Speaker: Professor E. Wyn James (School of Welsh, Cardiff University)

Date: Tuesday, 26 April 2016

Time: 6.30pm (reception from 6pm)

Location: Council Chamber, Singleton Abbey, Singleton Park Campus, SA2 8PP

Entry: Free and a warm welcome to all

This lecture will be delivered in Welsh with simultaneous translation

‌About the lecture:

The period 1750-1850 witnessed seismic changes in Welsh life. In 1750 Wales was a fairly conservative country, where loyalty to the gentry and the Established Church went almost unquestioned. However, a significant growth in radicalism and Methodism meant that by the 1850s Wales had experienced great political ‌radicalization, with four out of every five church-goers by then attending a Nonconformist place of worship. A new development in this period was the emergence of a number of colourful and influential societies among the London Welsh. This lecture focuses on London Welsh life, which is a microcosm of the great changes that were afoot in Welsh culture in the second half of the eighteenth century and first half of the nineteenth century, and the great tensions created by such changes. 

‌Professor E. Wyn James

Professor James has published extensively on various aspects of the literature and the culture of Wales in the modern period. His research focuses primarily on the areas relating to religion, identity, folk culture, textual criticism and book history, concentrating mainly on the hymn, the broadside ballad, and the literature of the evangelicalism. He has a special research interest in the anti-slavery movement and in the Welsh diaspora in Patagonia.