Catherine Margretta Thomas

Catherine Margretta Thomas was a Welsh folk dancer and is known for recording the Nantgarw tradition of Welsh dance.

Early life Catherine Margaretta Thomas was born in 1880 in the village of Nantgarw. Her parents were Daniel and Hannah Davies. Catherine was an active participant of the chapel's cultural activities, and was said to have been an exceptional athlete. Her daughter Ceinwen Thomas would recall that even in her 30s, her mother was made to start foot races up to 50 paces behind the other competitors, and still "she always won". It is at these chapel events that the young Catherine enjoyed watching the local dances ), was born. But the influence of Nonconformism waned and by the time Ceinwen Thomas was attending school she was discussing the tradition of dancing in Nantgarw with her mother. A complete set of the dance notation for Y Gaseg Eira was published, alongside the tune Ymdeithgan Gwŷr Penllyn (March of the Men of Penllyn), in the 1959/60 Welsh Folk Dance Magazine.

Criticism Catherine had been reluctant for her daughter to make a written record of the dances based on her own recollection as by that time, she only remembered snippets and believed that she was probably remembering them imperfectly or in the wrong order. He questioned why only Margretta Thomas had any recollection of these dances being performed. He wrote that his great grandfather had been a minister in Nantgarw in the 1880s but had not seen these dances. He linked it to a romantic nationalist desire to create a longstanding tradition in Wales even if one had not existed in reality.