The "Treachery of the Blue Books", the Welsh Not and Patagonia
A government report on Welsh education condemns the Welsh language and the morals of the Welsh people, a humiliation remembered as Brad y Llyfrau Gleision; some answer by founding a Welsh-speaking colony in Patagonia in 1865.
- The Language of the Blue Books: The Perfect Instrument of Empire — Gwyneth Tyson Roberts, University of Wales Press (1998)
- The Welsh Not: Education and the Welsh Language in the Nineteenth Century — Martin Johnes, University of Wales Press (2024)
- A History of Wales — John Davies, Penguin (2007)
- The Welsh in Patagonia: The State and the Ethnic Community — Glyn Williams, University of Wales Press (1991)
In 1847 three English commissioners published a report on the state of education in Wales, bound in blue covers. Relying heavily on Anglican clergy and speaking no Welsh themselves, they condemned not only Welsh schools but the Welsh language, Nonconformity and the supposed immorality of Welsh people, especially women. The outrage that followed gave the report its lasting name, Brad y Llyfrau Gleision, “the Treachery of the Blue Books”.
- The Language of the Blue Books: The Perfect Instrument of Empire — Gwyneth Tyson Roberts, University of Wales Press (1998)
- A History of Wales — John Davies, Penguin (2007)
The Welsh Not
In some nineteenth-century schools a child heard speaking Welsh had a piece of wood, often marked “WN”, hung around their neck, to be passed on to the next offender; whoever wore it at the end of the day might be punished. Martin Johnes’s study shows it was never an official policy and its use varied widely, and that many Welsh parents themselves wanted their children taught in English, seen as the language of progress. But the memory of the Not became a powerful symbol of shame. The share of Welsh speakers fell from about half the population at the 1901 census to under a fifth by the 2000s.
- The Welsh Not: Education and the Welsh Language in the Nineteenth Century — Martin Johnes, University of Wales Press (2024)
- A History of Wales — John Davies, Penguin (2007)
- Welsh language, Wales: Census 2021 — Office for National Statistics, ONS (2022)
Y Wladfa
One response was to leave. The Nonconformist minister Michael D. Jones of Bala championed a colony where Welsh would be the language of chapel, school and government. On 28 July 1865 around 150 settlers from the ship Mimosa landed at what is now Puerto Madryn in Argentina, and settled the Chubut valley. Helped by the Indigenous Tehuelche, they survived hard early years and built irrigation canals and towns such as Trelew and Gaiman. Welsh is still spoken there by a minority, with teachers sent from Wales, an eisteddfod, and tea houses that delight Welsh visitors.
- The Welsh in Patagonia: The State and the Ethnic Community — Glyn Williams, University of Wales Press (1991)
- A History of Wales — John Davies, Penguin (2007)
The Blue Books were a calculated insult by English Anglican officials who spoke no Welsh, and together with the Welsh Not they taught generations of children to be ashamed of their own language.
- The Language of the Blue Books: The Perfect Instrument of Empire — Gwyneth Tyson Roberts, University of Wales Press (1998)
- A History of Wales — John Davies, Penguin (2007)
Historians such as Martin Johnes show that the Welsh Not was never government policy; it was used in some schools, often with the support of Welsh parents who wanted their children to learn English to get on, so the decline of Welsh owed as much to choices within Wales as to English imposition.
- The Welsh Not: Education and the Welsh Language in the Nineteenth Century — Martin Johnes, University of Wales Press (2024)
Why it matters today
The Blue Books, and the "Welsh Not" hung round the necks of children caught speaking Welsh at school, are the classic symbols of English contempt for the Welsh language. They help explain why many Welsh people are sensitive to jokes about their language, why parents of the twentieth century often did not pass it on, and why its revival matters so much. Y Wladfa, the Welsh colony in Patagonia, is a cherished, slightly romantic link to a Welsh world beyond Britain.