As communities and volunteers have been transcribing the 390,296 signatories from the 1923 Welsh Women’s Peace Petition to America, many have been identifying and uncovering the stories behind this generation of women who stood against war. Who were they – and what messages might they have for us 100 years later.

‘Hidden Histories’ project led by the WCIA invited people across Wales to uncover and share ‘peace stories’ behind the 390,296 women who signed the Peace Petition – not just ‘the great and the good’, but the thousands of ordinary women across Wales moved in the aftermath of World War One to petition for peace.

This story and supporting material was contributed by Bleddyn Smith, that explored the history of his great-grand mother, Jennie Phillips.
 

Jennie Phillips, Castell-nedd, 1868-1951

I have chosen to explore the history of my great-great grandmother, Jennie Phillips who lived at 18 The Green, a community in the town of Neath, Glamorganshire. Jennie, and her daughter also named Jennie, (known as Lulu to my family) signed the peace petition in 1923.
 Jennie was born in Neath on the 17th November 1868, in the area of The Green to John Parker, a canal boatman, and his wife, Sarah. Jennie and was one of eight daughters, six of whom survived childhood, and she also had five older, half-siblings. Her father died of TB when she was four and her mother was left to bring up Jennie and her sisters. 
 In her youth, Jennie worked as a brickmaker at the local brickworks, until she married my great-great grandfather, brickmaker, Rees Broom in 1888, aged 19. Together they had 6 children, the youngest being my great-grandmother, Martha Broom. Jennie ran the King William IV Inn at 18 The Green from 1890 to 1903 and she was sadly widowed at only 32, when Rees died in 1900. She married a collier, Jim Phillips in 1902 and went on to have 6 children with him, mothering a total of 12 children. After living in a few houses around the Green, they moved back to 18 The Green in 1922, which was no longer an active public-house at that point. From there, she started a haulage contract business which lasted until the 1950s.
 In 1923, Jennie was living with her husband Jim; her children, Jimmy, Lulu, Lily, Mary, Ivor and Alice, her two adult daughters; Nellie and Martha and her granddaughter, Stella. The Green was a highly populated part of the town, full of ‘back-to-back’ housing courts with a diverse population of Welsh, English, Irish and other nationalities. It had a reputation for being a ‘rough’ part of the town, but it was a still a tight-knit, close community and Jennie was very proud of the Green and never left there.
  When the First World War began in 1914, Jennie’s three eldest sons; Bertie, Charlie and Tom Broom all signed up for service. Bertie was a Private in the 8th Battalion of the Welch Regiment and was sent to fight in Gallipoli. He was killed in action on the 8th of August 1915, aged only 26. When Jennie was sent compensation money due to Bertie’s death, she threw the letter into the fireplace and said; “Is this what I bring children into the world for?” Charlie served in France and was gassed during the war, and although he survived, he died in 1929 aged 37 due to long-term lung complications. Tom served as a physical training sergeant during the war and was awarded a D.C.M for his work.  Bertie’s death alongside the experiences of Jennie’s other sons was clearly the motivation for her signing the peace petition. She had lost her eldest son to the horrors of war and this was her making her voice heard in a society which devalued her voice. She reflects the thousands of other mothers who lost their boys in the War.Jennie was an intelligent business woman, running both a pub and later a haulage company and she was kind-hearted, always willing to help friends and neighbours, but she was also a formidable force of woman, not to be walked over and she was the matriarch of the Broom-Phillips clan.Jennie died on the 19th January 1951, aged 82, and had buried five children by the time she died. Finding Jennie’s signature was a very emotional experience as I knew as a family how deeply Bertie’s death had impacted the Broom-Phillips family. My great-grandmother, Martha Broom (1897-1989) and her sister Nellie didn’t sign the petition, but they both worked at the tinworks and most likely were at work when the petition organisers came around, but I knew Martha would’ve signed it had she got the chance, as she was very close to Bertie. The peace petition is such an important message for today, especially in the current world we live in, even 100 years later. As a young person, it makes me feel proud that my female ancestors were amongst the nearly 400, 000 women who signed this petition and it highlights the desire for world peace and fairness, which echoes through the generations. If I could ever speak to Jennie, I would say how proud I am of her for contributing to such an important moment in Welsh history and I would admire her for her strength and resilience and for how she coped through all the struggles that she experienced.