FOULKES, ANNIE (1877-1962), editor of an anthology;
b. 24 Mar. 1877 at Llanberis, Caerns. Her father, Edward Foulkes (1850-1917), was an official at Dinorwig slate quarry, a man of wide literary culture and author of a number of articles in Welsh periodicals on 19th-c. English writers: Robert Williams Parry (see below) wrote a sonnet in memory of him. She was educated at Dr. Williams' School, Dolgellau, and at College de Jeunes Filles in Saumur, France, 1896-97. She was a French teacher at Bray, Co. Wicklow, 1897, at Tregaron county school, 1898-1905, and Barry county school, 1905-18. In 1918 she was appointed Executive Secretary of the Appointments Board of the University of Wales, to succeed Robert Silyn Roberts (DWB, 878-9). At Barry she was a member of a literary circle which formed around Thomas Jones, C.H. (see below) and Silyn — the group behind the establishment of The Welsh Outlook. Thomas Jones believed there was a need for an anthology of modern Welsh poetry and suggested that Annie Foulkes should edit it. The anthology appeared in 1918 under the title Telyn y dydd, as one of the volumes of the series ‘Cyfres yr Enfys’. It became very popular, particularly in schools — a fourth edition was published in 1929. Annie Foulkes d. unmarried at Caernarfon 12 Nov. 1862 aged 85 yrs.
Bibliography:
- The papers of Annie Foulkes and her father at Bangor College Library (Bangor MSS. 16040-16410, 16590-16668);
- C. and D. Herald, 16 and 23 Nov. 1962 (under Caernarfon).
Author:
Bedwyr Lewis Jones (1933-92), Bangor
