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@ Y Drwm, National Library of Wales, Aberystwyth
A Pilgrim of Peace by Jen Llywelyn is the biography of the Welsh pacifist, George M. Ll. Davies.
Born in 1880, George M. Ll. Davies is best remembered and most revered as a peacemaker but his full life reflected a broader spectrum of interests and activities that place him at the heart of life in late nineteenth and early twentieth century Wales. He was also a non-Conformist minister in Tywyn and became MP for the University of Wales.
‘This charismatic Welshman worked ceaselessly, with quiet strength and humour, to achieve reconciliation between individuals, and in industry and politics.’ said author, Jen Llywelyn. ‘He suffered with mental illness all his life, but few knew.’
He committed suicide in Denbigh Hospital in 1949.
From his roots in the Liverpool Welsh community, his life, with its complicated relationship with organised religion and his uncertain engagement with party politics, embodied change and uncertainty as much as constancy.’ says Professor Paul O’Leary of Aberystwyth University, ‘He was a complex figure, whose life reveals much about the challenges and pressures of his period.’
‘This is a a lasting testimony to a true son of Wales – which is, I now have no doubt, as far removed from England as my native Scotland.’ added academic Frank McGinnis ‘The author has ensured the reader understood the love George had for his country and his people.’
This is the first major work on George M. Ll. Davies in English. Author Jen Llywelyn wrote her PhD thesis on George M. Ll. Davies, with encouragement and anecdotes from his family, and others who knew, loved and worked with George. She was able to include previously unseen letters from Leslie, George's wife.
‘In my penultimate year at the Open University I undertook an Oral History project, and decided that my six interviewees would be six World War Two Conscientious Objectors. Three of those six had been influenced by one George M. Ll. Davies.’ said Jen, who currently lives in Trisant in Ceredigion. ‘The first, Iorwerth John from Cwmystwyth, introduced me to George, and I immediatley wanted to know more about him. The more I heard, the more I wanted to formally research him.
‘George had ties to many different parts of Wales and loved Wales deeply. He always maintained his Welsh, spoke in a protest in 1936 against the Bombing School at Penyberth, and was increasingly angry at the way Wales was treated.’ said Jen.
‘Almost every time George M. Ll. Davies is mentioned in Wales, he is described as ‘saintly’, or ‘a saint’.’ Jen continues ‘I don’t want to undermine that. He has my total respect, always. But getting to know him as I have, I know that this ‘saint’ was also a man, fully human, and in many ways flawed. I love him no less for that.’
Pilgrim of Peace will be launched at Y Drwm at the National Library of Wales at 6.30pm on the 2 nd of March - a hundred years since the Military Conscription Act came into force.
Pilgrim of Peace – A Life of George M LL Davies by Jen Llywelyn (£9.99, Y Lolfa) is out now.
A hundred years to the day the Military Conscripton Act came into force, on the 2 nd of March 2016, Aberystwyth will be commemorating consienctious objectors with two events taking place to remember those who opposed the First World War in Wales.
A revealing and informative Public Lecture on ‘ Conscientious Objectors and Opposition to WW1 in Wales’ will be delivered by former BBC Wales Head of News and Current Affairs Aled Eirug at 4:30pm at Aberystwyth University’s International Politics Department which will be followed by a book launch by Y Lolfa of ‘ Pilgrim of Peace - A Life of George M. LL. Davies’ by Jen Llywelyn at 6:30pm in the Drwm at the National Library of Wales.
Speaking on the lecture on Consientious Objectors, Head of Wales for Peace project, Craig Owen said,
‘This lecture on the 2nd of March marks the centenary, to the day, when the Military Service Act came into effect. From this date onwards most men between 18 and 41 were liable to be called up for military service – many of them only to return as names in Wales’ Book of Remembrance, currently on display at the National Library.’
‘Opposition to war in Wales is an under-explored subject, and this lecture – spotlighting Aled Eirug’s ground-breaking research into the area - will launch our call for hidden histories of Conscientious Objectors. We hope it will inspire communities and families to research and volunteer their own hidden histories and to share them with the nation through the Wales for Peace project.’ he continued.
Aled Eirug added, ‘As we mark the centenary of the First World War in Wales, and given the tendency to concentrate on the soldiers, in this lecture I will focus on those who opposed the War throughout Wales and especially on the over 800 conscientious objectors. Whilst it’s important to remember the soldiers who lost their lives in the War, it is also important to remember that there was a significant minority who chose another path which was difficult and often unpopular.’
Another consientious objector, whose life is commemorated and celebrated in a brand new biography, is renowned 20 th century Welsh pacifist, George M LL Davies.
A Pilgrim of Peace’ by Jen Llywelyn details the fascinating life of the man whose life, although best remembered and most revered as a peacemaker, reflected a broader spectrum of interests and activities that place him at the heart of life in late nineteenth and early twentieth century Wales.
From his roots in the Liverpool Welsh community, his life, with its complicated relationship with organised religion and his uncertain engagement with party politics, embodied change and uncertainty as much as constancy.’ said Professor Paul O’Leary of Aberystwyth University, ‘He was a complex figure, whose life reveals much about the challenges and pressures of his period.’
‘A Pilgrim of Peace – A Life of George M LL Davies’, the product of years worth of research, will be launched at Y Drwm at the National Library of Wales at 6.30pm .
‘Almost every time George M. Ll. Davies is mentioned in Wales, he is described as ‘saintly’, or ‘a saint’.’ added Jen Llywelyn ‘I don’t want to undermine that. He has my total respect, always. But getting to know him as I have, I know that this ‘saint’ was also a man, fully human, and in many ways flawed. I love him no less for that.’
