Tag: Dowlais

The Execution of Dick Tamar

In our last but one post (http://www.merthyr-history.com/?p=3174), mention was made of the arrest of Dick Tamar for the murder of his mother. Below, courtesy of Carl Llewellyn, is a transcription of the report of his confession and execution, that appeared in The Cambrian on 30 July 1842.

In a Second Edition of our last number, we published a report of the Execution and Confession of Richard Edwards, alias Dick Tamar, who at the last Assizes for this County was found guilty of the Murder of his Mother, Tamar Edwards. We this week republish the same for the information of our distant readers: –

This atrocious Criminal was executed at Cardiff this morning (Saturday). The convict was visited on Friday night by the Rev. Mr. Stacey, who remained with him for several hours. He seemed to be perfectly resigned to his fate, and frequently offered up prayers to the throne of grace for mercy in the last hour. We understand that several of the Dissenting ministers of Cardiff applied for permission to visit the wretched man, but that he declined seeing any spiritual teacher except the Reverend Chaplain, whose incessant endeavors to bring the poor creature to a proper sense of his situation, are beyond all praise.

Tamar slept soundly after the Reverend Chaplain left him. At twelve o’clock be awoke and left his bed. He expressed himself as being perfectly easy, and appeared firm and collected. At an early hour this morning (Saturday) crowds assembled round the goal, which gradually increased to about eleven thousand persons. At the dawn of day, the worthy Chaplain visited Tamar. Shortly before six o’clock, he asked for tea and bread and butter, and smoked a pipe with apparent unconcern. He observed to the Governor about this time that he was in “very good spirits”.

The Sheriff arrived at the goal at half-past seven in the morning. Edwards was then engaged in prayer with the Chaplain. Shortly before eight o’clock the Sheriff, accompanied by the officers of justice, proceeded to the condemned cell, and formally demanded the body of its miserable inhabitant. Having taken leave of the Chaplain, Edwards was placed under the hands of the executioner, who pinioned him in the cell. Dick repeatedly protested his innocence he underwent the terrible operation with remarkable firmness. The mournful procession then moved down the pathway in front of the Governor’s House, the Chaplain reading portions of the Burial Service. The convict did not show any fear, he wept slightly. Assisted by two turnkeys, he mounted the scaffold, on which he stood with the utmost firmness. Just prior to the rope being placed round his neck he said, “Hear me, I have been guilty of every crime except murder and thieving.” The fatal knot was then tied, and the cap drawn over the criminal’s face, not a muscle quivered – the bolt was then withdrawn, and Dick Tamar after one or two struggles ceased to exist. He did not appear to suffer much.

The body of the criminal was suspended for an hour, and then cut down. Several medical gentlemen were present for the purpose of taking a cast from the head.

Thus, died the Merthyr murderer whose name and crimes will be long remembered.

At the convict’s urgent request, the Holy Communion was administered him. On being asked how he felt, he said, “I have confidence, and hold fast in God’s mercy to me.” He frequently repeated the following verses, which he had committed at some previous time, to memory:-

Mae’r dydd bron myned heibio,
Mae’r haul bron myned lawr,
Mae’n amser ninnau’n tynu
Tua thragywyddoldeb mawr.
Mi af o flaen yr Orsedd,
Er dued yw fy lliw,
Pwv wyr na cha’i drugaredd,
Un rhyfedd iawn yw Duw.
O Arglwydd cladd fy meiau
Cyn fy nghladdu i,
Mewn eigion mor o angof
Sydd yn dy gariad di.
Ni alla’i ddim gwynebu,
Dydd y farn sy’ ddod,
Os na fydd claddu beiau
Cyn hynny wedi bod.

The following is a translation of the above:- “The day is nearly gone, the sun is nearly setting, and our time is drawing towards Eternity. I shall go before the judgement seat, though my crimes are so black; and who knows but that I shall obtain mercy, for God is wonderingly gracious. Oh! Lord, bury my sins before I shall be buried in the depths of Thy love; for I cannot face the day of Judgment, which is to come, unless my sins are buried before that lakes place”.

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

Remembering the Fallen

by Dr Meilyr Powel

Over the past few months I’ve been working on a small project to re-house a war memorial from the First World War. The plaque commemorates three members of Elizabeth Street Presbyterian Church, Dowlais, who were killed during the war: Able Seaman David Albert Stephens; Private Archie Vincent Evans; and Second Lieutenant Thomas Glyn Nicholas.

The plaque was discovered in a second hand ‘junk’ sale, and together with my supervisor at the time at Swansea University, Dr Gethin Matthews, we applied for a collaborative research grant from the First World War Network to re-house the memorial as an exhibition at Cyfarthfa Castle, Merthyr.

The project has now been completed, with the exhibition being unveiled to the public on Saturday 4 May during an afternoon of talks on Merthyr and the First World War. Two information panels accompany the display of the plaque, along with the production of a small booklet with additional information on the three men and war memorials in general.

The first name that appears on the war memorial plaque is that of David Albert Stephens. After doing some research, we know now that Able Seaman D. Albert Stephens was killed in the largest sea battle of the war, at Jutland on 31 May 1916. Albert, originally from Llandovery, married Dowlais born Catherine and had two young children, Katie and Thomas. They were all bilingual and Albert worked as a stoker in the local iron works when war broke out.

At Jutland, Albert was a gunner on board HMS Invincible, part of Rear Admiral Horace Hood’s 3rd Battlecruiser  Squadron, when it was hit in the turret amidships, which detonated the magazines below, caused a huge explosion, and split the ship in two before sinking. It took just 90 seconds for the Invincible to sink. Thousands of sailors perished at this fateful battle. Indeed, the Battle of Jutland involved around 100,000 men in 151 British and 99 German ships, and lasted 72 hours with over 8,000 shells fired. Only six out of 1,032 crew members of the Invincible survived, but Albert wasn’t one of them. His name also appears on Plymouth Naval Memorial.

Private Archie Vincent Evans is the second name on the memorial. Archie was born in 1892 in Treorchy to Thomas and Henrietta Evans.  He had three younger brothers, Tom, Trevor, and Harold, and lived at Lower Union Street, having previously lived at Horse Street. Archie and his parents were bilingual, although his brothers were noted as English speaking only. His father, Thomas, was a restaurant owner and former rail inspector, while Archie himself worked as a grocer’s assistant with William Harris and Sons in Alma Street.

Archie served with the 9th Battalion, Royal Fusiliers, which was part of 36 Infantry Brigade, 12th (Eastern) Division. It appears he was conscripted to the army in 1916, and in October that year his battalion launched an attack at Le Transloy, just west of the village of Gueudecourt on the Somme. The attack was a total failure, the battalion losing 15 officers and 250 other ranks that day. Archie, just twenty-four years old, was killed in the attack. His name also appears on the Thiepval Memorial to the Missing of the Somme.

Second Lieutenant Thomas Glyn Nicholas is the last name on the memorial. The son of Thomas Richard and Mary Jane Nicholas, and brother of Rees and Dilys, Thomas was articled to the solicitors D. W. Jones and Co. before volunteering for service in the army. His father had been a clerk at Lloyd’s Bank. Thomas was educated at Merthyr County School and Worcester Grammar School and seemed set for a long career in the legal profession before the war began.

Following the outbreak of war, duty called for Thomas, and on 15 July 1915 he received his commission as a Second Lieutenant. He was assigned to the 18th Battalion (2nd Glamorgan) Welsh Regiment. This battalion was formed in Cardiff in January 1915 as a Bantam Battalion, a battalion which had lowered the minimum height requirement for recruits from five foot three to five feet. However, he was soon attached to the 14th Battalion (Swansea Pals) Welsh Regiment.

Thomas was part of a working party with the 14th Battalion when he was killed in February 1917 at East Canal Bank on the Ypres Salient. Thomas was the only man in the battalion killed or wounded that day. He was just twenty years old. He is buried in Bard Cottage, Belgium, and his name also appears on Merthyr County School’s own memorial.

The Merthyr Express reported Thomas’ death and quoted Lieutenant-Colonel J. H. Hayes, writing to Thomas’ parents: ‘His death will be a great loss to the battalion. He was always cheerful under all conditions, however bad they were. I looked upon him as one of my most promising young officers.’

Elizabeth Street Church remembers

After the war, state and civil institutions began to commemorate the dead. Cenotaphs were erected in many towns and cities, with London’s Whitehall Cenotaph, unveiled on 11 November 1920, providing an official site of remembrance for the British, and later Commonwealth, dead. Many of the public monuments built in towns and villages throughout Wales were subsequently based on Edwin Lutyens’ design of the Whitehall Cenotaph.

Churches, schools, clubs, and societies also honoured their members who were killed during the war. Around 35,000 Welshmen were killed during the First World War and many of them are remembered on plaques such as this, from Elizabeth Street Presbyterian Church, Dowlais.

Rev Thomas James

David Albert Stephens, Archie Vincent Evans, and Thomas Glyn Nicholas were not the only members of their church to have served during the war.

In addition to several other members, the minister himself, the Reverend Thomas James, joined the Royal Army Medical Corps and served on both the French and Italian fronts.

This memorial plaque is representative of hundreds of chapels and churches across Wales which saw their members enlist in the forces during the First World War. The fact that so many Welshmen did not return home is testimony to the devastating impact of the war on communities across the country. In one church in Dowlais, it was felt deeply.

Elizabeth Street Chapel, Dowlais

Merthyr’s Chapels: Hermon Chapel, Dowlais

We continue our feature on the chapels of Merthyr with a look at one of the oldest and largest chapels in Dowlais – Hermon Welsh Calvinistic Methodist Chapel.

In 1791, an elderly lady named Mary Taylor moved to Dowlais from Dinas Powis, but upon arrival in Dowlais she found that she was the only Methodist in the area. She was soon joined however by a Mr Thomas Davies, and they started worshipping together. Gradually, others joined them, and they began worshipping at Pontmorlais Chapel in Merthyr before they were given permission to meet in Dowlais on the premises of Mr Thomas Williams, a local shoemaker.

As the congregation grew, they decided, in 1806, to open a Sunday School, and in 1810 they formed themselves into an established cause. The worshippers continued to meet in private houses until they took out a lease on the small Bethel Chapel; the Baptist Cause that had started there having failed.

The congregation continued to grow and in 1827 they decided to build their own chapel on a plot of land acquired at the bottom end of Gwernllwyn Isaf Farm. This was the first chapel of any importance to be built in Dowlais.

In 1837, the freehold of the land on which the chapel was built was purchased from Mrs Mary Overton, and it soon became apparent that chapel was too small to accommodate the ever growing accommodation. A new chapel was designed by Rev Evan Harris, minister at Pontmorlais Chapel, and the very large new chapel was completed at a cost of £2,000 and opened in 1841.

The interior of Hermon Chapel

It is interesting to note that  Josiah John Guest, owner of the Dowlais Ironworks, and a staunch Anglican, contributed £50 to the rebuilding of the chapel. The reason he gave was that he was pleased to hear that none of the congregation had participated in the Chartist Riots.

Hermon Chapel was subsequently regarded as one of the most important Calvinistic Methodist Chapels in Wales and became the mother church of Libanus Chapel, Calfaria Chapel, Elizabeth Street Chapel and Radcliffe Hall, Penydarren, as well as being prominent in the founding of Nazareth, Fochriw; Ysgwydd Gwyn, Deri and Gosen, Bedlinog.

The magnificent Nicholson organ in Hermon Chapel

In 1901 a new school room was built adjoining the chapel at a cost of £1,000, and in 1904 major renovations were undertaken costing £3,000, including £600 for a magnificent pipe organ built by Messrs Nicholson and Lord of Walsall.

With the redevelopment of Dowlais, the chapel was forced to close and in 1962, became the first of Dowlais’ chapels to be demolished.

Robert Rees – ‘Eos Morlais’

Robert Rees was born on Easter Sunday, 5 April 1841, in Dowlais, the son of Hugh and Margaret Rees. Both his parents hailed from Machynlleth, but they moved to Dowlais soon after they married where Hugh began working as a collier. His father died when young Robert was eight years old and his mother died soon afterwards.

Put in the charge of his uncle, William Ellis, at the age of nine he began working in the coal-mine.His uncle soon noticed that the boy had prodigious talent for singing and recitation, so William began to give him lessons in music. Robert supplemented these lessons by studying text books.

As an adult Robert joined the Libanus Chapel Temperance Choir under the leadership of David Rosser, and later, on Rosser’s retirement he became the choir’s conductor. He took the pseudonym Eos Morlais (Morlais Nightingale), in reference to the River Morlais, which ran near his home during his childhood. He won several prizes at local eisteddfodau as a vocalist and in 1867, at the age of 26, he won the tenor competition at the National Eisteddfod at Carmarthen.

In 1870, Rees moved to Swansea and became precentor at Soar Congregational Chapel. He took a course of instruction at the Swansea Training College and was successful enough to give up work to devoted his whole time to music. Rees served for three years as precentor of Walter Road Congregational Church in Swansea and he conducted in singing festivals and served as adjudicator.

Having heard him sing, the famous soprano Adelina Patti, as well as many other highly regarded musicians tried to persuade him to move to London to take formal musical training, and to pursue an operatic career. Robert refused, preferring to stay in Wales.

In 1874, at the National Eisteddfod, held in Bangor, Rees performed the song Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau and according to the Baner ac Amserau Cymru journal “had taken the Eisteddfod by storm”. Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau was subsequently adopted as the Eisteddfod song in 1880 and sung at every Gorsedd ceremony since. In 1887 Rees was invited to sing at the National Eisteddfod in London in front of the Prince of Wales, Albert Edward. Rees led the singing of God Bless the Prince of Wales and at the end of the meeting he also sang Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau, to which the prince and his family rose, the first time royalty had stood to the Anthem of Wales.

Rees sang throughout Wales and England and in 1879 he performed a tour of North America, and he was considered to be Wales’ finest tenor at the time, despite his lack of formal training.

Robert had married in 1865, and the early death of his wife, Margaret, on 11 April 1889 at the age of 45, affected Robert deeply. By the early 1890’s he also began to suffer from ill-health, and he was diagnosed with diabetes. At the time, diabetes had only been ‘discovered’ as an ailment a few years before, so treatment was rudimentary to say the least, and Robert’s condition gradually worsened. Despite his failing health, he continued to perform, and on 18 April 1892, he sang at the Independent Cymanfa Ganu at Bethania Chapel in Dowlais.

This would prove to be his last public appearance. His condition worsened, and he went to Langland Bay in an effort to help improve his health. Unfortunately, he contracted tuberculosis, and he died at his home in Swansea on 5 June 1892.

His death was mourned throughout Wales, and the route of his funeral procession from Swansea to Aberdulais was lined by hundreds of mourners. He was buried at Aberdulais Methodist Chapel. During the funeral, one of the speakers commented that it was apt that his last performance was in Dowlais – the town of his birth.

Company Sergeant-Major Charlie Jones

by Ann Lewis

I remember the above photograph of a handsome soldier in uniform, in a black frame taking pride of place in my parents’ living room. He was my father’s uncle, Charlie W. Jones, born at Dowlais, son of Mary and William Jones.

He served in the South African War with the 5th Welsh Regiment, being decorated with a medal. On his return to Dowlais, he, along with several other veterans of the war, was presented with a silver watch by the Dowlais Chamber of Trade at a public meeting. He was also presented with a long service medal by the Territorial Army. To date, however, I have been unable to obtain any information about his service in South Africa.

He was subsequently employed at the Bedlinog Colliery and lived at Greenfield Terrace, Gellifaelog with his wife Annie and his three sons.

At the start of the First World War, Charlie Jones, 37 years of age at the time, was promoted to the rank of Company Sergeant Major, number 59 in the 5th Welsh Regiment, and he was sent to fight in the Dardanelles. Sadly on 21 August 1915 he was killed in action and was subsequently buried at sea. Coincidentally, his eldest son, Private David J. Jones was also in action in the Dardanelles with the 5th Welsh Regiment (Gun Section). How he felt losing his father we can only imagine.

Charlie’s name is included on the Roll of Honour on the Helles Memorial in Turkey, and also on the Roll of Honour at the Merthyr Tydfil Conservative Club.

Merthyr Tydfil Conservative Club Roll of Honour

Our family has lost touch with Charlie’s side of the family, and I have often wondered if there are any of his grand- or great-grandchildren still living in the area, and whether they would be interested in having the original photograph.

If anyone has any information regarding CSM Charlie Jones, or of any of his family, please contact me at merthyr.history@gmail.com, and I will pass the information on to Ann.

Minnie James and the Temple of Peace – part 1

by Peter Garwood
(courtesy of the Welsh Centre for International Affairs)

In November 1938 Minnie James was thrust into the limelight when Lord David Davies decided that he would like to have a Welsh mother who had lost sons in the Great War to open the Welsh National Temple of Peace and Health on behalf of all mothers who had lost sons.

Minnie James from a Movietone news film about the opening of the National Temple of Peace.

But who was Minnie James? Peter Garwood, Wales for Peace volunteer, has been trawling through the archives to find out more.

Minnie James was born as Minnie Annie Elizabeth Watkins on 3rd October 1866 at Merthyr Tydfil.

Minnie Watkins married William James, a bachelor, age 23 on 1st January 1891, at the Parish Church in the Parish of Merthyr Tydfil, Glamorgan. The 1911 census shows the family living in a seven roomed house, 8 Cross Francis Street, Dowlais. William is working as a Clerk, Minnie has no listed occupation. The parents have been married for 20 years and have had eight children, six of whom are still alive. David is 19 and single and working as a Draughtsman, John is age 16, single and working as a Apprentice Fitter, Thomas is still in school. There are two new children: Winifred James age 7 born Merthyr and William James , age 1 born Dowlais. The family are sufficiently well off to have a General Servant, one Elizabeth A. Murphy, age 22, a single woman, born Dowlais.

Two children had died:

  • Elizabeth age 2 months who died and was buried 28th September 1901 at Merthyr Tydfil Council Cemetery Section.
  • Gwladys age 7, who died and was buried 6th March 1907 at Merthyr Tydfil Council Cemetery Section.

1914-1918: the impact of war on the James family

In 1914 the Great War broke out and men were quick to enlist. Minnie’s first son, David James joined the Welsh Guards, enlisting at Merthyr. He entered the theatre of war on 17th August 1915 in France. He was killed in action on 25th September 1916, age 24.

Like many men who died in the conflict of 1914-1918, his body was never identified and he is named on the Thiepval Memorial. He was awarded the British Victory and War medal along with the 1915 Star. His death was reported in the Western Mail on 13th October 1916.

The war ended in November 1918 but her second son Thomas had joined the 13th Welsh Regiment and had been wounded in France dying from wounds, age 21, on Christmas Day 1918. He was awarded the British Victory and War medal.

Her third son James, (known as Jack) had joined the Royal Welch Fusiliers and entered the theatre of war on 1st December 1915. He was wounded during the war, and awarded the British Victory and War medal along with the 1915 Star and the Silver War Badge for wounds. He was discharged on 28th January 1919.

However, he died on 23rd June 1920 at 8 Cross Francis Street, age 24 with his father present, eighteen months after his brother Thomas. His death certificate records the fact that the cause of death was “General Tuberculosis”. He was buried on 26th June 1920 at Merthyr Tydfil Council Cemetery, Pant.

All three sons who died in the Great War are commemorated by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.

Minnie’s husband William James died at the age of 68, he had served as a Special Constable in the Great War and was buried on 20th November 1936 at Merthyr Tydfil Council Cemetery, Pant.

……to be continued.

Original article can by found at:

http://wcia.org.uk/Senedd/WomenWarPeace_Stories_MinnieJames.html