Margaret Haig Thomas (Mrs/Lady Mackworth, Lady Rhondda)

Place of birth: London

Service: Suffragette, business woman, Commissioner and Controller, editor and publisher, Women’s National Service Department, Ministry of

Death: 1958/07/20, London, Cause not known

Notes: Margaret Haig Thomas, born 1883, was the only child of D.A.Thomas MP, first Viscount Rhondda, and his wife Sybil. The family home was in Llanwern. The family were supporters of women’s suffrage, and Margaret joined the WSPU in Newport in 1909, becoming increasingly militant. In June 1913 she spent six days in Usk Gaol following an attempt to burn out a pillar box in Newport. She strongly supported the war, but did not follow Emmeline and Christabel Pankhurst’s extreme jingoism. After working on behalf of Belgian refugees in the early months of the war, she was travelling to New York in the Lusitania, with her father, when it was hit by a German torpedo and sunk on 7th May 1915. Margaret and her father both survived, though she was unconscious in the water for over two hours. [click on the link for her account recorded in 1950 http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p02qvqwp ]. In 1916 she began work for the Ministry of National Service in Wales, and London, becoming Commissioner of Women’s National Service in Wales and Monmouthshire early in 1917, particularly charged with encouraging girls and women into agriculture. Soon she was also heavily recruiting young women for the WAAC, particularly those qualified to work as army clerks in France. Women were also needed for the newly formed WRNS and WRAF. In February 1918 she was appointed Chief Controller of the Women’s Section of the Ministry of National Service.rnOn the death of her father in 1918 Margaret inherited the title of Lady Rhondda. She continued in business and public life for many years after the war.rn

Sources: Angela V John Turning the Tide’, Parthian Books 2013 http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p02qvqwp

Reference: WaW0257

Newspaper advertisement

Advertisement for a meeting in Brecon to be addressed by Lady Mackworth. Brecon County Times 12th April 1917

Newspaper report

First section of a long report of Lady Mackworth’s experiences in the sinking of the Lusitania. Cambrian Daily Leader 10th May 1915. For full account go to http://newspapers.library.wales/search?alt=full_text%3A%22Lady%22+AND+full_text%3A%22Mackworth%22&range%5Bmin%5D=1915-1-01T00%3A00%3A00Z&range%5Bmax%5D=1915-12-31T00%3A00%3A00Z&page=5

Newspaper report

Report of Mrs Mackworth’s release from Usk Gaol. Aberdare Leader 19th July 1913.

Photograph of WAAC clerks

Photograph of newly recruited WAAC clerks on the steps of the Law Courts, Cardiff, June 1917. They are about to leave for France. Margaret Mackworth is front right

Welsh Outlook

Margaret Mackworth’s article on National Service for Welsh women, in the periodical Welsh Outlook, vol 4, no 7, July 1917.

Newspaper advertisement

Advertisement for Women’s War Work Week exhibition, held at Howells department store, Cardiff, April 1918.

Dorothea Adelaide Lawry Pughe Jones

Place of birth: Surrey

Service: Suffragist, Commandant, Ethnographer, Educationalist, Public servant, Church Warden, Heiress., VAD, 1914 - 1920

Death: 1955, Cause not known

Notes: Dorothea Pughe Jones, born 1875, inherited Ynysgain, Cricieth from her father in 1897. Following his death she attended Oxford University where she studied history followed by a diploma in ethnography. She was awarded a prize at the 1901 National Eisteddfod for a Welsh history textbook. In 1902 she was part of a British Government team inspecting education in the concentration camps for Boers in South Africa. In 1910 she was one of the founders of the Bangor and District Women’s Suffrage Society. She joined the VAD in 1914, initially as Quartermaster of Caernarfon, but volunteered for service in France in 1915. She was Commandant of the Hotel des Anglaises, the hostel for the relatives of wounded officers in Le Touquet, France, for which she was awarded the MBE. Whilst in France she was appointed Churchwarden in Cricieth despite objections that she was ‘a lady’. In November 1918 she was posted to Salonika as Principal Commandant of the VAD, until May 1920. After her return she was sent by the Government to research openings for women in Australia.

Sources: GB 0210 YNYSGAIN - Pughe-Jones of Ynysgain Collection of Deeds and Papers National Library of Wales Women members and witnesses on British Government ad hoc Committees of Inquiry Elaine Harrison, London School of Economics, Doctor of Philosophy, 1998.

Reference: WaW0320

Dorothea Pughe Jones

Dorothea Pughe Jones in VAD Commandant’s uniform.

Red Cross record card

Red Cross card for Dorothea Pughe Jones. She had three cards in all.

Red Cross record card (reverse)

Reverse of card listing Dorothea’s VAD career.

Newspaper report

Report of Dorothea Pughe Jones’s Eisteddfod prize. Cambrian News 23rd August 1901.

Newspaper report

Report of Dorothea Pughe Jones’s return from South Africa. Cambrian News 8th May 1903.

Newspaper report

Report of meeting of AGM of Bangor and District Women’s Suffrage Society. North Wales Express 2nd December 1910.

Postcard

Postcard of Hotel des Anglaises, the VAD hostel in Le Touquet run by Dorothea Pughe Jones.

Newspaper report

Report of Dorothea’s appointment as churchwarden. North Wales Chronicle 20th April 1917.

Newspaper report

Australian newspaper report of Dorothea Pughe Jones’s role in the enquiry into openings in Australia for women from the UK. The Advertiser 10th January 1920 Adelaide S Australia.

Eliza Davies (née Belton)

Place of birth: Norfolk

Service: Supervisor, munitions, NEF Pembrey

Notes: Originally from Norforlk, Eliza was in service in Builth when she met her husband Huw Davies and they moved to Fforest Fach. Huw died in 1916 and Eliza began work at Pembrey, being promoted to supervisor. In 1920 she was awarded the MoBE ‘for courage and presence of mind in removing a burning fuze from a box of components, thus obviating what might have been a very serious explosion’. Her eldest daughter Mabel Elsie [qv] also worked at Pembrey.

Sources: Peoples Collection Wales

Reference: WaW0321

Eliza Davies and family

Eliza Davies and her family, probably taken in 1916 while they were still in mourning for Huw. Mrs Dorothy Jones 2018.

London Gazette

Notice of Eliza Davies’s award of the MoBE, London Gazette 7th July 1920.

Letter

Letting inviting Eliza Davies to her award of the MoBE, 23rd September 1920. Mrs Dorothy Jones 2018.

Edith Phillips (Humphreys)

Place of birth: Pontypool

Service: Sweetheart

Notes: Edith was a friend of the Humphreys family (see Elizabeth Humphreys). Both Owen and George Humphreys wrote to her regularly, and Owen gave her a rosary he found on the battlefield. Owen was killed in November 1916. Edith married George in 1923.

Reference: WaW0136

Edith (née Phillips) and George Humphreys

Wedding photograph of Edith (née Phillips) and George Humphreys with family members. She is sitting right, with George standing behind her. 1923

Rosary

Rosary found on the battlefield by Owen Humphreys, given to Edith Phillips.

Postcard

Postcard from George Humphreys to Edith Phillips, postmarked 20th March 1915

Field postcard

Field Postcard sent to Edith Phillips by Owen Humphreys, Sept 8th 1916.

Mary Ellen Hopkins (Roderick)

Place of birth: Cardigan, 1886

Service: Teacher

Notes: Mary trained as a teacher at Swansea Training College. She lived in Llanelli and taught at Burry Port until her marriage to John Aneurin Roderick in 1916. Her student autograph album survives, showing her friendships.

Reference: WaW0130

Mary Hopkins c.1916

Mary Hopkins around the time of her marriage, 1916.

Page from album

‘An ‘Old Dorm’ Trinity’

Page from album

‘4 EVENINGS – 1 WK IN BRITON FERRY’

Gwen Lewis

Place of birth: Swansea

Service: Teacher

Notes: Gwen Lewis set sail from Tilbury for Gibraltar on 26th February 1916, to be married in Gibraltar. The following day, at about 10.30, the liner, SS Majola, struck a mine off Dover and sank with the loss of 155 lives. Gwen survived, but lost all her possessions including the travelling watch with which she had been presented on leaving Terrace-roads school. Her story was published at length in the South Wales Weekly Post and Llais Llafur.

Reference: WaW0265

Gwen Lewis

Miss Gwen Lewis, published in the South Wales Weekly Post 4th March 1916rnrn

Newspaper report

Report of Gwen Lewis’s experiences (1). South Wales Weekly Post 4th March 1916rnrn

Newspaper report

Report of Gwen Lewis’s experiences (2). South Wales Weekly Post 4th March 1916rnrn

Newspaper report

Report of Gwen Lewis’s experiences (3). South Wales Weekly Post 4th March 1916rnrn

Newspaper report

Report of Gwen Lewis’s experiences (4), South Wales Weekly Post 4th March 1916rnrn

Alice M Bale

Service: Teacher

Notes: Alice Bale was the first head of the Infants Department of Marlborough Road School when it opened in 1900. She retired in 1924. In 1918 she was elected as one of the three headteacher members of the Welsh University Court.

Reference: WaW0407

Newspaper report

Report of Alice Bale’s election to the Welsh University Court. Llangollen Advertiser 15th March 1918rn

Marlborough Road School

Architect’s drawing of the new Marlborough Road School. Western Mail 12th January 1900.

Emily May Thomas (née Matthews)

Place of birth: Carmarthen

Service: Teacher

Death: November /1918 / Tac, Carmarthen, Influenza / y ffliw

Notes: Emily was educated at the County Girls’ School Carmarthen, and matriculated at the early age of 16. She became a teacher at the Model (Church) School in Carmarthen. In February 1918 She married Lieutenant Richard Thomas of the Machine Gun Corps, also a teacher. He was wounded in October 1918. In November, just after he came home from hospital, Emily contracted influenza and died.

Reference: WaW0423

Newspaper report

Report of Emily Matthews’s matriculation success. Carmarthen Weekly Reporter 9th September 1910.

Newspaper report

Report of Emily Matthews marriage to Richard Thomas. Carmarthen Weekly Reporter 15th February 1918.

Newspaper report

Report of Lieutenant Thomas’s wounding. Cambria Daily Leader 4th October 1918.

Newspaper report

Report of Emily Thomas’s death. Carmarthen Journal 22nd November 1918.

Agnes Hughes (Dennis)

Place of birth: Abercynon ?

Service: Teacher, activist, No Conscription Fellowship

Notes: Agnes Hughes and her family became friends of Keir Hardie, the Independent Labour Party MP for Merthyr Tydfil. Her brother Emrys, later an MP too, married Hardie’s daughter. The family were pacifist, and Agnes was a member of the No Conscription Fellowship. After Emrys was arrested as a Conscientious Objector she published an account of his experiences in the Pioneer newspaper. She was a leading figure in the local NCF, which was a social as well as political group. She later married Hedley Dennis.

Reference: WaW0239

Newspaper report

Report of Agnes Hughes's visit to Devizes prison (1).

Newspaper report

Report of Agnes Hughes's visit to Devizes prison I2)

Newpaper report

Report of an NCF outing.

Jennie Vaughan

Place of birth: Glamorganshire ? or London ?

Service: Teacher, activist

Notes: Jennie Vaughan was an assistant teacher at Garnant Council School; she was self-taught and had not been to training college. She may not have been a natural teacher. In 1915 she was punched by the mother of ‘the worst girl in the school’, a case that was reported at great length in the Amman Valley Chronicle and elsewhere. She also had a dispute with the school managers over her pay. Jennie was elected to the executive council of the Llanelly District Parliamentary Division Labour Party in April 1918, and made some speeches strongly in support of the Labour candidate in the 1918 general election.

Reference: WaW0289

Newspaper report

Beginning of a long report on Jennie Vaughan’s assault case, The whole reported in the Amman Valley Chronicle 23rd September 1915, p 3, is over 4000 words.

Newspaper report

Jennie Vaughan’s complaint about pay. Carmarthen Journal 4th June 1915.

Newspaper report

Report of Jennie Vaughan’s speech supporting the Labour candidate. Amman Valley Chronicle 5th December 1918.