Llanelli Naturalists Newsletter - Summer 1993 - No 55
Richard Pryce
Mrs. Irene Vaughan, founder-member and Patron of the Llanelli Naturalists died on 27th January 1993 at the incredible age of 103. Settling in Rhandirmwyn in the 1930s with her husband Capt. H.R.H. Vaughan, they remained in the forefront of, and dedicated to, the conservation of wildlife in Wales for nearly forty years, decades before the popular rise of the nature conservation movement. Capt. Vaughan, whilst on active service in the Royal Navy, was at sea for months at a time during which Mrs. Vaughan was at the centre of efforts to protect the Red Kite, at that time down to little more than a handful of pairs. Their dedication to this cause continued after the war and their efforts were rewarded in 1955 by the award of the RSPB's Silver Medal and again in 1968 by the Society's Gold Medal, the only time these honours have been awarded to a husband and wife team. Both Capt. and Mrs. Vaughan continued to be vigorous campaigners and were very influential in the formulation of policies regarding the infant conservation movement in Wales.
Although best known for her interest in field botany, especially her beloved Roses, she had an all-embracing concern for both plant and animal kingdoms and especially in her fellow human beings. She always gave considerable encouragement to those of less ability and communicated her knowledge with humility but also authority in such a way as to educate but not put-off. Speaking as one who was privileged to benefit from her contagious enthusiasm, I will always be grateful to her for building the foundations of my own interest in field botany. Her modesty extended to her achievements in the Great War when her service as an ambulance driver in Serbia and with the WRNS led her to being honoured with the MBE. She graduated in history at Oxford in 1911, before women were awarded with degrees, and at a time when a chaperone was needed at lectures. She occasionally recollected the "perils" of botanising from horseback in the Upper Tywi Valley during and after the Second World War and would chuckle at memories of botanical identification being abruptly terminated by the horse devouring the specimen under examination! Subsequently she progressed to bubble-car and then on to Mini: always she had her Crucifix firmly attached to the dashboard to keep her safe in ever increasing traffic following the construction of the Brianne Dam: she continued driving until she was over 90.
With her typical enthusiasm, she provided the thrust behind the the West Wales Field Society's Plant Committee from 1951-6 and from 1958-60 she served on the Nature Conservancy's Committee for Wales. During this time she undertook vital botanical surveys for the NC of sites in Carmarthenshire and Pembrokeshire. Her involvement with recording for the BSBI Atlas of the British Flora (published in 1962) was considerable and I value her many original record cards of that period. She was also a major contributor to R.F. May's "A List of Flowering Plants and Ferns of Carmarthenshire" published in 1967 by the West Wales Naturalists' Trust and was appointed as BSBI Recorder for Carmarthenshire in 1969 when R.F. May retired to Spain, a post she held until her move to Suffolk in 1978.
The formation of the BSBI Welsh Region Committee in 1962 saw Mrs. Vaughan officiating as Vice-Chairman at its first AGM. She wrote an article entitled "Carmarthenshire Roses" for the first issue of the BSBI Welsh Region Bulletin in which she listed all the taxa recorded in the county with hints on their identification. Roses, with their difficult taxonomy, were one of her abiding loves and her skills in this field were unrivalled elsewhere in. Wales and were recognised throughout Britain with her appointment as a BSBI referee for the group. It is perhaps fitting that the last paper she wrote was also on Carmarthenshire Roses and appeared in the June 1985 issue of the Llanelli Naturalists Newsletter. She served in all the offices of the BSBI in Wales, the last as joint editor of the Bulletin when she was 87. She was made an Honorary Member of the BSBI in 1980.
She was also totally committed to the work of the West Wales Field Society and later the Trust and she chaired the Carmarthenshire Reserves / Conservation Committee for several years. Meetings at her house in Cilycwm in the early 1970s were attended by other leading naturalists and Capt. Vaughan would regale committee members with entertaining tales over exquisite refreshments at the end of the business. Similar hospitality was extended to all visitors attending meetings or just "dropping-in". For several years in the 1970s she recorded the wildlife of sites in Carmarthenshire, often in the company of Stephen Evans, the Nature Conservancy's officer in West Wales, in an effort to evaluate and safeguard the valuable habitats. Also at this time she made a point of fortnightly visiting Noel and Georgina Tallowin at Moat Farm, Llandyry from where they would head off to visit farms in all corners of the county in order to recruit new members to the Farm Nature Reserves Scheme, a visionary move, the precursor of the FFWAG movement and more recently of schemes such as Tir Cymen. Also in the early 1970s, Capt. and Mrs. Vaughan and the Tallowins were instrumental in the formation of the Llanelli Naturalists - a step that, at the time caused a good deal of animosity within the hierarchy of the WWNT. Co-operation between the two bodies was soon achieved, however, and joint meetings were organised such as that in November 1976 to uproot invading Sea Buckthorn at Tywyn Point which saw Mrs. Vaughan labouring with the rest - at the age of 87!
After the loss of her husband in 1978, she decided to move to Woodbridge, Suffolk, to be close to her nephew. This must have been a difficult wrench as she and the Captain had chosen to settle in Rhandirmwyn in memory of their daughter who had enjoyed holidaying in the area in the early 1930s before her untimely death on her fifteenth birthday. This was a doubly cruel blow having lost their son at birth in Gibraltar. Since moving to Suffolk, Mrs. Vaughan kept in touch with many of her welsh friends by letter, indeed many visited her at her new home to be entertained to the familiar exquisite teas. When I lost my own daughter, Mrs. Vaughan was among the first to offer prayer and condolence in a most moving letter written in her own hand, a source of much encouragement and strength to me. In fact, in common with many of her old friends, the last communication I had with her was her regular Christmas card containing, as always, words of charm and wisdom, just a few weeks before she died.
We lose a lady of slight stature but of enormous strength, one with many admirers who still marvel at the energy she sustained for over 100 years. A truly remarkable lady an example to us all.
R.D. Pryce, (with grateful thanks to S.B. Evans for permission to draw on his text originally published by the DWT).
