| AdminHistory | This short letter was written at the time of the death of the poet's father.
Monica Rawlins was an artist and smallholder who lived near R.S.Thomas and his wife when he was vicar at Eglwysfach. She became a friend and attended services at the church. |
| Acquisition | This letter was donated to the R.S.Thomas Centre by the Rev. James Bell on 11 March 2016.
The letter was contained in a copy of R.S.Thomas's "Penguin Book of Religious Verse", 1963, which Rev. Bell purchased in a second-hand bookshop in Aberystwyth. It is of interest that the copy of the book, which was in almost pristine condition, had a dedication on the flyleaf which indicated that it had been given to Monica Rawlins in 1963, the year of publication, by Mary Behrend. She was, with her husband, a notable patron of the arts, most notably of the painter Stanley Spencer. They built a house near Eglwysfach in the 1960s and became close friends of both R.S. Thomas and his wife Elsi Eldridge. |