Margaret Jones (writer)

This article is about the travel writer. For other people, see Margaret Jones.

Margaret Jones
A photograph of Margaret Jones taken around 1875.
Born	March 1842 (1842-03) Rhosllannerchrugog, Denbighshire, Wales
Died	18 October 1902(1902-10-00) (aged 60) Redbank Plains, Queensland, Australia
Pen name	Y Gymraes o Ganaan
Language	Welsh
Genre	Travel literature
Spouse	James Josey

Margaret Jones (March 1842 – 18 October 1902) was a 19th-century Welsh travel writer whose work was published under the pseudonym Y Gymraes o Ganaan.

Biography

Margaret Jones was born in 1842 in Rhosllannerchrugog, Denbighshire, Wales. ^{[1] [2]}

As a child, she received only three weeks of schooling. She then left for Birmingham, where she worked as a maid for a Jewish family which had been converted to Christianity. It was in this role that she began travelling the world, spending two years in Paris and four in Jerusalem with the family as they performed missionary work in the Jewish communities there. ^{[2] [3]}

Jones became well known in Wales for writing accounts of her international travels, notably in Palestine and Morocco. ^[1] Over the course of her travels, she visited five continents: Europe, Asia, Africa, North America, and Oceania. ^[2] She wrote in Welsh under the pseudonym Y Gymraes o Ganaan, meaning 'The Welsh Lady from Canaan'. ^{[1] [4]}

In 1869, she published Llythyrau Cymraes o Wlad Canaan, a collection of letters home from her travels in Palestine. Her subsequent memoir of her travel to Morocco, Morocco a'r hyn a welais yno, was published in 1883. ^[1]

After further travels in the United States, Jones eventually settled in Australia, where she married a wealthy farmer called James Josey, who had been exiled there from England. She lived there until her death, in Redbank Plains, Queensland, in 1902. ^{[1] [2] [5] [6]}

Further reading

• Jones, Eirian (2012).The Welsh Lady from Canaan. Y Lolfa Cyf. ISBN   978-1-84771-422-0

References

1. Griffiths, Griffith Milwyn. "JONES, MARGARET (' Y Gymraes o Ganaan '; 1842 – 1902) traveler and writer". Dictionary of Welsh Biography. Retrieved 24 February 2021.
2. "Author's notes: Eirian Jones". WalesOnline. 3 November 2012. Retrieved 24 February 2021.
3. Aaron, Jane (2010). Nineteenth-century women's writing in Wales: nation, gender and identity. Cardiff: University of Wales Press. ISBN   978-0-7083-2287-1. OCLC   649479450.
4. Jones, Eirian (2012). The Welsh lady from Canaan: the adventures of Margaret Jones on five continents. Talybont, Ceredigion: Y Lolfa Cyf. ISBN   978-1-84771-422-0. OCLC   808867219.
5. "Author's Australian Adventure". Y Fasnach Lyfrau Ar-lein – Welsh Book Trade Info. 15 June 2012. Retrieved 24 February 2021.
6. "Travel tale reaches far". Queensland Times. 8 June 2012. Retrieved 24 February 2021.

External links

• Media related to Margaret Jones (Welsh travel writer) at Wikimedia Commons