Tag: Merthyr Express

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.

Some little little distance below the bridge of the Taff Vale branch to Dowlais is come by – the objection to obtaining the parliamentary powers to make which has already been alluded to, but one thing was done that has not been stated. The minerals under Scyhorfawr (sic.) land were in the hands of the Plymouth Company (or rather Mr A. Hill, for he had become sole proprietor), and to prove they had not been all worked a pit was sunk as near as could be to the centre line of the intended railway. Persons called it “spite pit”. However, it was done for a purpose, and it answered it.

Sir Josiah John Guest

The terms of the settlement have been mentioned, but the various fencings cannot be. I can recall one rather angry meeting in which Mr E. J. Hutchings tried to make things smooth, with some success. This was the last fight between Sir J. John Guest and Mr Anthony Hill. They had had many encounters before, and found each other sturdy opponents, and Anthony Hill, on being told of Sir John’s death, with tears in his eyes, said: “Ah what fights we have had”.

Sir John was a Whig, Mr Hill a Tory. They differed, therefore, in political matters, but it was in other matters they combated most; for instance, Sir John was chairman of the Taff Vale Railway Company, and wanted the line to be made in a straight line from the Troedyrhiw Station, keeping the old church tower as a guide. This would have materially affected Plymouth, and as anyone can now see, Mr Hill compelled its making with the minimum of injury either by way of severance or otherwise to his works.

Sir John is buried in Dowlais; Mr Hill in a lonely grave in Pontyrhun. Peace to their manes. I can bear testimony to the goodness of both. It may not be remembered very clearly, but Troedyrhiw Farm was then the freehold of the Dowlais Company, and upon the parting of Guest and Lewis it became solely Mr Lewis’s, and by the irony of fate the minerals are worked by pits sunk by Mr Hill, thus forming a part of what is yet known as Hill’s Plymouth Collieries, although the one who gives the name has passed away above 40 years.

Troedyrhiw Farm. Photo courtesy of the Alan George Archive

By way of antithesis to differences, let me cite a case of another description. The ownership of some land was determined by by the course of the river, and the different properties were leased to ironmasters. Time rolled on, the surface was of little account, so that the river spread out and shifted the course of it’s ordinary current. When the working of the minerals was approaching, the line of the boundary necessarily arose. Instead of litigation or any unpleasantness, those that were interested arranged together in a friendly way, and showed a modern instance of what Pope said of the man Ross:

Is there a variance? Enter but his door.
Baulk’d are the courts, and contest is no more.

To be continued at a later date.

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.

A Great Night Out

Below is an example of some the varied entertainment that was available in Merthyr in years gone by. All of these adverts appeared in the Merthyr Express 70 years ago today.

How time have changed.

Merthyr Express – 5 July 1952

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.