Lt. Colonel

Lieutenant colonel

Lieutenant colonel is a rank of commissioned officer in the armies and most marine forces and some air forces of the world, typically ranking above a major and below a colonel. The rank of lieutenant colonel is often shortened to simply "colonel" in conversation and in unofficial correspondence...

 Arthur Owen Vaughan DSO

Distinguished Service Order

The Distinguished Service Order is a military decoration of the United Kingdom, and formerly of other parts of the British Commonwealth and Empire, awarded for meritorious or distinguished service by officers of the armed forces during wartime, typically in actual combat.Instituted on 6 September...

 OBE

Order of the British Empire

The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...

 DCM

Distinguished Conduct Medal

The Distinguished Conduct Medal was an extremely high level award for bravery. It was a second level military decoration awarded to other ranks of the British Army and formerly also to non-commissioned personnel of other Commonwealth countries.The medal was instituted in 1854, during the Crimean...

 (1863 - 1919) also known by his bardic name

Bardic name

A bardic name is a pseudonym, used in Wales, Cornwall and Brittany, by poets and other artists, especially those involved in the eisteddfod movement....

 Owen Rhoscomyl was an English

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

-born writer, soldier and Welsh

Wales

Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...

 nationalist. Born as Robert Scourfield Mills in England, Owen Rhoscomyl was influenced by his Welsh grandmother and became a notable patriot to Wales and its history.

Early history

Vaughan was born in Southport

Southport

Southport is a seaside town in the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton in Merseyside, England. During the 2001 census Southport was recorded as having a population of 90,336, making it the eleventh most populous settlement in North West England...

, Merseyside

Merseyside

Merseyside is a metropolitan county in North West England, with a population of 1,365,900. It encompasses the metropolitan area centred on both banks of the lower reaches of the Mersey Estuary, and comprises five metropolitan boroughs: Knowsley, St Helens, Sefton, Wirral, and the city of Liverpool...

 but moved to Lancashire

Lancashire

Lancashire is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in the North West of England. It takes its name from the city of Lancaster, and is sometimes known as the County of Lancaster. Although Lancaster is still considered to be the county town, Lancashire County Council is based in Preston...

 where he was raised. As a child, Vauhgan was highly influenced by his maternal grandmother, who was born in Tremeirchion

Tremeirchion

Tremeirchion is a small residential community in Denbighshire, Wales. It is located on the B5429 road, to the north east of Denbigh and to the west of St Asaph....

 in North Wales. At the age of 15 he ran away from home and went to sea, travelling to America. There he became a cowboy

Cowboy

A cowboy is an animal herder who tends cattle on ranches in North America, traditionally on horseback, and often performs a multitude of other ranch-related tasks. The historic American cowboy of the late 19th century arose from the vaquero traditions of northern Mexico and became a figure of...

 and found work in mining camps before returning to Britain. In 1887 he joined the 1st Royal Dragoons. He left the Royal Dragoons in 1890 but was soon back serving the British military in the Boer War of 1899-1902. Vaughan served in several horse troops, mainly in Rimington's Guides and after they disbanded in 1901, their successor unit Damant's Horse. While in this unit Vaughan was cited for bravery under fire and earned a DCM. In October 1901 he joined Ross's Canadian Scouts, an anti-commando outfit previously led by A. L. Howard, in which Vaughan reached the rank of captain. While in South Africa

South Africa

The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...

, Vaughan met and married Catherine Geere secretly in December 1901.

Later life

On his return to Britain in 1902, Vaughan set out to promote Wales and in 1905 he completed his most famous work Flame-Bearers of Welsh History: Being the outline of the Sons of Cunedda, which looked at the contribution of Welsh people to the growth of the British Empire

British Empire

The British Empire comprised the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom. It originated with the overseas colonies and trading posts established by England in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. At its height, it was the...

. 1906 he wrote the novel Old Fireproof, followed by Vronina (1906) and Lone tree lode (1913).

In 1909 Vaughan scripted the National Pageant of Wales, held at Cardiff Castle

Cardiff Castle

Cardiff Castle is a medieval castle and Victorian architecture Gothic revival mansion, transformed from a Norman keep erected over a Roman fort in the Castle Quarter of Cardiff, the capital of Wales. The Castle is a Grade I Listed Building.-The Roman fort:...

.In 1911 he scripted the National Pageant at the Investiture of the Prince of Walkes in Caernarfon Castle .

He and Catherine had four children. Catherine died in 1927, while Vaughan died in 1919. Following Vaughan's death, a fund was raised to provide a memorial for his grave in honour of his Welsh patrionism in Rhyl

Rhyl

Rhyl is a seaside resort town and community situated on the north east coast of Wales, in the county of Denbighshire , at the mouth of the River Clwyd . To the west is the suburb of Kinmel Bay, with the resort of Towyn further west, Prestatyn to the east and Rhuddlan to the south...

, Flintshire

Flintshire

Flintshire is a county in north-east Wales. It borders Denbighshire, Wrexham and the English county of Cheshire. It is named after the historic county of Flintshire, which had notably different borders...

. Two headstones mark his grave: the usual marble headstone for British soldiers under his adopted name,Lt Col A.O.Vaughan, and a Celtic cross honouring his achievements for the Welsh under his bardic name Owen Roscomyl.

Works

• The Jewel of Ynys Galon (1895)
• Battlement and Tower (1896)
• The White Rose of Arno (1897)
• The Shrouded face (1898)
• Y Rhosin Du (1899)
• The Lady of Castell March (1902)
• Old Hendrik's Tales (1904) co-authored with C.L.Vaughan
• Flame-Bearers of Welsh History: Being the outline of the Sons of Cunedda (1905)
• Sweet Rogues (1907)
• Dewi Saint (1907)
• Old Fireproof (1906)
• Vronina (1907)
• Isle Raven (1908)
• A Scout's Story (1908)
• Ou Hendrik se Stories (1908) translated into Dutch
• Lone Tree Lode (1913)
• The Matter of Wales (1913)
• Numerous short stories (1904-1909)