Wales as it appears in Regency Fiction is often depicted as the home of stoic men and warm nurturing women with one foot on the farm and the other in the country’s rich mystical and legend-rich history. Between 1780 and 1840 Wales was a part of the British Isles with a far more diverse citizenry, society, and economy than many can imagine.

This class will endeavor to introduce attendees to the wide variety of Welsh society from titled lords, to wealthy industrialists, to poor farmers and miners, to political activists, to those who still lived entrenched in village life and active beliefs in the mysteries of myth and legend.

Some of the topics covered will include:

• Welsh tonnish society in the major cities and the existence of vast Welsh estates much the same as those in England and Scotland.
• How Wales became a leader in Britain’s Industrial Revolution, with ironworks and coal mining expanding, especially in the south. How Swansea was known as “Copperopolis” for its copper smelting plants, and Merthyr Tydfil was known as the “iron capital of the world”.
• How by the early 1800s, South Wales was the world’s biggest producer of iron. How Wales supplied a third of the world’s coal. How by 1851, Wales was the world’s first industrial society in which more people were employed by industry than agriculture.
• How industrialization led to bitter social conflict between Welsh workers and English factory and mine owners. How this conflict included armed uprisings in Merthyr Tydfil in 1831 and Newport in 1839, as well as the Rebecca Riots in South and Mid Wales between 1839 and 1844.
• How Welsh was not an official language and was not considered a suitable medium for education. English was deemed the only appropriate medium for learning and the conflicts and secret schools that came to be as a result.

It is hoped this class will provide the information and insights to inspire writers to set more Regency Fiction in this fascinating and unique part of the British Isles.