110 years ago today, Dai Richards the famous Merthyr footballer was born. To mark the occasion here is another piece courtesy of John Simkin.
David (Dai) Richards was born in Abercanaid on 31 October 1908. He played football for Merthyr Town before being signed by Major Frank Buckley, the manager of Wolverhampton Wanderers, in 1927. Richards, who played at left-half, established himself in a first-team that included Noel George, Reg Hollingsworth, Billy Wrigglesworth, Tom Galley, Billy Hartill, Billy Barraclough, Tom Smalley and Charlie Phillips.
In the 1929-30 season Billy Hartill scored 33 goals in 36 games. Despite these goals Wolves could only finish in 9th place in the league. The following season Wolves finished 4th in the Second Division. Once again Hartill was again top scorer with 30 goals in 39 appearances. Richards was in great form and was selected to play for Wales. It was the first of 21 international caps for his country.
Billy Hartill scored 30 goals with hat-tricks against Plymouth Argyle, Bristol City, Southampton and Oldham Athletic, in the 1931-32 season and helped the club win the Second Division championship. Charlie Phillips was also in great form adding 18. The club scored 118 goals that season.
In August, 1933, Frank Buckley purchased Bryn Jones from Aberaman for a fee of £1,500. In his first season at Wolves he scored 10 goals in 27 appearances. Although very popular with the fans, Jones was unable to immediately turn Wolves into a successful side. Billy Hartill remained in good form scoring 33 goals. In the 1933-34 season they finished in 15th place in the First Division.
Richards was sold to Brentford in 1935. He had scored 5 goals in 219 games for Wolverhampton Wanderers. Over the next two seasons he played 55 games for his new club. He also played for Birmingham City (1936-38) and Walsall (1939).
The storm reached Edwardsville where the destruction was devastating.
The signal box on the Taff Vale Railway was severely damaged, and all the trees in the path of the storm, which was now 150 yards wide, were torn from the ground and flattened, blocking the old tramroad with timber, whilst at Goitre Coed Farm, a horse and cart were hurled against the wall of the barn.
At Edwardsville the storm first hit Prospect Place, all but demolishing the cottages there, before reaching Beechgrove Cemetery where the wind flattened most of the tombstones, demolished the cemetery chapel and caused severe damage to the sexton’s house.
Beechgrove Cemetery Chapel
The storm moved on to Windsor Road, Nantddu Terrace and The Avenue where tremendous damage was done to most of the houses, and the post office was almost totally destroyed. The postmaster’s son, 13 year old Gomer Israel was seriously injured and was rushed to Merthyr General Hospital with a fractured skull. He would eventually succumb to his injuries a few days later.
Edwardsville Post Office (centre of photo behind the cart)
Professor T D Edwards who lived at Rock Cottages had the roof blown off his house. Such was the force of the gale that he later found a ladder embedded in the wall of his house. As neither he nor any of his neighbours owned a ladder, one can only speculate how far this ladder had been blown for it to be so firmly embedded. On a lighter note, one of his neighbours had gone to bed early and was woken by the noise of the storm…..only to find himself, in waking up, in a different bedroom to the one in which he had gone to sleep!!!
A few doors away, the roof was ripped off the Edwardsville School, and the English Congregational Chapel was severely damaged. The chapel’s caretaker, Mrs Wheeler, was cleaning the chapel with her two daughters at the time the storm hit. They were buried by debris and had to be rescued. One of the daughters, Gertrude, aged 9, sustained serious injuries and was taken to King Edward VII Hospital in Cardiff.
Edwardsville School and Congregational Chapel
On 27 October, Ton Pentre Football Club had been playing at Treharris. The team were returning to the Railway Station when the storm hit. Frank Owen (Corby) Woolford, right-back and captain of Ton Pentre FC, Walter Breeze, trainer at Ton Pentre FC and Fred Tregrage another player and were walking ahead of the rest of the team. As they entered The Avenue, the full force of the storm hit and all three were picked up off their feet and hurled over 50 yards. Breeze and Tregrage were injured, but Woolford was hit by a falling slate which sliced through his head. A local policeman, P.C. Fisher rendered first aid at the site and the injured men were taken to a nearby shop where Dr Evans, Maesybryn treated Woolford. A car was immediately made available by Mr Thomas, a local chemist, and Frank Woolford was rushed to Merthyr General Hospital for emergency treatment. Woolford’s injuries proved too great and he died at 2am the following morning. He was 22 years of age.
Elsewhere in Treharris, everyone did what they could to help with the injured and homeless. Rev J R Morgan, the minister at Trinity Forward Movement Chapel in Treharris, who lived in Edwardsville gave shelter to many people at his home. His neighbour Rev Thomas, minister at Saron Welsh Wesleyan Chapel in Treharris, immediately offered assistance, despite his own house being badly damaged.
Having caused devastation at Edwardsville, the storm left the valley and began to lose some of its force, and it travelled in a straight line via Cefn Forest before hitting Bedlinog. Houses were damaged in Hylton Terrace and Bedw Road, but the force was going out of the storm. Leaving Bedlinog, the storm continued over the Rhymney Mountain and on to Tredegar where the torrential rain overwhelmed the drains and caused severe flooding.
The storm continued to move northwards throughout the night, but having left the confines of the Taff Valley, the storm’s ferocity had by now dissipated, and the storm front was now about 7 miles in width. However, the storm continued to leave a trail of destruction in its path with severe damage to buildings reported in Shropshire and Cheshire, until it eventually abated during the night.
An investigation was instigated by the Meteorological Office (now known simply as the Met Office) in the aftermath of the storm, and concluded that the tornado contained winds blowing in an anti-clockwise direction. Reports of the tornado’s duration varied from two seconds to five minutes. The Met Office investigators concluded that “…the storm was circular in shape; …it advanced at thirty-six miles an hour; …the width in South Wales was three hundred yards; ….the maximum duration of the storm at any one place must have been about seventeen seconds.”
It is inconceivable that so much destruction could be caused in just seventeen seconds. Four people were killed in the tornado – the worst confirmed death-toll for a UK tornado, scores injured and damage to property was estimated at £40,000 in terms of repairs required – a considerable sum equivalent to around £2.5 million today.
If you would like to read more, a fuller account of the tornado has been published in the Merthyr Historian – Volume 25. Please contact me at the e-mail address shown if you would like to purchase a copy, and I will forward your request.
Today marks the 105th anniversary of one of the most destructive incidents in the Merthyr Valley and indeed in South Wales’s history, when on 27 October 1913, a force six tornado hit the Taff Valley south of Pontypridd and moved up the valley wreaking havoc until it reached its peak at Edwardsville, causing destruction on a massive scale, killing four people and injuring hundreds of others.
Contemporary accounts state that Monday 27 October 1913 was, in Edwardsville, a fine day – actually an unseasonably mild day, but by 4pm, the sky began to darken and within an hour, rain was falling which would soon turn torrential. By 6pm the full force of the storm was pounding the village and causing destruction on an unparalleled scale.
The first reports of the storm came from the Exeter area at about 4pm, and it continued to move north into Somerset and crossed the Bristol Channel coast at Watchet, about nine miles east of Minehead, and made landfall on the Glamorgan coast near Aberthaw at about 4.40 pm. The storm then seems to have developed somewhere between Efail Isaf and Llantwit Fardre, just east of Llantrisant and moved into the Taff Valley.
At around the same time, a secondary storm of less intensity had started near Treforest. At about 6pm the two storms met at Treforest, the secondary storm joining the main storm at an angle of about 45 degrees. According to witnesses, there was suddenly heard a ‘rushing sound’ which some people described as the sound of a train leaving the Severn Tunnel, which in a few moments became a raging wind which struck with tremendous force, lifting people off their feet and levelling any temporary structures.
The track of the tornado in the Taff Valley
The storm developed on the Western side of the Taff Valley, but swept diagonally across to the eastern side of the valley, where it hit the hills south of Pontypridd and, damaging Glyntaf Church and vicarage en route, was diverted up the valley towards Pontypridd itself. Gathering pace as it progressed up the valley; the wind tore the roof off Calvary Baptist Chapel in Pontypridd and caused major damage at the athletic ground.
By the time it had reached Cilfynydd, the ferocity of the storm had increased and it was approximately 200 yards in width. Due to the position and linear layout of Cilfynydd, it was badly hit, with the storm sweeping through the entire village from South to North. The local branch of the Ynysybwl Co-operative Society which stood in Howell Street had its corrugated iron roof ripped off. Some of the corrugated iron sheets were later found on Graig Evan Leyshon Common over a mile away, and one of the sheets was so firmly wrapped around a telegraph pole that it could not be removed.
The roof of every chapel in the village was damaged, the North wall of Rehoboth Baptist Chapel was blown inwards, and the roof of the school was blown off. A vast amount of structural damage was done to houses in the village and all of the shops in Richard Street had their windows smashed by falling debris, their goods strewn over the road, mingled with debris from the structural damage. The local branch of the Miners Federation at Albion Colliery was totally destroyed.
The destruction in Richards St, Clifynydd
Thomas John Harries, a 35 year old collier of Oakland Terrace was walking down the street when he was lifted into the air by the wind and carried over the roofs of the houses. A search was made for him, but it wasn’t until the following morning that his body was found in a nearby field, having been killed by the fall.
Having wreaked havoc in Cilfynydd, the storm carried on up the eastern side of the valley before hitting the Llanfabon Mountain where it was deflected across the valley once again, striking the eastern part of Abercynon. Fairview Terrace was almost totally destroyed, as was the Royal Oak pub.
Fairview Terrace after the tornado
A short distance away stood Old Station House, home to Mr Alfred Blake, aged 86, a former inspector on the Taff Vale Railway and his 74 year old wife. The house, taking the full force of the storm, collapsed. Mrs Blake managed to escape the worst of the destruction but Mr Blake, his son and Miss Pierce, their servant, were trapped in the building. After some time they were rescued from the ruins. All three were taken to hospital, but Mr Alfred Brake succumbed to his injuries and died two days later.
The storm then followed the river northwards, and, funnelled by the railway cutting at Goitre Coed (south of Quakers Yard railway station); the winds reached over 160 mph and hit Edwardsville with devastating force.
The following article is transcribed from the issue of South Wales Daily News published 120 years ago today (22 October 1898).
PIT ACCIDENT AT MERTHYR
ONE BROTHER KILLED; THE OTHER ESCAPED
Yesterday at the Merthyr Police Court Mr Coroner R. J. Rhys held an inquest upon the body of Sidney Oates (14), who was killed by a fall of coal or rubbish on Tuesday afternoon at the Castle Pit, belonging to Messrs Crawshay Bros., Limited, Cyfarthfa. Mr F. Adams, assistant inspector of coal mines, was present also Mr David Abraham, general manager of the Cyfarthfa Collieries, and Mr Rees Howells, manager of the Castle Pit.
From the evidence of William Arthur Oates (19), of 22, Lower Colliers’-row, brother of the deceased, it appeared that deceased worked with him as a collier’s boy, and was standing near when witness was putting up a piece of timber. A fall occurred, which knocked a post out and killed his brother. Witness escaped, and after- wards got round to the place through another man’s working place. The piece of coal which fell down was about two yards long. There had been two sprags against it. The post knocked out was the one between the two road posts. The top was of stone, and it was weak at that place. He saw the fireman twice during the turn. Witness had had a place of his own for 12 months. He had worked underground ever since he started work. There were two slants in the seam at this place. They were to be seen before the fall took place. He had put up two posts as a precaution. He thought that was enough, and did nothing more. He thought if it had not been for the piece of coal knocking the post out it would have been all right.
John Protheroe, Cefn, collier, who was working on the lower side of the place where the brothers Oates were engaged, said he heard the fall take place, and he was about the first man afterwards to get there. The deceased lad was quite covered up by the fall. Witness helped to get deceased out. He was dead. When the fall was sufficiently cleared be saw posts had been knocked out. He could not say how, many. There was timber mixed up with the rubbish. Oates always kept his place tidy.
William Jones, the fireman, in reply to the Coroner, said he had visited the place three times on Tuesday – once before the men went in, and twice afterwards, the last time being about 2 o’clock in the afternoon. He told Oates to stand the post on the lower side at that time. He (Oates) had two sprags before the slip. The two slants spoken to by Oates could be plainly seen. He went to the spot on hearing of the accident. A fall of rubbish was on the deceased boy. The fall had occurred between the two slants. He could see some timber had been discharged by the fall. The post he told Oates to put up was on the lower side. This had nothing whatever to do with the fall on the boy. He thought it was quite likely as Oates said, that a piece of coal fell out and knocked out a post. There were three posts between the two slants. He gave Oates no orders to sprag this upper side; two sprags were already there, and these in his opinion were sufficient.
Rees Howells, the pit manager, produced plans of the workings, and described the visible conditions of the accident. The fall was 11 feet long by 4 feet wide and 4 feet high. The fall had not yet been cleared away.
Oates was also recalled, and questioned as to the position of the particular post which he was putting up when the accident arose, and the examination of Mr Howells was continued by the Coroner and the Mines Inspector.
The jurymen asked no questions.
The Coroner, in the course of a succinct reference to the salient points of evidence said it seemed to him that if the coal had not burst out as it did nothing would have happened – that was if the boy (witness Oates) was telling the truth. There was every likelihood that, as Oates had described it, this coal broke out, knocked out the timber near it, and fell down. The jury at once announced they were all of opinion that this was a case of “Accidental death.”
The following poem was written in tribute to Pat Maloney, former boxer and founder member of the Welsh Ex-Boxers Association.
Old Timer
He boxed from the twenties to the forties, In the booths of Scarrot and Gess, A pound a round no more no less, Fought bare-knuckle on the mountainside, With his friends by his side, Never smoked never drunk, Not even punch-drunk, Over two hundred fights to his name, One of the toughest in the game, Sad to say he’s not with us today, Perhaps we’ll meet again some day, Up there with Cuthbert Taylor, Danny Dando and Ike Powell, All the old timers have thrown in the towel, A great-grandfather he was to be, Yes, his name Pat Maloney.
Originally built for the Crawshay family, Gwaelodygarth House dates from the early 19th century and was probably built by Richard Crawshay around 1809, possibly for his son-in-law Benjamin Hall. It was a classic mid Georgian building of generous proportions and balanced design. William Crawshay II lived here before Cyfarthfa Castle was built and then it was sold to a local solicitor, William Meyrick for £2,500.
There is a rumour that Gwaelodygarth House is haunted by the ghost of one of Crawshay’s mistresses who was locked in the attic here to keep her away from his wife.
On the edge of the Cyfarthfa Estate, the house stood in its own grounds of parklands and ornamental gardens, surrounded by a great deal of farmland, The approach was by two driveways, from the east and from the west, one of which was adjacent to a period lodge.
Gwaelodygarth House as seen on a map dated 1875
The house was subsequently home to the Berry family and Henry Seymour Berry lived here from 1912, until he sold it to Guest Keen and Nettlefolds.
It became a domestic training institution and then a school for female evacuees during WWII. In September 1950 Gwaelodygarth House was opened as a Training School for Nurses by Dr Stuart Cresswell, and in June 1979 it became a Mental Health Day Unit.
The hallway at Gwaelodygarth House when it was a nurses’ training school. Photo courtesy of Ann Lewis
The house was in reasonably a good condition until a serious fire in August 2003 destroyed part of the building. Gutted and roofless following the fire upper floor of left-hand range collapsed.
Following the incorporation of the Merthyr Tydfil County Borough in 1908, the Merthyr Tydfil Police Force was formed. The first Chief Constable was James Arthur Wilson – appointed 110 years ago today, on 15 of August 1908 at an annual salary of £250.
Chief Constable James Arthur Wilson
Below is a photograph of the Merthyr Tydfil Police Force standing outside the old Central Police Station in Graham Street.
The Central Police Station was originally built at a cost of £840 in 1844 to house the Glamorgan Police Force . Following the formation of the Merthyr Tydfil Police Force, the building was transferred to them. The Central Police Station was demolished in 1967.
Central Police Station shortly before it was demolished.
David (Dai) Richards was born in Abercanaid on 31 October 1908. He played football for Merthyr Town before being signed by Major Frank Buckley, the manager of Wolverhampton Wanderers, in 1927. Richards, who played at left-half, established himself in a first-team that included Noel George, Reg Hollingsworth, Billy Wrigglesworth, Tom Galley, Billy Hartill, Billy Barraclough, Tom Smalley and Charlie Phillips.
