The Buckley Family - Somerleaze (Frome) and Castell Gorfod (Llangynin)

From the collection of

Archif Sgrin a Sain Llyfrgell Genedlaethol Cymru / National Library of Wales Screen and Sound Archive
Established in 2001, the National Library of Wales Screen and Sound Archive holds an unrivalled collection of films, TV and radio broadcasts, video tapes and sound recordings relating to Wales and the Welsh, from 1898 to the present day. The collection spans multiples formats and genres, both professional and amateur.

The Buckley Family - Somerleaze (Frome) and Castell Gorfod (Llangynin)


The Buckley's Brewery (Llanelli) family gets about, visiting relatives in Somerset and cutting hay – and hair – at home in Carmarthenshire.

Members of the Buckley's Brewery (Llanelli) family are seen in Somerset, at 'Somerleaze', Frome, home of the parents of Karolie Kathleen Buckley nee Kemmis, and in Carmarthenshire at 'Castell Gorfod', Llangynin, home of W H and K K Buckley and their children W Kemmis and Susan - hair is cut on the verandah and hay cut in the fields. Kemmis, his suitcase strapped onto the car, leaves for school in Oxfordshire, Susan remaining at home with dog Shandy and a heap of hound puppies.

Lt Col William Howell Buckley (1896-1981), who had spent time in the 1920s in India with the 5th Inniskilling Dragoon Guards, focuses his camera on his family on this reel, rather than the hunting and racing which tended to take up more of his film stock. His wife's parents feature - Colonel William Henry Olphert Kemmis and Francis Maude Kemmis nee Beauclerk – as does his brother, Lt Col James Wedge Buckley, seen on horseback with his son. A governess (Miss Harding), the estate manager (Ronald Cain – he later went on to run the 'Angel Vaults' pub in Carmarthen) and Gwennie, the parlour-maid from Laugharne, are also caught on camera.


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