Tom Macdonald (writer)
Encyclopedia
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...
journalist and novelist, whose most significant publication was his highly evocative account of growing up in the north of Ceredigion
Ceredigion
Ceredigion is a county and former kingdom in mid-west Wales. As Cardiganshire , it was created in 1282, and was reconstituted as a county under that name in 1996, reverting to Ceredigion a day later...
in the years before the Great War, which was published in 1975 as The White Lanes of Summer.
Biography
Thomas Macdonald was born on 22 November 1900 at Llanfinahgel Geneu'r GlynLlandre
Llandre, or Llanfihangel Genau'r Glyn, is a village in Ceredigion, Wales. It lies 5 miles north of Aberystwyth in the north-west of the county, on the road from Rhydypennau to Borth...
in Ceredigion
Ceredigion
Ceredigion is a county and former kingdom in mid-west Wales. As Cardiganshire , it was created in 1282, and was reconstituted as a county under that name in 1996, reverting to Ceredigion a day later...
, the son of John Macdonald (1860–1938), a tinker of Irish descent, and his second wife Ada Jones (1878–1946). He spent his early childhood in a small cottage in the village, before moving with his family first to Pen-y-garn
Pen-y-garn, Ceredigion
Pen-y-garn is a small village in the Tirymynach district of Ceredigion, Wales, approximately 4 miles north-east of Aberystwyth. Along with the hamlet of Rhydypennau, Pen-y-garn is now often considered to be part of the neighbouring larger village of Bow Street. All three places stretch in a long...
and then going on to live in nearby Bow Street
Bow Street, Ceredigion
Bow Street is a large village in the Tirymynach district of Ceredigion, Wales, approximately north-east of Aberystwyth. As well as Bow Street itself, it is now often considered to include the neighbouring smaller village of Pen-y-garn and the hamlet of Rhydypennau...
. According to his father the family name was actually MacDonnell, and had been inadvertently changed to Macdonald by the local registrar of births and deaths.
Although his background was Catholic, he was deeply influenced by the Welsh Calvinistic Methodism of the community in which he lived.
Tommy Macdonald was initially educated at Rhydypennau Board School and than at Ardwyn Grammar School in Aberystwyth
Aberystwyth
Aberystwyth is a historic market town, administrative centre and holiday resort within Ceredigion, Wales. Often colloquially known as Aber, it is located at the confluence of the rivers Ystwyth and Rheidol....
, before going on to study at the University College of Wales, Aberystwyth
Aberystwyth
Aberystwyth is a historic market town, administrative centre and holiday resort within Ceredigion, Wales. Often colloquially known as Aber, it is located at the confluence of the rivers Ystwyth and Rheidol....
. He then embarked on a forty-year career as a newspaper reporter, first at the Cambrian News
Cambrian News
The Cambrian News is a weekly newspaper distributed in Wales. It was founded in 1860 and is based in Cefn Llan Science Park, Aberystwyth. Cambrian News Ltd was bought by media entrepreneur Sir Ray Tindle in 1998.- History :...
, then the Western Mail and the Daily Express
Daily Express
The Daily Express switched from broadsheet to tabloid in 1977 and was bought by the construction company Trafalgar House in the same year. Its publishing company, Beaverbrook Newspapers, was renamed Express Newspapers...
. He later worked in China, Japan and Australia, before eventually becoming chief reporter and news editor at The Sunday Times
The Sunday Times (South Africa)
The Sunday Times is a popular South African Sunday newspaper. It has an audited circulation of 504,000 and a weekly readership of 3.2 million, making it the largest weekly newspaper in South Africa. Recently it was involved in exposing a corruption scandal involving the South African government's...
in Johannesburgh, South Africa.
Tom Macdonald’s first book was entitled Henry and Songs of Nature (1920), and was written in memory of his younger brother who died aged seven in 1913. He later went on to publish six novels in English: Gareth the Ploughman (1939), The Peak (1941), Gate of Gold (1946), The Black Rabbit (1948), How Soon Hath Time (1950), and The Song of the Valley (1951) all set in Wales; together with three works dealing with South African History: Ouma Smuts: The First Lady of South Africa (1946), Jan Hofmeyr: Heir to Smuts (1948) and The Transvaal Story (1961).
His memoirs, which were written over a number of years whilst in South Africa, were first published in a Welsh translation with the title Y Tincer Tlawd (1971), before being finally published in English as The White Lanes of Summer (1975). He later claimed that this was “nearer to my heart than anything I have written”. He went on to publish two other non-fiction works, one in English: Where Silver Salmon Leap (1976), and the other translated into Welsh: Gwanwyn Serch (1982), which contained more memories of his childhood and was a sequel to Y Tincer Tlawd. A further novel was published in Welsh with the title Y Nos Na Fu (1974), whilst his first English novel was also translated into Welsh as Croesi’r Bryniau (1980).
Tom Macdonald finally returned to Wales
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...
in 1965 after his retirement, briefly living at Plas Cwmcynfelyn before settling at ‘Y Nyth’ in Capel Bangor
Capel Bangor
Capel Bangor is a small village in Ceredigion, in Wales. It is approximately five miles from the seaside and university town of Aberystwyth.-Facilities:The size of the village of Capel Bangor decreased during the twentieth century, and facilities are limited...
. He died at his home on 9 February 1980 aged 79 years.