Essays: Christopher Parry
August 23, 2024A World of Mystery: Mrs Watts Hughes (1847-1907)
By Christopher Parry
“I should tell you that from my earliest childhood I have always been particularly sensitive to sound.
At Dowlais, in Glamorganshire, where I lived when a child, I heard the roar of the great ironworks day
and night in my ears, and I heard the music in the deep thunder of the steam engines and hammers.
It was perhaps this which made me interested in, and sensitive to, every kind of sound, and this
interest intensified…” (Pall Mall Gazette, February 12, 1890)
These words were spoken by one of the true forgotten figures in Welsh history, Margaret (Megan)
Watts-Hughes. Born in Dowlais in 1847, she was renowned locally for her exceptional vocal talents.
In her own poetic words, she grew up next to the ‘roar of the great ironworks…’1 Her home was on
Ivor Street, a home that, like the great Dowlais Ironworks, has long since been demolished. When
Megan lived there however, it was at the centre of the most thriving and growing population in all of
Wales. Dowlais Ironworks alone employed over 7000 people by the 1840’s and Megan’s father,
Henry Watts, was one of them.
Henry and his wife, Mary, both natives of Pembrokeshire, came to Dowlais for the best paid work
available to the working classes at that time. Henry started his working life at Dowlais as a ‘Nail
Straightener’, but, by 1856 Henry was a bookseller on the high street at Dowlais.2 Henry and Mary
had 8 children in all. Their eldest son, Ebenezer, was the only child born in Pembrokeshire, while all
the other children were Dowlais born.3
The family, like many at the time, were staunchly religious. They attended Bethania Chapel at
Dowlais and it would be in this building that Megan’s talents would first be noticed and nurtured.
From as young as ten, Megan demonstrated an outstanding vocal talent. At that age she was a
member of the ‘Number One Temperance Choir’ in Dowlais. With guidance from Eos Morlais (Robert
Rees, another astoundingly talented Dowlais born vocalist) and tutelage from Abraham Bowen, she
began a singing career that would influence the rest of her life.4 It was not to long after her tenth
birthday that she began performing, not as part of the choir, but as a solo soprano with the choir
backing her.
At the age of eleven, Megan performed at the county Eisteddfod in Carmarthenshire. That year the
honorary president was Abraham Bowen, one of her musical tutors at Dowlais, and at his personal
request Megan performed. The audience and fellow musicians were astounded by what they all
described as a ‘remarkable talent.’5
The following year she performed a duet, with Hannah Harris at the Merthyr Eisteddfod and won
first prize of 15s for their rendition of ‘The Old House at Home.’6
Megan’s voice was so impactful to those who heard her and sung alongside her, that the people of
Dowlais and her supporters in general, felt the talent should be nurtured to achieve its full potential.
Members of her choir and members of her church decided to hold benefit concerts to raise funds
that would be put towards furthering her musical knowledge and education. The concerts took place
over at least a 6 year period, from 1860-66, but even after that period local support still continued
financially, just not in the form of benefit concerts.
These benefit concerts seem to have started quietly, due to bad weather mainly, in 1860, when
Megan was 13. Undoubtedly, those around her were planning ahead for the time she would finish
her schooling and start a new career as a vocalist.
It is also worth noting that there was no patronage from a wealthy benefactor, it was a combination
of funds gathered by the working classes. The below extract from a local newspaper illustrates the
unique patronage Megan received.
…young Welshwoman, Miss Watts, who, if she has her health, and is placed under wise guidance,
bids fair to reach a high place in the foremost ranks of the profession. She has already won the £50
prize of the Royal Academy of Music. And it is a remarkable illustration of the patriotic and musical
enthusiasm of the Welsh that last year a sum of more than £500 was raised to enable her to pursue
her musical education, by much the larger part of which was contributed, not by the wealthy, but by
the working people of her native district. 7
First and foremost the money contributed went towards hiring the best music tutors based in
Cardiff. The conductor Mr. Wilkes was hired in July, 1862, to carefully nurture the talent that Megan
possessed.8
Just a glance through the regional and national Welsh news publications shows how year on year
Megan increased in popularity and talent across Wales throughout the 1860’s. She sung with many
different performers and in all manner of different venues across the country. The one unifier in her
performances was that they were all either in religious venues or for the benefit of some cause. This
is by no means a coincidence. Megan and her family were devoutly religious and she saw her voice
as a gift, one that should be used for good and positive causes whenever the opportunity arises.
In January 1868, she was part of a benefit concert at the Drill Hall in Merthyr Tydfil and the
comments made about her were almost uniformly identical to the comments she received whenever
she performed.
Miss Watts is well known to our readers as a soprano singer of a very flexible voice and great musical
talent…She sang a Welsh air, in a manner that testified to her versatility of talent, and which brought
the house down in applause.9
Later on in that same year, 1868, Megan made her first stage appearance in London, a city that
would eventually be her home. The concert was held in June at St. James Hall and the Daily
Telegraph made note that ‘Miss Watts revealed a pure soprano voice of singular charm.’10
By late 1869, Megan was living in London and her occupation was simply a ‘Professional Singer’.11
She would, fairly regularly, return home for concerts around Wales and Eisteddfodau, and in fact she
would return regularly well into later life. In October, 1869, she was requested to perform at Capel
Newydd, Llanelly, a place where she had performed several times before, but that did not deter the
locals who clearly craved more concerts from her. The Welshman printed another favourable
review, adding the following.
‘Miss Watts, now of London, assisted by the Capel Newydd Choir. Miss Watts has always been a
great favourite in this town, ever since she was very young (about 13 years of age), as she sang here
then in a concert given by Abraham Bowen’s Dowlais Glee Party, and which was about the first time
she did sing alone, and ever since then the people of Llanelly have had a lively and favourable
recollection of the then child, who displayed such remarkable musical power and ability.’12
The reason for her relocation to London was to begin studying at the Royal Academy of Music. Many
years later her younger brother, John Watts, would lecture about his older sister, her life and her
achievements. He had this to say about this period in her life:
In 1869, she became a student at the Royal Academy, under the tuition of Manuel Garcia, and the
possessor of a remarkable voice and musical talent amounting to genius. She was a friend of the
world renowned Jenny Lind, who wrote of her in the following terms:- “I have never met anyone so
related to me in the art of music. Two sisters only have I in the art – Madame Schumann and Mrs.
Watts-Hughes”.’13
In 1872, Megan married Hugh Lloyd Hughes, a London born Clerk to a Foreign Merchant. There is
little information as to how the couple met, but Megan almost certainly retained the Watts in her
now double barrel surname, because of the fame her surname commanded in certain areas and
among certain groups.
In that same year, 1872, what could be perceived as a fairly normal incident occurred which had long
lasting implications for Megan. Her brother, John, transcribed verbatim a section of her diary from
1872, and in this extract Megan goes to great lengths to tell a seemingly ordinary story. In her own
words:
It was about 1872, soon after my marriage, that we (i.e., my husband and myself) became much
concerned about the poor Welsh, who we learned through the City Missionaries were to be met with
in almost every part of this great city. I paid several visits with Welsh Missionaries to the homes of
my fellow countrymen, some of whom were found in the direst poverty…I also found that my name
was familiar to many of the families and inmates. Sometimes the missionary would be asked if it was
not possible to hear “y Gantores.’ I readily responded and sang on different occasions some of the
pieces which I had often…”Hen Feibl Mawr fy Mam.”…The singing of this latter hymn one day to a
woman we found in one of the cottages in the East End, I must here relate.14
She and her fellow missionary entered a house in the East End, where they were met with a typically
depressing scene. They began to talk with the woman who lived there, but were getting nowhere.
So, they began to discuss a large Welsh family bible that lay on a nearby table and asked if it would
be ok to read some passages. The woman had no complaint, nor did she respond in any meaningful
way to the reading. Then Megan asked, ‘Will you let me sing a piece I know about the bible?’15 The
woman agreed and almost instantly was overcome with emotion. ‘As soon as it was over, the poor
woman, with eyes red and still sobbing said, “My mother was a good woman.”’16
The woman was from then on a member of Megan’s church and the story, in Megan’s opinion, is a
perfect example of the power of music, of how it can strike emotional chords and get through to
people far better than just the simple spoken word. She was convinced song and music had strength
that had not yet been fully explored or understood and she would spent the rest of her life
investigating sound to find proof of its power.
Her next realisation about the power of song came in the form of a singing class. Around 1880, she
began a bible class for young female members of her church. These girls were from extremely poor
backgrounds and Megan thought these classes would help in some way or at the least distract them
for a time from their lives on the streets of London.
Half a dozen girls were invited to Megan’s home in the evening and though they were ‘unruly’ at first
the group quickly settled down and the novelty of being in a rather grand home had ‘a quieting
influence on them.’17 Megan’s husband had a very well paid career and the interior and exterior of
their home was something these children were simply not accustomed to. Soon, other children in
the neighbourhood heard and wanted to join; boys and girls, and children as young as five. Megan
felt that a bible class, delivered in the traditional way would not appeal to this range of ages,
children from five to fourteen; and now numbering over twenty. So, she turned the bible class into a
singing class and Megan was ‘able to interest each child, notwithstanding their different ages.’18
The ‘Next week, again, we had the singing-class instead of the Bible-class; and this continued with
increasing attendance…Some people might think it unwise to let a lot of young ragamuffins come
into one’s house at the risk of spoiling carpets and furniture. I can only say that, as far as my own
experience goes, I am very glad and thankful that I did this, and am more than satisfied with the
result; for by it I have learnt myself much about this class of children of which I was before ignorant,
and I have found that there are many ways of doing good to them besides that of teaching them at
Sunday School.’19
Megan’s singing class grew to have over one hundred children. All the children were from poor
backgrounds and several were homeless and directly from the London streets. Her aim was not
solely to educate them to have a better understanding of singing, it was mainly ‘to bring the minds
and hearts of the these children into the closet possible contact with the powerful and elevating
spiritual influences of Sacred Song…Sacred Song may prove the blessing and delight which from my childhood it has been to me.’20 Megan was so fore filled by her religion and the ‘Sacred Songs’
associated with it that she simply sought to spread what she believed would ultimately be a positive
force in the children’s lives.
Over the years Megan had wrote several songs, but in the wake of her singing class she would write
two books directly influenced by the classes. The first was ‘My Singing Class’, which was the story of
the formation of the class and was merely her trying to influence others to do the same. The second
was called ‘Children’s Voices’ and was a collection of songs, most of which she composed, that were
designed specifically with children’s singing in mind.
Megan’s husband, Hugh Lloyd Hughes, was clearly a man of wealth as they lived in an affluent area;
17, Barnsbury-Park, Middlesex. This wealth and stability helped Megan’s singing class morph into
something different again by late 1881.
‘She discovered that many who attended her class were deserted children, leading solitary lives, and
sleeping under arches, whilst some were being actively trained to become thieves.’21 When her
singing classes ended she would have to turn these children out of her house and back onto the
streets of London. However, Megan could not bring herself to this, so she turned her home into an
orphanage, initially focusing on boys aged eight to twelve ‘either orphans or deserted by their
parents and all, previously to their admission, leading vagrant lives.’22 In time, with the help of her
husband, she established a home at Mountford House, where she would have up to twenty-five
boys at any one time and by 1896 she had changed the lives of over 280 boys.23
Not content with a career as a vocalist, missionary work, and the managing of an orphanage, Megan,
in 1885 began the work she will perhaps be remembered best for.
Few people in the 19th century were able to record their voices. Recording equipment was still in its
infancy by 1885 and Megan is one of the few vocalists who actually recorded her voice for future
generations. The recordings cannot be heard though; they were in fact recorded in a totally unique
and scientifically ground breaking way and can only be seen.
Throughout the 1880’s Megan’s fascination with music intensified to the point that she began to
approach it from a scientific background. She was studying the work of scientists who had made
discoveries within the world of sound. Scientists such as Professor Tyndall, Professor Sedley Taylor
and Chladni, all influenced Megan’s experimentations; the latter’s experiments with visualising
sounds were undoubtedly a huge influence of the experiments Megan would undertake.24 The
process and her eventual discoveries are perhaps best explained by Megan herself:
The ‘Voice Figures’ ‘were the immediate result of a great deal of previous thought given to the study
of vocal sounds…the more and longer I thought of it, the more I became convinced that the power of
the human voice has yet be realised…I had long been trying to test, as it were, the strength of
individual notes of my voice by various means, and I made a great many studies of vocal sounds.
While trying to discover some means by which to register visibly the vibrations of the voice, and for
testing its quality and tone, I saw one day with intense surprise that the grains of sand with which I
experimented formed themselves into a geometrical figure not unlike those which Chladni
discovered. In fact the figures which I then produced were Chladni’s figures discovered over again.
I continued my investigations, and slowly and gradually discovered that by singing notes the
eidophone over the mouth of which the disc is placed, I can sing various substances, such as sand,
lycopodium, or coloured liquids into certain figures. Every single note produces a figure…
“Now I will show you how I work.” Mrs. Hughes sat down in front of the eidophone, on which a small
quantity of powder had been scattered. A deep, full note was sung into the tube, and immediately a
miniature storm raged on the disc. Tiny clouds of dust arose, rolling and whirling about as when a
hurricane sweeps over a dusty highroad. Slowly the chaos was reduced to order, and when the last
vibration ceased, an accurate clear geometrical figure lay before us…when a daisy is to be created,
the substance placed on the disc creeps together in the centre of the membrane at the command of
the first note, which is obeyed as unhesitatingly as the bugle horn in the soldiers’ camp. Another note
follows of a different calibre, and out from the centre all round shoot small petals shaped exactly like
those of the daisy.25
From 1885 to 1890 Megan visualised the human voice. She created a scientific instrument, the
ediophone, which she would sing into and with that instrument she was also able to capture an
image of the sound using the same substances she stated previously, but with the addition of moist
colours. The sand and powder would react with the vibrations on the elastic membrane, and the
addition of colour would allow Megan to be able capture the vibration on glass and ceramic plates,
which she called ‘Voice Figures.’ The more she experimented the more she was astonished by how
remarkably similar the forms produced by the human voice were to forms that appear in nature.
Figures that resembled ferns, pansies, daises and trees, were just a few of the fascinating natural
forms the human voice could command into existence.
Megan’s ‘Voice Figures’ became a sensation when they were displayed around London and she was
interviewed by many publications who were desperate to discover more. Her discoveries began
incredibly important conversations among scientists about the significance and importance of sound
and its effects on the world. Furthermore her work still influences and fascinates people
investigating sound.
From the early 1890’s she displayed them at the Musical Association rooms, the Royal Institution
and the Royal Society.26 The Royal Society was a particularly noteworthy display as they only began
allowing women to exhibit scientific work in 1876 and Megan with her display of ‘Voice Figures’, and
crucially the ediophone, ‘became the first woman to present a scientific invention at the Royal
Society.’27
Another place you could have seen these figures, as the Spectator noted in an 1889 article, was at
Megan’s home for boys, because ‘Instead of blinds or curtains drawn across the lower panes of the windows, there are wonderful designs in colour; strange, beautiful things – suggesting objects in
Nature, but which are certainly neither exact repetitions nor imitations of anything in Nature.’28
Many people interpreted Megan’s discoveries as proof of human’s connection with a divine creator.
The Chicago Sunday Tribune was one of many publications that viewed the ‘Voice Figures’ in this
way. In 1905 they published the following:
Science is proving the Psalmist was literally correct when he said that “by the word of the Lord were
the heavens made; and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth, for he spake and it was
done…For a woman scientist of London is conclusively demonstrating that the human voice has a
constructive capability hitherto unsuspected. With her voice alone she has placed herself face to face
with nature in the almost limitless variety of forms seen in plant and vegetable life.29
Another person commenting on the figures stated:
In one’s mind your creations are stepping stones whereby we can better rise to the Creation by the
Voice of God.30
Megan’s own opinion on her findings always seemed to cautiously border on the connection with a
higher power. An 1891 article perfectly captures her view of the experiments.
Mrs. Watts-Hughes’s “voice figures” are, however, interesting not only as curiosities, or even as
things of beauty, but as suggestions that relations between sound and form may be more intricate
and intimate than has heretofore been supposed…”I must say,” writes the experimenter herself,
“that as day by day I have gone on singing into shape these peculiar forms, and, stepping out of
doors, have seen their parallels living in the flowers, ferns, and tress around me, and again, as I have
watched the little heaps in the formation of floral figures gather themselves up and then shoot out
their petals, just as a flower springs from a swollen bud – the hope has come to me that these
humble experiments may afford some suggestions in regard to Nature’s production of her own
beautiful forms, and may thereby aid in some slight degree the revelation of another link in the great
chain of the organised universe that, we are told in the Holy Writ, took its shape in the voice of
God.”31
Megan clearly hoped her findings linked to God in some way, but she also knew her theories were
just that and she was keen to allow her work to be taken to the next stage of scientific
experimentation; ‘There lies a whole hidden world behind these forms, which the future may perhaps
revel.’32
Her peers, such as Professor John Tyndall, were, as he put it, ‘Quite jubilant over them.’33 Professor
Ellis Edwards puts aside the excitement and the assertions about creation and perhaps comments in
the most profoundly and progressive way about the figures:
As Science, they are extremely important and entrancing. One does not know how far Music and
Harmony are formative in Nature.34
Megan continued to experiment to attempt to answer Edwards’s question, as well as singing
publically, and managing her home for boys up until her death in 1907. Her husband died in 1894,
leaving her the means to live a comfortable life on her own, but, as he was the main financial
support for the home for boys, Megan would spend the last 10 or so years of her life sourcing
funding to keep the home open.35 At the time of her death there were in fact two orphanages she
was responsible for, one at Barnsbury and one at Mountford. Both were open in 1907 and the chief
of staff brought along the children to Megan’s funeral where ‘In vain did the little ones try to sing, for
they fairly broke down.’36
Her collection of ‘Voice Figures’ were passed to her younger brother, John Watts, who would work
tirelessly to promote the work done by his sister. He toured the country speaking about her life and
would give lantern slideshows of the figures. He also produced a biography about Megan, but he
was never able to publish and now is collected safely in the National Library of Wales archives. John
Watts spoke in Merthyr Tydfil on several occasions and it was through these lectures that staff at
Cyfarthfa Castle Museum and Art Gallery at Merthyr Tydfil became aware of, and interested in the
figures.
Charles Holder, the curator at Cyfarthfa Castle, wanted to see and display examples of ‘Voice
Figures.’ He was made aware of a collection held at the Science Museum, Kensington, and on
inquiring about the collection he discovered they were in storage. So, in 1931, Charles Holder, asked
the Science Museum, Kensington, to borrow some of the examples they had in their collection,
which were deposited by Megan in 1896. The Science Museum actually gave the figures to Cyfarthfa
Castle outright, because according to them, ‘They aroused little interest and could not be effectively
connected with any branch of the physical collection. They were therefore disposed of.’37 Charles
Holder then became another in a long line of people to publically display the figures.
A further collection of ‘Voice Figures’ were deposited at Cyfarthfa Castle Museum and Art Gallery by
the Watts family in 1941. By the time the 1941 deposit came into the collection though the figures
from the Science Museum were no longer on display and like the Science Museum had done
previously the whole collection was placed in storage; Over 50 examples on glass and ceramics.
In recent years the collection has been discovered once more. Like Megan’s re-discovering of
Chladni’s figures, staff at Cyfarthfa Castle Museum and Art Gallery, artists and academics studying
sound, have realised what has been idly waiting in storage. Recent research projects by Dr Rob Mullender have led to a better understanding and interpretation of Megan’s work, as well as
reinvigorating the discussions that her work inevitably creates. So, even though her story has been
largely forgotten by the mass of people, her voice can still be seen by all.
—
1 Pall Mall Gazette, February 12, 1890
2 Merthyr Telegraph, September 27, 1856
3 1861 Wales Census, R.G. 9/4056 – Accessed at AncestryLibrary.com (20/06/19)
4 Y Tyst a’r Dydd, December 30, 1881
5 Y Gwladgarwr, October 9, 1858
6 Merthyr Telegraph, October 1, 1859
7 Merthyr Telegraph, March 24, 1866
8 Merthyr Guardian, March 7, 1863
9 Merthyr Telegraph, January 11, 1868
10 The Welshman, June 12, 1868
11 1871 England Census; Class: RG10; Piece: 10; Folio: 57; Page: 19; GSU roll: 838751
12 The Welshman, October 29, 1869
13 Merthyr Express, April 9, 1910
14 Monthly treasury organ of the English Methodist or Presbyterian Church of Wales, Vol. X, No 6, June 1909
15 Ibid
16 Ibid
17 The Treasury: Volume XVII, No. 210 – June 1881, pp 167-168, accessed 25/07/19,
https://journals.library.wales/view/2315156/2641164/9#?xywh=148%2C-551%2C2254%2C4549
18 Ibid, p 168
19 Ibid, pp 168-169
20 Children’s Voices: a collection of new tunes, duets, rounds and anthems, by Margaret Watts-Hughes, pp 3-5
21 Morning News, February 4th, 1896, London
22 Ibid
23 Ibid
24 Voice Figures, by Mrs. Watts-Hughes, London, p 1
25 Pall Mall Gazette, February 12th, 1890, London
26 Century Magazine, May 1891, pp 37-39, by Mrs Watts Hughes, Visible Sound, Voice Figures
27 Royal Society, the repository, accessed 26/07/19, https://blogs.royalsociety.org/history-of-
science/2013/03/08/women-of-the-conversazioni/
28 Divine Agency: Bringing to light the voice figures of Margaret Watts-Hughes, by Dr Rob Mullender,
SoundEffects, Vol. 8, No. 1, 2019
29 The Chicago Sunday Tribune, January 8th, 1905, Chicago
30 Popular Lecture: the life and work of Megan Watts-Hughes, Singer, Scientist and Philanthropist, pamphlet,
by John Watts, 1910. Held at Cyfarthfa Castle Museum and Art Gallery
31 Carnarvon and Denbigh Herald, May 22, 1891
32 Pall Mall Gazette, February 12th, 1890, London
33 Popular Lecture: the life and work of Megan Watts-Hughes, Singer, Scientist and Philanthropist, pamphlet,
by John Watts, 1910. Held at Cyfarthfa Castle Museum and Art Gallery
34 Ibid
35 Morning News, February 4th, 1896, London
36 Weekly Mail, November 9th, 1907, London
37 Science Museum Archive, SCM 3833/874, V+AM 32/6215, 30/7/1932