Introducing the Diversity Project of the Dictionary of Welsh Biography

• The aim of the Diversity Project is to improve representation of the overall diversity of Wales’s history, with a particular focus on gender, ethnicity and renewed thinking about empire, colonialism and slavery.

The current situation

• The Dictionary of Welsh Biography (DWB) has been in need of revision for some time as a result of advances in scholarship. Changes in attitudes and the Black Lives Matter movement make our updates particularly pressing. The DWB’s Diversity Project looks at the treatment of racial issues and Wales’s part in the history of the British Empire.
• At present, the DWB contains short biographies of over 5,000 people who have made a significant contribution to society in Wales or further afield. Despite a general increase in new articles on women, gender balance remains one of our priorities. In addition, we wish to highlight gender and sexual identities. Likewise, the DWB has not always represented disabled people appropriately.

Changes to the Dictionary of Welsh Biography

• Thanks to new funding through the Anti-Racist Wales Action Plan, we will undertake the following work:
  • Correcting and adding factual information and sources to existing articles
  • Rewriting articles on sensitive topics and controversial figures, such as Thomas Picton and Henry Morton Stanley
  • Writing new articles on people previously omitted
• Historically, it has taken a long time for individual articles to get published in the DWB. However, through targeted research and a series of community and writing workshops, we aim at speeding up the time it takes from identifying names to commissioning, writing and publishing new biographical articles.
• For more information about eligibility criteria for individual people or group articles, please consult our About page.

Articles already published

• Abdullah Ali Al-Hakimi (c.1900-1954)
• Sheikh Abdul-Hamid (1900-1944)
• Albert de Belleroche (1864-1944)
• Rachel Barrett (1874-1953)
• Dorothy Noel 'Dorf' Bonarjee (1894-1983)
• Rachel Elizabeth (Betty) Campbell (1934-2017)
• Youhannah El Karey (1843/4-1907)
• Illtud Evans (1913-1972)
• Isabella Gifford (c. 1825-1891)
• Alexander Givvons (1913-2002)
• Kate Bosse-Griffiths (1910-1998)
• Yehudit Anastasia (Ida) Grossman (Judith Maro) (1919-2011)
• Barnett Janner, Baron Janner (1892-1982)
• Eldra Mary Jarman (1917-2000)
• Justina Jeffreys (1787-1869)
• Marged vch Ifan (Margaret Evans; 1696-1801?)
• Mervyn Montague Levy (1914-1996)
• Diederich Wessel Linden (fl.1745-1768; d.1769)
• Aaron Albert Mossell (1863-1951)
• Samuel Levi Phillips (originally Samuel Levi) (c.1730-1812)
• Leonora Philipps (1862-1915)
• Dilys Margaret Price (1932-2020)
• Paul Radmilovic (1886-1968)
• Elizabeth (Elspeth) Rhŷs (1841-1911)
• John Roberts (Alaw Elwy, also called 'Telynor Cymru') (1816-1894)
• Paul Leroy Robeson (1898-1976)
• Bernice Rubens (1928-2004)
• Frances Batty Shand (c.1815-1885)
• Arnold Alonzo 'Kid' Sheppard (1908-1979)
• Vittorio Giorgio Andre Spinetti (1929-2012)
• Dorothy Squires (1915-1998)
• Enrico Stennett (1926-2011)
• Clive Sullivan (1943-1985)
• Ruth Eleanor van Heyningen (1917-2019)
• Hilda Campbell Vaughan (1892-1985)
• Dame Olive Annie Wheeler (1886-1963)
• Eirene Lloyd White, Baroness White (1909-1999)
• Alice Helena Alexandra Williams (Alys Meirion) (1863-1957)
• Grace Mary Williams (1906-1977)
• Margaret Lindsay Williams (1888-1960)
• Maria Jane Williams (Llinos) (1795-1873)
• Frances (Fanny) Williams (?1760-c.1801)
• Y teulu Wood (since the eighteenth century)
• John Ystumllyn (d.1786)

Articles needed

If you are interested in writing an article on anyone in this list or know of a person not yet listed but deserving an article, please contact us.

Subjects

• Activism
• Armed Forces
• Art, Design and Architecture
• Business and Industry
• Countryside and Environment
• Education
• Law
• Literature
• Medicine
• Music
• Philanthropy
• Politics
• Religion
• Scholarship
• Science
• Sport
• Theatre, film and television
• Other

Activism

• Mary Sophia Allen (1878–1964)
• Eileen Beasley (1921-2012) [Angharad Tomos]
• Ceridwen Brown (née Thomas) (1896-1976)
• Joyce Mary Daniel (1890–1985)
• Dr Krishnalal Datta (1890au-19??)
• Jessie Donaldson (nee Heineken) (1799-1889) [Norena Shopland]
• Rufus Elster Fennell (1887–1974)
• Isabelle Foulkes (d. 2019)
• William Hall (Nineteenth century)
• Dilys Lloyd Glynne Jones (1857–1932)
• Ken Jones (1930-2015)
• Angela Kwok (c.1950s-2016)
• Manikam Susheela Lourie (1941-2023) [Charlotte Williams]
• Jim Mansell (1953-2012)
• Sarah Magdalene Matthews (1846–1929)
• Dualeh Mohammed (Aftaag) (nineteenth and twentieth centuries)
• Jim Nurse (fl. 1920s-30s)
• Harry O’Connell (g. 1888) [David Featherstone]
• Emily Frost Phipps (1865–1943)
• Dr. Dipak Ray (1930-2012)
• David (Daoud) Rosser-Owen (1943-2021)
• Alan Sheppard (Twentieth century)
• Helga Uckermann (d.2023)
• Ada Vachell (1866-1923)
• Harriett Charlotte Wilson (1916–2002)

Armed Forces

• William Basil Loxdale-Jones (1890-1918)

Art, Design and Architecture

• Peter Arnold (1922-2009)
• Joan Baker (1922–2017)
• Beatrice and Annie Cummins (1856-1935; 1861-1925)
• Valerie Ganz (1936-2015)
• Arthur Giardelli (1911-2009)
• Esther Grainger (1912–1990)
• Nina Hamnett (1890-1956) [Mair Jones]
• Hubert von Herkomer (1849-1914)
• Joseff Herman (1911-2000) [Mike Hawkins]
• Edrica Huws (1907-1999)
• Eveline Annie Jenkins (1893–1976)
• Myfanwy Eileen Mair Kitchin (1917–2002)
• Frederick Könekamp (1897-1977)
• Heinz Koppel (1919-1980) [Mike Hawkins]
• Karel Lek (1929-2020) [Mike Hawkins]
• Thyrza Anne Leyshon (1892–1996)
• Mary Lloyd (1819-1896) [Mair Jones]
• Phillida Nicholson (1924-2021)
• Byddug Anwylini Pughe (1857-1939)
• Giuseppe Rinvolucri (1894-1963) [Warren Kovach]
• Elisabeth de Saedeleer (1902-1972) [Caterina Verdickt]
• Valerius de Saedeleer (1867–1941)
• Maria Sax Ledger (1916-2006)
• Eirian Short (1924-2021)
• Andrew Vicari (1932-2016) [Ceri Thomas]
• Frances Williams (1798–1856)
• Muriel Wilson (1933–2018)
• Frances Elizabeth Wynne (1836-1907)
• Ernest Zobole (1927-1999)[Ceri Thomas]

Business and Industry

• Laura Ashley (1925-1985) [Nerys Fuller-Love]
• Montague Black (1917-1986)
• Ely Devons (1913-1967)
• Albert Gubay (1928-2016)
• Robert Maurice Marcel Hourmont (1925-2008)
• André Hue (1923-2005)
• Ludwig Mond (1839-1909 and Alfred Mond (1868-1930) [Mike Hawkins]
• Cesar Picton (c.1755-c.1836) [Kate Barrett]
• Teulu Pollecoff (mid-nineteenth to mid-twentieth century) [Nathan Abrams]
• John Batty Shand (c.1804-77)
• Jacob Sugarman (Twentieth century)
• Lucy Thomas (1781-1847)
• Teulu Wartski (Since mid-nineteenth century) [Nathan Abrams]
• Caroline Elizabeth Williams (1824-1908)

Education

• Louis Barnett Abrahams (1839-1918)
• Emily Baldwin (1807–1880)
• Alice Moore Bruce (1867–1951)
• Emily Ann Carpenter (1835–1933)
• Mary Collin (1860–1955)
• The Congo House/African Institute students, Colwyn Bay (1880's-1910's) [Robert Burroughs]
• Catherine Davies (1773-c. 1841)
• Frances Emily Hughes (1855–1927)
• William Hughes (1856-1924) [Marian Gwyn]
• Benjamin Payne (1847-1926) and Florence Payne (d. 1921) [Alison Bryant]
• Charles Rhind (1813-1888) [Alison Bryant]

Countryside and Environment

• Dinah Williams (1911-2009)

Law

• Iris De Freitas (1896-1989)
• Gwen ferch Ellis (c.1542-1594)[Lisa Cowan]
• Ruth Ellis (1925-1955)
• Henry Joseph (Harry) Ernest (1929-2023)
• David Freeman (1928-2015)

Literature

• Dannie Abse (1923-2014) [Katherine Fender]
• Anna Maria Bennett (17??-1808) [Mary Chadwick]
• Tony Bianchi (1952-2017)
• Leonora Brito (1954-2007)
• Rhoda Broughton (1840-1920) [Sara Fox]
• Elizabeth Casson (1881–1954)
• Jane Cave (1754?-1812)
• Elin Evans (Elen Egryn) (1807-1876)
• Anne Griffith (1734–1821)
• Barbara Gladys Hardy (1924–2016)
• Ellen Hughes (1862-1927) [Jane Aaron]
• Gwenno Hywyn (1949–1991)
• Hyman Kaner (1896-1973)
• Martha Llwyd (1766-1845)
• Dorothy Miles (née Squire) (1931-1993) [Sarah Wheeler]
• Solomon Nutry (c.1791-1854)
• Katherine Philips (1632–1664)
• Emma Thomas (Marie Trevelyan) (1853-1922)
• Lily Tobias (1887-1984) [Jasmine Donahaye]
• Peggy Eileen Whistler (Margiad Evans, 1909-1958) [Ceridwen Lloyd-Morgan]

Medicine

• Hans Lichtenstein (1927-2019)
• Jean Kennedy McFarlane (1926-2012)
• Kunnathur Rajan (19??-2021)
• Joseph Stone (born Silverstone) (1903-1986)

Music

• Ronald Cass (1923-2006)
• Samuel Coleridge-Taylor (1875-1912)
• Mahala Davis (Twentieth century)
• Clare Deniz (1911-2002)
• Francisco (Frank) Antonio Deniz (1912-2005)
• José (Joe) William Deniz (1913-1994)
• Laurence (Laurie) Richard Deniz (1924-1996)
• Patti Flynn (1937-2020) [Bet Davies]
• Gene Latter (Arthur Ford) (19??-2004)
• Henry Victor Parker (Saunders) (1910-1978)
• Adelina Patti (1843-1919)
• Harold Rubens (1918-2010)
• Ian Stoutzker (1929-2024)

Philanthropy

• Emily Jane Pfeiffer (1827–1890)
• Fanny Price-Gwynne (1819-1901)
• Fanny Talbot (1824–1917)

Politics

• Leopold Abse (1917-2008)
• Elizabeth Andrews (1882-1960) [Emma Major]
• Mohammad Asghar (1945-2020)
• Mohamed Hanef Bhamjee (1946-2022)
• Gwyneth Patricia Dunwoody (1930–2008)
• Maurice Edelman (1911-1975)
• Abdulrahim Abby Farah (1919-2018) [Azim Ahmed]
• John Darwin Hinds (19??-1981) [Azim Ahmed]
• Glenys Kinnock (1944-2023)
• Mavis Llewellyn (1908–1978)
• Elvira Gwenllian Payne (nee Hinds) (1917-2007) [Mair Jones]
• Arnold Silverstone (Baron Ashdown) (1911-1977)
• Stefan Terlezski (1927-2006)

Religion

• Emilia Louise Baeyertz (née Aronson) (1842-1926)
• Rev. Rai Bhajur (c.1870s-19??)
• Isaac Cohen (1914-2007)
• Myer Cohen (1905-1997)
• Shoshir Mukhi Das (1868-1921)
• Rosina Davies (1863-1949) [Gareth Bassett]
• Evan Jones (1788-1872) [Robert Humphries]
• Thomas Patrick Kane (1849-1918)
• Rabbi Asher Grunis (1877-1937)
• Peter Jones (Kahkewāquonāby) (1802-1856) [Brian Gettler]
• U Larsing (1838-1863) [D. Ben Rees]
• Robert Owen Pugh (Istachtonka) (1846-1922) [Robert Humphries]
• David Michael (Eighteenth century)
• Pamela Shepherd (Mother Shepherd) (1836–1930)
• Anirudh Gyan Shikha (Anwar Shaikh; born Hajji Muhammad Shaikh) (1928-2006)
• Iris Thomas (1919-2012)

Scholarship

• Merryl Wyn Davies (1948-2021)
• StClair Drake (1911-1990)
• Myra Evans (née Jane Elmira Rees) (1883-1972) [Peter Stevenson]
• Hermann Ethé (1844–1917)
• Montefiore Follick (1887-1958)
• Raymond Garlick (1926-2011) [Jason Walford Davies]
• Leopold Kohr (1909-1994)
• Neil Sinclair (1944-2019)
• Margaret Maria Verney (1844–1930)
• Rita Williams (1933-2018) [Heather Williams]

Science

• Samuel Devons (1914-2006)
• The Massey Sisters (nineteenth and twentieth centuries)
• Dorothea Eliza Smith (1804-1864)
• Caroline Catharine Wilkinson (née Lucas) (1822-1881)

Sport

• Thomas (Tommy) Hubert Best (1920-2018)
• Cyril George Cupid (1908-1965) [Barry Jenkins]
• Colin Dixon (1943-1993)
• James Ernest (1891-1980)
• Joe Erskine (1934-1990)
• Roy Francis (1919-1989)
• Johnny Freeman (1934-2017)
• Christopher (Chris) Alexander Hallam, MBE (1962-2013)
• David Henry Jacobs (1888-1976)
• Jenny Eileen James (1927-2014)
• Eddie Parris (1911-1971)
• Howard Passadoro (1871-1921)
• Guido Roffi (1924-1973)
• Cuthbert Taylor (1909-1977)

Theatre, film and television

• Michael Bogdanov (1938-2017)
• Eleanor Bufton (1842-1893)
• Annabel Giles (1959-2023)
• Carol Byrne Jones (19??-2023)
• Nicola Heywood-Thomas (1955-2023)
• Roger Rees (1944-2015)
• Rachel Roberts (1927-1980)

Other

• Amos Brown (1856 or 1864-1956) [Rebecca Eversley-Dawes]
• Ernest and Uriah Burton (Twentieth century) [Norman Burton]
• Mary Carryl (d. 1809) [Norena Shopland]
• Mary Dillwyn (1816–1906)
• Gwladus Ddu (thirteenth century)
• Elizabeth Peke Davis Kaumualii (1803-1860)
• Jane Leonard (Siani pob man) (1834-1917) [Peter Stevenson]
• The Ladies of Llangollen: Sarah Butler and Eleanor Ponsonby (1739-1829; 1755-1831) [Norena Shopland]
• William Basil Loxdale-Jones (c.1890-1918)
• James (Jim) Sapoe John Mannay (1928-2012)
• Eliza Pughe (c.1831-1850) [Gareth Foulkes]
• Thomas Rigby (c.1780s-1841)
• Giuseppi Ruggier (alt. Guzzepi Ruggier, Joe Rogers) (nineteenth century) [Raymond Agius]
• Caitlin Thomas (1913–1994)
• Ellen Vaughan (Ellen Gethin; Ellen ferch Dafydd ap Cadwgan ap Phylip Dorddu) (fifteenth century)
• Nathaniel Wells (1779-1852) [Anne Rainsbury]