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

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.

Rightly, correctly.

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

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

Pertaining to the policies of Rendel, Stuart.

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

(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.

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

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

Furnace in which metal is smelted by an indirect heat.

The deputy of the king or lord in Welsh law.

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

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.

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

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

(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’.

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

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

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

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

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

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

A skilled job in the tinplate industry.

Measure of land.

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

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.

Supporters of Parliament in the Civil War.

Quarrymen who piled up the non-usable slate.

See Volney, Constantin de.

See Rubbish men.