Elizabeth May Watkin Mrowiec (née Jones; 10 May 1907 – 21 June 1965) was a Welsh teacher and campaigner. She was a leading figure in the protests over the flooding of the Tryweryn Valley.

Life

Jones was born in

Capel Celyn Capel Celyn was a rural community to the northwest of Bala in Gwynedd, Wales, in the Afon Tryweryn valley. The village and other parts of the valley were flooded in 1965 to create a reservoir, Llyn Celyn, in order to supply Liverpool and Wirral ...

where her family lived in the local post office. Her mother was Annie (born Thomas), who was a teacher. Her father, Watkin Jones (Watcyn o Feirion) was a

postmaster A postmaster is the head of an individual post office, responsible for all postal activities in a specific post office. When a postmaster is responsible for an entire mail distribution organization (usually sponsored by a national government), ...

and singer who sang accompanied by a

harp The harp is a stringed musical instrument that has a number of individual strings running at an angle to its soundboard; the strings are plucked with the fingers. Harps can be made and played in various ways, standing or sitting, and in orche ...

. It was a home filled with culture—her father won prizes for his poetry at

Eisteddfod In Welsh culture, an ''eisteddfod'' is an institution and festival with several ranked competitions, including in poetry and music. The term ''eisteddfod'', which is formed from the Welsh morphemes: , meaning 'sit', and , meaning 'be', means, a ...

s. In 1960, a private member's bill was proposed by

Liverpool City Council Liverpool City Council is the governing body for the city of Liverpool in Merseyside, England. It consists of 90 councillors, three for each of the city's 30 wards. The council is currently controlled by the Labour Party and is led by Mayor ...

to create a huge reservoir in the Tryweryn Valley at the end of 1965. The development would include the flooding of Capel Celyn. As an Act of Parliament, the proposal did not need local support. The residents were initially reserved and shy, but they were encouraged by Jones, who was a local teacher. They became angry and protested, and Dafydd Roberts was chosen as the executive of the Capel Celyn Defense Committee with Jones as the secretary. Jones coordinated the many letters they received with support, and with her harp, she appeared in television interviews. Jones went with Roberts and Welsh politician

Gwynfor Evans Gwynfor Richard Evans (1 September 1912 – 21 April 2005) was a Welsh politician, lawyer and author. He was President of the Welsh political party Plaid Cymru for thirty-six years and was the first Member of Parliament to represent it at Westmi ...

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 ...

and

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

to protest against the closure of the village. The fate of Capel Celyn was widely reported. In time, the cause was lost, and construction began on the dam, but the event was a significant event in Welsh politics. On 24 May 1958 she married a Polish soldier who had fled the Nazis and served in the British Army. She went to visit Poland with him in 1960 and 1962 and based on these visits she won the local eisteddfod category with her travel journal. Jones died in

Wrexham Wrexham ( ; cy, Wrecsam; ) is a city and the administrative centre of Wrexham County Borough in Wales. It is located between the Welsh mountains and the lower Dee Valley, near the border with Cheshire in England. Historically in the count ...

in 1965. In that year her book, ''Teithio Pwyl'', was published.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jones, Elizabeth May Watkin 1907 births 1965 deaths People from Bala, Gwynedd Schoolteachers