Gareth’s
mother, Mrs Annie Gwen Jones was an equally interesting person. As a young girl
who had never previously left Wales, she travelled to Russia in 1889 to be the
tutor to Arthur Hughes’s children, the grandchildren of John Hughes, the steel
industrialist who founded the town of Hughesovska, later known as Stalino and
now the City of Donetz. In old age she was a very fine, distinguished lady - a
woman with high principles - and so it was difficult to visualise her in her
youth riding with the hounds from the Court Estate of Merthyr Tydfil or skating
on the lakes in the bitterly cold Russian winters. She was a woman with a strong
personality. Early in the century she became a suffragist and the first meeting
of the suffragettes in south Wales was held in the family home, Eryl. Crystabel
Pankhurst, the daughter of Emily Pankhurst, attended this meeting. The town of
Barry held her in high esteem and in her later years she accepted the honour of
being made a Justice of the Peace.
The
family home was first in the Colcot, Barry and then in 1932, Gareth persuaded
his father to buy ‘Eryl’ in Porth y Castell, Barry. This imposing house
commanded a magnificent panoramic view of the Bristol Channel in the distance
and nearer Cold Knap and Pebbley Beach, Barry Island and the old Barry Harbour.
I have cherished memories of the Sunday afternoon teas when many friends both
great and humble gathered in the drawing room for the animated conversation and
the warmth of hospitality for which the Jones’ family was renowned. Auntie
Winnie, Gareth’s aunt on his mother’s side and affectionately known as
Ninnie, was well known for her lively nature and her delicious Welsh
teas.
Gareth’s
early life seems to have been uneventful. His class reports from his father’s
school were unremarkable. One story remembered is of how he entered the drawing
room to the amusement of a number of guests, wearing a top hat on his head and
sporting a walking stick announcing he was the Governor of Taganrog. (His mother
had acted as hostess to the Governor when Mrs Hughes was away from their home in
Hughesovska.) It is strange that though there are very many documents that she
saved about her son there is not one letter from her to him despite the fact
that it is said she wrote nearly every day. His death affected her very deeply
and perhaps that is why there are very few references to his early days.
|
Gareth with his Mother
|