The 1880s was a pivotal time of social change for Wales, especially in terms of the effects of industrialisation on traditional rural culture, language, religion, education, and politics.

Three-quarters of the population spoke Welsh (though most not exclusively) but a middle-class culture had developed that identified English with business and success.

[2] While there were "articulate and powerful groups of business and professional Welshmen who congregated in London",[3] Wales was considered by many British people to be little more than a picturesque relic of earlier times.

[1] The founding editor of The Red Dragon was historian and writer Charles Wilkins who managed the magazine from February 1882 to June 1885.

[1] Though traditional and conservative in outlook, the magazine featured a number of women authors, including Amy Dillwyn, Kate Dodd, Jeanette Forsyth, and Ella Egerton; and conveyed a "sense of admiration and affection for working people in Wales".

[2]: 22 Social and political comment is presented alongside other solid literary content including biographies, poetry and serialised novels.

[19]: 22  The magazine continues to be valuable to modern scholars as a historical resource, created in response to the "urgent need to rescue and record such traditional lore which was then rapidly fading from memory".