Captain Nelson Morris Price C.B.E., J.P.

by J Ann Lewis

A Merthyr Express headline 60 years ago today, on 18 August 1962 read “Captain Nelson M. Price: the Man Who Stopped a King is Dead”.

The headline referred to an event in 1936 during the visit of King Edward VIII. Captain Price had organised an unofficial parade of his former colleagues in the old Fifth Welsh Battalion in front of the Castle Cinema. As the procession passed, the Royal car stopped, and Captain Price told the King “These men want you to see them, in the hope that you may be able to bring new industries to the Borough so that they may find work”. The King got out of the car, to the astonishment of his ministers, and spoke to the 52 men on parade. The King again departed from the official programme and paid a visit to Dowlais, and it was there that he made the famous remark, “Something must be done”.

Nelson Price was born on 22 May 1892 near Bethesda, North Wales, and when he was quite young, his family moved to Dowlais, settling in Broad Street. Within a few years however, his father died, leaving a widow and eight children.

Nelson volunteered for service on 4 August 1914, the very day that the First World War was declared. He served in Gallipoli, Egypt and Cyprus before being discharged as no longer being fit for service, and he returned to working in the collieries, where he had been studying to become a mining engineer prior to the outbreak of the war.

Following the armistice, he decided to become involved with welfare work relating to the war disabled, war widows and orphans. He was a founder member of the Royal British Legion, becoming the first Chairman in the Wales Area. He also worked tirelessly for the War Pensions Advisory Committee, and was appointed Chairman of the North East Glamorgan War Pensions Committee, being acknowledged as an authority on War Pensions Regulations. He was a champion for the War disabled for over 42 years, and his work was recognised when he was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire in 1939, Officer of the Order in 1946 and Commander of the British Empire in 1960.

It was during his time as Chairman of the British Legion in Wales, that he was instrumental in negotiating the gift of Buckland House in Bwlch (the former home of Henry Seymour Berry, Lord Buckland) to the British Legion as a home for ex-servicemen.

During his lifetime, Nelson Price was also appointed Chairman of the Merthyr Magistrates, Chairman of the Lord Buckland Trust, Lifetime President and Honorary Secretary and Treasurer of the Merthyr and District Angling Association. He was also a lifetime member of the Cardiff Athletic and Rugby Club.

At the time of his death in 1962, he was living in Caeracca Villas in Pant, in a house named ‘Cilfoden’ – the village of his birth. His wife Jane Ann survived him by two years.

The Execution of Dick Tamer – part 2

Continued from the last article…..

CONFESSION OF RICHARD EDWARDS.

In the early part of the week, the Culprit made the following statement to the Chaplain:-

“I was not alone when my mother came by her death There were three presents beside me. My child (10 months old), was in bed in the room. My mother died on Thursday night. When dead, two women placed my mother in bed beside my little boy, where the corpse remained until the Monday night following. The two other persons present, beside me and my wife, when my mother died, were the nearest relations of Peggy (my wife). Peggy and the other person had been in the womb of the other. These three persons told my father-in-law and my mother-in-law’s sister, that they had passed that night in Cefn Coed Cymmer. I gave my mother a blow about the jaw, because Peggy cried out that my mother was beating her. My mother fell down under my blow.

Peggy, her mother, and brother then laid hold on my mother. My mother did not speak; she groaned for some time. I saw Peggy and the other two squeezing her throat until she ceased groaning. I was in liquor: the three others were not. This happened about 12 or 1 o’clock, I cannot tell exactly, for there was no clock or watch there. And now, if Peggy had been allowed to be examined by me in the Hall, I would have made all this known then. Peggy asked me to bury her. I said I would not, I would leave her there, for I was afraid to be seen. I told them they had killed my mother. They begged me to keep everything secret. We all remained in the house till the dawn of day. I then went up to Dowlais, and the others returned home (to my father-in-law’s, as they say) and told their story about being at night at Coed y Cymmer.

I met my wife again about six o’clock the evening of the following Monday, at her aunt’s house, at Cae Draw (Jane Phillips’s) and we went together, the child in her arms, to my mother’s house. My wife placed the child in the opposite side of the bed to where my mother’s body was lying. We then together dragged the corpse out, and placed it under the bed. We continued to live in the house dining the rest of the week sleeping five nights in the bed under which the corpse lay! I was full of anxiety all the week, and on Saturday I started off the day my mother’s body was discovered, leaving my wife in my mother’s house. I was absent from Saturday until the following Wednesday, when I was apprehended in the Cast-House at Dyffryn, and wandering about.

I tell the best truth – the truth I should tell in the presence of God, where I shall he next Saturday – to you now. My blow did not kill my mother, for she groaned afterwards. Her death was caused by their meddling and scuffling with her on the ground. I know not exactly ill what manner. I mean Peggy, and her mother, and brother was scuffling with her. Neither of these three charged me at this time with having killed my mother. This is all true as I shall answer to God. I know nothing of the death of any other human being, male or female. If I did, I should confess it now, having gone so far. But I am guilty of every other sin or crime, excepting theft or murder. And now I have no more to say, having told the whole truth, and my heart is already feeling light. I began to feel lighter yesterday, when I determined and promised you to confess everything”.

The mark X of RICHARD EDWARDS.

The whole of the foregoing statement was read over in Welsh by Mr. Stacey, and explained to Richard Edwards, and signed with the mark by him in my presence, this 18th day of July 1842.

JNO. B. WOODS,

Governor of the County Gaol.

Memories of Old Merthyr

We continue our serialisation of the memories of Merthyr in the 1830’s by an un-named correspondent to the Merthyr Express, courtesy of Michael Donovan.

Now it always occurs to me that the doctoring system is a remainder of what in other cases would be called the truck system. Pray understand, I know how careful and skilful medical men are generally, and how admirably they perform their duties, yet there is always the thought that the system does not always co-ordinate with those general principles adopted in other things.

My own conviction is that truck in the early age of Merthyr was actually a necessity. When the works really began they were small, and no certainty of continuance. I am well aware of attempts that have been tried in various systems to alter it, but the system seems too firmly rooted to be altered for some time at least. An experiment in the adoption of a another method is, I believe, now being tried.

After a while Plymouth had Mr Probert (who by the bye, had been an assistant of Mr Russell), and so remained until his death, I think, but yet doubt that he resigned previously. Penydarren had Mr John Martin, and Mr Russell retained Dowlais, but it passed into the hands of his nephew Mr John Russell, for some time, and on his leaving Dr John Ludford White came to Dowlais.

This gentleman married a niece of Mr Wm. Forman, of the firm of Thompson and Forman, Cannon House, Queen Street, London, and after some years moved to Oxford, with the intention, it was said, of taking higher degrees. Dr White obtained the appointment through the recommendation of the London physician of Sir J John Guest, and in order that an accurate knowledge of the requirements might be, had visited Dowlais to see for himself. I remember him there, and an incident followed that will be mentioned when Dowlais is visited which will show the kind-heartedness of Sir John, and I hope also to mention one demonstrating his decision of character and another where I saw him weep.

We now return to Mr Russell’s surgery. A little further down, on the other side was Adullam (sic) Chapel, and cottages thence to the road to Twynyrodyn, while on the same side as Mr Russell’s was the way from the High Street, John Street by name, cottages somewhat irregular. The old playhouse also stood here; yes reader. It was a stone and mortar structure, and was for a long time unused.

An extract from the 1851 Public Health Map showing Tramroadside North from Church Street to the Old Playhouse

Further on there was the Fountain Inn, between which and the Glove and Shears the road passed to Dowlais over Twynyrodyn, Pwllyrwhiad etc, but we cross and a few yards brings me to what was the boundary wall of Hoare’s garden, which continued down to where the line to Dowlais is now.

The bottom end of Tramroadside North from the 1851 map

It has been my pleasure to see many gardens, but in all my experience I never saw one kept in such trim as this. Upon its being taken for the railway, Hoare started a garden and public house, if I remember well, at Aberdare Junction. Owing to the Taff Vale Company not allowing anyone to cross the line, a very long way around became a necessity to get there, and he did not do as well as anticipated or (I think) deserved.

Lower down the tramroad were some cottages on the right hand side, in one of which, adjoining the Shoulder of Mutton, a cask of powder exploded. It was kept under the bed upstairs for safety, and, lifting the roof off its walls, it fell some dozen yards away. The roof was covered with the thin flagstones often used and very little damaged. No one was fatally injured but one or two were injured, and altogether it was a wonderful escape. Moral: Do not keep a cask of explosive material upstairs under the bed!

To be continued at a later date……

Gilbert Evans – 10 October 1907- 17 January 1986

by Sian Herron

Gilbert Evans – aged 8

A century ago today, on 30th June 1922, my Great-Uncle Gilbert Evans from Dowlais was sent to Ontario, Canada to work. He was a “British Home Child”, who along with around 100,000 other British children, from the 1860’s until the 1930’s, was sent to be used as cheap farm labour.

The Evans family lived in Muriel Terrace in August 1909, when William Arthur Evans was killed in a pit accident in Fochriw, leaving his wife Mary with 9 children and my Grampa, Arthur Evans, on the way.

William Arthur Evans (1873 – 1909)
Merthyr Express 7 August 1909

In March 1915 Mary Evans was admitted to The Workhouse and her youngest 5 boys were admitted to The Cottage Homes in Llwydcoed – both run by The Merthyr Board of Guardians.

The Cottage Homes, Llwydcoed, 1915. Gilbert Evans left of Master, Brynmor Evans back right (with knee lifted), Arthur Evans centre front (sitting slightly side on).
The Cottage Homes, Llwydcoed, 1915. Gilbert Evans beneath pen mark left back, Brynmor Evans beneath pen mark on the right, and Arthur Evans between Master and Mistress in dark shirt.

In October 1915 Mary’s son, Brynmor Cornwallis Evans, aged 9, died of tubercular meningitis whilst being cared for by The Homes. By December 1915 the other children were removed to the care of their mother, however her youngest two, Gilbert and my Grampa, Arthur soon returned to spend their childhood there.

Brynmor Evans’ death in October 1915 aged 9

In 1922 Gilbert was emigrated, via The Liverpool Sheltering Home, on behalf of The Llwydcoed Children’s Home & Industrial School.

SS Montrose to Quebec in 1922

He spent 5 years slaving on a remote farm in Forest Falls, Ontario, from dawn until dusk, living in an out-building & washing in a water trough, alongside another boy of a similar age. In 5 years, he never entered the main house, and his report card states, “Boy well pleased with the situation – happy”.

So happy that 5 years later, in 1927, Gilbert, then aged 19, transported himself back to Dowlais!

SS Andania – Gilbert’s return to Liverpool in 1927

If you want to find out more about these children, I can recommend the book pictured, entitled “The Little Immigrants”, although I can guarantee it will make you cry.

The hardships endured at such a tender age made the Government award each British Home Child £20,000 in an attempt to compensate them for what was done.

Gilbert never received his compensation, since he died in 1986, long before the compensation was offered.

People have asked me what happened to Gilbert following his return to Dowlais. He stayed with his elder brother Johnny, wife Leticia and their three children at Castle Row in Pengarnddu.

Gilbert Evans following his return from Canada – centre back

Gilbert returned home shortly before The Great Depression and work was scarce. He joined The Army, served in India, and improved his education by doing his exams. He later worked for The MOD in Bath. I’ve been told he had a small bag of Roman coins that he’d found in the tunnels under the city of Bath, when he was a ‘runner’ carrying messages through these tunnels.

Gilbert married Agnes Buckle and remained in Bath until his death. They had a council flat in a block just behind Royal Crescent, where I visited them as a child. They didn’t have children.

Gilbert regularly stayed in Merthyr with my Grampa, Arthur. Together they took me for a college interview in Carmarthen when I was seventeen. I just wish I’d asked more questions when I had the chance!

Many thanks to Sian for sharing this remarkable and incredibly well-researched story with us.

If anyone has any interesting family stories (Merthyr-related obviously) they would like to share please get in touch.

The Pant Fever Hospital – part 1

by J Ann Lewis

In 1868 an epidemic of Typhoid and Typhus Fever started in Dowlais in 1868, and spread to Merthyr by April 1869.

Merthyr Guardian – 11 July 1868

The living conditions were poor; many houses were small and overcrowded, with no proper ventilation, having windows that could not be opened. One Dowlais family consisting of a mother and four children suffering from Typhus Fever were nursed in a bedroom that measured eleven- by seven-foot. Many were without proper toilet facilities, and others sharing facilities with three or four other families. The practice of throwing waste matter onto the road was still undertaken, thus polluting the vicinity, and many were fined for continuing to do so.

Fifty-three people died by the end of March; the reported cases of the diseases reached 360, during this epidemic, three of the four nurses employed and a doctor died after contracting the disease.

The Local Board of Health, under Section 37 of the Sanitary Act 1866, had the power to provide hospitals or temporary places for the reception of the sick, but not places for the admittance of people not affected by the disease. It was hoped that once they had provided a place for the sick to be nursed, the people that had been in contact with them could remain in their homes, if a policy was adopted of cleaning, whitewashing and disinfecting the houses from which the sick were removed.

The Board of Health decided that they had to open a hospital to stem the spread of the disease and try to relieve the appalling suffering of the local people. At first it was decided that a large tent would be ideal for the purpose, a committee member pointing out that tents had been well used by troops for years, but another member added that he knew where a building, or part of one, could be obtained for £1,000.

It was decided to go ahead with the purchase, and appoint carpenters for the erection of the buildings on the chosen site at Pantyscallog. Chris James, the farmer who owned the land, had a reduction of 10s per year on his land for releasing it through the Dowlais Iron Company for the hospital.

A map from the 1800s showing the site of the Pant (Dowlais) Fever Hospital

It was clear that the cases of Typhoid and Typhus fever should not be mixed – it was necessary to have separate hospitals for these diseases, and these again were sub-divided into male and female wards. Suitable rooms were erected as a kitchen and wash-house, and placed between the two hospitals to be used by both. To prevent trespassing on the adjoining grassland, fencing of post and rail was erected.

After the foundation was finished, the building took just four weeks to complete, being a wooden structure with a felt roof. During the building of the hospital, the death-toll had risen to 77, with the number of cases reaching 426. By the end of July, the furnishing of the hospital was complete, but by that time the epidemic had subsided, and it remained unused until the next epidemic.

The hospital was first named the Caeracca Fever Hospital, but was also referred to as the Pant or Dowlais Fever Hospital. It was able to accommodate 32 patients, and was only occupied when epidemics of the infectious diseases occurred – Typhoid, Typhus, Scarlet Fever, Smallpox and Measles.

Mrs Clark of Dowlais House obtained permission from the Board of Health for the private use of part of the hospital. Sixteen beds were allocated for eight male and eight female patients. There would be compulsory admissions – patients would only be admitted with their permission. This was a wise decision as the changes of recovery would be poor; if the patients were terrified of being admitted – believing they had been taken there to die instead of to recover. This fear was somehow connected with Mrs Clark’s hospital in Dowlais, and largely due to the ignorance of the people as to the type of nursing required.

Mrs Clarke’s hospital in Dowlais. Photo courtesy of the Alan George Archive

There was great concern among the committee as to whose responsibility it was to pay for the patients’ food. They wrote several times to the Home Office, and the Chairman of the Committee wrote privately to the Home Secretary dealing solely with the question of feeding. As no satisfactory answer was obtained, the Board of Health decided they would bear the expense themselves. When the question was asked “Who would pay for the beef tea?” the Clerk replied “Can’t you make the beef tea medicine?”. “We must”, came the reply, “and take the consequences”.

To be continued………

George Overton, Engineer

I’m sure we’ve all heard of Overton Street in Dowlais, but do we know about the person it was named after? George Overton, engineer, is a person who figures prominently in Merthyr’s History, but about whom very little is known.

Information about George Overton’s early life is very scanty, and sources differ as to his date of birth. Some sources state that he was born on 16 January 1775 at Cleobury Mortimer in Herefordshire (others say he was born in 1774), and the next 20 or so years remain a mystery. In his 1825 publication, A Description of the Faults or Dykes of the Mineral Basin of South Wales (right), however, he would describe himself as a practical man who had made and used tramroads “… during the greater part of the last thirty years … having surveyed and constructed roads of some hundred miles’ extent in different parts of the kingdom …”

By the turn of the 19th Century, he had moved to Merthyr, and worked on the Dowlais Tramroad, connecting the Dowlais Ironworks to the Glamorganshire Canal in about 1791-3. This new 4ft 2in gauge tramroad costing £3,000, allowed horse-drawn wagons moving coal and iron – his scheme enabling each horse to pull 9-10 tonnes going downhill.

Soon after this, Overton was working on the Merthyr Tramroad. Commissioned by the owners of the Dowlais, Penydarren and Plymouth Works to counter the control that Richard Crawshay of Cyfarthfa Ironworks held over use of the canal, the 4ft 2in gauge tramroad was nearly 16km long and ran between Merthyr Tydfil and Abercynon. The tramroad secured its place in history when Richard Trevithick’s steam test took place here in 1804, two years after Overton completed his supervision.

From 1803, Overton had an interest in Hirwaun Ironworks in the Cynon Valley, as a partner in Bowzer, Overton & Oliver. He constructed a tramroad from Hirwaun to Abernant (1806-8), followed by work on the Llwydcoed Tramroad for the Aberdare Canal Company, and Brinore Tramroad.

In 1805 Overton married Mary, and they would go on to have six children.

In 1818 he was consulted by mine owners in County Durham, beginning his involvement in the development of what became the Stockton & Darlington Railway. Two canal schemes had failed to materialise and Overton recommended a horse-drawn tramway. His survey detailed an 82km route that he costed at £124,000, and was the first ever survey for a railway. After difficulties with landowners and re-surveys in 1819 and 1820 to shorten the route, his work was taken forward to Parliament but on the passing of the Bill, steam railway pioneer George Stephenson (1781-1848) took over. Stephenson’s team undertook a new survey and the rest, as they say, is history.

Overton had very definite ideas about tramroads and railways and how to construct them. His design for wooden trams (wagons) was adopted across most of South Wales. His expertise in this field seems to have prevented him from fully appreciating the advantages of steam locomotion “… except in particular instances, and in peculiar situations.” His last project was Rumney Railway, a plateway from Rhymney Ironworks to the Monmouthshire Canal Tramroad near Newport. It opened a year after the Stockton & Darlington Railway.

In 1815 Overton and his family moved to Llandetty near Talybont-on Usk where he died on 2 February 1827.

Llandetty Hall – George Overton’s last home.