Mary Ashby Lewis – Queen of Hearts

Our 2025/6 season ended on a real high note with a fascinating talk by Beverley Harrison. It’s subject was the remarkable local lady, Mary Ashby Lewis, and it started off with an introduction in the persona…. and the costume … of the Mistress of Llanerchaeron herself. ‘

Beverley’s summary of her talk follows below.

Mary Ashby Lewis, an outstanding woman, and resident of Llanerchaeron for over

76 years, is little talked about or recognised beyond the National Trust house itself.

Born in Leicestershire in 1813, daughter of a Reverend, she was brought up to be a

kind and caring girl, presumably absorbing much from her father’s pastoral care of

his parishioners. It’s not known how she met and fell in love with the owner of

Llanerchaeron, but at the age of 27 she married John Lewis and moved to West

Wales to begin her married life on the Estate.

Sadly, John died after only 14 years of marriage and as they had no children he left

Mary as tenant in residence for as long as she lived, provided she didn’t remarry. It

must have been a very daunting task to face the future of running the Llanerchaeron

Farm and Estate and 94 holdings. A lesser woman may have gone home to the

bosom of her family in England, but she stayed, and for the next 62 years John’s

widow was very successfully at the helm.

She transformed working practices and introduced an eight hour day, paid overtime,

sick payments and reduced the working day. Unmarried mothers were given jobs,

and staff were sent on outings at Mary’s expense. During elections the male staff

were given holiday to go and vote and she even provided the transport. Unusually for

a landowner she didn’t even try to force them to vote a particular way, which was the

norm for the time.

But Mary’s attention wasn’t entirely focussed on Llanerchaeron; she took a keen

interest in Aberaeron and the wider community and regularly made donations to

many local groups or societies, including the archery and carving clubs, believing

that they were important for wellbeing. She donated books to the library, gave land

for the intermediate school to be built, and she freely gave permission for the railway

to cross her land from Aberaeron to Lampeter (and had a holt built on the Estate).

She ensured that the poor or the sick were given food and any help they needed,

and regularly sent gifts to the tradespeople of the town. Such was her quiet care and

concern, she became deeply loved and respected by all members of society. There

were no class barriers in her eyes, and no cause she wouldn’t champion, or

underdog she wouldn’t support.

In 1891 upon the 50 th anniversary of her living at Llanerchaeron she was given a

jubilee; the likes of which had never been seen in Aberaeron, or has been since.

She rode in a carriage around the town, which was ablaze with colour from flags and

banners. There were processions and a performance of a song specially written for

the occasion. Speeches were made and gifts presented, all with one aim; for the

people to express their gratitude and love for the women who had bestowed so

much upon the community.

The newspaper report of the event ran to 14 pages!

When questioned by visitors, “Why this stir and tumult in the town?" Councillor J. M.

Howell said “It is difficult to answer the question in one word, but were the answer

put in one word, that word would be ‘goodness’. They were doing all that they were

doing in order to mark their appreciation of goodness. By goodness I mean the

continuous exercise of the principle of goodness in both word and example for a

term of fifty years. We cannot sum up the goodness in one or two conspicuous

actions for it dies not consist in showy performances of that kind. It is rather an

unbroken chain of good deeds continuing over a lifetime and up to the present day”.

When Mary died in 1917, having reached the grand age of 104, Llanerchaeron

passed to her great-nephew Thomas Powell Lewes and his wife Annie Ponsonby

Lewes.

In 2015 the Be Kind Movement was established by film producer Premila Puri and

she speaks about how kindness has been proven to increase our happiness, reduce

stress and improve emotional wellbeing. At the same time, spreading kindness offers

us the opportunity to connect with others, building a stronger sense of community

and unity with friends, family, neighbours and even strangers.

Mary Ashby Lewis knew this, and was way ahead of her time. She was a strong and

efficient business woman in a man’s world, but it’s her special ability to know what

needed to be done to help transform lives or at least make them better, without

fanfare or egoistic motive, that really deserves to be celebrated and recognised.

Beverley Harrison

Welcome Service Assistant

Llanerchaeron

Ceredigion