Tag: Thomastown Park

Keir Hardie and White Slave Traffic

The article below is transcribed appeared in the Aberdare Leader 110 years ago today.

“Bring the Names to the Light of Day.”

KEIR HARDIE AND WHITE SLAVE TRAFFIC.

A meeting was addressed by Mr Keir Hardie at Thomastown Park, Merthyr, on Sunday evening. Mr Hardie, referring to the Queenie Gerald case, said he wanted the facts to be known, and he wanted Liberals and Tories to face the facts, not as Liberals and Tories, but as fathers and mothers.

Some vigilance officers saw two young girls, with their hair down their backs, walking about Piccadilly. One of the girls told them that they were inmates of a house kept by rich men. The outcome was the arrest of the woman. Her books were seized and her letters, and the prosecuting attorney told the Court that these letters and books showed her rooms to be one of the worst dens in London, and patronised by rich men. There were letters asking for young girls to be procured. The woman herself pleaded not guilty.

When the case came on for trial she pleaded guilty, and she was sent to prison for three months in the second division. When the case first came before the Court it was said that these men, who Mr Hardie said had bribed her with hundreds of pounds to do their foul work, could be prosecuted for their deeds and actions. When the case came on a second time all that was dropped. The woman pleaded guilty much against her will.

“How much she was paid for pleading guilty may never be known,” said Mr Hardie, “but the whole thing looks like a plot to ward rich and titled men.” These girls were but the victims, he went on; the real criminals were those who paid big prices to demoralise them. If they wanted to suppress the white slave traffic there was no better way of doing it than by bringing into light of day all the names of the men. (Applause.)

– Aberdare Leader 16 August 1913

Some Corner of a Foreign Field – part 1

by David Collier

How did our forebears live their lives in their home communities and what happened to those that moved away, sometimes to far distant lands, in search of better lives or because duty called them for military service?

A small but dedicated group have been working for some years to rescue the graveyard of the former Saron Welsh Independent Chapel in Troedyrhiw from the effects of many years of neglect.

Saron Chapel, Troedyrhiw

From an early stage in this project members of the team began to photograph the surviving headstones and monuments and to transcribe the memorial inscriptions.  These, together with memorial type, language, lettering and symbolism revealed interesting information about our forebears (those buried and the people that buried them) and their lives over a period running from the 1830’s up to the early 1980’s. Such findings combined with the results of further research provide details for particular individuals and families  including names, dates and places of birth, dates of death together with ages and causes, relationships, occupations, economic status, military service, tragic events, religion, cultural and leisure pursuits.

An intriguing aspect of these enquiries has been the discovery of a significant number of Troedyrhiw people who once emigrated or were deployed to places far from home. Quite a few of these were never to return. The following three examples have been chosen to illustrate this.

JOHN W. WILLIAMS

It is likely that John Williams, a native of Troedyrhiw, having honed his mining skills in local collieries, decided to emigrate to the goldfields of Canada to ‘seek his fortune’. The inscriptions on the headstone of his family grave in Saron Graveyard, Troedyrhiw can now only be read with difficulty. They include the following:-

IN MEMORY OF
JOHN W. WILLIAMS
LATE OF TROEDYRHIW
HE DIED MAY 3 1877
AT 52 YEARS OLD
BURIED AT OHANACAN BRITISH COLUMBIA

‘Ohanacan’ would appear to be a reference to the Okanagan region of British Columbia. A Canadian newspaper published 18 May 1877 refers to a miner named Williams who was killed at the beginning of May 1877 during gold mining activities at a place called Mission Creek.

Newspaper record of the death of a miner called Williams

The above information is supported by a report from British Columbia’s  Gold Commissioner, Charles A. Vernon for the previous year (1876). This records the gold mining activities at Mission Creek and the involvement of an experienced miner called John Williams who had spent time in the Cariboo region of British Columbia before coming to the Okanagan. Charles Vernon wrote:-

“Considerable mining and prospecting has also been done on Mission Creek this fall, with a fair average yield of gold. John Williams, an old Caribooite, has run a tunnel into the hill from the creek some 60 feet, and found a good prospect.”

EVAN J. WILLIAMS

This young Troedyrhiw man died in South Africa during the 2nd Boer War (Anglo – Boer War), 1899-1902. An inscription on the headstone of his family grave in Saron Graveyard reads:-

ALSO OF EVAN J. WILLIAMS,
SON OF THE ABOVE
WHO DIED IN SOUTH AFRICA
MAY 20, 1901. AGED 27 YEARS

The death of Trooper Williams is recorded, along with those of his comrades from the Borough who also perished during this conflict,  on the Boer War Memorial in Thomastown Park in Merthyr.

The results of an enquiry made of the South Africa War Graves Project include the following record and a photograph of this soldier’s grave marker:-

“No 278748, Trooper E. J. Williams, 4th Company, Imperial Yeomanry, died of disease on 20 May 1901 and buried in Harrismith Cemetery” (note that the date given here is slightly different from that recorded elsewhere).

To be continued……

The Boer War Memorial, Thomastown Park

by Barrie Jones

To mark 121st anniversary of the start of the Second Boer War, this article is a rewrite and update on Merthyr’s Boer War Memorial that was first published as part of an essay on Thomastown Park in Volume Twelve of the Merthyr Historian in 2001.

2001 was the 100th anniversary of the construction of Thomastown Park and the war memorial will reach its 116th anniversary in September this year.

Situated in the ‘western’ park the memorial is unique as the first memorial to Merthyr’s menfolk who gave their lives in the service of their country.

The Second Boer War

The Second Boer War was fought from 11 October 1899 to 31 May 1902 and was the first British conflict that depended heavily upon volunteers to boost the small and heavily stretched established army.  The war under conventional terms of fighting between formed armies was over by June 1900.  A guerrilla phase followed in which the worst aspects of warfare such as scorched earth actions and concentration camps were to inflict severe hardship and suffering upon the Boer people.  The war was concluded at the peace of Vereeniging in May 1902.

An indication that the war was over in all but name was that some four months before the signing of the peace treaty prominent Merthyr townsfolk were planning a memorial to those that had died in the service of their Queen, King and Country.

Memorial Committee

At a public meeting held on the 17 January 1902, a resolution was passed that a suitable memorial to perpetuate the memory of former townsmen who had fallen in the war in South Africa be erected.  An application for consent of the Council to erect a memorial on the Recreation Ground, later known as Thomastown Park, was made by the secretary of the Committee, Mr W. T. Jones.  Mr Jones of 25, Tudor Terrace, Merthyr Tydfil was an accountant practising from offices at 50 High Street.  His letter of application, dated 22 January was read at the Council meeting on the 5 February 1902 and was granted subject to a suitable site being available.

Chairman of the committee was Dr. C. Biddle and the vice-chairman was Mr. William Griffiths, High Constable of Merthyr Tydfil, and over the next two years the committee set out to raise the funds to build and erect the memorial.

Fund Raising

The overall cost of the memorial was £300, the majority of which was got by public subscription.  Fund raising was slow and by the spring of 1904 was somewhat off the fund’s target.  At which time the Police, Yeomanry and Volunteers came forward offering to organise an assault at arms and concert at the Drill Hall, Merthyr.

The event held on the night of Wednesday 11 May 1904 was well attended and raised £75 towards the memorial.  The evening’s proceedings demonstrated the strong military background of members of the police force and the overall strength of support towards the erection of a memorial to the men that had died in the war.

The District Council, at a total cost of £123 carried out the foundation work for the memorial.  They presented an account for the work, less the Council’s contribution of £25 towards the memorial, in the November following the unveiling ceremony.

The Memorial

The site chosen for the memorial was in the western park on the Thomastown Tips overlooking the town and with the memorial’s overall height of thirty five-foot it is clearly visible from the town below.  (George) Washington Morgan, a local sculptor and monumental mason of Penyard House, was commissioned to design and build the memorial.  Built from Aberdeen granite in the shape of an obelisk, fifteen feet tall, standing on a pedestal carved from the same material the memorial stands on a foundation designed by Mr C M Davies and Mr T F Harvey, District Council surveyor.  The foundation comprises a Pennant stone base twelve feet square upon which the granite pedestal rests.  The base surrounded by kerb and railing stands on a grass clod embankment giving added height to the memorial.  Application had been made to the War Office to have two South African guns to place each side of the obelisk but without success.

Thomastown Recreation Ground in the 1920s. Photo courtesy of Carl Llewellyn

The pillar has a wreath carved just above the front of the Pedestal, under which is the motto ‘Gwell Angau na Chywilydd’, (Better Death than Dishonour).  On the front of the four faces of the pedestal is carved the words ‘A tribute to Merthyr men who died in the South African war, 1899-1902.’  The other three sides contain the forty-two names of ‘Merthyr’ men who died in the war:

  1. Charles M Jenkins, Thorneycroft’s Mounted Infantry
  2. Trooper John Gray, 18th Hussars
  3. Trooper Dominick Dasey, 19th Hussars
  4. Gunner Thomas Williams, Field Artillery
  5. Thomas W Davies, Imperial, Yeomanry
  6. Trooper Evan J Williams, Imperial Yeomanry
  7. Trooper Caradoc I Evans, Protectorate Regiment
  8. Arthur J Jenkins, Grenadier Guards
  9. Evan Evans, Welsh Fusiliers
  10. Frederick Barnett, Welsh Fusiliers
  11. John J Davies, Welsh Fusiliers
  12. Edwin Mansell, South Wales Borderers
  13. William Reardon, South Wales Borderers
  14. William Lewis, South Wales Borderers
  15. David J Moses, South Wales Borderers
  16. J Walsh, South Wales Borderers
  17. Edward Davies, South Wales Borderers
  18. John Rees, South Wales Borderers
  19. Edward Owens, South Wales Borderers
  20. Daniel Sullivan, South Wales Borderers
  21. Sydney Rees, South Wales Borderers
  22. Thomas Davies, South Wales Borderers
  23. William James, South Wales Borderers
  24. Edwin Jones, South Wales Borderers
  25. William Wayt, South Wales Borderers
  26. Michael Flynn, South Wales Borderers
  27. Thomas Fouhy, Welsh Regiment
  28. Timothy O’Shea, Welsh Regiment
  29. Dennis Donovan, Welsh Regiment
  30. Samuel Thomas, Welsh Regiment
  31. Henry Pollard, Welsh Regiment
  32. Cornelius Mahoney, Welsh Regiment
  33. Henry Davies, Welsh Regiment
  34. Morgan Roberts, Welsh Regiment
  35. Thomas Rule, Welsh Regiment
  36. Lewis Williams, Welsh Regiment
  37. John M Ball, Welsh Regiment
  38. John Hayes, Welsh Regiment
  39. Samuel Broadstock, Gloucester Regiment
  40. Patrick Cronin, Manchester Regiment
  41. Daniel Jones, Imperial Light Infantry
  42. William F Howell, R.A.M.C.

Lieutenant C. M. Jenkins was the son of Thomas Jenkins J.P., farmer, of Pantscallog House, Pant.  Charles was a railway engineer and had been living in the Transvaal for eleven years before he enlisted in Major Thornycroft’s Imperial Mounted Infantry in October 1899; “All my pals are in it, and I must take a hand as well”.  Charles was killed at the battle of Colenso, Natal, on 15 December 1899, aged 32 years old.

The Unveiling Ceremony

After strenuous fund raising the memorial was complete and ready for its official unveiling on Thursday afternoon, 8 September 1904.  In keeping with military tradition the ceremony was planned to precision and comprised both military parade and music.  On the week leading up to the ceremony plans of the ground showing the entrance gates to be used by the various participating groups was on display in prominent office and shop windows about the town.

The ceremony must have looked most impressive with some six hundred officers and men of the volunteer detachments, South Wales Borderers, of Cefn Coed, Dowlais, Merthyr Tydfil and Merthyr Vale and the Glamorgan Yeomanry.  Witnessing the event was a large assembly of the general public under the supervision of the local police.  Lord Windsor, in his capacity of Lord Lieutenant of Glamorgan, accompanied by Mr Forest, Deputy Lieutenant, Mr. W. W. Meredith, High Constable, and Mr. J. M. Berry, Chairman of the Public Works Committee, arrived at the recreation ground in a brougham.  Lord Windsor was met at the entrance of the gates to the ground by the Memorial Committee and was afforded the honour of a guard of one hundred men under the command of Lieutenant D. C. Harris, Merthyr Tydfil Volunteer detachment of the South Wales Borderers.

After speeches from both the High Constable and Dr. Biddle the buglers of the 3rd Volunteer Battalion Welsh Regiment sounded ‘The Last Post’.  Lord Windsor then unveiled the obelisk to great applause and after an appropriate speech concluded by asking Councillor J. M. Berry to accept the memorial on behalf of the Parish of Merthyr.  Councillor Berry accepted the monument and assured Lord Windsor and subscribers that the town would do its utmost to keep it as a sacred trust.

The memorial still stands but is in much need of repair and refurbishment.

The Memorial shortly after it was unveiled. 

A Full House – part 1

by Barrie Jones

My paternal grandparents lived in 12 Union Street, Thomastown, Merthyr Tydfil.  My grandfather Caradog JONES was born in Troedyrhiw in 1896 and was one of five brothers who were coal miners, as was their father, grandfather and great-grandfather before them.  Crad’s great-grandfather John Evan JONES was born in Abergwili, Carmarthenshire, in 1814, moving to Duffryn, Pentrebach, sometime in the 1840s to work in the local Plymouth Work’s mines.

By contrast, my grandmother Margaret Ann nee BAILEY was born in Merthyr Tydfil in 1898, her great-grandfather Abraham BAILEY, was born in Bristol, Gloucestershire, in 1804, arriving in Merthyr town with his extended family sometime in the 1850s.  Abraham was a street hawker of earthenware goods, and for a while in the late 1850s to 1860s, ran a china and earthenware shop in 6 Victoria Street, Merthyr Tydfil.  For the most part, he and his sons Abraham and Thomas, and his son-in-laws were street traders.  My grandmother must have inherited the Bailey entrepreneurial gene, as to augment the family income and help purchase number 12 Union Street; she took in boarders, mainly ‘travellers’ and ‘theatricals’.  My father once commented that coming home from school each day he was never sure where in the house he would be sleeping.

12 Union Street is one of 23 terraced properties in the northern portion of the long street that runs at right angles to the top of Church Street.  The southern portion of the street contains the imposing Courtland Terrace.  The dual terraces of Union Street leads off Church Street up to the boundary wall of the now derelict St Tydfil’s Hospital, formally the Merthyr Tydfil Union building, the ‘Workhouse’.  A terrace numbered 1 to 11 on the left hand side and a terrace numbered 12 to 23 on the right hand side.  All the houses were three bedroomed apart from numbers 1 and 23 which had extended frontages on Church Street and were much bigger properties.  Number 12 being an end of terrace property was flanked by the lane leading up to Thomastown Park and thence on to Queen’s Road.

Union Street – Coronation Party 1937

Union Street is in the Thomastown Conservation Area, the first area to be designated in Merthyr Tydfil.  Built from the 1850s onwards on a grid-iron pattern, Thomastown has the largest group of early Victorian buildings in Wales.  Built for the middle classes, the professional and commercial people of the town, its best examples are Church Street, Thomas Street, Union Street (Courtland Terrace) and Newcastle Street.  This area (Thomastown) striking toward the higher and open ground of the ‘Court Estate’ was the first exclusively residential area to be created by those in the top stratum of Merthyr’s population.  Thomastown was the forerunner of what was to occur at the end of the 19th century in the northern part of the town between the parklands of Cyfarthfa Castle and Penydarren House.  These later developments contained even larger and more prestigious properties.

The two terraces of Union Street must have been one of the later developments.  The 1876 Ordnance Survey Map shows only the single terrace of numbers 1 to 11.  The 1881 census records both terraces but 7 of the 23 properties are shown as uninhabited, (numbers 3, 6, 7, 15, 16, 17 and 18), indicating that the development of the street was barely finished in 1881.

The census returns for number 12 clearly shows that the occupiers in the early years were part of Merthyr’s ‘middle’ class:

3rd April 1881 – Margaret PRICE, retired publican

5th April 1891 – James JONES, decorator

31st March 1901 – Thomas GUNTER, boot and shoe dealer

2nd April 1911 – Thomas GUNTER, boot and shoe dealer

(Thomas GUNTER was the manager of the Leeds Boot Warehouse, no. 33 Victoria Street and was a leading figure in both the Merthyr Chamber of Trade and St. David’s Parish Church.)

To be continued…..