SKAIFE
,
Sir
ERIC OMMANNEY
(
1884
-
1956
),
brigadier and patron of Welsh culture
;
b.
18 Oct. 1884
, son of
Frederic
and
Josephine
Skaife
,
Chichester
,
Sussex
. He was educated at
Winchester College
, and
Sandhurst
. He joined the
Royal Welch Fusiliers
as a
2nd. lieutenant
in
1903
. During
World War I
he served in
France
, and while a prisoner in
Germany
he began to learn
Welsh
and improved his
Russian
. He became a
major
in
1918
and served in the
War Office
and in
Waziristan
before returning to the
Welch Fusiliers
as
lieutenant colonel
in
1929
. From
1934 to 1937
he was
military attaché
in
Moscow
, and subsequently
commander
of the
Welch Territorial Brigade
, before joining the research department of the
Foreign Office
,
1941-44
. He was
author
of
A Short history of the Royal Welch Fusiliers
(
1924
). He retired to
Crogen mansion
in
Merionethshire
, later residing at
Dolserau
,
Dolgellau
. He was an
ardent
eisteddfodwr
and
took a keen interest in Welsh culture
. He was received as a member of the
Gorsedd
and was elected a
vice-president
of
Urdd Gobaith Cymru
in
1942
. In
1946
he presented five harps, known as ‘
the Crogen harps
’ to the
Urdd
for young harpists to learn their craft. His
Welsh
speeches were unadulterated with
English
words, but he was not a fluent speaker and his
Welsh
had a strong
English
accent. As soon as
Welsh
books and periodicals came from the press he bought them and
built up a large library
. He was a
member of the governing board
of the
Church in Wales
and
chairman
of the
Merioneth Conservative Society
. He served as
Deputy Lieutenant
of the county, and was
High Sheriff
in
1956
, the year he was
knighted
. He d., unmarried.
1 Oct. 1956
, in
Largos
, while attending the
Mod
in
Scotland
as a delegate from the
Eisteddfod
and
Gorsedd
. On his gravestone in
St. Mark's churchyard
,
Brithdir
, is a couplet in
Welsh
(‘
My heart was in Wales/ And in her soil are my remains
’).
Bibliography:
-
Who was who?
;
-
R. E. Griffith
,
Urdd Gobaith Cymru
, Aberystwyth,
1971-73
, 1
(1971)
, 262-4.
Author:
Evan David Jones, F.S.A., (1903-87), Aberystwyth
