Sarah Jane Rees

Early life

Sarah Jane Rees was born at Llangrannog in Cardiganshire, the daughter of a mariner John Rees, and received her early education at the village school. She was a precocious child and insisted that she accompany her father to sea rather than undertake sewing and cooking chores which she hated. She was initially educated in her local village by an old schoolmaster called Hugh Davies, who taught her both Latin and astronomy. She later attended school in both Cardigan and New Quay and at one time she studied at a navigation school in London.

Career

In 1865, competing at Aberystwyth against men such as William Thomas (Islwyn), she won her first major Eisteddfod prize, for "Y Fodrwy Briodasal (The Wedding Ring)", in the "song" category. A book of poems, Caniadau Cranogwen, followed this victory, in 1870. In addition to teaching navigation and other subjects, she became editor of the Welsh-language women's periodical Y Frythones (1878–1889), a "platform for Welsh bluestockings and proto-suffragettes."

Rees lived with her friend Jane Thomas in a romantic friendship in their hometown. Open about her unconventional domestic arrangement, Rees was nonetheless a committed Methodist, and toured giving lectures on education, temperance and other subjects. In 1869–1870, she toured the United States, addressing mainly Welsh immigrant communities as far west as California. She was one of the founders of the South Wales Women's Temperance Union (UDMD), when it formed in 1901.

Legacy

Rees died at Cilfynydd and was buried in the churchyard at St. Crannogs, her grave marked by a large and elaborate obelisk. A homeless shelter for women and girls named "Lletty Cranogwen" was founded in the Rhondda valley in 1922, by the South Wales Women's Temperance Union, and named in memory of Rees' work to improve Welsh women's lives.