Augusta Hall, Baroness Llanover (21 March 1802 – 17 January 1896), born Augusta Waddington, was a
Welsh
Welsh may refer to:
Related to Wales
* Welsh, referring or related to Wales
* Welsh language, a Brittonic Celtic language spoken in Wales
* Welsh people
People
* Welsh (surname)
* Sometimes used as a synonym for the ancient Britons (Celtic peop ...
heiress, best known as a patron of the Welsh arts.
Early life
She was born on 21 March 1802, near
Abergavenny
Abergavenny (; cy, Y Fenni , archaically ''Abergafenni'' meaning "mouth of the River Gavenny") is a market town and community in Monmouthshire, Wales. Abergavenny is promoted as a ''Gateway to Wales''; it is approximately from the border wi ...
, the youngest daughter of Benjamin Waddington of Ty Uchaf,
Llanover and his wife, Georgina Port. She was the heiress to the
Llanover estate in
Monmouthshire
Monmouthshire ( cy, Sir Fynwy) is a county in the south-east of Wales. The name derives from the historic county of the same name; the modern county covers the eastern three-fifths of the historic county. The largest town is Abergavenny, with ...
,
where she and her sisters were raised and educated by their mother.
Marriage
In 1823, Augusta became the wife of
Benjamin Hall, later Baron Llanover (1802–1867). Their marriage joined the large
South Wales
South Wales ( cy, De Cymru) is a loosely defined region of Wales bordered by England to the east and mid Wales to the north. Generally considered to include the historic counties of Glamorgan and Monmouthshire, south Wales extends westwards ...
estates of
Llanover and
Abercarn
Abercarn is a small town and community in Caerphilly county borough, Wales. It is 10 miles (16 km) northwest of Newport on the A467 between Cwmcarn and Newbridge, within the historic boundaries of Monmouthshire.
History
An estate at ...
.
Benjamin Hall was for some years Member of Parliament for
Monmouth
Monmouth ( , ; cy, Trefynwy meaning "town on the Monnow") is a town and community in Wales. It is situated where the River Monnow joins the River Wye, from the Wales–England border. Monmouth is northeast of Cardiff, and west of London. I ...
, but transferred to a London seat just prior to the
Newport Rising which brought with it a turbulent time in Monmouthshire. He was created a
baronet in 1838, and entered the
House of Lords in 1859 under Prime Minister
Palmerston as Baron Llanover. "
Big Ben
Big Ben is the nickname for the Great Bell of the Great Clock of Westminster, at the north end of the Palace of Westminster in London, England, and the name is frequently extended to refer also to the clock and the clock tower. The officia ...
" at the Palace of Westminster, is said to have been named after him, as he was Commissioner of Works in 1855 when it was built.
Llanover Hall
In 1828, the couple commissioned
Thomas Hopper to build Llanover Hall for them. It was designed as a kind of arts centre as well as a family home.
Lady Llanover had always been interested in Celtic Studies. Her eldest sister and co-heiress,
Frances, had married the diplomat
Baron Bunsen, (later German ambassador to Great Britain) in 1817, following the Waddington family's visit to Rome in the winter of 1816.
The couple's homes in Rome and London were cultural hubs and their social circle was also interested in
Celt
The Celts (, see pronunciation for different usages) or Celtic peoples () are. "CELTS location: Greater Europe time period: Second millennium B.C.E. to present ancestry: Celtic a collection of Indo-European peoples. "The Celts, an ancient ...
ic subjects and culture.
Lady Llanover was greatly influenced by the local
bard
In Celtic cultures, a bard is a professional story teller, verse-maker, music composer, oral historian and genealogist, employed by a patron (such as a monarch or chieftain) to commemorate one or more of the patron's ancestors and to praise t ...
,
Thomas Price Thomas Price may refer to:
*Thomas Price (South Australian politician) (1852–1909), Premier of South Australia
*Thomas Price (bishop) (1599–1685), Church of Ireland archbishop of Cashel
*Thomas Price (Carnhuanawc) (1787–1848), Welsh literary ...
, whom she met at a local
Eisteddfod in 1826. Carnhuanawc taught her the
Welsh language; she took the
bardic name
A bardic name (, ) is a pseudonym used in Wales, Cornwall, or Brittany by poets and other artists, especially those involved in the eisteddfod movement.
The Welsh term bardd ("poet") originally referred to the Welsh poets of the Middle Ages, who m ...
"''Gwenynen Gwent''", ('the bee of Gwent'). She became an early member of
Cymreigyddion y Fenni
Cymdeithas Cymreigyddion y Fenni, which translates as the Abergavenny Welsh Society, is a Welsh language society in Abergavenny. Early in its history it was very influential in the survival of the language in Monmouthshire, and in Welsh intellect ...
. Her Welsh was never considered fluent but she was an extremely enthusiastic proponent of all things
Welsh
Welsh may refer to:
Related to Wales
* Welsh, referring or related to Wales
* Welsh language, a Brittonic Celtic language spoken in Wales
* Welsh people
People
* Welsh (surname)
* Sometimes used as a synonym for the ancient Britons (Celtic peop ...
. She structured her household at Llanover Hall on what she considered to be Welsh traditions and gave all her staff Welsh titles and
Welsh costume
The Welsh traditional costume ( cy, Gwisg Gymreig draddodiadol) was worn by rural women in Wales. It was identified as being different from that worn by the rural women of England by many of the English visitors who toured Wales during the late ...
to wear.
Her husband shared her concern for the preservation of the heritage of Wales, and campaigned for the Welsh to be able to hear church services conducted in the Welsh language.
'Welsh Costume'
At the Cardiff Eisteddfod of 1834, she won first prize for her essay on ''The Advantages resulting from the Preservation of the Welsh language and National Costume of Wales'' which was published in Welsh and English in 1836. She probably commissioned a series of watercolours of Welsh costumes which illustrate costumes worn by women in south Wales and Cardiganshire, 13 of which were reproduced as hand-coloured prints soon after 1834 (but were not published with the essay). These were little more than fashion prints for herself and friends to create dresses for themselves and their servants to be worn on special occasions, especially fancy dress balls. Although she was keen to see the women of Wales dressed in home-spun Welsh wool rather than the light cheap cottons which were becoming popular by the 1830s, there is very little evidence to show that she had any influence on the wearing of Welsh costume other than by her servants, family and friends, and there is no firm evidence to suggest that she influenced what was later adopted as the national costume of Wales.
She did encourage the production of traditional stripes and checks in woollen cloth and offered prizes for good examples of these at Eisteddfodau, but there were few entrants, with the weaver of Gwenfrwd mill, on her own estate, taking many of the prizes.
from Michael Freeman's Welsh Costume web site
Other achievements
In 1850, she helped found ''Y Gymraes
''Y Gymraes'' (literally The Welsh Woman) was a women's magazine founded by the minister and journalist Evan Jones in January 1850 in response to a government report on education in Wales which had strongly criticized the morals of Welsh women.
...
'' ("The Welshwoman"), the first Welsh-language periodical for women. Her other interests included cookery (''The First Principles of Good Cookery'' published in 1867) and folk music; she encouraged the production and use of the traditional Welsh triple harp, employing a resident harpist at Llanover Hall.
She was a patron of the Welsh Manuscripts Society, of the Welsh Collegiate Institution at Llandovery, funded the compilation of a Welsh dictionary by Daniel Silvan Evans. She bought Welsh manuscripts of Taliesin Williams Taliesin Williams (bardic name Taliesin ab Iolo or Ab Iolo; 9 July 1787 – 16 February 1847) was a Welsh poet and author, and son of the notable Iolo Morganwg.
He was born in Cardiff, went to school in Cowbridge, and became an assistant teache ...
, Taliesin ab Iolo Taliesin Williams (bardic name Taliesin ab Iolo or Ab Iolo; 9 July 1787 – 16 February 1847) was a Welsh poet and author, and son of the notable Iolo Morganwg.
He was born in Cardiff, went to school in Cowbridge, and became an assistant teache ...
and the collection of Iolo Morganwg (Edward Williams) (now held in the National Museum of Wales in Cardiff).
She collaborated with Welsh musicians such as Maria Jane Williams
Maria Jane Williams (c.1795 – 10 November 1873) was a 19th-century Welsh musician and folklorist born at Aberpergwm House, Glynneath in Glamorgan, South Wales. She rescued many Welsh songs from obscurity, including '' Y Deryn Pur (The Ge ...
, a noted harpist, vocalist and guitar player and Henry Brinley Richards
Henry Brinley Richards (13 November 1817 – 1 May 1885) was a Welsh composer, who also published some works under the pseudonym 'Carl Luini'.
Richards was born in Hall Street, Carmarthen, his father being organist at St Peter's Church in the ...
, a noted composer best known for writing "God Bless the Prince of Wales
"God Bless the Prince of Wales" ( cy, Ar Dywysog Gwlad y Bryniau) is a patriotic song written to mark the occasion of the marriage of the future King Edward VII to Alexandra of Denmark.
The song was first proposed at the Caernarfon Eisteddfod of ...
", and herself produced a ''Collection of Welsh Airs''.
Temperance movement
Another main interest of hers was the temperance movement to which end she closed all the public houses on her estate, sometimes opening a modest temperance inn
Temperance may refer to:
Moderation
*Temperance movement, movement to reduce the amount of alcohol consumed
*Temperance (virtue), habitual moderation in the indulgence of a natural appetite or passion
Culture
*Temperance (group), Canadian danc ...
in their place, such as ''Y Seren Gobaith'' ('the Star of Hope') temperance inn, which replaced the Red Lion at Llanellen
Llanellen ( cy, Llanelen) is a village in Monmouthshire, south-east Wales, United Kingdom. It is located south of Abergavenny.
The population was 506 in 2011.
Geography
The Blorenge mountain towers above the village. The River Usk passes close ...
. She was an outspoken and lifelong critic of the evils of alcohol
Alcohol most commonly refers to:
* Alcohol (chemistry), an organic compound in which a hydroxyl group is bound to a carbon atom
* Alcohol (drug), an intoxicant found in alcoholic drinks
Alcohol may also refer to:
Chemicals
* Ethanol, one of sev ...
. Closely associated with her temperance work was religion in the form of militant Protestantism and she endowed two Calvinistic Methodist
Calvinistic Methodists were born out of the 18th-century Welsh Methodist revival and survive as a body of Christians now forming the Presbyterian Church of Wales. Calvinistic Methodism became a major denomination in Wales, growing rapidly in the 1 ...
churches in the Abercarn
Abercarn is a small town and community in Caerphilly county borough, Wales. It is 10 miles (16 km) northwest of Newport on the A467 between Cwmcarn and Newbridge, within the historic boundaries of Monmouthshire.
History
An estate at ...
area, with services conducted in the Welsh language, but a liturgy based on the Anglican '' Book of Common Prayer''.
She outlived her husband by nearly thirty years, living well into her nineties. Only one of their daughters survived to adulthood; Augusta, who in 1846 married Arthur Jones (1818–1895) of Llanarth, of an old Roman Catholic family. Their eldest son, Ivor Herbert, 1st Baron Treowen
Major-General Ivor John Caradoc Herbert, 1st Baron Treowen, CB, CMG, KStJ (15 July 1851 – 18 October 1933), known as Sir Ivor Herbert, Bt, between 1907 and 1917, was a British Liberal politician and British Army officer in the Grenadier Guard ...
, became a Liberal MP and a Major-General during the First World War.
References
External links
Lady Llanover Society
formed in 2003
*
Lady Llanover memorabilia
BBC news item on Lady Llanover
{{DEFAULTSORT:Llanover, Augusta Hall, Baroness
1802 births
1896 deaths
British baronesses
Welsh journalists
Welsh philanthropists
People from Abergavenny
19th-century British journalists
Welsh women journalists
19th-century British women writers
19th-century British writers
19th-century British philanthropists