Eddie Thomas – The Melting Pot – Merthyr Tydfil's History and Culture

Merthyr’s Lost Landmarks: High Street Railway Station

by Carolyn Jacob

Photo courtesy of the Alan George Archive

At one time most immigrants to Merthyr Tydfil simply walked unless they got a lift on a farm cart, but the few roads were poor. The early Iron-master, Anthony Bacon, built the first direct road between Merthyr Tydfil and Cardiff. The transportation of bulky iron products to the sea ports led to the building of the Glamorganshire Canal. The locomotives and trains of no less than six railway companies ran into the Merthyr station which had the title of ‘High Street’ rather than the more common ‘Central’.

The Taff Vale Railway had been first to arrive in Merthyr with a line from Cardiff and Pontypridd to their Plymouth Street station in 1841, followed by the Vale of Neath in 1853, soon to be taken over by the Great Western. These were followed by the Brecon & Merthyr whose operations stretched down to Newport and the London & North Western with their line from Abergavenny. The final arrivals were the Rhymney Railway with access provided from Quakers Yard by their joint line with the GWR, while the Cambrian Railway had running powers through to Merthyr. In 1922 all were absorbed by the GWR.

Isambard Kingdom Brunel was involved in railway projects here. ‘The railway sets you down in Merthyr at precisely the quaintest centre of the old town. There is an ancient atmosphere pervading‘, wrote Wirt Sikes, an American, in 1880. In 1856 Prince Louis Bonaparte arrived at the High Street station. On 1 April 1944, the King and Queen and Princess Elizabeth took the Royal train from the High Street station. Thousands of rails were manufactured here and the Dowlais Works sold rails to Russia, America and India. However, a hundred years ago the local Sunday trip or holiday was only to Pontsarn or the Brecon Beacons. During the Second World War many evacuees arrived by train. One evacuee wrote in a letter home; ‘we watch the trains arriving into Merthyr Tydfil railway station from the top of the slag heaps’.

In its heyday, the striking timbered roof, five operational platforms and more than 80 members of staff, ensured Merthyr High Street Station was in a class of its own. It had excellent facilities. There were refreshment rooms where first-class passengers could buy breakfast for 1s 6d. In 1945 the ticket boxes were open continuously except for 1.45pm to 2.45pm on Sundays and 12.30am to 4am on Mondays. There were toilets and brightly coloured advertisements for products such as Bovril and Venos’ Cough Cure. The waiting rooms were a pleasure to sit in, with large coal fires and plenty of seats. The station was kept litter-free and clean. High Street station cleaner Margaret Pritchard was so conscientious keeping the Merthyr Station spick and span that she accidentally polished over important finger prints after a robbery.

In the 1960s young fighters trained by former boxer Eddie Thomas would weigh on the scales in the goods depot at the station, the most accurate scales in town. The station a centre for local sporting life, filled with the sound of cooing racing pigeons and the raucous barking of whippet dogs. In 1953, after 98 years, the roof designed by Brunel was removed and in 1987 the fire-ravaged goods shed at the station was demolished.

In the 1960s Merthyr lost nearly all its passenger services except the Taff Vale route to Cardiff. In 1971 and new station building was erected but it was a shadow of its former self. The official opening of the present new Merthyr Railway Station was February 1996 by Councillor Ray Thomas. The new station which cost £500,000 to build was funded by the sale of the old station just 120 metres away.

Merthyr Y. M. C. A.

by Carolyn Jacob

The former Y.M.C.A. is a striking four-storey terracotta building occupying a commanding and elevated position at the northern end of the town centre at Pontmorlais, where it joins the Brecon Road. It is a Grade II listed property, which was re-listed on 13 January 1998.

Originally the Y.M.C.A. buildings at Pontmorlais cost £8,400 and, following a competition, they were constructed from the competitive designs of Ivor Jones and Sir Percy Thomas, architects from Cardiff.

The official opening was on 5 October 1911 by Mr Mervyn Wingfield.

The stated purpose of the building was to provide a place where youths and young men could congregate for healthy amusement, recreation and health giving exercise.

On the ground floor were offices 2 shops and a café, the first floor had a lecture hall which could seat 150 and also a billiard room with 2 tables, the second floor had a lounge, reading room, games room and a library, and on the upper floor there were

Other games rooms, a rifle range and gymnasium.

The Y.M.C.A. when it was the Labour Exchange.

In later years the building was occupied by the Board of Trade and the Labour Exchange and then became the District Education Offices. The Y.M.C.A. played a major role in the educational and sporting life of Merthyr Tydfil.

King Edward VIII visited the building when he stopped off in Merthyr Tydfil on his tour of South Wales in 1936. After seeing the Labour Exchange in the former Y.M.C.A. building, Edward journeyed to Dowlais, where he made the historic statement, “Something must be done”.

The British champion boxer and later manager, Eddie Thomas had a gym there and there was also a very active boxing club. The building was also used for further education courses before the present Merthyr College was built. This historic building ceased to be used as a District Education Office in 1989. During the 1990s there were concerns for its future and it was purchased by Nazir Mohamed in 2001. The building was sold by him in 2006 to property developers.

Merthyr’s Heritage Plaques: Eddie Thomas

by Keith Lewis-Jones

Plaque sited at CF47 8LR

Eddie Thomas, 1925-1997, was born in Merthyr.

He was a miner who won the Amateur Boxing Association lightweight title in 1946. He turned professional and became the British, European & Empire welterweight champion from 1949 to 1951. His weight difficulties and injury forced his retirement in 1952.

He became a very successful manager and took both Howard Winstone & Ken Buchanan to World Championships.

He was Mayor of Merthyr Tydfil in 1994 and later became a Freeman of the
Borough.

The Rhyd-y-car Flood

by Clive Thomas

40 years ago today Merthyr was shocked by the news that a culvert had burst in a mountain stream and the deluge had inundated Rhyd-y-car Cottages, killing two people and leaving countless others homeless.

December 1979 had been very wet and in the week after Christmas there was serious flooding in many parts of the Borough of Merthyr Tydfil. By Thursday 27^thmost of the usual areas had been affected, with some properties suffering severe damage. Initially, it was the southern end of the valley which seemed to bear the brunt of the flooding but to the north and near to the town at Rhyd-y-car however, a story of flooding was unfolding which was not only responsible for irreparable damage to property but would also cause the deaths of two people and bring an end to a small but long established community. Here, a breached culvert caused water to cascade from the hillside into a confined area of land occupied by two rows of cottages. The torrent, loaded with silt, stones and other debris surged into cottages, outhouses and along the gwlis and yards between, devastating the properties in its path. To compound the misfortune suffered here and despite heroic efforts by family and friends, recently widowed Mrs. Gladys Jones and lodger Mr. Danny Jones were to lose their lives in the tragedy. Other inhabitants who had been in imminent danger were fortunate to escape serious injury or worse.

Firemen entering an upstairs window at Rhyd-y-car Cottages following the flood. Photo courtesy of http://www.alangeorge.co.uk/index.htm

The cottages at Rhyd-y-car had been built on the banks of Nant Cwm Glo in the first years of the nineteenth century to house ironstone miners and their families who were needed to work at one of the newly opened mines belonging to the Cyfarthfa Ironworks. Twenty-nine cottages were built in two rows, with each unit consisting of a living room/kitchen and a single bedroom. At the back, on the ground floor in an outshot covered by a catslide roof was an extra bedroom and larder. Water would have been carried from the stream and there was no sanitation. Despite these obvious limitations and representing what we would view as a very basic form of habitation they would generally have been superior to the living conditions experienced by those arriving in Merthyr Tydfil from the Welsh countryside.

A section of the 1851 Ordnance Survey Map showing Rhyd-y-car Cottages

Although we have only scant information on the people who lived in the cottages in the first four decades of their existence, there is some evidence that they came mainly from the counties of Pembrokeshire and Carmarthenshire. The majority would have been Welsh speaking and brought few material possessions to furnish their new homes. By 1841 Rhyd-y-car was already a well established community with 90 per cent of the working population engaged in producing ironstone and coal from the nearby pit. Ten years later the cottages reached their peak in terms of population with a total of 169 inhabitants, averaging almost 6 per cottage. For almost a further one hundred and thirty years of Merthyr Tydfil’s fluctuating industrial fortunes the cottages housed families who formed part of a close knit and caring community.

By the 1970’s, notwithstanding the many changes that had taken place in the immediate locality, most of the inhabitants remained loyal to Rhyd-y-car , treasured and tried to improve their homes and this in itself is a tribute to the strong and steadfast community that existed there. Following the events of December 27^th1979 however, and despite the fact that some residents continued to express the wish to remain, it became inevitable that the cottages would have to be abandoned.

Movements for the preservation of significant aspects of Merthyr’s heritage were very much in their infancy at this time but there had been some notable successes. Dowlais Stables, parts of which had been in a state of collapse, the spectacular engine house at Ynysfach and the birthplace of Joseph Parry at Chapel Row had all been saved. Many people locally however, continued to emphasise lost opportunities and mourn the demolition of significant areas of industrial housing.

The decision to demolish and remove some of the Rhyd-y-car cottages, all be it in a piecemeal fashion,was seen as of little consolation and another loss to Merthyr Tydfil. Their survival at the museum in St. Fagan’s, with the potential for a part of Merthyr’s heritage to be seen by hundreds on a daily basis was hardly recognised and not given proper significance.

Nevertheless, negotiations were undertaken between the National Museum and the Merthyr Tydfil Borough Council and necessary plans laid to undertake the removal of six of the twenty-nine cottages to St. Fagan’s. Before demolition of course, the cottages were measured and recorded in great detail but because of the nature of the cottages’ construction individual stones or timbers were not numbered and repositioned on rebuilding. Within a relatively short period of time, Rhyd-y-car Cottages were erected on a carefully selected site and began their new and very different existence.

On Monday, 27 July 1987 The South Wales Echo announced that on the previous Saturday a special event had been held at the Welsh Folk Museum, St. Fagan’s to celebrate the official opening of Rhyd-y-car Cottages. Curator Dr. Geraint Jenkins who introduced the proceedings said, “Up until this time the museum’s efforts had been aimed at saving buildings from rural Wales but today we have been breaking new ground with the opening of a row of terraced cottages from an industrial town”and added,” the project was unique in Europe, if not the world by reconstructing the interiors and fabric of the buildings in different periods”.

One of Merthyr Tydfil’s famous boxing sons was present at the event and contributed by releasing a number of racing pigeons. Although not born at Rhyd-y-car, Mr. Eddie Thomas’ grandfather had lived at No. 26 with many aunts and cousins living in other cottages. Dr. Jenkins concluded by saying that, “The day belonged to Merthyr in celebration of the town’s contribution to Welsh Heritage”.

Merthyr’s Boxers: The First Boxing Champion of Merthyr

by Lawrence Davies

Along with the town of Pontypridd, Merthyr could rightly claim to be one of the foremost hubs of Welsh boxing history. Although many would no doubt prefer that his name had been forgotten altogether, Redmond Coleman was one of the first men to put Merthyr ‘on the map’ as a town capable of producing gloved boxing champions, whose names will no doubt ring down the ages, men like Eddie Thomas, Howard Winstone and the never to be forgotten Johnny Owen.

Redmond had ended up fighting for recognition at the Blue Anchor in Shoreditch, his well known reputation with the knuckles or ‘raw ‘uns’ having convinced the lightweight Welsh boxing champion, Patsy Perkins to step up and act as Redmond’s manager. Not too long afterwards Coleman floored challenger Curly Howell at the National Sporting Club in Covent Garden before an appreciative crowd of well heeled gents.

Coleman took out the Bristol man in less than a round, a devastating right hand to the jaw sending Howell to the boards, his head making a sickening crack on contact. Curly was out for the count. A promising boxing career appeared to be on the cards, but the ‘Iron Man’ of Merthyr apparently found London was not to his liking, and travelled home.

Although Redmond fought with gloves, it was with the knuckles that he was thought to be virtually unbeatable, and there were plenty of Merthyr men who were willing to step up and meet the challenge. Knuckle fighting had always been how the men had settled their differences, and it was ‘on the mountain’ that contests were usually fought.

The first Welsh boxing champion to receive widespread national recognition was Ned Turner, in the early 1800’s, and was thought to have been the second greatest lightweight in the country, showing such cleverness and skill in the ring he might be thought of as the very first ‘Welsh Wizard’.

There can be no doubt that his example inspired a number of his countrymen to seek recognition between the ropes of the old prize-ring soon afterwards.

It seems that one of the very first prominent fighting men of Merthyr was a pugilist named John Thomas. London was the centre of the prize-ring in those days, and it is in London that the appearance of Thomas was first noted, when he appeared at a benefit event held to raise funds for a veteran fighter. Thomas decided to ‘step up’ and meet an unnamed ‘Sawney’ or Scottish ‘champion’ who had previously appeared before the audience. Considering that Thomas had not sparred on the stage of the Tennis Court before, he did exceptionally well. The ’round hitting’ of the Scotsman was ‘well met’ by the ‘straight muzzlers’ of the ‘Welchman’. Thomas got the better of the ‘Scotch Champion’, and at the end of the contest ‘Taffy retired as proud as one of his native buck goats…’

This unexpected turn of events led to something of a rivalry between the two Celtic warriors, with it having been noted that the Welsh and Scottish ‘Champions’ met a number of times afterwards with both knuckles and gloves. Thomas would appear to have had a great deal of support from his backers at Merthyr, and boldly threw out a challenge to any man in England of his weight to meet him for anywhere between £50 and £100. One person who was greatly irritated by the challenge was Thomas’ Scottish rival, who quickly stated his desire to draw Thomas’s ‘…hot Welsh blood on the earliest occasion’, and claiming to have been in bad condition when they had first sparred. So sure was the Scotsman of his victory over the Welshman that he had also planned to travel to Merthyr to meet Thomas with the knuckles and hand him a beating, and was prepared to throw down a £20 deposit on the contest at the Bell Inn at Merthyr Tydfil…

Lawrence Davies

You can find out what happened next in ‘The Story of Welsh Boxing, Prize Fighters of Wales’ published by Pitch Publications, today, 1 June 2019.

An interview with the author can be read at the link below:

https://americymru.net/ceri-shaw/blog/5057/the-story-of-welsh-boxing-an-interview-with-lawrence-davies

The book can be ordered from Amazon, and is also available at branches of WH Smith, Waterstones and other bookshops. To read more about ‘The Story of Welsh Boxing’, please visit;

https://www.pitchpublishing.co.uk/shop/story-welsh-boxing

Merthyr: Then and Now

PENYDARREN HIGH STREET

For the latest in our series, we have three photographs showing somewhere that has altered beyond all recognition – Penydarren High Street.

At one time Penydarren High Street was lined by houses and shops; a chapel – Radcliffe Hall; a cinema – the Cosy, not to mention several pubs. Penydarren High Street was also the site of The Lucania where Eddie Thomas had his gym.

The first photograph shows the High Street in about 1910.

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

The next photograph taken just slightly further up the High Street is from 1972.

In this photograph you can see that the houses are still standing, if a little more weather-worn than previously, and Radcliffe Hall Chapel is at the bottom of the photo on the left hand side.

The last photo is from 2012 – nothing remains. That’s progress for you!!!

Merthyr’s Boxers: Howard Winstone

The series on Merthyr’s great boxers continues with arguably Merthyr’s greatest champion – Howard Winstone.

Howard Winstone was born on 15 April 1939 in Penydarren, the second of four children. He attended Penydarren and Gellifaelog Junior Schools and, encouraged by his father, showed early enthusiasm and aptitude for following Merthyr’s rich boxing tradition. He started boxing aged eleven, and in 1954 joined the gym opened by the former welterweight champion Eddie Thomas, a short walk from the Winstone family home. He won three Welsh schools titles, and one British title.

After leaving school he worked at a Lines Brothers Toy Factory where on 19 May 1956 his right hand was crushed by a power press, leaving him without the tips of three fingers. As a result of the accident he lost much of the punching power in his right hand and so had to change his style developing one of the fastest left hand jabs in the sport. Far from hampering Winstone’s career, in 1958 he won the Amateur Boxing Association’s featherweight championship, a gold medal (Wales’ only gold) at the British Empire and Commonwealth Games in Cardiff, and the Welsh Sports Personality of the Year Award – an honour he would receive on two further occasions, in 1963 and 1967.

Winstone won 83 of his 86 amateur bouts and hoped to box at the 1960 Olympics, but instead turned professional under Eddie Thomas’s management. He made his professional debut in February 1959 at Wembley Stadium, London, when he beat Billy Graydon on points over six rounds. He then proceeded to win his first 24 professional fights, at which point he was considered ready for a shot at the British featherweight title, and in May 1961 he fought Terry Spinks the holder of the title, and the 1956 Olympic gold medallist at the Empire Pool, Wembley. He out-boxed Spinks, forcing him to retire after ten rounds, and so claimed the British title.

He continued to win all his contests, and in April 1962 he defended his title against Derry Treanor, at the Empire Pool, winning by a technical knockout in the fourteenth round. The next month he defended his title against Harry Carroll in Cardiff forcing him to retire after six rounds.

His first defeat came in November 1962 – his 35th fight after 34 straight wins. He was beaten by Leroy Jeffery, an American featherweight, by a technical knockout in the second round after having been knocked down three times. In January 1963, he defended his British title for the third time, defeating Johnny Morrisey by a technical knockout in the eleventh round, and won the European title the same year, defending the title in May 1964, January 1965, and March, September and December 1966.

Winstone now set his sights on becoming the World Champion. In September 1965 he challenged for the WBA and WBC world featherweight titles held by the Mexican left-hander, Vicente Saldivar. The fight was held at Earls Court Arena, London and Saldivar won on points over fifteen rounds.

He challenged Saldivar again in June and October 1967, but was defeated on both occasions. Following the defence of his title in October 1967, Saldivar announced his retirement leaving his world title vacant. In January 1968, Winstone fought the Japanese, Mitsunori Seki for the vacant WBC world featherweight title at the Royal Albert Hall. Winstone won the contest and finally gained the world title.

In July 1968 he defended his newly won world title against the Cuban, Jose Legra, at Porthcawl, Wales. Although Winstone had beaten Legra twice before, he was knocked down twice in the first round. He continued fighting, but unfortunately he sustained a badly swollen left eye, which caused the bout to be stopped in the fifth round. Having lost the world title in his first defence, Winstone decided to retire at the age of 29.

He continued living in Merthyr Tydfil after retirement. In 1968 he was awarded the MBE. Later, he was made a Freeman of Merthyr Tydfil due to his boxing accomplishments. He died on 30 September 2000, aged 61.

In 2001, one year after his death, a bronze statue of Winstone by Welsh sculptor David Petersen was unveiled in St. Tydfil’s Square, and in 2005, he beat many other local luminaries to be named “Greatest Citizen of Merthyr Tydfil”, in a public vote competition run by Cyfarthfa Castle and Museum as part of the centenary celebrations to mark Merthyr’s incorporation as a county borough in 1905.

Merthyr’s First Boxing Champion

Most people know of Eddie Thomas, Howard Winstone and Johnny Owen, but how many of you know anything about Jimmy Wilde?

Jimmy Wilde, or “The Mighty Atom,” “Ghost with the Hammer in his Hand” and “The Tylorstown Terror” as he was nicknamed, was born on 15 May 1892 in Quakers Yard, but by the time he was 12, Jimmy’s family had moved to Tylorstown in the Rhondda. The son of a miner, Jimmy followed his father into the colliery, and being so small, he was able to crawl through gullies impassable to most of his colleagues, which undoubtedly helped develop his renowned strength.

He started boxing at the age of 16 in fairground boxing booths, where crowds were amazed by his toughness and ability to knock down much larger opponents, most of which were local toughmen weighing around 200 lbs. He left Tylorstown Colliery in 1913, and in 1916, Wilde joined the British Army and was sent to Aldershot as a PT instructor.

The record books often show that Wilde started boxing professionally in 1911, but it is widely assumed (and later confirmed by boxing analysts), that he had been fighting professionally for at least four years before that, and his officially listed debut was on 26 December 1910, when he fought Les Williams to a no-decision in three rounds. His first win came on 1 January 1911, when he knocked out Ted Roberts in the third round.

Managed by Teddy Lewis, reserve captain of Pontypridd RFC, Wilde went undefeated in 103 bouts, all of which were held in Britain, and on 14 February 1916, he won the British flyweight title by beating Joe Symonds by a knockout in round twelve at the National Sporting Club in London. On 24 April 1916, Wilde beat Johnny Rosner by a knockout in the eleventh round at Liverpool Stadium to win the IBU World Flyweight title. In December of that year Wilde became recognised as the first World Flyweight Champion (the IBU title was only recognised in Europe) when he defeated Young Zulu Kid of the United States whose corner threw in the towel during the eleventh round of their bout at the Holborn Stadium.

During the First World War, Jimmy Wilde served as a Sergeant Instructor, fighting professionally only twice in 1917, and three times in 1918. Following the War, Wilde went to America in 1919; he toured the States beating an assortment of mainly much heavier opponents. The Americans grew to love Wilde and to this day he is revered by American boxing fans.

By 1921, Jimmy Wilde was 28 years old, had fought in hundreds of contests (possibly up to a thousand including booth fights) against bigger men and had held his world title for four years. Now he was to suffer only his third defeat (in 128 fights) when matched in a non-title fight against Pete Herman, who weighed in at 121 pounds to Jimmy’s 108 pounds. Wilde returned to the ring out of a sense of obligation to defend his title against Pancho Villa on 18 June 1923. After losing by a knockout, Wilde announced his retirement.

Jimmy Wilde lived the last few years of his life in the Cadoxton district of Barry, South Wales. With his final boxing winnings, Wilde entered into several business schemes, including a Welsh cinema chain and partnership in a cafe at Barry Island that was named ‘The Mighty Atom’ cafe. None was successful and he spent his final years in poverty. In 1965, Wilde suffered a serious mugging at a train station in Cardiff, from which he never recovered. His wife, Elizabeth, died in 1967, and two years later Wilde died in a hospital in Whitchurch. He was buried in Barry Cemetery.

Wilde had a record of 139 wins, 3 losses, 1 draws and 5 no-contests, with 99 wins by knockout, which makes him one of the most prolific knockout winners of all time. Ring Magazine, a publication which named him the 3rd greatest puncher of all time in 2003, has twice named him the greatest flyweight of all time (March 1975 and May 1994). In 1990, Wilde was elected into the International Boxing Hall Of Fame as a member of that institution’s inaugural class, a distinction shared with all-time greats such as Sugar Ray Robinson, Harry Greb, Benny Leonard and Henry Armstrong. In 1992 he was also inducted into the Welsh Sports Hall of Fame and one of his prize winning belts is part of the organisation’s display. Wilde was ranked as the number 1 flyweight of all-time by the International Boxing Research Organization in 2006.

william_howard_robinson_a_welsh_victory_at_the_national_sporting_club_1919 — The Prince of Wales, later King Edward VIII, congratulates Jimmy Wilde after his defeat of Joe Lynch in 1919

If you wish to read more about Jimmy Wilde, check out the following website:

http://www.johnnyowen.com/jimmy_wilde.html