Author: merthyr.history@gmail.com

The Dark Side of Convict Life – part 17

by Barrie Jones

Chapter XV. Henry recounts a personal experience of the search system.

The Dark Side of Convict Life (Being the Account of the Career of Harry Williams, a Merthyr Man). Merthyr Express, 30th April 1910, page 11.

Chapter XV

Marching from the stone quarry at Portland back to the prison one day, I noticed that a whispered consultation was going on in the rear of the party between the Principal warder and the officer in charge, and I suspected that myself and one or two of the others, were the victims of this conspiracy, which was just beginning to ripen into action. As soon as ever we reached the parade, instead of marching straight to our usual place, the order was to march straight to the bathroom. Of course, we all knew then that meant a special search, for some convict, in order to curry favour, had been doing a bit of informing during the morning. They took us all by surprise. Now it happened at the time that I carried an ounce of thin “snout” (tobacco) in the waist band of my breeches, so I said within myself, “what on earth am I to do now, find it they surely will.” However, luck was in my favour that day, thanks to my presence of mind, and no thanks, but bad luck, I say, to the man who gave the information. One by one we filed into the empty bathroom, and I stepped down into my bath.

“Take off your boots, first,” said the officer, “Right you are,”  says I, trying to shake off my nervous sensations. As soon as I unlaced my boots I proceeded to unbutton my jacket, and all the time my heart was pounding so fast that I was afraid it would damage my ribs. I then took off one boot at a time, and I threw it right into the middle of the passage. Quite naturally, and exactly what I expected, the officer turned round to pick up the boot to see what was in the inside, and, like a flash of lightning, I whipped out the “snout” from my waistband, and dropped it at my feet, saying at the time, “Shall I take off my leggings next, sir?” “No,” says he, “let me have the other boot first,” which I gave to him at the same time planting my foot on the tobacco. I then took off my garments one by one, until I was as naked as the very first time I saw the lights of Cyfarthfa. After waiting for the space of five minutes he shut the door and departed, when I picked up my “snout,” bit a chew off, and smiled contentedly, at the event. Thus, I escaped what would otherwise have been a serious report, followed by fifteen days bread and water. My heart went back to its normal beat again. The moral of thus is, never allow your right hand know what the left is doing, for no matter how careful a man can be, there are others, and those who sometimes pretend to be your best friends, who will put you  away just for the sake of a smile and a little favouritism.

It is not so much the officers themselves who find these things out, for, like the policeman or the commonly called expert detective, their scent comes by information received, Thus, they obtain their promotion not by their own cleverness, but by the help given them from the criminal class.

To be continued….

Bentley’s Central Hotel: Politics meets Religion

by Freda Entwistle

In the mid-nineteenth century, Market Square was the hub of activity in Merthyr Tydfil. Throngs of people gathered here for special events, filling the Square shoulder-to-shoulder, making it almost impossible to thread one’s way through the crowd. Add to that the horse-and-cart and pony-and-trap traffic, filled with passengers, and congestion was inevitable.

From the High Street view, the buildings on the right of the Square were redesigned and converted into Bentley’s Central Hotel towards the end of the nineteenth century.  The hotel was later repurposed before it was demolished in the 1950s.

Bentley’s Central Hotel was advertised as a first class Temperance Hotel, particularly suitable for families and commercial gentlemen alike.  The façade was of red brick and Bath stone and the structure was three storeys high, forming a ‘block,’ with most of the hotel on the two upper floors and the ground floor being shared with the entrance, restaurant and independent shops.

This leaflet prepared by the proprietor, Thomas Bentley, advertising the hall on the first floor reads,  The large and beautiful Hall can be hired for Social Gatherings, Meetings, Balls, etc. 

Missionaries for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints had arrived in Merthyr Tydfil in December 1842 and began holding public meetings in the the houses of local converts. But gradually more people were baptised, too many for meeting in a family home.   This necessitated seeking for alternative facilities to house a rapidly growing group.  The pubs and local halls were the only buildings that had the facilities to house large numbers..

The Bentley Hall provided a seating capacity for over 500 persons, and evidently, the missionaries found it to be suitable for Latter-day Saint meetings and conferences.  One such Welsh Conference was held on Sunday 19 October 1924, and is recorded in an article published in the Millennial Star (the British publication of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints) on 6 November 1924.

LABOUR AND “MORMONS” MEET IN THE SAME HALL

President David O. McKay is in receipt of a letter from President John W. Crofts (right) of the Welsh conference, relating an interesting missionary experience three of the Elders of the Welsh conference had recently:

“You will, no doubt, be interested and possibly amused to hear of a unique experience which we had here in the Welsh conference on Sunday, October 19th. Elder Melvin W. Grant and Gordon B. Affleck and I were scheduled to hold a meeting in the Bentley Hall, Merthyr Tydfil, at 6 p.m., and at the appointed time we commenced the service.

About this particular time, the town was in a state of political excitement, due to the fact that a noted Labour candidate was scheduled to speak there. It was not until we were half through with our meeting that I learned that he, too, was to use the Bentley Hall for his address immediately following our meeting. There seemed to have been either a misunderstanding of the time the political meeting was to commence, or an over-enthusiastic spirit on the part of the Labourites, for they congregated outside the building, five hundred strong, at least thirty minutes before their speaker was due to arrive. Quite naturally, they resented the idea of having to remain outside until the hall had been vacated, and when it became known by them that it was a ‘Mormon’ meeting which was responsible for their wait outside, the resentment waxed hot in certain sections of the crowd.

Realizing a disturbance was imminent, I turned the meeting over to the other brethren and went outside and asked for their leader or spokesman. No one seemed to assume any responsibility for the crowd, so after a few conciliatory remarks, I invited them to join us in our worship and thus avoid the long and tedious wait outside. One or two reluctantly accepted the invitation and sauntered into our meeting. These were followed by others, and in a few minutes, every available seat in the hall, which holds about five hundred, was taken. I then returned to the platform.

In an endeavour to cope with a rather awkward situation, I explained to them that they were now in a house of worship and that we would appreciate their toleration until the service had been properly dismissed. Before proceeding further, I called for a show of hands as an assurance that they would observe the solemnity of the occasion, and to my surprise and satisfaction, almost every hand in the hall was raised. I then proceeded to deliver my address, which to suit the occasion, was on the aims and purposes of the Church. They showed me reasonable courtesy while I was speaking and seemed to receive my humble effort very kindly. True to their word, they maintained perfect order until the service had been brought to a successful conclusion.

In this way, through the help of the Lord, we were able to reach more people within a period of thirty minutes than we would have reached in many months under the regular routine.”

John W. Crofts was only in his early 30’s at the time of this conference, but he clearly knew how to turn a potentially difficult situation to advantage for his cause.

Philip Madoc – a 90th Birthday Tribute

by Laura Bray

There is a story a friend of mine relates about the time he worked in a theatre in London. On this particular occasion he was working with someone called Lowri.

“Lowri” said my friend thoughtfully, “Lowri Madoc. You aren’t by any chance related to Philip Madoc are you?”

“Oh my God!” said Lowri “You must be from Merthyr!”

“Why?” asked my friend

“Because only people from Merthyr ask if Philip Madoc is my father.  The rest of the world asks if Ruth Madoc is my mother!”

Merthyr never forgets its own.

Philip Madoc, born Philip Jones, would have been 90 today – the 5th July 2024.  He is probably best remembered now for his classic appearance as a U Boat Captain in “Dad’s Army”, with the much-quoted line to Pike (Ian Lavender) who was being cheeky and singing a variant of “Whistle while you work”:

“Your name vil also go on zee list. Vot is eet?”

Captain Mainwaring responded with the feeder line “Don’t tell ‘im, Pike.”

Madoc, immediate repeated: “Pike!” and wrote it down on his list.

There is special something about Philip Madoc playing a German, as he was fluent in German, having completed a degree in Classics and Modern Languages in Cardiff before moving to the University of Vienna to train as an interpreter. He eventually spoke seven languages including Welsh, English, Russian, German, Swedish, Albanian, Italian and he had a working knowledge of Huron Indian, Hindi and Mandarin.  In fact, he was the first foreigner to win the Diploma of the Interpreters Institue in Vienna. However, Madoc tired of interpretation. According to Wikipedia, he said  “I did dry-as-dust jobs like political interpreting. You get to despise politicians when you have to translate the rubbish they spout.”

And Dad’s Army was not his only German role; he played Germans several times, for instance in “Operation Crossbow”, “The Spy who Came in from the Cold”, “Manhunt”, “Hell Boats”, “Soft Beds Hard Battles” and “Operation Daybreak”.

Madoc was born in Twynyrodyn, went to Cyfarthfa Castle Grammar school and played for the local cricket and rugby teams as mentioned here, https://www.merthyr-history.com/?p=6854, where there is also a photo of him. After university and his stint in the Language Institute in Vienna, Madoc decided to follow his love of acting and secured a place in RADA. That launched him in the British Theatre and TV industry; he was, what we call in my house, with no disrespect intended, “a jobbing actor” i.e. one, whose face you may not know, or may only partially recognise, but one who has been in everything!

His first break was on stage with the Welsh Theatre Company playing Thomas Cromwell in a 1962 tour of “A Man for All Seasons” and from there he went onto the Royal Shakespeare Company, playing the roles of Iago, Othello and Dr Faust. His television debut was in the 1961 BBC Sunday Night play “Cross of Iron”. He came to internal recognition, however, playing Magua in “Last of the Mohicans” for which he learnt Huron Indian.

Over the next five decades, Madoc was cast as David Lloyd George, in the 1981 TV series; he played Russians, including Trotsky and Stalin; a Welsh speaking detective DCI Noel Bain in “A Mind to a Kill”; he had cameos in “The Good Life” with Richard Briers, and of course “Dad’s Army”. He appeared as King Lear, was cast in various villainous roles in “Doctor Who”, was seen in “The Avengers”, starred as Cadfael in the radio production. He worked with, among others, Judi Dench, Kenneth Branner, Emma Thompson, Fiona Shaw. He appeared in theatre in Stratford on Avon, the West End, and in regional theatres such as Theatre Clwyd in Mold; he did television, he did film, he did radio. He was a versatile, all round actor.

He was also a man of varied and unusual interests. In an interview for the Wolverhampton Express and Star on Thursday 3rd March 1977, he is cited as saying that he played a lot of squash and badminton, and had recently started studying hieroglyphics. From his obituary in the Guardian on 5th March 2012 we learn that he went walking in the Himalayas, camel-trekking in the Gobi Desert and motor-cycling in south-east Asia, and in an interview in the Liverpool Echo on 18th March 1988, he states that he often took holidays in, what was then, the Eastern Bloc countries.  And yes, he was married to Ruth Madoc, who was Lowri’s mother, along with her brother Rhys.

Madoc died in 2012, from cancer, aged 77, having worked to the end, and Merthyr’s boy was laid to rest, far from his native land, in London.

Merthyr Tydfil Youth Brass Band

by Carl Llewellyn

While in conversation with a fellow Dowlais choir chorister Richard Cole, we began to reminisce about our time together in the Merthyr Tydfil Brass Band. Next choir rehearsal Richard brought along a photograph of the band in the 60’s, between both of us we managed to piece together all but one of the band’s assemblages.

About 1965 members of the Georgetown and Gellifaelog School Brass Bands combined to form the Merthyr Tydfil Brass Band under the directorship of Mr Elwyn Farrell. Mr Farrell was a teacher of mathematics at Georgetown School and an accomplished cornet player, whose family had strong ties with the local Salvation Army corps.

The band membership increased quickly with other players who had originally joined the brass bands before their transfer to Quakers Yard Technical School in Treharris.

Despite the band’s formation Georgetown and Gellifaelog school bands still retained their own identity in assisting their school assemblies’ accompaniment of school hymns, with Mr Farrell taking up the baton for Georgetown School Band while Mr Richard Pendry conducting the Gellifaelog School Band.

To help young instrumentalists the band membership were grateful to older players who gave their time to help nurture young brass band musicians.

Most of the rehearsals were held at the old YMCA sports room located on the upper level of the YMCA. In the short history of the brass band, they appeared at local charity events including the Christmas tree ceremony outside the town hall. The Brass Band entered a number of competitions such as the Park and Dare Hall in Treorchy, and the Brangwyn Hall in Swansea.

I believe the Merthyr Tydfil Brass Band finished about 1968, when the older band members of school leaving age left their schools, with fewer school pupils pursuing an interest in their school Brass Bands and the Youth band, the numbers dwindled leaving no option but for the band conductor Mr Farrell to disband the musical organisation. After Mr Farrell’s retirement from the teaching profession, he moved to Libanus, Brecon then moved to Sweden where he died.

Back row (l-r): Ivor Roberts, Ernie Lanchesbury, Gareth Oates, Derek Williams, Joyce Rubery, Michael Rees, Martin Carey, Alvin Head, Cyril Williams, Richard Owens

Middle row (l-r): Richard Cole, Alan Evans, Carl Llewellyn, Maldwyn Williams, John Lenard, Peter Lozano, Michael Baldwin, Ieuan Harris

Front row (l-r): Anthony Williams, Gail Bartlett, Dayton Griffiths, Elva Thomas, Gwyn James, Elwyn Farrell (conductor), Raymond Hancock, Jane Thomas, Philip Kinsey, Allan Davies, Philip Fly