Angela V. John FRHistS

FLSW The Learned Society of Wales ( Welsh: Cymdeithas Ddysgedig Cymru) is a learned society and charity that exists to "celebrate, recognise, preserve, protect and encourage excellence in all of the scholarly disciplines", and to serve the Welsh natio ...

(born 24 September 1948) is a Welsh historian known for her biographies, particularly of women. She is President of Llafur: The Welsh People's History Society.

Life

John was born in 1948 and she was brought up in Port Talbot. Her 1980 book ''By The Sweat of Their Brow'' concerned the lives of women employed in the Victorian coal mining industry. In the late 1980s she was one of the founders of the academic journal

Gender & History ''Gender & History'' is an international academic journal. It is an important academic journal for articles relating to the history of femininity, masculinity, and gender relations. The current editors are Rosemary Elliot, Maud Bracke, James Simps ...

. She was employed as a History Professor at the

University of Greenwich The University of Greenwich is a public university located in London and Kent, United Kingdom. Previous names include Woolwich Polytechnic and Thames Polytechnic. The university's main campus is at the Old Royal Naval College, which along with it ...

. She began to research the life of Henry W Nevinson at the

Bodleian Library The Bodleian Library () is the main research library of the University of Oxford, and is one of the oldest libraries in Europe. It derives its name from its founder, Sir Thomas Bodley. With over 13 million printed items, it is the second- ...

in Oxford. As a result, she published ''War, Journalism and the Shaping of the 20th Century: The Life and Times of Henry W Nevinson'' a biography that includes his interests apart from his better known work as a war correspondent. His life led to John's interest in the suffragist Evelyn Sharp, who became Nevinson's second wife. In 2009 John published her biography: ''Evelyn Sharp: Rebel Woman, 1869-1955''. In 2012 when she was an honorary Professor of History at Swansea University she was elected to the

Learned Society of Wales The Learned Society of Wales (Welsh: Cymdeithas Ddysgedig Cymru) is a learned society and charity that exists to "celebrate, recognise, preserve, protect and encourage excellence in all of the scholarly disciplines", and to serve the Welsh nation ...

. In 2015 she published a book based around the many famous actors from around her home town. The book as inspired by a conversation she had with the actor Michael Sheen. The book is titled ''The Actors’ Crucible: Port Talbot and the Making of Burton, Hopkins, Sheen and All the Others.'' In 2013 she published ''Turning the Tide'', a biography of the suffragette Margaret Haig Thomas, later Lady Rhondda. This led to her working with

Welsh National Opera Welsh National Opera (WNO) ( cy, Opera Cenedlaethol Cymru) is an opera company based in Cardiff, Wales; it gave its first performances in 1946. It began as a mainly amateur body and transformed into an all-professional ensemble by 1973. In its ...

on their production of ''Rhondda Rips It Up!'' a music-hall based work by

Elena Langer Elena Langer (born 1974 in Moscow) is a Russian-born British composer of opera and other contemporary classical music. Her work has been performed at the Royal Opera House, Zurich Opera, Carnegie Hall, Richard B. Fisher Center for the Performi ...

on Lady Rhondda, which premiered in Newport in May 2018 and toured to sixteen British venues. In 2022 she succeeded the politician

Hywel Francis David Hywel Francis (6 June 1946 – 14 February 2021) was a British politician who served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Aberavon from 2001 to 2015. A member of the Labour Party, he chaired the Welsh Affairs Committee from 2005 to 2010 and ...

as President of Llafur: The Welsh People's History Society. She had been a member of the society since 1977, and had served as chair and as vice-president.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:John, Angela V. 1948 births Living people 21st-century Welsh historians Welsh biographers People from Port Talbot Fellows of the Learned Society of Wales Welsh women historians