Helo, ffrindiau. My name is Niklas George and I’m the creator, owner, manager, editor, writer, and every other title possibly attributable to Welsh Histories.
For those unfamiliar with it, Welsh Histories is a Welsh history-focused Facebook page. There’s no budget behind it, and it’s entirely what you see: the informed ramblings of a Welsh secondary school educator.
Welsh Histories background
The Welsh Histories page has published over a thousand posts since October 2023, ranging from written and photographic explorations of Welsh castles to a daily episodic series covering the kings of individual Welsh kingdoms in chronological order. It has explored the crimes committed against Cymru by Edward Longshanks, Henry VIII, Winston Churchill, and Margaret Thatcher, and much more.
Additionally, weekdays at 10am are usually for my Welsh Word of the Day: a 30-second reel in which I aim to promote the daily use of Welsh language via an easily pronounced Welsh word. The page also regularly shares excellent Welsh history-themed poetry and photographs by our members. It has quickly formed a vibrant, wonderful community that I’m proud to be part of.
So while Welsh Histories is devoutly committed to the subject of Welsh history, it’s not limited to that. It’s essentially one large hub of Welshness. We have a strong American and Australian presence within our community. It’s filled with a Welsh diaspora deeply interested in reconnecting with their ancestral history and culture. They’re as supportive of and interactive with Welsh Histories as anyone.
In mere months we’ve grown from being a small page with 200 followers to one of the better known Welsh social media with a strong community of almost 12,000. There is now a monthly Welsh Histories magazine, with over 100 copies sold in its first month. On 26 March the page received over a million visitors in a single day. It’s been a rollercoaster ride, and a lot of work, to grow Welsh Histories, but with swift results.
From hiraeth to history
There were initially no plans for Welsh Histories to be anything other than a small project for myself. I aimed to combat hiraeth and stay connected with my Welshness after moving from the brutally lacking ‘sun’ of Rhyl to the brutally gorgeous sun of Maharashtra, India. I moved there a week before founding Welsh Histories to be with my long-term fiancée – now wife – and, at least for now, live a life in Asia. However, Welsh Histories has become something far more than one man’s battle with hiraeth.
Having interacted with thousands of people with an interest in Welsh history – not all Welsh, to my surprise – over the past five months, I’ve reached a profound conclusion. We’ve all been failed by a Welsh education system that neglected Welsh history for generation after generation.
I communicate with older Welsh people who were subjected to an archaic, behaviourist education which avoided mention of our native history. But also people closer to my age who grew up in the devolution years, during which we were faintly promised an education that did Cymru justice. It’s clear that, whatever our age, we were given a Welsh history education that was actually far more British than Welsh.
We were taught about the Romans, and about the Tudors – who, as it turns out, really as Welsh as we were led to believe, identifying more as English and French – and the first and second world wars. While those topics are important to our history, they are arguably not our history.
Welsh history whitewashing
We’re taught about the Romans, yet not the native Britons who wandered freely before them, endured their occupation, and had to adapt to the invasive Saxons thereafter? If we must learn about the Tudors and their supposed Welshness, why can’t we know of impositions on Cymru during the reign of ‘son of a Welshman’ Henry VIII via the Laws of Wales Acts? If we’re going to be taught about the Victorian age and Churchill, then include the Welsh Not of Victorian schooling, and Churchill’s anti-Welsh rhetoric and actions (see: the Llanelli and Tonypandy Riots).
Our native history has been whitewashed to the point that many within Cymru, and its diaspora, are tragically unfamiliar with any of these aspects. Nor with some of our greatest historical figures such as Buddug (a Briton, our predecessors), Owain Gwynedd, Llywelyn the Great, Betsi Cadwaladr, and many more – except perhaps as names of pubs or health boards.
The current Welsh history curriculum omits our native history, favouring instead the British and even the English. So there should at least be a second history GCSE on offer, on the subject of genuinely Welsh history. This would enable the raising of awareness of our own rich past, and the lessons and inspirations it offers. While I’d prefer a single history GCSE which is more Welsh, I can understand the difficulties in creating that and am willing to compromise.
But one thing is certain: leaving native Welsh history out of GCSEs is a grave error in need of immediate rectification. Despite anything else, it’s a mistake simply because of how popular the subject can be – Welsh Histories is an example of that!
Divided we lose
Welsh Histories began as one man’s war against his own inner hiraeth. Now its purpose is, not only promoting our native Welsh history, but working towards getting it onto the school curriculum at long last. This may seem a challenge, but it’s one I relish and am certain can be achieved in time, with the help of others.
If there’s one constant in our native history, it’s our ability to unite to achieve the results we deserve. The Rebecca Riots and Merthyr Rising are two examples that brought about desired change. It’s when we’re divided that we lose, as with Llywelyn and Dafydd ap Gruffydd and their demise at the hands of Edward Longshanks. Building the Welsh Histories community has led unexpectedly to a difficult mission, but it’s an entirely realistic one if we go on it together.
