All at the OCMCH are delighted that Dr. Sarah Prendergast has been awarded her Ph.D. at a ceremony held at the Oxford Brookes University Headington Campus on Friday 21 June 2019.
Dr. Prendergast’s thesis explores the Welsh Revival of 1904-1905, a period of social and religious change throughout Wales. For eighteen months, chapels were filled and public houses emptied as the country was engulfed in an emotional, religious frenzy, which many believed to be the work of God. Previous research has focused on the role of Evan Roberts, the enigmatic revivalist who was portrayed as the Divinely appointed leader of the movement. Whereas, Dr. Prendergast’s thesis focuses on the role of women during the Revival, an aspect of the movement that has remained hitherto unexplored. The thesis examines the role of these women, questioning why so little is known of their wider identities or what happened to them once the Revival ended, following Roberts’s departure from Wales in August 1906. It also considers the afterlife of the Revival, questioning if the way in which the movement enabled women to more beyond the role of wife and mother, assessing its role in the emancipation of Welsh women.
In the completion of her thesis Dr. Prendergast drew extensively from Welsh archival sources, including those held by the National Library of Wales.
Dr. Sarah Prendergast is currently developing her thesis into a book for the University of Wales Press.
Westminster Oxford Research Network 