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 May Parry (1884-1974).

-- May Parry, 10 Alban Square, Aberaeron

May was born (Mary Jane) in Merthyr, 1884, the only daughter among eight children to Daniel and Jane Thomas. At the time of her birth her father was a brewer but her parents soon returned to their native Carmarthenshire to farm, and May had a happy childhood in Brynbanc Farm near Laugharne. 

She attended school at Llanddowror and then helped on the farm before being apprenticed to a milliner at Cloth Hall, Carmarthen. She then worked as a milliner in Treharris before moving to London to help her brother, who kept a dairy there. Through him she met her husband Evan Parry, who was a dairyman in Kensington. In 1921 the family moved to Evan’s home town of Aberaeron, with their two sons (Hubert aged 7 and Eddie aged 3). There Evan invested in the family woollen mill. May was a housewife but also helped her mother-in-law, Margaret*, and her sister-in-law, Nance*, at the mill shop in 12 Albert Street.

She had been raised as a Baptist but in Aberaeron also attended her husband's chapel, Peniel Congregational Chapel. She was very religious - read the Bible every night - and a strict teetotaller, although she made home-made wine. She was also fond of relating stories, especially in her later years to her five grandchildren.

She was not a fluent Welsh speaker and this was a barrier to mixing socially in Aberaeron in the first half of the 20th century. When the mill closed in the early fifties, her sons bought businesses in the town and she moved to live in a room above the sweet shop (now McGowans) until her death in 1972.  

*Margaret and Nance also signed the petition. The three became close friends.