The language section on the 1891 & 1901 Census is fascinating BUT needs to
be treated with caution. From a book written about the 91 Census I
discovered that some enumerators exercised their own prejudices, whilst some
people expressed their sense of identity by claiming only to speak Welsh
when they were in fact bilingual.
However, my reason for posting is a discovery made in the 01 Census.
My grandfather, his mother & siblings were all in Conwy/Conway Workhouse.
The page on which they appear lists 5 staff and 20 inmates, and every last
one is shown as Welsh only. I find this hard to believe. I cannot believe in
particular that a Master and Matron would have been appointed without a
knowledge of English. Also I would have exdpected the school age children to
be bilingual.
I would be very interested in comments.
Gwyn
Crewe UK
Hello Gwyn,
You are talking about the 19th Century. It could happen.
In the 20th Century, my own husband Goronwy, born 1935, in Holyhead, only
spoke Welsh during his younger years. He went to a primary school where
they only conversed in Welsh, then went to Holyhead High School (mainly
English speaking) and wanted to learn English as a foreign language. The
Head Teacher was not amused!!!
I still laugh, thinking of what I witnessed happening every summer in
Holyhead during the 18 years I lived there (1973-1991). Everybody reverted
to speaking Welsh, especially when the summer visitors were around. I never
let it bother me, just asked questions in English and I was usually helped.
Margaret Owens
Melbourne, Australia