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 Angharad Tomos, that explored the history of her grandmother Elizabeth Ann Williams (1882-1955)

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My grandmother 1882 - 1955, my father’s mother.

I’m quite sure she did sign the petition, but she is not with her family in New Broughton, Wrexham.

While she was head of an Infant’s school, she met my grandfather, who was a conscientious objector in WWI, and a farm labourer on a nearby farm.

They married in 1919, and they moved to Bangor where my grandfather was a teacher.

When my father was 8, she had a mental breakdown, and spent the next 20 years in a mental institution, until her death.

My father served in WW II.

I am aware that they would not have met, except for the first World War.