Dyma fi o’r diwedd yn cael cyfle i ’sgwennu pwt o gyflwyniad i brosiect @DyddiadurKate 1946. I ble aeth Ionawr a Chwefror?! Ta waeth, roedd wythnosau cyntaf 1946 yn gyfnod prysur i Kate Rowlands hefyd. Rhwng mynychu’r capel ac ymweld â chymdogion, "ymosod a chlirio y pantri o ddifrif" a mynd ar wibdaith i weld bedd Lloyd George – roedd ei bywyd cymdeithasol mor orlawn ag erioed.
Erbyn 1946, roedd hi'n wraig briod 54 mlwydd oed, yn fam i bedwar, yn fam-yng-nghyfraith i dri, ac yn nain i Dilys Wyn. Dw i’n hynod ddiolchgar i Eilir Rowlands – wyr Kate – am gysylltu gyda rhagor o wybodaeth am hanes y teulu rhwng 1915 – 1946. Mae atgofion Eilir am ein nain yn haeddu blog ehangach, ond yn y cyfamser, dyma grynodeb o bwy di pwy yn nyddiadur 1946.
B.P – Robert Price Rowlands
Gŵr Kate – fe briododd y ddau yn Chwefror 1916.
R.E a Dwys – Robert Ellis Rowlands a Dwysan Rowlands
Ei mab hynaf a’i wraig. Roedd Dwysan yn ferch i Bob Lloyd (Llwyd o’r Bryn).
E.O (Dwa) – Edward Owen Rowlands
Y mab canol a oedd yn briod â Greta. Rhieni Dilys Wyn.
Em – Emyr Price Rowlands
Ei mab ieuengaf a oedd ar y pryd yn ddi-briod ac yn byw adref.
Es – Elsie
Ei hunig ferch a briododd yn 1944.
Mam a Dad – Alice Jane Ellis ac Ellis Ellis
Ei mam a'i llystad. Yn 1915, roedden nhw’n byw yn Ty Hen, ond erbyn 1946 roedd y ddau wedi symud i’r Hendre, sef hen gartref teulu Alice Jane.
Gyda llaw, bron i mi roi’r pennawd Helo Kitty i’r blog yma, oherwydd i bobl y Sarnau a’i theulu, roedd Kate yn cael ei hadnabod fel "Kitty Ty Hen". Mwy am hyn tro nesaf.
Since late 2012, with the centenary of the First World War in mind, curators at St Fagans have been involved in a project to digitise objects with relevance to the conflict. The results are on the First World War database which you can see on this website. But in 2016, the project is still very much ongoing. One aspect which has surprised everyone involved is that objects with stories to tell about the war are still being rediscovered.
Before we began looking specifically for these objects, their potential to reveal stories about the conflict had not always been realised, and connections between objects not always made. Huge numbers of objects were often collected in the past - some in the years immediately following the war - meaning that the information recorded at the time was often limited.
Sometimes a bit of luck has been involved. As part of the Making History project, thousands of items from the collection have moved between storerooms and conservation labs. While auditing an area containing military and civilian uniform, I recently found a collection of badges and buttons of relevance to the period, taking the extent of our First World War collections beyond what we had previously realised.
As artefacts of war, these objects often have poignant associations. One lapel badge was recently found complete with a tiny photograph of a soldier who was killed in 1915. A shoulder badge and button of the Grenadier Guards were found belonging to a soldier who was involved in the retreat from Mons in 1914, and of whom there is also a photograph in our collections. We have also discovered objects from areas of the conflict previously thought to be unrepresented in the collections, such as this South Wales Borderers cap badge commemorating the Egyptian campaign.
The exciting aspect of working on this project has been the discovery of collections not previously categorized by their First World War associations. We have uncovered objects in a variety of areas: among pictures and photographs, letters and certificates, medical equipment, textiles, badges and medals. Not only can these items be seen on our First World War database, but some of the stories we have discovered will be told within the displays planned for the new galleries here at St Fagans – just one example of enabling the full richness of our collections to be permanently shared.
Cyn i ni ddechrau o ddifri ar y bennod nesaf ym mhrosiect @DyddiadurKate (oes, mae dilyniant!), yn y blog hwn mi fyddai’n ffarwelio â dyddiadur 1915 drwy gyflwyno stori Tomi’r Hendre.
Mae enw Tomi’r Hendre yn gyfarwydd iawn i’r rhai ohonoch sydd wedi dilyn @DyddiadurKate o’r cychwyn cyntaf. Ynghyd â’i chwaer Win, roedd Tomi yn ymwelydd cyson â Ty Hen – cartref Kate a’i rhieni – drwy gydol 1915. Fe’u magwyd yng Nghwm Main, ble roedd eu rhieni – John ac Ann Jones – yn rhedeg Siop yr Hendre. Mae llyfrau cyfrifon a thalebau’r busnes bellach yng nghasgliad yr Amgueddfa, ac os gofiwch chi, mewn blog blaenorol, fe fues i’n trafod ymgyrch John Jones i gael blwch post cyfleus i drigolion yr ardal.
Ond i droi nôl at Tomi’r mab, yn 1915 roedd yn fyfyriwr yn y Coleg Normal ym Mangor, ac eisoes wedi hyfforddi fel athro. Yn Rhagfyr y flwyddyn honno – tri mis cyn ei benblwydd yn 21 – ymunodd â’r fyddin. Nid oes cofnod o hyn yn nyddiadur Kate Rowlands.
Erbyn Ionawr 1916, roedd Tomi wedi ei leoli gydag 21ain Bataliwn y Ffiwsilwyr Brenhinol Cymreig yng ngwersyll hyfforddi Parc Cinmel. Wrth chwilota drwy archifau Siop yr Hendre, fe ddes i ar draws cerdyn post a anfonodd Tomi at ei rieni yn ystod y cyfnod hwn.
Derbyniais y parcel ond oherwyd[d] prysurdeb yr wyf wedi bod yn anabl i atteb [sic] o’r blaen. Yr wyf wedi symud i Hut 30 fel y gwelwch ac wedi cael fy ngwneyd [sic] yn ben arno ac felly yr wyf yn hollol gartrefol. Yr wyf yn hynod o hapus a digon o fwyd ac mewn iechyd rhagorol ac yn mynd yn dew ac yn gryf. Nid wyf yn med[d]wl y byd[d] yn rhaid imi byth fynd i’r front gan y byd[d]wn yn cael ein gwneyd [sic] yn officers… Gyrwch fy nghyllell boced a fy spectol mor fuan ag a alloch.
Er nad oedd yn rhagweld cyfnod yn y ffosydd, ym Mehefin 1916 roedd Tomi ar ei ffordd i Ffrainc. Llai na mis yn ddiweddarach, ar 20 Gorffennaf, fe’i hanafwyd yn ddifrifol yn ei frest ym mrwydr Coedwig Delville. Cludwyd Tomi i ysbyty yn Boulogne, ac yna i Ysbyty Ryfel Leith, ger Caeredin. Mae’r adroddiadau gan feddygon Leith yn anodd iawn i’w darllen. Dyma grynodeb o’i gyflwr pan gyrhaeddodd yr ysbyty ar 31 Gorffennaf.
Admitted from No 18. Gen. Hospt. Boulogne. There is a small wound size of 5/ on right side about the level of the 8th rib. Dulness all over this side absolute at base, breath sounds faint over upper lobes. Pat. states that he spat blood but only very little at first. X-ray shows piece of metal at level of 8th rib.
Bu farw Tomi’r Hendre o’i anafiadau ar 27 Awst 1916.
I hereby certify that No. 29606 Pte Thomas Jones… who died to-day of Empyeme and septicaemia… stated to me that he was wounded inaction [sic] at Delville Wood on July 20th 1916. There was a wound in right side of the chest, haemothorax and X. Ray showed a piece of metal in chest. Patient was operated upon and portion of rib resected to allow of free drainage on the 13th, but septic condition was very bad. L. Stewart Sandman M.D.
Mae’n dorcalonnus meddwl am fawredd y golled i’w deulu a’i gymdogion yng Nghwm Main. Cynhaliwyd ei angladd yng Nghefnddwysarn ar 31 Awst, ac mae’n debyg fod tad Kate yn un o’r rhai fu’n talu teyrnged iddo mewn seiat gyda’r hwyr. Cyhoeddwyd adroddiad manwl, di-flewyn-ar-dafod, am yr angladd yn Y Cymro (Lerpwl a’r Wyddgrug).
Angladd Tom yr Hendre yw y condemiad mwyaf ynddo’i hun fu ar y rhyfel yng Nghefnddwysarn… Y mae ei ysbryd caredig yng nghartref Caredigrwydd ei hun. Nid oes yno orfodaeth, nid oes yno glwyfo, nid oes yno ladd a llofruddio, nid oes yno neb yn cael ei gablu a’i regi gan ei salach. Yno y mae cydwybod yn rhydd, yno ni chlwyfir cariad mam, yno rhoddir ei le i gariad tad, yno ni chwelir cartrefi, ac yno ni thorrir calonnau.
Fel y byddai’n gwneud i goffau Hedd Wyn maes o law, cyfansoddodd R. Williams Parry – cyn ysgolfeistr y Sarnau – englynion er cof amdano.
This post is a synopsis of a Behind the Scenes event I presented on September 30th 2014. It consisted of looking at a “snapshot” of Amgueddfa Cymru – National Museum Wales’ activities during the WWI period. Information was obtained through scanning our scrap books, publication archives and photographic collections for the years 1914 to 1918 and extracting interesting items of news concerning staff and exhibitions.
However, the first thing I did was to warn everyone that in 1914 this is what we looked like….
Archibald H. Lee
We still existed of course, established by Royal Charter back in 1907 but, without a finished building to call our own.
Therefore, during this time while construction of the building was in progress, administration was carried out in offices close by at Park Place and the Kingsway area while exhibitions were held in temporary galleries next door in City Hall.
Cyril Mortimer Green
I centred the staff news on three people...
Eleanor Vachell
Archibald H. Lee, the Museum Secretary, who saw active military service and was decorated with the Military Cross after fighting at Gaza. He returned to work after the war and remained Museum Secretary for 44 years, finally retiring in 1953. He appears in many photographs of special events and royal visits over the years.
Cyril Mortimer Green, who had been appointed as Botanical Assistant in 1914, but never got to take up his post. He held a Commission in the 3rd Royal Sussex Regiment, went abroad to fight early on in the war and was eventually killed on active duty in November 1917.
His death is all the more poignant because, not only did never take up his position at Museum, his brother Hugh Mortimer Green had also been killed on active duty in 1915.
Click the link below and scroll down for more information on Cyril and his brother.
Eleanor Vachell, spirited and outstanding amateur botanist who stepped in to take charge of the botany collections, while Cyril Mortimer Green was absent on military duty. She did this, with the help of pupils from Cardiff High School for Girls, whilst also supporting the war effort as one of the ‘Committee Ladies of the Auxiliary Workers Territorial Forces Nursing Association’ at the hospital set up in Howard Gardens, working as both nurse and librarian.
Eleanor was the daughter of Charles Tanfield Vachell [1848-1914], a member of the Cardiff Naturalists Society, serving as its secretary and president for many years, he was also behind the creation of the Cardiff Municipal Museum and was a member of the National Museum Wales council.
Eleanor compiled, with her father, the Vachell herbarium that contains 6,705 dried specimens and is one of the most complete herbaria ever collected by a private individual. This is now held here at the Museum along with a very large collection of their own personal library on British floras.
I also looked at the problems faced in the construction of the building due to a lack of basic materials that had been re-allocated for the war effort. The progress must have been excruciatingly slow and all material orders had to apply via license applications to The Ministry of Munitions and the Report for 1917/18 it is stated that work was suspended completely for a time…
Unfortunately it has become necessary to suspend work on the New Building, and an agreement terminating the contract has been entered into with the builders, Messrs J. Willcock & Son. The roof had already been completed and the windows have been filled with oiled canvas so that the structure is now weather proof… Some of the rooms in the New Building are already in use for storage of specimens. NMW Annual Report p. 9
One of the most enjoyable parts of researching this talk was looking at the exhibitions that were held through the war years and there were plenty of them! Because even though the country was at war, the Museum still had an obligation to the public to carry on programming exhibitions and events. Here are just a few of the many exhibitions held at City Hall and for which we hold the original catalogues...
Turner's Welsh Drawings
Open from Oct 26th 1914 to Jan 30th 1915 and visited by over 8,000 people
Exhibition of Modern Belgian Art
Held in 1915 from March 17th to April 15th….visited by over 6,000 people.
Exhibition of Topographical Prints and Engravings
An exhibition of Prints and Engravings of places in Wales was opened on July 27th 1915 and closed on October 30th The number of visitors to the exhibition was in excess of 7,000.
Lovett Collection of Toys
A unique collection of children’s toys and playthings lent to the Museum by Mr. Edward Lovett, of the Folklore Society. The exhibition was originally intended to close on August 16th 1915 but in view of the interest it aroused, and to give school children an opportunity of visiting it during the whole of their holidays, the date of closing was postponed to September 2nd. The total attendance was 21, 889.
I also found mention of a number of war related exhibitions held at City Hall but for which we do not hold the catalogues…
Exhibitions of Women’s War Work
A Ministry of Munitions exhibition of photographs illustrating women’s war work during February 1916
Exhibition of Allied War Photographs
An Exhibition of Allied War Photographs held in 1917 from August 4th to 20thand visited by nearly 4,000 people.
British Battle Photographs [in colour]
An exhibition lent by the Ministry of Information. This was opened in November 1918 closed on the 11th December, and visited by about 3,500 people.
I concluded the talk by showing two other WWI related items held here in the Library. The first was a volume of military portraits of soldiers from the Welsh Horse Yeomanry. This regiment did not exist before the Great War; it was formed in August 1914 under the administration of the Glamorgan Territorial Force Association and headquartered in Cardiff [Sophia Gardens]. The title page states that the album was presented to Alderman J. Robinson, who was Lord Mayor of Cardiff (1913–1914) and it was donated to the Library on the 27th April 1932 by Councillor R. G. Robinson.
More information on this regiment can be found on this page recounting the history of the Welsh Horse Yeomanry.
Mae’r flwyddyn yn dod i ben a dw i’n adlewyrchu ar ddwy ran o fy ngwaith sy’n gorffen fuan. Mae @DyddiadurKate (1915) yn gorffen yn mis yma, a fy ngwaith ar Chynllun Addysg Y Rhyfel Byd yn Cyntaf dod i ben yn Mawrth 2016.
Mae Cynllun Addysg y Rhyfel Byd yn brosiect rhwng Amgueddfa Cymru a’r Llyfrgell Genedlaethol, sy’n cynhyrchu adnoddau ar gyfer ysgolion. Ni'n defnyddio deunyddiau o gasgliadau’r ddau sefydliad i greu adnoddau dysgu digidol am Gymru yn ystod y Rhyfel. Trwy’r flwyddyn, gweithiais gyda chydweithwyr o’r curaduron i’r archif i ddewis y deunyddiau gorau i fynd gyda phob thema yn y cynllun. Y themâu y gweithiais arnynt yw ‘Bywyd ar Ffrynt y Gorllewin’, ‘Meddygaeth’, ‘Cymru ar draws y Byd’ a ‘Straeon Personol’.
Ar y prosiect @DyddiadurKate, dwi’n casglu'r ystadegau o Twitter a ‘di creu dau flog, un ar recriwtio yn y Rhyfel Byd Cyntaf ac un ar alcohol a dirwest. Trwy’r flwyddyn mwynheais y gweithgareddau dyddiol ar y blogiau gahanol gan y curaduron a’r archif, oedd yn rhoi mwy o wybodaeth am y prosiect.
Yn Hydref ces y cyfle i ddod â’r ddau brosiect at ei gilydd, yn yr adnodd ‘Straeon Personol’. Mae’r adnodd yn edrych ar bobl dros Gymru yn y Rhyfel Byd Cyntaf ac effaith y rhyfel arnyn nhw. Roedd stori Kate Ellis yn rhoi cyferbyniad i straeon milwyr a nyrsus, i ddangos bywyd sifiliad. Un peth sy’n ddiddorol imi yw fod pobl yn ymladd yn y rhyfel, ac ar yr un pryd, roedd llawer o’r gweithgareddau dyddiol Kate yn cario ‘mlaen heb lawer yn newid.
Dyw’r adnoddau ‘Straeon Personal’ a 'Cymru ar Draws y Byd' ddim ar yr HWB eto, ond mae llawer o’r adnoddau arall lan nawr. Dilynwch y linc i HWB i ddefnyddio’r adnoddau am ddim.
