Fflorens Roch

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Fflorens Roch
Born
Hon. Fflorens Mary Ursula Herbert

(1879-02-12)12 February 1879
Westminster, London
Died18 March 1969(1969-03-18) (aged 90)
Pontypool, Wales
NationalityBritish
Other namesSeren Gwent [1]
Mrs Walter Roch
Education University of Cambridge
Spouse Walter Francis Roch m. 1911
Parent(s) Sir Ivor John Caradoc Herbert, 1st Baron Treowen and Albertina Agnes Mary Denison
Family Augusta Hall, Baroness Llanover, [2] grandmother
Peter FitzHerbert, descendent

The Hon. Fflorens Roch (12 Feb 1879 -18 March 1969) was an author and chief commissioner for Girl Guides in Wales. [3] In 1916 she donated the Llanover Manuscripts (seventy-seven volumes of notes, transcripts and compositions by Iolo Morganwg) to the National Library of Wales. [4] She was a recipient of the Silver Fish Award, the Girl Guide Association's highest adult honour, in 1922. [5]

Contents

Family and personal life

Born the Hon. Fflorens Mary Ursula Herbert, she was the daughter of Sir Ivor John Caradoc Herbert, 1st Baron Treowen (1851–1933) and Hon. Albertina Agnes Mary Denison (1854–1929). She had one brother, Hon. Elydir John Bernard Herbert, who was killed in World War I, [6] at which point she inherited the family fortune. She was a descendent of Peter FitzHerbert (d. 1235), one of the counsellor's named in the Magna Carta. [7] She was a student at Cambridge University. [8] The family estate was Llanarth Court, Monmouthshire.

Llanarth Court, Monmouthshire Llanarth court - geograph.org.uk - 1671498.jpg
Llanarth Court, Monmouthshire

She married Walter Roch (1880–1965), the MP for Pembrokeshire on 20 April 1911. [9] At that year's annual general meeting of the Liberal Social Council in Newport, [10] she was presented with a bookcase containing a "valuable collection of Welsh literature" as a wedding gift.

She "lived very little with her husband and had nothing in common with him." [11] She developed a "close and long-lasting relationship" [12] with Scottish author and art theorist Clementina Anstruther-Thomson (1857–1921). The two were "rarely apart". [13]

Catholic faith

Roch, like her parents, was a committed Catholic. [14] In 1948, she donated the main house of Llanover Court to the Catholic Church, and moved into a small home on the estate. [15] She also paid for the building of a Catholic church, Our Lady of Peace, in Newbridge, Caerphilly, [16] published several pamphlets and books through the Catholic Truth Society including about the Catholic faith in Girl Guiding. [17]

Our Lady of Peace, Newbridge, Caerphilly Church and Presbytery, Newbridge, Caerphilly-Geograph.org.uk-2273746.jpg
Our Lady of Peace, Newbridge, Caerphilly

Girl Guides

During World War I, Roch and Anstruther-Thomson organised Girl Guides in London, and gave joint classes in drill and public speaking at the first Girl Guide Training School. [18] She also held other roles within Girl Guiding over the years:

Community support

Roch also paid for the building of Llanarth Village Hall and gave land for the Llanarth Cricket Club. [33]

Author

Augusta Hall (1802-1896), Roch's great-grandmother Augusta Hall.jpg
Augusta Hall (1802–1896), Roch's great-grandmother

In 1910 Roch was endowed by Gorsedd Beirdd Ynys Prydain with the "delightfully poetic" bardic name Seren Gwent (Star of Gwent). It echoed the title Gwenynen Gwent (Bee of Gwent) that had been bestowed on her Great-Grandmother, Augusta Hall, Baroness Llanover. [34]

Roch published the following books and pamphlets:

She contributed articles to Wales: A National Magazine in 1912 [36] and chapters to Naomi Whelpton and Kitty Streatfield's 1926 book Rangers Pub. Pearson. She was a book reviewer for Life of the Spirit magazine from 1947 to 1953. [37] [38]

References

  1. "Eisteddfod Opens". Evening Express. Cardiff, UK. 1910-03-13. p. 3.
  2. "Eisteddfod Opens". Evening Express. Cardiff, UK. 1910-03-13. p. 3.
  3. "V.A.D. Revival". Brecon County Times. Brecon, Wales. 1924-10-30. p. 2.
  4. "Llanover M.S.S. go to Welsh nation". Western Mail. Cardiff, UK. 1939-03-31. p. 8.
  5. "Awards". The Guider (Vol. IX No. 97 ed.). London, UK: Girl Guides Association. January 1922. p. 17.
  6. "We Remember: The Hon. Elidyr John Bernard Herbert". livesofthefirstworldwar.iwm.org.uk. Retrieved 2022-09-03.
  7. "Roch-Herbert Alliance". The Cardiff Times. Cardiff, Wales. 1910-12-10. p. 12.
  8. Ancestry.com. 1901 Wales Census, Class: RG13; Piece: 4927; Folio: 22; Page: 9
  9. "Forthcoming Marriage". South Wales Gazette. Newport, Wales. 1911-03-31. p. 5.
  10. "Liberal Social Council". South Wales Argus. Newport, Wales. 1911-06-01. p. 3.
  11. Jeal, Tim (2001). Baden-Powell: Founder of the Boy Scouts. Yale, USA: Yale University Press. p. 479. ISBN   030018672X.
  12. Alexander, Kristine (2017). Guiding Modern Girls: Girlhood, Empire, and Internationalism in the 1920s. Vancouver, Canada: UBC Press. p. 76. ISBN   978-0774835909.
  13. Jeal, Tim (2001). Baden-Powell: Founder of the Boy Scouts. Yale, USA: Yale University Press. p. 479. ISBN   030018672X.
  14. "Full Report for listed buildings". cadwpublic-api.azurewebsites.net/. Retrieved 2022-09-03.
  15. "Full Report for listed buildings". cadwpublic-api.azurewebsites.net/. Retrieved 2022-09-03.
  16. "Full Report for listed buildings". cadwpublic-api.azurewebsites.net/. Retrieved 2022-09-03.
  17. Roch, Fflorens (1930). Girl Guides in the Catholic Church. London, UK: Catholic Truth Society.
  18. Jeal, Tim (2001). Baden-Powell: Founder of the Boy Scouts. Yale, USA: Yale University Press. p. 479. ISBN   030018672X.
  19. "Girl Guides at Haverfordwest". Haverfordwest and Milford Haven Telegraph. Haverfordwest, UK. 1916-09-13. p. 3.
  20. "The Girl Guide Movement". Surrey Advertiser. Guildford, UK. 1918-07-24. p. 4.
  21. "Liberals Demand Withdrawal". Vote. London, UK. 1918-10-04. p. 3.
  22. "The Belgian Soldiers' Fund". Pall Mall Gazette. London, UK. 1914-12-24. p. 6.
  23. "Organisation of London Social Workers". Herald of Wales. Cardiff, UK. 1914-06-13. p. 2.
  24. "Notes of the week". Haverfordwest and Milford Haven Telegraph. Haverfordwest, UK. 1914-07-22. p. 2.
  25. "The following societies". Common Cause. London, UK. 1919-01-24. p. 10.
  26. "House Given to Council". Western Mail. Cardiff, Wales. 1934-08-06. p. 7.
  27. "£500 gift for public works". Western Mail. Cardiff, UK. 1937-02-24. p. 7.
  28. "Llanover M.S.S. go to Welsh nation". Western Mail. Cardiff, UK. 1939-03-31. p. 8.
  29. Yates, Nigel; Wooding, Jonathan M (2011). The Churches and Chapels of Wales. Cardiff, UK: University of Wales Press. p. 161. ISBN   978-0708324141.
  30. Hugh Allen. "Blackfriar's Junior School, Llanarth" (PDF). btsarnia.files.wordpress.com. Retrieved 2022-09-03.
  31. "Llanarth – St Mary and St Michael". taking-stock.org.uk. Retrieved 2022-09-03.
  32. "Full Report for listed buildings". cadwpublic-api.azurewebsites.net/. Retrieved 2022-09-03.
  33. Peter Nash. "Growing up in Llanarth". monmouthshireantiquarian.blogspot.com. Retrieved 2022-09-03.
  34. "Eisteddfod Opens". Evening Express. Cardiff, UK. 1910-03-13. p. 3.
  35. "Sands & Co". Westminster Gazette. London, UK. 1913-05-31. p. 5.
  36. "The Pious Ancestor". Wales: A National Magazine (Vol. 2 Part 1 ed.). Cardiff, Wales: Simpkin Marshall. 1912. p. 332.
  37. Fflorens Roch (1947). "Book Review: Mother F A Forbes". Life of the Spirit (Vol. 1 No. 9 ed.). NYC, USA: Wiley. pp. 304–305.
  38. Fflorens Roch (1953). "Book Review: Saint Benedict Joseph Labre". Life of the Spirit (Vol. 8 No. 86/87 ed.). NYC, USA: Wiley. pp. 138–139.