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Thomas, Dylan, 1914-1953 -- Death and burial.
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Caitlin Thomas letters to Mary Keene,

  • NLW MS 23764E.
  • File
  • 1944-1957 /

Thirty-five letters, 1944-1957, to the artists' model Mary Keene, comprising twenty-three from her friend Caitlin Thomas, 1945-1954 (ff. 1-30), six from the latter's sister Brigit Marnier, 1944-1949 (ff. 33-43), and six from Florence Thomas, mother of Dylan Thomas, 1954-1957 (ff. 44-53), all containing personal and family news.
Also included is a letter, 11 October 1950, to Caitlin Thomas from her domestic help, Dolly Long of Laugharne (ff. 31-32). There are numerous references to Dylan Thomas (ff. 1 verso-10 passim, 19, 20 27 verso) and his funeral (ff. 43-44) and to Caitlin (in addition to her own letters) (ff. 36 verso, 44-54 passim). There are also references to Laurie Lee (f. 16 verso), Anthony Devas (f. 23 verso), Louis MacNeice (f. 45 verso) and Daniel Jones (f. 47 verso).

Thomas, Caitlin

Letters relating to Dylan Thomas's funeral

Two letters, 16-18 November 1953, from [the Rev.] S[ydney] B[owen] Williams, Vicar of St Martins, Laugharne, Carmarthenshire, to Dr [Daniel] Jones, concerning arrangements for Dylan Thomas's funeral. Thomas died in New York on 9 November 1953 and would be buried in Laugharne on 24 November.

Williams, S. B. (Sydney Bowen), 1874 or 1875-1953

Letters to John Davenport

  • NLW MS 14934E.
  • File
  • 1939-1966

Eighty letters, 1939-1966, to John Davenport, literary critic and friend of Dylan Thomas, much of the correspondence relating to literary matters (ff. 1-91). There are references to Thomas throughout, including detailed (and contrasting) accounts, by John Malcolm Brinnin (ff. 12-13) and George Reavey (ff. 71-72 verso), of events surrounding his death.
The correspondents include Kingsley Amis, 1955-1965 (ff. 1-6), John Malcolm Brinnin, 1952-1953 (ff. 11-13), Walford Davies, 1963-1965 (ff. 16-23), Constantine FitzGibbon, 1950-1966 (ff. 27-52), Glyn Jones, March-April 1965 (ff. 57-59), T. H. Jones, 9 November 1961 (f. 60), George Reavey, [November 1953] (ff. 71-72), Roger Roughton, 1939-1940 (ff. 73-80), Caitlin Thomas, 1947-[?1952] (ff. 81-85, including a postcard also signed by Dylan Thomas), and Vernon Watkins, 1956-1965 (ff. 86-90). Also included are further papers relating to Dylan Thomas, comprising manuscript notes by Davenport, [1956x1966] (ff. 92-100); a postcard, [?1950], to Thomas from Jack Lindsay in Prague (f. 101); a typescript, 10 November 1953, of a radio obituary to Thomas by Davenport (ff. 102-104); a typescript article, [mid-1950s], on Thomas by Davenport (ff. 105-114); and press cuttings, 1954-1965 (ff. 115-121). A typescript table of contents is ff. i-iii. Three of the Kingsley Amis letters (ff. 1, 2, 4) are published in The Letters of Kingsley Amis, ed. by Zachary Leader (London, 2000) (pp. 448-50, 464-5, 527-8).

Davenport, John, 1908-1966.

Letters to Stuart Thomas,

Twenty-three letters, copy letters and telegrams, 1953-1975, eighteen of which are to Stuart Thomas of D.O. Thomas & Co., relating mostly to Dylan Thomas's death and funeral arrangements and to Dylan Thomas Trust business.
The correspondents include Graeme [Finlay], November-December 1953 (ff. 1, 19), David Higham, November-December 1953 (ff. 2, 17, 20-23), [Nicolette] Devas, 18 November 1953 (f. 3, telegram), Louis MacNeice, November 1953 (ff. 4, 9), Margaret Taylor, 1 December 1953 (ff. 12-14), Dan[iel Jones], resigning as a trustee, 25 January 1955 (ff. 26-27), and Florence H. Thomas, August 1956 (ff. 28, 30). There are also letters from Oscar Williams to [I. W.] Ungoed-Thomas, 22 November 1953 (f. 8), and Donald A. Kershaw to David Higham, 7 October 1953 (f. 11), and a carbon copy letter from David Higham to Ruthven Todd, 28 December 1953 (ff. 24-25). A letter from Paul [Ferris], 8 September 1975 (f. 32), encloses a Xerox copy, [?1975], of the script for Stuart Thomas' tribute to Dylan Thomas, transmitted on the Home Service as 'Portrait of Dylan Thomas' on 11 December 1953 (ff. 33-47). Also included is a copy, December 1953, of the New York funeral directors' account (f. 16); a copy, 1965, of Dylan Thomas' death certificate (f. 31) and a programme for a production of Under Milk Wood in Swansea in September 1956 (ff. 48-51).

On Dylan Thomas

Autograph and typescript drafts, 1948-1967, of published poetry and published and unpublished prose by Vernon Watkins, mostly composed following the death of Dylan Thomas in 1953, including drafts of Vernon Watkins's poem 'Elegy for the Latest Dead', 1954, and two unfinished poems by Dylan Thomas, 'Elegy' and 'In Country Heaven', completed by Vernon Watkins; and radio scripts, lecture notes, draft reviews and articles by him relating to Dylan Thomas and his work.

Thomas, Dylan, 1914-1953

Papers relating to Dylan Thomas's death,

  • NLW Facs 991.
  • File
  • 2004-2005.

Photocopies of papers relating to the death of Dylan Thomas, including a statement and particulars of death from St Vincent's Hospital, New York, 9 November 1953, a post mortem report, 10 November 1953, together with copies of two letters, 1964, to Constantine FitzGibbon, relating to Dylan Thomas's admittance to and discharge from a London hospital, 1946.

Vernon Watkins letters to John Lehmann

Two typescript letters, 1953-1955, from Vernon Watkins, Pennard, to poet and publisher John Lehmann, the first, 13 November 1953, concerning the death of Watkins's close friend Dylan Thomas four days earlier (f. 46), the second, 8 August 1955, concerning his foreword to Dylan Thomas, Adventures in the Skin Trade (London, 1955) (f. 47).

Watkins, Vernon Phillips, 1906-1967