Alice Gray Jones

Alice Gray Jones (December 1852 – 17 April 1943) was a Welsh writer and editor, known by the pseudonym "Ceridwen Peris" (referencing Saint Peris, the origin of placenames from her native region, such as Llanberis and Llyn Peris). She was an active temperance campaigner, and a co-founder of the North Wales Women's Temperance Union (Undeb Dirwestol Merched Gogledd Cymru).[1]

Alice Gray Jones (Ceridwen Peris) 1852-1943

Early life and career
Four Crosses near Pwllheli

She was born in the village of Trefor, Gwynedd, near Llanberis, close to where her father's family owned a woollen mill. Her mother was a cousin of the prominent minister and writer John John Roberts, known as "Iolo Caernarfon".[2] After an education at Dolbadarn Primary School and Swansea Training College, she worked as a schoolteacher, eventually becoming head of the school at Dolbadarn which she had attended as a child. In 1881 she married the Rev William (or Williams) Jones.[1] His ministry was at Four Crosses, where she was involved in organising the local Temperance Union. In 1893, she also became a governor of Pwllheli County School.[3]

Literary career

The earliest of her poems in print were published in 1874, and by 1880 she was recognised as a poet, journalist and contributor to many periodicals.[4] As "Ceridwen Peris", Jones wrote regularly for Welsh-language periodicals, including Y Frythones (edited by Sarah Jane Rees ("Cranogwen") and Y Traethodydd.[5] She also wrote, spoke and campaigned on behalf of the women's temperance movement.

She became editor of the Welsh-language periodical Y Gymraes ("The Welshwoman") from 1896, when the publication (founded in response to the Treason of the Blue Books) was revived.[6] In 1901, the magazine established worthwhile links with the trade union movement, that helped to increase its circulation. Sometime before 1917 she translated Alice Williams' play into Welsh and as a result Alice was made a bard at the 1917 Eisteddfod in Birkenhead.[7]

She gave up the editorship of Y Gymraes in 1919, when her husband retired from the ministry and the couple relocated to Criccieth.[1] In 1921, she was awarded the OBE.[3]

She died, aged 90, at her daughter's home in Bangor, and her papers were donated to Bangor University.[3]

Works
  • Caniadau Ceridwen Peris (1934)

References
  1. Davies, Margaret Beatrice. "Ceridwen Peris". Dictionary of Welsh Biography. National Library of Wales. Retrieved 8 April 2016.
  2. Jenkins, Robert Thomas. "John Roberts". Dictionary of Welsh Biography. National Library of Wales. Retrieved 8 April 2016.
  3. Jones, Elen Wyn. "Papers of Ceridwen Peris". Bangor University. Archived from the original on 23 April 2016. Retrieved 8 April 2016.
  4. Brake, Laurel (2009). Dictionary of Nineteenth-century Journalism in Great Britain and Ireland. Academia Press. p. 324. ISBN 9789038213408.
  5. Aaron, Jane (2010). Nineteenth-Century Women's Writing in Wales: Nation, Gender and Identity. Cardiff: University of Wales Press. p. 218. ISBN 9780708322871.
  6. Jones, Elen Wyn. "The Blue Books". Wales History. BBC. Retrieved 8 April 2016.
  7. Ceridwen Lloyd-Morgan, ‘Williams, Alice Helena Alexandra (1863–1957)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 accessed 20 Oct 2017
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