''The teachers who imposed the Welsh Not were Welsh and its imposition would have been done with the agreement of parents''.
see below:
WE CAN NOT DOUBT THE EXISTENCE OF THE 'WELSH NOT' BUT TO BE TRUTHFUL WE CAN NOT DOUBT THAT WITH THE ADVENT OF WELSH NATIONALISM IN THE 20TH CENTURY AND PARTICULALY SINCE RISE OF CULTURAL NATIONALISM SINCE THE 'SIXTIES' THE STORIES OF THE WELSH NOT HAS BEEN USED AS A WEAPON AGAINST ENGLISH RULE, A KIND OF 'ENGLAND NOT'. BUT WHAT HAS PUZZELED ME AND STARTED ME THINKING AS TO REALITIES AND HOME TRUTHS WAS A SCENE IN THE FILM 'HOW GREEN WAS MY VALLEY'...
.... WHERE A LAD IS BEING CANED FOR SPEAKING ENGLISH AND ON THE WALL IS A PICTURE OF OWEN M. EDWARDS INSPECTOR OF SCHOOLS AND VERY MUCH SEEN AS AN ADVOCATE OF 'CYMRAEG' AND THUS DOES NOT REALLY TALLY WITH AFOREMENTIONED SCENE IN FILM.
FOR GREATER PART OF THE 'WELSH NOT' PERIOD, THE WELSH THEMSELVES WERE IN CHARGE OF WELSH EDUCATION AND SCHOOL CHILDREN WERE BEING TAUGHT BY WELSH TEACHERS, SO WHAT IS GOING ON NOT LEAST IF WE TAKE THE BELOW QUOTE AS AN 'HOME TRUTH'.
''The teachers who imposed the Welsh Not were Welsh and its imposition would have been done with the agreement of parents''.
see below:
THE PERIOD OF THE 'WELSH NOT' WAS FOR MOST PART A CREATION OF THE LATTER YEARS OF THE 19TH CENTURY INTO EARLY YEARS OF THE 20TH CENTURY. THOUGH ANTI - CYMRAEG SENTIMENTS FOLLOWED THE 1831 MERTHYR RISING WHEN 'CYMRAEG' SPOKEN BY A MONOGLOT POPULATION WAS DEEMED AS CONTRIBUTING TO THE RISING:
THIS CONTRIBUTED TO WHAT IS KNOWN AS THE 'BLUE BOOKS':
BUT THIS DID NOT MOTIVATE THE 'WELSH NOT' THAT WAS LARGELLY DUE TO THE RISE OF 'LIBERAL' WELSH CAPITALISM AS RECOGNISED BY DAVID DAVIES:
WHO SEEN WAY FORWARD FOR WELSH PEOPLE WAS IN RUNNING THEIR OWN 'INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION' AND CAME TO PROMOTE BY STATING ''IF YOU WANT ONLY TO EAT BREAD SPEAK WELSH ONLY BUT IF YOU WANT TO EAT BREAD AND BUTTER LEARN ENGLISH''. OF COURSE THIS SIMPLY IMPLIED THAT THE INDUSTRIAL WORLD OF HIS TIMES WORKED THROUGH ENGLISH INTERNATIONALLY. IN THIS HE WAS BACKED BYEDUCATIONALIST SIR HUGH OWEN:
SIR HUGH OWENS CONTRUBUTION TO THE 'ENGLISH LANGUAG' PROMOTION IN WALES:
FOR A SHORT WHILE THIS ALL LED TO A NATIVE WELSH CAPITALISM BACKED UP BY NON - CONFORMITY IN RELIGION AND POLITICALLY BY CYMRU FYDD BUT IN IT'S CONCLUSION MADE 'CAMBRIAN BRITISHNESS' THE NORM AND AS MUCH FAVOURABLE TO ENGLISH RULE. SO WHERE DOES THAT LEAVE US REGARDS THE 'WELSH NOT', NEEDING A FULL ON REASSESSMENT MAYBE, IN RELATION TO MUCH BEING TURNED ON A CULTURAL HEAD WITH SINCE THE 'SIXTIES' RISE OF 'Y CRACHACH NEWYDD' WHICH FOR A NATIVE MIDDLE CLASS MINORITY MEANS SOCIAL AND FINNANCIAL CULTURAL ADVANCEMENT BUT IN MAIN GRANT FUNDED AND CREATES A 'CULTURAL ELITE, CONTROLLERS OF MUCH IN MODERN WELSH LIFE AND POLITICS TO THEIR ADVANTAGE AND WILL NOT ADVANCE WELSH INDEPENDANCE?
G.AP GRUFFYDD.
