Sarah Jane Rees

Sarah Jane Rees (9 January 1839 – 27 June 1916), also known by her bardic name of "Cranogwen", was a Welsh teacher, poet, editor and temperance campaigner.[1]

Life and career

Sarah Jane Rees was born at Llangrannog in Cardiganshire, the daughter of a mariner John Rees, and received her early education at the village school. After working briefly as a dressmaker, she studied navigation at one of several schools in New Quay that specialised in the subject.

In 1865, competing at Aberystwyth against men such as William Thomas (Islwyn), she won her first major Eisteddfod prize, for "Y Fodrwy Briodasal (The Wedding Ring)", in the "song" category.[2] A book of poems, Caniadau Cranogwen, followed this victory, in 1870.[3] In addition to teaching navigation (which she had learned from her father) and other subjects, she became editor of the Welsh-language women's periodical Y Frythones (1878–1889), a "platform for Welsh bluestockings and proto-suffragettes." [4][5]

Rees lived with her friend Jane Thomas in a romantic friendship in their hometown.[6] Open about her unconventional domestic arrangement, Rees was nonetheless a committed Methodist, and toured giving lectures on education, temperance and other subjects. In 1869-1870, she toured the United States, addressing mainly Welsh immigrant communities as far West as California.[7] She was one of the founders of the South Wales Women's Temperance Union (UDMD), when it formed in 1901.[8]

Legacy

Rees died at Cilfynydd[9] and was buried in the churchyard at St. Crannogs, her grave marked by a large and elaborate obelisk.[10][11] A homeless shelter for women and girls named "Lletty Cranogwen" was founded in the Rhondda valley in 1922, by the South Wales Women's Temperance Union, and named in memory of Rees' work to improve Welsh women's lives.[12][13]

References

  1. ↑ Welsh Biography Online
  2. ↑ Obituary, The Cambrian. Accessed 16 Sept 2014
  3. ↑ Phil Carradice, "Sarah Jane Rees, Schoolteacher and Poet" BBC Wales blog (25 April 2013).
  4. ↑ Geraint H. Jenkins, A Concise History of Wales (Cambridge University Press 2007): 220.
  5. ↑ "Welsh Women Writers (1700-2000)," in John T. Koch, ed., Celtic Culture: A Historical Encyclopedia (ABC-CLIO 2006): 1787.
  6. ↑ Russell Davies, Hope and Heartbreak: A Social History of Wales, 1776-1871 (University of Wales Press 2005): 320.
  7. ↑ David Hughes, Welsh People in California, 1849-1906 (R & E Research Associates 1969): 119.
  8. ↑ Deirdre Beddoe, Out of the Shadows: A History of Women in Twentieth-Century Wales (University of Wales Press 2000): 38.
  9. ↑ Obituary, Cymru 1914, 30 June 1916. Accessed 16 Sept 2014
  10. ↑ David Barnes, The Companion Guide to Wales (Companion Guides 2005): 30.
  11. ↑ Ceredigion County Council, image of the Cranogwen Memorial at Llangrannog churchyard
  12. ↑ People's Collection Wales, "Sarah Jane Rees" (uploaded 2/9/2009).
  13. ↑ Rhondda Cynon Taf Libraries Digital Archive, "Mrs M Griffiths JP, opening 'Lletty Cranogwen', 144 Kenry Street, Tonypandy, 21st June 1922" (photograph).