The extent of Welshness amongst the exiled Welsh living in England, Scotland and Ireland.

There appears to have been an upsurge of interest in ‘Welshness’ among Welsh people living in Wales during the last two or three decades. This is evidenced by the reversal, if only slight, of the decline in the number of Welsh speakers as indicated by the census figures and by the setting up of the Welsh Assembly Government. The purpose of this dissertation was to find out if there has been a similar upward trend amongst the exiled Welsh living in the British Isles. To begin with it was important to isolate what characteristics define a Welsh person apart from being born in the geographical area of Wales. Language is of paramount importance in defining a national identity, although not exclusively so. The Welsh have a tendency towards non-conformity in religion and radicalism in politics. They appears to be musical and enjoy sports particularly rugby. Also of interest was to determine the time when and why migration from Wales occurred. There appeared to have been three well defined periods. Migration from the rural areas occurred during the nineteenth century. The industrial depression of the 1920s and 30s hit the Welsh valleys in particular. Again in the 1950s to the 1970s there was an exodus of graduates predominately. To begin the survey, Welsh Societies were contacted through the website ww.taffia.org which unfortunately ceased to function. It soon transpired that there were Welsh learner and conversation groups out with the Societies; therefore the search had to be extended to include these. Disappointingly a number of the Welsh Societies are reliant on elderly members and seem unable to attract newer and younger members. Some Societies though are resisting this trend and an attempt is made to try and understand why this is so. There is, however, considerable enthusiasm for learning Welsh in England in particular. In the main though, this appears to be dependent on a few enthusiastic individuals.

Name dc:type.qualificationname

ma

Level dc:type.qualificationlevel

masters

Grantor dc:publisher.institution

University of Wales Trinity Saint David

Year dc:date.issued

2013

Author dc:creator

• McLean, Eirlys Rachel

Dc Identifier Grantnumber

UWTSD

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:repository.uwtsd.ac.uk:467