A Welsh Hero

The BBC reported the death of John Jenkins as 

Welsh bomber who attacked Prince Charles’ investiture dies at 87 [i]

He was described as “mastermind of a Welsh nationalist bombing campaign which targeted Prince Charles’s investiture has died aged 87.

The death of the former social worker and sergeant with the Army’s Dental Corp came peacefully in his sleep at Wrexham Maelor Hospital,on 17 December 2020’ . John Jenkins was also remembered as the former leader of Welsh paramilitary group Mudiad Amddiffyn Cymru (MAC). This grew out of the anger and frustration at the drowning of the Cwm Celyn valley and the Capel Celyn village to make a reservoir for Liverpool in 1963. He was one of the most significant figures in the Welsh militant national struggle of the twentieth century. Late in life given some recognition as a man of “fierce principle who suffered much for a cause he believed in, and for a country he loved dearly” in a biography by Dr Wyn Thomas [see previous post ].

John Jenkins organised explosions to disrupt the Prince of Wales’ ceremony in Caernarfon Castle in July 1969. A device exploded unexpectedly, killing two members of the MAC in Abergele, Alwyn Jones and George Taylor. Many believe the actual target was the railway line at Abergele, a claim that has always been denied by the leadership of MAC. In fact, at the time the bomb was being placed, the Royal Train had already passed Abergele and was parked at a guarded remote site.

The following day two other bombs were planted in Caernarfon, one in the local police constable’s garden which exploded as the 21-gun salute was fired.

Another was planted in an iron forge near the castle but failed to go off. This bomb later exploded when a 10-year-old boy Ian Cox who was on holiday from England stood on the bomb when they retrieved a ball. He was badly injured in the blast lost his right leg and suffered bad burns.

The final bomb was placed on Llandudno Pier and was designed to stop the Royal Yacht Britannia from docking. This device also failed to explode.

The BBC report focused on the1969 Investure recalling that Jenkins, who had led MAC whilst still a non-commissioned Army officer, said he had been put under pressure to try and assassinate Prince Charles

“One of the hardest fights I ever had was with our own people,” he said.

“I spent a lot of time in the weeks before the investiture travelling around in an army civilian car, reining people in.

“They were becoming more, well, savage as the ceremony approached.”

He said he stressed his view that an assassination would achieve “nothing” politically, though be believed it would have been “possible”.

From 1963 to 1969 MAC set off bombs and devices to damage water pipes and government buildings throughout Wales, including the South Stack Relay Station which was an important communication hub between the UK Ministry of Defence and its troops in N. Ireland. The campaign was undertaken in the belief that the political voice of Wales was being ignored.

Bernard Moffatt, Assistant General Secretary Celtic League, recalled,

“Finally Jenkins was arrested more by accident and design and then had to endure some of his former colleagues who had worked with him in MAC giving evidence against him. He was sentenced to 10 years in prison of which he served six. During his time in prison he went on hunger strike several times. His prison conditions were also a source of a reference to the European Court of Human Rights when he was denied access to the Breton language newspaper ‘Le Peuple Breton’.

Later he was also arrested briefly during the Meibion Glyndŵr campaign but there is no evidence he was involved in this. He was also arrested and served about eighteen months imprisonment in the 1980s in connection with another series of bombings. Jenkins only role in this appeared to be assisting another person over bail a fine had been expected but the State wanting its pound of flesh imposed the custodial sentence.”  [ii]

The Welsh Daily Post noted John Jenkins, who orchestrated the 1960s bombing campaign in Wales, was revered as a hero among some independence campaigners, and head its report:

Prince Charles’ Investiture bomb campaign plotter remembered as ‘one of Wales’ greatest patriots’ [iii]

Jenkins was more fondly honoured in Remembering A Welsh Patriot  the account on the website,  Gwlad a new voice for an independent Wales[iv]

“Gwlad Leader Gwyn Wigley Evans said the people of Wales needed to remember not only Jenkins’s personal sacrifice, but the fact that the nation was still not free.

‘As a party, we are obviously dedicated to a non-violent approach to tackling Wales’s problems today’ he said.

‘But, that’s not to say, we can’t remember John Jenkins’s lifelong dedication to Wales and the fact that we are still living with the situation that he drew our attention to in the 1960s.’

Mr Evans said John Jenkins exposed the way that the British establishment co-opted the ‘great and the good’ in Wales to foist an English prince on the people of Wales in 1969 to keep the Welsh in their place.

‘The sad truth is that the British establishment are still up to their dirty tricks and manipulation fifty years on’ he said.”

John Barnard Jenkins pictured in Flintshire in 2009

Tributes have been paid after the man died, aged 87.

“ Gwynedd councillor Owain Williams, one of the founders of MAC, who was himself jailed for bombing the Tryweryn dam in 1963, described Jenkins as one of Wales’ great heroes.

He said: “I can honestly say, hand on my heart,that he was the greatest patriot to have lived in the last century, there’s no question about that.

“John took the ultimate step by throwing the first stone.

“For that, he has been ostracised from his own country. John was an embarrassment to [the establishment]. His actions and his words meant they didn’t want anything to do with him.

“They didn’t realise that but for the actions of John and a handful of others in the MAC, they would not be masquerading in Cardiff Bay today in the Welsh Parliament.”

He added: “He was a very clever operator, there’s no question about that. He valued human life and he was very disturbed by the death of two of his comrades. He felt very bad about that. I know that upset him greatly.

“Every country has its heroes and its martyrs, but I can truly say that since the days of Owain Glyndŵr he was probably the stand out.

“I can only respect him.

“I think the most positive thing in Wales at the moment, it’s not our political parties, it’s the Yes Cymru campaign.

“John Jenkins made the foundation stone.

“I hope in his last days he could at least be proud of what he began and what he suffered for.

In a documentary by Huw Edwards, made for BBC Cymru, Jenkins speaks of the period and summaries it and his view :  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pl7SQdsJ4So

REFERENCES

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[i] 18 December 2020 https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-55361718

[ii] JOHN BARNARD JENKINS RIP (1933 – 2020) A WELSH HERO

https://www.celticleague.net/news/john-barnard-jenkins-rip-1933-2020-a-welsh-hero/

[iii]  https://www.dailypost.co.uk/news/north-wales-news/prince-charles-investiture-bomb-campaign-19485643

[iv] https://gwlad.org/en/english-remembering-a-welsh-patriot/

1970s

In 1970, Plaid was able, for the first time, to contest all 36 of the electoral seats in Wales. Building on the success of earlier by-election victories, the party won two seats in February 1974; its electoral potential in the 1970s was, it can be argued, constrained by linguistic factors. There was a nationalist activist’s base that meant the intensity of protests did not slacken with ‘vandalism’ direct at post offices vans and road signs were part of what was seen as the continuing fight for the survival of the Welsh language. This direct action was undertaken by those in the nationalist milieu within Wales. The Language campaign for more Welsh language programmes saw civil disobedience accompany protests and petitions, with the arrest and fining of dozens of protestors. Others arrested and accused of conspiring to damage TV equipment while on rambles in the Welsh countryside and the occupation of BBC broadcasting stations and offices in London and Cardiff. There was an economic boycott campaign refusing to buy TV licences.

1980 CS welsh tv

Plaid itself still failed to penetrate into the Labour party’s support base, however more ‘competitive’ nationalist political groups appeared on the scene: Out of the anti-Investiture movement came the very small group Independent Welsh Labour Party, later renamed Plaid Gwerin Cmyru (Socialist Republican Party of Wales). The momentum to the ‘Left’ reflective in the general political environment saw Mudiad Werin / Welsh Republican Movement briefly pop-up to try and re-establish the patriotic Republican movement of the 1960s. Its attempt undercut by a combination of the attractions of Plaid Cmyru and dynamism of the Welsh Language Society drawing in activists, and the trend of the increasing significance of socialist/left leaning views amongst nationalists as reflected when Cymru Goch (Red Wales) emerged in 1974, a small group which saw Wales as an exploited English colony in need of national liberation. Its roots were in the 1831 Vanguard/ Y Blaen Cad 1831 – a reference to Merthyr Uprising – that had operated as the Welsh Socialist Vanguard.

1973 Carn 3

1974 Red Wales 1_

Cofiwn (Remember) had been established in 1970 as a Welsh Commemorative society , its motto – A nation without heritage – a nation without soul – “Gwlad heb dreftadoeth-Gwlad heb enaid”. What it sought to establish by constructing a calendar of commemoration that reached back was a celebration of that rich history of Welsh nationhood and struggle. It is not only the death of Llewelyn, the last Welsh Prince of Wales , that was remembered and celebrated annually on December 11^th, a memorial day was established on July 4^th in memory of two MAC patriots killed in 1969. The great Merthyr Uprising of 1831 was commemorated on June 6^th; the national hero of Wales, Owain Glyndwr honoured on the 16^th September[1] ; the MAC Martyrs rally on July 4^th at Abergatle and an annual Grand Rally of Patriots on 19^th September.

The possession of a history, has been used as a determinant of national authenticity. The transmission of cultural values through the use of language is without question. But so long as Welsh identity was premised partially on language differentiation, making Cymraeg the key dimension in the expression of difference with respect to the rest of the UK, the socio-economic issues affecting the Welsh nation took second place. The modern Welsh republicans drew upon the socialist dimension of Welsh history to both celebrate and inspire their movement rather than restrict it to a traditionalist national symbolism.

1977 Carn 18

That spectrum of historical and cultural awareness and celebration did embraced a nationalist agenda but promoted a radical political interpretation and understanding thus the boundaries between marking the past and activism to create a new future were porous, and overlapping membership of organisations had seen the targeting of Welsh Language Society and Cofiwan members targeted for alleged extra-curricula activities in more militant direct action groups. Humphries believes “the background crackle of direct action produced results for Plaid Cymru by undermining English government intransigence” [2]

The seventies saw the FWA and MAC being succeeded by various nationalist groups such as Meibion Glyndŵr (Sons of Glyndŵr) Mudiad Amddiffyn Cymru (the movement to defend Wales), Cadwyr Cymru (the keepers of Wales), The Welsh Army for the Workers Republic  (WAWR) and Welsh Socialist Republican Army . One or more of these claimed responsibility for arson campaigns in 1979-80 and into the early eighties.

 

[1] Robat ap Thomos, Owain Glyndwr – 600 years ago. Carn 110 Summer 2000 ; Williams, Glanmore (2005) Owain Glyndwr – a pocket guide. University of Wales Press.

[2] Humphries (2008) 199

1950s

Discussion of nationalism in Wales is impossible without reference to language. The Welsh aspiration for independent nationhood has historically founded on divisions between the industrial south and the rural north and west. These geographical considerations reflect a social reality that the south was increasingly characterised by the radical class politics of its labour movement and by the influx of non-welsh speakers. In the north and west the more middle-class, Welsh-speaking non-conformists prevailed. That is not to say that language activism was any less radical in nature and form but that central language concern has traditionally shaped the national party, which emerged in the 1920s out of amalgamation of Mudiad Cymerig (Welsh Movement) and Byddin Ymerolwyr Cymru (Welsh Home Rule Army).

These groups, under Saunders Lewis, formed Plaid Genedlaethol Cymru (Welsh Nationalist Party), emphasised Welsh language and culture rather than self-government. Plaid Genedlaethol Cymru‘s early years were not marked by enormous political success. It was more a cultural defence movement, primarily dedicated to preserving the Welsh language.

Wales and language

A thin red thread has run through the tapestry of Welsh society and radicalism in the last few generations. Even before the formation in 1962 of the Welsh Language Society, Welsh nationalism has had its socialist tinge. There was the existence of a vocal socialist, republican, Welsh-speaking group of nationalists who have transcend the geographical and cultural divisions. Periodically an eruption of more republican and leftist sentiment have emerged in Plaid Cymru in the latter half of the twentieth century; these echoed pre-second world war groupings, like the Mudiad Gwerin (Gwerin Movement), based at University College of Bangor, that tried to assert a socialist voice in response to the fascist type sentiments expressed in Plaid. But like with other proved to be short-lived initiatives, its leader Goronwy Roberts migrated to Labour Party, becoming Labour MP for Caernafonshire.

September 1949 at Castell Nedd: The Welsh Republican Movement was founded, the result of a difference of opinion that occurred in the Plaid Cymru Conference of that year. Around fifty of the Plaid Cymru members decided to walk out of the conference and set about creating their own party, publishing up to 1957 the English language periodical, The Welsh Republic. (Y Gweriniaethwr).

The difference was the reoccurring one of shifting the emphasis away from the focus on linguistic and cultural issues to a concern with the social issues relevant to the south west of the country. An editorial in The Welsh Republic expressed the sentiments found earlier in the work of Irish revolutionary James Connolly and John Maclean the Scottish schoolteacher and revolutionary Marxist of the Red Clydeside era:

“No form of Welsh independence can be ultimately acceptable to Welsh Republicans unless it results, at the same time, in an improvement in the welfare of Welsh citizens. There is no place in the Welsh Republican Movement for those nationalists who bubble over with love for “Wales and the old language, yet stand utterly aloof- from the day-to-day struggles of the Welsh people.”                                                 

1953 editorial

A Green, Red & White Tri Colour was adopted as flag of the newly formed W.R.M. as it launches an all Wales Union Jack burning campaign that leads to a number of disturbances, arrests and court appearances. Two veterans of the movement were involved with Harri Webb (1920-94) one of the editors of The Welsh Republic and  (1915-1997) a major contributor. A court case was brought against Bere after he burnt the Union Jack on several occasions, as in Aberdare and at the Caerphilly National Eisteddfod in 1950. The radical civil disobedience tactics continued: June 1950 Republicans launch Anti – Conscription Campaign at a street rally in Aberdar, there were calls for a Welsh Trade Union Congress and independent Welsh Unions.

In the 1950 General Election, Ogmore (Glamorgan) was contested by former Labour Party candidate, Ithel Davies (1894-1989) as Plaid Weriniaethol Cymru (Welsh Republican Party) gaining 613 votes, 1.3% of all the votes cast.

1950 WELSH REPUBLICAN MANIFESTO – Copy

“To me, Wales is what it is because of its people. It is the people of Wales that have kept the country and its nationality and culture alive through many long years of English oppression. It is those people that I care for, for their freedom and the long lives that we wish for them and could guarantee them under our own government. Our lives are at a bigger risk than ever before because of the selfish demands of the English government on our land, our resources and our people.” [1]

And still, reaching back to land that were once the Eastern Lands of the Celtic Tribe, there is campaign for restoration of lost lands ‘Blaenau Diroedd’. There were less “romantic rebel” type expressions of protest in October 1952: bomb attack on the Fron Aqueduct in Central Cymru in protest against water theft.

The ideological tensions between those whose Welsh Republicanism of necessity received inspiration from 19th century workers rebellions and inspiration for their struggles, against those who looked to ‘’Medieval Welsh Princes’; these were not containable within the organisation. Although a campaigning movement it failed to develop any real “Welsh Republican” ideology or theory that could be handed down to future generations to sustain continuation of a genuine “Welsh Republican Movement and Struggle”. The patriotic sentiments and ‘Republican Manifesto’ had little success in winning other people and the group faded into inactivity with many of the 130 members moving into Plaid Cymru retaining their republican and socialist perspectives, while others took their Welsh republicanism into the Labour Party.

 

 

 

[1] Ithel Davies’ Election pamphlet for 1950.