considerable economic potential be realized following the decision of the Great Western Railway to transfer its Irish traffic from Neyland to Fishguard harbour.21 Although located within the Registration District of Haverfordwest, which included substantial numbers of monoglot English speakers (57.4 per cent), Fishguard was a predominantly Welsh-speaking community. Even so, bilingualism was gaining ground. Although 91.4 per cent of the population could speak Welsh, 57.6 per cent of the Welsh 18

19

20

21

W. T. R. Pryce. ‘Welsh and English in Wales, 1750–1971: A Spatial Analysis based on Linguistic Affilation of Parochial Communities’, BBCS, XXVIII, part 1 (1978), 15, 20. See David Llewelyn Jones, ‘The Welsh Language in Montgomeryshire c.1800–1914’ in Geraint H. Jenkins (ed.), Language and Community in the Nineteenth Century (Cardiff, 1998), pp. 63–97. Edward Hamer, ‘A Parochial Account of Llanidloes’, MC, V (1872), 16. Llanidloes was identified by A. J. Ellis as ‘bilingual with more or less strong admixture of Welsh’. A. J. Ellis, ‘On the Delimitation of the English and Welsh Languages’, Y Cymmrodor, V (1882), 201. Roy Lewis, ‘The Towns of Pembrokeshire, 1815–1974’ in David W. Howell (ed.), Pembrokeshire County History, Volume IV. Modern Pembrokeshire 1815–1974 (Haverfordwest, 1993), p. 70.


speakers could also speak English and the underlying trend among the 6+ age groups was towards bilingualism. It is true that the heavy preponderance of localborn people in the town, together with clannish marriage patterns, helped to ensure that Welsh was the main language of the home and the workplace, but the strong maritime link with the eastern seaboard of Ireland and the ports of the West Country made for broader horizons which had the effect of strengthening the economic value of English. The growing numbers of builders, manufacturers and dealers were less prone than their forebears to despise ‘new modes and strange faces’22 because their livelihoods depended on being able to call on two languages. In the long run, these commercial contacts would work to the detriment of Welsh. An even stronger tradition of seafaring characterized the lively market town and port of Porthmadog in Caernarfonshire. Although the boom years of the seventies had passed, Porthmadog was poised to embark on a new period of appreciable export and shipbuilding activity by 1891, the year in which the first of the ‘Western Ocean Yachts’ – the Blodwen and the Dorothy – were launched. These impressively graceful and swift deep-sea merchant schooners exported slate and other miscellaneous cargo to ports as distant as Newfoundland, Cadiz, Gibraltar and Rouen.23 In 1892, 98,959 tons of slate were exported by sea and 54,878 tons by rail.24 Porthmadog was therefore a community of highly experienced and proficient shipbuilders, master mariners and sailors. Exotically named places like Bombay, Rangoon, Guadeloupe and Rio de Janeiro were just as familiar to seafaring families as the names of villages and hamlets in Eifionydd, and old salts savoured every opportunity to tell hair-raising tales of rounding Cape Horn. Some of the names of high quality ships built at Porthmadog – Mary Claasen, Frau Minna Petersen and Olga Elken – illustrate the cosmopolitan flavour of westward-facing ports.25 Although more than 95 per cent of the inhabitants could speak Welsh, it is significant that 42.6 per cent of them were bilingual, a much higher proportion than that of the Registration District of Ffestiniog, of the county of Caernarfon, and of Wales. It is true that Welsh was the daily medium in almost all social domains and that it was handed down to children with unfailing care, but intensive maritime trade and educational policies were clearly fostering bilingualism. A third of adult males were engaged in maritime activity and those among them who traversed many seas and visited a variety of foreign ports not only acquired a range of sea-going skills but also a command of English. Ten years 22

23

24 25

David W. Howell, ‘Society, 1660–1793’ in B. E. Howells (ed.), Pembrokeshire County History. Volume III. Early Modern Pembrokeshire 1536–1815 (Haverfordwest, 1987), p. 294. The phrase belongs to B. H. Malkin. Basil Greenhill, The Merchant Schooners (new and revised ed., National Maritime Museum, 1978), pp. 56–8; Aled Eames, Machlud Hwyliau’r Cymry. The Twilight of Welsh Sail (Cardiff, 1984), p. 101. Aled Eames, Pobl Môr y Port (Caernarfon, 1993), p. 19. Ibid., p. 17.

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prior to the census, Robert Jackson, Registrar General of Seamen, had emphasized the value placed by the Admiralty, as well as other merchant fleets, on familiarity with English: The Majority of the Men are employed in the Foreign Trade & they invariably speak & understand English, the Men in the Coasting Trade are not so well up in English, as they always speak Welsh at home – As a rule in North Wales young men speak English and understand it, but the English of Men over 30 is generally indifferent.26

The most mobile groups – seafarers and tradespeople – were also those who possessed English. Yet the native language was sufficiently robust to maintain its predominance in most social domains, even though long-term trends pointed towards appreciable falls in the numbers of monoglot Welsh speakers. By the end of the nineteenth century Wales had also become a land of rapidly expanding tourist resorts. Seaside holidays had become ‘a recognisable part of urban popular culture’27 and places like Penarth, Barry, Mumbles, Tenby, Aberystwyth and Rhyl were all within easy reach following large-scale improvements in communications. Although the 1891 census was conducted in April, before the swelling flood of visitors in the three-month summer season, the old borough town of Aberystwyth in mid-Cardiganshire and the relatively new seaside resort of Rhyl in Flintshire offer intriguing contrasts and comparisons for the social historian and sociolinguist. By late Victorian times municipal enterprise also encompassed recreational and cultural amenities and the visitor catchment areas of both holiday resorts widened considerably when railways began to offer swifter and cheaper means of travel.28 Although seemingly hemmed in by mountains, Aberystwyth was not only linked to the outside world by its maritime trade but was also easily accessible, from the mid-1860s onwards, by the Cambrian Railway. A thriving tourist and commercial town of some 7,000 people, it was the most robustly bilingual urban settlement in Cardiganshire. Its monoglot Welsh population – located in the penurious margins of the borough – was only around a third of that of the registration district. Over half its population (52.5 per cent) was bilingual, and a fifth was monoglot English. Since it was advertised as ‘the Brighton of Wales’ and ‘the Biarritz of Wales’, it is not surprising that it had become the kind of resort where ‘one would not have been too surprised to encounter the Crown Prince of

26 27

28

Aled Eames, Ventures in Sail (Gwynedd Archives and Museum Service, 1987), p. 52. H. Cunningham, ‘Leisure and Culture’ in Thompson (ed.), The Cambridge Social History of Britain 1750–1950, Volume 2, p. 313. J. K. Walton, ‘The Seaside Resorts of England and Wales, 1900–1950: growth, diffusion and the emergence of new forms of coastal tourism’ in Gareth Shaw and Allan Williams (eds.), The Rise and Fall of British Coastal Resorts (London, 1997), pp. 21–3.


Prussia cycling in knickerbockers down [the] Prom’.29 Several attractions appealed to visitors and invariably encouraged bilingualism. Aberystwyth was the oldest University town in Wales, but although it prided itself on being ‘the People’s University’ (Prifysgol y Werin), its staff and families established academic Englishries within the town and promoted excellent English-medium drama productions in the Examination Hall in the College. Even the Principal, Thomas Charles Edwards, urged students to forego their native tongue in favour of middle-class élitism: ‘Go to the English chapel’, was his advice to the young R. T. Jenkins,30 even though the heavily attended Welsh Nonconformist chapels were reckoned to be ‘uncommonly genteel’, which was Victorian shorthand for bilingual.31 The town’s upwardly mobile professional people, tradesmen, shopkeepers, craftsmen and master mariners – the mainstays of Nonconformist Liberalism – were powerful Anglicizing agents, a trend greatly encouraged by John Gibson, editor of the Cambrian News. In the first half of the nineteenth century Aberystwyth had depended for its visitors on respectable and affluent gentry and middling sorts, but with the coming of the Cambrian Railway – a key factor in the democratization of leisure – appreciable numbers of holidaymakers arrived from the industrial conurbations of the Black Country. A wide range of attractive buildings and recreational activities awaited them, including the ruins of a medieval castle, an extensive promenade with good bathing facilities, a pier, handsome assembly rooms, fashionable hotels like the Queen’s Hotel and the Belle Vue, as well as a host of modest hotels, boarding houses and private residences. The celebrity of the Mynach falls at Devil’s Bridge drew large numbers of visitors and entertainment in the town in the summer season included light comedies, comic operas, plays, concert parties and ‘nigger’ minstrels, all of which were conducted in English.32 This had important consequences for the linguistic profile of the town. Bilingualism had become the norm and it is significant that young females who flocked into the town from neighbouring monoglot Welsh parishes to gain employment as domestic servants in hotels and boarding houses were required to learn English swiftly. As many as 68 per cent of the female domestic servants aged between 15 and 24 in the town were bilingual. It is a fair assumption, too, that growing numbers of English-speaking tourists, boarders and lodgers in the summer season stiffened the anglophone influence of the 875 residents born in England, 82.5 per cent of whom had resisted assimilation and 29

30 31

32

Baruch Hirson and Gwyn A. Williams, The Delegate for Africa: David Ivon Jones, 1883–1924 (London, 1995), p. 14. R. T. Jenkins, Edrych yn Ôl (London, 1968), p. 131. Hirson and Williams, Delegate for Africa, p. 19; Geraint H. Jenkins, ‘Bro Eisteddfod Genedlaethol Cymru Ceredigion, Aberystwyth’, Eisteddfod Genedlaethol Frenhinol Cymru. Rhestr Testunau (Aberystwyth, [1991]), pp. 17–22. R. F. Walker, ‘Tourism in Cardiganshire, 1774–1974’ in Geraint H. Jenkins and Ieuan Gwynedd Jones (eds.), Cardiganshire County History. Volume 3. Cardiganshire in Modern Times (Cardiff, 1998), pp. 299–322.

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remained robustly monoglot English. Although more than three-quarters of the population of the town could speak Welsh, it was still the most Anglicized community in Cardiganshire. Yet, in many ways, Welsh had a better capacity for survival in the massively Welsh-speaking county of Cardiganshire than in the newly founded seaside resort of Rhyl in bilingual Flintshire. In terms of its bilingual element (50.5 per cent), Rhyl was akin to Aberystwyth, but its linguistic profile diverged markedly in its small number of monoglot Welsh speakers (8.5 per cent) and substantial number of monoglot English speakers (41.0 per cent). Rhyl was the fastest growing seaside resort in north Wales. Heavily dependent for its economic well-being on its capacity to offer accommodation and leisure amenities to the middling sorts and also, increasingly, to working-class people from north-west England, it was becoming the ‘playground of industrial Lancashire’.33 Growing numbers of betterpaid working-class people were able to afford rather more than a day excursion or a long weekend, and were glad of the opportunity to escape by train from the dirt and squalor of the industrial towns. Rhyl’s proximity to the textile towns of Lancashire (and especially to the Welsh-born inhabitants of Liverpool) made it especially attractive. Its champions extolled so loudly the merits of ‘its magnificent scenery, its salubrious air, and its extensive beach’,34 its 800-yard-long pier, its grand pavilion, and its swimming and diving competitions that few remembered that, two generations earlier, Rhyl had been a modest fishing village. All the evidence suggests that the English language enjoyed an enhanced status in the town. It figured prominently in what W. T. R. Pryce has characterized as ‘the English zone’, i.e. a district which was consistently English in language, but which was surrounded by a largely bilingual zone.35 More than nine of every ten could speak English. Regardless of age, those who had been born in Flintshire and Denbighshire were strongly bilingual, and English-speaking incomers from beyond Offa’s Dyke were well placed to exert a decisive influence on language use in households and the workplace. Tradespeople, craftsmen, railway workers, hoteliers, boarding house landladies and maidservants were fluent in English and, for the most part, indifferent to the fate of Welsh. By the end of the nineteenth century the English language had penetrated deeply along the coast of north Wales and was predominant in all the major seaside resorts as far as the Menai Straits.36 We turn finally to the fourth and largest group, namely the industrial communities. The expansion of economic activity in the nineteenth century, first in lead, copper and iron, and latterly in slate quarrying, steel, and, most of all, coal 33 34 35 36

J. A. R. Pimlott, The Englishman’s Holiday: A Social History (new ed., Harvester, 1976), p. 174. The Rhyl Cicerone: or The Visitor’s Hand-book to Rhyl (Rhyl, 1862), p. 6. W. T. R. Pryce, ‘Wales as a Culture Region: Patterns of Change 1750–1971’, THSC (1978), 250. John Aitchison and Harold Carter, A Geography of the Welsh Language 1961–1991 (Cardiff, 1994), pp. 37–9.


transformed demographic and social patterns in Wales. The new industrial and urban communities, particularly in the South Wales Coalfield, attracted massive numbers of unskilled or low-skilled labourers, many of them robust young males from rural areas. As the agricultural districts progressively ‘lost’ their people through migration, the industrial counties sucked in migrant labour avidly. The opening up of the coalfields, as Brinley Thomas brilliantly argued in a pioneering article published in 1959,37 offered the Welsh-speaking Welsh the opportunity to colonize a radically different part of their own land, thereby safeguarding the language and culture they cherished so dearly. Thomas had a rare gift for lucid synthesis and he rounded off his thesis with a memorable rhetorical flourish: ‘The unrighteous Mammon in opening up the coalfields at such a pace unwittingly gave the Welsh language a new lease of life and Welsh Nonconformity a glorious high noon.’38 Although he failed to convince everyone of the validity of his argument, he retained confidence in his material and published several vigorous restatements.39 In many ways, the current examination of the evidence of the 1891 census provides a vital testing ground for Thomas’s assertion that large-scale industrialization was the saviour of the Welsh language. Through the microcosm of individual communities, it is possible to examine more closely the extent, nature, timing and sequence of migration and its association with either the preservation of Welsh or the territorial advance of English. As we shall discover, this process was subject to infinite local variations, for, as Philip N. Jones has emphasized, industrial communities offered ‘a fine-grained kaleidoscope of immigrants’.40 Among the eleven industrial communities examined, three main categories can be discerned. The first, which included Blaenau Ffestiniog (slate), Rhosllannerchrugog (coal), Cwmaman (tinplate and coal), and Pontardawe (tinplate) comprised startlingly large numbers of monoglot Welsh speakers. The second, which included Blaenau (iron and coal) and Dowlais (iron and coal), were becoming strongly Anglicized areas. The third, which included Blaenllechau, Ferndale, Cwm Clydach, Llwynypia, and Cardiff, was representative of the ‘ethnic and cultural melting pot’ known as the South Wales Coalfield and its export conduits. The frenzied growth of these new kinds of urban and industrial 37

38 39

40

Brinley Thomas, ‘Wales and the Atlantic Economy’, Scottish Journal of Political Economy, VI, no. 3 (1959), 169–92. Ibid., 192. Brinley Thomas (ed.), The Welsh Economy: Studies in Expansion (Cardiff, 1962), pp. 1–29; idem, Migration and Urban Development: A Reappraisal of British and American Long Cycles (London, 1972), pp. 170–97; idem, ‘The Industrial Revolution and the Welsh Language’ in Colin Baber and L. J. Williams (eds.), Modern South Wales: Essays in Economic History (Cardiff, 1986), pp. 6–21; idem, ‘A Cauldron of Rebirth: Population and the Welsh Language in the Nineteenth Century’, WHR, 13, no. 4 (1987), 418–37. Philip N. Jones, ‘Population Migration into Glamorgan 1861–1911: a Reassessment’ in Prys Morgan (ed.), Glamorgan County History. Volume VI. Glamorgan Society 1780–1980 (Cardiff, 1988), p. 199.

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communities, especially the coal-mining towns, alarmed those who believed that the rural districts, where the Welsh language and Nonconformity prevailed, epitomized authentic Welshness. The colliery communities of south Wales appeared to be haphazard conglomerations of wretched hovels inhabited by rootless, feckless and immoral people, but such perceptions swiftly faded as it became abundantly clear that the economic and cultural well-being of Wales depended on the prosperity of its urban and industrial centres.41 In particular, linguistic patterns were seen to be inextricably bound up with demographic and industrial change. Feeling the pulse rate of Wales and its languages was better done in Llwynypia than in Llangeitho. Brinley Thomas’s claim that industrialization had the effect of safeguarding and enriching the Welsh-speaking culture is best exemplified in the communities of Blaenau Ffestiniog, Rhosllannerchrugog, Cwmaman, and to a lesser degree Pontardawe, where Welsh was indisputably the dominant language. Slate quarrying and its ancillary trades became the lifeblood of the economy of the relatively newly established town of Blaenau Ffestiniog, whose population had leapt to 11,073 by 1891. In the slate quarrying districts of Gwynedd the proportion of monoglot Welsh speakers was extraordinarily high. All but 1.7 per cent of the population sample in Blaenau Ffestiniog could speak Welsh, and four-fifths of the inhabitants spoke nothing but Welsh. The proportion of Welsh speakers was much greater than that of the Registration District of Ffestiniog and of Wales as a whole. Indeed, in no other major Welsh industry was fluency in Welsh among the majority of the workforce so evident. Since north-west Wales produced the bulk of Britain’s slate, it prided itself on being a peculiarly Welsh and Welshspeaking industry. The daily and technical vocabulary was thoroughly Welsh and untutored newcomers were swiftly assured that ‘the rock does not understand English’.42 This was not pious fiction, for the native language was reckoned to be the hallmark of a true craftsman, and it was worn ‘like their working clothes, unquestioningly, almost unconsciously’.43 Indeed, in all walks of life in Blaenau Ffestiniog Welsh was a sine qua non. Migrants from outside north-west Wales were few in number and the great majority of those employed in the busy and productive quarries of Oakeley, Llechwedd, Foty and Maenofferen were either locally recruited or were short-distance migrants.44 Just as the surplus agricultural population of west and mid-Wales stiffened the Welsh-speaking culture of the northern and western valleys of the South Wales Coalfield, so did rural migrants 41

42

43 44

See the essays in Ieuan Gwynedd Jones, Communities: Essays in the Social History of Victorian Wales (Llandysul, 1987). R. Merfyn Jones, ‘Y Chwarelwr a’i Gymdeithas yn y Bedwaredd Ganrif ar Bymtheg’ in Geraint H. Jenkins (ed.), Cof Cenedl: Ysgrifau ar Hanes Cymru (Llandysul, 1986), pp. 125–45; Emyr Jones, Canrif y Chwarelwr (Dinbych, n.d.). R. Merfyn Jones, The North Wales Quarrymen 1874–1922 (Cardiff, 1981), p. 56. Peter Ellis Jones, ‘Migration and the Slate Belt of Caernarfonshire in the Nineteenth Century’, WHR, 14, no. 4 (1989), 610–29.


from Caernarfonshire and Merioneth provide added strength to the native tongue and its associated culture in the slate belt towns. Although bilingualism was a feature of the 15–24 age bracket, all the social pressures in Blaenau Ffestiniog favoured the daily use of Welsh. Within the vast majority of households Welsh was the sole medium of communication among husbands, wives, children, relatives, boarders and lodgers. Linguistically mixed marriages were extremely rare and it was never doubted that the language should be transmitted from generation to generation. Firmly located in the Welsh heartlands, untroubled by surging tides of English in-migrants, sustained by robust sociocultural networks, not least in the domains of religion and politics, this community prided itself on being a standard bearer of the Welsh language. Even in commercial and professional circles, the balance was heavily weighted towards Welsh. Quarrymen were convinced that their native tongue was admirably suited to all the tasks which they were called upon to perform, and in times of strikes and lockouts it proved a valuable tool in their campaigns against tyrannical proprietors and arrogant managers. In contrast, industrial communities in north-east Wales, given their proximity to England, especially the counties of Cheshire and Lancashire, were characterized by considerable linguistic admixture. The westward penetration of the bilingual zone was a salient feature of these parts and by the end of the nineteenth century in-migration from England was becoming the dominant trend. Although the South Wales Coalfield had forged far ahead of its north Wales counterpart both in manpower, production and export markets, the thirty-eight collieries at work in Denbighshire offered attractive employment opportunities to migrants.45 Almost inexplicably, in view of its perilous proximity to the English border, the populous coal-mining town of Rhosllannerchrugog in east Denbighshire sported a remarkably high proportion of Welsh speakers. Nine of every ten of the inhabitants in the sample spoke Welsh. Half the population spoke Welsh only, 41.6 per cent were bilingual (a much larger proportion than was the case in Blaenau Ffestiniog), and English monoglots comprised less than 10 per cent of the total numbers. In the context of the linguistic profile of Denbighshire and even more strikingly so in the case of the Registration District of Wrexham, the number of Welsh speakers (both monoglot and bilingual) was unusually high. Heavily dependent on the coal industry and its associated brickyards, the population of Rhos had grown almost six-fold between 1811 and 1891, but it still retained a curiously close-knit character, based on kinship, good neighbourliness and a strong attachment to Nonconformity, all of which worked in favour of the Welsh language. Intergenerational transmission of the native tongue was relatively unimpeded and points of contact with English usually occurred at the workplace and in the classroom rather than within the family unit. Non-Welsh-speaking boarders and lodgers from England barely impinged on the identity of the Welsh45

George G. Lerry, ‘The Industries of Denbighshire’, TDHS, 7 (1958), 47.

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speaking community and linguistic slippage in favour of English was only apparent in the small number of households where linguistically mixed marriages had occurred. The key to the high degree of Welsh language maintenance in Rhos was clearly the presence of large numbers of home-born and Denbighshireborn migrants. Rural migrants from the upland moors tended to migrate down the Dee valley towards Llangollen and then eastwards to the developing townships of the Wrexham coalfield where, in the case of Rhos, they were able to settle in a community with a recognizable critical mass of Welsh speakers and where the native tongue was the dominant medium of communication.46 Indeed, one of the unifying bonds in Rhos was its distinctive dialect which, together with the ideals of neighbourliness and friendship, helped to create a meaningful community in which the Welsh language prospered. The richly expressive Rhos dialect was not only a vehicle for wisdom, wit and native lore at the fireside but also at the coalface, as colourful words and phrases like llygad y pwll (eye of the pit), malc (fault), ma’i di galw (the hooter calls) and Sadwrn pwt (Saturday with no pay) testify.47 It is true that there were signs of linguistic fragmentation within the commercial sector and among the young, but in general Rhos diverged markedly from its intensely Anglicized neighbour Johnstown. By enabling the surplus Welsh-speaking rural population to be absorbed within its township, it fits Brinley Thomas’s model neatly. The fact that as late as 1891 English-speaking monoglots constituted only 9.1 per cent of the population of Rhosllannerchrugog is vivid testimony of the extent to which the Welsh language lay at the very heart of the sociocultural mores of the community. Although Carmarthenshire was a predominantly agricultural community throughout the nineteenth century, it also became increasingly dependent on tinplate, steel and coal. The principal fillip to the tinplate industry were the inventions of Siemens-Martin and Bessemer, and by 1891 there were twenty tinplate works (119 mills) in the county.48 From the 1880s, too, the anthracite coal industry, whose output had largely been used for malting, hop-drying and limeburning, began to contribute substantially to the economy of the county and to spawn colliery settlements like Pontyberem, Tumble, Brynaman and Gwauncaegurwen, whose coal tips meant that the anthracite area became known as ‘Gwlad y Piramidiau’ (Land of the Pyramids).49 As J. E. Southall noted in 1895, in every registration district in the county ‘monoglots exceed the bilinguals’,50 and in 46 47

48

49

50

W. T. R. Pryce (ed.), From Family History to Community History (Cambridge, 1994), p. 118. J. Rhosydd Williams, Hanes Rhosllannerchrugog (Rhosllannerchrugog, 1945), p. 36. See also ‘Cân y Coliar’ in the local dialect on pp. 43–7. J. E. Lloyd (ed.), A History of Carmarthenshire. Volume II. From the Act of Union (1536) to 1900 (Cardiff, 1939), pp. 377–8; Russell Davies, Secret Sins: Sex, Violence and Society in Carmarthenshire 1870–1920 (Cardiff, 1996), pp. 14–19. Aneirin Talfan Davies, Crwydro Sir Gâr (2nd ed., Llandybïe, 1970), p. 276. See also Ioan A. Matthews, ‘The World of the Anthracite Miner’ (unpubl. University of Wales PhD thesis, 1995). Southall, Welsh Language Census of 1891, p. 14.


the newly developed industrial settlements Welsh was the language of the coalface, the tinplate works, the hearth, the chapel and the tavern. In these communities colliers and tinplate workers had not been uprooted from their rural background and many of them were as familiar with threshing with a flail as with hewing coal and the workings of the ‘gwithe tin’ (tinplate works). The workforce was mainly drawn from within the county and, although agricultural labourers did not possess the specialized skills and aptitudes required, they were able to learn swiftly on the job and also to take comfort from the fact that they were not required to leave their native county in order to improve their standard of living. In the case of Cwmaman, the bulk of the population of 1,353 had been born in Carmarthenshire and the industrial workforce was drawn almost entirely from the parishes of Betws and Llandeilo Fawr. As a result, economic development worked to the advantage of the Welsh language. As many as 1,168 (86.3 per cent) people were monoglot Welsh, Welsh was spoken in virtually every household in the community, and there were no signs of intergenerational linguistic slippage within families. Even more significant is the fact that Welsh was heavily predominant in the anthracite mines and tinplate works and that even the modest commercial and industrial middle-class element within Cwmaman was largely monoglot Welsh. The religiosity of the community clearly helped to sustain Welsh-language networks and the richness of its historical and cultural traditions meant that people greatly prized local poets like Gwydderig and Watcyn Wyn and also believed that good prose and poetry were ‘a perpetual feast’51 to be enjoyed. In the industrial communities of Carmarthenshire, therefore, short-distance movements of native Welsh speakers and a powerful Nonconformist culture had immensely strengthened the Welsh-speaking fabric of community life. The clustering of the indigenous Welsh within what was virtually their own backyard proved an enormous stimulus to the native tongue and lends support to the argument that demographic growth and internal migration were a blessing to the Welsh language. To a lesser, but still significant, degree the same was true of the tinplate town of Pontardawe in west Glamorgan, where most of the inhabitants were either born in the parish of Llan-giwg or hailed from accessible districts in Glamorgan or Carmarthenshire. The most powerful industrial entrepreneurs in Pontardawe were members of the Gilbertson family, notably Arthur Gilbertson, an archetypal Victorian autocrat who ruled employees in his tinplate works with a rod of iron.52 His shrewdness and eye for the main chance meant that Pontardawe figured with Llanelli, Morriston, Briton Ferry and Neath as major centres of the tinplate industry in south Wales. The period prior to the enactment of the calamitous McKinley tariff in July 1891 were boom years for the industry. Tinplate 51 52

D. J. Williams, The Old Farmhouse, trans. by Waldo Williams (London, 1961), p. 122. John H. Davies, History of Pontardawe and District (Llandybïe, 1967), p. 59.

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production in south Wales had doubled in each decade between 1830 and 1890, and by 1891 there were 51 tinplate works (277 mills) in Glamorgan.53 Although the numbers employed in such works were never large, it is significant that most of the labour force were recruited locally. Working-class people who had settled in Pontardawe were mostly short-distance migrants from the rural parishes of Llan-giwg, Llangyfelach and Cilybebyll. On average they were drawn from within a twenty-mile radius of the parish of Llan-giwg.54 Less than 6 per cent of the inhabitants of Pontardawe hailed from England. The pattern of short-distance migration of Welsh speakers stiffened the sociocultural homogeneity of the community and bred a sense of belonging. Welsh was spoken by 87.7 per cent of the inhabitants and, although there were some minor dialectic variations,55 the community was characterized by cultural cohesion and religious uniformity. Nevertheless, the prevailing trend was weighted towards bilingualism. More than half the population were familiar with English and the number of bilingual speakers was increasing sharply within the 6–24 age bracket. Yet there seems little doubt that Welsh was the normal daily medium of communication and the cultural values of the community had barely been affected by alien influences. Indeed, many parts of the western coalfield of Glamorgan and the anthracite coalfield of Carmarthenshire continued to act as ‘a cauldron of rebirth’56 for the Welsh language. However, the second sub-group of industrialized communities – Blaenau and Dowlais – offer radically different perspectives on Brinley Thomas’s thesis that industrialization not only enabled the Welsh to retain their native language but also gave it a new lease of life. Here the timing and sequence of economic change and migration flows were of critical importance. During the first half of the nineteenth century the population of Monmouthshire increased faster than that of any other county in England and Wales. Thousands of rural migrants from neighbouring Welsh-speaking counties settled in the townships around the iron furnaces and coal mines of the ‘Black Domain’ and ensured that, at least in the short term, the Welsh language had a robust numerical power base. The decline in iron production in the 1860s, however, and the subsequent development of coal-producing enterprises precipitated a massive exodus of Welsh-born working people to the Glamorgan collieries and the in-migration of English labour from 53

54

55

56

W. E. Minchinton (ed.), Industrial South Wales 1750–1914: Essays in Welsh Economic History (London, 1969), p. xxiv; Trevor Boyns, Dennis Thomas and Colin Baber, ‘The Iron, Steel and Tinplate Industries, 1750–1914’ in A. H. John and Glanmor Williams (eds.), Glamorgan County History. Volume V. Industrial Glamorgan from 1700 to 1970 (Cardiff, 1980), p. 142. J. D. H. Thomas, ‘Social and Economic Developments in the Upper Swansea Valley, with particular reference to the parish of Llangiwg, c.1770 to c.1880’ (unpubl. University of Wales MA thesis, 1974), p. 94. Robert Owen Jones, ‘Tafodiaith Cwm Tawe’ in Hywel Teifi Edwards (ed.), Cwm Tawe (Llandysul, 1993), p. 148. Thomas, ‘A Cauldron of Rebirth’, passim.


the West Country.57 The transformation was so swift that it was feared that English-language culture was ‘rushing in upon us like mighty irresistible torrents’.58 In 1879 Ravenstein noted that the ‘majority of children do not learn [Welsh]’ and that this pointed to ‘the certain extinction of Welsh within a comparatively short period’.59 Ezeciel Davies (Gwentwyson) added to the general gloom by lamenting, in 1885, the ‘swelling tide of the foreign tongue’ (‘mae llanw’r estroniaith yn chwyddo yn gryf ’).60 From the 1860s, therefore, the linguistic balance in Monmouthshire became increasingly weighted towards English. Blaenau, one of the old irontowns in north-west Monmouthshire, mirrored these fundamental economic and linguistic shifts. The demise of the Blaina Ironworks in the late 1860s forced large numbers of Welsh-speaking families to migrate either to the swiftly developing steam-coal colliery districts of Glamorgan or to industrial communities across the seas. These families were replaced not by migrants from rural Wales but by in-migrants from Somerset, Hereford and Gloucester who, by 1891, constituted a quarter of the total population of 6,096. The census sample revealed that nearly three-quarters of the population of the town were monoglot English speakers. The number of Welsh monoglots had dwindled to 306, the majority of whom were over 45 years of age. The number of Welsh speakers under the age of 24 was tiny, and it is clear that in-migration, English-medium education and a general feeling that Welsh was a low prestige language had undermined the traditional Welshness of the community. It is significant that only 47 (3.3 per cent) of the 1,428 English-born inhabitants had any knowledge of Welsh. The process of Anglicization had occurred so swiftly that Welsh speakers were assimilated by the English-speaking majority. Within households English was the dominant tongue among all age groups and Welshspeaking parents were either unable or unwilling to transmit their knowledge of the native language to their children, especially if monoglot English-speaking boarders and lodgers dwelt in their homes. The long-term consequences of the surging tide of in-migration for the future prospects of the Welsh language were tersely summed up by J. E. Southall following the publication of the number of Welsh language speakers in Monmouthshire in the 1901 census: ‘A painful array of figures! Poor, miserable percentages, most of them!’61 In the long term, there-

57

58 59

60

61

Sian Rhiannon Williams, ‘Welsh in the Valleys of Gwent’, Planet, 51 (1985), 112–18; W. T. R. Pryce, ‘Language Shift in Gwent, c.1770–1981’ in Nikolas Coupland (ed.), English in Wales: Diversity, Conflict and Change (Clevedon, 1990), pp. 48–83. Thomas Rees, Miscellaneous Papers on subjects relating to Wales (London, 1867), p. 86. E. G. Ravenstein, ‘On the Celtic Languages in the British Isles, a Statistical Survey’, Journal of the Royal Statistical Society, XLII (1879), 614. Sian Rhiannon Williams, Oes y Byd i’r Iaith Gymraeg: Y Gymraeg yn ardal ddiwydiannol Sir Fynwy yn y bedwaredd ganrif ar bymtheg (Cardiff, 1992), p. 112. J. E. Southall, The Welsh Language Census of 1901 (Newport, 1901), p. 36.

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fore, the irresistible growth of Anglicizing pressures invalidates Brinley Thomas’s thesis. Although the evidence is less clear cut in the case of the old irontown of Dowlais in Glamorgan, it is difficult not to conclude that the twin forces of economic change and in-migration had accelerated language decline. For much of the nineteenth century Merthyr Tydfil was the principal industrial centre in Wales. Its reputation as ‘the metropolis of ironmasters’ and ‘the cradle of working-class consciousness’ was based on the reputation of its four dominant ironworks and its capacity to attract thousands of skilled and unskilled workmen.62 During the first half of the nineteenth century the numerical dominance of Welsh migrants earned for the town a reputation for ‘Welshness’ and, even as late as 1891, 68.4 per cent of the inhabitants of the registration district could speak Welsh. However, the linguistic profile of Dowlais, to the north-east of the town, proved to be rather different for a variety of social and economic reasons. Changing technology forced the Dowlais Iron Company to contract into steelmaking and to develop coal-mining interests, the result of which was a considerable influx of young, non-Welsh-speaking migrants, many of whom were Irish, who replaced the Welsh-speaking residents who had sought more lucrative employment opportunities in the steam-coal valleys of the Rhondda. The sample of 6,454 inhabitants revealed that the proportion of monoglot Welsh speakers enumerated in Dowlais was substantially less than that of the Registration District of Merthyr Tydfil, whereas the number of English-speaking monoglots constituted almost half the total population. Sandwiched in the middle were 2,270 (35.2 per cent) bilingual speakers. The Welsh-born population had clearly been diluted by the influx of young adult males, many of whom had arrived from Ireland. Whereas Welsh prevailed among the local-born female inhabitants, male in-migrants from Ireland and from other parts of Glamorgan were English speakers. Indeed, Irish-born residents of Dowlais took robust pride in their English speech and segregated themselves spatially and linguistically from their Welsh-speaking or bilingual neighbours. In part, this was dictated by economic necessity. Irish newcomers tended to settle in impoverished, overcrowded and pestiferous tenements which, at least to outsiders, seemed to epitomize ‘Dismal Dowlais’ at its worst. For their part, Welsh-speaking migrants from south-west Wales detached themselves by forming communities where the native tongue could prevail, but even they were unable to repel the intrusive influence of the English language. The downgrading of the importance of Welsh is amply revealed in the fact that nearly 70 per cent of Welsh-speaking households in Dowlais contained children who also spoke English. The overwhelming 62

Chris Evans, ‘The Labyrinth of Flames’: Work and Social Conflict in early industrial Merthyr Tydfil (Cardiff, 1993); Harold Carter and Sandra Wheatley, Merthyr Tydfil in 1851: A Study of the Spatial Structure of a Welsh Industrial Town (Cardiff, 1982).


impression, then, is that although Merthyr itself had, in Southall’s words, ‘still a good reserve of Welsh left’,63 the decline of the iron industry and the territorial advance of English-speaking in-migrants had seriously jeopardized the future prospects of the Welsh language in Dowlais. Indeed, in all the old irontowns of Glamorgan and Monmouth it was becoming clearer with each passing year that the bulk of inhabitants were moving from bilingualism to English monoglottism. The final sub-group contains four communities in the ‘vast black Klondyke’64 of the Rhondda Valleys as well as Cardiff, the largest town in Wales and generally recognized as ‘the metropolis of Wales’. In the second half of the nineteenth century the copper and iron smelting phase was overtaken by a series of frenzied ‘coal rushes’ which transformed the demographic profile of Glamorgan and especially the Rhondda Valleys. The insatiable demand for steam coal from industrializing countries and from the Navy, improved railway and port facilities, the more intensive use of mechanical power, and the emergence of large-scale and powerful coal-mining companies led to the massive exploitation of rich coal seams. The three traditionally peaceful, pastoral parishes of Ystradyfodwg, Llantrisant and Llanwynno were transformed into densely-populated, sprawling industrial settlements. Until the 1870s the overwhelming majority of migrants who settled in the Glamorgan coalfields hailed from Welsh-speaking counties. Unlike Ireland, Wales did not lose its people in disastrously large numbers. Moreover, as Brinley Thomas has emphasized, the growth of the Welsh-speaking population in Glamorgan was also stimulated by exceptionally high marriage and birth rates.65 Conversely, from 1871 onwards, successive censuses record sharp increases in the number of English, Irish and Scottish incomers who settled in the steamcoal districts. Of the total population of 518,383 in Glamorgan in 1881, 70,711 had been born in England (as opposed to 19,777 in 1851).66 The tide of non-Welsh in-migrants which flowed ever more swiftly after 1881 threatened to have adverse effects on the Welsh-language culture, which had hitherto been safeguarded by Welsh-born migrants. In the workplace and in the cramped terrace houses built at great speed along the narrow steep-sided valleys in the industrial townships, the native Welsh-speaking population increasingly found themselves in daily contact, notably in the workplace, with English-speaking in-migrants from other parts of Wales and from beyond Wales. As the labour supply, especially in the last two decades of the nineteenth century, became predominantly English, it became apparent, at least in some communities, that the numbers of Welsh-speaking migrants were insufficiently large to counterbalance the prevailing trend. In the long term, i.e. between 1861 and 1911, it has been demonstrated that the industrialization of Glamorgan ‘did not perform 63 64

65 66

Southall, Welsh Language Census of 1891, p. 12. So wrote E. D. Lewis in K. S. Hopkins (ed.), Rhondda Past and Future (Rhondda Borough Council, n.d.), p. 23. See also idem, The Rhondda Valleys (London, 1959). Thomas, ‘A Cauldron of Rebirth’, 430. Jones, Statistical Evidence relating to the Welsh Language, p. 148.

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miracles for the preservation of the Welsh language and culture’,67 but, as the case studies in this volume reveal, rates of demographic growth and of in-migration varied considerably at subdistrict level and not all communities by any means had succumbed to creeping Anglicization. In 1891 the scale of Welshness in Glamorgan was still extraordinary: it could boast the largest concentration of Welsh speakers (320,072) in the whole of Wales. More than a fifth of its inhabitants were monoglot Welsh, and 49.5 per cent of the total population were conversant in Welsh. Five years later, the Report of the Royal Commission on Land in Wales noted of the Rhondda Valleys that ‘the habitual use of the Welsh language, and the prevalence of a Welsh type of character, are as marked as in the rural districts of Wales’.68 On the other hand, as E. G. Ravenstein rightly observed in 1879, English was more widely spoken in Glamorgan than in any other county in Wales.69 By 1891 half the population of the county were monoglot English speakers and, as a correspondent in The Pontypridd Chronicle observed in 1884, the English language was ‘advancing silently, secretly and invisibly’.70 In general, therefore, the industrial settlements of Glamorgan were a mosaic of volatile linguistic groups progressively vulnerable or receptive to English-language acculturation. The sheer diversity of language profiles in the straggling, overgrown industrial communities of the Rhondda Fawr and the Rhondda Fach is arguably the most interesting feature of the 1891 census. The raw frontier settlement of Blaenllechau in the Rhondda Fach, a village inhabited by 2,737 people in 1891, is a classic example of a predominantly young, Welsh-speaking coal-mining community assembled at breakneck speed along the valley slopes. Nearly 75 per cent of its people spoke Welsh and more than 45 per cent spoke Welsh only. The proportion of Welsh speakers was appreciably higher than was the case in the Registration District of Pontypridd and the county of Glamorgan. Welsh was dominant among all age groups, a feature which was closely associated with migration trends within Glamorgan itself. The bulk of the inhabitants were Welsh-speaking natives of the county and the first generation of in-migrants were former ironworkers and colliers who had abandoned slump-ridden industrial concerns for the mushrooming settlements of the Rhondda and who found employment in the three major pits in the locality. A robust Welsh-speaking core thus existed within working-class households and this was further consolidated by a smaller, but significant, influx of fluent Welsh-speaking lodgers from the counties of south-west Wales. Intergenerational transmission of the language was therefore protected and was doubly strengthened by ties of kinship, good neighbourliness and mutual cultural and spiritual mores. 67 68 69 70

Jones, ‘Population Migration into Glamorgan’, p. 199. Hopkins, Rhondda Past and Future, p. 121. Ravenstein, ‘On the Celtic Languages’, 615. T. I. Williams, ‘Patriots and Citizens. Language, Identity and Education in a Liberal State; the Anglicisation of Pontypridd 1818–1920’ (unpubl. University of Wales PhD thesis, 1989), p. 754.


Although the thriving coal-mining and commercial settlement of Ferndale, on the western side of the Rhondda Fach, was more than twice the size of Blaenllechau in 1891, it, too, was a predominantly Welsh-speaking community. Over 75 per cent of the sample of 4,466 people spoke Welsh and nearly half of them were monoglot Welsh speakers, a far higher proportion than that recorded for the Registration District of Pontypridd and for the county of Glamorgan. Here, too, the nature of in-migration was the most powerful determinant. The bulk of the inhabitants were short-distance migrants from Glamorgan and longerdistance migrants from the counties of Cardigan and Carmarthen (together with growing numbers of English monoglots from Gloucestershire). The language of family and community life was Welsh, and English was acquired by Welsh speakers mainly at school or the workplace or as a result of contact with monoglot English-speaking lodgers, many of whom were obliged to board with Welshspeaking families because of the dearth of alternative accommodation. In all but two of the fifteen terraces in the sample, more than 70 per cent of the residents spoke Welsh, and in the three collieries nearly three-quarters of the total workforce of 1,642 spoke Welsh. Dealers, merchants, shopkeepers, manufacturers and colliery officials were proficient in Welsh and the native tongue was also the principal medium in chapels and taverns alike. A similar pattern emerges in the linguistic profile of Cwm Clydach, a steamcoal mining centre located in a tributary valley of the Rhondda Fawr. Here, Welsh was the predominant language in a range of social domains, including the home, the workplace, the chapel, and recreational life. This clearly reflected the distinctive impact of Welsh-born in-migrants. The proportion of Welsh monoglots (43.0 per cent) was significantly greater than the corresponding figure for the Registration District of Pontypridd (29.6 per cent), Glamorgan (22.0 per cent) and Wales (30.4 per cent), and 73.1 per cent of the total sample of 4,434 could speak Welsh. The best part of 90 per cent of the inhabitants were of Welsh origin and large numbers of them were young adult males who hailed from the Welsh-speaking parts of Cardiganshire, Carmarthenshire and Pembrokeshire and who, by processes of chain migration, strengthened the Welshness of the community by encouraging relatives and neighbours from their native parishes to join them. As a consequence most heads of household and their wives were Welsh speakers and, although their children were educated in English, Welsh was the language of the home. The overwhelming majority of boarders and lodgers were Welsh by birth and language, and generally they resided with families to whom they were linked by kinship or social ties. The English-born minority, mostly natives of Somerset, were generally employed in poorly paid labouring sectors of collieries and coke works, and many were accommodated in the tiny, overcrowded terraced Bush Houses. Heavily outnumbered by Welsh speakers, they established Englishspeaking enclaves which were resistant to assimilative processes. The flow of inmigrants from rural Wales replenished the number of Welsh speakers and helped

479


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to forge robust family and social networks in which the native language was dominant.71 Moreover, since the majority of both skilled and unskilled workers in the coal-mining industry spoke Welsh as their first language, managers, engineers, overmen, firemen and surveyors were expected to be conversant with Welsh as well as English, and since Welsh carried such powerful socio-economic clout in the community shopkeepers, tradesmen and dealers could only prosper if they spoke both languages. There was a general tendency, therefore, for Welsh-speaking migrants to aim for homogeneous communities where the Welsh language was deeply rooted and which had a reputation for stamping their impress on English in-migrants. Yet, not every district in the Rhondda Valleys received successive waves of Welshspeaking in-migrants. Even as early as the 1860s the flow of English in-migrants had begun in earnest in some communities and the tide surged ever more strongly from the 1880s.72 Among the settlements which acquired a reputation as a heavily Anglicized community was Llwynypia in the Rhondda Fawr. Some thirty years before the 1891 census, rich and productive steamcoal seams were discovered by the Scottish mining engineer and entrepreneur Archibald Hood, whose Glamorgan Coal Company Ltd. provided terraced housing, known as ‘Scotch Houses’, which attracted English-speaking in-migrants (including managers, agents and foremen) from other industrialized communities in Glamorgan and Monmouthshire and from the West Country and Scotland. Although nearly half the sampled inhabitants could speak Welsh, over 80 per cent of the population were familiar with English. Significantly, too, the fact that more than 50 per cent of the total numbers were monoglot English, many of them in the 2–24 age group, meant that the majority of people were in a position to resist assimilative processes. English was the predominant language among males and females of all ages both within the family and at the workplace. Moreover, there were unmistakable signs of advanced intergenerational slippage within the households of Welsh speakers, a trend which was doubtless accelerated by the sizeable numbers of monoglot English adult males from Gloucestershire and Somerset who took up board and lodging in the homes of local families and who subsequently encouraged friends and relatives to join them. Residential clustering was clearly apparent in Llwynypia as migrants from England and elsewhere segregated themselves from the native Welsh-speaking or bilingual populace. In several rows of terraces the proportion of non-Welsh speakers often exceeded 60 per cent and since less than 20 per cent of the workforce of the Glamorgan collieries were 71

72

For an instructive comparison, see Philip N. Jones, Mines, Migrants and Residence in the South Wales Steamcoal Valleys: The Ogmore and Garw Valleys in 1881 (Hull, 1987). Welsh colliers were prone to deride in verse form (triban) untrained and ‘alien’ rural migrants from the West Country: ‘Dylifa bechgyn ffolion/I’r cwm o hyd yn gyson/O Wlad yr Haf hwy ddont yn scryd,/Fel ynfyd haid o ladron’ (Foolish youths flock continuously into the valley. They come in hordes from Somerset, like an idiot band of thieves). Lewis, Rhondda Valleys, p. 237.


Welsh monoglots it was inevitable that English assumed pride of place at the coalface. Unlike the three other communities in the Rhondda, Welsh was not considered a socio-economic asset in Llwynypia, and since English was universally recognized as the language of wealth creation there was no incentive for Anglicized in-migrants either to learn the Welsh language or absorb Welsh culture. In many ways, Llwynypia was indicative of the shape of things to come. Bilingual communities had become the norm in much of the coalfield and the trend after 1891 would be for them to become monoglot English. Since this chapter began with an analysis of the linguistic profile of Llanymawddwy, one of the most robustly monoglot Welsh parishes in Wales, it is appropriate to bring it to a close by focusing on the massive contrast provided by Cardiff, the largest town in Wales and shortly (in 1905) to be elevated to city status. By 1891 Cardiff had become the major commercial, export and servicing centre for the powerfully dominant eastern half of the South Wales Coalfield. The capital of Wales in all but name, its phenomenal demographic and economic development from the 1840s onwards was one of the most striking features of Welsh life. The economic prosperity and international reputation of ‘the metropolis of Wales’ was based on the enormous reserves of good quality steam coal in the Rhondda Valleys and its role as the major coal exporting port in south Wales. Cardiff was a town of contrasts: the urban élite, which included affluent entrepreneurs and businessmen, benefited hugely from sharp upturns in trade, whereas the penurious labouring workforce, especially the Irish, lived in diseaseridden tenements in the most impoverished residential quarters. In virtually all walks of life, English was the language of daily conversation, commercial intercourse, and individual and collective advancement. Here, more than anywhere else, the monoglot Welshman was virtually a stranger in his own land.73 Over a period of two generations the Welsh-speaking core of the town had been overwhelmed by an irresistible influx of English speakers. In terms of language ability, the sample taken in this study closely corresponded with the published figures for the entire borough. It revealed that only around 11 per cent spoke Welsh, the majority of whom were in the post-45 age groups. English was the overwhelmingly dominant tongue of both males and females of all ages. The most powerful Anglicizing agent were in-migrants from England, mainly from the counties of Gloucester and Devon (98.0 per cent of whom spoke English only). The numbers in their midst who either possessed or acquired the native tongue were derisory and it is probable that a visitor to Cardiff would have heard more Irish, Italian and German spoken on the streets than Welsh. But although proud of the cosmopolitanism of their town, the citizens of Cardiff were 73

‘Cardiff shows up badly’ was Southall’s comment in 1895 (Welsh Language Census of 1891, p. 12), while the Western Mail (14 April 1891) declared that Cardiff was ‘a town where the monoglot Welshman is practically unknown’.

481


482

fundamentally English in speech. The most affluent among them believed that the Welsh language was a barrier to economic prosperity and social acceptance, and since so little Welsh was used publicly they could afford to ignore it. The English tongue had penetrated almost all households and 94.1 per cent of children spoke no Welsh. Apart from the Welsh-speaking seamen from west Wales who manned the Radcliffe and Mathias fleets in Cardiff and who lodged at recognized ‘Welsh’ boarding houses in Butetown, male boarders and lodgers were dominantly English speaking. In smoke-filled taverns, clubs, and coffee houses, as well as in the manufacturing, commercial and administrative quarters of the town, the Welsh language was conspicuous by its absence. The prestige value of Welsh had all but vanished and it was left to beleaguered Nonconformist chapels to cater for the linguistic as well as the spiritual needs of their members. The astoundingly swift pace of demographic and economic change boded ill for the Welsh language, and by the twilight of the Victorian era Cardiff was emphatically an English-speaking town. The 1891 census was the first and last census to reveal the Welsh language in a majority position. ‘Y mae mwy yn ei siarad nag a fu erioed’ (More people speak it than even before),74 wrote John Morris-Jones, Lecturer in Welsh at Bangor, but although the absolute numbers of Welsh speakers had increased appreciably over the century there had also occurred a sharp proportional decline. J. E. Southall perceptively noted that, as the decades rolled by, the nineteenth century ‘was sharpening its knives, and gradually gathering strength, to dispute further advances’.75 Although the eclipse of Welsh monoglottism appeared to be some distance away, the general trend was for monoglot Welsh speakers to become bilingual and for English monoglots to resist acculturation. At micro levels, however, linguistic shifts were extremely subtle and complex, especially in heavily industrialized communities, and many communities were delicately poised on the cusp of major changes. In many ways, the most testing times for the Welsh language lay ahead.

74 75

Y Gwyddoniadur Cymreig (2nd ed., Denbigh, 1891), III, p. 79. Southall, Welsh Language Census of 1891, p. 35.

Index

Ab Ithel see Williams, John Aberdare National Eisteddfod (1885) 55 Aberystwyth 15, 255–77, 466–8 Aberystwyth Observer, The 256 Abraham, William (Mabon) 120 age groups, language spoken according to Aberystwyth 259–60, 261 Blaenau 34–5 Blaenau Ffestiniog 398–9, 400 Blaenllechau 85–7 Builth Wells 301–2 Cardiff 58–9 Cwm Clydach 131–2 Cwmaman 221, 222 Dowlais 178–9, 181 Ferndale 107–8 Fishguard 241–2 Llanidloes 319–20, 321 Llanymawddwy 386–7 Llwynypia 156 Pontardawe 204–5 Porthmadog 421–2 Rhosllannerchrugog 362, 363, 364 Rhyl 340–1 Trefdraeth 440, 443–7 Tregaron 282–3, 284 agricultural workers, language spoken Blaenllechau 99 Builth Wells 308 Cwmaman 229 Fishguard 249 Llanymawddwy 390 Pontardawe 212 Porthmadog 431 Rhyl 350–1 Trefdraeth 448 Tregaron 289–90 Alltud Eifion see Jones, R. Isaac America, returnee emigrants Aberystwyth 263 Blaenau 38

Cwm Clydach 134 Ferndale 110 Llanidloes 321 Llwynypia 158 Pontardawe 207 Porthmadog 425, 428 Rhosllannerchrugog 370, 376 Rhyl 343 Anglesey, number of Welsh speakers 442, 455, 458 Australia, returnee emigrants Cwm Clydach 134 Ferndale 110 Fishguard 243, 249 Porthmadog 428 Rhosllannerchrugog 370 Rhyl 343 Austrians Rhyl 343 Bala, response to census language question 8–9 Ballinger, John 54 Bangor, registration district, language figures 442 Bebb, W. Ambrose 279 Bedwellte, registration district, language figures 33–4 Belgians Rhyl 343, 350 Blaenau 15, 31–51, 469, 474, 475 Blaenau Ffestiniog 17, 395–416, 469, 470–1 Blaenllechau 15, 83–103, 469, 478 ‘Blue Books’ reports (1847) 19 Breconshire 299 Cwmaman 220 Llanidloes 317 Llanymawddwy 385 boarders and lodgers, language spoken Aberystwyth 265 Blaenau 40–1 Blaenau Ffestiniog 401 Blaenllechau 90, 93–5 Builth Wells 307–8 Cardiff 67–8

484

THE WELSH LANGUAGE AND THE 1891 CENSUS Cwm Clydach 139–41 Dowlais 187–9 Ferndale 114–15, 118 Fishguard 245 Llanidloes 326–7 Llanymawddwy 388–9 Llwynypia 162–3, 165 Pontardawe 208 Porthmadog 425–6 Rhosllannerchrugog 365–6 Rhyl 345, 346, 348 Trefdraeth 446–7 Tregaron 287 Booth, Charles, industrial classification of occupations 21–30 Breconshire, number of Welsh speakers 300, 455, 457 Builth Wells 15, 297–314, 463–4 registration district 300, 463 Caernarfonshire, number of Welsh speakers 420, 455, 458 Cambrian, The 7 ‘Cambrian Combine’ 129 Cambrian News 256 Canada, returnee emigrants Blaenau 38 Llwynypia 158 Rhyl 343 Cardiff 15, 53–82, 469, 481–2 Cymrodorion Society 56 enumerators 9 registration district, language figures 57 National Eisteddfod (1883) 55 Cardiganshire, number of Welsh speakers 259, 455, 457 Carmarthenshire, number of Welsh speakers 455, 457 census 1891 background 1–14 Gaelic speakers 1 Irish speakers 1, 2 children, language spoken Aberystwyth 259–61, 265–7 Blaenau 34, 35, 39–40 Blaenau Ffestiniog 399, 400, 401, 403–5 Blaenllechau 85–6, 90–3 Builth Wells 301–2, 306 Cardiff 58, 65–6 Cwm Clydach 131, 135–8 Cwmaman 225–6 Dowlais 179–80, 185–7 Ferndale 107–8, 111–13 Fishguard 245–7 Llanidloes 320, 323–6 Llanymawddwy 386, 389–90 Llwynypia 156, 160–2 Pontardawe 208–10 Porthmadog 421–2, 426–8

Rhosllannerchrugog 363, 365, 367–8 Rhyl 345–6 Trefdraeth 443–4, 447–8 Tregaron 283, 288–9 coal industry 83–4, 105–6, 129–30, 153–4, 360–1, 469–70, 473, 474–5, 477–81 miners, language spoken Blaenau 41 Blaenllechau 98–9 Cardiff 68 Cwm Clydach 144–5 Cwmaman 227–8 Dowlais 189 Ferndale 106 Llwynypia 166–7 Pontardawe 211 Rhosllannerchrugog 374 Cochfarf see Thomas, Edward Cwm Clydach 15, 129–52, 469, 479 Cwmaman 15, 217–35, 469, 470, 473 Cymdeithas yr Iaith Gymraeg see Society for Utilizing the Welsh Language Cymro, Y 4 Cymru Fydd (Young Wales) 2 Danes Porthmadog 420, 428 Darlington, Thomas, HMI 12 Davies, Ben 203 Davies, Dan Isaac 55 Davies, David 317 Davies, Rhys 147 Davis, David, Blaen-gwawr 83, 98, 105 Denbighshire, number of Welsh speakers 361, 455, 458 Dolgellau, registration district, language figures 385 Dowlais 15, 175–200, 469, 476–7 Dowlais Iron Company 176–7, 189–90, 191, 194 Driscoll, Jim 63 Dutch Porthmadog 420 education Aberystwyth 257–8 Blaenau 35–6, 43–4 Blaenllechau 86–7 Cardiff 73 Cwm Clydach 130 Cwmaman 219–20, 230–1 Ferndale 106, 120 Fishguard 238 Llwynypia 168–9 Porthmadog 419–20 Rhyl 340–1 Trefdraeth 441 Tregaron 291 see also teachers

INDEX Education Commissioners Reports (1847) see ‘Blue Books’ reports Edwards, A. G., bishop of St Asaph 11–12 Edwards, Henry Thomas, Llanymawddwy 384 Edwards, Owen M. 2, 8, 279, 302 Edwards, Thomas Charles 258, 269, 467 Ellis, A. J. 1, 2 Ellis, Thomas Edward 9 Emrys ap Iwan 13 enumerators 4–6, 7, 8, 9–10 Blaenllechau 93 Cardiff 5, 9, 64 Cwm Clydach 145 Cwmaman 224, 231 Dowlais 4, 181–2, 193 Ferndale 119 Llwynypia 168 Evans, Beriah Gwynfe 2, 3, 6, 9–10, 12, 13, 55 Evans, Daniel Silvan 258 Evans, Samuel Thomas 2, 7 Faner, Y 3 female workers, language spoken Blaenau 45–6 Blaenau Ffestiniog 399–400 Blaenllechau 100 Builth Wells 308 Cardiff 69 Cwm Clydach 147–8 Dowlais 191 Ferndale 121–2 Llanymawddwy 386–7 Llwynypia 169–70 Porthmadog 431 Ferndale 15, 105–27, 469, 479 Ffestiniog, registration district 398, 420, 421 Finns Rhyl 343 Fishguard 15, 237–53, 464–5 dialect 239–40 Flintshire, number of Welsh speakers 339, 455, 457–8 French Aberystwyth 258–9 Blaenau 42–3 Cardiff 73 Porthmadog 420–1, 424–5, 428 Rhyl 343 Gee, Thomas 2, 3, 7 Genedl Gymreig, Y 4 George, David Lloyd 7, 11, 12 Germans Builth Wells 308 Cardiff 481 Dowlais 183, 186, 193 Pontardawe 207 Rhosllannerchrugog 370 Rhyl 343

Gibson, John, Cambrian News 10–11, 14, 258, 467 Gilbertson, family 201, 202, 473 Glamorgan, number of Welsh speakers 57, 85, 107, 455, 457 Glamorgan Coal Company 153–4, 158, 166, 480 Glanffrwd see Thomas, William Greeks Cardiff 70 Griffiths, William (Ivander) 203 Guest, Charlotte 176 Guest, John 175 Guest, John Josiah 176 Gwilym Hiraethog see Rees, William Gwyliedydd, Y 10, 338 Haverfordwest, registration district, language figures 240 Henniker, Brydges P., Registrar General 9–10, 11 Herald Cymraeg, Yr 3 Hood, Archibald 153–4 households, language spoken Aberystwyth 263–5 Blaenau 38–40 Blaenau Ffestiniog 400–1 Blaenllechau 89–93 Builth Wells 303–5 Cardiff 64–7 Cwm Clydach 135–8, 143–4 Cwmaman 224–5 Dowlais 184–5 Ferndale 110–11, 115, 117 Fishguard 243–4 Llanidloes 322–3 Llanymawddwy 388–9 Llwynypia 159–60 Pontardawe 207–8 Porthmadog 425, 426 Rhosllannerchrugog 365–7 Rhyl 344–5 Trefdraeth 446–7 Tregaron 286–7 Howell, James, Cardiff 69 Idrisyn see Jones, John Ieuan Glan Alarch see Mills, John ‘Inner Wales’ 460, 462–3, 464 Irish Aberystwyth 263, 270 Blaenau 38, 41 Blaenau Ffestiniog 401, 407 Blaenllechau 99 Cardiff 57, 61, 62–3, 67, 68, 72, 481 Cwm Clydach 134 Dowlais 178, 180, 181–3, 187, 188–9, 190, 195, 476 Ferndale 117 Fishguard 243 Llanidloes 321 Llwynypia 158

485

486

THE WELSH LANGUAGE AND THE 1891 CENSUS Merthyr Tydfil 7 Pontardawe 207 Porthmadog 420, 424, 425, 428, 430 Rhosllannerchrugog 370 Rhyl 341, 343, 348, 350 Tregaron 286, 290 iron industry 31–2, 175–7, 475 workers of Dowlais, language spoken 176–7, 190 Italians Aberystwyth 258 Blaenau 42–3 Cardiff 70, 481 Rhyl 343 Ivander see Griffiths, William Jerman, Hugh 331 Jersey, Earl of 2 Jews Blaenau 38, 45 Cardiff 62, 70, 72 Dowlais 192 Ferndale 118–19 John Lancaster and Company 33, 41 Jones, D. Lloyd, Llandinam 13 Jones, David, Glanaman 230 Jones, George, industrialist 31 Jones, J. Towyn 7, 219, 224 Jones, J. Viriamu 54 Jones, John (Idrisyn) 316 Jones, Michael D. 3, 9 Jones, R. Isaac (Alltud Eifion) 419 Jones, Rowland, Llanymawddwy 384 Jones, William Glasnant 230 Landsker 239, 464 lead mining industry 316, 280 language spoken Llanidloes 329 Tregaron 290 Levi, Thomas 257 Llandeilo Fawr, registration district, language figures 220 Llanidloes 17, 315–36, 464 Llanymawddwy 17, 383–94, 460, 461, 462, 481 Lloyd, J. E. 258 Llwynypia 15, 153–74, 469, 480–1 lodgers see boarders and lodgers Mabon see Abraham, William Macdonald, W. A. 1–2 Madocks, W. A. 417 Merioneth, number of Welsh speakers 385, 398, 455, 458 merchants, language spoken Aberystwyth 267–8 Blaenllechau 99

Blaenau 44–5 Blaenau Ffestiniog 409–10 Cardiff 69–70 Cwm Clydach 146–7 Cwmaman 231 Dowlais 192 Ferndale 118 Fishguard 248 Llanidloes 330 Llanymawddwy 391 Llwynypia 168 Pontardawe 211 Porthmadog 430 Rhyl 348 Trefdraeth 448–9 Tregaron 290 Miles, Job 257 Mills, John (Ieuan Glan Alarch) 317 Mills, John Henry 330 Mills, Richard 330 Monmouthshire, number of Welsh speakers 34, 455, 456 Montgomeryshire, number of Welsh speakers 319, 455, 457, 464 Morgan, David, Cardiff 69 Morris-Jones, John 8, 482 Nefydd see Roberts, William Newtown, registration district, language figures 319 Norwegians Cardiff 70, 72 occupations Charles Booth’s classification 20–9 language spoken according to Aberystwyth 271–7 Cardiff 74–82 Cwmaman 232–5 Blaenau 46–51 Blaenau Ffestiniog 412–16 Blaenllechau 100–3 Builth Wells 309–14 Cwm Clydach 148–52 Dowlais 195–200 Ferndale 122–7 Fishguard 249–53 Llanidloes 331–6 Llanymawddwy 392–3 Llwynypia 170–4 Pontardawe 213–16 Porthmadog 432–7 Rhosllannerchrugog 377–82 Rhyl 351–7 Trefdraeth 450–3 Tregaron 293–6 ‘Outer Wales’ 462–3 Owen, John Mendus 316 Patagonia, returnee emigrants

INDEX Pontardawe 207 Pembrokeshire 455, 457 performers, Blaenau 45 Phillips, Captain S. 33 Phillips, Thomas Shaw 33 place of birth, language spoken according to Aberystwyth 262–3 Blaenau 36–7 Blaenau Ffestiniog 405–7 Blaenllechau 88 Builth Wells 303–5 Cardiff 60, 61–2 Cwm Clydach 133–5 Cwmaman 222–4 Dowlais 181–4 Ferndale 109, 110 Fishguard 242–3 Llanidloes 321, 322 Llanymawddwy 387–8 Llwynypia 157–8 Pontardawe 206–7 Porthmadog 423, 424–5 Rhosllannerchrugog 368–70 Rhyl 342–3 Trefdraeth 445–6 Tregaron 284–6 Poles Dowlais 183, 192 Pontardawe 15, 201–15, 469, 470, 473–4 registration district, language figures 204 Pontypridd registration district 85, 107, 130, 155, 479 Porthmadog 17, 417–37, 465 professional workers, language spoken Blaenau 44 Blaenau Ffestiniog 411 Blaenllechau 99 Cardiff 72, 73 Cwm Clydach 145–6 Cwmaman 229 Dowlais 193–4 Ferndale 119 Fishguard 248 Llanidloes 330–1 Llanymawddwy 391 Llwynypia 169 Pontardawe 212 Rhosllannerchrugog 375–6 Rhyl 349–50 Trefdraeth 449 Tregaron 291 Radnorshire, number of Welsh speakers 455, 457 railway, influence of Aberystwyth 269, 466 Cardiff 53 Cwm Clydach 134 Fishguard 238, 464 Rhyl 337, 349

railway workers, language spoken Aberystwyth 269–70 Blaenau 41 Blaenau Ffestiniog 410–11 Blaenllechau 97, 98 Cardiff 68–9 Cwmaman 228 Llanidloes 328–9 Pontardawe 212 Porthmadog 429 Rhosllannerchrugog 376 Rhyl 349 Tregaron 291 Ravenstein, E. G. 1, 2, 319, 407, 475, 478 Rees, William (Gwilym Hiraethog) 420 religion Aberystwyth 10–11, 257, 269–70, 467 Blaenau 32, 43 Blaenau Ffestiniog 397, 411 Blaenllechau 84–5, 89, 99–100 Cardiff 55, 64, 71–2 Cwm Clydach 130, 134–5, 145, 148 Cwmaman 219, 229–30 Dowlais 177–8, 180, 194 Ferndale 106, 119–20 Fishguard 238 Llanidloes 317, 331 Llanymawddwy 384–5, 391 Llwynypia 154–5 Pontardawe 202, 212 Porthmadog 419 Rhosllannerchrugog 363, 376–7 Trefdraeth 440–1, 449 Tregaron 291 Rhosllannerchrugog 17, 359–82, 469, 470, 471–2 Rhyl 17, 337–57, 468 National Eisteddfod (1892) 338 Richard, Henry 257, 279, 462 Ritchie, C. T., President of the Board of Trade 9, 10 Roberts, J. Bryn 7 Roberts, William (Nefydd) 35 Russians Dowlais 183, 192 Ferndale 118 Fishguard 243 Porthmadog 420 St Asaph, registration district, language figures 339 Scandinavians Cardiff 61–2, 68, 70, 72 Scots Aberystwyth 263 Blaenau 38, 43 Blaenllechau 99 Cardiff 61, 62 Cwm Clydach 144 Fishguard 243 Llanidloes 321

487

488

THE WELSH LANGUAGE AND THE 1891 CENSUS Llwynypia 158, 166 Pontardawe 207 Porthmadog 424, 428 Rhosllannerchrugog 370 Rhyl 341, 343, 348, 350 Trefdraeth 445 Tregaron 286 seafarers, language spoken Cardiff 70–1 Fishguard 247 Porthmadog 420–1, 428–9 sex, language spoken according to Aberystwyth 260–2 Blaenau 35, 36 Blaenau Ffestiniog 399–400 Blaenllechau 86–7 Builth Wells 302–3 Cardiff 59–60 Cwm Clydach 132–3 Cwmaman 221–2 Dowlais 180–1 Ferndale 108–10 Fishguard 242 Llanidloes 320–1 Llanymawddwy 387–8 Llwynypia 156–7 Pontardawe 205–6 Porthmadog 422–3 Rhosllannerchrugog 362, 364–5 Rhyl 341–2 Trefdraeth 440, 444–5 Tregaron 283–4 slate quarry workers, language spoken Blaenau Ffestiniog 397–8, 407–9, 469 Society for Utilizing the Welsh Language 2, 6, 10, 55 South Wales Daily News 4, 11, 74 Southall, J. E. 12, 13, 14, 368, 455, 460, 462, 472, 475 Spaniards Cardiff 70 steel industry 31, 32–3, 177 Stuart, John Crichton, Second Marquess of Bute 53 Stuart, John Patrick Crichton, Third Marquess of Bute 66 Swedes Cardiff 68 Porthmadog 420 Swiss Dowlais 194

teachers, language spoken Aberystwyth 258 Blaenau 43–4 Blaenau Ffestiniog 411 Blaenllechau 100 Cardiff 73 Cwm Clydach 146 Cwmaman 230–1 Dowlais 194–5 Ferndale 119 Fishguard 248 Llanidloes 330–1 Llanymawddwy 391 Llwynypia 168–9 Pontardawe 212 Porthmadog 431 Rhosllannerchrugog 376 Trefdraeth 449 Tregaron 291 see also education Thomas, Brinley 469, 474, 477 Thomas, David Alfred 2, 7 Thomas, Edward (Cochfarf) 56 Thomas, John, photographer 327 Thomas, William (Glanffrwd) 105, 168, 175 tinplate industry 33, 201, 219, 473–4 tinplate workers, language spoken Blaenau 42 Cwmaman 226–7 Pontardawe 210 tourism Aberystwyth 466–7 Rhyl 337, 468 Trefdraeth (Anglesey) 17, 439–53, 460–1 Tregaron 15, 279–96, 460, 461, 462 Wales and her Language (1892), J. E. Southall 13 Watcyn Wyn see Williams, Watkin Hezekiah Watkins, Percy 325 Welsh Language Census of 1891 (1895), J. E. Southall 12 Western Mail 10, 13–14 Williams, John (Ab Ithel), Llanymawddwy 384 Williams, Watkin Hezekiah 230 Williams, William Glynfab 146 woollen industry 329 Llanidloes 315–16 language spoken 329 Tregaron 280 Wrexham, registration district, language figures 361, 471

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