Author: Dai Davies
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Sleep my Beloved
It was March, 1939. The world was tense with anticipation for the coming war. The two dictators, Hitler and Mussolini, were busy carrying out their imperialist machinations on the continent and, at home, the Swansea Air Raid Precaution Corps was busily preparing the town should the conflict spill over the English Channel. The newspapers reminded…
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A Local Hero: Thomas Evans of College Street, Lampeter (1875–1906)
1899 was a busy year for Thomas Evans of Lampeter. After years of training as an apprentice, Thomas finally left home for the nearby town of Lampeter to open his butcher’s shop. [1] Whether he chose to become a butcher or it chose him, he was following in his father’s footsteps. His parents, Evan Evans…
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The Phone Under the Settee
The light on the answering machine was always blinking. Blinking as I got home from school. Blinking when we got back with the groceries. Blinking. Blinking. Blinking… Why does nobody ever answer this blinkin’ phone!? Oh where oh where has the telephone gone?Do you think we can ever find it again?Could be under the settee…
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A Rural Reverend: Tegid Arthur Davies of Llanfihangel y Pennant (1870–1921)
December 13th, 1893, was an important day in the life of 23-year-old Tegid Arthur Davies. After years of hard work, he finally graduated from St. David’s College in Lampeter with his Bachelors degree (with honours).[1] This was the first big step towards following in the footsteps of his father and two elder brothers in becoming…
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The Orator: Margaret Davies of Llwynon, Cellan
Stretched before Margaret sat a crowd of 90 children from Cellan day school. On this Boxing Day, 1894, she and her husband had invited the students and their teachers to their home for tea. Margaret had just presented each child with a Bible and Christmas card and now they all sat, faces eager, applauding and…
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Cellan’s Lending Library: Education in a Small Welsh Place
It was a day like any other in the Welsh parish of Cellan, September 25th, 1765, when a small iron chest arrived at the doors of All Saints’ Anglican Church. A special delivery, the first of its kind, for the Rev. Williams. Heavy, despite its size, the chest was lugged onto a sturdy wooden pew…
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Herald of Progress: James Dendle of Collingbrook House, Ilfracombe (1846–1892)
James Dendle came from humble beginnings. He was the son of one of the many Devonshire families that left the county for opportunities in south Wales (Cardiff). His family only stayed there for a few years, however, before laying down roots in Ilfracombe, back in Devon, where James was born in 1846. His mother, Sarah…
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Reading More to Write Better, 2025
This July, I dug through the clutter on my bookshelf and pulled out a notebook. It was old in the sense that I was given it many years ago (and it’s partially decayed) but brand new in the sense that I’d never found a purpose for it. In this notebook, from here forward, I’ve decided…
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A Rural Farmer: Thomas Griffith of Olmarch Fawr, Bettws Leiki (1841–1886)
Thomas Griffith was born on March 27, 1841, at Olwmarch Fawr, in the parish fo Bettws Leiki, Cardiganshire, Wales. He was the third son of Anne Davies and William John Griffith, tenant farmers.[1] If his childhood was anything like his eldest brother’s (he wrote a short autobiography in his old age), Thomas spent much of…
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A Christmas Kindness
My mum’s cousin died today. I knew her by name and by the stories my close family told about her, but I’d only met her a few times. I don’t actually know much about her life at all—certainly none of the things family historians normally write about. But one Christmas, she touched my heart with…