Welsh Not

The Welsh Not (also Welsh Knot, Welsh Note, Welsh Stick, Welsh Lead or Cwstom) was an item used in Welsh schools in the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries to stigmatise and punish through flogging children who were heard using the Welsh language.

Typically The Not was a piece of wood, a ruler or a stick, often inscribed with the letters "WN". This was given to the first pupil to be heard speaking Welsh. When another child was heard using Welsh, The Not was taken from its current holder and given to the latest offender. Whoever was in possession of The Not was encouraged to pass it on to any of their Welsh-speaking classmates by informing the teacher that they had caught someone else speaking Welsh. The pupil in possession at the end of the day was subjected to corporal punishment or other penalty (some reports suggest the punishment was administered at the end of the week, or at the end of each lesson). This was to encourage pupils not to speak Welsh.

"Endeavoured to compel the children to converse in English by means of a piece of wood. Offenders to be shut in after school hours."

Extracts from the Llansantffraid board school log book. 8th February, 1870.

Language policy

The restriction of the use of the Welsh language began with the enactment of the Act of Union 1536 by Henry VIII.

In the early 19th century it became clear that the Church in Wales (which was under the control of Church of England at the time) manipulated their congregations by planting unsuited people to propagate anti-Welsh rhetoric towards their congregation by the means of eradicating the language, feeling alienated, the attendees abandoned the church and left the buildings deserted, this may have been one contributing factor for triggering the Rebecca riots.

"..we must seek for causes that have been for many years in operation, the chief of which will be found to be the great neglect of the state of the Established Church in Wales, and the consequent almost universal increase of Dissent. Whilst the Church has been in many cases made the instrument of the futile and absurd attempt to eradicate the Welsh language, by filling its Pulpits with persons imperfectly acquainted with the language of a people who are passionately fond of popular oratory, and an animated style of preaching to their feelings."

Extracts from Cardiff and Merthyr Guardian, Glamorgan, Monmouth, and Brecon Gazette, July 22, 1843.

Within the Walls of Westminster, the removal of the language was further widely discussed, which is evident in the published 'Parliamentary Papers – Volume 16' [1844], which reads; 'as far as your experience goes, there is a general desire for education, and the parents are desirous that their children should learn the English language?--Beyond anything.' and later reading mentions: 'There is the greatest anxiety to catch one another speaking Welsh, and there is a cry out immediately, "Welsh not."'

The publication of the Reports of the Commissioners of enquiry into the state of education in Wales 1847 also carried this sentiment, noting its opinion that the state of education was severely inadequate compared to that of English education. Children who only spoke Welsh were taught by English speaking teachers and were taught through the use of English written textbooks. Due to its negative depiction of Wales, the report became more commonly known as Brad y Llyfrau Gleision, or the Treachery of the Blue Books. This was mainly due to its openly suggestive attitude towards the removal of the Welsh language in its entirety, describing the Welsh language as an "evil" thing. Humphreys described the report as drawing "a dark picture of ignorance and, what was much worse, immorality". An editorial in the Times Newspaper in 1866 carried forth this treason, describing the language as "the curse of Wales" and a "dead language". It was also described as a barrier to the Welsh in joining civilisation. The report did not outright endorse the use of the Welsh Not as a way of punishment and suppressing the Welsh language, it highlighted its use as an example to improving the education system. It was incorrectly popularised as an effective tool to create control by educators throughout Wales, in part due to much later writings of Owen Morgan Edwards, a known nationalist. In reality the use of the Welsh Not was primarily used by the Welsh in Welsh run schools prior to the Education Act 1870.

Effects

The effect of The Not was to stigmatise the use of the Welsh language among children, and engender the idea that English, as the preferable medium of instruction, was the language of moral progress and opportunity, further playing out the long-term effect of the Language Clause in The Act of Union 1536. The practice and wider social changes of the nineteenth and the beginning of the 20th century saw many Welsh speakers come to view the speaking of Welsh as a disadvantage.

Although no direct correlation can be made to use of the Welsh Not and the decline of those speaking Welsh, the decline of its use well into the 19th and 20th century and the long term stigma attached to the use of the language, clearly shows it had an effect. The 1911 Census showed that by the beginning of the 20th century the numbers of those speaking Welsh were dramatically declining. 43.5% of its now 2.5 million population in Wales spoke Welsh, with 35% of those being bilingual in Welsh and English.

This was a decrease compared to the 1891 census which reported that out of a then 1.5 million populous, nearly 50% (49.9%) spoke the language; 34.8% being bilingual in both English and Welsh, and 15.1% being monoglot (compared to 8.5% being monoglot in the 1911 census).

The 1921 census also recorded a further decrease in the number of the populous who were able to speak the Welsh language, with now only 38.7% being able to speak it and only 6.6% of that percentage being Welsh monoglots.

However it must be considered that the use of the Welsh Not and the oppression of the Welsh language is only part of the reason why the numbers of those who spoke Welsh declined. If the treatment of the Welsh language in the education system was the decisive reason for its decline, it would be difficult to justify the variety of concentration of the language regionally within the country.

The 1921 Census does show that 87.8% of individuals could Speak Welsh in Anglesey, while in Cardiff, the Capital of Wales, only 5.2% of individuals could speak the language. Some have used this to suggest the Welsh education system (being standardised) must therefore not be the key variable in keeping the language alive.

However this is reductive and in reality, this discrepancy may be attributed to the multi-cultural nature of Cardiff. With many in 1921 not being native to the country and of diverse ethnic/language origins. Anglesey is more of a monoculture and so would have sustained a higher proportion of Welsh speakers at that time.

A more reliable indicator of the languages extinction/resurgence would be to collate the data from those born in Wales who went through the domestic education system past and present.

History

"Cannot get the children from the habit of talking in Welsh; the school as a whole is backward in English."

Extracts from the log book of the British School, Aberaeron. Written by the head teacher. 5th November, 1880.

Origin

The use of "The Not" was recorded as early as the 18th century, Although associated primarily with the enactment of the Education Act 1870. There is strong evidence of numerous incidents in both Anglican and Nonconformist schools throughout Carmarthen, Ceredigion and Meirionnydd, it was commonly known as the cwstom, the 'Welsh stick' or the 'Welsh lead' (if a lump of lead was used).

Cultural impact

"Among other injurious effects, this custom has been found to lead children to visit stealthily the houses of their school-fellows for the purpose of detecting those who speak Welsh to their parents, and transferring to them the punishment due to themselves."

Extracts from Reports of the Commissioners of Inquiry into the state of Education in Wales, 1847.

The use of the Welsh Not created a stigma in using the Welsh Language. However work from groups such as the Welsh Language Society after the passing of the Education Act 1870 tried to fight for the right to speak Welsh and learn through the medium of Welsh in schools, and to advocate bilingualism in classrooms. Although their campaigning resulted in the encouragement of teaching Welsh History and Geography within schools, the Education system continued to become further dominated by the English system.

Later use

"The speaking of Welsh in school was strictly forbidden; any boy or girl guilty of the offence was given the Welsh Not, which he or she handed on to the next offender, the unfortunate one who held the Welsh Not at the end of the school session becoming the scapegoat who bore the punishment for the sins of all.

Mother, being a lively child, was in frequent possession of the Welsh Not, but was never allowed to pay the penalty; a chivalrous boy cousin always asked for it in Welsh and took the punishment himself."

Account of the writer's mothers experiences in Welsh Outlook, May 1931.

The use of the Welsh Not appears to have decreased with the introduction of compulsory education in the later decades of the 19th century. After the school boards were absorbed by the county councils following the Local Government Act 1888, instruction in Welsh became the norm in primary schools in Welsh-speaking areas. However, incidents of the Welsh Not were still reported.

Owen Morgan Edwards describes his experience of the Welsh Not in school in Llanuwchllyn in his book Clych Atgof.

Susan Jones, Member of Parliament for Clwyd South, claimed in 2010 that the use of the Welsh Not, including caning as the punishment, persisted in some schools in her constituency until "as recently as the 1930s and 1940s".

Discouragement of use in disabled children

As recently as 2000, a few therapists, health visitors & other healthcare staff employed by the state were advising parents not to speak to their disabled child in Welsh, thinking that speaking two languages would disadvantage them, but this only caused grievances among families.

See also

• Language policy
• Symbole
• Treachery of the Blue Books

Similar policies in other countries

• Vergonha (French suppression of regional languages), and specifically le symbole in French schools.
• Dialect card Hōgenfuda (方言札, "dialect card"), suppression of Ryukyuan languages and dialects of the Tōhoku region in Japan.
• Beatings were used in a similar fashion by American Indian boarding schools through the 1960s, perhaps even later.
• In Canada,
  • Beatings were used in a similar fashion by the Canadian Indian residential school system.
  • Canadian gaelic was suppressed by use of the "maide-crochaidh" "hanging stick"
• Russification, policies in Imperial Russia and Soviet Union.
• The White terror, a Taiwanese policy from 1949 to 1987 that suppressed non-Mandarin languages within Taiwan.

External links

• BBC article on the Welsh not