The following article is taken from the marvellous website
http://www.treharrisdistrict.co.uk, and is transcribed here with the kind permission of the webmaster, Paul Corkrey.
In 1908, Andrew Wilson, of 4 Brynteg Place, Treharris, became the youngest and only collier mayor of a county borough. Andrew Wilson was in fact the first mayor of the newly created County Borough of Merthyr Tydfil.
Andrew was born in Llangstone cottages; Llangarron, Herefordshire in 1874, and attended school there and later worked at the Woodfield Nurseries. At the age of 16, he moved to South Wales, and with the exception of two years spent at Abertillery, he spent his entire life residing in Treharris where he soon became involved in politics.
Politics
He became secretary of the local branch of the Independent Labour Party, in the days when Ramsey MacDonald, Keir Hardie, Snowdon and Glasier were pioneers of the movement. He also served upon the management committee of the Co-operative society in the early days and helped to form the South Wales Miners Federation after the great strike in 1898 and served upon the Taff Cynon district of miners for many years. He later became president of the district.
Compensation act
He became a hero to his fellow mine workers when he fought against The Ocean Coal Company at Treharris who were anxious to opt out of the new Compensation act which came about following the 1898 strike. The Ocean Company wanted the miners to contribute towards a fund with the employers, out of which compensation would be paid.
The miners Federation were against this and Alderman Wilson became plaintiff in an action against the company to prevent them from deducting money from the miners to fund this scheme.
The case went to the High Court and the decision went against the company who then had to repay to the miners the money that had been deducted against their wishes, this also brought an end to companies contracting out of the Compensation Act across all of South Wales.
Education for Treharris and the Borough
Mr Wilson was elected a member of the education committee when the school boards went out of office in 1904 and he opened Webster Street School in 1905, he also supported the conversion of Cyfarthfa Castle into a free secondary school.
For several years he was chairman of the Higher Education Committee and he represented Merthyr on several boards including the University Court of Wales, Central Welsh Board, Mining Board of South Wales, the University College in Cardiff, and he had also been a member of the South Wales Industrial School in Quakers Yard and of St Cynon’s National School.
Mr Wilson was very popular in the town and it was no surprise when he was returned as a member of the Urban District Council of Merthyr in April 1903, when Treharris and Merthyr Vale were one ward. He supported the incorporation of the whole parish in the new borough during the great struggle for incorporation, and was elected as a member of the first borough council in 1905.
He was made an Alderman at the first meeting and became mayor of the Borough in 1908, the same year that Merthyr became a county borough and he was the last person to be appointed High Constable of Caerphilly higher.
During his year in office Mr Wilson achieved many things and he was proud to open Cyfarthfa Castle to the public but closer to home he was delighted to open the new Library in his home town of Treharris in 1909.
To be continued…..