On Jul 29, 2009, at 1:48 PM, B1oatley(a)aol.com wrote:
The Islwyn mentioned would not be the poet, this photograph is of a
young
man who had come home for a holiday and born long after Islwyn the
poet
died.
You may perhaps be correct, however, John Ball's friend Judy Gray
wrote, "I have
absolutely no information other than what is written on the back of the
photograph." The back of the photograph reads "Islwyn taken when home
on holidays."
There is absolutely no information regarding when the young man in
the photo was born, so I'm not sure how you know it was long after
the poet died. Perhaps you can elucidate?
I will explain the logical process that led me to the conclusion that
this could be Islwyn the poet.
Islwyn the poet died in 1878 at the age of 46. The only date
information in Judy Gray's message is that her grandmother emigrated
to the U.S. from Cwmfelinfach in 1925, less than fifty years after
the death of Islwyn. One would presume she had the photo with her at
that time, though that's not certain either. Judy does not specify
the age of her grandmother at the emigration, but it would certainly
be conceivable that she was old enough to have met Islwyn the poet at
some point. But we are also not told the provenance of the
photograph. It could have been given to the grandmother by someone
else who knew Islwyn. It could have been taken years before.
I am not entirely certain whether a photo of this quality was
possible with 19th Century technology and the young man's clothing is
not entirely consistent the fashion of that day. However, his necktie
seems quite unusual, so it may be a style of which I'm not aware. His
features are not entirely unlike those of the only photo I could find
of the poet. Different time, different place, I could not say for
certain they are not the same man based on these images. They are not
identical, but the poet could have changed over time, and/or appeared
different when posing for a formal photograph.
I've placed the photos of the young man, the poet, and an 1857
photograph for comparison of the photo quality at http://
www.thompsonmanor.com/Islwyn.html. I had difficulty finding photos
that were similar enough in size and composition for comparison, but
the clarity of the photo of the young man seems to be achievable in
the mid-nineteenth century. Most of the photos I found from that era
were brownish in tinge though, not black and white. I chose an 1857
photo because the young man seems somewhere around 25 to 35 years
old. Islwyn the poet would have been 25 years old in 1857.
Judy's grandmother was from Cwmfelinfach, which is so close to the
poet's home of Ynysddu as to make them virtually the same community.
The poet is buried in Cwmfelinfach. Perhaps locals can give more
information on the area, but this photo apparently came from the same
vicinity of old Monmouthshire where Islwyn spent his life.
Islwyn is an unusual name, even in Wales. It wasn't even the poet's
real name, he took it from the mountain. There are a few other
Islwyns on the 'net, but pretty much all of them have a family name
too. The young man in the photograph is only called "Islwyn" not
Islwyn Jones or Islwyn Watkins or even Islwyn Ffowc Elis like the
author. That implies that either he's a close family member who
doesn't need to be identified by last name (a grandmother might just
write the first name of a grandson or somebody the whole family would
recognize) or that he needed no last name, like the poet. If you just
mention Islwyn in that area, people assume you're talking about the
mountain or the poet.
Adding all these things together led me to the conclusion that the
young man in the photograph could possibly have been Islwyn the poet.
And given the lack of information about the young man, and the rarity
of the name Islwyn I could not postulate any other identity that
would be more likely. It's far from certain that this is the poet,
but it's also far from certain that it is not the poet, given the
information at hand. If you have additional data which would shed
more light on the subject, I for one would be intrigued to see it.
I might also mention, in that light, that I purposely copied my
answer to the list because I think this is a great topic of
discussion about Monmouthsire history. I hope I was not out of line
in that, or in this less than brief follow up. Perhaps working
together we can better help Judy find an answer to this puzzle.
--
Doras Cúil Travel--Your one-stop travel source
Certified Destination Specialist for Ireland and Scotland
http://www.dorascuil.com