Old Wives Tales

This article discusses the industrial and personal connections between the Crawshay family in Merthyr Tydfil and the Dufaud family in France. It draws on travel diaries, notes and letters by Georges Dufaud and his son Achille Dufaud on their visits to Merthyr, providing insights into the Frenchmen’s impressions of Merthyr and its industrial superiority, and of the practicalities of travel and funding at the time. These texts also suggest the extent of the technological transfer from Wales to France, and reveal Welsh fears of industrial espionage. Following the wedding of Louise Dufaud and George Crawshay, Welsh workers and Welsh machinery (from Neath Abbey) were exported to France. Both played a decisive role in the development of the Fourchambault iron works near Nevers. Author: Heather Williams

The Easter Rising in Dublin in 1916 began a chain of events that led to the independence of most of Ireland, but at the time its momentous significance was not appreciated in Wales. For the vast majority of Welsh people, it was pure treachery as it happened at a time when Ireland (like the rest of the United Kingdom) was engaged in a war unprecedented in its savagery and scale. This article traces how events in Ireland were seen in Wales through the lens of the war against Germany, and how the notion that Ireland (like Wales) was better off within the protective embrace of the British Empire was so widespread that it could not be challenged. Author: Gethin Matthews

The aim of this article is to construct the history of the irrigation system in the Lower Chubut Valley created by the Welsh settlers that arrived in Patagonia (Argentina) in 1865, which complicated the relationship that existed between this infrastructure and the ever-changing sociopolitical framework. This will involve focusing on the institutions that the Welsh settlers themselves established and the conflicts that arose between them and the Argentine state, which took over the administration of irrigation in 1943. Emphasis will be given to the agency of water within the process that led to reinforcing and growing the irrigation infrastructure, and attention will also be given to the symbolic dimension of the objects that constitute this infrastructure, thereby enabling a reflection on their changing meanings. Author: Fernando Williams

The aim of this article is to analyse the different readings available regarding the history of the Welsh settlement within official narratives of the past in Chubut Province, Argentina. This not only includes the products of the provincial state, but also those of other actors in Chubut society, including the Welsh community itself. In order to do this, the analysis will focus on interpretations produced over three periods: firstly, between the 1930s and 1955, when Chubut was a national territory; secondly, a portion of the first years of the existence of Chubut Province between 1958 and 1975; and finally, between the 1980s and the present, with particular attention given to the celebrations of the hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the landing of the first settlers in 2015. The changes observed between different historical narratives, as well as the elements of continuity between them, are also considered. Throughout these three periods, it is shown that official narratives of Chubut’s past have placed the history of Welsh colonization as a cornerstone for the establishment of the province, giving it a hegemonic role. Author: Guillermo Williams