Cymraeg

The Experiences of Women in World War One

A collection of information, experiences and photographs recorded by Women's Archive of Wales in 2014-18

A collection of information, experiences and photographs recorded by Women's Archive of Wales in 2014-18

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4 records were found.

Mabel Elsie Davies

Place of birth: Fforestfach

Service: Canteen worker, NEF Pembrey

Notes: Mabel was the eldest daughter of Eliza [qv] and Huw Davies. Fourteen when her father died, she started munitions work at Pembrey. When her age was discovered, she was transferred to work in the canteen.

Sources: People’s Collection Wales

Reference: WaW0322

Studio photograph of Mabel Davies. Owner Mrs Dorothy Jones.

Mabel Elsie Davies

Studio photograph of Mabel Davies. Owner Mrs Dorothy Jones.


Gwendoline Elizabeth Davies

Place of birth: Llandinam

Service: Collector, philanthropist, canteen worker, French Red Cross, 1916 - 1918

Death: 1952/07/03, Leukaemia /Lewcemia

Notes: Gwendoline, born 1882, was the elder granddaughter of David Davies the coal owner and builder of Barry Docks. She, her sister Margaret [qv] and her brother David each received one third of his vast fortune on the death of their father in 1898. All three were strict Calvinistic Methodists, with a strong philanthropic streak. The two sisters began to travel widely, and to study art in Europe. In their early twenties they were beginning to form the collection that is now at the National Museum Wales. In March 1913 the collection was exhibited, anonymously, in Cardiff; the sisters covering all of the cost. It attracted 26000 visitors. At the outbreak of war the sisters promoted a scheme to invite Belgian artists and musicians to come to Wales, settling them in Aberystwyth and Llanidloes [see De Saedeleer]. In 1916, following the death of her cousin in the Dardanelles, Gwen volunteered to join the French Red Cross, leaving in July to open a Cantine des Dames Anglaises where she remained until the end of the war. The Cantine was moved in 1917 to Troyes, where her sister joined her. Gwen’s job as Directrice meant visits to headquarters in Paris, which in turn enabled her to add pictures, including two Cézannes, to her collection. In early 1918 her collections in Paris were at risk from air-raids and long distance shelling, so it was arranged for them to be shipped back to Britain. By 1922 she had given up collecting art. She felt she could not spend money in this way ‘in the face of appalling need everywhere’. During the 1920s Gwendoline set up a centre for the arts at Gregynog near Llandinam, promoting art in the cause of peace and social progress. She continued to give generously to educational and other causes. On her death in 1951 she bequeathed her remarkable collection of paintings and sculpture to the National Museum of Wales.

Sources: Oliver Fairclough [ed] Things of Beauty: What two sisters did for Wales. National Museum Wales 2007. Trevor Fishlock A Gift of Sunlight. Gomer 2014\r\nhttps://museum.wales/articles/2007-07-29/The-Davies-Sisters-during-the-First-World-War/

Reference: WaW0333

Gwendoline Davies (centre) and Margaret (left) at the opening of the first pithead baths in Wales, summer 1916. This was shortly before she left for France.

Oprning of the Ocean Coal Company pithead baths

Gwendoline Davies (centre) and Margaret (left) at the opening of the first pithead baths in Wales, summer 1916. This was shortly before she left for France.

The Canteen in Troyes, France, of which Gwendoline was Directrice.

Cantine des Dames Anglaises

The Canteen in Troyes, France, of which Gwendoline was Directrice.


Loan exhibition of the Davies sisters’ collection in City Hall, Cardiff, February 1913. It includes Rodin’s The Kiss, bought by Gwendoline in 1912.

Loan exhibition 1913

Loan exhibition of the Davies sisters’ collection in City Hall, Cardiff, February 1913. It includes Rodin’s The Kiss, bought by Gwendoline in 1912.

This Cézanne landscape was bought in Paris by Gwendoline Davies in February 1918.

Midday, L'Estaque

This Cézanne landscape was bought in Paris by Gwendoline Davies in February 1918.


Margaret Sidney Davies

Place of birth: Llandinam

Service: Collector, philanthropist, canteen worker, French Red Cross, 1917 - 1919

Death: 1963, Cause not known

Notes: Margaret, born 1884, was the younger sister of Gwendoline [qv] and granddaughter of David Davies the coal owner and builder of Barry Docks. She, her sister and her brother David each received one third of his vast fortune on the death of their father in 1898. All three were strict Calvinistic Methodists, with a strong philanthropic streak. The two sisters began to travel widely, and to study art in Europe. Margaret also studied drawing and printmaking. In their early twenties they were beginning to form the collection that is now at the National Museum Wales. In March 1913 the collection was exhibited, anonymously, in Cardiff; the sisters covering all of the cost. There were 26000 visitors. At the outbreak of war the sisters promoted a scheme to invite Belgian artists and musicians to come to Wales, and settle in Aberystwyth and Llanidloes. In 1917 Margaret joined Gwendoline at the Cantine des Dames Anglais, now sited at Troyes railway station. In her diary she wrote that the chief blessings in a canteen were ‘a tap of water and a gramophone. The former makes life bearable for us and the latter makes life bearable to the poilu’ (private soldier). For a while she and Gwendoline were moved to an American canteen nearer the front; there they experienced air raids and two of their colleagues were killed by bombs. In the winter of 1918-1919 she worked for three months in a canteen in Rouen organised by the Scottish Churches before returning to Wales. Later Margaret helped set up the centre for the arts at Gregynog. She continued to collect paintings, usually by modern British artists, until the late 1950s. Her collection, like her sister’s, was bequeathed to the National Museum of Wales.

Sources: Oliver Fairclough [ed] Things of Beauty: What two sisters did for Wales. National Museum Wales 2007. Trevor Fishlock A Gift of Sunlight. Gomer 2014\r\nhttps://museum.wales/articles/2007-07-29/The-Davies-Sisters-during-the-First-World-War/

Reference: WaW0334

Margaret Davies is the figure on the right, at the back of the Cantine des Dames Anglaises.

Cantine des Dames Anglaises

Margaret Davies is the figure on the right, at the back of the Cantine des Dames Anglaises.

Woodcut of Plas Dinam by Margaret Davies, 1920s.

Plas Dinam

Woodcut of Plas Dinam by Margaret Davies, 1920s.


Isabella Lilian Mitchell

Place of birth: Cattistock, Dorset

Service: Canteen worker, ambulance driver, French Red Cross, 1915 - 1918 ?

Death: 1970, Kent, Cause not known

Notes: Isabella was the only daughter of a Scottish family settled in Brecon. Her father A A Mitchell was an Alderman and JP, and both her brothers volunteered as army officers. In September 1915 she was working in the French Red Cross Canteen at Creil Station north of Paris. She is said to have received the Croix de Guerre in the summer of 1918 ‘for three years motor ambulance service with the French Army, and especially for good work at Creil’. Thanks to Marianne Last.

Reference: WaW0395

Report of Isabella’s canteen work in Creil, France. Brecon County Times 2nd September 1915.

Newspaper report

Report of Isabella’s canteen work in Creil, France. Brecon County Times 2nd September 1915.

Report of Isabella’s award of the Croix de Guerre. Brecon County Times 1st August 1918.

Newspaper report

Report of Isabella’s award of the Croix de Guerre. Brecon County Times 1st August 1918.


Photograph of British motor ambulance drivers, France 1917.

Ambulance drivers

Photograph of British motor ambulance drivers, France 1917.



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