Wales’ 18th Purple Plaque was unveiled in Brynmawr on 18th September 2024 to celebrate the fearless rebel, Minnie Pallister.
Minnie Pallister was an outstanding feminist whose exceptional advocacy of women’s rights from the 1920s to the 1950s made her a forerunner of the Women’s Liberation Movement.
Minnie was the leading woman opponent of the First World War in Wales, securing the welfare of 900 conscientious objectors and their dependents. Twice accused of sedition, she remained a prominent, lifelong pacifist. She was considered the best woman orator in Britain, the first full-time woman labour organiser in Wales, agent to Ramsay MacDonald, Wales President of the Independent Labour Party, and Parliamentary candidate for Bournemouth.
In 1926, when catastrophic ill-health forced her to stand down from her national labour roles, and often bedridden, she wrote newspaper articles in longhand, becoming a journalist with the Daily Herald and the Daily Mirror, and the BBC’s Woman’s Hour where she brought a broader and more modern feminist perspective, informed by 2 trips to Nazi Germany to help rescue Jewish people in 1938-9.
She was made a Guest Editor of Woman’s Hour, and her ‘Life Story’ was serialised on radio over five days during her lifetime. She provided the inspiration for Spike Milligan’s Goon Show character, Minnie Bannister.
Alun Burge’s biography of Minnie Pallister, Minnie Pallister: Voice of a Rebel, is published by Parthian.
Dadorchuddiwyd 18fed Plac Porffor Cymru ym Mrynmawr Fedi’r 18fed 2024 i ddathlu bywyd y rebel eofn, Minnie Pallister.
Roedd Minnie Pallister yn ffeminydd eithriadol ac yn rhagflaenydd y Mudiad Rhyddid Merched wrth iddi eiriol mor gryf dros hawliau menywod rhwng y 1920au i’r 1950au.
Minnie oedd prif wrthwynebydd benywaidd y Rhyfel Byd Cyntaf yng Nghymru a llwyddodd i sicrhau lles 900 o wrthwynebwyr cydwybodol a’u teuluoedd. Cyhuddwyd hi ddwywaith o annog brad, ond arhosodd yn heddychwraig amlwg drwy gydol ei hoes. Ystyriwyd hi’n areithydd benywaidd gorau Prydain, a hi oedd y trefnydd llafur benywaidd llawn amser cyntaf yng Nghymru, yn asiant i Ramsay MacDonald, yn Llywydd Cymru i’r Blaid Lafur Annibynnol ac yn ymgeisydd Seneddol dros Bournemouth.
Ym 1926, pan orfodwyd hi i roi’r gorau i’w rolau cenedlaethol yn y mudiad llafur oherwydd afiechyd trychinebus, roedd yn aml yn gaeth i’w gwely, ond dechreuodd ysgrifennu erthyglau papur newydd â llaw, a daeth yn newyddiadurwr gyda’r Daily Herald a’r Daily Mirror, ynghyd â rhaglen y BBC, Woman’s Hour lle y daeth â phersbectif ffeministaidd ehangach a mwy modern i’r drafodaeth, drwy rannu ei phrofiad o’r ddwy daith a wnaeth i’r Almaen Natsïaidd ym 1938-9 i helpu achub Iddewon.
Yn Olygydd Gwadd ar Woman’s Hour, darlledwyd cyfres o raglenni yn adrodd hanes ei bywyd dros bum niwrnod yn ystod ei hoes. A hi oedd yr ysbrydoliaeth ar gyfer y cymeriad Minnie Bannister ar raglen y Goon Show, Spike Milligan.
Cyhoeddir cofiant Alun Burge, Minnie Pallister: Voice of a Rebel, gan wasg Parthian.
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