John Barnard Jenkins (11 March 193317 December 2020) was a Welsh nationalist, British Army soldier, and leader of the Welsh nationalist group Mudiad Amddiffyn Cymru from 1964 until his arrest in 1969. During his tenure, the MAC embarked on a campaign of Welsh resistance against the British government, and bombed numerous sites in and around Wales. In 1970, Jenkins was convicted for his involvement in these activities, and sentenced to several concurrent 10-year terms of confinement, of which he served seven years.
Jenkins was born in Cardiff and grew up in the village of Penybryn, near Gelligaer. He attended Bargoed Grammar School but left at 13 to take up a job as a blacksmith's apprentice. He enlisted in the British Army in 1950 becoming a non-commissioned officer in the Royal Army Dental Corps, and serving in Germany, Cyprus and Austria. In 1964, Jenkins became a member of Mudiad Amddiffyn Cymru, a Welsh nationalist movement, effectively becoming the leader of the organisation after a short period. He was influenced by major events in Wales during the time, such as the Tryweryn Bill and the Aberfan disaster, which he believed were the result of the subjugation of the nation. After spending two years reshaping the logistics and security of the group, the organisation began a bombing campaign against targets they identified as detrimental to the interests of Wales.
The first bombing targeted a water pipeline at Llanrhaeadr-ym-Mochnant and the campaign continued with attacks on numerous targets for several years, including tax offices, monuments and an English-owned business. The attacks culminated in four bombs being planted to disrupt the investiture of Prince Charles at Caernarfon Castle in 1969. The first device exploded prematurely, killing two MAC members, while two failed to detonate. One of these laid undiscovered for several days before seriously injuring a 10-year old boy who discovered the device. The last exploded in the garden of a police Chief Constable. Later that year, Jenkins was arrested and charged with theft and explosive offences in relation to the bombings and was sentenced to ten years in prison.
Released in 1976, he studied to become a social worker and was employed in the profession for the majority of his later life. He spent a further two years in jail after admitting that he provided the address of a safe house to a wanted fugitive in the early 1980s.
Early life Jenkins was born John Barnard on 11 March 1933 in Cardiff to Minerva Barnard. His official birth certificate records his place of birth as Northland, a Salvation Army home for young pregnant women with little support. However, Jenkins believed it more likely he was born at nearby St David's Hospital before being relocated to Northlands. Jenkins' father was unknown to him and was not listed on his birth certificate; he declined to ever ask his mother despite finding documents in the family home that suggested his father had paid child support for most of his adolescence. After being discharged from Northland, his mother chose not to return to her mother's home in Aberfan and instead moved in with her sister in Pontypool. While Jenkins was still an infant, his mother met Thomas Jenkins and moved into his family home in Llanfabon before marrying in November 1934. The pair moved into their own home in Treharris soon after and had a son together, Keith.
Jenkins later recalled that his mother and stepfather Tom provided him with "an idyllic childhood". His mother had previously worked as a domestic servant in the employment of a local family and later at an inn near Quakers Yard. His stepfather worked as a labourer at the local colliery to provide for the family. Jenkins regarded Tom as "my father" and remarked that Tom "never treated me as anything other than the son he loved". Tom legally adopted Jenkins at the age of 10, bringing an end to the financial support offered by his birth father. Jenkins stated that he never wished to know the identity of his father, joking "he might be English!"
He attended a local primary school across the road from the family home in Treharris until they relocated to Penybryn, in the Rhymney Valley, when he was between seven and eight during the Second World War. Their new home had several more modern amenities, including its own back garden and an indoor toilet. As most of the men in the area were excused being called-up for service due to the importance of the coal-mining industry and the family grew and made most of their own food, the effects of the war made little impact on Jenkins' daily life. Following the family's move to Penybryn, he attended Glyn-gaer Primary School in Gelligaer instead. He scored highly in his eleven-plus exams in 1944, one of only two pupils from his school to pass, and was offered a place at Bargoed Grammar School.
Burgeoning nationalism
Upon his arrival at his new school, Jenkins quickly grew disillusioned with what the school was teaching. He noted "On arrival ... I expected to learn about Welsh history. But it wasn't taught. We were taught about King Alfred and the blackened cakes and Bruce and the spider ... but we weren't taught about the things that really mattered to us, such as where we lived and how we got to where we were." He became increasingly interested in Welsh history, often exploring churches and ruins in his free time to learn more. One particular discovery shaped his mindset during this period; in school he was taught that Christianity had been introduced to Britain by Augustine in 597 AD, but soon discovered an inscription dedicated to Saint Gwladys near Gelligaer that pre-dated this. This led him to discern that "the policy was to rubbish the older Celtic Church and replace it with an English-centric one." Jenkins would draw the conclusion that the Venerable Bede, one of the most noted historians of the period, had "simply ignored the facts. And why? For reasons of political power. To promote the idea that the barbarous British natives had been tamed by the Anglo-Saxon."
Jenkins began considering himself a loner at school, often finding himself uninterested in the same pastimes that his classmates followed, such as football. In later life, he reflected that he may have experienced the beginning of "what I now believe were homosexual tendencies" and had a brief encounter with a fellow pupil but rejected his advances. Jenkins struggled at the school; the only subject in which he performed well was English literature and, at 13, he decided to leave Bargoed Grammar School. He secured an apprenticeship with a local blacksmith in Bargoed, replacing the gates and fences on local farms that had been stripped for materials during the war effort. He also joined the local junior marching band where he played the drum. In his spare time, Jenkins became engrossed in reading books on Welsh history, forming the conclusion that the nation had been "downtrodden". He worked at the blacksmith's for more than two years before taking a better paid position at Lysaght steelworks in Newport. However, the increased travel time meant that Jenkins had to catch a bus by 4:30 am and would often not return home until 7:30 pm.
Army service and marriage Dissatisfied with his work environment and having split from a girl he later described as his "true love", Jenkins decided to enlist in the British Army. He visited the Army recruitment office in Cardiff and sat an entrance exam on 30 November 1950, with his results seeing him assigned to the Royal Army Dental Corps. He completed basic training at Aldershot Garrison before receiving his first posting in Warminster. He was soon positioned for a move overseas, shortly before his 21st birthday, initially being assigned to Egypt before swapping his posting with a fellow recruit who had been selected to go to Austria. He was posted to Berlin soon after arrival and was stationed in the British Army garrison set up in the Olympiastadion. He was promoted to sergeant during his time in Germany and was earning enough money to help support his family in Wales, including sending food parcels home.
Jenkins returned to Aldershot in 1955 and, having served the mandatory five years of service, requested a voluntary discharge from the army. He was demobbed on 29 November the same year. His decision to leave the army had been prompted by the offer of a well-paid job at a local factory near his home in Penybryn, however the site closed soon after due to an economic downturn. Jenkins consternation at the closure would lead him to declare that "Wales is the first to suffer" during any economic upheaval. He instead briefly took a job at a steelworks in Cardiff before deciding to emigrate to South Africa to work in the country's gold mines. In order to do so, Jenkins was required to have at least one year's experience of mining, so began working at Penallta Colliery. He remained there for several months until suffering a minor accident while riding his motorcycle. Jenkins then went on to work as a student nurse at East Glamorgan Hospital. While working there, he met Thelma Bridgeman and, after 18 months, the pair married at St Matthias' Church in Treharris in October 1958.
Territorial Army and second enlisting
Jenkins chose to enlist in the Territorial Army around the same time that the Tryweryn Bill was passed through Parliament. The bill, put forward by the Liverpool Corporation, proposed flooding the Tryweryn Valley and the community of Capel Celyn to create a reservoir in order to increase the water supply for the North-West of England. This was met with opposition from Wales; no Welsh Members of Parliament (MPs) voted in favour of the Bill and street protests were held in Liverpool. Despite this, the bill passed. The decision increased support for Welsh nationalism and is credited with a rise in support for Plaid Cymru, which won its first seat in the first election held after the construction of the reservoir.
Jenkins chose to re-enlist in the British Army in July 1958 after finding the quality of life provided by his work in civilian life lower than when in service. He rejoined the Dental Corps as a non-commissioned officer and being posted to Cyprus. Although he and his family lived in Famagusta, his job was located in the Dhekelia Cantonment, around from his home. With no personal transport, Jenkins took the bus each day and struck up friendships with locals, receiving at least one reprimand from his superiors for socialising with locals at his home. He also witnessed firsthand the successful incursions of the EOKA, a guerilla outfit that opposed British rule. Jenkins' first child was born in 1959 during his posting, but as British rule drew to an end in Cyprus, the scale of the military presence in the country was greatly reduced. Jenkins was instead posted to Germany for a second time, being stationed in Bielefeld.
Mudiad Amddiffyn Cymru Leadership, recruitment and training One of the first actions against the state that Jenkins participated in was a land-buying scheme intended to disrupt the planned creation of the Clywedog Reservoir, which required the flooding of Clywedog Valley. The Clywedog subcommittee purchased of land at the centre of the valley and sublet parts to contributors, including Jenkins. The plan was overruled by Parliament in a decision derided by Jenkins. He stated "they simply changed the law ... this was the final thing which convinced me that constitutionally speaking, you can't win against people who own all judicial eventualities." His second child was born shortly afterwards and the family chose to return to South Wales to provide the children with an education at a Welsh-medium school. Jenkins remained on deployment in Germany for nearly a year away from his family.