Ffeil / File AHA/1 - Letters to John Pikoulis from academic and work colleagues of Alun Lewis and from academic institutions

Alun Lewis's close friend Richard (Dick) Mills was born in Dolgellau. He read geography at Aberystwyth University, where he met Alun Lewis, and, like Lewis, served as an Army officer in Burma and India during the Second World War. He was Deputy Director of the British branch of the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation (CGF) from 1960 to 1980. Mills married Joan Webster, with whom he had three children. He was awarded the OBE in 1976. See, for example: https://www.theguardian.com/news/2002/jan/11/guardianobituaries1; see also indexed references in John Pikoulis: Alun Lewis: A Life (Poetry Wales Press, 1984). Richard Mills is referenced in letters to John Pikoulis from Howell Davies (see under Letters to John Pikoulis from friends and acquaintances of Alun Lewis). See also, for example, NLW ex 2161 at NLW, which comprises Letters from Alun Lewis to Richard Mills, 1938-1944.

Glyn Rees was formerly headmaster of what was then known as the Lewis Boys' Grammar School at Pengam, where Alun Lewis taught from 1938 until his military enlistment in 1940. See note on the school below.

The medieval historian Christopher Robert Cheney was born in Banbury and educated at Wadham College, Oxford. He lectured at the University of Manchester from 1933 to 1937, where he tutored Alun Lewis. In 1945, he took the Chair in Medieval History at Manchester until his election as Professor of Medieval History at the University of Cambridge in 1955, where he remained, as a Fellow of Corpus Christi College, until his retirement in 1972. Alun Lewis attended the University of Manchester from 1935 to 1937. For the University of Manchester, see https://www.manchester.ac.uk/.

Andrew Davies and Alun Lewis were both teachers at what was then known as the Lewis Boys' Grammar School, Pengam, where Lewis taught from 1938 until his military enlistment in 1940. Founded in 1729, the school is now known simply as Lewis School Pengam (see, for example: https://lsp.wales/, also indexed references to Andrew Davies in John Pikoulis: Alun Lewis: A Life (Poetry Wales Press, 1984)).

Gwyn Prosser was the editor (later Managing Editor) of the Aberdare Leader, for which Alun Lewis worked in an informal capacity during the summer of 1938 (see John Pikoulis: Alun Lewis: A Life (Poetry Wales Press, 1984), p. 73). Despite being noted both in the interview notes and in John Pikoulis: Alun Lewis: A Life (Poetry Wales Press, 1984) as 'Glyn Prosser', please note that all online searches for the Aberdare Leader editor have turned up 'Gwyn', rather than 'Glyn', Prosser. For Gwyn Prosser, see, for example: https://archive.rctcbc.gov.uk/view-item?key=SnsiUCI6eyJpdGVtaWQiOjI0ODg2LCJwZXJjZW50VGVybXNUb01hdGNoIjoiMC42IiwibWF4UXVlcnlUZXJtcyI6IjIwIiwibWluRG9jRnJlcSI6IjEiLCJtaW5UZXJtRnJlcSI6IjEifX0&pg=3&WINID=1691596337793#ggMTlxFxbKsAAAG..

Gwynfor Richard Evans (1912–2005) was a politician, lawyer and author. He was President of Plaid Cymru for thirty-six years and was the first Member of Parliament to represent the party at Westminster, which he did twice, from 1966 to 1970, and again from 1974 to 1979. (Wikipedia (paraphrased)).

Born in Holyhead, Cledwyn Hughes, Baron Cledwyn of Penrhos, was a Welsh Labour Party politician, and was also regarded, particularly in later years, as a non-political figure of stature in Wales, having held posts of importance within bodies such as the University of Wales. In 1979, he was made a life peer as Baron Cledwyn of Penrhos. (Wikipedia (paraphrased)).

D. [?V.] Marks's letter references Alun Lewis's paternal uncle Timothy Lewis, for whom see under Alun Lewis (Alun Lewis research papers): Correspondence of Alun Lewis (photocopies, typescript copies and transcripts) and in indexed references ('Lewis, Tim') in John Pikoulis: Alun Lewis: A Life (Poetry Wales Press, 1984).

Founded in Cardiff in 1884, the South Wales Echo is a daily tabloid newspaper published in Cardiff and distributed throughout the surrounding area (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Wales_Echo;
see also, for example: https://newspapers.library.wales/browse/4228280). Matt Jones was a former pupil of Alun Lewis.

D. W. Thomas was a colleague of Alun Lewis's at what was then the Lewis Boys' Grammar School at Pengam, where Lewis taught from 1938 until his military enlistment in 1940. For the school, see note above.

For Dewi Lewis, see John Pikoulis: Alun Lewis: A Life (Poetry Wales Press, 1984), p. 48.

Charles Franklin was a fellow student of Alun Lewis's at Aberystwyth University.

The John Rylands Research Institute and Library, founded in 1900, is part of the University of Manchester (see, for example: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Rylands_Research_Institute_and_Library).

Alun Lewis entered the University of Wales, Aberystwyth on a Scholarship in 1932 to read History, eventually earning a First Class Honours degree.

Chris Germanacos was a close friend of Alun Lewis during his time at the University of Wales, Aberystwyth.

[?Nans] Richards appears to have been a fellow student of Alun Lewis's in Aberystwyth University's Education Department during the 1930s.

Wendon jones (née Mostyn) was a fellow student and girlfriend of Alun Lewis's during the latter's time at Aberystwyth University. It appears that she may be the 'Dilys Western' referenced by John Pikoulis in Alun Lewis: A Life (Poetry Wales Press, 1984), pp. 68-69 (see letters from Bethan Hensman under Letters to John Pikoulis from various correspondents).

For Barrie Davies, see John Pikoulis: Alun Lewis: A Life (Poetry Wales Press, 1984), p. 82.

Sir Idwal Vaughan Pugh was Permanent Secretary at the Welsh Office and Parliamentary Commissioner for Administration and Health Service Commissioner for England, Scotland and Wales (Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman). He was born in Blaenau Ffestiniog but raised by relatives in Ton Pentre in the Rhondda Valley and educated at Cowbridge Grammar School, which Alun Lewis attended from 1926 to 1932. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Idwal_Pugh)

The poet, literary critic and translator Dyfnallt Morgan was born in Penydarren, Merthyr Tydfil. He attended Aberystwyth University from 1935 to 1940 and registered as a conscientious objector during the Second World War. He narrowly missed winning the Crown at the Rhyl National Eisteddfod in 1953, finally achieving his aim at the National Eisteddfod held in Anglesey in 1957. Morgan wrote critiques on the poetry of T. H. Parry Williams (1971), Gwenallt (1972) and Waldo Williams (1975) and published his own anthology of poems, titled 'Y Llen a Myfyrdodau Eraill', in 1967 (https://biography.wales/article/s10-MORG-DYF-1917).