Sarah Davies was born on 24^th January 1850 at Blaengosen Farm, Glandwr, Pembrokeshire. One of eight children, Sarah went to work as a servant at Fforest Farm, Whitland in 1876, where she first sampled something ‘other than cawl for breakfast on a week day’!

Sarah was interviewed by the Weekly News in January 1940 to mark her 90^th birthday and her memories offer an insight into the lives of rural working class women in the late 19^th Century as well as their place in a wider historical context. She describes the ‘indignities’ of her early employment where ‘it was considered “quite wrong” for a servant girl to wear a feather in her hat’. The class divide is further revealed as she explains how ‘only ministers and those belonging to the “upper ten”…were privileged to be addressed with the prefix “Mr” as it was the custom to address each other by their Christian names followed by the name of the farm where they worked’. (As in ‘Lewis Fforest’ etc.)

The reporter interviewing Sarah describes her as having ‘cheeks that still retained the ruddy complexion born of a healthy and simple life (with eyes that had a) kindly twinkle…Her silver-tinted hair showed from under a warm cloth cap, while over her shoulders she wore a beautiful Welsh hand-knitted shawl’. Sarah herself however, appears less nostalgic and more practical in nature as she describes how, for the rural woman, ‘the wearing of crinolines was the fashion, (but only) the “Modern Miss” could be bothered with them’. She continues: ‘…what are considered as necessities today (1940) were thought luxuries when (I) was a girl’.

In a wider context, Sarah’s life spanned many historic events of both local and national significance. She recalled the opening of the Whitland to Cardigan railway (known as the ‘Cardi Bach) which was initially constructed to transport slate, and later became ‘of vital importance to the small communities in the area through which it ran’. As well as bringing prosperity to the area through industry, the railway brought much excitement as Sarah recalled seeing a train for the first time and ‘the first “Penny Farthing” (arriving) in the area’.

Sarah remembered David Lloyd-George’s visit to Whitland, where he spoke on disestablishment at the Tabernacle chapel. This campaign eventually led to the Welsh Church Act of 1914 and ended the payment of tithes to the Anglican Church. It also led to the creation of an independent Church of Wales.

A first-language Welsh speaker, Sarah read the Welsh-language newspaper ‘Y Tyst’ every week and was described as a ‘great reader’. She was reported to have enjoyed the biography of Dr. Herbert Evans, an American professor who co-discovered vitamin E.

Sarah Davies came from a family noted for their longevity. She outlived her husband Joseph Lewis and was assisted by her neighbours and friends in her later years.

Ganed Sarah Davies ar y 24^ain o Ionawr 1850 ar Fferm Blaengosen, Glandŵr, Sir Benfro. Roedd Sarah yn un o wyth o blant, ac aeth i weithio fel morwyn ar Fferm y Fforest, Hendy-gwyn yn 1876, lle cafodd flas am y tro cyntaf ar rywbeth ‘heblaw cawl i frecwast ar ddiwrnod wythnos’!

Cafodd Sarah ei chyfweld gan y Weekly News fis Ionawr 1940 i nodi ei phen-blwydd yn 90 oed, ac mae ei hatgofion yn rhoi darlun byw i ni o fywyd menywod y dosbarth gweithiol yng nghefn gwlad ar ddiwedd y bedwaredd ganrif ar bymtheg yn ogystal â’u lle yn y cyd-destun hanesyddol ehangach. Mae hi’n disgrifio’r ‘diffyg parch’ yn ei chyflogaeth gynnar ‘pan ystyriwyd ei bod yn hollol allan o le i forwyn wisgo pluen yn ei het’. Daw’r rhaniad hwn mewn cymdeithas yn amlwg hefyd wrth iddi ddisgrifio ‘mai dim ond gweinidogion a’r rhai sy’n perthyn i’r “deg uchaf”…oedd yn cael y fraint o gael eu galw yn “Mr” gan mai’r arferiad oedd galw ei gilydd wrth eu henw bedydd ac enw’r fferm lle roeddent yn gweithio’ (megis ‘Lewis Fforest’ ac ati).

Mae’r gohebydd oedd yn cyfweld Sarah yn ei disgrifio fel un oedd â ‘bochau coch rhywun sydd wedi byw bywyd iach a syml, a llygaid bywiog caredig…Roedd ei gwallt gwyn i’w weld o dan ei chapan brethyn cynnes, a thros ei hysgwyddau gwisgai siol Gymreig hardd wedi’i gwau â llaw’. Roedd Sarah ei hun fodd bynnag yn ymddangos yn llai hiraethus ac yn fwy ymarferol ei natur wrth iddi ddisgrifio, i’r fenyw cefn gwlad, mai “gwisgo crinolinau oedd y ffasiwn, ond dim ond y “Modern Miss” allai ffwdanu â nhw”. Mae’n parhau: ‘…roedd yr hyn sy’n cael ei ystyried yn angenrheidiau heddiw (1940) yn foethau pan oeddwn i’n ifanc”.

Mewn cyd-destun ehangach, roedd bywyd Sarah yn rhychwantu llawer o ddigwyddiadau hanesyddol o arwyddocâd lleol a chenedlaethol. Roedd hi’n cofio agor y rheilffordd o’r Hendy-gwyn i Aberteifi (a elwir yn ‘Cardi Bach’) a adeiladwyd yn wreiddiol i gludo llechi, ac yn ddiweddarach daeth y lein yn ‘hanfodol bwysig i’r cymunedau bach yn yr ardaloedd ar lwybr y rheilffordd’. Yn ogystal â dod â ffyniant i’r ardal drwy ddiwydiant, daeth y rheilffordd â llawer o gyffro i’r ardal wrth i Sarah sôn am weld trên am y tro cyntaf a’r beic ‘Penny Farthing” cyntaf yn cyrraedd yr ardal’.

Roedd Sarah yn cofio ymweliad David Lloyd-George â’r Hendy-gwyn, lle bu’n siarad yng nghapel y Tabernacl am ddatgysylltu’r eglwys. Arweiniodd yr ymgyrch hon yn y pen draw at Ddeddf yr Eglwys yng Nghymru 1914 a dod â thalu degwm i’r Eglwys Anglicanaidd i ben. Arweiniodd hefyd at greu Eglwys annibynnol yng Nghymru.

Yn siarad Cymraeg iaith gyntaf, roedd Sarah yn darllen y papur newydd Cymraeg ‘Y Tyst’ bob wythnos, ac fe’i disgrifiwyd fel ‘darllenwraig frwd’. Dywedir iddi fwynhau bywgraffiad Dr. Herbert Evans, athro Americanaidd a gyd-ddarganfyddodd fitamin E.

Daeth Sarah Davies o deulu oedd ag enw am fyw yn hen. Goroesodd ei gŵr Joseph Lewis a chafodd gymorth gan ei chymdogion a’i ffrindiau yn ei blynyddoedd olaf.