'My Failings and Imperfections' - the diary of a promiscuous Welsh Victorian landowner
Post categories: 19th century ,ÌýBooks,ÌýHistory
| 15:51 UK time, Wednesday, 30 November 2011
A confessional diary detailing the promiscuous life of a Victorian gentleman living in rural Wales 150 years ago has been published.
Journalist Steve Dubé, the former farming editor of the Western Mail, came across the diary of by chance in the Pembrokeshire Record Office in Haverfordwest several years ago.
The raucous life of Rees Thomas of Dol-llan, Llandysul chronicled in this diary details his life full of addiction, promiscuity and loneliness.
Now the diary, published as 'My Failings and Imperfections' is to be launched tonight in Llandysul. It is the first joint publication by Carmarthenshire Antiquarian Society and Ceredigion Historical Society.
Speaking about Rees' life, Dubé, who edited the book, said:
"After the death of his two elder brothers, Rees becomes head of a family that includes five orphaned children, three spendthrift younger brothers with drink problems and a sister unhappily married to a drunken vicar.
"They are all on his back, and his unsympathetic mother, who lives next door, makes matters worse.
"It's a situation that forces him into the clutches of the demon drink and the arms of his not always willing servants, who react rebelliously. And Rees Thomas writes it all down, plainly and honestly, over a period of two years and eight months from 1860."
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The book is being launched at the Porth Hotel, Llandysul tonight at 7pm.
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