Gwredog diaries during the tenure of Mr. Owen Lloyd Jones, J.P., eldest son of Elias Jones

Scope and Content

The entries are far fewer than those of E.J., but for this period equally valuable for wages and prices. Note the buying of a new mare for £95.7.0. on 1 Nov. 1897.

The son is more explicit than the father about new ventures in farming, e.g. the granting of an experimental plot to Prof. Winter of UCNW Agricultural Department (16 Oct. 1894), the detailed memoranda concerning seeds, basic slag with and without salt (beginning of 1896 diary), and the decision to plough grass land, some of it after an interval of twenty years (1 Dec, 1896). There are interesting entries about the vicissitudes of harvesting in 1894 - the hay was not finally got in because of troublesome weather, till 21 August, while the corn was safely dealt with by 17 Sept., "no rain at all". Lord Stanley continued his shooting crusades at Gwredog (end of Sept.) : 191 partridges were shot in 1893, 137 in 1896. In 1894 he brought an Indian gentleman with him, a piquant echo of the Mohammedan proclivities of the 3rd Baron Stanley of Alderley and Penrhos; in 1895 he had "Arthur" to shoot, the present and fifth Baron. Somewhat homelier entries are the references to the visit to Gwredog of Mr Ellis of Cynlas (the father of Tom Ellis?) at the end of August 1896, and the journey of Mr Lloyd Jones to Chester to be present at the wedding of his good friend Mr Owen Hughes of Penyrorsedd, Cemlyn (16 September 1896).

The last entry in his hand is opposite 27 October 1898, just a week before his death. Miss Jones has one diary for herself, a record of gardening operations in 1895

Administrative / Biographical History

Owen Lloyd Jones died unmarried on 3 November 1898