Tag: Cyfarthfa Castle

Keir Hardie: Leader of the Labour Party – part 3

by Carolyn Jacob

In January 1971 John Williams remembered James Keir Hardie in a Merthyr Express article called ‘The cloth-capped charismat’. There were only a few local people left who had seen James Keir Hardie in person. John recalled him as being of medium stature with white hair and beard. What made him stand out was that he walked firmly and always held his head. He looked dignified and serene. He was usually dressed in a tweed suit and soft collar. When he was but a small boy, John Williams remembered seeing him walking down Wind Street, Dowlais.

Famous people came to Merthyr Tydfil to support Keir Hardie’s election campaigns in 1906 and 1910. George Bernard Shaw was the principal speaker at Keir Hardie’s meeting in the Drill Hall. He was reported to have said: ‘If he met a working man who was not going to vote for Keir Hardie he would not talk to him, but he would put him in a museum as a curiosity.’ 

 Merthyr Express, 8 January, 1910.

In 1912 the Independent Labour Party had their annual conference in Merthyr Tydfil, and the Suffragettes also had their important meeting here.

 ‘It is greed, cruelty, selfishness and the exploitation of man by man which a world-wide Socialist movement must unite to end’.                                                              
Keir Hardie in the Merthyr Miners’ Hall, 1908, following a recent trip to India.

He was committed to international socialism and toured the world arguing for equality. Speeches he made in favour of self-rule in India and equal rights for non-whites in South Africa resulted in riots and he was attacked in newspapers as a troublemaker. After his visit to India he spoke about the exploitation of women and child labour and the huge profits which are made on the back of their labour. He pleaded for the workers to rally against injustice and oppression the world over.

He later found injustice closer at home, the Dowlais Works strike of 1911, and he used it to emphasise the need for class unity in face of the industrial unrest sweeping Britain. Dowlais was notorious for its anti-unionism and shocking work conditions. Keir Hardie saw to it that Dowlais got no government contracts until the strikers were reinstated but the moulders were not taken back. He seized the opportunity provided by the Royal Visit to Dowlais in 1912 to write an Open Letter to the King and ensure that the moulders were reinstated in their employment.  Nothing could be allowed to upset a Royal Visit.

‘The barber’s shop in which I worked was down by the Fountain, where Keir Hardie made some of his best speeches …… When I was thirteen or fourteen  I joined the Independent Labour Party and Hardie became the first Socialist candidate, and I remember that he used to share the constituency of Aberdare and Merthyr with D.A. Thomas, who later became Lord Rhondda’.

 Arthur L. Horner, Merthyr as I Knew it

21 years ago:- ‘It was tenaciously upheld by the public authorities, here and elsewhere, that it was an offence against laws of nature and ruinous to the State for public authorities to provide food for starving children, or independent aid for the aged poor. Even safety regulations in mines and factories were taboo. They interfered with the ‘freedom of the individual’. As for such proposals as an eight-hour day, a minimum wage, the right to work, and municipal houses, any serious mention of such classed a man as a fool’.

Keir Hardie’s , ‘Sunshine of Socialism Speech’ , 11 April 1914

He campaigned for such extreme and radical issues as home rule for Wales, old age pensions, votes for women, the nationalism of basic industries and the abolition of the House of Lords. The Merthyr Express of August 1907 reported that Keir Hardie had gone to America for his health. During a lecture he delivered on Socialism in Winnipeg, not only did someone run off with his hat but his vest and tobacco pouch also disappeared!

Although he shone on the public platform, it has been said that he was no politician as compromise was not in his nature. He preached that poverty was not inevitable but sprang from man-made conditions. Hardie declared that what was bad in the social system was not to be endured but abolished. However, he did enjoy some entertaining moments in Merthyr Tydfil. His 1910 election success was celebrated by a dance and reception at Cyfarthfa Castle at which he sang.

 ‘The man and his gospel were indivisible”. His simple heroism made our party and our world’.

Bruce Glasier

To be continued….

Keir Hardie: Leader of the Labour Party – part 2

by Carolyn Jacob

‘The condition of the miners is desperate. Over 100,000 are starving, or on the verge of it; a whole province lies waste, so far as productive labour and the means of life are concerned.’

Keir Hardie came to South Wales early in his career and attended a meeting of Aberdare miners in 1887. In the winter of 1896 he first visited the town of Merthyr Tydfil. Later he remembered that the evening was bitterly cold. Although the meeting was not large or enthusiastic, he knew that these were very early days. In 1898 Keir Hardie responded to the request to help the Welsh miners during the Great Welsh Coal Strike and he walked around the Valleys giving public talks and speaking to the men. He referred to this time as his ‘best ever holiday’. During the Cambrian Collieries dispute, Keir Hardie used parliament to denounce army and police thuggery. He embarrassed the Home Secretary, Churchill, by giving all the details about government-sponsored violence against miners and their families.

After soldiers shot strikers at Llanelli during the Railway Strike in 1911, he wrote a pamphlet, Killing No Murder, to expose the government even more. Keir Hardie was equally prepared to align himself with any worker in struggle.

He campaigned passionately against poverty and was proud to be called the ‘member for the unemployed’, campaigning for the minimum wage and an end to child poverty. He pioneered social welfare, advocating a national health service financed from taxation.

‘His love of justice is quite genuine and you will find that he is respected by men who are attached to that attribute’.

Hiliare Belloc, letter to Wilfred Blunt, 18th April, 1911

‘I have said, both in writing and from the platform many times, that the impetus which drove me first into the Labour movement, and the inspiration which has carried me on in it, has been derived more from the teachings of Jesus of Nazareth than from all other sources combined .

James Keir Hardie explaining the influence of Christianity on his beliefs, 1910.

In his address in Cyfarthfa Park in July 1909, he spoke on the text ‘Give us this day our daily bread’ and concluded that, ‘Christ was not only thinking of bread, but of all the requirements of a healthy, human life. There were thousands of homes within the Merthyr constituency, which he had the honour to represent, where the bread-winner toiled from morning till night, and yet poverty was always hunting the home. He believed that there would never be true Christianity until they had Socialism. Was it Christianity for the rich to oppress the poor; for the Government to spend millions in building up war machines for the destruction of human life and grudge hundreds for the relief of poverty? Was it Christian for the Liberal Prime Minister to refuse to see a deputation of women asking for the vote, and then to have a hundred sent to prison because of that refusal? The present system was anti- Christian and, in many respects, anti-human as well’.

Keir Hardie enthusiastically congratulated the new Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Council for purchasing Cyfarthfa Castle and Park. It was wonderful that working people now owned the home of a wealthy ironmaster, ‘This is all yours now’ .

‘When he was the only member of the Labour Party in the House of Commons, he did not mind that. To him it had never mattered whether he stood alone or as one of ten thousand, so long as he knew his principles to be right. Whether it be in public or in private life, that which distinguished a man in the truest sense of the word was that he should have a mind of his own, and not simply be one driven thither and thither by every wind, and swayed by every gust that blew’.

Speech by Keir Hardie in Cyfarthfa Park, July 1909

To be continued…..

Merthyr: Then and Now

CYFARTHFA

by Jason Meaker

Cyfarthfa Works in the 1870’s. Photo courtesy of http://www.alangeorge.co.uk/index.htm

The first photograph, above, shows a view over the Cyfarthfa Ironworks towards Cyfarthfa Castle.

Opened in 1765 by Anthony Bacon, Cyfarthfa Ironworks was leased by Richard Crawshay in 1786, and by the beginning of the 19th Century was the biggest ironworks in the world.

The Cyfarthfa Works closed in 1910, but re-opened briefly during the First World War to produce steel for armaments. The works finally closed completely in 1919, and were dismantled beginning in 1928.

The second photograph, below, shows roughly the same view. All trace of the once mighty Cyfarthfa Works has gone, but Pandy Farm and Cyfarthfa Castle still remain.

Cyfarthfa 2018

Merthyr’s Lost Landmarks: Gwaelodygarth House

Although the ‘shell’ of Gwaelodygarth House remains, it is a far cry from the building it one was.

Photo courtesy of http://www.alangeorge.co.uk/index.htm

Originally built for the Crawshay family, Gwaelodygarth House dates from the early 19th century and was probably built by Richard Crawshay around 1809, possibly for his son-in-law Benjamin Hall. It was a classic mid Georgian building of generous proportions and balanced design.  William Crawshay II lived here before Cyfarthfa Castle was built and then it was sold to a local solicitor, William Meyrick for £2,500.

There is a rumour that Gwaelodygarth House is haunted by the ghost of one of Crawshay’s mistresses who was locked in the attic here to keep her away from his wife.

On the edge of the Cyfarthfa Estate, the house stood in its own grounds of parklands and ornamental gardens, surrounded by a great deal of farmland, The approach was by two driveways, from the east and from the west, one of which was adjacent to a period lodge.

Gwaelodygarth House as seen on a map dated 1875

The house was subsequently home to the Berry family and Henry Seymour Berry lived here from 1912, until he sold it to Guest Keen and Nettlefolds.

It became a domestic training institution and then a school for female evacuees during WWII. In September 1950 Gwaelodygarth House was opened as a Training School for Nurses by Dr Stuart Cresswell, and in June 1979 it became a Mental Health Day Unit.

The hallway at Gwaelodygarth House when it was a nurses’ training school. Photo courtesy of Ann Lewis

The house was in reasonably a good condition until a serious fire in August 2003 destroyed part of the building. Gutted and roofless following the fire upper floor of left-hand range collapsed.

Gwaelodygarth House in 2005. Photo courtesy of http://www.alangeorge.co.uk/index.htm

Gwaelodygarth House has now been converted into townhouses, and several further properties have been built in the grounds of the former mansion.

A Short History of Merthyr General Hospital – part 2

by Ann Lewis

As the years passed the demands on the hospital increased and there was a serious lack of accommodation, so much so, that many urgent cases had to be sent to the Workhouse Infirmary. The Board of Governors felt that while there was nothing wrong with the treatment the patients received at the Infirmary, it was unfair that these men, who would have had to pay between 15 and 16 shillings a week for their maintenance there (a great deal of money in the 1910-20s) as they were already contributing to the fund of the General Hospital.

The doctors and staff were greatly concerned and approached Mr Henry Seymour Berry (right). Mr Seymour Berry, who later became Lord Buckland, was another man who played a prominent part in the development of the hospital.

After being approached, Seymour Berry offered a site on the Gurnos Estate (obviously before the development of the Gurnos Estate as we know it today), which was the area behind his home at Gwaelodygarth House, and £10,000 to erect temporary buildings to meet the emergency. His offer was rejected however, as it was felt that the site was inaccessible both for the patients and staff.

At one time, the Board of Governors had intended to purchase part of the Avenue to extend the hospital to accommodate between two to three hundred beds. It was decided to use the £10,000 to extend the hospital with two more wards, which cost just over £14,000 to complete. A lift and long corridor connected the front section with the new wards. A plaque was erected in the corridor which reads:-
“This building was presented by Mr and Mrs H. Seymour Berry as an addition to the Merthyr General Hospital October 1922”.

One ward was named after his mother Mrs M. A. Berry, the other after his mother-in-law Mrs R. Sandbrook. The  building was  intended to  last  10  years  although I  doubt if  Lord Buckland would  have  realised  it would still be in use 63 years later, for the care of the geriatric patients, while St. Tydfil’s Hospital was being upgraded.

Sandbrook & Berry Wards

At Whitsun of 1923 the people of Merthyr held the first Fete and Gala in Lord Buckland’s honour, with all the proceeds in aid of the hospital. The carnival pageant which started at the fountain at the bottom of town stretched over 2 miles. It took over 1½ hours to travel through the town to be judged in front of Cyfarthfa Castle. There was the children’s fancy dress parade and many floats, one with the old woman who lived in a shoe and another holding the ‘Fete Queen’.

Miss Enid Mann being crowned the ‘Fete Queen’ in 1936

This first fete proved a great success and continued for 25 years with thousands attending each year to witness events like the death defying dive from a high platform into a tank of water, tight-rope walkers, comedy acrobats, gymnasts, and for many years there was a football match on bicycles with Merthyr vs. the rest. There were the horse and dog shows.  And if anyone required a cup of tea it could be bought at the big tent. The Brass Bands played in the bandstand, and there was fierce competition between the many jazz bands taking part, some playing their ‘guzutes’. Great fun!

Each political ward throughout the Borough had their own stalls and there was friendly competition one against the other to see who could raise the most money. The young nurses in full uniform were sent around the town with collecting boxes and by the time they reached the park their tins were full.

In these 25 years £60,000 had been raised with a debt of gratitude owed to the committee and the ladies of the Borough for the many hours of voluntary work put into making it such a success.

Even though the fete and Gala was a great money making event, it was by no means sufficient for the smooth running of the hospital. We have already mentioned the weekly contributions, and  the  gifts and  bequests but events like dances, whist  drives, cricket   matches etc., were  held  throughout the year. Most Merthyr people were involved one way or another and local clubs, societies and later factories contributed and took a pride in supporting their hospital.

When the Dowlais and Merthyr United Choir went to the Queen’s Hall in London in 1936, 80% of the 220 choristers were unemployed, but all proceeds went to aid the hospital.

Dowlais United Choir at Queens Hall in 1936

To be continued…..

Professor Julie Williams C.B.E.

by Irene Janes

Here is a name to remember – Professor Julie Williams C.B.E, world leading Figure in the research of Alzheimer’s Disease.

Julie Williams is still very much alive, kicking and still researching, and her research is making a huge difference worldwide but I am just so afraid like other famous women if her works are not recognised in Merthyr they will never be heard of let alone forgotten.

Professor Julie Williams

Well I am not sure about you, but when I was about seven I read The Famous Five and my weekly magazine, Princess. Perhaps this is why I have not and ever will receive a Royal honour.

At the age of seven, little Julie (then Baker), would be professor, from Cefn Coed, loved horse riding, ballet and playing football. However, between scoring goals and pirouetting around on horses Julie may have missed the fact Richard Burton had married (for the first time) Elizabeth Taylor or the Welsh Office was established. It was more likely her pin up poster would not be of Howard Winstone but that of the great British Physicist and Chemist Michael Faraday. This was because one day in W.H.Smiths Julie picked up a leaflet about Faraday which she admits she did not understand but piqued her interest. In addition to this, a B.B.C. programme, “The Ascent of Man” (1973), set her on a journey and where others now follow her.

Her schooling at Vaynor and Penderyn Grammar School served her well, and when The University of Wales Institute of Science and Technology, in Cardiff beckoned, Julie welcomed the opportunity to make the most of the many horizons now open to her. The one horizon we celebrate here is her studying psychology to PHd level. Her fascination of how a human brain works is as strong now as it was as an undergraduate. The idea of ‘How molecule changes can produce some sort of thought processes’ became and still is her focus. After her research work with schizophrenia, Julie turned her attention to Alzheimer’s, which is more prevalent today than ever. We all know someone inflicted by it.

In Wales 2,500 people under the age of 60 have this disease and that figure is expected to rise.

Julie’s academic and research successes could fill pages and I salute them all, alas, there are too many to mention here. The details are on the internet for you to read at your leisure. Here are just some of the professors’ academic achievements:

  1. March 1991 – April 1992 – research Assistant.
  2. August 1999 – October 2001 – Reader in Neuropsychological Genetics at the Department of Psychological Medicine, University of Wales College of Medicine
  3. 2010 – 2011  – Member of the Welsh Government Advisory group on Dementia.
  4. October 2012 – September 2013  – Dean of research at Cardiff University School of Medicine.
  5. September 2013 – September 2017 –  as Professor of Neuropsychological Genetics. Chief Scientific Advisor for Wales Julie and her team were successful in winning the largest Marie-Sklodowska Curie Fellowship grant plus funding from the European Structural Funds, thus bringing to Wales over £60m for research so amounting to over £23m.

Now Julie and her team, with funding from the U.K. Dementia Research Institution, are concentrating on thirty genes that pose the risk of developing Alzheimer’s. Such is the importance of eradicating or controlling this disease £250m made available by the U.K. Medical Council.

Today she acclaimed as a world leader in her field of research.

It is hardly surprising that in 2012 Professor Julie Williams, in recognition of her dedication and research was awarded the C.B.E.

Away from Royal recognition now, and back to Merthyr and Julie’s roots. Out of general interest, her father Eric Baker had a Ford dealership. For twenty years her mother Terry ran the W.R.V.S. shop and coffee shop, in Prince Charles Hospital.

Here is a link no matter how tenuous but one that makes my imagination bridge the years. Her grandfather Henry Edwards worked and lived as caretaker in Cyfarthfa Castle. I like to think Rose Mary Crawshay, (wife of Robert Thompson Crawshay) who fought for the education and advancement of women (see my previous article – http://www.merthyr-history.com/?p=1934) and founded Vaynor School, where Julie became a pupil, is smiling down with pride on Professor Williams.

Demolishing Cefn Railway Bridge

submitted by Carl Llewellyn

While perusing the old Merthyr Expresses I came across an article written on 16 July 1970 entitled:-

Down Comes Link With Railways Pioneers

On 6 July, 1970, Cefn Railway Bridge, which spanned the Cefn Coed High Street was demolished after 104 years due to its unsafe condition. Demolition began at 08:00 a.m. and was completed with about four hours.

Cefn Railway being demolished

The bridge was a continuation of the Cefn Pontycapel Viaduct which completed in 1866 at a cost of £25,000 (equivalent to £2.1 million). The routing of the railway it served, may have been affected by the strong pressure from the powerful Crawshay iron masters.

Cefn Coed High Street showing the Railway Bridge in the early 20th Century

The viaduct was built by Thomas Savin and John Ward, his brother-in-law, to designs prepared by Alexander Sutherland. It had been described as a graceful and majestic structure, one of the finest viaducts in South Wales, being built on a graceful curve which added much to its beauty. With fifteen arches 40 feet each, it has a total length of 725 feet and a height of 115 feet.

Saviour

The Viaduct came into being after many trials and tribulations. At the beginning of 1866 a crisis occurred – Thomas Savin who with John had been managing the railway, and had been paying the shareholders their guaranteed five percent, was overwhelmed by his commitments and failed disastrously, nearly bringing down the finances of the Brecon and Merthyr Junction Railway with him. Other legal frays remained a prominent feature of their lives for the following four years. But despite all this the railway was completed.

The saviour of the venture was Alexander Sutherland who produced an alternative route into Merthyr, which avoided Cyfarthfa Castle by going down the West side of the valley and so won the support instead of the emnity of the Crawshay Family. This was achieved at great engineering expense.

It has been said that a bribe was accepted to divert the railway line around the Crawshay property instead of through it.

The six and three-quarter miles between Pontsticill and Merthyr involved a descent at 1 in 45-50 feet and between Morlais Junction and Merthyr and two complete reversals of direction.

At one stage in the construction of the Pontycapel Viaduct, the stone masons went on strike which meant that the bricklayers had to be called in. This is why one sees bricks lining the underneath of the arches while the remainder of the structure is stone.

The last brick was ceremonially laid by Mrs Sutherland in 1866, but there were further interruptions due to contracting difficulties and it was not until 1 August 1867 that the line was opened from Pontsticill to Cefn, which then replaced Pant as the terminus for the Merthyr horse bus.

The word Pontycapel means bridge to the chapel – it did in fact lead over to a chapel although it is believed that there was a Roman Catholic church at Tai-mawr.

Mr Elwyn Bowen, headmaster of Ysgol-y-Graig Junior School and local historian, said he was told by his Uncle, who would have reached the age of some 90 years, that when the footings were being dug for the viaduct a number skeletons were unearthed.

Cefn Viaduct during construction

Merthyr’s Lost Landmarks: Penydarren House

In the very first volume of the Merthyr Historian, published in 1976, the eminent local historian Margaret Stewart Taylor wrote an article entitled ‘The Big Houses of Merthyr Tydfil’. One of the houses she mentions is Penydarren House.

That excerpt is transcribed below, with the kind permission of Dr Fred Holley, President of the Merthyr Tydfil Historical Society.

Penydarren Place, or as it was also called, Penydarren House, was the first luxurious house in Merthyr and I imagine it must have been a status symbol, something that made younger men envious. The Penydarren House we knew, that was pulled down about ten years ago, had been divided into two, Penydarren House and Penydarren Place, but the rooms inside were off fine proportions and showed what a grand mansion it was originally. It was built about 1786 by Samuel Homfray, joint owner of the Penydarren Iron Works with his brother Jeremiah. The two were sons of a Staffordshire ironmaster, Francis Homfray. He started the Penydarren Ironworks and besides three sons, also had two daughters who married Crawshays.

Elizabeth Homfray was the wife of the William Crawshay who built the Castle in 1813, when her brother’s grand house was in its glory. There is a description of Penydarren Place by J. G. Wood in that year:-

“The splendid Mansion of Mr. S. Homfray at Penydarren- situated upon a gentle declivity – is sufficiently removed from the town by the extent of the pleasure grounds, and contains all the conveniences and luxuries requisite for a family of wealth and importance. The gardens, which at first wore the appearance of sterility and barre­ness are now abundantly productive. The hot-houses, grape-houses, etc., furnish their respective fruits in profusion; and walks laid out with taste and judgement present several points from whence the silver Taff may be seen to great advantage.”

Penydarren House

Samuel  Homfray is said to have entertained lavishly until he left Merthyr after becoming High Sheriff of Monmouthshire in 1813. He also owned the Tredegar Ironworks. He went to reside at Bassaleg, and became a Member of Parliament, while Penydarren House was inhabited by William Forman,  who had put a great deal of money into the Works and was one of the owners. Forman was an ordnance agent at the Tower of London, then headquarters of a government arsenal, and he was known in the City of London by the nickname of ‘Billy Ready Money’, owing to his wealth and readiness to finance speculative ven­tures. A smaller house, Gwaelodygarth Fach, later known as the Cottage, and only demolished after the war, was built at the top of what is now The Grove for one of his sons, Edward. This Edward Forman was an enthusiastic swimmer and intended to have a swimming pool in the grounds, but before it was dug, he went, as he often did, to swim in the Blue Pool, Pontsarn, had an accident there, and was drowned in 1822. The name Forman survives in Forman Place, near Garth Villas.

Penydarren House was demolished in 1957.

Detail from an 1875 map showing Penydarren House

Margaret Taylor Stewart’s full article can be read in Volume 1 of the Merthyr Historian.

Rose Mary Crawshay – part 1

by Irene Janes

Most of my life (67 years of it) the surname Crawshay has sent shivers down my spine and an innate hatred of the dynasty of Iron Masters of Cyfarthfa.

A few years ago, I came across a woman with intelligence, foresight, determination and inspiration, Rose Mary Yates, also known to us as, Mrs Robert Crawshay. True she is not a native of Merthyr Tydfil or Wales but her efforts transcend boundaries and time.

Rose Mary Crawshay in the 1870’s

As is the case of many wealthy, bored and unemployed women, charity work is often the ‘hobby’ of choice. With Rose Mary, this may have been true in the beginning. However having completed my little bit of research I see a different woman.

It could have been one evening, sitting in her home, with its turrets and three hundred and sixty five windows, she sat in front of yellow leaping flames throwing its heat from the coal dug out from one of her husband’s mines.  Her silk dress with layers of frilly petticoats may have rustled as she turned the pages to find one of her favourite poems by Lord Byron. With daylight fading perhaps, her attention wondered beyond the parklands walls to other yellow leaping fires of her husband’s family iron works in Cyfarthfa. Her life to those women and men labourers could not have been more different. Her home fire kept her warm, the works fires killed and maimed. Rooms she had many but in the town families were squashed into windowless, two roomed cellars with damp running down the walls. Children of all and any ages sent out to work, steal or beg, it didn’t matter which as long it was to help with their families’ survival.

If she was, a charity hobbyist this soon changed to philanthropist.

She organised soup kitchens and instructed them to be open three days a week. With the bodies of the needy and poor being fed, Rose Mary turned her attention to their overall well-being. She set up classes to encourage women to make clothes and make the patterns from old newspapers.

Books were given to her husband’s workers. Nevertheless, this was not enough for this particular Mrs Crawshay who knew the importance of education. In total, she opened seven libraries.

The citadel for working class males were the Workmen’s Institutes. Apart from socialising and drinking of beer it was here, the men could access text books and newspapers for knowledge or pleasure. Quite rightly, Rose Mary saw the inequality of it all. To counterbalance this she ensured her libraries opened on a Sunday too so women had the same opportunities.

Still recalled today, Abercanaid, February 1862 forty-nine men and boys were killed either from suffocation or burns in the Gethin Pit explosion. The pit had been sunk by William Crawshay II to provide coal for the Cyfarthfa works. Rose Mary visited every family who had lost some one in the disaster. Indeed, here is a woman who knew her own mind and no Iron master was going to stop her.