Fflorens Roch

The Hon. Fflorens Roch (12 Feb 1879 -18 March 1969) was an author and chief commissioner for Girl Guides in Wales. In 1916 she donated the Llanover Manuscripts (seventy-seven volumes of notes, transcripts and compositions by Iolo Morganwg) to the National Library of Wales. She was a recipient of the Silver Fish Award, the Girl Guide Association's highest adult honour, in 1922.

Family and personal life Born the Hon. Fflorens Mary Ursula Herbert, she was the daughter of Sir Ivor John Caradoc Herbert, 1st Baron Treowen (1851–1933) and Hon. Albertina Agnes Mary Denison (1854–1929). She had one brother, Hon. Elydir John Bernard Herbert, who was killed in World War I, at which point she inherited the family fortune. She was a descendent of Peter FitzHerbert (d. 1235), one of the counsellor's named in the Magna Carta. She was a student at Cambridge University. The family estate was Llanarth Court, Monmouthshire.

She married Walter Roch (1880–1965), the MP for Pembrokeshire on 20 April 1911. At that year's annual general meeting of the Liberal Social Council in Newport, she was presented with a bookcase containing a "valuable collection of Welsh literature" as a wedding gift.

She "lived very little with her husband and had nothing in common with him." She developed a "close and long-lasting relationship" with Scottish author and art theorist Clementina Anstruther-Thomson (1857–1921). The two were "rarely apart".

Catholic faith Roch, like her parents, was a committed Catholic. In 1948, she donated the main house of Llanover Court to the Catholic Church, and moved into a small home on the estate. She also paid for the building of a Catholic church, Our Lady of Peace, in Newbridge, Caerphilly, published several pamphlets and books through the Catholic Truth Society including about the Catholic faith in Girl Guiding.

Girl Guides During World War I, Roch and Anstruther-Thomson organised Girl Guides in London, and gave joint classes in drill and public speaking at the first Girl Guide Training School. She also held other roles within Girl Guiding over the years:

1916: County commissioner for Pembrokeshire 1918: County commissioner for Monmouth 1921-23: Deputy chief commissioner for Wales 1922: Silver Fish Award 1924-28: Chief commissioner for Wales

Community support 1911-1918: served as chair of the Catholic Women's Suffrage Society 1914: wrote to the Pall Mall Gazette on behalf of the Belgian Soldiers' Fund, requesting subscriptions, clothing and food 1914: served on the council of the Organisation of London Social Workers 1914: laid the foundation stone of Milford Haven's new Liberal club 1919: signed the Indian Women's Franchise Address 1934: donated Abercarn House to the Abercarn Urban District Council. The house had at one time been the home of Sir Benjamin Hall, 1st Baron Llanover, after whom "Big Ben" may have been named 1937: gave £500 to Abercarn Council to be spent "solely on labour costs of various improvements which would be left over owning to money not being available." 1939: converted a deposit made by her father to the National Library of Wales of the Llanover Manuscripts into a gift. This meant the manuscripts, seventy-seven volumes of notes, transcripts and compositions in the hand of Iolo Morganwg, were now property of the Welsh nation. Because of the significance and generosity of this gift, the library made Roch a governor for life 1939-40: paid for the building of the Roman Catholic Church, "Our Lady of Peace", in Newbridge, Caerphilly, to a design by architect Philip Hepworth World War II: provided accommodation for an evacuated convent school 1948: gave her family home, Llanarth Court, including the church of St Mary and St Michael – one of the oldest Catholic churches in Wales – to the Roman Catholic Church. It was run as Blackfriars School by the Dominican Order until 1990

Roch also paid for the building of Llanarth Village Hall and gave land for the Llanarth Cricket Club.

Author

In 1910 Roch was endowed by Gorsedd Beirdd Ynys Prydain with the "delightfully poetic" bardic name Seren Gwent (Star of Gwent). It echoed the title Gwenynen Gwent (Bee of Gwent) that had been bestowed on her Great-Grandmother, Augusta Hall, Baroness Llanover.

Roch published the following books and pamphlets: The Call of the Past (1913) Pub. Sands & Co. Peg's Patrol (1924) Pub. Religious Tract Society - introduction Girl Guides in the Catholic Church (1930) pub. Catholic Truth Society Wonder Night: A Nativity Play (1932) Pub. Catholic Truth Society Because of Thy Holy Cross: A Lenten play (1934) And With the Children: A Child's Passion play (1935) Pub. Catholic Truth Society The Gates of Heaven and How They Were Opened to Mankind (1936) Pub. Catholic Truth Society St Francis of Assisi: Lives for Children (1938) Pub. Pellegrini & Co The Third Order of St Francis (1939) St Anthony of Padua (1940) Pub. Burns Oates & Washbourne The Venerable Sister Mary Assunta, Franciscan Missionary of Mary: 1878-1905 (1945) Pub. Catholic Truth Society The Catholic Way of Worship (1951) Pub. Catholic Truth Society The Isle of Caldey: A Short Guide, illustrated by Edith M Gill (1952) Pub. R H Johns Limited

She contributed articles to Wales: A National Magazine in 1912 and chapters to Naomi Whelpton and Kitty Streatfield's 1926 book Rangers Pub. Pearson. She was a book reviewer for Life of the Spirit magazine from 1947 to 1953.