Howell Davy Williams

Scope and Content

Folder of papers relating to Rhigos Colliery 1948-1979; price-lists for Aberpergwm, Cwmgwrach, Deep Duffryn and Rock Collieries 1951-1957; Empire Lodge balance sheet 1965; printed material regarding coalmining 1943-1954; draft autobiography of H.D. Williams (Welsh, partly photocopy), undated (pre 1981); correspondence and letter drafts etc. (Welsh, English and Russian) 1964-1967 and undated (pre 1981); material relating to a National Council of Labour Colleges (NCLC) correspondence course 1936-1937; miscellaneous verses (in Welsh) undated (pre 1981); miscellaneous pamphlets (English and Welsh) 1944-1965; miscellaneous periodicals (English and Welsh) 1947-1977; biographical note 1982.

Administrative / Biographical History

Howell Davy Williams was born in 1907. He was a member of the Communist Party and in 1938 volunteered to fight for the International Brigade in the Spanish Civil War. However, he was turned back at Paris by French police. He was Secretary of the Rhigos Lodge, National Union of Mineworkers (South Wales Area) until it closed in 1964-1965, when he became a guide at the Welsh Folk Museum at St. Fagan's (now the Museum of Welsh Life). He was a close friend of the poet T.E. Nicholas. Howell Davy Williams died in 1981.

Source : biographical note on H.D. Williams by Hywel Francis (SWCC: MNB/PP/63/17).

Access Information

Access unrestricted unless stated otherwise.

Other Finding Aids

A hard copy list is available in the searchroom.

Conditions Governing Use

A photocopying service is available. Contact repository for details.

No publication without written permission from the Archivist.

Related Material

The original manuscript of Howell Davy William's memoirs is located at the Museum of Welsh Life. Correspondence between Howell Davy Williams and the poet T.E. Nicholas is located at the National Library of Wales, Aberystwyth.