Aberystwyth Pacifists ~ Part One

 Perhaps any discussion of war should include the perspective of conscientious objectors –COs or “conchies” as they were commonly termed.  

 

Certificate of Exemption Advert, 1916. Source: First World War – British Conscientious Objectors Project

The right to refuse military service was set up through an exemption scheme under the Military Service Act, 1916. This follows a historical precedent of the 18th century when the British government tried and failed to force Quakers into military service. 

 

“Conscientious Objector” by Edward Ward in recognition of his great-uncle’s service as a stretcher bearer

During WWI, the number of COs was around 16,000 – by WWII, this number was even greater with 61,000 registrations, of which, only 3,000 were given complete exemption, and a further 18,000 were dismissed as being false claims.

Around 7,000 were directed into the Non-Combatant Corps (NCC), which provided service in clothing and food stores, transport, and any military project avoiding “material of an aggressive nature”. In November 1940, members of the NCC were given the choice of bomb disposal (over 350 volunteered for this), while others worked in the medical corps and Ambulance Service, on farms, and in mines or firefighting.

With this in mind, I would like to introduce you to three Welsh bards whose careers spanned both world wars, and who were profoundly affected by the Great War which honed their belief in pacifism, becoming ardent conscientious objectors – a theme that was embedded in their work leading up to and after the Second World War. Aberystwyth is fortunate to be associated to all three.  

My first subject is Thomas Gwynn Jones (1871-1949). 

Mainly self taught as a young man, and during a successful career as a journalist in North Wales, Professor T. Gwynn Jones won the chair at the Bangor national Eisteddfodd in 1902 for “Ymadawiad Arthur” (The Departure of Arthur), and again in 1909 for “Gwlad y Bryniau” (Hill Country) after he came to Aberystwyth to work at the National Library of Wales (Llyfrgell Genedlaethol Cymru).  

If you follow the hyperlink, you will come to his entry in the Dictionary of Welsh Biography, showing a photo of him sporting an amazing moustache. Another photo shows a more haunted face with a grizzled grey trimmed mouser on his upper lip, taken when Jones was a special guest of the Y Cymro newspaper at the Denbigh Eisteddfod, the year WWII started.

 

Signed photo of T. Gwynn Jones, 'Prif Westai Pabell Awen' Y Cymro, Dinbych, 1939. Source: National Library of Wales Portraits AFF 28/1.

 

Gwlad y Bryniau  includes a section entitled ‘War’, in which a furious battle is described and a story of loss told with a definite lesson that one cannot return to a previous way of life. This theme of a paradise lost was to become a regular motif in Jones’ poetry, both in relation to Welsh independence and the futility of war.  

In 1913, Jones became a lecturer in Welsh Studies at the University College of Wales, just as the world was gearing up for WWI thereby emptying classrooms of bright young students. Hhe received the prestigious Gregynog Chair in Welsh literature in 1919, as Britain was recovering from losing 22% of its population. Aberystwyth’s war memorial (which has been updated to include names of those who lost their lives in WWII) was unveiled in September 1923, saluted by David Lloyd George a month later. One can only speculate how Jones felt about having a memorial to war in his town – even if it was topped by a statue of the Angel of Peace, especially after he felt betrayed by the Prime Minister who led the country through the Great War. 

Aberystwyth War Memorial seen from the castle ruins. Photo: R. Bertz

Jones’ pacifism was tightly linked to his faith in Nonconformist religion, a faith which was badly undermined by his own church minister in the First World War. He walked out of the Tabernacle Chapel on Powell Street in Aberystwyth, when a prayer was offered requesting a British victory, because he realised that Christianity in a war context was using God in order to justify the State’s military actions – an opinion backed by watching David Lloyd Jones (also a Nonconformist and newly elected Prime Minister), use religion and nationality to rally the Welsh troops in World War I.

His former church further disgusted him by installing a war memorial in the grassy area in front of the church, also created by Mario Rutelli and also depicting an Angel of Peace. Because Jones believed in the innate pacifist nature of Jesus as the Prince of Peace, he later wrote: “...those who say they are Christians, followers of Christ, must reject war totally.” His opinion never faltered. 

 

The ‘Rutelli Angel’ returned to the Powell Street site of the former Tabernacle by Ceredigion Museum, showing the additional plaque to those who lost their lives in World War II. Photo: R. Bertz

By 1934, Jones was increasingly disturbed by the looming reality of further carnage. During this time he was pursuing a study of the Llywarch Hen sequence, from various manuscripts held at the National Library, in which the cycle of the utter devastation of war is played out in the warlord’s lament over losing all of his 24 sons during the fierce battles to defend his kingdom. Two of the sons are pacifists; one submits and is killed, the other becomes a monk, but dies heroically saving a young girl from being raped by soldiers.

Llywarch Hen’s declaration that this son should have been born a woman - “and the merciless words / with their sarcastic drawl, rebuked him (Cynddilig) /  for his empty rite / at that time” - echoed Jones’ own agony over his decision to gain exemption from military conscription on medical grounds; he would have preferred to have been given the choice of pleading pacifism. This inspired Jones to write a poem, published a year later, bitterly protesting against war. It highlights the changes in Jones’ bardic style from the hope in the potential return of Arthur in 1902 to the hopeless despair and tragedy of Cynddilig in 1935. 

Photo of the complete cast, from ‘Album presented to Rev. Gwilym Davies - photographs of Peace Pageant on the Aberystwyth Castle Grounds, Wednesday 8 May 1935’, B6/6, National Library of Wales.

It is almost certain that Jones would have been involved in the Aberystwyth and Cardiganshire Peace Pageant of May 1935, as it was organised by members of the town’s CO group of which he was a member. The announcer’s name does not appear to be on record; however, the pageant was divided into three parts, beginning with “Towards Peace” and the following ‘bardic’ declaration:

‘Here, within the mouldering walls of a castle by a soldier king to dominate a people by military force… Here, beside a monument dedicated to the perpetual remembrance of men of our own generation who gave their lives in the belief that their sacrifice was the last of its kind to be demanded of men…

Here, it is dramatically fitting that we should present our Pageant of Peace… ‘through the ages, men and women have challenged the war; insisting that there were better ways to secure justice between men and man, between nation and nation…

To-day, we celebrate and review the efforts of those who have sought the better way, exhorting their fellows through example and precept to ‘seek peace and ensue it.’ (Announcer)

 

T Gwynn Jones retired in 1937, two years before WWII broke out. He was awarded a CBE and two honourary D.Litt degrees from his two favourite universities (Wales and Ireland) but there is very little written about him after this time. He left a legacy of influence on the poets of Wales as well as generations of students, producing Welsh versions of MacBeth and Faust as well as many other translations.

He wrote many novels and plays, a travel book and a book of children’s poetry, many of which were published during the war years, all containing the thread of conscientious objection. His collection of works is kept at Aberystwyth University. He died at his home “Willow Lawn” on Caradoc Road and is buried in Aberystwyth cemetery under a large tombstone simply inscribed with names and dates. 

Tombstone of Thomas Gwynn Jones and his wife, looking up towards the National Library where Jones had worked for so long. Photo: R Bertz

Blog by Rasma Bertz

 

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