Welsh Not,

[GRACELAND]

 

Ok Not My post but found this interesting and have Been allowed by the owner to post it with his picture Hope you Enjoy !!




Welsh Not,
In 19th Century Wales, over 70 % of the population spoke only Welsh, and the London government of the day saw this as a major threat, so concerned were they that they undertook cultural genocide. And one sad consequence of the 1847 education report was that all education was to be in English only.

Any child that was caught speaking Welsh in school was forced to wear a wooden plaque around their necks, with W. N. carved on it, they were made to stand in front of the class and be humiliated and belittled by the teachers, the last child of the day to wear the plaque was given a severe beating.

Whole families left the country for America, Canada, Patagonia and Australia to get away from this and other tyrannies, as these countries, gave them the freedom they sought.

This wicked practice died a death after a few years, as the teachers themselves refused to continue with this barbarous act.

Gwenno my six year old Granddaughter was the model here, and this image is part of an exhibition that will be touring the country this year, about this part of our history that a lot of people have never heard of, or wish to forget.

To get her to look like this, I photographed her first thing in the morning before she brushed her hair. The light came from a north-facing window, with a reflector to her right.
The hardest part was hiding her smiling face, as she thought it was all great fun

If you Google “Welsh Not” images, you’ll see the original shot that I took three years ago for a web page.

, Regards Tony


Please Visit

                www.rhiw.com


 

[ozlady]

This barbaric 'custom' continued into the 20th century. My grandmother was forced to wear one at her school in Rhymney in the early 1900's. Even later, in the 1920's the English headmaster of Dad's school forbade Welsh lessons.

[Arranroots]

The schoolteachers in Rhymney have a lot to answer for!  My nan was also punished for speaking Welsh at school in the early 1900s!

By contrast, now Welsh schools require Welsh to be taught as part of the curriculum: it is difficult to get a job as a teacher without Welsh and several Welsh language medium schools have been built in south Wales in recent years.

See also the thread about the Blue Books, which discusses the state of Welsh Education in the 19th century...

[ozlady]

Why do you think that was AR? Because Rhymney was one of those places right on the border and it seemed to switch between Glam and Mon?  Mon was deemed "English" for some time, so I have been told. Now it seems that the new local government area of Monmouthshire wants to vote as to whether it is in England or Wales. Plus ca change.......................

[Garethboxing]

it is difficult to get a job as a teacher without Welsh

Not so. Of course, you wouldn't get a post in a Welsh-medium school without speaking the language and, equally obviously, someone employed to teach Welsh in an English-medium establishment must be competent to do so. But there's no requirement to speak Welsh for any other teaching jobs. Given that only around a fifth of the population have the language it would mean a lot of unfilled teaching posts if that were the case.

  Gareth

[Arranroots]

Ah maybe it is different in primary schools?

Unless I have been misinformed.  A bit too far to travel for me in any case.

 

[Garethboxing]

The same applies in all schools, primary, secondary or tertiary. But the increase in popularity and provision of Welsh-medium education means the percentage of young Welsh-speakers is now substantially higher than the general figure. So, who knows, maybe in another generation we could actually see a majority of teachers able to speak the language....

  Gareth

[Taffy Lee]

My Great Uncle (born 1907, Caerwys) also suffered the W.N. when he was a child.  He died when I was about 14 y.o.  Despite Welsh being his first language, he was always reluctant to speak Welsh with me - my Grandfather said that this was due to his childhood experience of the W.N. - I found that quite sad.

It's quite ironic that 80 years after Uncle Gerald's birth, I was frequently "told off" for speaking English in school and not Welsh.  Obviously, I did not have to endure the humiliation and ridicule of the W.N. (or would that be an E.N.?), it was more gentle encouragement.

It's easy to forget that this sort of cultural (almost racial) discrimination was part of government policy so recently within the borders of the British Isles.

[polidor]

It's quite ironic that 80 years after Uncle Gerald's birth, I was frequently "told off" for speaking English in school and not Welsh. 

This extract made me smile because my own mother used to tell me that her mother would tell her and her younger sister off for speaking English indoors, she used to be told "speak Welsh, you're a Welsh girl"and my mum said she reckoned it was because Nain only spoke Welsh and therefore didn't know what they were chatting about!!!!

Poli.