Ffeil / File AAA/1 - Correspondence of Alun Lewis (photocopies, typescript copies and transcripts)

Born in London, artist Ronald John Petts was known for his engravings and stained glass works. In 1935 he married the artist, poet and writer Brenda Chamberlain and the couple set up home near Llanllechid, where they bought a hand operated printing press and in 1937 set up the Caseg Press, which produced bookplates, greeting cards and prints of local scenes. Petts and Chamberlain collaborated with Alun Lewis on illustrations for a number of Welsh-language magazines (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Petts_(artist)). See also, for example: John Petts Manuscripts, Gwyn Jones Papers and NLW MS 22863C at NLW.
The artist, poet and writer Brenda Chamberlain was born in Bangor, Wales and trained at the Royal Academy Schools in London (see, for example: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brenda_Chamberlain_(artist); see also Brenda Chamberlain Papers and Brenda Chamberlain Manuscripts at NLW).

Alun Lewis's close friend Richard (Dick) Mills was born in Dolgellau. He read geography at Aberystwyth University, where he met Alun Lewis, and, like Lewis, served as an Army officer in Burma and India during the Second World War. He was Deputy Director of the British branch of the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation (CGF) from 1960 to 1980. Mills married Joan Webster, with whom he had three children. He was awarded the OBE in 1976. For Richard Mills, see, for example: https://www.theguardian.com/news/2002/jan/11/guardianobituaries1; see also indexed references in John Pikoulis: Alun Lewis: A Life (Poetry Wales Press, 1984). Richard Mills is referenced in letters to John Pikoulis from Howell Davies (see under Leters to John Pikoulis from friends and acquaintances of Alun Lewis). See also, for example, NLW ex 2161 at NLW, which comprises Letters from Alun Lewis to Richard Mills, 1938-1944.

Wendon jones (née Mostyn) was a fellow student and girlfriend of Alun Lewis during the latter's time at Aberystwyth University. It appears that she may be the 'Dilys Western' referenced by John Pikoulis in Alun Lewis: A Life (Poetry Wales Press, 1984), pp. 68-69 (see letters from Bethan Hensman under Letters to John Pikoulis from various correspondents).

The novelist and civil servant Llewelyn Wyn Griffith was born in Llandrillo yn Rhos, Clwyd. He was a captain in the 15th Royal Welch Fusiliers, part of the 38th (Welsh) Division, during the First World War and is known for his memoir Up to Mametz (1931). Griffith was a career civil servant and rose to a senior post in the Inland Revenue (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Llewelyn_Wyn_Griffith).

Robert Graves was a poet, historical novelist and critic. Both he and his father, the Irish poet and leading figure in the Gaelic revival Alfred Perceval Graves, were Celticists and students of Irish mythology (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Graves#Postwar).

Alun Lewis met Jean Gilbert, librarian at the former Pontigny Abbey in Burgundy, France, while on holiday in the area in May 1937 (see indexed references in John Pikoulis: Alun Lewis: A Life (Poetry Wales Press, 1984)). See also, for example: https://www.lemonde.fr/archives/article/1950/08/05/paul-desjardins-et-pontigny_2058534_1819218.html and https://www.jstor.org/stable/44811500. For Pontigny Abbey, see, for example: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pontigny_Abbey.

The Anglo-Welsh novelist, poet and literary historian Morgan Glyndwr (Glyn) Jones was brought up in a Welsh-speaking environment in Merthyr Tydfil but, due to receiving his formal education through the medium of English only, had to relearn his native language in later life. See also, for example, Glyn Jones Papers at NLW.

Rudolf John Frederick Lehmann was an English poet, lecturer and man of letters. He founded the periodicals New Writing and The London Magazine and the publishing house of John Lehmann Limited. His three-volume autobiography comprises Whispering Gallery (1955), I Am My Brother (1960) and The Ample Proposition (1966) (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Lehmann).

Sir William Aylsham Bryan Hopkin was chief economic adviser to the Treasury during the tenure of Denis Healey as Chancellor of the Exchequer (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bryan_Hopkin)
For Lady Renée Hopkin (née Recour), see, for example: https://www.peoplescollection.wales/items/1368556.

Born in Talybont-on-Usk, Breconshire, Roland Glyn Mathias was a writer, poet and literary critic. Along with poet, lecturer, editor and critic Raymond Garlick, he co-founded in 1949 the literary magazine Dock Leaves, which, in 1957, became The Anglo-Welsh Review. Mathias edited the newly-named magazine from 1961 to 1976. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roland_Mathias).

Evelyn ('Lynette') Beatrice Roberts was a Welsh poet and novelist. In 1939, she married the Welsh poet, literary journalist and editor Ronald Rees Jones (Keidrych Rhys). For further correspondence of Lynette Roberts, see Alun Lewis Papers, David Jones (Artist and Writer) Papers, Papurau D. J. Williams, Abergwaun, Glyn Jones Papers, John Legonna Papers, Jeff Towns (Dylan Thomas) Collection, and Gwyn Jones Papers at NLW.

Born in Bethlehem, Carmarthenshire, William Ronald Rhys Jones, who used the name Keidrych Rhys, was a literary journalist, editor and poet. He was editor of the periodical Wales from its inception in 1937 through to 1949, then (following a publishing hiatus) from 1958 to its demise in 1960 (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keidrych_Rhys). See also, for example, the Keidrych Rhys Manuscripts at NLW.

Founded in 1929, Faber and Faber Limited, usually abbreviated to Faber, is an independent publishing house located in London. Published authors and poets include T. S. Eliot, W. H. Auden, Margaret Storey, William Golding, Samuel Beckett, Philip Larkin, Ted Hughes, Seamus Heaney, Paul Muldoon, Milan Kundera and Kazuo Ishiguro (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faber_and_Faber)

Chatto & Windus is an imprint of Penguin Random House that was formerly an independent book publishing company founded in London in 1855 by John Camden Hotten. Following Hotten's death, the firm would reorganize under the names of his business partner Andrew Chatto and poet William Edward Windus (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chatto_%26_Windus).

Thomas Moult was a journalist and writer and one of the Georgian poets. He is known for his annual anthologies Best Poems of the Year, 1922 to 1943, which were popular verse selections taken from periodicals on both sides of the Atlantic (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Moult). See also, for example: https://www.biblio.com/book/best-poems-1941-moult-thomas/d/1505744225.

Archivist Louisa Hopkins Bowen worked for five years as Curator of Manuscripts at the Morris Library, Southern Illinois University at Carbondale (see https://www.siue.edu/lovejoy-library/archives/bowen.shtml).

Paul Gerard O'Prey is Professor of Modern Literature at the University of Roehampton. In 1977, O'Prey went to work for the poet and novelist Robert Graves at his home in Deià, Mallorca.

Alun Lewis met Bill and Leslie Sykes while visiting poet and writer Edward Thomas's house in Steep, Hampshire, not far from where Lewis was then stationed at Longmoor military camp (see indexed references in John Pikoulis: Alun Lewis: A Life (Poetry Wales Press, 1984)).

Bonamy Dobrée was Professor of English Literature at the University of Leeds from 1936 to 1955 (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bonamy_Dobr%C3%A9e).

Gwladys Elizabeth Lewis (née Evans), daugher of the Reverend Melchizedec Evans and mother of Alun Lewis, was a schoolteacher prior to her marriage in 1914. As a young woman, she became a Liberal and a supporter of women's rights and suffrage.

For Alun John, see, for example: https://archives.library.wales/index.php/short-story-testimonial-and-poetry-published-by-alun-lewis-in-ludovican.

Thomas (Tom) J. Lewis was born in Cwmaman, the son of Job and Mary Lewis. He married Gwladys (née Evans) in 1914 and was the father of Alun Lewis. He was a schoolteacher in Aberdare and rose to be director of education for Aberdare.

Timothy Lewis, brother of Thomas J. Lewis (see above) was born in Efailwen on the Carmarthenshire/Pembrokeshire border. In 1910 he was appointed Assistant Lecturer in Welsh at Aberystwyth University and later Reader in Celtic Philology and Palaeography at the same establishment, a post he held until his retirement in 1943. Amongst his publications are A Glossary of Mediaeval Welsh Law (1913), A Welsh Leech Book (1914), Beirdd a Bardd-Rin Cymru Fu (1929) and Mabinogi Cymru (1931). In 1911 he married Nellie Myfanwy Evans, the daughter of journalist, Congregationalist, dramatist, Liberal politician and Welsh Nationalist Beriah Gwynfe Evans (https://biography.wales/article/s2-LEWI-TIM-1877). He was the paternal uncle of Alun Lewis. See also indexed references in John Pikoulis: Alun Lewis: A Life (Poetry Wales Press, 1984).

Mair Fenn (née Lewis) was born in 1921, the daughter of Thomas J. and Gwladys Lewis (née Evans) and sister of Alun Lewis. See also Alun Lewis Papers and Sam Adams Papers at NLW.

Seumas or Seamus O'Sullivan (born James Sullivan Starkey) was a poet and editor of The Dublin Magazine. He was born in Dublin and spent his adult life in the suburb of Rathgar. His books include Twilight People (1905), Verses Sacred and Profane (1908), The Earth Lover (1909), Selected Lyrics (1910), Collected Poems (1912), Requiem (1917), Common Adventures (1926), The Lamplighter (1929), Personal Talk (1936), Poems (1938), Collected Poems (1940) and Dublin Poems (1946). O'Sullivan was a friend of most of the leading literary figures in Dublin, including William Butler Yeats, James Stephens and George William Russell (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seumas_O%27Sullivan).

Language note: One letter to Jean Gilbert in French.