''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.

Background

In 1846, after a Parliamentary speech by radical MP William Williams, concerns were raised regarding the level of education in Wales. This resulted in an enquiry carried out by three English commissioners appointed by the Privy Council, none of whom had any knowledge of the

Welsh language Welsh ( or ) is a Celtic language of the Brittonic subgroup that is native to the Welsh people. Welsh is spoken natively in Wales, by some in England, and in Y Wladfa (the Welsh colony in Chubut Province, Argentina). Historically, it has ...

, Nonconformity or elementary education. The commissioners had relied heavily on the information they had received from Anglican clergymen. The findings of the report were immensely detailed and were damning towards not only the state of education in Wales but drew a very critical picture of the Welsh as a people, labelling them as immoral and backwards. Welsh women were said to be licentious and "cut off from civilising influences by the impenetrable Welsh language". The report drew questions over the chastity of the poor and was just as damning to the wealthier women of the country, claiming that English farmers’ daughters were respectable, while their Welsh counterparts were in the "constant habit of being courted in bed". Welsh wives were said to be "most slovenly and improvinent, and as mothers, ignorant and injudicious" knowing "next to nothing of the management of a house". Published in April 1847 by Ralph Lingen, one of the three commissioners, the report in three blue-covered volumes became known as "The Blue Books" but such was the outcry against it in Wales, that it was soon branded ''Brad y Llyfrau Gleision'' or the ''

Treason of the Blue Books The Reports of the Commissioners of Inquiry into the State of Education in Wales, commonly referred to in Wales as the "Treason of the Blue Books" or "Treachery of the Blue Books" ( cy, Brad y Llyfrau Gleision) or just the "Blue Books''"'' are a ...

''. The report resulted in a concerted effort to ensure that Welsh women would in future be above rebuke. Several Welsh periodicals were launched aimed at upholding the reputation of Welsh speakers, especially the morality of Welsh women. The earliest and one of the most significant was the women's literary magazine ''Y Gymraes''.

Establishment of ''Y Gymraes''

The magazine was established by Evan Jones in January 1850 under the patronage of

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. He set out to promote higher standards of living for women in Wales, encouraging articles on religion and morality as well as housekeeping. The Welsh-language poet Elen Egryn contributed an introduction in verse to the first issue in which she called for women to rise "above shame and hateful mockery" (''goruwch gwarth a dirmyg cas''). Evans was already suffering from poor health in 1850 when he established the magazine. As a result of financial difficulties, publication continued only to the end of 1851. A vain attempt at reviving publication was made by the Congregational minister

David Rees David or Dai Rees may refer to: Entertainment * David Rees (author) (1936–1993), British children's author * Dave Rees (born 1969), American drummer for SNFU and Wheat Chiefs * David Rees (cartoonist) (born 1972), American cartoonist and televis ...

(1801–1869), but Jones died in February 1852.

Follow-up

There was to be no further women's magazine in Wales until 1879 when ''Y Frythones'' (The Female Briton) was published under the editorship of

Sarah Jane Rees Sarah Jane Rees (9 January 1839 – 27 June 1916), also known by a bardic name as "Cranogwen", was a Welsh teacher, poet, editor, master mariner and temperance campaigner. She had two romantic friendships with women, first with Fanny Rees, until ...

. It lasted only until 1891. In 1896, again with the title ''Y Gymraes'' (Welsh Woman), another women's magazine edited by Alice Gray Jones was published, continuing until December 1934.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gymraes Magazines published in Wales Magazines established in 1850 Welsh-language magazines Defunct magazines published in the United Kingdom Women's magazines published in the United Kingdom