Marie De Saedeleer

Place of birth: Sint-Martens-Latem, Belgium

Service: Weaver

Notes: Marie was the eldest of five daughters of the Belgian artist Valerius de Saedeleer. He was among a group of artists encouraged by Gwendoline and Margaret Davies [qv] to come to Wales as refugees in 1914. The family settled in Aberystwyth, with strong ties to University College, Aberystwyth. Marie, like her sister Elisabeth, [qv] became interested in weaving. They both taught in the newly formed Arts and Crafts department of the college, together with their father. On her return to Belgium in 1921 Marie worked with her sister Elisabeth at the Arts Centre they set up in Etikhove, Belgium.

Reference: WaW0332

Marie de Saedeleer and her sisters

Marie is one of the two girls standing at the front by their loom. Elisabeth is at the back.

Newspaper report

Report of a concert in aid of Dr Barnardo’s. Cambrian News 23rd August 1918.

Edith Picton Turbervill

Place of birth: Fownhope, Herefordshire

Service: Welfare worker, MP, Y W C A

Death: 1960, Cause not known

Notes: Edith (born 1872) was a twin [qv Beatrice Picton-Warlow], one of many children of John Picton Turbervill who inherited Ewenny Priory, Glamorgan in 1891. Always very devout, she worked with the families of navvies working on the Vale of Glamorgan railway and poor families in London After six years in India she returned to Britain to be foreign secretary of the Y.W.C.A. When war broke out, she raised quarter of a million pounds to build Y.W.C.A. hostels for young women munitions and farm workers. A strong supporter of ordination of women, she preached in several non-conformist chapels in Wales before becoming the first woman to preach in an Anglican church, in 1919, wearing ‘cassock and surplice’. As she was over six foot tall, with ‘a rather loud voice’, she impressed the newspapers. In that year too she joined the Labour party. After two unsuccessful attempts, she was elected MP for Wrekin in Shropshire in 1929. During her brief Parliamentary career she successfully introduced the bill to stop the execution of pregnant women.

Sources: Angela V John: Rocking the Boat, Parthian Press 2018

Reference: WaW0442

Edith Picton Turbervill

Photograph of Edith Picton Turbervill, c.1910

Newspaper report

Edith was clearly a good shot! Glamorgan Gazette 23rd October 1908.

Newspaper report

Report of the inaugural meeting launching the provision of Y.M.C.A. hostels for munitions workers in Wales (part 1). Glamorgan Gazette 13 October 1916.

Newspaper report

Report of the inaugural meeting launching the provision of Y.M.C.A. hostels for munitions workers in Wales (part 2). Glamorgan Gazette 13 October 1916.

Newspaper report

Report of Edith Picton Turbervill preaching in the Bishopsgate Congregational Chapel. Cambrian Daily Leader 14th February 1919.

Newspaper report

‘Small Talk’ column describing Edith Picton Turbervill preaching at a regular Church of England service in North Somercotes, Lincs. Glamorgan Gazette 11th July 1919.

Newspaper report

Report of Edith Picton Turbervill joining the Labour Party. Cambria Daily Leader 18th January 1919

Photograph

The Labour women MPs elected in 1929, Edith Picton Turbervill is centre back. Front right is a very young Jennie Lee, later married to Aneurin Bevan. Aged 24, she was too young to vote, but not too young to stand. Next to her is Ellen Wilkinson.

Jane Charlotte Stapleton Cotton (née Methuen)

Service: WI President

Notes: Jane Stapleton was the wife of Col Richard Stapleton Cotton, a land-owner and keen promoter of agricultural and social improvements. He introduced the idea of forming a Women’s Institute in Llanfairpwll, Anglesey, after meeting the Canadian Mrs Margaret Watt, who was involved in early Women’s Institutes in Canada. The first institute opened in June 1915, with Jane Stapleton as President. The programme was very much dictated by Col Stapleton Cotton; he and his dog Tinker remain the only two males to have been full WI members.

Sources: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p01sdvv0; www.afwi.org.uk/the-first-wi-in-britain.html

Reference: WaW0241

Mrs Jane Stapleton Cotton

Mrs Stapleton 1st President of Llanfairpwll Women’s Institute

Col Stapleton Cotton and his dog Tinker

Col Stapleton Cotton and his dog Tinker were the only males ever to be full members of the Women’s Institute.

Newspaper report

Report of Llanfairpwll WI’s first Annual Meeting. North Wales Chronicle 22nd Sept 1916

Margaret Morris

Place of birth: Swansea

Service: Widow, Mother, Munitions Worker

Death: --, Tawe Lodge, Swansea, Tuberculosis / Y diciau

Notes: Margaret Morris began work at NEF Pembrey after her soldier husband was killed in August 1916. There she is said to have contracted the tuberculosis from which she died. She left children aged 12, 8 and 2 and a half.

Reference: WaW0096

Death of Margaret Morris

Account of death of Margaret Morris, Cambrian Daily Leader 30 April 1919

Gertrude Fairclough

Place of birth: Lancashire, 1880

Service: Wife and Mother

Notes: Gertrude Fairclough was the wife of Major Rowland Fairclough, Royal Welch Fusiliers, and spent her married life in Mold, Flintshire. Family traditions says that once her husband had joined his regiment in France (despite being 48 in 1914), she moved into a hotel.

Reference: WaW0076

Gertrude Fairclough c.1915

Gertrude Fairclough née Appleby, wife of Major Rowland Fairclough, Royal Welch Fusiliers.

Elizabeth Hopkins

Service: Wife and Mother

Notes: Elizabeth Hopkins, nee Thomas (1882-1959) and David Hopkins (1877-1949) - married 8th October 1905. Photograph taken around 16th November 1914 when David enlisted in the South Wales Borderers. David and Elizabeth already had four children, the eldest only 8 years old, the youngest 21 months. Although David is proud to have volunteered Elizabeth looks distinctly worried about the future - with good reason for David was seriously wounded at Gallipoli from which he never fully recovered.

Reference: WaW0070

Elizabeth and David Hopkins.

A proud David and apprehensive Elizabeth Hopkins, November 1914.

Olwen Jones (née Lewis)

Service: Wife, mother

Notes: 'My grandmother Olwen Jones with her two daughters, Dora Louise, on the left, aged two+ and Frances, right thirteen months younger.  This was taken in 1916, when my grandfather [Percy Jones, Welsh Regiment] was conscripted and sent to France.  He was wounded, but eventually returned to Abercarn and they had two more children post the war.' Rosemary Scadden.

Reference: WaW0036

Olwen Jones and daughters

Olwen Jones with her daughters Dora and Frances. Photograph taken when husbad Percy Jones was conscripted in 1916.

May Selwood

Place of birth: Newport

Service: Wife, widow

Death: 1995-11-03, Cause not known

Notes: May’s husband William Henry Selwood died of shell shock on 1st January 1919. She remained a widow for her remaining 76 years – credited with being the longest WW1 widow in Britain. She is buried in Christchurch Cemetery, Newport.

Reference: WaW0106

Grave of May Selwood

Grave of May Selwood who is credited with being the longest WW1 widow in Britain. Christchurch Cemetery, Newport

Death Notice of William Henry Selwood

Death Notice of William Henry Selwood, died 1st January 1919

May Brooks

Place of birth: Cardiff

Service: Worker, WAAC/QMAAC, 1917 - 1919

Notes: May Brooks was a clerk in a confectionary firm before joining the WAAC. She served at various places in the south of England. She contracted influenza, spending a week in hospital, and was discharged on compassionate grounds in June 1919. Image and information courtesy of Glamorgan Archives (DWESA6).

Sources: https://archifaumorgannwg.wordpress.com/

Reference: WaW0117

May Brooks, WAAC/QMAAC. Image courtesy of Glamorgan Archives

May Brooks in the outdoor uniform of the WAAC/QMAAC. Image courtesy of Glamorgan Archives

Gertrude Winifred Allan Dyer

Place of birth: Newport

Service: Worker, QMAAC

Death: 1918-01-27, Cause not known

Memorial: Christchurch Cemetery, Newport, Monmouthshire

Notes: aged 38. On her grave it says that the stone was erected by her family and ‘Newport Women’s Liberal Association of which she was the secretary for 18 years’. A plaque has also been placed on her grave by the Commonwealth War Commission. Her name also appears on the WW1 Roll of Honour book kept in Newport Reference Library and the Welsh National Book of Remembrance.

Reference: WaW0103

Grave of Gertrude Dyer

Grave of Gertrude Dyer, Christchurch Cemetery, Newport

Name of Gertrude Dyer

Name of Gertrude Dyer, Newport Roll of Honour, Newport

Memorial plaque

CWGC memorial plaque to Gertrude Dyer