The Cymru Fydd (The Wales to Come; ) movement was founded in 1886 by some of the
London
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
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 ...
. Some of its main leaders included
David Lloyd George
David Lloyd George, 1st Earl Lloyd-George of Dwyfor, (17 January 1863 – 26 March 1945) was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1916 to 1922. He was a Liberal Party politician from Wales, known for leading the United Kingdom during t ...
(later Prime Minister),
J. E. Lloyd
Sir John Edward Lloyd (5 May 1861 – 20 June 1947) was a Welsh historian, He was the author of the first serious history of the country's formative years, ''A History of Wales from the Earliest Times to the Edwardian Conquest'' (1911).
An ...
,
O. M. Edwards,
T. E. Ellis
Thomas Edward Ellis (16 February 1859 – 5 April 1899), often known as T. E. Ellis or Tom Ellis, was a Welsh politician who was the leader of Cymru Fydd, a movement aimed at gaining home rule for Wales. Ellis was, for a time, the most pr ...
(leader,
MP for
Merioneth
, HQ= Dolgellau
, Government= Merionethshire County Council (1889-1974)
, Origin=
, Status=
, Start= 1284
, End=
, Code= MER
, CodeName= ...
, 1886–1899),
Beriah Gwynfe Evans
Beriah Gwynfe Evans (12 February 1848 – 4 November 1927) was a journalist, Congregationalist, dramatist, Liberal politician and Welsh Nationalist.
Early life
Born at Nant-y-glo, near Ebbw Vale in Monmouthshire, Evans was educated at the Be ...
and
Alfred Thomas Alfred Thomas may refer to:
* Alfred Thomas, 1st Baron Pontypridd
* Alfred Delavan Thomas (1837-1896), US federal judge
* Alfred Brumwell Thomas
Sir Alfred Brumwell Thomas (24 February 1868 – 22 January 1948) was an English architect who trai ...
.
Initially it was a purely London-based society, later expanding to cities in
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
with a large
Welsh population.
The founders of Cymru Fydd were influenced by
William Ewart Gladstone
William Ewart Gladstone ( ; 29 December 1809 – 19 May 1898) was a British statesman and Liberal politician. In a career lasting over 60 years, he served for 12 years as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, spread over four non-conse ...
, who himself lived in
Hawarden
Hawarden (; cy, Penarlâg) is a village, community (Wales), community and Wards and electoral divisions of the United Kingdom, electoral ward in Flintshire, Wales. It is part of the Deeside conurbation on the Wales-England border and is home ...
, Wales, and the
nationalist movement in Ireland, although the movement also drew upon other ideas, including a sense of imperial mission as preached by
John Ruskin
John Ruskin (8 February 1819 20 January 1900) was an English writer, philosopher, art critic and polymath of the Victorian era. He wrote on subjects as varied as geology, architecture, myth, ornithology, literature, education, botany and politi ...
and a programme of social and political reform promoted by
Robert Owen
Robert Owen (; 14 May 1771 – 17 November 1858) was a Welsh textile manufacturer, philanthropist and social reformer, and a founder of utopian socialism and the cooperative movement. He strove to improve factory working conditions, promoted e ...
,
Arnold Toynbee and the
Fabian Society
The Fabian Society is a British socialist organisation whose purpose is to advance the principles of social democracy and democratic socialism via gradualist and reformist effort in democracies, rather than by revolutionary overthrow. The Fa ...
. This was therefore in stark contrast to Irish Nationalism, under
Charles Stewart Parnell
Charles Stewart Parnell (27 June 1846 – 6 October 1891) was an Irish nationalist politician who served as a Member of Parliament (MP) from 1875 to 1891, also acting as Leader of the Home Rule League from 1880 to 1882 and then Leader of the ...
and others, which sought separation from British political structures. The movement resembled the cultural nationalism found in parts of continental Europe, and heavily influenced by members of the intelligentsia such as O. M. Edwards and J. E. Lloyd.
From 1892 branches were organised in Wales itself, the first being formed at
Barry Barry may refer to:
People and fictional characters
* Barry (name), including lists of people with the given name, nickname or surname, as well as fictional characters with the given name
* Dancing Barry, stage name of Barry Richards (born c. 19 ...
by
W. Llewelyn Williams.
Its main objective was to gain
self-government
__NOTOC__
Self-governance, self-government, or self-rule is the ability of a person or group to exercise all necessary functions of regulation without intervention from an external authority. It may refer to personal conduct or to any form of ...
for
Wales
Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...
. The movement lost some of its impetus following the withdrawal of T. E. Ellis to join the Government in 1892, after which the leadership of Cymru Fydd was taken over by
David Lloyd George
David Lloyd George, 1st Earl Lloyd-George of Dwyfor, (17 January 1863 – 26 March 1945) was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1916 to 1922. He was a Liberal Party politician from Wales, known for leading the United Kingdom during t ...
and
Herbert Lewis
Sir John Herbert Lewis (27 December 1858 – 10 November 1933) was a Welsh Liberal politician.
Background and education
Born at Mostyn Quay, Flintshire, Lewis was the only child of Enoch Lewis and Catherine Roberts. It is possible that Lewi ...
(MP for
Flint Boroughs). Cymru Fydd was re-launched on a narrower, more political basis.
"Disestablishment, Cymru Fydd and Plaid Cymru", accessed June 22, 2020
/ref>
After an initial period of success in 1894–95, in which time it merged with the North Wales Liberal Federation
North is one of the four compass points or cardinal directions. It is the opposite of south and is perpendicular to east and west. ''North'' is a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating direction or geography.
Etymology
The word ''north'' is ...
(18 April 1895) to form the Welsh National Federation
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 ...
, it met with fierce opposition from the South Wales Liberal Federation
South is one of the cardinal directions or compass points. The direction is the opposite of north and is perpendicular to both east and west.
Etymology
The word ''south'' comes from Old English ''sūþ'', from earlier Proto-Germanic ''*sunþaz ...
, led by the Federation President, David Alfred Thomas
David Alfred Thomas, 1st Viscount Rhondda, PC (26 March 1856 – 3 July 1918), was a Welsh industrialist and Liberal politician. He was UK Member of Parliament (MP) for Merthyr Tydfil from 1888 until the January 1910 general election, then M ...
(MP for Merthyr Tydfil
Merthyr Tydfil (; cy, Merthyr Tudful ) is the main town in Merthyr Tydfil County Borough, Wales, administered by Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Council. It is about north of Cardiff. Often called just Merthyr, it is said to be named after Tydf ...
1889–1910).
On 16 January 1896, the proposal to merge the South Wales Liberal Federation with the Welsh National Federation was put to the Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the South Wales Liberal Federation, held at Newport, Monmouthshire
Newport ( cy, Casnewydd; ) is a city and county borough in Wales, situated on the River Usk close to its confluence with the Severn Estuary, northeast of Cardiff. With a population of 145,700 at the 2011 census, Newport is the third-largest au ...
. Lloyd George
David Lloyd George, 1st Earl Lloyd-George of Dwyfor, (17 January 1863 – 26 March 1945) was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1916 to 1922. He was a Liberal Party (United Kingdom), Liberal Party politician from Wales, known for lea ...
was howled down and refused permission to speak. After Robert Bird, a senior Cardiff
Cardiff (; cy, Caerdydd ) is the capital and largest city of Wales. It forms a principal area, officially known as the City and County of Cardiff ( cy, Dinas a Sir Caerdydd, links=no), and the city is the eleventh-largest in the United Kingd ...
alderman
An alderman is a member of a Municipal government, municipal assembly or council in many Jurisdiction, jurisdictions founded upon English law. The term may be titular, denoting a high-ranking member of a borough or county council, a council membe ...
, declared his determination to resist "the domination of Welsh ideas", the merger proposal was defeated. Cymru Fydd collapsed soon afterwards. The effect of this collapse was particularly severe on the Women's Liberal Associations, all but 15 of which collapsed. Lloyd George switched his attention to British matters, next coming to prominence as an opponent of the Boer War
The Second Boer War ( af, Tweede Vryheidsoorlog, , 11 October 189931 May 1902), also known as the Boer War, the Anglo–Boer War, or the South African War, was a conflict fought between the British Empire and the two Boer Republics (the Sou ...
.
The movement was supported by the magazine ''Young Wales'', edited by John Hugh Edwards between 1895 and its collapse in 1896. An earlier magazine, ''Cymru Fydd'', ceased publication in 1891.
References
Sources
*
*
{{Young Europe
Welsh nationalism
Political organisations based in Wales