The enquiries section at the National Library of Wales can be a very busy place, and you never quite know where each day’s batch of requests for help will lead. Obviously with the popularity of family history, many of the enquiries we receive are connected with people looking into their forebears. Recent examples would be the enquirer seeking copies of the ordination papers of her ancestor who had been a Deacon in The Church in Wales, or the person who was looking for information on a relative became a Welsh Calvinistic Methodist minister whilst in India. Yet other enquiries are concerned with the history and culture of Wales, such as the gentleman who was looking for copies of particular Welsh poems to further his own personal knowledge of the subject, or the bride’s Father who wanted to obtain a copy of the poem Rhieingerdd (Love song), written by Sir John Morris-Jones, so it could be read at his daughter’s wedding in Scotland. More specialised enquiries that have come to the Library recently have included supplying someone with copies of annotated translations of the Latin writings of Gerald of Wales, and directing a researcher towards possible sources of information on the Commandery of the Knights Hospitallers at Slebech in Pembrokeshire. With such vast collections of archival and published material here at the National Library, it can be surprising sometimes to discover what we do hold as a result of a query – like the Papers of Lord Edmund-Davies concerning the Great Train Robbery!
Martin Robson Riley, Senior Enquiries Assistant