Mrs Tydfil Thomas, OBE, JP, MA
Headmistress, 1965 – 1985
from the panoramic
school photograph 1967
Tydfil Thomas was appointed headmistress of Aberdare County Grammar School for Girls
in 1965, and continued at the Plasdraw school when it took its first comprehensive intake
of pupils in 1978. She retired in 1985 after twenty years in Aberdare.
She was born Tydfil Davies Jones in 1925 in Woodland Terrace, Mountain Ash at a time of economic hardship in industrial south Wales, of political struggle and poor educational opportunities. Her father was a postman, but he died when Tydfil was in her twelfth year just after she entered Mountain Ash County School at Dyffryn House. There was one other child in the family, an elder brother, Islwyn.
In 1943, she entered U.C. Cardiff and graduated three years later with an honours degree in history. She was eternally grateful for the support of her mother and brother that enabled her to continue in both secondary and higher education. After a further year, she acquired her postgraduate teaching certificate. Her first post was at Llanfyllin, at the school now called Llanfyllin High School. Posts at Penarth and Pontypridd girls’ grammar schools followed until she was appointed Head of History at her old school in Mountain Ash in the late 1950s. In 1961, whilst at Mountain Ash, she gained an M.A. for research into “The Poor Law and Public Health in the Merthyr Tydfil Union, 1834–94”. In 1963, she was appointed headmistress at Caerphilly Girls’ Grammar School, and two years later in 1965 was appointed Head at Aberdare, following the retirement of Dr D.L. Graham who had been at the school since 1942.
Two years after she arrived in Aberdare, she married Dr. Thomas John Thomas, a consultant radiologist from Carmarthenshire based at Prince Charles Hospital, Merthyr Tydfil. They enjoyed eighteen years of married life together until the sudden death of Dr Thomas in 1985, just five weeks before Tydfil was to retire as head at the age of 60.
In the period following the loss of her husband, she turned to writing, bringing out an adaptation of her M.A. thesis in the book, Poor Relief in Merthyr Tydfil Union in Victorian Times, (1992, Glamorgan Archive Service), followed by two novels set in industrial south Wales: A Fierce Flame, (Minerva Press, 1997), and Shani, (self-published, 2000).
The life of Tydfil Thomas was long, industrious and constructive to its end. She was direct, almost dictatorial in some situations and spoke her mind, but she was also caring to those in her charge who needed help. She did many laudable things in her lifetime, and the list below lists much of what this remarkable woman achieved.
| 1947–1963 | Young grammar school teacher |
| 1950s/60s | Active in the NUT and on its behalf with the advisory Higher Education Council for Wales of the time |
| 1962 | Secretary of Mt. Ash Trades & Labour Council |
| 1963–64 | Headmistress Caerphilly Girls’ Grammar School |
| 1965–78 | Headmistress Aberdare Girls’ Grammar School |
| 1978–85 | Headmistress Aberdare Girls’ Comprehensive School |
| 1960s/70s | Member of Aberdare Hospital Management Board |
| 1971 | One of the founders of the Cynon Valley History Society |
| 1975 | Appointed Justice of the Peace & Tax Commissioner |
| 1976 | Lead-author of the first Old Aberdare (CVHS journal) |
| 1981–86 | Member UK University Grants Cttee. (the only headteacher) |
| 1983 | Recipient of the OBE |
| 1985 | Fellow, Cardiff Univ. & Member of Court of Governors |
| 1980s/90s | Founder of Aberdare Civic Society & campaigner for improved hospital services in the Cynon Valley |
| 1992 | Publication of volume on the Poor Law in Merthyr Tydfil Union |
| 1993 | Initial chair of Cynon Valley U3A |
| 2012 | Life vice-president of the Cynon Valley History Society |
| 2013 | President of the Cynon Valley U3A |
| 2014 | Campaigner for re-opening the Cynon Valley Museum |
The funeral of this outstanding public servant took place 21 July 2022 at Llwydcoed
Crematorium, Aberdare.
Tydfil Davies Jones, Headmistress: born 17 January 1925
Mountain Ash;
married 1967 Dr T.J. Thomas (died 1985), died 6 July 2022, Aberdare.
Acknowledgement: Many thanks to D.L. Davies for sight of the eulogy which he wrote and delivered at Mrs Thomas’s funeral service.