Month: May 2023

Lucy Thomas

Following on from the last post here is a bit more about Lucy Thomas.

Lucy Thomas was born in Llansamlet, the daughter of Job Williams and his wife Ann Williams (née James). Her exact date of birth is not known, but records show that she was baptised on 11 March 1781. Very little is known about her early life, but on 30 June 1802, she married Robert Thomas, a contractor of a coal level producing fuel for Cyfarthfa Ironworks.

In 1828 Robert Thomas took up an annual tenancy from Lord Plymouth for the opening and mining of a small coal level at Waun Wyllt, near Abercanaid, south of Merthyr. The contract forbade Robert Thomas from trading with the four local ironworks which were under the ownership of Lord Plymouth. Although little was expected from the level, it was the first to hit the ‘Four Foot Seam, a rich deposit of high quality steam coal. The mine initially sold its coal to local households in Merthyr and Cardiff, with a tramline being constructed from Thomas’ level to the Glamorganshire Canal to allow transportation to Cardiff Docks. Within a couple of years of the level being opened Robert was in contract with George Insole a Cardiff trader. In November 1830 Insole had agreed the shipment of 413 tons of steam coal from Waun Wyllt to London.

Abercanaid House – the home of Robert & Lucy Thomas. Photo courtesy of the Alan George Archive

In 1833 Robert Thomas died. Lucy Thomas and their eldest son Robert were granted probate and from that time Insole’s payments for the coal dispatched were paid to them. Through Insole a contact was written with Messer’s Wood and Company to supply the London-based coal merchants for a quantity of 3,000 tons of coal per year. These early deals with the London markets helped establish the reputation of Welsh coal and how Thomas became known as ‘The Mother of the Welsh Steam Coal Trade’. Although Thomas and her son Robert were credited with this success, it is now believed that much of this success was down to Insole.

The embellishment of Thomas’ achievements are today attributed to Merthyr historian Charles Wilkins, who wrote an account of Thomas in 1888. Wilkins had a penchant for imaginative touches and his work gave the impression of Thomas as an enterprising woman who looked to set up new markets, whereas evidence now suggest that this work was conducted by her agents. Further research has also shown that coal had been shipped to London from Wales before either of the Thomas’ began extracting coal from their level, with shipments from Llanelli and Swansea being exported to the capital as early as 1824.

In the mid-1830s the lease for the Waun Wyllt level was terminated and Thomas instead leased the neighbouring Graig Pit which also exploited the ‘Four Foot Seam’.

In September 1847 Lucy Thomas contracted typhoid fever and died two weeks later on 27 September 1847 at her home in Abercanaid. She was buried at the family plot in the cemetery of the Hen Dy Cwrdd chapel at Cefn-Coed. Despite this evidence available today, the myth of a sole woman engaging in a near-total male dominated industry has endured. This myth was given further credence with the construction of a fountain on the High Street of Merthyr Tydfil in commemoration of Lucy Thomas and her son Robert. It was part funded by her granddaughter’s husband, William Lewis, 1st Baron Merthyr.

All of this being said, Lucy Thomas was indeed a remarkable woman who forged the way for women in industry.

Merthyr’s Heritage Plaques: Lucy & Robert Thomas

by Keith Lewis-Jones

Lucy & Robert Thomas

Plaque sited at CF47 8DF

Lucy Thomas (1781-1847), was one of the most remarkable people in the South Wales coalfield. She is considered to be the ‘Mother of the Welsh steam coal trade’.

It was the coal from the Waun Wyllt Colliery at Troedyrhiw opened by her husband Robert in 1824, that helped to establish the reputation of Welsh coal on the London market.

Lucy & Robert Thomas are commemorated by a decorative fountain at the southern end of Merthyr High Street. This was formerly sited further south, close to the site of the present roundabout.

Grade II Listed

History

Later C19. Designed by W Macfarlane & Co, architectural ironfounders of Glasgow. Inscribed plate records the erection of the fountain “in commemoration of Robert and Lucy Thomas of Waunwyllt, the pioneers in 1828 of the South Wales Steam Coal Trade”. Given by Sir W T Lewis and W T Rees of Aberdare, ca 1890.

Description

Octagonal, openwork iron canopy (in sections) with circular ribbed dome enriched by interlaced foliage trails, all surmounted by a heroic classical figure. Filigree spandrels to cusped arcades with rope-mouldings, circular armoria and guilloche bands. Griffin finials over volute brackets to angles, polygonal foliage capitals to leaf shafts with foliage frieze above square bases.

Merthyr’s Chapels: Park Chapel

Park English Baptist Chapel

In 1881, a disagreement occurred at Pontmorlais Chapel, and a number of the members left there and began their own cause, eventually building a small chapel next to the Morlais Brook at the bottom of the ‘British Tip’, calling it Abermorlais Chapel. By 1885 however, the dispute was resolved and the congregation at Abermorlais Chapel returned to Pontmorlais.

At this time, about 70 members of the congregation left High Street Chapel to form their own church. When the Methodists decided to return to Pontmorlais Chapel they sold the building to the Baptists for £1,060 who established Morlais Chapel on 27 September 1885. In June 1886, the church was accepted into the Glamorgan and Carmarthen English Baptist Association.

In 1899, Rev E Aubrey (right) was inducted as the new minister at the old Morlais Chapel.  Under his ministry the congregation prospered, and it soon became apparent that the congregation at the old Morlais Chapel had grown to such an extent that a new chapel was required.

Land was acquired in The Walk and a chapel, designed by Messrs George Morgan & Sons of Carmarthen was built at a cost of £2750, with the organ, furniture and fittings costing an additional £1750. The work was carried out by Mr J Morgan of Blaenavon. £700 of this amount was raised from the sale of Morlais Chapel to the Salvation Army.

As the Salvation Army, having no permanent place of worship, were keen to move into Morlais Chapel it was decided that the school room at the rear of the chapel should be completed first so that services could be held there pending completion of the chapel.

The schoolroom was completed in January 1904, and on 17 November 1904, Park Chapel was officially opened by Mr D A Thomas, later to become Lord Rhondda. On the day of the opening, the members processed from Morlais Chapel to the new chapel.

The opening ceremony at Park Chapel

In August 1906, Rev Aubrey decided to leave the chapel, and the following year Rev J Lloyd Williams was inducted as minister in May 1907, having led two very successful services at the chapel following Rev Aubrey’s departure. During his 29 years as minister, the congregation continued to go from strength to strength, and during his ministry the entire debt on the chapel was paid off.

In 1950, Rev Iorwerth Budge came to Park Chapel to preach and he was inducted as the minister the following year. Rev Budge was destined to remain as the minister of Park Chapel for 45 years. Rev Budge immediately showed a great interest in the work of the Sunday School, and it was through his interest that Sunday Schools were set up in the new housing estates that were being built in Merthyr. The first was built in Galon Uchaf and was opened on 19 September 1959, and a second was built in the Gurnos Estate and was opened on 31 January 1976.

In 2004 it was discovered that three culverts that ran beneath the chapel had, over many years, washed away most of the foundations of the chapel. A meeting was held to decide whether to demolish the chapel or to undertake extensive renovation work to stabilise the chapel. It was decided to carry out the renovations. The culverts were diverted and the foundations strengthened.

The schoolroom at the rear of the chapel had to be demolished and a new room was constructed at the rear of the balcony. These renovations cost almost £500,000.

Park Chapel still has a thriving, and indeed growing congregation.

The Dark Side of Convict Life – part 6

by Barrie Jones

Chapter IV (continued) At Dartmoor, Henry recounts an attempted prison break by William Carter, John Martin, and Ralph Goodwin.

The Dark Side of Convict Life (Being the Account of the Career of Harry Williams, a Merthyr Man). Merthyr Express, 19th February 1910, page 9.

Chapter IV (continued)

Well, time went on, and it was Christmas Eve, 1896, that an event happened at Dartmoor which, doubtless, still lingers in the memory of many, especially London people, for it was to the Seven Dials the poor victim belonged. His name was Carter, and he was undergoing the long term of twelve years. On the day mentioned, we were all out on the bogs, digging, when a thick fog came on – so thick that we could only see the outline of each other a very short distance away. The guards began to close in, when suddenly the whistles began blowing, for three convicts belonging to another gang had made a dash for liberty. No sooner had they done so than the sergeant of the guards gave the order to fire upon them. One was shot in the thigh and fell; then poor Carter was seen to throw up his arms, and he fell dead, having had five slugs poured into his lungs. Ah! I shall never forget the sight when we covered up the poor chap with our smocks and bore him back to the prison upon an old door we had taken off its hinges. In the meanwhile, guards were sent in search of the other missing man, and shots were fired at random, but he was swift of foot, and he managed to get clear away.

Three days after he was recaptured and brought back to Dartmoor, where he was tried by the prison director, and sentenced to undergo fifteen days’ bread and water, six months separate confinement, made to wear the parti-coloured distinctive dress, and to be restrained in cross-irons for a period of six months. As for the other convict, who was wounded, he received the same on discharge from the hospital; but poor Carter was borne in an old farm cart, followed only by his brother and sister, who came down from London to see the last of their poor brother laid to rest in the convicts’ cemetery at Princetown.

My term of three years was slowly coming to an end, and after being persecuted by officers, who, one by one, kept on reporting me, I managed to cheat them of 116 days’ ticket-of-leave, having been robbed of five months of my ticket. Thus, my day of liberation came round, and I was escorted to Tavistock, and from thence to Pentonville Prison, London, to await my release.

To be continued……

Keeping up with the Joneses: A Family of Merthyr Artists – part 2

by Christopher Parry

Predictably, with the immediate family gone from the town many of the younger children ended up with distant relatives outside of Merthyr Tydfil.

Leonardo ended up as a Grocers Assistant at Holywell, in his father’s native Flintshire. He would then marry and become a Grocer in Birkenhead.

Francis Lawrence Jones all but disappears from the records. A letter held at Cyfarthfa Castle hints that he left for London and painted ‘for the great theatres in London.’ There is a correction on the letter however, indicating that an earlier sentence, referring to Angelo, was actually referring to Francis instead. This sentence states that Angelo went ‘to an uncle in Australia who was an engineer’. This narrative does not match up with other information on Angelo, so it is possible the author of the letter was referring to Francis. A 16-year-old Francis Lawrence Jones, from Merthyr Tydfil, did become part of the Royal Navy and sailed to Australia, eventually settling in New Zealand. While it is not certain, it is possible Francis left for naval service and never returned around 1880. Little is concrete with this family member though. Little is concrete about Rosa and Ernest too, as they all but disappear from records. Which leave the two eldest, Angelo and Raphael.

Raphael followed his father, and became an artist. He displayed work in shop windows throughout the town and became a well-regarded artist in his own right, creating and displaying work frequently around Merthyr Tydfil. An oil painting on display in a High Street shop window gained high praise in 1895, with newspapers stating it ‘reflects great credit on the young and talented artist.’ By 1900, Raphael would go for broke of sorts; he would leave Merthyr Tydfil and head to London to become a painter. He would spend the rest of his life in the Hackney are of London, creating illustrations for various magazines until his death in 1938. The museum at Cyfarthfa Castle holds a fantastic watercolour by Raphael called ‘Mountains and Lake’, painted in 1929. After suffering from ill health Isaac Wilkinson, a former curator at Cyfarthfa Castle, based at the National Museum of Wales, sold some paintings by Raphael to raise funds on his behalf. Cyfarthfa Castle purchased two watercolours in March 1937, one of them being ‘Mountains and Lake.’

William Angelo Jones clearly took a keen interest in his father’s work also. At the Merthyr Drill Hall Eisteddfod in 1875, he won first prize for free hand drawing. He attended the ‘Penydarren Art Classes, Merthyr Tydfil, from their inception, and studied under Mr J Bush, then under Mr G F Harris, artist and portrait painter, and assisted G F Harris for three winters.’ William Angelo would eventually leave Merthyr Tydfil to study art formally in Birmingham where he would also take up an art teacher position. It is unclear exactly when he left Merthyr Tydfil for Birmingham, as he possibly studied there from 1893, but was certainly living between there and Merthyr until at least the early 1900s, as several pieces of art were created by him of the area and in the town in that period. He would donate 12 pen and ink sketches to Cyfarthfa Castle in December 1937, the same year his brother’s artwork was purchased by the museum. These were all sketches intended to be printed as Christmas Cards. The images are full of floral patterns, art deco deigns, Santa Claus, trumpeting angels, turkeys and Christmas puddings, everything associated with the festive period.

Christmas Card – c 1896-97, William Jones, Courtesy of Cyfarthfa Castle Museum & Art Gallery
Christmas Card – c 1903 William Jones, Courtesy of Cyfarthfa Castle Museum & Art Gallery.
Christmas Card – c. unknown, William Jones, Courtesy of Cyfarthfa Castle Museum & Art Gallery

More amazing is how he worked local landscapes into the cards, giving us stunning images of Heolgerrig and other localities around Merthyr Tydfil. These images were created ‘under most difficult adverse circumstances…’ No doubt William Angelo was struggling financially and like many artists before special occasions were an opportunity to raise funds.

On the Graig, Merthyr – c 1901 William Jones, Courtesy of Cyfarthfa Castle Museum & Art Gallery.
Moody’s Pond, Merthyr – c 1901 William Jones, Courtesy of Cyfarthfa Castle Museum & Art Gallery.

When the artist Penry Williams was struggling, he would regularly rely on Valentine’s Day to make ends meet, when he would create cards for sale. Struggling circumstances were what possibly pushed William Angelo to move on from Merthyr Tydfil fully and it is likely he died in Birmingham in 1938.

We often focus on the large-scale industrialists when looking into Merthyr’s past and overlook the many trades and professions the iron industry attracted to the town. Several painters opened studios in the town over the years, without whom, in an era where photography was in its infancy, we would have no visual record of the people and places that make up Merthyr Tydfil.

Keeping up with the Joneses: A Family of Merthyr Artists – part 1

by Christopher Parry

William Edward Jones made himself unique among the portrait painters that have settled in Merthyr Tydfil, because not only was he exceptionally talented, but he also was father to six children, several of which were named after famous renaissance artists, who became artists themselves.

William Edward Jones was born in Newmarket, Flintshire, in 1825. He was the son of James Jones, an Ironmonger, but it is unclear the path William took to become an artist instead of an Ironmonger. What is clear is he was ‘a “born” painter, gifted with an intuitive apprehension of the principles of his art, as well as great capacity for applying them…’ Though it is unknown if he had any formal training as an artist, by the age of 24, he had moved to Wrexham and was working as a portrait artist. He then went to Liverpool and eventually to London. While in London he displayed artwork at the Royal Academy and became a well-regarded portrait painter, but competition there was fierce. A chance meeting with two men that were bound for Merthyr Tydfil made William realise that maybe he could go to this iron metropolis and make a name for himself.

In 1853, he arrived in Merthyr Tydfil and it was not long before he established a portrait painting business on Glebeland Street, Merthyr Tydfil. 18, Glebeland Street would be his residence and studio for the rest of his life.

One of his first notable commissions seems to be of Lord Aberdare, Henry Austin Bruce, in 1853, and from there steady commissions would continue.

Henry Austin Bruce, c 1853, William Jones, Peoples Collection Wales, LLGC

By 1856, William had accepted what would be his most impressive portrait yet, a portrait of John Evans, the Dowlais Works Manager. Evans was retiring and those who admired him at Dowlais decided to commission a portrait. The portrait was unveiled at a Temperance Choir concert in the Dowlais Schools in May 1856. The portrait of Evans is one of only two known portraits painted by William that are still in Merthyr Tydfil. It hangs on the walls of Cyfarthfa Castle and is a huge canvas with astounding details, such as a painting of Dowlais Works on the wall in the background, along with engineering documents strewn across the table in front of John Evans. The portrait is one of two created by William in 1856, the other is a portrait of John Evans brother, Thomas Evans.

John Evans, c 1856, William Jones, Courtesy of Cyfarthfa Castle Museum & Art Gallery

The portrait of Thomas, who was an agent and manager at Dowlais also, was commissioned by those in Dowlais who were saddened by his passing in 1846. This was a problematic commission for William, as he had never seen Thomas and no reference to what he looked like existed. Those who knew Thomas gave William descriptions and the rest was down to the artist’s skill to create a perfect likeness. When the painting was complete ‘no one having formerly known Mr. Evans, can mistake who the painting is intended to represent’. The painting was unveiled in August 1856, and was transferred to the possession of the local council by the early 1900s. The portrait of John fell into the ownership of the council too, eventually being one of two paintings that hung in the council chambers until 1910, the other being a portrait of Henry Richard by William Gillies Gair. The portrait of Thomas Evans is heavily damaged but remains in Merthyr Tydfil.

William would go on to create a painting titled ‘The Last Bard’, which won him awards at the National Eisteddfod in 1859. In 1863, he was commissioned to paint the Mayor of Neath, Evan Evans, which was praised for its ‘fineness of execution and accurate delineation of feature…’ William would even produce pencil drawings, most notably he would capture the chaos of the moment disaster struck in 1874, when runaway carriages collided with a train and destroyed part of Merthyr’s Central Station.

Scene of the terrible accident at the Vale of Neath Station – c 1874, William Jones, Courtesy of Cyfarthfa Castle Museum & Art Gallery.

William was a Freemason and was commissioned frequently to paint other members, which meant he was solidly painting throughout the late 1850s, right until the late 1870s. There is currently no overall known number of how many portraits William created when he was living in Merthyr Tydfil. Many portraits had been commissioned for people outside of the town, for widowers of Freemasons, industrialists that moved on from the town and so on. In the aftermath of William’s death in 1877, there was an auction of work from his studio and one advertisement stated that there were over one hundred pieces for sale.

Merthyr Telegraph – 2 November 1877

The paintings have undoubtedly gone everywhere across Britain and further afield, so they are now incredibly difficult to trace. Dr Fred Holly, in an article appearing in Merthyr Historian: Volume 6 has made the best attempt to collect information on the artwork that survives, but even that list is miniscule compared to the actual art William created in his heyday.

On July 2, 1858, William married Elizabeth Wilkins, daughter of William Wilkins, who lived on Morlais Street, in the Glebeland. William Wilkins was a Hotel Keeper, who managed the Temperance Hotel, which was also in the Glebeland at Merthyr Tydfil. William and Elizabeth would have six children in all. The eldest, William Angelo, named after the famous renaissance artist. Then James Raphael, named after another Italian artist. Francis Lawrence followed, named after Thomas Lawrence, the English portrait painter. The only daughter then followed, Rosa, named after the French artist Rosa Bonheur. Then Leonardo Devinci (spelt with an E not A) Jones; another nod to beloved Italian artists. Finally, Ernest probably named after the French artist Ernest Meissonier.

The 1870s, when many of them were coming of age, must have been a devastating time for the children as Elizabeth died in 1870. Her father William Wilkins moved into 18, Glebeland Street to help William, but he then passed away in 1873. William then, while putting the finishing touches on a portrait, died in 1877.

To be continued……