The Welsh in Liverpool

A brief history of the Liverpool Welsh

Who are they ? What have they done ?

Liverpool Welsh have been an integral part of the Liverpool scene since the heyday of the slave trade and the building of the docks in the last decade of the eighteenth century. Shipping became an occupation that attracted men from Anglesey and Caernarfonshire and when the well known welsh poet and Anglican divine Goronwy Owen settled at St Mary’s Church, Walton in 1755 he would wander down regularly to the waterfront to converse in Welsh with the sailors from his native hearth of Anglesey. These men and women of Wales came in their thousands between 1760 and 1860 and in that period at least 16 Welsh speaking chapels and churches were built. By 1900 Liverpool had around 90 Welsh Nonconformist Chapels, Anglican Welsh language churches as well as a large number of mission halls to cater for the spiritual and cultural needs. By !815 within Liverpool there was a Welsh town. The little Wales plaque to remember their coming is to be seen on the right of Pall Mall north of Leeds street junction and I usually take Welsh visitors to see it since it was placed there in the summer of 2007.

Though young and usually poor the immigrants were men and women who were determined to make a better world for themselves though the presence of the ‘ press gangs’ in the town in the 1790’s was to say the least an hindrance. Many of them were staunch young Calvinistic Methodists escaping from the persecution of the Anglican establishment, the local vicar and the squire in particular. They found comfort in an alien land as exiles.

Most of the exiles were involved in shipping ( many of them becoming exciting merchants such as Sir Albert Lewis Jones of Elderr Dempster line ) and the building industries which produced mega builders of the calibre of William Jones of Windsor John Jones ( Drinkwater ) of Allerton , David Roberts of Hope Street who also was a involved in the timber trade , John Hughes who als builtb on a large scale in London and Birmingham and .W ,Jones . They built two thirds of Liverpool by the Second World War. . Some of them in time became architects of distinction and hundreds of them established their own building firms . They were very involved in the growth of Liverpool from a small fishing village into a huge port and a cosmopolitan city by 1880. The Welsh through these builders, such as Owen Elias who became known as King of Everton and David Hughes, another native of Anglesey , played their part in the extension of the city to the suburbs such as Kirkdale ,Anfield, Walton ,Everton, St Domingo, Islington and Kensington Townships such as Everton and Anfield became welsh in speech as the historian Sir James Picton informs us, Welsh in culture and prominent in the commercial and shopping world. The streets were often given Welsh names by the builders and not only in Toxteth. but all over the city. Young men who arrived in Liverpool were given support by the Elders of the Welsh Nonconformist chapels many of them large builders. Themselves. Within two decades many of these immigrants would have become millionaires beyond all expectations. Their heritage is still around us , and a Welsh trail is very much needed to indicate where the Welsh stores like T.J. Hughes and various companies were located.

Medicine also attracted able young men as doctors and young women as nurses in the Liverpool Hospitals, The Anglesey bonesetter family of Evan Thomas were responsible, through him and his eldest son Hugh Owen Thomas and his wife’s nephew, Sir Robert Jones, for the growth of Liverpool as a centre for orthopaedic medicine. The outsdanding Welsh medical giants. include Dr Robert Gee, Dr Thelwall Thomas , Professor Owen H.Williams, Dr Goronwy Thomas, Professor Robert Owen Dr Howell Hughes, Professor David Alan Priuce Evans and Will Lloyd-Jones. Remarkable men of medicine from Liverpool served the Foreign Mission of the Presbyterian church of Wales in North East-India, in particular Dr Gordon Roberts and Dr R. Arthur Hughes. It was the Liverpool Welsh community which inaugurated this specific witness from 1840 till 1970.The University of Liverpool who educated these medical practioners attracted young students to study in the Arts in particular ,Law as well as Science. Many of the notable men of letters in Welsh history taught at the different departments. Tthe Celtic Department were well served by the poet J.Glyn Davies, a native of Toxteth, followed by Idris Foster who later left for Jesus College, Oxford, Melville Richards who moved to Bangor University , D Simon Evans and Dr Nicholas Williams. In History Professor W. Garmon Jones had a great deal of influence while in Law Professor D Seaborne Davies was gifted as a speaker. And Biochemistry had in Professor Alan Morton, a Welshman of international renown The University of Liverpool as well as the John Moores University and the educational provision in the schools of the city have been well served by the Welsh teachers

Music is another sphere of culture where the Welsh have been influential. The Liverpool Welsh Choral Union has been honoured for its long and distinguished contribution by being given the Freedom of the City in 2013. Welsh publishing has been well documented , by the Brython Press and Modern Welsh Publications is still in existence. The Liverpool Welsh has its own website where you can find a great deal of history. . The eisteddfodic tradition has a long and distinguished history from 1840 till, 1990., and Welsh poets of distinction have laboured in Liverpool One of the contemporary poets that was born in Liverpool and brought up in Childwall is the S4C chief reporter Ellis Roberts . He is able to write englynion which is a difficult as it entails using the cynghanedd. But Liverpool had before him some fifty poets who could turn out strict metre poetry .Welsh hymns since the days of Peter Jones (Pedr Fardd ) and Welsh tunes from the days of John Ambrose Lloyd have been written and composed. in the city and still sung Sunday after Sunday. An excellent Dechrau canu Dechrau Canmol was shown in early Februrary 2020 by S4C from Bethel Presbyterian Church of Wales , Heathfield Road , Liverpool 15 when Geraint Roberts of Prestatyn was invited as the conductor. Dr Huw Edwards , the distinguished broadcaster from London, introduced the programme and interviewed two leaders of the Welsh life, Reverend Professor Dr D Ben Rees author of the recently published Hanes Rhyfeddol Cymry Lerpwl ( Talybont) and Mr Roderick Owen, President of the Liverpool Welsh Society . On 31 March Cynefin was shown and we were entertained by a number of well known individuals who are connected with the city. , including the Concert Party called Cantorion Bethel under the baton of R .Ifor Griffith who this year celebrates his eightieth year . The accompanist Mrs Margaret Anwyl Williams ( a native of Towyn in Merionethshire ) was honoured on St David ‘s Day Religious Service of 2020 with gifts for being an organist at Bethel for forty years

A great deal has been written on the Liverpool Welsh in the last 30 years and the Merseyside Welsh Heritage society is an important link in preserving for posterity the rich and unique cultural life. A book in the English Language written again by D Ben Rees, The Welsh in Liverpool : A Remarkable History will be published in the Spring of 2021 and the Merseyside Welsh Heritage Society invites donation towards its publication. . A donation of 50 pounds to 32 Garth Drive, Allerton, Liverpool L18 6 HW will ensure you a hard back signed copy as well as your name in the list of subscribers . At least twenty five supporters have already responded and the Appeal will be open till 1 March 2020. The monthly newspaper called Angor ( Anchor ) is worth ordering for £11 a year, for it underlines the events that have happened in the previous month and what will happen among the Welsh community in the month to come though the Coronavirus has disturbed us all . The Welsh learner classes at the Welsh Centre ( near Penny Lane ) every Monday night is well supported , but stopped till the authorities tell us . D.Ben Rees

Reviews:

J. Graham Jones: (English Version)

This substantial, most attractive volume (available in both hardback and paperback editions) is the result of decades of intensive research and reading on the part of the dedicated author. Although a native of rural Cardiganshire, following a short stint in the Cynon Valley, he has served as a highly respected Calvinistic Methodist minister at Liverpool since 1968. And in July 2018 he became a Citizen of Honour of Liverpool.

From day one he became deeply interested in the history of his adopted city and Merseyside more generally, both of which have a substantial Welsh presence mainly from the eighteenth century, many of these people earning a living in the city's docks (especially from the late eighteenth century), its vibrant commercial life and its various industrial enterprises, notably the flourishing cotton factories.

But, as the author shows in the first chapter of this work, there was a Welsh presence in Liverpool from the early middle ages, and a more substantial number of vagrants, greatly despised and often badly treated locally, from the sixteenth century. In the early 1500s, Liverpool actually had a Welsh mayor – one Dafydd ap Gruffydd – while in the late 1700s many migrants from the North of Wales travelled to the city looking for work. And chapter 5 of this work is devoted to the problems faced by the Welsh poor within the city, especially the intrinsic difficulty of securing employment such as in the docks.

The author's most numerous publications, embodying truly pioneering research work, on the history of the Liverpool Welsh communities from 1978 onwards to the present, some of these in joint authorship, are listed in appendix 2 to the present volume (see pp. 305-06). He has also delivered a regular array of public lectures and addresses on this compelling theme.

It is especially gratifying that the present work, substantially an adaptation of the author's previous well received work Hanes Rhyfeddol Cymry Lerpwl (Y Lolfa, 2019), will be within the reach of second and third generation Welsh migrants who have but little or no grasp of the Welsh language. In 1813 around 8000 people or ten per cent of the residents of Liverpool were Welsh. They created communities around the city and Welsh was the dominant language in those places. The Welsh influence in Liverpool declined during the twentieth century. According to the 2001 census, around 1.17 per cent of the population were born in Wales, but there are plenty more people in the city who have Welsh ancestors and are proud of their Welsh roots.

This volume is especially informative on the vibrant religious life of the Liverpool Welsh. Areas such as Vauxhall, Anfield, Everton, Dingle, and Wavertree were noted for their high migrant populations, and Welsh was the dominant language in these neighbourhoods. By 1900, there were around ninety Welsh chapels, churches and mission halls, and the temperance movement flourished there too. Many of these individual chapels are discussed in chapter 8, while the religious revival of 1904-05 led by Evan Roberts, when the city was home to an array of talented nonconformist ministers, occupies chapter 17.

Other themes given prominence here include prominent Welshmen who became medical practitioners and surgeons in the city as is revealed in chapters 6 and 10. These include Evan Thomas, Hugh Owen Thomas and Sir Robert Jones who became the orthopaedic surgeon at the University of Liverpool. Sadly, many of these men died prematurely, but one exception was Dr Emyr Wyn Jones (1907-99), a long serving pillar of the Royal Liverpool Infirmary who also contributed richly to Welsh national life. Attention is also given to the University of Liverpool Medical School and the School of Tropical Medicine founded mainly by Sir Alfred Lewis Jones.

A whole chapter (number 11 in the book) is devoted to the contribution of the photographer John Thomas (1838-1905) of the Cambrian Gallery and one who later sold some 3000 of his plates to Sir O. M. Edwards who made good use of them to illustrate his books and journal issues.

Other themes outlined here with a masterly touch include the extensive publication of Welsh books and periodicals within Liverpool, some of which were inevitably notably short lived. There is discussion of the extensive contribution of the city's Welsh community to the development of the colony at Patagonia in South America, some of the more prominent literary figures and the notable builders who made such a massive contribution to the development of the city.

By the 1850s and 1860s, Welsh involvement in the construction sector was well established. And one man, in particular, led the way for Welsh architecture in Liverpool, the famous architect Richard Owens who joined forces with a Welsh timber merchant called David Roberts of D Roberts, Son and Co. During the 1870s and 1880s, almost 4,300 houses were constructed over four estates in the fields of Toxteth Park by Richard Owens on behalf of D Roberts, Son and Co. The Welsh Streets get their collective nickname – as well as their individual forenames, such as Powis, Madryn, Gwydir, Rhiwlas and Pengwern – as a result of being built by Welsh workers towards the end of the nineteenth century. The most well-known piece of Welsh architecture in the city is perhaps the Grade II-listed Welsh Presbyterian Church on Princes Street, commonly referred to as the ‘Welsh’ or ‘Toxteth Cathedral’.

Especially useful is appendix 1 of the volume (see pp. 283-304) which presents us with most convenient brief biographies of many of the individuals who were prominent in the Liverpool Welsh communities. Some of these are certainly worthy of further research work on their contributions. And the volume also includes an array of most attractive plates and photographs which complement admirably the contents of the book.

This study will be assured of a warm welcome and extensive use by all those interested in the history of Wales and of Liverpool.

J. Graham Jones (Welsh Version):

Mae'r gyfrol sylweddol, hynod o ddeniadol hon (sydd ar gael mewn argraffiadau clawr caled a chlawr meddal fel ei gilydd) yn ffrwyth ymchwil a darllen manwl ers degawdau ar eu hyd ar ran yr awdur ymroddedig hwn. Er mai brodor o Sir Aberteifi ydyw, yn dilyn cyfnod byr yn gweinidogaethu yng Nghwm Cynon, bu'n gwasanaethu fel gweinidog ar ran y Methodistiaid Calfinaidd yn ninas Lerpwl byth ers 1968. Ac ym mis Gorffennaf 2018 daeth yn Ddinesydd er Anrhydedd y ddinas honno – clod mawr iddo.

O'r cychwyn cyntaf roedd ganddo ddiddordeb affwysol yn hanes ei ddinas fabwysiedig a'r cyffiniau, ardaloedd a fu'n gartref i nifer sylweddol o Gymry yn enwedig o'r ddeunawfed ganrif ymlaen, llawer ohonynt yn ennill eu bywoliaeth o fewn dociau'r ddinas (tuedd a ddaeth yn fwy amlwg o ddiwedd y ddeunawfed ganrif ymlaen), eu bywyd masnachol prysur, a'r nifer o ddiwydiannau a gynhelid yno, yn fwyaf arbennig y ffatrïoedd cotwm a ffynnai yno.

Ond, fel y mae'r awdur yn amlinellu'n raenus ym mhennod gyntaf y gwaith hwn, bodolai presenoldeb Cymreig yn ninas Lerpwl o'r oesoedd canol cynnar, a daeth nifer llawer iawn mwy sylweddol o grwydriaid yno o'r unfed ganrif ar bymtheg ymlaen, y rhain yn cael eu casáu ac yn aml yn cael eu trin yn eithriadol wael yn lleol. Yn ystod y 1550au cynnar, roedd un Cymro Cymraeg yn faer y ddinas – sef Dafydd ap Gruffydd – tra erbyn y 1770au diweddar teithiai nifer o unigolion o Ogledd Cymru yno i chwilio am waith. A phwnc pennod 5 yn y gwaith yw'r problemau a wynebai tlodion Cymreig y ddinas, yn fwyaf arbennig yr anhawster sylfaenol o sicrhau swyddi o fewn y dociau.

Mae cyhoeddiadau niferus dros ben yr awdur ar hanes cymunedau Cymreig dinas Lerpwl ers 1978 hyd at heddiw, pob un ohonynt yn ffrwyth gwaith ymchwil gwirioneddol arloesol, rhai ohonynt ar y cyd gydag awduron eraill, wedi eu rhestru o fewn yr ail atodiad i'r gyfrol hon (gweler tt. 305-06). Bu hefyd yn brysur yn traddodi'n rheolaidd darlithiau cyhoeddus ac anerchiadau ar yr un pwnc allweddol hwn.

Arbennig o wych yw sylweddoli y bydd y gwaith presennol, sydd i raddau helaeth yn gyfaddasiad o astudiaeth flaenorol yr un awdur sef Hanes Rhyfeddol Cymry Lerpwl (Y Lolfa, 2019), cyfrol a gafodd groeso brwd, o fewn cyrraedd hwylus disgynyddion o'r ail a'r drydedd genhedlaeth i ymfudwyr o Gymru, rhai sydd â mawr ddim crap ar yr iaith Gymraeg. Ym 1813 roedd rhyw 8000 o unigolion, tua 10 y cant o ddinasyddion Lerpwl, yn Gymry. Aethant ati i greu, ac yna ehangu, cymunedau arbennig o fewn y ddinas gyda'r Gymraeg yn brif iaith iddynt. Dirywio a wnaeth dylanwad y Cymry o fewn Lerpwl drwy gydol yr ugeinfed ganrif. Yn ôl cyfrifiad 2001, dim ond rhyw 1.17 y cant o boblogaeth y ddinas a anwyd yng Nghymru, ond ceir yno o hyd nifer sylweddol o bobl sydd o dras Gymreig ac sydd yn parhau'n hynod falch o'u gwreiddiau Cymreig.

Mae'r astudiaeth yn llawn gwybodaeth ynghylch bywyd crefyddol egniol Cymry Lerpwl. Roedd ardaloedd fel Vauxhall, Anfield, Everton, Dingle, a Wavertree yn cynnwys cyfartaledd uchel o bobl o Gymru, a'r Gymraeg yn brif iaith eu haelwydydd. Erbyn y flwyddyn 1900, ceid yno ryw nawdeg o gapeli, eglwysi a neuaddau'r genhadaeth, a ffynnai'r mudiad dirwest yno hefyd. Trafodir nifer o'r capeli hyn o fewn pennod 8, gyda phennod 17 yn rhoi sylw manwl i ddiwygiad crefyddol 1904-05, gydag Evan Roberts yn ei arwain, pan roedd y ddinas yn gartref i nifer fawr o weinidogion anghydffurfiol tra dawnus.

Ymhlith y themâu eraill y rhoddir cryn sylw iddynt yma yw'r Cymry blaenllaw a ddaeth yn feddygon ac yn llawfeddygon yn y ddinas – fel y trafodir ym mhenodau 6 a 10. Yn eu plith roedd Evan Roberts, Hugh Owen Thomas a Syr Robert Jones, gŵr a ddaeth yn llawfeddyg orthopedig ym Mhrifysgol Lerpwl. Yn drist iawn, bu nifer ohonynt farw'n gynamserol, ond un eithriad oedd y Dr Emyr Wyn Jones (1907-99), un o hoelion wyth Infirmari Brenhinol Lerpwl ac un a wnaeth gyfraniad cyfoethog i fywyd cenedlaethol Cymru. Rhoddir sylw yma'n ogystal i hanes Ysgol Feddygol Prifysgol Lerpwl a'r Ysgol Meddyginiaeth Drofannol a sefydlwyd yn bennaf gan Syr Alfred Lewis Jones.

Neilltuir pennod gyfan (rhif 11 o fewn y gyfrol) i ystyried cyfraniad y ffotograffydd enwog John Thomas (1838-1905) o Galeri'r Cambrian, ac un a werthodd rhyw dair mil o'i blatiau i Syr O. M. Edwards a wnaeth ddefnydd arbennig ohonynt i ddarlunio ei gyfrolau a gwahanol rifynnau o gylchgronau.

Pynciau eraill a drafodir yma'n hollol feistrolgar yw cyhoeddi llyfrau a chylchgronau yn yr iaith Gymraeg yn Lerpwl, gyda nifer o'r cyfnodolion yn diflannu ar ôl ond ychydig o rifynnau. Ceir asesiad o gyfraniad helaeth cymuned Gymraeg y ddinas at ddatblygiad y Wladfa yn Ne America, rhai o ffigyrau llenyddol amlycaf y ddinas, a rhai o'r adeiladwyr blaenllaw a gyfrannodd mor helaeth at ddatblygiad y ddinas.

Erbyn y 1850au a'r 1860au, roedd nifer o Gymry'n cyfrannu'n helaeth at brosiectau adeiladu'r ddinas. Ac roedd un gŵr yn arbennig yn arwain y gad ym maes pensaernïaeth dinas Lerpwl, sef Richard Owens a fu'n cydweithio gyda gwerthwr coed o Gymru o'r enw David Roberts o D Roberts, ei Fab a'r Cwmni. Yn ystod y 1870au a'r 1880au, adeiladwyd bron i 4,300 o dai mewn pedair ystâd ar feysydd Parc Toxteth gan Richard Owens ar ran D Roberts, ei Fab a'r Cwmni. Mae'r 'Strydoedd Cymreig' wedi ennill eu llysenw cymunedol – yn ogystal â'u henwau unigol fel Powis, Madryn, Gwydir, Rhiwlas a Phengwern – gan mai gweithwyr o Gymru a'u hadeiladodd yn bennaf tua diwedd y bedwaredd ganrif ar bymtheg. Ac efallai mai'r darn mwyaf enwog o bensaernïaeth Gymreig o fewn y ddinas yw Eglwys Bresbyteraidd Gymreig ar Stryd y Tywysogion, adeilad cofrestredig Graddfa II y cyfeirir ato'n fynych fel 'Yr Eglwys Gadeiriol Gymreig' neu 'Eglwys Gadeiriol Toxteth'.

Anghyffredin o ddefnyddiol yw atodiad 1 i'r gyfrol (gweler tt. 283-304) lle ceir bywgraffiadau cryno hwylus dros ben i nifer o'r unigolion a fu'n flaenllaw o fewn cymunedau Cymreig dinas Lerpwl. Mae rhai ohonynt yn sicr yn teilyngu gwaith ymchwil pellach ar eu cyfraniad. Ceir hefyd o fewn y gyfrol nifer fawr o blatiau a ffotograffau sydd yn gyfrwng pwerus i oleuo cynnwys yr astudiaeth.

Yn sicr rhoddir croeso cynnes i'r gwaith hwn, a gwelir pawb sydd yn ymddiddori yn hanes Cymru a hanes Lerpwl yn gwneud defnydd helaeth ohono.