The fifth and final statue in the Monumental Welsh Women (MWW) series has been unveiled in Trehafod, honouring pioneering women's and children's rights campaigner Elizabeth Andrews OBE JP. The bronze sculpture was revealed at the Rhondda Heritage Park Museum on Thursday, June 25, marking the culmination of a campaign started in 2019 to commemorate overlooked Welsh heroines.
Campaign Success
The Monumental Welsh Women group fought to immortalise five powerful women in stone: Betty Campbell, Elaine Morgan, Sarah Jane Rees, Lady Rhondda, and Elizabeth Andrews. The unveiling represents a significant milestone for the group, whose efforts have ensured these remarkable figures are now permanently commemorated across Wales.
The ceremony featured musical performances from the Markham and District Brass Band, a choral presentation by Côr Cwm Rhondda and Côr Cwm Cynon, and a recital of a poem by National Poet of Wales Hanan Issa, commissioned by Literature Wales. Llywydd of the Senedd Huw Irranca-Davies and Culture and Sport Minister Heledd Fychan MS addressed the gathering.
Heledd Fychan MS said: "Elizabeth Andrews knew hardships first hand and spent her life fighting to make things better for others. She did not accept inequality as inevitable: she challenged it and she changed things in very real, practical ways for the women, children and families of the coalfields."
Elizabeth Andrews' Legacy
Elizabeth Andrews was one of the most significant Welsh female political activists of the early 20th century. An internationalist, suffragist, and socialist, she championed working-class families, fought for improved maternity and childcare provision, and helped establish one of Wales's earliest nursery schools.
Born into a poor mining family in Hirwaun, Cynon Valley, as one of 11 children, she dreamed of becoming a teacher but left school at 13 to help her parents. She later led a successful campaign for pithead baths, transforming lives in mining communities, and became one of Britain's first female magistrates. Known affectionately as "Our Elizabeth," she served as Wales's first Labour Party Women's Organiser after women gained the right to vote in 1918, creating women's sections described as "working women's universities."
Statue Details
The 6.5ft bronze sculpture, designed by sculptor Billie Bond, stands outside Rhondda Heritage Park Museum in Trehafod, Rhondda Cynon Taf. Portrayed upright, clutching documents atop an overturned tin bath, the statue incorporates her motto "Educate, Agitate, Organise" in hand-stitched lettering on the bath, symbolising craftivism. The banner is modelled on stitching by the 'Dare to Stitch' sewing group from Hirwaun.
The girl depicted is Rhona Allen, born to a large mining family in Llwynypia, Rhondda. During the General Strike, she was fostered to a wealthy family in England. She was the aunt of Carolyn Hitt, a founder member of Monumental Welsh Women.
Carolyn Hitt said: "Billie Bond was particularly drawn to the story of the miners' children being looked after through the General Strike... It's emotional enough to think we have completed our mission of five statues of Welsh women in five years but to have this personal connection to our final statue through the figure of the little girl with Elizabeth is just so special."
Family and Community Reaction
The statue was unveiled by Elizabeth Andrews' great-niece Maura High, who travelled from the United States, and her great-great-niece Melinda Hawthorne. Melinda said: "I am incredibly proud of Elizabeth... Each woman has come from very different walks of life but have contributed to furthering women's rights and supporting women in their communities in such different ways, it is just amazing."
Helen Molyneux, Chair of Monumental Welsh Women, said: "Before the statue of Betty Campbell was unveiled in Cardiff, there was not a single statue of a named Welsh woman in Wales. We've always said, 'You can't be what you can't see', and now Wales has five statues telling the stories of these wonderful women."
Sculptor Billie Bond said: "I was really honoured to be selected as the artist to sculpt the final Monumental Welsh Woman Elizabeth Andrews... Her inspiration to me has been the motto she often used 'Educate, agitate, organise' and I hope her story of continually improving the lives of mining families inspires the future women of Wales."
