Living History: The Diversity Project of the Dictionary of Welsh Biography

This article appeared in Welsh translation in the June 2024 history magazine Hanes Byw under the title ‘Mwy na dynion gwyn heterorywiol’.

The history of Wales is often colourful, sometimes eccentric and occasionally baffling. Despite a wealth of publications on a variety of subjects available these days, not all aspects, leave alone people in Welsh history have received equal attention. This narrowed focus is also reflected in the majority of articles in the Dictionary of Welsh Biography. Containing nearly 5,000 entries these days, over 95 per cent of them are about straight, white men.

What is the Diversity Project?

Thanks to new funding from the Anti-Racist Wales Action Plan, the Diversity Project is taking steps to improve the representation of protected characteristics in the DWB. First and foremost, we are increasing the number of available articles about people with Black, Asian and minority ethnic backgrounds and women. In addition, we also focus on LGBTQ+ history, the lives of disabled people and interfaith stories.

Collecting and sharing new life stories forms only one part of our efforts. Since the publication of the first volumes of the DWB in the 1950s, attitudes and language use have changed considerably. We have also gained new insights into already well-known historical figures. It was therefore inevitable that some existing articles require renewed attention. As a result, we are updating and correcting no longer appropriate entries. In the more extreme cases, we rewrite them entirely and archive the original versions. When the DWB was still a printed work, it would take decades before new articles would be published. Thankfully since the move online in 2007, new material is published on a rolling basis. With the Diversity Project, we want to speed up the process even more. We are combining academic background research with community events and writing workshops. This approach will improve the identification of new eligible candidates for inclusion in the DWB as well as finding new authors to write about them.

New names to be added

By now, the DWB has published a list of over 200 individuals in need of an article. As is to be expected, these people came from all walks of life and we cannot wait to bring their stories to wider attention.

Aaron Albert Mossell (1863–1951)

Among some recently published articles is Aaron Albert Mossell (1863–1951). Originally from Canada, he studied mining in Glamorgan during the first decade of the twentieth century.

Even before graduating from college in 1909 as a highly distinguished student, Mossell had already made a name for himself in the USA where he was the first African-American student to graduate with a law degree. Separating from his wife and children around 1899, he first emigrated to South Africa before arriving in Wales. Throughout his life, he was involved in socialist efforts. He was a member of the Cardiff delegation participating in the Pan-African Congress, promoting decolonisation in Africa and the Caribbean and ending racial discrimination. From the 1930s until his death in 1951, Mossell lived in Cardiff.

Peter Jones, Kahkewāquonāby (1802-1856)

We have also made some unexpected finds outside Wales. Searching the Library’s image collection, we spotted the portrait of Kahkewāquonāby (1802-1856) who later took the name Peter Jones. Of mixed Welsh and North American indigenous parentage, Jones was raised by his mother in the culture, religion and language of the Mississauga Ojibwe.

As a teenager he reconnected with his estranged Welsh father, was given a western name and eventually turned Methodist missionary. Jones became a trusted chief who represented the political interests of the Mississaugas before the Canadian government. He visited Britain on three separate occasions to raise funds for his work. Jones visited Wales only once to give a lecture in Swansea, but the Welsh newspapers enthusiastically reported about his lecture tours throughout Britain.

Where are the women?

It is more difficult to trace the biographies of historical women because in the past their lives and achievements were largely overlooked and so went unrecorded. However, we have identified several women deserving an article in the DWB. Among them are mixed-race Justina Jeffreys (1787-1869) of Glandyfi Castle and potential inspiration for Thomas Love Peacock’s novel Melincourt (1817). There is also the Aberystwyth student Iris de Freitas Brazao (1896-1989) who became the first black woman to practise law in the Caribbean. We are also seeking to write about Mahala Davis, first Black person singing in Welsh on TV in the 1960s.

As mentioned, we are also investigating disability history and will shortly publish an article about Eliza Pughe (1822/26-1847). Eliza was born deaf, but her family was determined to give her a good education long before the establishment of deaf schools in Britain. As part of these efforts, Eliza created a pictorial dictionary for her personal use. In this dictionary she combined small illustrations with English and Welsh words, thus showing that she moved about in a bilingual setting. Eliza’s dictionary has been preserved for the nation by the National Library of Wales and can also be seen online.

Support our work

The above selection is just the tip of the iceberg. We greatly rely on people’s knowledge and enthusiasm in helping the DWB grow and properly reflect the diversity of Wales across the centuries. If you would like to nominate a historical person or write an article about the people we have identified already, please get in touch: rita.singer[at]library.wales. The DWB’s future is going to be colourful!