Secret Sins

David Davies

Description

Sleepy rustic Carmarthenshire was secretly a hotbed of debauchery, violence and drunkenness according to Russell Davies in a new edition of his very successful book, Secret Sins. Behind the facade of idyllic rural life, there was a twilight world of mental illness, suicide, crime, vicious assaults, infanticide, cruelty and other assorted acts of depravity. This almost anecdotal historical study is often funny, sometimes disturbing, always revealing.

Sujets

• Social Science
• Sociologie, société et politique
• West Wales
• 20th century
• Anthropology
• Social
• Culture

Informations

• Publié par: University of Wales Press
• Date de parution: 15 novembre 2012
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9780708325575
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 4 Mo

Extrait

Secret Sins Sex,Violence and Society in Carmarthenshire 1870-1920

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Secret Sins Sex,Violence and Society in Carmarthenshire 1870–1920

RUSSELL DAVIES

UN I V E R S I T Y O F WA L E S P R E S S C A R D I F F 2 0 1 2

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I’r dair sy’n llonni fy nghalon Nerys, Betsan a Ffion

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List of Illustrations

Acknowledgements

Preface

Contents

Introduction: Private Lives, Public Witnesses: The Individual and Society in Carmarthenshire

1

2

3

4

5

6

A Sense of Place

A Psychic Crisis? The Social Context of Mental Illness and Suicide

‘Secret Sins’: Crime and Protest

Sexuality and Tension

Spiritual Skeletons: Religion, Superstition and Popular Culture

Conclusion: Carmarthenshire and Welsh Society

Notes

Index

viii

ix

x

i

1

14

89

112

156

186

231

240

324

List of Illustrations

1. Pen-y-groes,c.1930: a typical industrial village of south-west Wales 2. All members of the family had to contribute to the work of the farm 3. One of Carmarthenshire’s great landowners, Sir J. Hills-Johnes inc.1914 4. Generally the children of the gentry enjoyed easier childhoods. Here the children at Glanbrydan take the dog out boating 5. A typical Carmarthenshire cottage,c.1906 6. Pantglas, home of Gerwyn Jones, High Sheriff of Carmarthenshire in 1887 7. “The House of the Mad”, or the Joint Counties Lunatic Asylum which opened in 1865 8. Leonard Worsell and John John, the two Llanelli men shot by the military in 1911 9. Too late – police in Llanelli decide to guard a goods truck that has been ravaged by looters 10. The boisterous life of the Victorian public house 11. Women at Work in Carmarthenshire market inc.1870 12. The “Wonderful Woman of Carmel”: Sarah Jones and her family at home in 1906 13. The Llandeilo Literary Society 14. The Regulars of the Cross Inn Hotel, Ammonford, begin their outing 15. The sinister products of the Pen-bre munitions factory

17

39

43

50 63

68

103

145

147 177 185

200 222

227 238

Acknowledgements

In view of the disturbing nature of some of the evidence which is contained in this book, it is probably sensible to begin with the statement that I was born and raised in the county of Carmarthen- shire. The people we will encounter in the book, saints and sinners, are my people. I can think of no better birthplace for a Welsh social historian than the terraced house into which I was born in Pen-y- groes. Outside our front door stretched the beauty of rural Wales. At the back door lurked one of the most poignant symbols of modern Wales – an abandoned coal mine. Our road, Norton Road, could be regarded as a dividing line, it separated industrial and rural Wales, the natural world from the man-made, the fragrant and the foul. When I was a boy my mother could always tell which door I had used to leave the house by the mess on my clothes upon my return. Green, ochreous grass stains indicated departure through the front door for a game of cowboys on the closest farmer’s horses. But black, oleaginous stains testified to the fact that I had stolen quietly out of the back door to be an adventurer, a downhill skier or a mountaineer on the slopes of the coal tip. Looking back, I realize with gratitude that a tender family nurtured me through my turbulent youth. In the preparation of this book I have incurred many debts and it is a pleasure to record my indebtedness here. The staff at the Hugh Owen Library at the University of Wales Aberystwyth, the Carmarthenshire Records Office in Carmarthen and the National Library of Wales all combine courtesy and professionalism to such an extent that it is a delight to use these institutions. Illustrations 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 13, 14 and 15 by permission of Llyfrgell Genedlaethol Cymru/The National Library of Wales.