It is probably a fact of history that, when a small country stands as an adjunct of a big, powerful country, the collective unconscious or psyche of that small country probably has the characteristics of an inferiority complex. In terms of the Welsh, the defeat and demise of both Prince Llewelyn and Owain Glyndwr have probably given them the role of victim or glory in defeat.
Regarding military prowess, it has been perceived that the Celts have sometimes been used as cannon fodder, coming from small impoverished countries while the British Army is run primarily by the English establishment who have wound up the Celts to prove themselves in battle. Hence the huge proliferation of gallantry awards acquired by the Celts.
The difference in some ways between the Welsh and the Scots and the Irish is that at the Battle of Bosworth in 1485 Henry Tudor, a self- acclaimed Welshman led a primarily Welsh army to defeat the English King Richard III and his army.
The Irish were terrorised partly by the Welsh in that Elizabeth Tudor put some of the Scots settlers into Ireland. Oliver Cromwell came from a Welsh brewing family called Morgan Williams who changed their name to Cromwell to curry favour with their powerful maternal uncle Thomas Cromwell in Henry VIII’s reign.
Latterly, it was Lloyd George who was instrumental in putting the dreaded Black and Tans into Ireland. The Scots had the tradition especially in the Highlands of following the Pretenders, and they were defeated by the English. The Welsh therefore, certainly, should not have an inferiority complex.
The Welsh, like the Irish, have been great warriors and this book is a series of essays which praises their valour. There are themes that run through the book, one that is of chivalry started by the great King Arthur and which goes through many of the soldiers especially those in the Royal Welch Fusiliers with their great tradition of the war poets continued to this day by artists such as Sir Kyffin Williams, Major General Morgan Llewelyn and his son Glyn.
There have been exceptions of course, notably Captain Sir Thomas Picton who was a very cruel governor of Trinidad. There were great men like Lawrence of Arabia who attended the Welsh college of Jesus in Oxford, which was founded by a Welsh butcher’s son, Hugh Price.
Wales is England’s oldest ally; the Welsh archers fought with Edward I against the Scots. The archers were one of the great weapons of the English monarchy and won so many battles against the French. Today we celebrate 600 years since the Battle of Agincourt was fought, where 500 archers from Wales supported Henry V.
The Welsh have made their contribution in the navy over the years, and it is said that there were proportionally more Welshmen at Trafalgar than Englishmen. We all love freedom, but the Welsh, in particular, have nailed their colours to that mast.
Jonathan Morgan was educated at Christ College, Brecon, R.M.A. Sandhurst, and Aberystwyth, Cardiff and Glamorgan Universities. He also taught at U.W.I.C. (now Cardiff Metropolitan) for nine years. Jonathan's father the Rev. G Rex Morgan, Chaplain to the King's Royal Rifle Corps and Senior Housemaster at Christ College, Brecon, was a well-known prisoner-of-war and was on the dreadful 'Shoe Leather Express' March in Poland. It is interesting that Christ College former pupils won 23 MCs in the First World War. Jonathan's was a great Welsh sporting family which included Guy Morgan, Captain of Cambridge University and Wales at rugby and Glamorgan at Cricket, and Dr. Teddy Morgan, Captain of Wales and the British Lions at rugby. Rex's cousin Guy (not the rugby player), was a Royal Navy Lieutenant and prisoner-of-war who wrote the well-known play 'Albert R.N.'. Jonathan's mother, Glenys, was the daughter of Captain T.L.Morgan, Adjutant of the 15th Welsh in the early part of the Great War. As well as a sportsman himself, Jonathan is a 3rd Order Anglican Franciscan. He was invalided out of the Army with PTSD or related illness in 1980 and had served with the Royal Regiment of Wales as a Captain which included an horrific tour of Northern Ireland in the Ardoyne and Bone district of Belfast.
Robert Macdonald, an artist who lives near Brecon, is a past Chair of the Welsh Group, the senior association of professional artists in Wales, and President of the Royal Watercolour Society of Wales. He is a graduate of the Royal College of Art. Born in 1935, his childhood was shaped by the upheavals of the Second World War. After losing their home in a wartime bombing raid the Macdonalds emigrated to New Zealand in 1945. Robert did military service in the New Zealand Army. He returned to Britain in 1958 and studied at the London Central School of Art. Since coming to live in Wales with his Welsh-born wife Annie he has been inspired by the Welsh landscape and mythology.
