Tag: history

• Why the English and the Welsh Keep Misunderstanding Each Other — And Why It Still Shapes Modern Britain

  We talk endlessly about the politics of the Union, the economics of devolution, and the future of the UK. But beneath all of that lies a quieter, deeper truth: The English and the Welsh speak the same language, but not the same culture.And because no one acknowledges this, we constantly misread each other. These aren’t…

  antonydaviesfrsa

  03/12/2025

  Articles

  behavioural culture, bilingualism, British culture, British identity, communication styles, cross-border relations, cultural differences, cultural literacy, cultural misunderstanding, Devolution, england, English culture, English history, English identity, English values, history, identity politics, inter-cultural communication, language, National identity, national stereotypes, Offa’s Dyke, Politics, social psychology, soft power, UK nations, Wales, Welsh culture, Welsh diaspora, Welsh history, Welsh identity, Welsh values, Welsh vs English, workplace culture, writing

• “My Relations Are Part of a Rich Tapestry of Welsh Heritage” — My Feature in Who Do You Think You Are? Magazine

  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…

  antonydaviesfrsa

  04/11/2025

  Articles

  ancestry research, Antony David Davies, Arthur Owen Jones, British history, Caeadda, Calvinistic Methodists, Charles Shorto, Christ Church Oxford, Davies family, Edwardian Wales, Elinor Bennett, family, family history, family tree, Genealogy, genealogy research, heritage writing, historical biography, history, Llanwrin, magazine feature, Mid Wales history, Montgomeryshire, Oxford archives, Rural Wales, Shorto family, Shropshire history, travel, Trevor Owen Davies, Victorian Wales, Voices from the Uplands, WDYTYA, Welsh ancestry, Welsh culture, Welsh farming families, Welsh heritage, Welsh identity, Welsh language, Welsh music, Welsh Nonconformity, Who Do You Think You Are magazine

• Sir Philip Magnus-Allcroft: The Gentleman Who Inspired a Historian

  When I trace the beginnings of my love of history, I always return to one figure — Sir Philip Magnus-Allcroft of Stokesay Court, the elderly baronet who, quite unknowingly, set a child on the path to becoming a historian. I met him in the great Shropshire house that dominated my early world. He would summon…

  antonydaviesfrsa

  15/10/2025

  Articles

  20th century biography, AFRHistS, Anglo-Jewish heritage, Antony David Davies, art, biographical writing, books, British biography, British historians, childhood inspiration, Edwardian England, Elizabeth Longford, English country houses, FRSA, Gladstone biographer, historian memoir, historians of character, historical reflection, history, inspiration, intellectual formation, literary biography, Ludlow history, mentorship, moral history, New College Oxford, Onibury Church, rural gentry, Shropshire heritage, Shropshire history, Sir Philip Magnus-Allcroft, Stokesay Court, Victorian and Edwardian era, writing

• William Halse Gatty Jones (1825 – 1897): From Gold-Rush Melbourne to the Hills of Merioneth

  My first cousin four times removed, William Halse Gatty Jones, lived a life that stretched across two hemispheres and mirrored the restless energy of the nineteenth century. Born in London on 8 March 1825, he began as a City solicitor, made his fortune amid the Australian gold rush, and returned to Wales to become a…

  antonydaviesfrsa

  29/09/2025

  Articles

  Australian legal history, Borthwnog Estate, City of London history, family history, family history blog, Gatty Jones, Genealogy, Glandwr Hall, history, Jones family history, Law Institute of Victoria, Melbourne gold rush, Merionethshire history, nineteenth century Wales, scotland, Skinners Company, Victorian Legislative Assembly, Victorian Wales, Wales, Welsh ancestors, Welsh diaspora, Welsh emigrants Australia, Welsh genealogy, Welsh landed gentry, William Halse Gatty Jones

• Yma o Hyd in My Blood: What My DNA Reveals About the Welsh Story

  When we explore family history, we often begin with parish registers, gravestones, and sepia photographs. Yet DNA now allows us to go far deeper, reaching back not hundreds but thousands of years. My own paternal line — the Davies men of Montgomeryshire — has recently been confirmed as belonging to a branch called R-L96. This…

  antonydaviesfrsa

  26/08/2025

  Articles

  ancestry, DNA, family history, Genealogy, heritage, history, Wales

• John Davies of Erglodd (1821–1887): “Apostol y Plant” and the Quiet Power of Faithful Service

  By Antony David Davies FRSA In the upland heart of north Cardiganshire, where the hills of Taliesin and Talybont cradle the Dyfi valley, the life of John Davies of Erglodd stands as a shining example of rural Welsh piety, service, and enduring influence. Known in his lifetime as “Apostol y Plant” – the Children’s Apostle…

  antonydaviesfrsa

  07/08/2025

  Articles

  19th century Wales, Aberystwyth Board of Guardians, Antony David Davies, Apostol y Plant, Calvinistic Methodism, Cardiganshire history, christianity, Dyfi Valley, Erglodd, faith, family history, Genealogy, Good Templars Wales, history, John Davies, Llanwrin, rural Welsh history, Sunday School Movement, Taliesin, Talybont, Welsh chapel history, Welsh farming history, Welsh genealogy, Welsh Nonconformity, Welsh religious leaders

• Tea and Waterfalls: John and Jane Waters of the Llyfnant Valley

  By Antony David Davies FRSA John and Jane Waters, my grandmother’s aunt and uncle, stand with their daughter at the doorway of Tymawr in the Llyfnant Valley — welcoming Edwardian visitors to their farmhouse tea room, nestled in the peaceful hills near Machynlleth. In the remote folds of the Llyfnant Valley in north-west Montgomeryshire—where waterfalls…

  antonydaviesfrsa

  04/08/2025

  Uncategorized

  19th-century-wales, 20th-century-wales, ancestry, cwmrhaiadr, edwardian-wales, family history, farmhouse-tea-rooms, Genealogy, history, ireland, john-waters, llyfnant-valley, local-heritage, Machynlleth, Rural Wales, Social history, tea-rooms-of-wales, travel, tymawr, victorian-wales, waters-family, Welsh history, welsh-tourism-history