Welsh Journals

THE CENTENARY OF THE POWYSLAND CLUB 1867-1967 J. D. K. LLOYD The Powysland Club celebrated its centenary in October, 1967; it is the oldest of the county archaeological and historical societies in Wales, being only twenty years younger than the national body, The Cambrian Archaeological Association. It was on St. David's Day, 1867 that Mr. Morris Charles Jones of Liverpool and Mr. T. O. Morgan of Aberystwyth issued their "Proposals for a Society or Club, to be called 'The Powysland Club', for the Collecting and Printing, for the use of its members, of the Historical, Ecclesiastical, Genealogical, Topo- graphical and Literary Remains of Montgomeryshire". This preliminary proposal, which included a list of subjects which it was thought desirable to study and record, was sent to "all the magistrates, clergy, and all the professional (legal and medical) men in the county and some others", together with an outline, prepared by Mr. Morris Jones, of the papers which it was suggested should form the first volume of the journal. There was an immediate response from 72 gentlemen and ladies (shortly increased to 87) and the then Earl of Powis agreed to become the first President of the Club, which position he occupied until his death in 1891, when he was succeeded by the new Earl who, in his turn, was succeeded by the present Lord Powis, who thus maintains the connection between the Club and the Castle which has now existed for one hundred years. The Club was formally constituted on 1 st October, 1867 and, early in the following year, Part I of the "Collections, Historical and Archaeological relating to Montgomeryshire" was issued by J. Russell Smith, of 36 Soho Square, London. It is clear, from the short time which elapsed between the initial proposals and the issue of the first part of the Collections, that the ground must have been well prepared by the two signatories and their friends. Both these gentlemen, who described themselves as "Hon. Secs. pro. tem. were of the legal pro- fession, and short accounts of both of them can be found in the Dictionary of Welsh Biography. Mr. Morgan was a barrister living at Goginan, near Aber- ystwyth, a well-known Cardiganshire antiquary and the author of several papers in Archaeologia Cambrensis. He contributed articles to the newly estab- lished journal on "Montgomeryshire, when and how first constituted shire- ground" in Vol. II (1869) and "The history of the parish of Darowen" in Vol.