Papers of David Davies, the first Baron Davies of Llandinam (1880-1944), along with papers of other members of the family, David Davies (1818-1890), Edward Davies (1852–1898), Revd. Gwilym Davies (1879-1955), Gwendoline Elizabeth Davies (1882-1951) and Mary Sidney Davies (1884-1963). They reflect Lord Davies varied business and political interests and include the records of the New Commonwealth Society, papers related to the League of Nations Union Welsh National Council, the first and second world wars, the Temple of Peace, the King Edward VII Welsh National Memorial Institute, the National Library of Wales, the Royal Welsh Agricultural Show, University of Wales Aberystwyth, Davies’s coal and railway interests, international affairs, drafts and copies of Davies’s publications mainly on international relations, papers of the David Davies Memorial Institute and papers related to Gregynog Press.

Gohebiaeth, 1913-1928, yn bennaf at Robert (Silyn) Roberts oddi wrth y bardd a'r darlithydd prifysgol R. Williams Parry, y llythyrau cynharaf wedi'u hanfon tra 'roedd Williams Parry yn athro yn ysgol Cefnddwysarn ger y Bala a'r rhan helaeth o'r ohebiaeth ddilynol yn olrhain ei hynt yn y fyddin yn ystod Rhyfel 1914-18. 'Roedd Williams Parry ar y cychwyn yn hynod anhapus yn ei yrfa milwrol ac mae'n erfyn ar Silyn, yn sgîl ei swydd fel ysgrifennydd Bwrdd Penodiadau Prifysgol Cymru, i'w symud i gatrawd sy'n cynnwys milwyr Cymreig (ceir tystiolaeth o ymgais Silyn i gyflawni ei ddymuniad). Cafodd Williams Parry air o'r diwedd (llythyr dyddiedig 24 Ebrill 1917) ei fod am gael ei drosglwyddo i'r '1st Welsh (Caernarvon) Battery Royal Garrison Artillery'. Serch annedwyddwch Williams Parry, ceir enghreifftiau yn ei lythyrau o farddoniaeth a ysgrifennodd ar faes y gâd, sy'n cynnwys ei englynion coffa i'w gyfaill Robert Pritchard Evans (1884-1917) (llythyr dyddiedig 26 Ebrill 1917) a'i soned 'Mater Mea' (llythyr dyddiedig 3 Rhagfyr 1917). Yn ei lythyr dyddiedig 11 Tachwedd 1918, mae Williams Parry yn datgan ei orfoledd ar derfyn y rhyfel. Arwyddir sawl un o'r llythyrau oddi wrth Williams Parry â'r enw 'Llion', sef y ffugenw a ddefnyddiodd ar gyfer ei ymgais lwyddiannus i gipio cadair Eisteddfod Genedlaethol 1910. Arnodir dau lythyr yn llaw Mary Silyn Roberts.
Ceir hefyd y canlynol:
Llythyr, 1 Mai 1915, at Robert (Silyn) Roberts oddi wrth W. J. Williams (1878-1952), sy'n ymddangos fel pe bai'n adrodd hanes dyfarnu cymhwyster R. Williams Parry ac eraill ar gyfer gwaith rhyfel.
Copi o lythyr, 10 Ionawr 1917, oddi wrth Robert (Silyn) Roberts at Capten Hamlet Roberts, 6ed Bataliwn y Ffiwsilwyr Cymreig Brenhinol, mewn ymgais i drosglwyddo R. Williams Parry i gatrawd Gymreig.
Llythyrau, Ebrill 1917, rhwng Robert (Silyn) Roberts a'r bardd Eingl-Gymraeg, llenor ac addysgwr Arthur Glyn Prys-Jones (1888-1987) ynghylch cyhoeddi cyfrol o farddoniaeth Eingl-Gymreig; yn un llythyr, ceir barn Silyn ar feirdd Cymreig cyfoes.
Llythyr, 3 Gorffennaf 1918, oddi wrth 'Kitty' yn Llundain, yn holi am gyhoeddiadau'n ymwneud ag R. Williams Parry ac â'r addysgwraig Lydewig Marie Souvestre (1830-1905).
Cerdyn post, 16 Mai 1930, wedi'i gyfeirio at Robert (Silyn) Roberts ond sydd â rhan helaeth ohono wedi'i dorri'i ffwrdd.

Ynghyd ag atodiad teipysgrif: 'Datganiad gan Angharad Tomos [un o roddwyr y casgliad] Mai 2022', sy'n cynnig sylwadau ynghylch llythyrau R. Williams Parry at Robert (Silyn) Roberts.

= Correspondence, 1913-1928, largely to Robert (Silyn) Roberts from the poet and university lecturer R. Williams Parry, the earliest letters sent whilst Williams Parry was teaching at Cefnddwysarn school, near Bala, with subsequent correspondence following, in the main, his military career during the First World War. Williams Parry's wartime experience was initially extremely unhappy and he begs Silyn, as secretary of the Welsh Appointments Board of the University of Wales, to transfer him to a regiment which includes Welsh soldiers (there is evidence of Silyn's attempts to fulfil his wishes). Williams Parry would finally receive word (letter dated 24 April 1917) of his transfer to the 1st Welsh (Caernarvon) Battery Royal Garrison Artillery. However, despite his melancholy, the war letters contain poetry written at the time by Williams Parry, which includes his commemorative 'englynion' (strict-metre verses) to his friend Robert Pritchard Evans (1884-1917) (letter dated 26 April 1917) and his sonnet 'Mater Mea' (letter dated 3 December 1917). Williams Parry expresses his joy at the end of the war in a letter dated 11 November 1918. Many of Williams Parry's letters are signed 'Llion', which was the pseudonym he used in his successful attempt to win the bardic chair at the 1910 National Eisteddfod. Two letters are annotated in the hand of Mary Silyn Roberts.
The following are also included:
Letter, 1 May 1915, to Robert (Silyn) Roberts from W. J. Williams (1878-1952), which appears to relate an account of how R. Williams Parry and others were assessed for war work.
Copy of a letter, 10 January 1917, from Robert (Silyn) Roberts to Captain Hamlet Roberts of the 6th Battalion of Royal Welsh Fusiliers in an attempt to obtain R. Williams Parry's transfer to a Welsh regiment.
Letters, April 1917, between Robert (Silyn) Roberts and the Anglo-Welsh poet, author and educator Arthur Glyn Prys-Jones (1888-1987) regarding the publication of a volume of Anglo-Welsh poetry; in one letter, Silyn expresses his opinion of contemporary Welsh poets.
Letter, 3 July 1918, from 'Kitty' in London, enquiring about publications relating to R. Williams Parry and to the Breton educator Marie Souvestre (1830-1905).
Postcard, 16 May 1930, addressed to Robert (Silyn) Roberts, a substantial part of which has been torn away.

Together with a typescript supplement comprising a statement made May 2022 by Angharad Tomos, one of the donors of the collection, containing observations on R. Williams' Parry's letters to Robert (Silyn) Roberts.

One hundred and twenty-four autograph letters, 1959-1974, from painter-poet David ('Dafydd') Jones, all addressed to Valerie ('Elri') Wynne-Williams (née Price), with the exception of two to her husband Michael ('Mihangel') (ff. 54, 112-113) and one to them both (ff. 55-56), discussing a variety of topics including his, and her, health and living conditions, his work, his friends, the Welsh language and Welsh history and politics. Some letters are illustrated with coloured pencil, pen and ink drawings, mainly of animals and flowers (ff. 8, 32, 33, 45 verso, 46 verso-47, 48 verso, 76, 103, 104 verso, 152), inscriptions (ff. 9, 34, 124 verso, 128, 136 verso) and sketch maps of Harrow (ff. 143, 144).
There are references throughout to friends and correspondents including Saunders Lewis (ff. 2-11 passim, 42-188 passim), Harman Grisewood (ff. 4-192 verso passim), René Hague (ff. 42 verso-187 passim), David Blamires (ff. 160, 186, 190 verso, 192), Louis Bonnerot (ff. 123, 186 verso), Tom Burns (ff. 13, 14 verso, 48, 64 verso, 68 verso, 77, 85 verso, 86 verso, 89 verso, 110, 116, 140 recto-verso, 188 verso), Douglas Cleverdon (ff. 68 verso, 160 verso, 162, 163 verso, 187), Aneirin Talfan Davies (ff. 9 verso, 11, 14 verso, 16, 33 verso, 63 verso, 71 verso, 123, 124, 128, 129 verso, 154 verso, 162), Clarissa Eden (f. 107 verso), T. S. Eliot (ff. 51 recto-verso, 62 verso, 67 verso, 69 verso, 71, 73, 74, 85), Gwynfor Evans (ff. 29 verso, 31, 131-192 verso passim), Illtud Evans (f. 6, 11 recto-verso, 37, 46 verso, 57, 61), Arthur Giardelli (ff. 150, 151 verso, 171 verso, 186), Eric Gill (ff. 45 verso, 66, 67 verso, 68 verso, 121), Stanley Honeyman (ff. 84, 140, 154 verso, 159 verso), Morag Owen (ff. 59, 98, 140), Catherine Rousseau (née Ivainer) (ff. 36 verso-127 passim), Stephen Spender (ff. 81 verso-82, 83 verso, 91), Bill Stevenson (f. 158 verso) and Helen Sutherland (ff. 68, 97 verso, 157). There are also occasional references to Desmond Chute (f. 120 verso), Idris Foster (ff. 60 verso, 63 verso), Philip Jones Griffiths (ff. 1, 131), David Lloyd George (ff. 108 verso-109, 127 verso), Megan Lloyd George (ff. 18 verso, 20, 21-22), J. D. Innes (f. 49 verso), Augustus John (f. 85 verso), Alun Oldfield-Davies (ff. 37, 77), Tristram Powell (ff. 142 recto-verso, 144), Caradog Prichard (ff. 19 verso, 77, 108), Kathleen Raine (f. 59 verso), Keidrych Rhys (ff. 6 verso, 8, 9, 16, 30 verso, 36 verso), Meic Stephens (ff. 171, 175), Vernon Watkins (ff. 47, 128 verso), D. J. Williams (f. 106 recto-verso), Kyffin Williams (ff. 49, 63, 77) and R. O. F. Wynne and his family (ff. 61, 62, 63, 64 verso, 67 verso, 81, 94 verso, 96 verso¸ 98, 130 verso), and brief reminiscences of his experiences during the First World War (ff. 70 recto-verso, 76, 79 recto-verso, 108 verso-109, 130 recto-verso, 151 verso, 164). Also included is a copy of his letter, dated 10 August 1959, to Megan Lloyd George (f. 21; for her reply see NLW, David Jones (Artist and Writer) Papers CT3/3, f. 247); cuttings of letters to the Times by David Jones, Valerie Price and others, 1958 (ff. 193-196); and a copy of a 1959 photograph of the two by Philip Jones Griffiths (f. 197). The letter of 23 September 1973 (ff. 178-179 verso) was published under the title 'Yr Iaith' in Planet, 21 (January 1974), 3-5.

The file includes letters from J. Mortimer Angus, J. H. Davies, J. Gwenogvryn Evans, H. J. Fleure, Annie J. Hughes Griffiths, John Hinds (2), J. Seymour Rees (2), and D. J. Williams.

Thirty-nine holograph and autograph letters and incomplete holograph letters addressed almost entirely to Elizabeth, Violet, and/or Dorothy Ramsay, daughters of Sir Andrew C. Ramsay. The writers include William Blackwood, Edinburgh, 1905-10 (the publication of 'Far Eastern Vignettes' by Miss Rankin, enclosing a letter by Lord Linlithgow, the death of King Edward VII, personal); Arabella B. Buckley [from London], 1881 (requesting assistance with church decorations); Charlotte A. M. Johnes, Dolaucothy, etc., 1883-1910 and undated (visitors to Llanover and deaths among Lady Llanover's staff, visits to Marie de Bunsen and others, a pendant for Mary Cookman, the employment of a district nurse, the writer's stay at Promontagno, personal, news of friends); B. [Elizabeth] H[ills] J[ohnes], Dolaucothy, etc., [18]98-1924 and undated (the recipient's picture shown in the Academy, personal, war-time activities, the death of the recipient's mother, an account of Woodstaples Hall, news of friends) (one letter with additions by Charlotte A. M. Johnes and J. Hills-Johnes); Elizabeth [ ] Dolaucothy, [19]24 (the recipient's new house, news of [Lady Elizabeth Hills-Johnes] and others); J[ohn Lloyd], bishop of Swansea, Lampeter Vicarage, 1907 (thanks for a book); J[ohn Owen], bishop of St. Davids, 1908 (thanks for a pectoral cross for the use of the see); And[re]w C. Ramsay, London, 1880-1881 (advancement of monies, personal, the death of Lamont Young in Australia); W. Ramsay [from London], 1911 (the sale of the recipient's house); O. Reichenbach [from London], [18]81 (personal); [ Baroness Bertha von Reisewitz?], Berlin, [19]06 (comments on the behaviour of Germans resident in England); and Aileen Roberts, from Portlaw, Ireland, and from Prince Town, Dartmoor, 1909 (the writer's visit to Ireland, comments on military manoeuvres, personal). Also included in the volume are two printed cards, including a prayer by [Simon] Patrick, bishop of Ely (1626-1707), and greetings in verse from J. H-J and B. H-J., Dolaucothy, 1917.

Seven holograph letters and one telegram, 1885-1915 and undated, from G[riffith] Hartwell Jones, rector of Nutfield, Surrey, to his uncle [Evan Jones] at [Portmadoc and] Llanrwst. Written from Llandovery, Rhyl, Nutfield, and Llandudno, they relate to the troubles of the writer's brother 'Willie' and a request to conceal his connection with the Army; the writer's travels; the authorship of a cutting; the receipt of newspapers; the death of the writer's aunt (1898); the connection of 'Pyll Glan Conwy' with the Lewis Morris press; destruction caused by World War I; etc.