Welsh Journals

I came across many Welshmen who later became distinguished in their respective fields. I recall, for example, meeting Marshal of the R.A.F. Sir Hugh Pughe Lloyd, when he was a young Squadron Leader on India's north-west Frontier and a fearless rider to hounds with the famous Peshawar Vale Hunt of which he became master. He had flown thousands of miles over the tribal areas and for two years was an instructor with Colonels Auckinleck and Montgomery at the Quetta Staff College. As students of military history will know, Lloyd, after an air com- mand in the Far East, became Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Bomber Command, in 1950. Three years later he retired to farm at Great Missenden. His family roots were near Bala in Merioneth- shire, and in retirement he was for a time president of the London Welsh Association. He, too, fittingly received the honorary degree of LL.D. from the University of Wales. One day in 1945 after hostilities against Japan had ended I received an invitation from Sir John Colville (later Lord Clydes- muir), Governor of Bombay, and his lady to a concert given by a Welsh ENSA touring party, calling themselves 'The Welsh Singers', at Government House, Ganeshkind. I went with an English friend of mine, an Indian Army colonel. The effect on him was almost startling; I have never seen a phlegmatic Saxon so moved. Staying as a house guest at Government House at that time was the distinguished civil servant, Sir Archibald Rowlands, (1892-1953) who had been loaned from Whitehall to the Viceroy's staff. As a Welshman, it was fitting that Rowlands should compere on such a very Welsh occasion, and this he did with great feeling and charm. To this day I remember the fare provided. Among the items in the programme were Mascagni's magnificent Easter chorus from Rusticana, the 23rd psalm sung in Welsh and the harpist's rendering of Bach's tender air on the G string, besides several pieces with a Welsh flavour. It was a memorable evening and I could hear the music for days afterwards. The Welshmen I encountered in my oriental wanderings were invariably successful in maintaining excellent personal relations with the people among whom they lived and worked. The secret may have been due in part to the Celt's warm and sympathetic temperament, what Kingsley Amis calls the Welshman's dis- tinguishing quality his non-deferential amiability'. In the case of Welsh-speaking Welshmen, it may have been the ease with which they acquired fluency in oriental languages, a sure way to the hearts of the people.