Rose Owen

Place of birth: not known

Service: Abortionist

Notes: Rose Owen was brought before the magistrates in Bridgend in August 1919 charged with performing an illegal operation on Elizabeth Williams, a widow. The case was drawn out, because Elizabeth Williams was seriously ill. However she recovered, and the case went to Cardiff Crown Court where Mrs Owen was sentenced to 18 months hard labour. She seems to have been a professional abortionist, as ‘women from the valleys and from Cardiff’ had been seen entering her house, as well as single girls who stayed there.

Reference: WaW0461

Newspaper report

Part of the report of Rose Owen’s appearance before the Bridgend magistrates. Glamorgan Gazette 8th August 1919

Newspaper report

Part of the report of Rose Owen’s trial and conviction at Cardiff Crown Court. Glamorgan Gazette 21st November 1919

Gertrude Morgan

Place of birth: Bridgend ?

Service: Ticket cillector, GWR

Notes: Gertrude, a ticket collector at Bridgend railway station, was subject to an assault by Lewis Davies, who kicked her in the thigh. He and another collier had been attempting to travel without a ticket. The magistrate said that ‘there was far too much of this hooliganism’ at Bridgend and Davies was fined £2.

Reference: WaW0458

Newspaper report

Report of the fracas at Bridgend Railway Station. Glamorgan Gazette 13th September 1918

Nancy Davies

Place of birth: Swansea

Service: Child performer

Notes: ‘Little Nancy Davies’, was billed as ‘Swansea’s little star’. She was a highly regarded child comedienne who appeared in fund-raising concerts in the Swansea area in 1918 and became a regular at the Swansea Empire. She also appeared on the bill of the Cardiff Empire.

Reference: WaW0456

Newspaper advertisement

Nancy Davies’s name on the bill of the Swansea Empire. Cambria Daily Leader 18th April 1919

Newspaper report

Review of Nancy Davies at the Swansea Empire. South Wales Weekly Post 10th May 1919

Newspaper report

Promotional piece about Nancy Davies. Cambria Daily Leader 15th November 1919

Fannie Thomas

Place of birth: Dolgellau

Service: Teacher, Suffragette, Councillor

Notes: Born in 1868, one of six children of an accountant at the National Provincial Bank, Fannie Thomas was a teacher, suffragette, and from1895 Headmistress first of the Infants school and after 1908 Ffaldau Girls School Pontycymer, where she remained for 35 years. Her interest in women’s suffrage arose through her membership of the National Union of Teachers where women teachers were fighting for equality with male teachers. In 1906 she was one of those who formed the National Union of Women Teachers, of which she was President in 1912. She invited Adela Pankhurst to speak on suffrage at Pontycymer (to raise funds for the NSPCC) in April 1907, and herself spoke on numerous occasion, being described by the Glamorgan Gazette as ‘a doughty warrior in the women’s cause’. She was part of the Welsh contingent of the Women’s Coronation Procession of 1911. Her position at the school made her fully aware of the poverty in the area and in November 1914 she stood unsuccessfully for the Board of Guardians (being beaten by another women, Mrs Edmund Evans, by 32 votes.) Fannie did however stand successfully as a Labour candidate for Ogmore and Garw Urban District Council in 1919 and later became leader of the council. Fannie Thomas is said to be the first woman in the Garw Valley to wear breeches (her nickname locally was Fanny Bloomers) and the first to ride a motor-bike. rnWith many thanks to Ryland Wallacern

Sources: Ryland Wallace :‘A doughty warrior in the women’s cause’. Llafur 2018 volume 12 number 3

Reference: WaW0460

Newspaper report

Report of Adela Pankhurst’s talk in aid of the NSPCC organised by Fannie Thomas. Glamorgan Gazette 19th April 1907

Newspaper report

Report of a debate on women’s suffrage at the Ffaldau Institute; Fannie Thomas proposed the motion ‘should women have the vote’. Glamorgan Gazette 22nd January 1909

Newspaper report

Report of the contest for a seat on the Board of Guardians. Fannie Thomas lost. Glamorgan Gazette 13th November 1914

Newspaper report

Comment on Miss F M Thomas’s election to Ogmore and Garw Urban District Council. Glamorgan Gazette 11th April 1919.

Miss F M Thomas

Miss F M Thomas President of the NFWT 1912

Women’s Coronation Procession

Fannie Thomas second from right, with a basket. Rachel Barrett also appears extreme left. Women’s Coronation Procession June 1911

Ffaldau Girls School 1925

Girls and teachers of Ffaldau Girls School 1925. Fannie Thomas is second right.

Margaret Lewis (Morris)

Place of birth: Merthyr Tydfil

Service: Nurse, TFNS, 1916 - 1919

Notes: Margaret Lewis trained in Cumberland, and was a Queen’s [district] Nurse before joining the staff at the 4th Southern General Hospital in Plymouth in November 1916. Margaret was posted to France in 1917, and served in several hospitals and casualty clearing stations. She was offered the chance to serve ‘in the East’ instead of being demobilised in 1919, but declined. She remained in the renamed TANS for several years, bring promoted from Staff Nurse to Sister in 1922 when she is described as ‘good tempered and tactful’. She resigned on marriage in 1928.

Reference: WaW0457

Document

Record of Margaret Lewis’s detail on discharge from TFNS

Document

Travel record for Margaret Lewis July 1919

Letter

Part of letter from Margaret Lewis to the War Office listing her postings.

R E Jones

Place of birth: Swansea ?

Service: Pharmacist, Swansea Infirmary Ysbyty Abertawe , 1916 -

Notes: Notes [En] Miss R E Jones, an experienced practitioner, was appointed Pharmacist at Swansea Hospital in October 1916, beating the two male applicants for the post. She was to be paid a salary of £176 a year.

Reference: WaW0462

Newspaper report

Report of Miss R E Jones’s appointment to Swansea Hospital.

G L Reynolds

Service: Scientist, chemist, 1917

Notes: In 1915 Miss G L Reynolds was the only postgraduate student in the Chemistry department of University College Aberystwyth. At Christmas 1916 she put her research on hold when she went to do work ‘of national importance’ at the dye company Morton Sundour Fabrics in Carlisle. The dye industry had been highly dependent on German chemicals, and British expertise was needed. It is not clear whether she returned to Aberystwyth.

Reference: WaW0464

Departmental Report

Chemistry department report mentioning Miss G L Reynolds

Departmental report

Chemistry department report stating that Miss G L Reynolds had been given leave to undertake ‘research on the manufacture of special dye’ in Carlisle.

Eva Jennie Fry (Savage)

Place of birth: Southampton

Service: Scientist, botanist, University College Aberys

Notes: Eva, whose father was an elementary school teacher, was a botany student at University College Aberystwyth, with a particular interest in mosses. She joined the Moss Exchange Club in 1915. She graduated with a first class BSc in 1916, and MSc in 1919, when she published her research findings. She was an Assistant Lecturer in the Botany department until she became a lecturer in Botany at Westfield College, University of London, in 1925.

Reference: WaW0462

Newspaper report

Report of Miss R E Jones’s appointment to Swansea Hospital.

Eva Jennie Fry (Savage)

Place of birth: Southampton

Service: Scientist, botanist

Notes: Eva, whose father was an elementary school teacher, was a botany student at University College Aberystwyth, with a particular interest in mosses. She joined the Moss Exchange Club in 1915. She graduated with a first class BSc in 1916, and MSc in 1919, when she published her research findings. She was an Assistant Lecturer in the Botany department until she became a lecturer in Botany at Westfield College, University of London, in 1925.

Reference: WaW0466

Newspaper report

Report of Eva Jennie Fry’s first class degree. Cambrian News 21st July 1916

Botany Department report 1916

University Botany Department report of Eva’s degree success.

Botany Department report 1920

University Botany Department report of Eva’s post-graduate research

Gertrude Annie Walters

Place of birth: Bridgend ?

Service: Scientist, Botanist

Notes: Gertrude was one of the two scholars of Bridgend County School to win a Glamorgan County scholarship to study at a Welsh university. (There were 7 County scholarships in all). Clearly a scientist from an early age (her other higher school certificate subjects were physics and chemistry), she graduated from Aberystwyth in 1919 with a ‘brilliant’ first class degree and joined the Botany department.

Reference: WaW0463

Newspaper report

Report of Gertrude’s Higher School Certificate results. Glamorgan Gazette 24th September 1915

Newspaper report

Report of Gertrude’s County Scholarship. Glamorgan Gazette 15th September 1916

University College Aberystwyth report

Report from the Botany Department, University College Aberystwyth, 1919