Wales’ 21st Purple Plaque – and the fifth in North Wales – was unveiled in Colwyn Bay to mark the lifelong work of maternity campaigner Ethel May Hovey. The plaque was unveiled on the site of the maternity home, Nant y Glyn, founded in 1938 and where so many Colwyn Bay babies were born right up to the late 1970s.
Born in Sheffield in 1871, Ethel May Hovey came to Colwyn Bay when her sister became headmistress of the local girls school, Penrhos College. Her first role was as a ‘matron’ at the school, looking after girls’ wellbeing and welfare – a theme that was to run throughout her 40-year campaign to support women and girls in the town she came to call home.
She became involved in civic affairs, initially as one of the first women Councillors and joined the committee for the welfare of women and girls in 1910. She spent the next 40 years campaigning for better support and care – particularly in the field of maternity care. As the first woman mayor of a council in north Wales in 1934, she achieved her ambition of buying and setting up buildings for a maternity home which opened in 1939.
Plas Tirion was converted into the Nant y Glyn Maternity Home in 1938 and the home opened in 1939 – just as the UK Ministry of Food relocated all its staff in 1940, meaning a lot more babies being born locally. It is thought that Ethel’s maternity home was likely to have been one of the models that inspired Nye Bevan’s thinking ahead of the setting up of our NHS.
Dadorchuddiwyd 21ain Plac Porffor Cymru – a’r pumed yng ngogledd Cymru – ym Mae Colwyn i nodi gwaith gydol oes yr ymgyrchydd mamolaeth Ethel May Hovey. Mae’r plac ar safle cartref mamolaeth Nant y Glyn a sefydlwyd ym 1938, lle ganwyd cynifer o fabanod Bae Colwyn hyd at ddiwedd y 1970au.
Ganed Ethel May Hovey yn Sheffield ym 1871, a daeth i Fae Colwyn pan benodwyd ei chwaer yn brifathrawes ar yr ysgol leol i ferched, Coleg Penrhos. Ei rôl gyntaf oedd fel ‘metron’ yr ysgol yn gofalu am lesiant a lles merched – a dyma thema gyson drwy gydol ei hymgyrch hir, dros 40 mlynedd, i gefnogi menywod a merched yn y dref hon a ddaeth yn gartref iddi.
Daeth Ethel yn gysylltiedig â materion dinesig y dref ym 1910 fel un o’r cynghorwyr lleol benywaidd cyntaf ac ymunodd â’r pwyllgor dros les menywod a merched. Treuliodd y 40 mlynedd nesaf yn ymgyrchu dros well cefnogaeth a gofal – yn enwedig ym maes gofal mamolaeth. Fel y maer benywaidd gyntaf ar gyngor yng ngogledd Cymru (1934), cyflawnodd ei huchelgais o brynu ac addasu adeiladau ar gyfer sefydlu cartref mamolaeth.
Cafodd Plas Tirion ei drawsnewid yn Gartref Mamolaeth Nant y Glyn ym 1938 ac agorodd y cartref ym 1939 – ar drothwy’r adeg pan adleoliodd Gweinyddiaeth Fwyd y DU ei holl staff i’r dref ym 1940. Golygai hyn bod llawer mwy o fabanod yn cael eu geni’n lleol. Credir mai cartref mamolaeth Ethel oedd un o’r modelau a ysbrydolodd syniadau Nye Bevan wrth sefydlu’r GIG.