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Welsh history and its sources
Welsh history and its sources

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Wales glossary

Wales glossary

Browse the glossary using this index

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1

1935 Demonstrations

Marches of c.300,000 people in south Wales protesting against the new Unemployment Assistance Board Act which enforced strict limits on the amount local Boards of Guardians could give in unemployment benefit.

A

Aberconwy, Treaty of (1277)

Treaty between Llywelyn ap Gruffudd and Edward I under which Llywelyn retained his title of Prince of Wales, but lost feudal overlordship over most of the other Welsh princes.

Aberfan Disaster

21 October 1966: a saturated colliery waste heap slipped down the hillside into the Rhondda town of Aberfan, near Merthyr Tydfil. 20 houses and the local junior school were destroyed, killing 144 people, of whom 116 were pupils at the school.

Ablett, Noah

Rhondda-born Marxist miners’ leader. Inspirational leader of left-wing socialists in Wales. One of authors of the Miners’ Next Step.

Abraham, William (Mabon)

Miners’ agent. Elected Liberal MP for new constituency of Rhondda in 1885 and first president of South Wales Miners' Federation. Believed in a policy of co-operation with the owners.

Absolution

Formal remission of penance by the Church, a recognition of forgiveness.

Act of Union, First (1536)

Act of the English Parliament under which Wales was 'incorporated' into the state of England. One of the two most important of a series of Acts uniting Wales with England. See also Act of Union, Second (1543).

Act of Union, Second (1543)

Act of Parliament providing the structure of local government in Wales, based upon the English system of shires and justices of the peace. One of the two most important of a series of Acts uniting Wales with England. See also Act of Union, First (1536).

Addison, Christopher

Liberal reforming politician. Minister in Lloyd George’s 1918 government, responsible for an important housing and town planning act under which large numbers of houses were built. The programme suffered from the Geddes economies of 1922. (See Geddes’ Axe).

Advowson

The right of presentment or of appointment to clerical livings.

Amerce

To levy a fine in a court of law.

Anabaptists

See Baptist.

Aneirin

Supposed author of the early Welsh poem, The Gododdin, which relates the story of a disastrous battle against the Anglians at Catterick, c.AD 600.

Annealer

A person involved in the process of toughening tinplate by heat.

Anticlericalism

Opposition to the power and influence of the clergy or the Church in secular affairs.

Anti-Corn Law League

An alliance of people opposed to the Corn Laws (Cobden was one of the most important). These Corn Laws kept up the price of corn against foreign competition. In 1815 foreign imports of corn were forbidden unless the home price was above 80s. a quarter. Repeal of the Corn Laws in 1846 split the Tory Party and resulted in Peel, Sir Robert’s resignation.

Antiquary

Someone who, normally as an amateur, has an interest in the past, and particularly in the collection and preservation of old manuscripts and books.

ap Gwilym, Dafydd


Arable Farming

Farming of the land (as opposed to pastoral farming, i.e. the farming of animals).

Arianism

Doctrine denying the true divinity of Christ, who is seen as one of God’s creatures endowed with divinity by the Father, and not as a co-equal member of the Trinity.

Armiger

Esquire (literally, one who bears arms).

Arminianism

Arminians are those who hold the doctrine of general redemption, in opposition to Calvinists (Methodism) who believe that only the elect will be saved.

Arthur

Henry VII’s eldest son and heir, who died before becoming King.

Asquith, H. H.

Liberal MP from 1886. Prime Minister 1908–16. Replaced by Lloyd George, causing what was eventually a disastrous split in the Liberal Party.

Asquithian Liberals

Those members of the Liberal party who remained loyal to H.H. Asquith when he was replaced as Prime Minister by Lloyd George in 1916.

Assizes

Sittings of legislative bodies and their decrees.

Atterbury Plot

Jacobite plot named from Francis Atterbury, Bishop of Rochester (1662–1732).

Attlee, Clement

Labour MP from 1922. Leader of the party 1935–55. Prime Minister in the Labour government 1945–51.

Augustinian Canons

Religious order developed in the eleventh century; followers of ‘the rule of St Augustine’. Regular canons, as opposed to monks who lived the monastic life for its own sake, were essentially secular clergy attached to a church who chose, in addition, to live according to the monastic rule.

Avowry

Patronage and right of presentation to a benefice.

Awdl

Long poem in the strict metres, for which the chair is awarded at the National Eisteddfod.

B

Bad rockmen

Quarrymen who disposed of non-usable slate.

Bailiff

The agent or steward of the lord, prince or king in a particular district, or bailiwick.

Bailiwick

A district under a bailiff ’s jurisdiction.

Baldwin, Stanley

Conservative MP from 1908. Prime Minister 1923–4, 1924–9, 1935–7. Leading figure in the national government 1931–5.

Balfour, Arthur

Conservative MP from 1874. Prime Minister 1902–5. Leader of the opposition 1906–11.

Ballot Act, 1872

Act of Parliament which legislated that parliamentary elections should be by secret ballot thus limiting improper pressures on voters.

Band of Hope

Youth temperance movement.

Baptist

Christian Nonconformist religious denomination, practising baptism by total immersion in water.

Bard

Poet. Poets were in practice custodians of Welsh history and tradition and occupied honoured positions in princely and gentry households.

Bardic order

See Bard.

Bargain System

Agreement between managers and quarrymen on how much slate should be cut and paid for in one month.

Barons’ Wars

The confrontation between Simon de Montfort and his followers and Henry III.

Bastide

A fortified and walled borough on a grid plan built by the Normans.

Battle of Bosworth

Fought between Richard III and Henry Tudor in 1485, as a result of which Henry Tudor became King as Henry VII.

Beauforts

Immensely wealthy ancient landowning family based in Raglan.

Bebb, Ambrose

(1894-1955). Cardiganshire author, Roman Catholic and founder-member of Plaid Genedlaethol Cymru.

Bedwellty Guardians

The local body in the district of Bedwellty in south-east Wales charged with administering poor relief. They incurred the wrath of central government for spending more on poor relief than the government allowed. The Bedwellty Guardians were replaced by the government.

Behinder

A skilled job in the tinplate industry.

Benedictines

Monks following the rule of St Benedict, who established the order in the sixth century. The rule of Benedict was the basis of a number of monastic orders founded in the tenth century, the first being that of Cluny (910) but the most important of which was that of the Cistercians, who wanted to return to the letter of St Benedict’s rule (c.1100). The Cistercians were a particularly important order in Wales.

Bevan, Bridget

(1698–1779) Supporter of Griffith Jones’s circulating schools, especially after his death in 1761; known as ‘Madam Bevan’.

Beveridge, Sir William

The civil servant whose report on social insurance in 1943 was the blueprint for the post-Second World War welfare state.

Blackleg

Person who works in defiance of a trade union when there is a strike.

Blue Books (1847)

The published findings of a Government enquiry into the state of education in Wales in 1846–7, which reported that the Welsh were ignorant, lazy and immoral – and that these poor qualities were due to the use of the Welsh language. The report caused much outrage in Wales, and was referred to as 'y brad y Llyfrau Gleision' (the treachery of the Blue Books).

Board of Education

Founded in 1899 as the central government agency for administering education.

Boards of Guardians

Local organisations responsible for the administration of poor relief. See, for example, Bedwellty Guardians.

Boer War

The first, 1880–1, occurred when the Boers or Dutch settlers of the Transvaal rebelled against British annexation. The second, 1899–1902, normally called the Boer War, broke out when the Boers invaded Nataal. British forces eventually won, annexing the Orange Free State and the Transvaal.

Bohun, Humphreyde

The seventh of that name, c. 1250–98, Marcher lord of Brecknock.

Bolshevik

The name generally applied to the post-1917 Russian communist state, or its party members. Originally applied to the majority group led by Lenin who defeated Martov and Trotsky in a crucial ideological debate in 1903 on the nature of the communist party in Russia.

Bond hamlets

Part of the organisation of medieval Welsh social and economic life. The lower orders in Welsh society consisted of bondsmen whose position in society was roughly equivalent to that of the villein. Their freedom was restricted and they provided labour services.

Bondmen

The lower orders in Welsh society consisting of those whose position was roughly equivalent to that of the villein. Their freedom was restricted and they provided labour services.

Bond tenancy


Bosworth Field


Bourgeoisie

The middle class or entrepeneurial, owning, capitalist class created by the Industrial Revolution.

Brecknock Beacons

Brecon Beacons – the range of hills around Brecon.

British and Foreign Bible Society

Founded in 1804 initially to provide inexpensive Bibles in Welsh.

Bruce, Robert

The sixth (1210–95). Claimant to the Scottish throne, assented to the marriage of Princess Margaret of Scotland to Edward, Prince of Wales, and the Union of England with Scotland, 1290.

Brutus

The legendary founder of the Britons in Britain.

Bulkeley

The major landowning family in Anglesey with origins going back beyond the Tudor period.

Burgage

Property within a borough held by a burgess by payment of rent to the lord.

Burgess

A person with rights and property within a borough.

Burke, Edmund

(1729–97) Irish politician and philosopher, author of Reflections on the French Revolution.

Burn

A stream or river.


Bushel

A measure of capacity of eight gallons.

Bute (family, of Cardiff)

Nineteenth/twentieth-century dynasty of landowners/industrialists – built Cardiff docks and Cardiff Castle.

Butty system

By this system jobs in a coal mine were sub-contracted by the colliery under-manager to the butty who was then responsible for employing the men.

C

Cadet houses

Gentry families established by younger sons.

Cadets

Younger sons of gentry families.

Cadwaladr

Regarded as the last King of the Britons.

Calvinistic Methodist


Camden, William

An outstanding antiquary whose Britannia is an excellent description of the places he visited and is an invaluable source for the early modern historian.

Campbell-Bannerman, Henry

Liberal MP from 1868. Prime Minister 1905–8. Gave self-government to the colonies in South Africa.

Campbell, Malcolm

On Pendine Sands near Carmarthen, he set a new world land-speed record on 25 September 1924 by reaching 146m.p.h. in his Sunbeam car, ‘Bluebird’.

Cantref/cantred

An administrative division in medieval Wales based on a notional ‘hundred townships’.

Captain Swing

Also referred to as the ‘Swing Riots’. These were rick–burning episodes in southern England, from Kent to Dorset, in 1830. They took place at night against a background of increasing agrarian and industrial unrest in grim economic conditions. Suppressed by Home Secretary, Lord Melbourne, with great harshness. Nine were hanged and 1,000 transported.


Caput

Head or top — chief castle of a lordship.

Cardiff City

Cardiff City football club has reached the FA Cup Final three times: in 1925 they lost 1:0 to Sheffield United; in 1927 they beat Arsenal 1:0, becoming the first club to take the FA Cup out of England; and in 2008 they lost 1:0 to Portsmouth.

Cardis

People who came from the former county of Cardiganshire.

Carucate

A unit of land, usually 120 acres.

Catechism

A set of questions and answers on the principal points of the Christian faith, printed as part of the Anglican Book of Common Prayer, with many later versions by Dissenters and others.

Catholics

Term exclusively used in the eighteenth century of the adherents of the Roman Catholic church; otherwise referred to as papists.

Ceffyl pren

Welsh: 'wooden horse'. A means by which the community imposed its moral code — effigies of offenders (for example, adulterers) were placed on a ladder and paraded around the streets. Particularly prevalent in south–west Wales.


Ceisiad

A community police officer, the sergeant of the peace, as opposed to the rhingyll, who was an officer of the court.

Census

The UK census is an enumeration of the population conducted every ten years since 1801. The first four censuses involved only a count of the number of people residing in each household; but from 1841 onwards the amount of detail required has increased, to include age, gender, marital status, occupation, place of origin, etc. Censuses are therefore useful sources of historical information, but because of the personal data involved cannot be consulted for 100 years. The most recent census available for public examination is therefore that of 1901.

Central Welsh Board

Representative body of the Welsh local authorities to inspect and examine intermediate secondary schools in Wales.

Chamberlain, Joseph

Radical Liberal MP from 1876. Led the Liberal Unionist alliance with the Conservatives in opposition to Irish Home Rule. Colonial Secretary 1895–1903 at the time of the Boer War.

Chancery

An issuing house and repository for government legal documents.

Chancery for Wales

An important court which developed in England in the fifteenth century. It could make law. It dealt with land ownership and contract cases.

Chantries

Small chapels, set up from medieval times by individual endowments, mainly for the purpose of saying Mass for the dead.

Chapter

The canons of a cathedral acting as a management committee.

Charles, Thomas

(1755–1814) Leading Welsh Methodist of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, especially famous for organising Sunday schools.

Chartism

A mainly working–class movement aimed at extending the vote and reforming Parliament. Worked for the People's Charter (hence the name) after 1838, demanding universal suffrage, annual Parliaments, secret ballot, payment of members of Parliament, equal electoral districts and the abolition of the property qualification for MPs. Prominent in the years 1837-48.

Chartist Rising


Churchill, Winston

Home Secretary 1910–11. Holder of major government offices at intervals 1908–29. Prime Minister 1940–5, 1951–5.

Church Rates

Taxes which went towards the upkeep of the established Church, therefore incensing Nonconformist Wales. Attempts at abolition were channelled into Parliament. There were unsuccessful abolition bills in 1837, 1861 and 1867.

Cilmeri

Site of the death of Llywelyn the Last, Prince of Wales, on 11 December 1282.

Circulating schools

System of elementary education founded by Griffith Jones (1683–1761), rector of Llanddowror, Carmarthenshire (Dyfed).

Civil War

The war between King Charles I and Parliament, 1642–8.  In fact, there were two periods of civil war – the First Civil War, 1642–7, and the Second Civil War, 1648.

Clanlands

Lands belonging to groups of related individuals in the kindred system.

Clare, Gilbert de

The fourth of that name in the de Clare dynasty, 1243–95. Known as ‘the Red Earl’. Sided in turn with the two Llywelyns and with the English king. Marcher lord of Glamorgan and one of the most powerful men in Wales.

Clod

Lumps of coal and earth stuck together.

Coalition Liberals

Those Liberals who supported the coalition government of Liberals and Conservatives under Lloyd George after the 1918 election.

Coal trimmer

A skilled job in the coalmining industry.

Collectivist

A term often applied to that co-operative activity, for example in wartime, which draws the resources of virtually all classes and groups in the nation into collective or co-operative action.

Combinations

Early name for trade unions.

Commissioners

People appointed by the Government to conduct Parliamentary investigation, e.g. the Poor Law Commission in 1832.

Commote/cwmwd

A division of a cantref/cantred: the optimum administrative unit in medieval Wales. In Welsh law a commote was an area which contained fifty small townships or villages.

Company shops

Also known as a truck shop, i.e. shops run by employing companies, for example, ironworks, where workers could redeem the tokens in which they had been paid. This system was open to abuse by the owners.

Concentric

Castles went through various stages of development from simple ‘motte and bailey’ constructions to the vast stone edifices constructed in Wales during the thirteenth century. The concentric plan in the great Welsh castles involved the principle of successive lines of defence so that each ‘ward’ or section of the castle was placed wholly within another. The outermost defence was the curtain wall, surrounding the whole castle, studded with protective towers. The entrance to the castle was protected by moat, ditch, drawbridge and portcullis. The portcullis was operated within a massive gatehouse, which was flanked by great stone towers and could house troops.

Congregational

Christian Nonconformist denomination particularly characterised by its democratic government.

Congregationalists


Copyhold

A form of manorial tenure.

Corn Law


Council in the Marches

Administrative and judicial body created in 1471 and given statutory existence by the Act of Union, Second (1543). From 1473 it was based at Ludlow Castle. See March, The.

County Bench

Commonly used collective term for the magistrates or justices of the peace for a county.

Coupon Election

The 1918 election in which approved candidates from both Liberal and Conservative parties were given a letter of endorsement — the coupon.

Coursing Match

Relates to the ‘sport’ of hare coursing.

Court of Star Chamber

The most important court in England and Wales. Roughly, the Privy Council sitting as a court.

Courts of Great Sessions

Courts of law established by the Act of Union, First (1536); gave twelve of the Welsh counties a distinctive system of justice.

Crecy

Battle in 1346 between Edward III and Philip VI of France during the Hundred Years’ War. A victory for Edward.

Criccieth

Town in north Wales, home of Lloyd George.

Croes Naid

The most cherished relic of independent Wales, the piece of the True Cross removed by Edward I after conquest.

Cromlechs

Prehistoric stone monuments (now termed megaliths), in the eighteenth century believed to have been built by the Druids.

Cromwell, Oliver

(1599–1658) General of the New Model Army in the Civil War and subsequently Lord Protector of England.

Cromwell, Thomas

Henry VIII’s second great chief minister. The first was Thomas Wolsey.

Crown bond townships


Culm

Anthracite coal dust or small coal.

Curia

The administrative and clerical staff of a medieval state, so called because they were clergy, like the administrative staff of the papacy.

Curtain wall

The outermost defence of the castle. See Concentric.

Curtilage

The land adjoining a burgage tenement.

Customs of the manor

Leases by which land was held. Originally these were agreed between lord and tenant, but in time became customary.

Custumals


Cutting bottom

Cleaning an area of the floor in preparation for getting at the coal seam.

Cyfarthfa

One of the four great ironworks of Merthyr Tydfil, along with Dowlais, Penydarren and Plymouth. Established in the 1760s, its most famous (or infamous) owners were the Crawshay dynasty of ironmasters.

Cyfran

Division of land between male heirs.

Cylchgrawn

Periodical or magazine.

Cymanfa Ganu

Singing festival.

Cymdeithas yr Iaith Gymraeg

The Welsh Language Society. Founded in 1962, under the inspiration of Lewis, Saunders’ radio lecture Tynged yr Iaith (‘The Fate of the Language’), to promote the status of the Welsh language.

Cymmrodorion


Cymorth/Cymortha

The practice of mutual help in the community. Originated in need for co-operative labour in the countryside. Had been corrupted to financial exactions by Marcher lords.

Cymru and Cymru’r Plant

Magazines in Welsh for adults and children founded and edited by O. M. Edwards.

Cymru Fydd

Founded 1886 to promote self-government for Wales. Supporters included Ellis, Tom, Lloyd George and Thomas, D. A. A Welsh national movement for Welsh independence.

D

Dafydd ap Gruffudd

(1238–1283). Prince of Gwynedd. Third son of Gruffudd ap Llywelyn, younger brother of Llywelyn ap Gruffudd (Llywelyn the Last). Intermittently in conflict with his brother and in alliance with Edward I, but in 1282 started revolt against English dominance and assumed the style Prince of Wales after his brother’s death at Cilmeri. Hanged, drawn and quartered by Edward in 1283.

Dafydd ap Gwilym

(c.1315–50) The greatest of the medieval Welsh poets.

Daniel, D. R.

Secretary of the North Wales Quarrymen’s. Union 1896. Great friend of Ellis, Tom and Edwards, Sir Owen M.

Davies, David (Llandinam)

(1818–1890) Industrialist from Llandinam, Montgomeryshire. In 1887 he formed the Ocean Coal Company, which by 1914 was a major producer of steam coal in the Rhondda.

Davies, Edward Tegla

1880–1967), Methodist minister and author from Llandegla, near Wrexham.

Davies, Idris

(1905–1953). Miner, teacher and poet from Rhymni, Glamorgan.

Davies, William (Fr.)

Roman Catholic priest from Colwyn Bay, Denbighshire. Worked in north Wales during Elizabethan persecution of Catholics, and hanged, drawn and quartered for his priesthood at Beaumaris on 27 July 1593.

Davitt, Michael

One of the leaders of the movement for Irish independence in the nineteenth century. Organiser of the Irish Land League.

Deists

Believers in the existence of a god, but who denied the revealed religion of Christianity.

Demesne

That area of land which was worked directly by the lord of the manor’s servants.

Demography

Study of population sizes.

Deputy-lieutenant

Leading gentleman of a county, one of those having certain military and other functions under the Lord Lieutenant.

Devolution

The transfer of specified powers – here, from Westminster to Wales. There have been two referenda for the establishment of a Welsh Assembly to govern Wales with limited powers. The first, in 1979, rejected the proposals by 79.7% to 20.3% on a 58.8% turnout. The second, in 1997, accepted improved proposals by 50.3% to 49.7% on a 50.1% turnout.

Devolved (government)


Diaconate

Board of Deacons or elected ‘middle management’ of nonconformist chapels.

Disestablishment

The act of separating the Church in Wales from the Church of England which was the established Church.

Disraeli, Benjamin

Conservative MP from 1837. Prime Minister 1868 and 1874–80.

Dissent

Nonconformity – conscientious refusal to accept the doctrines, ceremonies and order of the Church of England.

Dissolution of the monasteries

Henry VIII closed down the Roman Catholic monasteries in the 1530s. This was partly a consequence of his break with Rome, but mainly because he coveted their great wealth.

Distain

A steward or seneschal in Welsh administration; in Gwynedd he was the effective first minister of the prince.

Distrain

Taking goods and household possessions away by force from people who would not or could not pay fines in money. Particularly associated with refusal to pay tithes in north Wales in the 1880s and 1890s.

Dominicans

One of the great mendicant orders of friars. Founded by St Dominic (1221). (See also Franciscans.)

Dorchester Affair

In March 1834 six Dorchester labourers were sentenced to seven years' transportation to a penal colony in Australia for organising trade union activities in the Dorsetshire village of Tolpuddle. Great public demonstrations resulted eventually in the remittance of the sentences.

Dower

A widow’s share of her late husband’s property.

Dowlais

One of the four great ironworks of Merthyr Tydfil, along with Cyfarthfa, Penydarren and Plymouth (ironworks).

Drych Cristnogawl

Christian Mirror. Published in 1585, at the height of the Elizabethan persecution of Catholics, the Drych contains key teachings of the Catholic Church in Welsh.

E

Education Act 1902

Act of Parliament which made Local Education Authorities of the county and county borough councils and the urban district councils the local controlling bodies for education.

Edward I

King of England 1272–1307; conquered the principality of Gwynedd in 1282.

Edwards, Sir Owen M.

Historian, literateur, academic. Chief Inspector of the Welsh Department of the Board of Education, 1907–20.

Eifion

Eifionydd – a district of the Llŷn peninsula in north-west Wales.

Eisteddfod

A cultural festival, predominantly of poetry and music in the Welsh language. Held locally and nationally, the eisteddfod has roots going back at least to the 12th century. Eisteddfodau were originally meetings of bards. (Welsh ‘eistedd’ – ‘to sit ’).

Elders

Elected ‘middle management’ in certain nonconformist denominations especially the Presbyterians.

Elias, John

Famous Calvinistic Methodist preacher. Died 1841. Ministered in north Wales.

Elis, Islwyn Ffowc

(1924–2004). Presbyterian minister, novelist and Plaid Cymru activist from Wrexham.

Ellis, Tom

Son of tenant farmer. Liberal MP for Merioneth from 1886. Liberal Chief Whip 1894. Highly talented Welsh leader, who died prematurely in 1896. Particularly associated with Cymru Fydd.

Enclosures

The fencing of common land (in Wales, mostly upland grazings) for use by individual farmers.

Encroachment

The process by which land was taken over bit by bit by neighbouring landowners.

Englishries

Areas in Wales which had been settled by the English, as opposed to ‘Welshries’.

Enlightenment

Eighteenth-century philosophical movement stressing the importance of reason as against received authority and tradition, especially in religious masters. The century is often called the ‘Age of Reason’.

Entrepôt

A centre, usually a port, for the collection, storage, shipment and distribution of goods.

Escheat

Lands which reverted to the lord of the manor by, for example, right of wardship (administration of the land of minors).

Established Church

The Anglican Church (The Church of England). See Disestablishment.

Evans, Caradoc

(1878–1945). Cardiganshire novelist.

Evans, Christmas

One of the most famous of Welsh preachers. Died 1838. Baptist. Native of Cardiganshire. Ministered in north and south Wales. Known for his vivid, imaginative sermons.

Evans, E. Herber

(1836–96) Draper’s assistant who became one of the great Welsh pulpit orators and principal of the Bala-Bangor College.

Evans, Gwynfor

(1912–2005). Lawyer, politician and writer who became the first Plaid Cymru MP after winning a by-election in Carmarthen in 1966.

Evans, Revd Evan

(1731–88) Important Welsh poet and scholar, known as Ieuan Fardd or Ieuan Brydydd Hir.

Evans, Theophilus

(1693–1767) Cardiganshire Anglican minister, writer and strong opponent of Methodism. In 1716 he published Drych y Prif Oesoedd (Mirror of the Early Ages).

Exchequer

The Crown’s principal financial department, a term applied to similar functions in the lordships.

Excommunication

Exclusion from the sacrament of the Church.

Extents

Surveys of land, in this instance for the purpose of exacting rents.

Eyre

Circuit court held by justices.

F

Farrier

A person who shoes horses.

Fealty

An oath sworn to one’s lord promising faithful service as part of an act of homage.

Feargus O'Connor's Land Plan

Feargus O'Connor was a leading Chartist, who founded the Chartist newspaper, The Northern Star in 1837, and advocated the peasant ownership of land.

Federation, Liberal

An association of Liberals. In the late nineteenth century north and south Wales were grouped in separate Liberal federations.

Fed, The

See South Wales Miners' Federation.

Feudal dues

Dues owed to a lord of the manor by his tenants.

Feudalism

A social structure and system of land tenure based on the equation of landholding with military responsibility. The king granted land to his tenants-in-chief in return for military service and they infeudated their knights and retainers, while the actual farm work would be done by unfree labourers in return for the use of some land for themselves.

Ffridd\Ffriddoedd

Mountain pastures or sheep walks.

Fiefs

Land held in return for homage and services (normally military).

Food render

A tax of foodstuffs upon a community for the maintenance of the court or one of its officers.

Franchise

A full, legally recognised right, for example that pertaining to burgesses within a medieval borough.

Franciscans

One of the great mendicant orders of friars. Founded by St Francis (1226) who provided inspiration for other mendicant orders in his stress on members having the absolute minimum of personal possessions so the friars could preach to the poorest and humblest.

Free Church Council

The free churches were the nonconformist denominations. See Nonconformity.

Freeholder

A person who owned land free of feudal services or rent.

Freeholders

Landowners; freeholders with property worth more than 40 shillings a year had the parliamentary vote in county constituencies.

Freemasonry

Fraternity or secret society, originating in the medieval guilds of stonemasons.

Free Wales Army

Formed in 1963, a paramilitary organisation of limited membership with the aim of achieving independence for Wales.

French landing at Fishguard, 1797

During the French Revolutionary Wars, 1,400 French landed near Fishguard hoping to march on London. The invasion was half-hearted, and troops allegedly surrendered in the belief that local women wearing tall black hats and red shawl were British troops.

French Revolution

Revolution beginning with the fall of the Bastille in 1789. It introduced democracy and abolished monarchy.

Friendly Societies

Associations of workers who combined mainly for the purpose of providing insurance benefits of various kinds as opposed to being involved in overtly political action.

Frost, John

(1784–1877). From Newport, Monmouthshire. Became a successful local businessman and Newport magistrate, although he supported the Chartist movement (see Chartism). In 1839 he was a leader of the Chartist march to Newport (see Newport Rising), as a result of which he was tried for treason. After conviction, his death sentence was commuted to transportation for life, and he was sent to Tasmania. In 1856 he was pardoned, and returned to Britain to live in Bristol, where he continued to advocate parliamentary reform until his death in 1877.

G

Gatehouse


Gavelkind

See Cyfran.

Geddes’ Axe

The economy measures of 1922 formulated by Sir Eric Geddes.

Gee, Thomas

(1815-1898) Denbigh-born Nonconformist preacher and publisher.

General Strike

The strike of all the major trade unions in May 1926. The TUC called off the strike after nine days and the miners were left to fight on alone.

George of Hanover

Protestant German prince who succeeded the childless Queen Anne as King George I in 1714.

Giraldus Cambrensis/ Gerallt Cymro /Gerald of Wales

(c.1146–1223) Archdeacon of Brecon. Undertook famous itinerary around Wales in 1188 with Bishop Baldwin to recruit soldiers for the third crusade. Resulted in one of the most important of medieval source writings, the Itinerarium Kambriae (The Journey through Wales). Great proponent of independence of see of St Davids from Canterbury.

Gladstone, W. E.

MP from 1832. Leader of the Liberal Party from 1867. Four times Prime Minister.

Glamorganshire Canal

Constructed between 1790 and 1798, from Merthyr Tydfil to Cardiff, to transport iron to the sea for export. The canal was 25 miles long, with 50 locks.

Glan-y-gors, Jac

John Jones (1766–1821), satirical poet living in London; published the views of Tom Paine in Seren tan Gwmwl (1795) and Toriad y Dydd (1797).

Glendower

Anglicised form of the name Owain Glyndŵr, whose rising against the English king after 1400 gave Wales a brief period of independence.

Glyndŵr Revolt


Gnoll Estate

One of the main landed estates in Neath, West Glamorgan.

Gob

An empty space from which coal has been taken in the long-wall system of mining, or the rubbish used to fill it.

Gold Standard

The means of regulating the currency and money supply suspended during the First World War. Restored by Winston Churchill, Chancellor of the Exchequer, in 1925. It led, effectively, to a ten per cent rise in the external value of sterling.

G.O.M.

Grand Old Man. W. E. Gladstone’s nickname.

Gorsedd

Bardic organisation and ceremonial invented by Morganwg, Iolo in the 1790s.

Gray, Thomas

(1716–71) English poet.

Great Sessions


Great Western Railway

The Great Western Railway Company was founded in 1833 to construct a railway link between south Wales, the south west of England, and London. Brunel was appointed its chief engineer, and the project involved the building of the Severn Tunnel.

Gresford Colliery disaster, Wrexham (1934)

On 22 September 1934, 266 men killed in underground explosion.

Gwenallt


Gwladfa

Colony or national home for the Welsh in America.

Gwynedd

Medieval native Welsh princedom in north Wales.

Gwyneddigion

Literary and cultural society of the London Welsh, founded in 1770. It promoted eisteddfodau and the publication of Welsh manuscripts.

Gwyn, St. Richard

(c.1537–1584) Roman Catholic teacher in north Wales hanged, drawn and quartered under the Elizabethan anti-recusancy legislation. (See recusants.)

H

Habeas corpus

Writ requiring a person to be brought into court following his or her arrest, i.e. limiting the authorities’ power to detain a suspect without a formal charge being brought. Habeas corpus was suspended from 1794 to 1801 during the war against Revolutionary France.

Hafotai

Temporary shelters used by herdsmen when the cattle went to summer pasture.

Hansard

The official publication which records all the proceedings of Parliament.

Harcourt, Sir William

Liberal MP 1868–98. Home Secretary and Chancellor of the Exchequer. Liberal leader 1896–8.

Hardie, Keir

Coalminer who founded the Scottish Labour Party and became MP for Merthyr in 1900.

Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau

(Old Country of My Fathers, more usually ‘Land of My Fathers’). Written in Pontypridd in 1856 by Evan James to music composed by his son, James James. Gradually became regarded as the national anthem of Wales.

Historia Kegum

A history of the Kings of Britain, written by Geoffrey of Monmouth in 1136.

Homage

A formal act to show that one is submitting to the feudal authority of an overlord.

Honourable Society of Cymmrodorion

Literary society with the aim of preserving the Welsh language and promoting Welsh history and culture.

Horner, Arthur

A founder member of the Communist party in Great Britain and one of its most important members. President of the South Wales Miners' Federation.

Hughes, T. Rowland

(1903–1949), novelist and poet from Llanberis, Caernarvonshire.

Humphreys Owen, A. C.

Liberal MP for Montgomery. Barrister. First Chairman of the Central Welsh Board.

Hundredal Juries

Each county was divided into a number of units, each called a hundred (originally this probably meant a hundred families), and each hundred held its own court for minor offences. Juries played an important part in these courts.

Hundreds


Hunger March

One of the most popular forms of protest against unemployment and its consequent privations. The first from south Wales was in 1927 and they continued in the 1930s, mainly to London.

Husbandmen

Ranked on the social scale below yeomen. Normally rented land up to perhaps 30 acres.

I

Illustrated London News

Illustrated newspaper founded in 1842, dealing with domestic and international news.

Indemnity

A sum paid as compensation for loss or by one party in a conflict to another to secure peace.

Independent Labour Party

Founded 1893. Wanted eight-hour day and collective ownership of the means of production, distribution and exchange in the national economy. One of the major movements which resulted from and became part of the foundation of the Labour party. Spread quickly in south Wales after 1898.

Independent Liberals

The Liberal MPs who refused to support the National (in practice Conservative) government after the election of October 1931.

Independents

The name given historically to chapels of the Congregationalist denomination and still used for Welsh-language Congregationalist chapels. They were noted for democratic chapel government.

Indulgences

In Roman Catholicism, remission of purgatorial atonement for sin secured by canonical penance.

Infilling

The process of building on land within town walls.

Ingeniator

Literally, engineer.

Insured Workers

Those workers who, in partnership with their employers, had paid unemployment insurance contributions under the 1920 Unemployment Insurance Act. Included almost all categories of workers except domestic workers, agricultural labourers and civil servants.

Interdict

A church decree depriving groups of people or communities of all church services and sacraments. The Pope imposed a full interdict on King John’s England from 1208–14.

Iolo Morgannwg

Edward Williams (1747–1826). Stonemason, polymath and democrat — also literary forger and inventor of the Gorsedd.

Irish Coercion Bill

Projected legislation of 1880, passed in 1881, to restore order in Ireland after the Irish National Land League had organised tenants into resisting eviction from their land. The first legislation for which the Parliamentary device of the closure was imposed by the Speaker of the House of Commons.

Irish Home Rule

The movement to give Ireland independence from the rest of Britain.

J

Jacobean

Pertaining to the reign of King James I.

Jacobite

Sympathiser with or follower of the deposed King James II and his dynasty.

Jones, D. Gwenallt

(1899–1968). Welsh-language poet and writer, from Pontardawe, Glamorgan.

Jones, Fr. John

Roman Catholic priest from Clynog Fawr, Caernarfonshire. Hanged, drawn and quartered at Southwark on 12 July, 1598, for his priesthood during the Elizabethan persecution of Catholics.

Jones, Jack

(1884-1970) Novelist from Merthyr Tydfil.

Jones, Thomas

(1756–1820) Calvinistic minister (see Methodism).

Jones, Thomas (of Pencerrig)

(1742–1803) Landscape painter and Radnorshire squire.

Jones, William

(1809–1873). From Pontypool, Monmouthshire. A Chartist (see Chartism) who organised the abortive march from Pontypool to Newport during the Newport Rising, 1839. With the other leaders of the Rising, Frost, John and Williams, Zephaniah, he was convicted of treason and sentenced to death but had his punishment commuted to transportation for life. He was sent to Australia, where he spent the remainder of his life.

Jones, William (of Llangadfan)

(1726–95) Poet and Voltairean radical.

Justices of the peace

Magistrates; gentlemen exercising wide administrative and judicial powers in a county under commission from the Crown.

K

Kaiser

Emperor of Germany before and during the First World War.

Kenyon, Lord

MP for Denbigh boroughs. Closely involved in the passing of the Welsh Intermediate Education Act 1889.

Keynes, John Maynard

Distinguished economist. Co-operated with Lloyd George in the 1930s to produce programmes by which government spending could be made to alleviate unemployment and re-vitalise industry.

Khaki Election

The election fought after the Boer War.

Kindred system

A system of land holding by groups of kinsmen with a common ancestor.

Knights

Knights of the shire — members of Parliament for county constituencies.

Knight’s fee

A parcel of land for the tenure of which the holder provided one armed knight for the lord’s military service.

Knights Hospitallers

Knights Hospitallers and Templars were religious orders created at the beginning of the twelfth century. They were military orders arising out of the religious wars of Christendom against Islam in the Holy Land and in Spain.

Knights Templars


L

Laissez-faire

Literally 'let be' or 'leave alone'. This policy is particularly associated with governments of the first half of the nineteenth century who endorsed an economic and social policy of interfering as little as possible in economic and social matters.

Laudian High Churchmen

Anglicans following the example of Archbishop Laud (1573–1645) who emphasised the Catholic inheritance of the Church of England in opposition to the Puritans.

Laws of Hywel Dda

Hywel Dda, died 950, ruler of Ceredigion and Ystrad Tywi. Initiated the codification of Welsh laws in the tenth century, although the first extant manuscript of the laws is from the twelfth century. Welsh law was vital to a sense of Welsh nationality before the conquest.

Leasehold

A form of manorial land tenure.

Leeland, John

Henry VIII’s Royal Antiquary.

Les Ruines


Lewis, Elfed

Nineteenth- and twentieth-century Welsh hymn writer, minister, poet. One of the greatest names in Welsh nonconformity. Born Carmarthenshire.

Lewis, Richard (Dic Penderyn)

(1808–1831). Born in Aberafon, Glamorgan, and worked as a miner at Merthyr Tydfil. His nickname came from the village of Penderyn, where he lived. Participated in the Merthyr Rising, and was tried and convicted for the murder of a soldier of the Highland Regiment, which was sent to restore order during the Rising. Although believed by many to be innocent, Lewis was hanged in St. Mary Street, Cardiff on August 13, 1831.

Lewis, Saunders

(1893–1985). Welsh-language academic, poet and writer born in Wallasey, Merseyside. He was a founder of Plaid Genedlaethol Cymru, of which he became first president. Convicted for involvement in the fire at Penyberth ‘bombing school’ in 1936. His radio speech Tynged yr Iaith (‘the fate of the language’) in 1962 inspired the forming of Cymdeithas yr Iaith Gymraeg.

Lewis, Sir J. Herbert

Flintshire-born. Close friend of Lloyd George, MP. Educationalist.

Lhuyd, Edward

(1660–1709) Welsh scholar and keeper of the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford.

Lieutenancy

Collective term for the deputy-lieutenants of a county.

Lloyd George, Megan

Daughter of Lloyd George. Liberal MP, later Labour MP, for Carmarthenshire.

Llwyd, Morgan

(1619–1659), Puritan preacher and writer in Gwynedd. His book Llyfr y Tri Aderyn (Book of the Three Birds) is a dialogue between an eagle (representing the government), a raven (representing the Church of England), and a dove (representing the Puritans).

LlÅ·n

The peninsular part of north-west Wales.

Llywarch Hen

Early Welsh hero, to whom a series of poems written in the ninth and tenth centuries was attributed.

Llywelyn ab Iorwerth (Llywelyn Fawr/Llywelyn the Great)

(c.1173–1240), prince of Gwynedd, where he consolidated his power before moving into neighbouring territories, having his conquests recognised by Henry III under the Treaty of Worcester in 1218. He continued to extend his dominance in north and mid Wales, and although he did not adopt the title ‘Prince of Wales’, in 1230 he adopted the style ‘Prince of Aberffraw and Lord of Snowdon.’ His last years were marked by his efforts to ensure the succession of his son Dafydd.

Llywelyn ap Gruffudd ap Rhys (Llywelyn Bren)

(c.1173–1240), prince of Gwynedd where he consolidated his power before moving into neighbouring territories, having his conquests recognised by Henry III under the Treaty of Worcester in 1218. He continued to extend his dominance in north and mid Wales, and although he did not adopt the title ‘Prince of Wales’, in 1230 he adopted the style ‘Prince of Aberffraw and Lord of Snowdon.’ His last years were marked by his efforts to ensure the succession of his son Dafydd.

Llywelyn ap Gruffudd (Llywelyn the Last)

(c. 1223-1282). Prince of Gwynedd who took advantage of civil war in England to proclaim himself ‘Prince of Wales’ in 1258. By the Treaty of Montgomery in 1267, Edward I recognised this title, but failure to do homage to Edward led to Edward’s conquest of north Wales in 1277 and Llywelyn’s submission at the Treaty of Aberconwy. A new revolt against English dominance sparked by Llywelyn’s brother Dafydd led to Llywelyn’s death at Cilmeri in 1282.

Llywelyn the Great


Local Boards of Health


Local Government Act, 1888

Provided for elected county and county brough councils.

Local Option / Local Veto Bill

Allowing ratepayers in certain geographical areas to exercise greater control over the sale of alcohol. The bill introduced in 1890 would have facilitated total prohibition in cases where this was the choice of at least two-thirds of ratepayers. It received the support of the majority of Welsh MPs, but was finally dropped in July 1891.

London Welsh Girls Friendly Aid Society

During the 1920s and 1930s large numbers of young girls from Wales went to London as domestic servants. This Society was established to help ease the often traumatic transition.

Loutherbourg, Philippe de

(1740–1812) German landscape artist.

M

Mabon


Mabon’s Day

A monthly holiday negotiated for miners by Abraham, William (Mabon) by which the miners were given the first Monday of every month off. Lasted from 1892–8. Stopped by the owners after the 1898 dispute.

MacDonald, Ramsay

First Labour Prime Minister in 1924. Prime Minister again in 1929, continuing as head of the so-called National government which was created in the financial crisis of 1931.

Mackworth

Family of landowners living at Neath in west Glamorgan. The first member of the family to settle in Wales was Sir Humphrey Mackworth (1657–1727), industrialist and founder of the SPCK.

Madoc

Said to have been the son of the Welsh prince Owain Gwynedd. He was said to have discovered America in the twelfth century and to have been the ancestor of a tribe of Welsh-speaking Indians, thought in the late eighteenth century to be living in the Midwest.

Maerdref

The estate around a hamlet.

Magnate

Wealthy landowner, usually a peer.

Malthusian

The Reverend Thomas Malthus, professor of political economy at a Haileybury college. Formulated the so-called Malthus Law in the 1790s, which argued that population growth would outstrip the means of subsistence.

Manorial custom


Mansell, Robert

(1695–1723) Eldest son of the first Lord Mansell of Margam; considered to have been a Jacobite.

Marcher lord

Originally Norman lords who had settled on the border between England and Wales and who acquired land by westward advance and conquest.

March, The

The area of Wales conquered by individual Norman marcher lords and held by them from the eleventh to the sixteenth century.

Maredudd ap Rhys Gryg

Died 1272. Prince of Deheubarth.

Marriage bar

Bar against the employment of married women in some jobs – teaching was a prime example until after 1944.

Marxist/Marxism

Adherent of Marxist philosophies of society promulgated by Karl Marx which postulated the coming of the Communist revolution.

Mass

A title for the central rite of the Christian religion – the Eucharist, Holy Communion or Lord’s Supper. Especially applies to the Roman Catholic church.

Matriculation

Effectively, a university entrance qualification. Applied, in the inter-war years, to those who gained a five-subject certificate at credit level (significantly higher than pass level) of an authorised examining board – in Wales, for most schools, this was the Central Welsh Board.

Maugre

An archaic word meaning ‘in spite of’.

McKinley Tariff

Import duties imposed by the United States of America on tinplate. Import duties imposed by the United States of America on tinplate.

Means Test

The system by which welfare benefits, including money for the unemployed, the ‘dole’, was cut in line with income brought in by any member of the household.

Megalith


Menai Suspension Bridge

Designed by Thomas Telford to link Anglesey to the north Wales mainland. Constructed between 1819 and 1826, it was one of the earliest suspension bridges in the world.

Merrick, Rice

(c.1520–1587). Landowner and antiquary from Bonvilston, Glamorgan. Gathered much historical and antiquarian information on Glamorgan, much of which was included in his unfinished Morganiae Archaiographia (Glamorgan Antiquities), begun in 1578.

Merthyr Rising

Disorders in May–June 1831 in Merthyr Tydfil by coalminers and ironworkers protesting at the lowering of wages and insecurity of employment. Merthyr debtors’ court was sacked, and there were conflicts with troops sent to restore order: several rioters were killed and one soldier, for whose death Lewis, Richard (Dic Penderyn) was subsequently hanged.

Mesne tenant

An intermediate tenant, whose grant of land from his overlord had been let to a sub-tenant, but who still owed feudal service for that land to the overlord (mesne lord).

Metes and bounds

Boundaries.

Methodism

Revival movement in the Church of England beginning in the 1730s and eventually breaking away to form a Nonconformist denomination. Particularly strong in north Wales. While in England most Methodists were Wesleyan, so-called after John Wesley, Welsh Methodism generally embraced, at least in theory, the harsh doctrines of John Calvin, the sixteenth-century Protestant reformer, hence Calvinistic Methodists.

Metropolitan Police

Police force of London: responsible to the Home Secretary.

MFGB

Miners’ Federation of Great Britain. The union of British miners to which the South Wales Miners' Federation affiliated in 1899.

Middle, Treaty of

Established a truce of two years between Llywelyn Fawr and Henry III, with Llywelyn maintaining his recent conquests.

Miners’ Federation of Great Britain

The union of British coalfield unions. In 1908 it affiliated to the Labour party.

Miners’ Lock-Out

After the collapse of the General Strike in 1926 the miners were locked out by the owners for six months.

Miners’ Next Step

Manifesto written in 1912 by the ‘Unofficial Reform Committee’ which included Ablett, Noah, calling, amongst other things, for control of the mines to be given to the workers.

Mirabeau

French orator and revolutionary. President of the Jacobin club in 1790.

Mold Riots (1869)

Miners attacked the manager of Leeswood Green Colliery, who had announced a wage-reduction and a prohibition on speaking Welsh underground. Disturbances followed the conviction of miners for their part in the attack, and troops killed 4 rioters when they opened fire on the crowd.

Mond, Sir Alfred

Opened the largest nickel works in the world in Clydach, West Glamorgan in 1902. Liberal MP and eccentric. Staunch supporter of Lloyd George.

Monmouthshire and Brecon Canal

Network of canals linking Brecon and Newport.

Monoglot

Speakers of one language.

Montfort, Simon de

(c.1208–65) Became Earl of Leicester. Married Eleanor, sister of Henry III in 1238. Leader of barons’ revolt against the King, whom he defeated in 1264 at the Battle of Lewes. Defeated by royal forces, including Marcher lord, at the Battle of Evesham 1265. Llywelyn ap Gruffudd married Simon de Montfort’s daughter, Eleanor, in 1278.

Montgomery, Treaty of (1267)

Henry III recognised Llywelyn ap Gruffudd as Prince of Wales, with feudal overlordship over most of the other Welsh princes.

Morcellated


Morcellation

Land divided up repeatedly by cyfran or gavelkind.

Morgans of Tredegar

Owned vastly wealthy estate and industrial resources – lived in Tredegar Park.

Morganwg, Iolo


Mormons

Members of the Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter Day Saints. Founded in 1830 by Joseph Smith in Salt Lake City, USA.

Morris Letters

Letters of the Morris brothers of Anglesey (Lewis, Richard, William and John), known as ‘Morrisiaid Môn’.

Morris, Lewis

(1701–65) Poet, antiquary and surveyor; one of the Morris brothers of Anglesey.

Mortgage

Money obtained by providing land as security.

Mortimer, Roger

Died 1282. One of the great adversaries of Llywelyn ap Gruffudd who defeated Mortimer in 1262 and 1266, obtaining substantial areas of Mortimer lands by the Treaty of Montgomery 1267.

N

Napoleonic Wars

1803–15. In essence a continuation of Britain's involvement in continental wars starting in 1793 when French revolutionary armies had occupied Belgium, and France declared war on Britain and Holland. Ended with a final defeat of the Emperor Napoleon at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815.

National Assembly for Wales

(Cynulliad Cenedlaethol Cymru). Established by the Government of Wales Act, 1998, the National Assembly has devolved powers of government in Wales that were further increased by the Government of Wales Act, 2006.

National Government

‘National Government’ is a term given to coalition governments formed during times of crisis, such as wartime. The intention is to create a government of national unity. In the UK, a ‘national government’ headed by David Lloyd George was formed in 1916, during the First World War, lasting until 1922; and in 1931 a ‘national government’ was formed under Ramsey Macdonald which lasted, with several changes of prime minister (Stanley Baldwin, Neville Chamberlain and Winston Churchill) until 1945.

National Health Insurance

Introduced by the Liberal government to be paid for out of increased taxes in the budget of 1909.

National History Museum


National Museum of Wales

In Cathays Park, Cardiff. Foundation stone laid in 1912, but not open to the public until 1927.

National Reform League


National Reform Union


Navy Act

Act of 1795 for the raising of men for the Navy.

Net loss

Excess of out-migration (emigration) over inward migration (immigration).

Newport Rising

The three–pronged Chartist march on Newport in 1839 which ended in tragedy as marchers were fired upon by soldiers stationed in the Westgate Hotel, Newport. See Chartism.

New Zealand All Blacks

The New Zealand international rugby team. They play in an all-black strip.

Nine Mile Point Colliery Riot

1929 riot at the Nine Mile Point Colliery, Cwmfelinfach, Monmouthshire.

Nonconformity

Generic name given to various denominations, mainly Methodist, Baptists and Independents, which had broken away from the established Church, the Church of England.

Northern Star

Best-known of the Chartist newspapers. See Chartism.

North Wales Quarrymen’s Union

Set up in 1874. Led to confrontation with the Union owners.

Nucleated

Developing around a nucleus – in this case villages developing around church and manor.

O

Offa’s Dyke

The great earthwork constructed by Offa of Mercia at the end of the eighth century. It approximates to today’s boundary between England and Wales.

Old Age Pension

A 1908 scheme introduced by Lloyd George for non-contributory old age pensions.

Old Bailey

The Central Criminal Court in London.

Orange Book

We Can Conquer Unemployment – part of a major Liberal party programme (when in opposition in the late 1920s) to come to grips with unemployment and industrial decline. Inspired by Keynes, John Maynard and Lloyd George.

Oratory

A small private chapel.

Out-boroughs

Boroughs which joined with the county town to elect a member of Parliament.

Owain Glyndŵr

(c. 1359– c.1416), lord of Glyndyfrdwy and Cynllaith, who became rebel leader in Wales and was declared Prince of Wales on 16 September 1400. After an initially successful revolt, reaching its high point in 1404–06 and involving diplomacy with Charles VI of France and Pope Benedict VIII and an alliance with rebel English lords, Glyndŵr eventually suffered defeats and disappeared in 1413, never to be located by the English.

Owain Gwynedd

Owain Gwynedd (d.1170). The first to be known as Prince of Wales. Grandfather of Llywelyn the Great. Extended the territory covered by Gwynedd.

Owen, George

(c.1552–1613) of Henllys in Pembrokeshire: notable Welsh antiquary and naturalist, who wrote of farming techniques in Pembrokeshire and the government of Wales.

Owen, John

(1600–1666), of Clenennau, Caernarvonshire. Royalist leader in north Wales during the First Civil War (1642–47); in 1648 he instigated an unsuccessful royalist uprising which was a component of the second civil war. Also unsuccessfully participated in Booth’s Rising in 1659, but was pardoned by Charles II on restoration of the monarchy in 1660.

P

Pannage

The right of pasturing pigs in a forest or payment made for this.

Papists


Paris Peace Conference, 1919

Conference held in Paris at the end of the First World War with the intention of settling Europe in the aftermath of the war. The Conference produced several treaties – most famously, the Treaty of Versailles – and established the League of Nations. David Lloyd George, as Prime Minister of Great Britain, was one of the ‘Big Four’ leaders involved (the others being Georges Clemenceau, Prime Minister of France, Woodrow Wilson, US President, and Vittorio Orlando, Prime Minister of Italy.)

Parliament Act, 1911

Act of Parliament which prevented the House of Lords from being able to delay by more than two years any bill passed by the House of Commons, and by more than one month any money-bill (i.e. dealing with taxation).

Parry, Joseph

(1841–1903). Composer and academic from Merthyr Tydfil. Became Professor of Music at University of Wales, Aberystwyth in 1873.

Parry, W.J.

Secretary and one of the leading figures of the North Wales Quarrymen's Union which figured centrally in the dispute with the slate quarry owners from 1874 when it was founded. A Welsh–speaking Liberal Nonconformist who believed in harmony in industrial relations.

Partible inheritance

Division of land between male heirs.

Particular Baptists

Branch of the Baptist denomination.

Pastoral Farming

Farming of animals.

Patagonia

Welsh colony established in 1865 in the Chubut Valley, Patagonia, Argentina, by Michael D. Jones, a non-conformist preacher. The first contingent of settlers comprised 153 men, women and children.

Payments in kind

Payments, usually of rent, in goods or services.

Peaceable Army

Established in Glamorgan in 1645 to resist incursions into the county by both Royalists and Parliamentarians: a neutralist movement led by local gentry.

Peace of Amiens

Peace between Britain and France, March 1802 to May 1803.

Peace Society

As its name implies, a society dedicated to bringing influences to bear on the electorate for policies of peaceful coexistence. The secretary at one time was Richard, Henry.

Peel, Sir Robert

Prime Minister for two terms between 1834 and 1846. Repealed the Corn Laws (see Anti-Corn Law League) in 1846, so splitting the Tory Party.

Penderyn, Dic

Lewis, Richard (Dic Penderyn) (1808–1831), from Penderyn, near Hirwaun, Glamorgan. Hanged in Cardiff, 13 August 1831, following conviction for his part in the Merthyr Rising, in which he allegedly killed a soldier.

Penillion

Literally verses, but often a technical term applied to a contrapuntal and extempore form of singing to the harp.

Pennant, Colonel

The owner of one of the largest slate quarries in the world in the second half of the nineteenth century, the Penrhyn quarry. Became Lord Penrhyn in 1866.

Pennant, Thomas

(1726–98) Naturalist and antiquary; lived at Downing, Flintshire (Clwyd).

Penrhyn, Lord


Penry, John

(1559–1593). Well known Puritan preacher and writer, from Breconshire. Executed under Elizabeth I’s religious conformity legislation.

Penydarren

One of the four great ironworks of Merthyr Tydfil, along with Cyfarthfa, Dowlais and Plymouth (ironworks). It was started by the Homfray family in the 1780s.

People’s Budget

The budget of 1909. Lloyd George imposed death duties and increased taxes to pay for National Health Insurance and pensions. Provoked a constitutional crisis.

People's Charter


Philadelphia

Major city in Pennsylvania, eastern United States of America.

Philipps, Sir John

(c.1666–1737) Influential member of the SPCK and patron of Griffith Jones of Llanddowror; lived at Picton Castle, Pembrokeshire (Dyfed).

Piece work

Work done or paid for by the piece or amount produced.

Pipton, Treaty of (1265)

Alliance between Llywelyn ap Gruffudd and Simon de Montfort.

Plaid Cymru


Plaid Genedlaethol Cymru

(National Party of Wales). Founded 5 August 1925 to achieve Home Rule for Wales. Later known as Plaid Cymru: the Party of Wales.

Plantaganet

Surname given to the Angevin line of kings descended from Geoffrey, Count of Anjou. The Plantaganets ruled England from 1154 to 1485. Henry II was the first Plantaganet king.

Plasau\Plastai

The Welsh words for ‘gentry houses’.

Pleb’s League

Group founded by Ablett, Noah in 1909 believing in class war and the overthrow of capitalism.

Plymouth (ironworks)

One of the four great ironworks of Merthyr Tydfil, along with Cyfarthfa, Dowlais and Penydarren. So called because it was established on land belonging to the Earl of Plymouth.

Ponc

Gallery in slate quarry.

Poor Law

The system of helping the poor had hardly changed since Tudor times, but was under increasing strain in the early nineteenth century as the poor rate increased for the wealthier members of society. The result was a Poor Law Commission and a Poor Law Amendment Act in 1834 which recommended stopping outdoor assistance to the poor and advocated the building of workhouses by parish unions where people would be kept in a condition worse than that of the lowest-paid workers outside.

Poor Law Commissioners

Those responsible for administering the Poor Law centrally. Involved regulations for elections of Boards of Guardians who administered unemployment relief locally.

Poor Law of 1598

One of a series of Elizabethan poor laws which attempted to deal with the increasing problem of poverty and vagrancy in the sixteenth century.

Popish Plot

Fabricated conspiracy causing persecution of Catholics 1678–1681, in the course of which several Welsh victims were hanged, drawn and quartered.

Popular Front

Attempts from the mid-1930s to mobilise anti-Conservative elements in Britain and unite Socialist League, Communists and the Labour party against Fascism and the National government.

Popular Guardians


Powell, Vavasour

(1617–70) Puritan preacher and writer in mid Wales.

Poyer, John

(? – 1649). Parliamentarian mayor of Pembroke who in 1648 led mutiny of his garrison troops, whose disbandment was ordered by Parliament although they were in long arrears of pay. This was the first action of the second civil war, and eventually Cromwell, Oliver successfully retook Pembroke by siege in July 1648.

Presbyterians

Dissenting denomination believing in form of church government by presbyters and synods; in Wales almost indistinguishable from the Independents.

Presbyterian-Unitarian

In the second half of the eighteenth century most Presbyterians in Wales were moving along the theological spectrum from Arminianism through Arianism to Socinianism and Unitarianism.

Price, Dr. William

(1800–1893). Prominent Chartist and self-styled druid from Rudry, Glamorgan. In 1884 he publicly cremated the body of his 5-month-old son on Llantrisant common, for which he was prosecuted. He successfully defended the case himself, establishing the precedent for the legality of cremation.

Price, Richard

(1723–91) Dissenting minister and philosopher who welcomed the American and French revolutions.

Prichard, Rhys

(c.1573–c.1644), Anglican minister, writer and poet, from Llandovery, Carmarthenshire. He translated the Church of England catechism into Welsh, and wrote poetry on a wide range of subjects. A collection of his poems was published as Canwyll y Cymry (Candle of the Welsh).

Prid

A convoluted way of buying land in spite of the Welsh law’s strictures against permanent alienation of land. The land was placed with the ‘buyer’ as notional security for a sum of money which was given to the ‘vendor’ on the tacit understanding that the money would not be repaid and the land never reclaimed.

Priestley, Dr Joseph

(1733–1804) Unitarian minister, scientist and radical (see also Unitarianism).

Primogeniture

Inheritance by the eldest son.

Privy Council

The most important administrative body in the country. Composed mainly of administrators and courtiers.

Probate

The legal scrutiny of wills. Wills are an invaluable source for sixteenth-century social historians.

Proctors

Officials representing others in a legal capacity.

Progressivism

A synthesis of Liberal and Gradualist Socialist ideas for social reform.

Proletariat

Social class owning no property, and so dependent upon wage-earning – the working class. Marxists use the word in contradistinction to the bourgeoisie or capitalist/middle class.

Protection

A system of imposing tariffs (taxes) on imported goods in order to nurture and protect home-produced goods.

Public Health Acts

There were two major public health acts. The first in 1848 resulted from pressure by Chadwick and other public health reformers to do something to stop the spread of disease, particularly cholera. It created the General Board of Health which could set up Local Boards of Health if a) ratepayers petitioned for it, b) the death rate was particularly high. The second act in 1875 was passed by Disraeli and consolidated the 1866 Sanitary Act and other sanitary legislation.

Puddling process

Process of converting pig iron to wrought or bar iron, invented by Henry Cort and widely adopted in south Wales in the 1790s.

Puritans

Strict Protestants who wished to 'purify' the Church of England of its apparently Catholic features.

Q

Quakers

A religious sect founded in the seventeenth century characterised by a unique form of service of worship which took no set form. Also known as the Society of Friends. One of the most persecuted of sects because they refused to defer to their 'social superiors'.

Quarter Sessions

Courts which tried less important cases than Courts of Great Sessions. Held every three months.

Quinzaine

Fifteen days after or before.

Quitclaim

A disclaimer of all legal rights and interests.

Quorum

Originally, certain especially well-qualified justices of the peace whose presence was necessary at a meeting of the quarter sessions, etc. By the eighteenth century all justices were named of the quorum.

R

Radicalism

Belief in political reform on a democratic basis. In a nineteenth century context usually refers to the reforming wing of the Liberal Party.

Rebecca Riots

Agrarian disturbances in west Wales, 1839–43, featuring attacks on toll-gates led by rioters dressed in women’s clothes (‘Rebecca’). The use of the name may relate to a reference in the Bible to Rebecca and her descendants inheriting the gates of their enemies.

Recte

Rightly, correctly.

Recusants

Catholics who refused to attend Church of England services as required by the Elizabethan Act of Uniformity, 1559.

Reform and Redistribution Act of 1884

Known as the Third Reform Act. The previous Reform Act in 1867 had given householders and lodgers in boroughs the vote; the 1884 Act extended this vote to the counties. There were seven ways by which a person could qualify for the vote, but 80 per cent of voters came under the household and occupation franchise.

Reformation

Movement for the reform of the Church which brought in Protestantism, the rejection of the authority of the Pope, and the dissolution of the monasteries in the sixteenth century.

Reform League

Formed 1864. Mainly working–class movement campaigning for the vote for all men and for the secret ballot. Strongly supported the Liberals in the 1868 election.

Reliefs

Sums paid by an heir to his lord in order to secure succession to his predecessor’s land.

Religious Census (Census of Religions Worship)

Held in 1851. The only official systematic count of religious worship in modern times – part of the official (decennial) census of 1851. Recorded every person attending morning, afternoon and evening services in places of worship in England and Wales.

Rendelism

Pertaining to the policies of Rendel, Stuart.

Rendel, Stuart

Liberal MP for Montgomeryshire. Leader of the Welsh MPs. Friend of Gladstone. Closely involved in the Welsh Intermediate Education Act and Disestablishment.

Rentier

Someone whose income is derived from rent or investments.


Representation of the People Act

(Fourth Reform Act.) The 1918 reform act which gave votes to many women over thirty. Only in 1928 were women granted voting rights on the same terms as men.

Restoration

The restoration of the monarchy after the Commonwealth period at the accession of King Charles II in 1660.

Retaining

Employment of bands of servants by aristocracy or gentry. Retainers were often regarded as a source of disturbance and fighting.

Reverberatory furnace

Furnace in which metal is smelted by an indirect heat.

Rhaglaw

The deputy of the king or lord in Welsh law.

Rhingyll

The sergeant-at-law in a Welsh court who acted as a security officer during court sittings.

Rhuddlan, Statute of (1284)

Following the defeat of Llywelyn ap Gruffudd by Edward I in 1282, his Gwynedd territories were designated by the Statute of Rhuddlan as the ‘Principality of North Wales’, and were incorporated into the English state. The Principality was divided into shires on the English model, and a ‘Justiciar of North Wales’ was appointed as the principal Royal representative.

Rhys ap Maredudd

1132–97. Yr Arglwydd Rhys – or the Lord Rhys. The leading Welsh magnate of the period.

Rhys, Morgan John

(1760–1804). Political radical and nonconformist minister who migrated to north America, where in Pennsylvania he founded a Welsh colony which he named ‘Camria’.

Richard, Henry

(1812–1888) Independent minister who in 1850 became full-time secretary of the Peace Society, and won a famous victory in the 1868 Merthyr election as a Liberal Nonconformist. Then known as ‘the member for Wales’.

Rio Grande

Welsh colony established in Brazil by Thomas Phlips of Tregaron in 1852.

Roberts, Evan

Inspiring preacher who became one of the leaders of the Welsh Revival of 1904–05, attracting huge audiences before his physical collapse in 1906.

Roberts, Fr. John

(c.1575–1610). Roman Catholic priest from Trawsfynydd, Meirionydd, hanged, drawn and quartered for his priesthood at Tyburn on 10 December 1610.

Roberts, John Bryn

Died 1931. Solicitor and county court judge. Liberal, opposed Lloyd George’s coalition government.

Roberts, Kate

(1891–1985). Welsh-language novelist from Rhosgadfan, Caernarvonshire. Wrote mainly about the quarrying districts of north Wales.

Roberts, Samuel (Snr)

Independent minister, author. Unsuccessfully tried to found Welsh colony in Tennessee.

Rollerman

A skilled job in the tinplate industry.

Rood

Measure of land.

Roofing

Ripping the top or roof away and making the roof safe before mining coal.

Rorke’s Drift

Successful defence by a small contingent of South Wales Borderers of a mission station in Natal, South Africa, which was attacked by 4,000–5,000 Zulu warriors in January 1879.

Roundheads

Supporters of Parliament in the Civil War.

Rubbish men

Quarrymen who piled up the non-usable slate.

Ruins


Rybelwyr


S

Salesbury, William

Important Welsh scholar, notable particularly for his translation of the New Testament into Welsh in 1567.

Salt Lake City

State capital of Utah and international headquarters of the Mormons.

Sandby, Paul

(1725–1809) English watercolourist and engraver.

Sankey Commission

The Royal Commission on the coal industry which in 1919 advocated state ownership of the industry. The report was rejected by the government.

Sansculottes

Literally, without knee-breeches. Term applied to ultra-democrats of the French Revolution, especially to poor, ill-clad leaders of the populace.

Saracens

Name given to the Muhammadans of Syria and Palestine. Later used to denote all ‘infidel’ nations against whom crusades were preached.

Scotch Cattle

Secret societies of colliers mainly in Monmouthshire in the 1820s and 1830s who enforced community sanctions against blackleg workers and profiteers by direct action. The colliers wore masks and cattle skins and were led by a man rigged out with a horned bull's head.

Scotch Law


Scriptorium

The manuscript copying and illuminating section of a monastic house: the copying was often done in open carrels in the cloister rather than in a special room.

Second Severn Crossing

A bridge which carries the M4 across the River Severn. Work on the crossing began in 1992 with completion in 1996.

Secretary of State for Wales

The office of Secretary of State for Wales was created in October 1964 under Harold Wilson’s new Labour government. The Secretary, who in April the following year became head of the newly-created Welsh Office, had responsibility for Welsh issues and for some areas of public expenditure.

Seigneurial

Pertaining to a feudal lord rather than to the king.

Seigneurial demesnes

Land worked directly by the lord of the manor’s servants.

Seised

In legal possession of property.

Seneschal

Official in household of prince to whom control of justice and administration was given.

Senghennydd colliery disaster

An underground explosion at the Universal Colliery, Senghennydd, Glamorgan, killed 436 miners on 14 October, 1913: the worst disaster in the history of UK coalmining.

Serfdom

Serfs were tied to the lord’s land and went with the land when it changed ownership.

Severn Bridge

The first Severn Bridge, a suspension bridge, was opened in 1966.

Severn Tunnel

Constructed by the Great Western Railway company between 1873 and 1886 to connect the west of England with south Wales by railway. Chief engineer was Brunel.

Sex Disqualification (Removal) Act 1919

Theoretically outlawed the exclusion of women from the professions on grounds of their sex alone. The act was often ignored and, in any case, women were excluded, on marriage, from, for example, the teaching profession.

Sharelands

Open field belonging to a township or hamlet in which land is held in strips.

Sheriff

The principal royal official in English shires, introduced into Wales after the conquest.

Shonis

Shon is one Welsh version of the name John. Shonis is a slang, partly anglicised, version of the name.

Shrewsbury Drapers

Merchants at Shrewsbury who dominated much of the trade in Welsh cloth.

Siege train

The equipment required by an army to cut off all outside communication and supplies to a castle or town, so compelling surrender.

Singling roots

Taking out excess plants to allow one to grow fully.

Slate dressing

Cutting slate to suitable sizes – mainly for roof construction purposes.

Slate splitting

The process of separating slate rock into thin sheets.

Sliding scale

Way of determining miners’ wages according to the price of coal.

Society for the Promotion of Christian Knowledge (SPCK)

Founded in 1698 by Thomas Bray, a Church of England minister, to publish Christian literature and promote Christian education.

Socinianism

Derived from the names of two continental theologians who held Unitarian views (see also Unitarianism).

South African War

(1899–1920). Also know as the ‘Second Boer War.’ Arose to resolve issues of sovereignty between Britain and Afrikaners, and resulted in the absorption of the two Boer (Afrikaner) republics of the Orange Free State and the Transvaal Republic into the British Empire.

South Wales Miners' Federation

‘The Fed’, established in 1898 to represent the interests of coal miners in south Wales.

Spanish Civil War

Fought from 1936 to 1939 between right-wing generals under Franco and the left-wing popular front government. About 2,000 Britons fought for the International Brigade against Franco. The biggest contingent in terms of national population came from the ranks of unemployed south Wales miners, though north Wales was represented too.

SPCK


Speed, John

(c.1552–1629) The great map-maker of the early seventeenth century.

Spencer Union

1930s’ coal miners’ union in the English Midlands which broke away from the official old-established coalfield union.

Sprag

The prop used to support the roof when working a seam of coal.

Stall

The pillar and stall method of mining involved taking coal from an area, leaving a pillar of coal to support the roof. The mined area was the chamber or stall assigned to one miner to work.

Staniforth, J.M.

Joseph Morewood Staniforth (1863–1921) was staff cartoonist for the Cardiff daily newspaper the Western Mail, its sister paper the Evening Express, and also for the Sunday newspaper the News of the World, from the early 1890s until his death. Estimated to have drawn over 15,000 cartoons in the course of his career, some of his most popular work was republished in separate volumes.

St. Fagans, Battle of

(8 May 1648) Taking place near present-day Cardiff, in terms of numbers engaged it was the biggest battle fought in Wales. Government troops under Thomas Horton, defeated a Welsh rebel force (made up of disaffected Parliamentarians and Glamorgan localists) under Rowland Laugharne.

St Fagans National History Museum

Founded in 1946 in the grounds of St. Fagans Castle, a 16th-century manor house in Glamorgan, it was originally called the ‘Welsh Folk Museum’ and was set up to provide reconstructed examples of Welsh vernacular architecture. Most buildings are domestic, but the museum now includes a working-men’s institute, a mill, several workshops, a nonconformist chapel and a medieval parish church.

Stipendiary Magistrate

Paid magistrate as opposed to voluntary, unpaid justices of the peace.

Stopes, Marie

Most famous of twentieth-century advocates of birth control. Founded the first United Kingdom birth control clinic in 1921.

Stukeley, William

(1687–1765) English antiquary, especially interested in Druidism.

Subsidy

A form of taxation for a specified purpose.

Suffrage

The right to vote in parliamentary elections.

Sunday Closing (Wales) Act, 1881

Prohibited the selling of alcohol in Wales on Sundays. This was in response to the growing influence of the Temperance Movement, which began in the United Kingdom in the 1830s and gained wide support in the second half of the century – notably, in Wales, amongst the nonconformist denominations.

Sunday School

Schools held by the religious denominations on Sundays as part of worship. Reading taught from the Bible and, in Wales, embraced adults as well as children. In Wales conducted very largely in the Welsh language. Came to have an important social and, to some extent, recreational function.

Supplication

Appeals to God through prayer, usually for the forgiveness of sins and the release of souls from purgatory.

SWMF

See South Wales Miners' Federation.

T

Taff Vale Railway

Built between 1836 and 1841 between Merthyr Tydfil and Cardiff, with Brunel as chief engineer. Subsequently, numerous branch lines were constructed – reaching Maerdy at the head of the Rhondda Fach in 1856. Construction involved the building of a substantial viaduct at Pontypridd.

Taliesin

Sixth-century poet, the author of a number of poems contained in the fourteenth-century Book of Taliesin.

Tân yn Llŷn

(‘Fire in Llŷn’). On 8 September 1936 Lewis, Saunders, D.J. Williams and Lewis Valentine – three members of Plaid Genedlaethol Cymru, started a fire at a government ‘bombing school’ at Penyberth on the Llŷn Peninsula. Following the failure of a Caernarfon jury to agree a verdict, the trial was reheard in London, where the three were convicted and sentenced to nine months’ imprisonment.

Tenant-in-chief

A magnate holding land directly from the king, as Llywelyn and the greater earls did.

Test and Corporation Acts

Acts of 1661, 1673 and 1678 which prevented non-Anglicans from holding public office or being on municipal corporations. The Acts were repealed in 1828.

Thomas, D. A

Later Lord Rhondda. Liberal MP, coalowner, ally of Lloyd George. Helped create Cymru Fydd – and destroy it.

Thomas, Dylan

(1914–1953). Swansea-born poet, dramatist and short-story writer of international standing.

Thomas, Gwyn

(1913–1981), novelist and playwright , from Porth, Rhondda.

Thomas, Ronald Stuart (R.S.)

(1913–2000), Church in Wales minister and poet from Cardiff, who lived for most of his life in north Wales.

Tithe

The tenth of a person’s income given to supporting a church – in this case, the established Church of England.

Tithe Commutation Act

Payment of tithes in kind (animals, crops, etc.) was commuted to payment in money in 1836 by this Act.

Tithe Rent Charge Act 1891

Act of Parliament by which tithes were subsumed into rent.

Tithe War

Opposition by Nonconformist north Wales’ farmers to paying a portion of their income to the Anglican church, sometimes erupting into violence when goods were confiscated for non-payment.

Toll-Gates

These gates were erected on turnpike roads in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. Trusts were set up to build improved roads and were financed by tolls charged on animals and goods at the toll-gates.

Tonypandy Riots (1910)

A dispute between miners and management at the Cambrian Combine over a reduction in wage-rates led to a lock-out and strike, resulting in conflict between strikers and police, and rioting in Tonypandy. One miner died, and Churchill, Winston (as Home Secretary) famously sent troops to restore order.

Tory Party

Political party. In the nineteenth century generally associated with the establishment, whether the church or state, and conservative policies, though on occasions had radical wings and sometimes implemented radical policies. Eventually became the Conservative Party. Opposed by the Liberal Party as a radical alternative.

Tower Colliery

Colliery opened near Hirwaun in 1864; continued until closure by the government in 1994. In 1995 the miners bought the colliery themselves and resumed production, which continued until final closure, due to depleted coal seams, on 25 January 2008.

Transhumance graziers

Farmers who transferred sheep or cattle to different pastures with changes of climate. Effectively, moving cattle and sheep in the summer season.

Transubstantiation

Transformation of the substance of the bread and wine of the Eucharist into the body and blood of Christ; a doctrine denied by Protestant churches.

Transvaal

State of South Africa. See Boer War.

Treason trials

Trials of leading English democrats suspected of spreading the ideas of the French Revolution, 1794.

Treaty of Versailles

The treaty between the allies and Germany after the First World War.

Trevithick's steam locomotive

In 1802 Richard Trevithick built a steam engine at Penydarren Ironworks, Merthyr Tydfil. In 1804 this was mounted on a carriage with wheels and successfully pulled 5 wagons of iron along the tramroad from Penydarren to Abercynon.

Tripartite Indenture

Alliance made in 1405 between Owain Glyndŵr, Edmund Mortimer and the Earl of Northumberland, with the aim of dividing England and Wales between them, involving an extension of the borders of Wales.

Truck Shops


Tryweryn

In 1965 the Tryweryn valley in north Wales was flooded to create a reservoir to provide water for Liverpool. There was strong opposition as it was a Welsh-speaking area and the project involved the drowning of the village of Capel Celyn.

Tuberculosis

Infectious disease in man and animals. Most common form is pulmonary tuberculosis. Economic conditions have a notable effect on its rate of occurrence, with the working class being most susceptible to the disease. High death rate until effective drug therapy was developed in the 1940s and 1950s.

Tuckers’ guild

Organisation of lace or linen makers.

Turnpike Tolls


U

Uchelwyr

The Welsh word for gentry.

Unemployment Assistance Act


Union House

Normally refers to workhouses set up by groups or unions of parishes under the terms of the Poor Law Amendment Act of 1834. See Poor Law.

Unionism

Trade unionism.

Union legislation

The Acts of 1536 and 1543 whereby England and Wales were united under the law, administration and language prevailing in England. See Act of Union, First (1536) and Act of Union, Second (1543).

Unitarianism

Nonconformist religious denomination rejecting the orthodox doctrine of the Trinity and, thus, denying the divinity of Christ.

University of Wales Constituency

In the inter-war years the University of Wales, like other universities, had separate representation in the House of Commons, with the vote available to graduates of the University.

Urdd Gobaith Cymru

(Welsh League of Hope). Welsh-language youth movement, organising cultural and sporting activities.

V

Valor Ecclesiasticus

The evaluation of ecclesiastical land carried out in 1535.

Vassal

A person who acknowledged another as an overlord and was bound by obligations to that overlord.

Vestry Room

Originally related to the room where the parish vestry, the equivalent of a local council, met. Developed into meaning an ante–room in a church or chapel where deacons’ meetings and chapel functions were held.

Villein

An unfree agricultural peasant, bound to provide labour service for his lord in return for a small land holding.

Vivaries

Game pens.

Volney, Constantin de

(1757–1820) French aristocrat, author of Les Ruines, ou Méditations sur les Revolutions des Empires (1791), a work advocating equality of all men, the overthrow of despotism, and religious toleration.

Voltairean

Follower of the doctrines of the French philosopher, Voltaire (1694–1778), one of the great figures of the Enlightenment.

W

Wakes Weeks

Traditional factory holidays in Lancashire and Yorshire when all factories and businesses closed down at the same time. The timing varied from town to town.

Wallia pura

The areas of Wales not settled by Normans or English, remaining in the hands of the native Welsh.

Wars of the Roses

Civil wars of the fifteenth century in England.

WEA

Workers’ Educational Association – provides classes in a wide variety of subjects for adult workers.

Weald

Wooded region of Kent and Sussex famous for its charcoal iron industry.

Weighs


Welsh Calvinistic Methodists


Welsh Church Act (1914)

Act of Parliament to disestablish the Anglican church in Wales from the Church of England.

Welsh Department of the Board of Education

Founded 1907. Gave Wales some control over the inspection and administration of schools.

Welsh Intermediate Education Act 1889

Act of Parliament which resulted in the founding of a system of secondary education in Wales and consolidated the university college provision.

Welsh National Memorial

Launched by David Davies, MP, with a gift of £125,000 in 1910. Concerned with investigating social deprivation in Wales, especially to counter the high incidence of tuberculosis in Wales.

Welsh Not

Piece of wood put around the necks of pupils who spoke Welsh in schools.

Welsh Office

Established in April 1965 under Harold Wilson’s new Labour government, the Welsh Office was a central government department responsible for Welsh issues. The Secretary of State for Wales was its head. Its headquarters were in Whitehall, London. With devolution, its powers were largely transferred to the Welsh Assembly Government.

Welshry

A community, within a royal shire, governed according to Welsh law.

Wesleyan Methodists


Wesley, John

(1703–91) Leader of the Wesleyan Methodists.

Western Vindicator

Chartist newspaper published in Bath, 1839–40.

Wey (Weigh)

Measure of coal, equal to about eight tons.

Whig

Political grouping in opposition to the Tories in the nineteenth century. Associated with radical policies. Developed eventually into the Liberal Party in the second half of the nineteenth century.

Wilkes, John

(1727–97) Radical English politician and journalist, arrested by a general warrant for seditious libel in 1763. His case established the important principle that general warrants are illegal.

Wilkins, Charles

Merthyr ironmaster and historian. Wrote History of Merthyr Tydfil (1867), a source for the early history of the iron industry there. Also wrote History of the Coal Trade of Wales and History of the Iron, Steel, Tinplate and other Trades of Wales.

Williams, David

(1738–1816). Radical political philosopher and Deist from Eglwysilan, Glamorgan; a native of the Caerphilly area of mid-Glamorgan.

Williams, Edward


Williams, Emlyn

Welsh actor and playwright.

Williams, Sir T. Marchant

Died 1914. Barrister and writer. Born Aberdare. Coalminer’s son. Schoolmaster, stipendiary magistrate.

Williams, William (Pantycelyn)

(1717–1791), born in Carmarthenshire: an important hymn-writer and leading figure in the Methodist movement in Wales.

Williams, W. Llewellyn

Son of tenant farmer from Llansadwrn. Liberal MP, lawyer, historian, supporter of Cymru Fydd.

Williams, Zephaniah

(1795–1874). From Bedwellty, Monmouthshire, Williams was one of the leaders of the Newport Rising, 1839, in which he led the march from Nantyglo to Newport. With Frost, John, he was as a result convicted of treason but had his death-sentence commuted to transportation for life to Tasmania. With Frost, he was pardoned in 1856, but remained for the rest of his life in Tasmania.

Women’s Social and Political Union

A movement set up to campaign for women’s rights.

Woodstock, Treaty of (1247)

Treatry stating that the Princes of Gwynedd were henceforth to hold their territories as feudal vassals of the English Crown.

Worcester, Treaty of (1218)

Confirmed Llywelyn ab Iorwerth (Llywelyn Fawr/Llywelyn the Great) in possession of all his recent conquests.

Working Men’s Association

Established in 1836 by William Lovett and Henry Hetherington. Initiated the Charter from which Chartism eventually took its name. Hetherington was a close friend of Hugh Williams of Carmarthen (the solicitor who defended participants in the Rebecca Riots, and a Chartist) and in 1837 Williams became Secretary of the W.M.A. branch in Carmarthen. In 1838/9 about 50 branches of the W.M.A. were started in the south Wales coalfield. The movement fought to secure rights for the industrial working class.

Y

Yeomen

Came in the social and economic scale below gentry but above husbandmen. Technically held land worth £2 per annum and above. The lowest rank allowed to read the Bible.

Y Faner

Nineteenth-century Liberal radical Welsh-language newspaper.

Yny Lhyvyr Hwnn

(In this Book). The first book printed in Welsh, in 1546, consisting of translations into Welsh of the Creed, the Ten Commandments, the Pater Noster and other prayers.


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