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A review by anjalasagne
Wales: England's Colony? by Martin Johnes
challenging
fast-paced
5.0
Makes important distinctions between colonialism and capitalism in the unification of the British nation. Lots of talking points in this book - The Welsh Knot, Wales’ colony in Patagonia, capitalism versus colonialism. For all its inherent imbalances the UK state failed Wales, not because it was dominated by England, but because it was capitalist. A great introduction to Welsh history.
England did occupy parts of Wales that we are familiar with today. Back then, this was called The March. However, the Welsh weren’t forbidden from living in The March. In fact, many did. Many English and Welsh married along the border and further afield. The English married into Welsh families for land whilst the Welsh married into English families for prestige (this is a oversimplification). To claim that the English suppressed Welsh culture is incorrect. While there were periods where laws disproportionately harmed the Welsh and their English spouses and families by association, England actually did very little to suppress Welsh culture. In fact, years later, the Welsh were able to work as senior parliamentarians which is not congruent with the definition of colonialism. What actually happened was that Wales assimilated into England. Some historians believe is that medieval Wales and England were a partnership, for tax, prestige and because they shared the same religion. It was an unequal partnership, but a partnership nevertheless.
Wealth was not evenly distributed not because of colonialism but because of capitalism. What the Welsh felt was a disdain from the English, was actually a class struggle that the Welsh shared with its English counterparts. Welsh coal and metal meant that wales moved from economic periphery of the British state to becoming one of the most important centres which sucked in people and capital from elsewhere. The resulting wealth was not evenly distributed but that was equally true of every English region.
Wales actually had its own colony back in the days of the British Empire. They colonised a small community in Patagonia with support from the Argentine government. This community is known to be the only Welsh speaking peoples outside of Wales. The Welsh colonised this community in Patagonia with support from the British Empire, as part of the British Empire. The Welsh benefited directly or indirectly through the British Empire. Mainly through serving in the armed forces but also many Welshmen held positions in the Empire that were responsible for colonising other countries. The Welsh also benefited from trade deals across the Empire and also owned slaves, especially in dockland towns where slaves worked at ports and on ferries.
Now let’s talk about the Welsh Knot. There is actually little evidence to show the Welsh knot was used extensively. As always, the history here is mixed or missing. Some believe the Welsh knot was used more like a prompt to remind children to stop speaking Welsh. Others believe it wasn’t as widely used as originally thought because a lot of children in these schools only spoke Welsh and so you’d have to speak Welsh to teach English. And this is loosely supported by looking at the figures of only Welsh speaking children - they remind consistent for many years it was thought the Welsh knot was in use - which would suggest it wasn’t enforced in every school or at least loosely enforced. But there were also rural communities that spoke no English and the Welsh knot definitely was not used there and it definitely was not enforced by English law. That said, there are historical accounts of the Welsh knot being used, but there are very few records of why it was used and whether the children wearing it at the end of the day were actually punished. Support for the Welsh knot came from the parents and the community who believed English was the language of opportunity. After all, the Welsh were benefiting from trade throughout the empire, they were now obtaining senior roles in government. They had to speak English. And so they set out to do just that. Though there are records to suggest the Welsh knot wasn’t in use for long because as the number of Welsh children who could only speak Welsh started to fall, the Welsh started to fear they’d lose their language altogether and so they began to make efforts to retain the Welsh language. This came in many forms - in road signs, in translating the bible into Welsh (which was endorsed by England to prompt Catholicism) and in protests to the government to allow Welsh to be spoken at governmental level (which was illegal but the English bent to the will of the Welsh and allowed it some years later). So the jury is out on actually how the Welsh knot was utilised, if it was utilised in all areas of Wales even. Some rural areas saw virtually no change to the number of only welsh-speaking children, assuming there were fewer opportunities for rural Welsh communities. But also education wasn’t mandatory until late 1900s so it’s a little misleading to say it was an English enforced law (it wasn’t) because only more affluent children went to school and it would make sense that they’d want to speak English as well.
England did occupy parts of Wales that we are familiar with today. Back then, this was called The March. However, the Welsh weren’t forbidden from living in The March. In fact, many did. Many English and Welsh married along the border and further afield. The English married into Welsh families for land whilst the Welsh married into English families for prestige (this is a oversimplification). To claim that the English suppressed Welsh culture is incorrect. While there were periods where laws disproportionately harmed the Welsh and their English spouses and families by association, England actually did very little to suppress Welsh culture. In fact, years later, the Welsh were able to work as senior parliamentarians which is not congruent with the definition of colonialism. What actually happened was that Wales assimilated into England. Some historians believe is that medieval Wales and England were a partnership, for tax, prestige and because they shared the same religion. It was an unequal partnership, but a partnership nevertheless.
Wealth was not evenly distributed not because of colonialism but because of capitalism. What the Welsh felt was a disdain from the English, was actually a class struggle that the Welsh shared with its English counterparts. Welsh coal and metal meant that wales moved from economic periphery of the British state to becoming one of the most important centres which sucked in people and capital from elsewhere. The resulting wealth was not evenly distributed but that was equally true of every English region.
Wales actually had its own colony back in the days of the British Empire. They colonised a small community in Patagonia with support from the Argentine government. This community is known to be the only Welsh speaking peoples outside of Wales. The Welsh colonised this community in Patagonia with support from the British Empire, as part of the British Empire. The Welsh benefited directly or indirectly through the British Empire. Mainly through serving in the armed forces but also many Welshmen held positions in the Empire that were responsible for colonising other countries. The Welsh also benefited from trade deals across the Empire and also owned slaves, especially in dockland towns where slaves worked at ports and on ferries.
Now let’s talk about the Welsh Knot. There is actually little evidence to show the Welsh knot was used extensively. As always, the history here is mixed or missing. Some believe the Welsh knot was used more like a prompt to remind children to stop speaking Welsh. Others believe it wasn’t as widely used as originally thought because a lot of children in these schools only spoke Welsh and so you’d have to speak Welsh to teach English. And this is loosely supported by looking at the figures of only Welsh speaking children - they remind consistent for many years it was thought the Welsh knot was in use - which would suggest it wasn’t enforced in every school or at least loosely enforced. But there were also rural communities that spoke no English and the Welsh knot definitely was not used there and it definitely was not enforced by English law. That said, there are historical accounts of the Welsh knot being used, but there are very few records of why it was used and whether the children wearing it at the end of the day were actually punished. Support for the Welsh knot came from the parents and the community who believed English was the language of opportunity. After all, the Welsh were benefiting from trade throughout the empire, they were now obtaining senior roles in government. They had to speak English. And so they set out to do just that. Though there are records to suggest the Welsh knot wasn’t in use for long because as the number of Welsh children who could only speak Welsh started to fall, the Welsh started to fear they’d lose their language altogether and so they began to make efforts to retain the Welsh language. This came in many forms - in road signs, in translating the bible into Welsh (which was endorsed by England to prompt Catholicism) and in protests to the government to allow Welsh to be spoken at governmental level (which was illegal but the English bent to the will of the Welsh and allowed it some years later). So the jury is out on actually how the Welsh knot was utilised, if it was utilised in all areas of Wales even. Some rural areas saw virtually no change to the number of only welsh-speaking children, assuming there were fewer opportunities for rural Welsh communities. But also education wasn’t mandatory until late 1900s so it’s a little misleading to say it was an English enforced law (it wasn’t) because only more affluent children went to school and it would make sense that they’d want to speak English as well.
So it feels a little disingenuous calling Wales a colony. Wales and England were in a partnership which saw huge swathes of the Welsh country side being turned into coal mines that traded coal throughout the British Empire. Wales benefited from that. They knew what the British empire was. Like I said, it was not a partnership of equals, but it was a partnership. One which the Welsh were successful many times in lobbying government to protect the Welsh language, allow it to be spoken in government, winning back land that was lost to The March in medieval times, fight for the rights of coal miners, create unions etc. A more apt description of the Welsh and English relationship is Capitalism.