Cymraeg

The Welsh and American Slavery

Abolitionists - Iolo Morgannwg

Iolo Morgannwg - fair trade pioneer?

Edward Williams was born in Llancarfan, near Cowbridge, but he is better known to us as Iolo Morgannwg. He is remembered for his literary exploits as well as his talent as a forger. Many of the "lost classics" he found were in fact things that he himself had written!

The Gorsedd of Bards

He was mainly responsible for creating the Gorsedd of Bards - but he deserves to be remembered too for his opposition to slavery. Indeed, at the very first Gorsedd on Primrose Hill in London, he grasped the opportunity to praise Wilberforce and express sympathy towards the slaves.

Fair Trade

It could be that Iolo was inspired by some sort of guilt, because three of his brothers had emigrated to Jamaica and probably owned slaves. However, there is no evidence that Iolo profited in any way from their wealth, and indeed when he opened a shop in Cowbridge in 1797, a sign was placed in the window stating that it did not sell sugar from the Caribbean, as it was produced by slave labour. Instead, he sold sugar from the East, the produce of free men:

East India Sweets, uncontaminated with human gore

The sign in Iolo
Morgannwg's shop

This is, most probably, the first example of fair trade in Britain; America had to wait until 1838 when the Free Produce Association was formed.

Today, there are plans to ensure that Wales leads the way once again, with every county receiving Fair Trade status as soon as possible.

for more details:
walesfairtradeforum.org.uk
oxfam.org.uk