Cranogwen's Story
Mariner, teacher, poet, activist. Find out why Sarah Jane Rees is considered one of the most celebrated women of the nineteenth century and see the legacy she has left behind
Sarah Jane Rees (1870) by John ThomasThe National Library of Wales
A Face to the Name
This photograph, taken by Welsh photographer John Thomas, captures Sarah Jane Rees, or Cranogwen, as the striking and strong woman whom contemporaries revered, and history celebrates. Here she stands tall, captured in a way that seems to pay homage to a varied and vivacious life.
Capturing Celebrity
Carte-de-visite photography was a lucrative business in the 19th century. 'Proud of [his] land and nation', John Thomas was determined to make his country and its countrymen visible, and took it upon himself to capture Wales and the leading Welsh personalities of the day.
Sarah Jane Rees was one such notable, and for good reason.
Welsh 19th century School (1850) by Donated by Miss L.M. DaviesThe National Library of Wales
From an early age Rees showed an inclination for learning, encouraged by her teacher at the Pontgarreg school, Hugh Davies, who insisted she continue her schooling when she threatened to stop, and ensured her access to books not typically available to pupils of a rural school.
For the most part, however, education for women was not considered a priority, and it was the wish of Rees' parents that she learn the craft of dressmaking in Swansea. Ever the advocate of contrariness, Rees had other plans and was, quite literally, keen to broaden her horizons.
Out to Sea
Rees instead inspired to take to the seas, imploring her father to take her on as part of the crew of his ketch boat. He agreed, and for two years she worked at sea, carrying various cargoes between the ports of Wales, England, and France.
Back to Shore
Upon her return, Rees resumed her education, attending higher-schools in New Quay, Liverpool, and London. She extended her knowledge of Latin, astronomy, navigation, and literature. During this time she also earned her master's certificate.
Sarah Jane Rees (1870) by John ThomasThe National Library of Wales
Rees eventually returned to Pontgarreg and, at the age of 21, became a teacher at the school, before graduating to headmistress. She did so for six years between 1860-1866, teaching navigation and seamanship to local men as well as providing a primary education for children.
She taught music too. An ardent advocate for Sarah Ann Glover's Tonic Sol-fa method for teaching, learning, and reading music, she later became a local examiner for the Tonic Sol-fa College.
Poetry, however, is what Rees is perhaps best known for.
Aberystwyth, 1865
She entered the bardic playing field by storm in 1865 with her winning poem 'Y Fodrwy Briodasol', at the Aberystwyth National Eisteddfod. In so doing, Rees had bested the bardic royalty of the day and placed a woman at the heart of a traditionally male-dominated art.
The Wedding Ring
Moreover, the poem itself was a direct criticism of contemporary conservative models for womanhood. Using her writing as a lens through which to observe the perspectives of three married women, Rees explored the expectation that women marry, and the repercussions of this demand.
Cranogwen's Songs, Front Cover (1870) by Sarah Jane ReesThe National Library of Wales
A Published Poet
Needless to say, her successes in the poetic field did not end here. Rees went on to earn titles in further poetry competitions and within five years of her first win at the Aberystwyth National Esteddfod, she became a published poet with Caniadau Cranogwen, in 1870.
Rees' poetry covered a broad range of topics and became something of an outlet for some of her more particular passions, such as religion, temperance, the female experience, and Wales. Indeed, her enthusiasm for speaking on such topics led to a career in lecturing and preaching.
Dear Sisters
Rees' passion for engaging with others on topics of great personal importance was later embodied through the publication of Y Frythones, in 1879. Y Frythones was a monthly periodical for women, with Rees as its editor: the first woman to edit a Welsh-language women's magazine.
The Value of Education
The periodical features stories, poetry and music, and was a space for other aspiring Welsh women writers, as well as a platform for famed female contemporaries. Religion and temperance are a heavy focus, however, the value of women's education and independence is also stressed.
The South Wales Women's Temperance Union
On temperance Rees felt particularly passionate. In 1901 she founded the South Wales Women's Temperance Union which, by the time of Rees' death in 1916, was a lucrative organisation. In 1922, Llety Cranogwen was established in Rees' memory to shelter needy women and girls.
Historians have identified the 'female community' as an asset of particular worth to contemporary women running in domestic spheres. Rees' periodical and union are legacies of such a community. As well as offering comfort and companionship, contemporary women often provided invaluable aid and advice to their fellows on matters ranging from baking bread to delivering children. As such, the female community was a powerful network of support, and gave women the space to apply their agency.
In societies largely stigmatizing of female autonomy, such were particularly valued positions for women to hold in their communities.
Sarah Jane Rees (1870) by John ThomasThe National Library of Wales
Sarah Jane Rees is known for her devotion to the rights of women, to teaching, temperance, and religion and for her passion for poetry, music, the sea, and Wales. It was these things which seem to have brought her particular joy and purpose.
More recently, however, Rees has inspired interest because of the people she chose to spend her life with: most notably, Fanny Rees and Jane Thomas. Rees' time with both women has evidenced close, long-term companionships involving particularly strong feelings.
My Friend
Rees' famed poem, 'Fy Ffrynd', is widely considered an ode to Fanny after she passed away in 1874, having contracted tuberculosis. It was with Jane that Rees then spent the last two decades of her life, living together in Rees' family home after her parents had died.
Defining the nature of such close relationships between women at a time when a broader representational terminology for sexuality was not in open use has become a delicate issue for historians to navigate. What is indisputable, however, is that such female companionships were of particular importance to the contemporary women who shared in them. The strength of the bonds they formed and the depth of the love they shared are evidenced in the writings they left behind, such as in Rees' poem.
Bibliography
Iwan Meical Jones, A Welsh Way of Life (page 36)
NLW on John Thomas
Oxford DNB entry for Sarah Jane Rees
'The Extraordinary Life of Cranogwen', NLW Blog
Narberth Museum on Sarah Jane Rees
