The Diary of Amy Dillwyn, 1863-1917
This book is an edited transcript of the diary of Amy Dillwyn. Known as The Pioneer, she was an author, industrialist and humanitarian who constantly challenged the norms of her day. Born into a life of wealth and priviledge, she inherited the Llansamlet Spelter Works on her father's death in 1892, along with substantial debts. She took the courageous decision to run the business herself and in the process she saved the jobs of its 300 employees. She stood up for several prominent local causes and was a staunch supporter of women's suffrage. As well as these aspects of her life, her diaries shed light on her love for Olive Talbot and provide evidence for the way same-sex attraction and gender identity were understood in the Victorian age.
Kirsti Bohata is Professor of English Literature and co-Director of CREW, the Centre for Research into the English Literature and Language of Wales, at Swansea University.
She has published widely on women's writing, including Amy Dillwyn's queer fiction. Her most recent books are a co-authored interdisciplinary study, with Alexandra Jones, Mike Mantin and Steve Thompson, of Disability in Industrial Britain: a Cultural and Literary History of Impairment in the Coal Industry, 1880-1948 (Manchester University Press, 2020) and co-edited anthology, with Huw Osborne and Mihangel Morgan, Queer Square Mile: Queer Short Stories from Wales (Parthian, 2022) which includes one of Amy Dillwyn's stories.
South Wales Record Society publication no. 37
Edited by Kirsti Bohata
Published 2025
ISBN 978-1-7390856-1-2 (paperback)
Price: £30.00