Meibion Glyndŵr

Meibion Glyndŵr (, also known by its translation Sons of Glyndŵr) was a paramilitary Welsh nationalist group which carried out more than 200 arson attacks against English-owned holiday cottages in Wales, and other attacks against government offices and estate agent offices from 1979-1992.

The organisation was founded in 1979, during a period of increasing nationalist sentiment in Wales. During this period, significant elements of Welsh public opinion were opposed to the mass purchase of second homes or holiday cottages in Wales by wealthy English people, perceiving it as being a major cause in increasing Wales' house prices, and a threat to Welsh speaking communities. Only one person connected to the group was arrested.

History

The group first came to prominence in 1979 after the Welsh devolution referendum. The first attacks happened in the early morning of the 13th of December, 1979. One summer home in Nefyn, another in Llanbedrog, two in Pennal near Machynlleth, and another two in Pembrokeshire were all burned. This marked the beginning of the arson campaign. In the first wave of attacks, twenty-two English-owned holiday homes were destroyed within the space of a month. In 1980, Welsh police carried out a series of raids in Operation Tân ("fire") in an effort to find the culprits. As part of the operation, Welsh nationalist and publisher Robat Gruffudd and his wife, Enid, were arrested and interrogated. The police were not able to find any evidence of the Gruffudds' involvement in the arson and released them; they were also compensated for their time. Within the next ten years around 220 properties were damaged by the campaign. It peaked in the late 1980s with the targeting of Conservative MPs' homes with letter bombs, most notably David Hunt, the then Welsh secretary, who was targeted in 1990.

Four separate movements claimed responsibility for the bombings: Mudiad Amddiffyn Cymru ("Movement for the Defence of Wales"), Cadwyr Cymru ("Keepers of Wales"), Meibion Glyndŵr, and the Workers' Army of the Welsh Republic (WAWR), whose attacks were on political targets in the early 1980s. The first instance of an attack being claimed by Meibion Glyndŵr was on the 6th of February, 1981, in which a letter was posted in Porthmadog to the BBC office in Bangor. In the letter, the group claimed responsibility for recent attacks. Specifically, the letter referred to an attack on boats that were being kept in Penyberth near Pwllheli. To prove the authenticity of the claim, they provided the name of one of the boats damaged in the attack, named Mariner 111. Letters claiming responsibility for attacks by Meibion Glyndŵr were signed " Rhys Gethin", in homage to one of Owain Glyndŵr's most prominent followers. Meibion Glyndŵr was the only group to have any claim to long-term success, although since the mid-1990s the group has been inactive, and Welsh nationalist violence has ceased, at least on an organisational level.

In July 1989, eight men wearing white shirts, sunglasses and black berets adorned with red, white and green feathers marched in a procession attended by 250 people in Abergele to commemorate the deaths of two alleged members of Mudiad Amddiffyn Cymru. The two, named Alwyn Jones and George Taylor, who are often referred to by Welsh nationalists as the "Abergele Martyrs", were killed on the eve of King Charles III's investiture as the Prince of Wales in July 1969. On the chest of the shirts was a badge labelled ''Parti Lliw Meibion Glyndŵr ("''Meibion Glyndŵr Colour Party"). Dewi Prysor and David Gareth Davies were among those within the colour party, and were later arrested on suspicion of involvement with Meibion Glyndŵr. Also present was Sion Aubrey Roberts, who was the sole individual that was later charged for involvement.

A reinvestigation into postal bombings led to the conviction of Sion Aubrey Roberts in March 1993. Roberts was sentenced to 12 years in prison, but was released after serving 8 years. The final attack associated with the Meibion Glyndŵr campaign occurred a week after Roberts' trial, in which a Molotov cocktail was used to firebomb a holiday home named "Rose Cottage" in Gwalchmai, Anglesey. The letters MG (Meibion Glyndŵr) were painted on the gable of the house. Following his conviction and prison sentence, Roberts had continued to maintain his innocence while expressing sympathy for Meibion Glyndŵr's cause. In 2021, Roberts publicly admitted his involvement with the group to Bryn Fôn during an interview conducted as part of an S4C documentary titled ''Bryn Fôn: Chwilio am Feibion Glyndŵr'' (Bryn Fôn: Search for the Sons of Glynd''ŵ''r). Concluding the interview, Fôn asked Roberts what he would say to a victim of the arson campaign, to which he replied, "Lucky you weren't in it; don't come back here."

Popular support

At the height of the Meibion Glyndŵr arson campaign, a poll was conducted by HTV’s Welsh-language current affairs programme on S4C, ''Y Byd ar Bedwar'' (The World on Four). 1,195 people across Wales were questioned about their attitudes towards the campaign and, despite 69% claiming they would assist police if a local holiday home was burnt down, 57% said they supported the broader aims of the campaign. However, support for the campaign was far greater in Welsh language strongholds, where the second home issue was most obvious, and consequently 85% of respondents from Dwyfor supported the campaign.

During the campaign, supporters of the organisation produced merchandise, such as t-shirts, badges, mugs, and posters. The Covenant Society of the Free Welsh was the most notable producer. Meibion Glyndŵr merchandise become so widespread that the director of the 1989 Dyffryn Conwy National Eisteddfod in Llanrwst warned that anyone caught selling merchandise that supported the arson campaign would be immediately banned from the event. Supporters of Wrexham AFC sang chants at opposing English teams glorifying the actions of the arsonists.

Following a public appeal for witnesses on Crimewatch, Welsh actor and singer-songwriter, Bryn Fôn, wrote a song titled “Meibion y Fflam” (Sons of the Flame), intended to belittle the police’s failed attempts at catching the arsonists. The song was released in 1989 by the band Sobin a’r Smaeliaid, of which Bryn Fôn was the lead singer. In 1990, detectives visited Fôn’s home in Llanllyfni and arrested both Bryn and his partner, Anna, after discovering a package hidden in a stone wall on his cottage’s land, which police alleged contained the components required to construct a bomb. After holding both Fôn and his partner at Dolgellau police station for 48 hours, police released both of them without charge. His C’mon Midffild! co-star, Mei Jones, and another Welsh actor, Dyfed Thomas, were also arrested at the same time, with both being later released without charge.

Speaking on S4C's investigative ''Taro Naw'' (Hitting Nine) in 2004, the former head of North Wales Police CID, Detective Chief Superintendent Gareth Jones, alleged that many within the force were sympathetic to the arsonists. Jones had been responsible for heading the police unit tasked with the investigation into Meibion Glyndŵr at the time of the firebombing campaign. Commenting on the matter, Jones stated, "There's no doubt that some police outside this unit were supportive of what was going on. I have no doubt about that, and we had to co-operate and work with those people - but nobody was open about it at the time, of course."

Armed campaign

* 1979–91: Meibion Glyndŵr conducted arson attacks on 239 English-owned holiday homes.
* 18 July 1980: Welsh militants firebomb the home of Welsh Secretary of State Nicholas Edwards, in his rest house in Abergavenny, Monmouthshire. On the same day, a Conservative Party in Cardiff is firebombed by the group.
* 26 October 1981: An improvised device in an army recruiting office is defused in Pontypridd, prior to a visit by the Prince of Wales. Two days later another bomb is defused by authorities.
* 28 June 1987: Welsh extremists leave two improvised devices in Abergele and Porthmadog.
* 1988–89: Meibion Glyndŵr declare that "every white settler is a target". The group also places incendiary bombs in Conservative Party offices in London and estate agents' offices in London, Liverpool, Sutton Coldfield, Haverfordwest, Carmarthen and Llandeilo.
* 18 March 1989: A series of arson attacks takes place in Sutton Coldfield, Haverfordwest, Liverpool and London.
* 22 October 1989: A new ring of arson attacks begin, this time focusing on London.
* 1990: Poet and Anglican priest R. S. Thomas calls for a campaign to deface English-owned homes.
* 20–21 June 1990: Four letter bombs are received. Two are addressed to the Secretary of State for Wales and the Member of Parliament for Pembroke at the House of Commons, and one of the letters slightly wounds a woman. One is addressed to the Secretary of State for Wales David Hunt, and the last to Nicholas Bennett, both of which are defused.
* 26 March 1993: Sion Aubrey Roberts, a member of Meibion Glyndŵr, is jailed for twelve years for sending letter bombs to Conservative politicians.
* 1993: The week following the trial of Sion Aubrey Roberts, the final attack associated with Meibion Glyndŵr is carried out against a holiday home in Gwalchmai, Anglesey, marking the end of the campaign.

Books

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Mae rhywun yn gwybod
' (''Somebody Knows'') by Alwyn Gruffydd (Gwasg Carreg Gwalch, 2004).
* ''To Dream of Freedom'' by Roy Clews, 3rd edition, (Y Lolfa, 2004). Concentrates on MAC and the Free Wales Army in the 1960s. Includes interviews by participants.
* 'Freedom Fighters: Wales's Forgotten War 1963–1993'', John Humphries (University of Wales Press, 2008). Looks at FWA, MAC and Meibion Glyndwr with many interviews and historical facts.
* Wyn Thomas, 'John Jenkins: The Reluctant Revolutionary?' (Y Lolfa, 2019). Hardback: ; Paperback:
* Wyn Thomas, 'Hands Off Wales: Nationhood and Militancy' (Gomer, 2013).
* Wyn Thomas, 'Hands Off Wales: Nationhood and Militancy' (Y Lolfa, 2022).
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* Wyn Thomas, 'Tryweryn: A New Dawn?' (Y Lolfa, 2023).
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See also

* Welsh independence
* Welsh nationalism

Further reading

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References

External links

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Meibion Glyndwr
Arson in the United Kingdom
Cultural depictions of Owain Glyndŵr
Housing rights activism
Paramilitary organisations based in the United Kingdom
Nationalist terrorism in Europe
Terrorism in Wales
Welsh nationalism
Republicanism in Wales