Rachie

Rachie, frequently sung to the hymn I Bob Un Sydd Ffyddlon, is a Welsh hymn tune. The music was composed by Caradog Roberts, with lyrics by Henry Lloyd, who is better known by his bardic name Ap Hefin.

The lyrics are a call to battle, as can be seen with the English translation.

The composer of the hymn tune was Dr Caradog Roberts (born in Rhosllannerchrugog, near Wrexham; 1878-1935) and the tune was named after Rachel Williams (married name Rachel Jenkins) of Resolven, near Neath. "Rachie" was composed in the first world war, and Roberts says that "The committee of the Resolven Music Festival requested me to write a new tune for the festival. I went at it straight away and wrote two tunes the same morning. I rejected tune No.1 and sent No.2. The following year the same committee sent me a similar request for a new tune and said how much they had enjoyed the tune I had sent them the previous year... I was extremely busy then and had no time to compose, so I looked up some old mss. [manuscripts] of mine and found "Rachie", the tune I had rejected the previous year. I sent it simply to oblige the friends at Resolven. "Rachie", notwithstanding the fact that it had been turned down by me, turned out to be the most popular of my tunes. It is named after the daughter - then a child - of the pastor of the Congregational Church at Resolven and is pronounced ‘Ray-chee’, which is short for ‘Rachel’."

The name of the tune derives from a visit in 1918 by Caradog Roberts to the Jerusalem Chapel in Resolven. This visit was to conduct a Cymanfa Ganu (a Welsh hymn singing festival) in a large chapel that seated 970 people. Caradog Roberts stayed with the minister of the chapel for that event.

The minister of the Jerusalem chapel was Parchedig (Rev) Robert Enoch Williams (often known as Rev. R.E. Williams), and minister of that chapel from 1902 to 1934. His daughter was popularly known as Rachie, although christened Rachel. ("Rachie" was pronounced by the family as "Ray-chee" and not as "Ratch-ee" which sometimes now occurs).

Dr Caradog Roberts introduced his new tune to the Cymanfa Ganu in Jerusalem Chapel (7 April 1918). Subsequently, he wrote to the Rev R.E. Williams and asked if he could name the tune after the minister’s 12-year-old daughter Rachie. Her father agreed. However, this new tune had a surprising origin. Dr Caradog Roberts wrote the above honest account about his hymn tune "Rachie" taken from a booklet of cuttings kept by Rachel Jenkins (Rachie) and now owned by her family.

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