I’m delighted to share that my family history research has been featured in the latest issue of Who Do You Think You Are? magazine. The article, written by Claire Vaughan, explores my decades-long journey tracing my Welsh roots — from hill farmers and Calvinist ministers to a musical icon and a self-taught solicitor — all part of a rich and varied tapestry of Welsh heritage.
For me, researching Welsh ancestry has never been just about compiling names and dates. It’s about recovering the voices of those who came before us — people whose lives were often recorded only in fragments, if at all. To step across that historical threshold into their world is both a privilege and a responsibility.
The article follows my journey from those first discoveries at the family farm at Caeadda in Montgomeryshire, through to the wider networks of relatives including:
- Rev. Trevor Owen Davies (1895–1966) – my great-great uncle, a Calvinistic Methodist minister and Oxford scholar whose story of faith and resilience remains deeply inspiring.
- Charles Shorto (1906–1997) – my great uncle, a meticulous railway engineer whose £5 million charitable trust continues to fund community causes in his name.
- Arthur Owen Jones (1872–1914) – my celebrated cricketing ancestor who captained England during the Edwardian era.
- Elinor Bennett OBE (born 1943) – world-renowned harpist and cultural icon, who shares our Montgomeryshire roots and continues to champion the Welsh language and music.
The piece captures the essence of what drives my work as a historian and writer: the belief that our ancestors’ stories are not only worth telling, but that they help us understand who we are today. As I say in the article, “It wasn’t until I began researching that I realised just how rich and varied our family history was.”
I’m enormously grateful to Who Do You Think You Are? magazine for the opportunity to share my research and to celebrate the enduring spirit of rural Wales and its people.
You can read the full feature in the November 2025 issue of Who Do You Think You Are? magazine — available now in print and online at whodoyouthinkyouaremagazine.com.
(Images: pages from the feature, including the family tree and portraits of key ancestors.)
Antony David Davies FRSA FRAS AFRHistS MCMI MIoL 