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 were contributed by Margaret Bevan, that explored the history of Margaret Parry (1843-1935).

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Margaret Parry, 10 Albert Street, Aberaeron  

Margaret (Evans) was born in the Talgarreg area in 1843. She would tell how she walked with her mother as a child to sell eggs in Cardigan market (some 15 miles away). She married John Parry, a worker in the woollen mill in Aberaeron who had an opportunity to buy the mill, when the owner moved to the USA .

They had six children but two died young.  She was a churchgoer and her three daughters accompanied her to church on a Sunday, while her husband and sons attended Peniel Congregational Chapel. Her son Evan* and daughter Mary moved to London; John Lewis, the other son, worked in the mill, while Nance,*the other sister, helped in the mill shop and at home.

When Evan and his wife May* moved back from London, the two grandsons, Hubert and Eddie, spent, a great deal of time with their grandmother.  As they grew up, they used to read to her regularly. It is obvious only now, on seeing that she signed the petition with a cross, that she would have done so, because she was illiterate. She was a very dear lady, by all accounts, who led an independent life until she fell and broke a leg in old age. She died in 1935.  

* May and Nance also signed the petition. The three ladies formed a close friendship.