Tag: Troedyrhiw

Some Corner of a Foreign Field – part 2

by David Collier

MARY PROSSER, née Roberts

A fortuitous online discovery revealed that at least one  native of Troedyrhiw had travelled as far as the San Francisco Bay area of California in the nineteenth century. An American calling himself ‘AlphaRoaming’ had written on his blog:- “I’m based in Silicon Valley and get out in the wilderness as often as possible. Back a few weeks ago I carpooled with a retired friend from San Jose up to Antioch, California to visit Northern California’s former coal mining district.’ He had posted this image of a headstone found in Rose Hill Cemetery in the Mount Diablo Coalfield, Contra Costa County, California.


The inscription states:-

MARY
WIFE OF WILLIAM PROSSER
DIED SEPT 24 1876
AGED 52 Y’RS
NATIVE OF TROEDYRHIW,
MERTHYR

 

From the late 1850’s  until the turn of the century a low grade coal was extracted from the mines in this area and small towns, principally Nortonville, Somersville and Stewartville, grew up to house the workers and their families. The inhabitants were a diverse mix including significant numbers of Welsh and Italian immigrants. These settlements did not outlast the closure of the coal mines and the silica sand extraction industry that followed and their locations are now officially classified as ‘ghost towns’. Close to Somersville is the burial ground now known as Rose Hill Cemetery but formerly called the Protestant or ‘Welsh’ cemetery. This is where Mary Prosser was laid to rest in 1876 following a long period of ill health due, in all probability, to one of the diseases such as smallpox, typhoid, scarlet fever and diphtheria that were all too prevalent at the time.

Rose Hill Cemetery, Black Diamond Preserve, Contra Costa County, Ca.

It is believed that nearly 250 individuals are at Rose Hill but, sadly, the site was long neglected and subjected to vandalism including the theft of gravestones and ironwork so that now less than  half of the original number of plots can be positively identified. Apart from Prosser other names with proven or likely Welsh origins found at Rose Hill include Davies, Davis, Edwards, Evans, Gething, Howell, Howells, Hughes, Humphreys, James, Jenkins, Jones, Morgan, Morris, Rees, Richards, Thomas, Vaughn, Waters and Williams.

Fortunately, this historic site and its artefacts are now being conserved and protected by the staff and volunteers of the Black Diamond Regional Preserve so that we and future generations can continue to appreciate it.

In 1979, Somersville gained fame as the site of the largest historical archaeology excavation ever done in the U.S. at the time. The Public Broadcasting System examined the project in a documentary series on archaeology, Odyssey: Other People’s Garbage.

The Rose Hill Cemetery aspect of this initiative seems to share many of the aims of  the Saron Graveyard Project in Troedyrhiw but, unlike the latter, enjoys the advantages that come from being part of a larger well funded project.

Pursuing research into the background of Mary Prosser and how she came to live in the U.S. and finally die and be interred in this small part of California has revealed some additional information but has also thrown up a number of puzzles that are still to be unravelled. This is an item printed in the deaths column of a Welsh language newspaper some months after Mary’s death:-

From Y Gwladgarwr (The Patriot) 29 December 1876

This item seems to:-

  1. confirm that Mary died on 24 September 1876 at 52 years of age, the wife of William Prosser;
  2. reveal that she died in Somersville after suffering greatly with an illness for over a year;
  3. confirm that Mary was born in Troedyrhiw, Merthyr;
  4. state that she emigrated to America in 1848 from Brynmawr which was (at that time) in Brecknockshire (and is now within Blaenau Gwent);
  5. state that by 1857 she was living in Tamaqua, Pennsylvania;
  6. explain that her brother, Thomas Roberts, who lived in Reading, Pennsylvania, would like to contact Mr Prosser;
  7. make it likely that she, her husband and their families were Welsh speaking;
  8. make it likely that her maiden name was Roberts.

A search in available records for a marriage between a William Prosser and a Mary Roberts prior to the date of emigration (1848) yields only one likely result.

(Ancestry.com gives the same result but with an 1843 date)

This marriage took place in the parish of Llanelli/Llanelly on the edge of which is Brynmawr – the starting point for Mary (Roberts) Prosser (and possibly her husband?) to emigrate to the U.S.

If we could now link this Mary Roberts to Troedyrhiw we would have strong evidence that we have identified the person that lies buried in Rose Hill Cemetery. Thus far it has not been possible to do this but we are hopeful that ongoing enquiries will eventually be successful.

SOME CONCLUDING OBSERVATIONS

South Africa, British Columbia and California are all many thousands of miles from Troedyrhiw. To travel from the village to any of these places by modern means of transport would normally be a quite straightforward if rather tiring venture but undertaking the same journeys in the nineteenth century would have been full of potential hazards. That our forebears were willing to take such risks, whether to fulfil their duty or in pursuit of better lives, and to put up with all of the hardships that they would undoubtedly face upon arrival at their destination is testament to their determination and resilience and leaves us much to admire.

John W. Williams, as we have seen, suffered a fatal accident while mining for gold in British Columbia. He must have been part of the early Welsh emigration to Canada attracted by the Cariboo Gold Rush that began in 1858. As with other miners that suffered similar fates he is likely to have been buried near to the place where he died with no permanent marker showing the location of his final resting place. It appears from census records that, sadly, he had left a wife and two children behind in Troedyrhiw while he went away to seek his fortune.

Evan J. Williams found himself to be embroiled in what, at the time, was the largest deployment of British troops since the Crimean War. Between 1899 and 1902  half a million soldiers had been sent to take part in the conflict in South Africa and amongst the 55,000 British casualties there were some 22,000 fatalities of which 12,000, including Trooper Williams, had died from diseases such as dysentery, typhoid and intestinal infections.

As many as 2 million Americans can trace their ancestry back to Welsh born immigrants.  In the middle of the nineteenth century many were recruited, because of their skills, to work in the coal mines and ironworks of Pennsylvania. This probably  explains why Mary Prosser and her husband William came to Tamaqua from Brynmawr in 1857. We don’t know why the couple later decided to move to California. It could have been that William’s presumed skills as a ‘hard-rock’ miner were in demand in the goldfields at that time and, when this didn’t work out, he turned to the type of work that he knew best in the recently opened coal mines of the Mount Diablo area. He and his wife could not have suspected that the harsh realities of life in an environment where infectious diseases were rife and medical care was rudimentary or non existent were to prove so costly for Mary.

Some links

https://friendsofsaron.wordpress.com/Information on the progress of the Saron Graveyard Project, Troedyrhiw and the history of the village.

http://www.southport-land.com/PDFs/EBRPD_brochure_Rose_Hill_MOD3.pdf  Information Rose Hill Cemetery and the Black Diamond Preserve.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S_zmCD4Eojg Youtube clip including footage of archaeological dig at Somersville, Contra Costa County, California.

https://static1.squarespace.com/static/58d29e6ccd0f6829bdf2f58f/t/59531edbb6ac500ba29e2421/1498619614340/MOV_The_Cariboo_Gold_Rush_Story.pdf Information on the Cariboo Gold Rush from the Museum of Vancouver.

https://www.southafricawargraves.org/ Information on the South Africa War Graves Project.

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 Morlais Brook – part 1

by Clive Thomas

It was not until September 1968 that I first became acquainted with ‘The Stinky’, the name given to the Morlais Brook by past generations of children and adults who lived along its banks.

Not being a Merthyr boy I was really unaware of its existence, let alone details of its course and history. Where I lived in Troedyrhiw we had the River Taf across the fields of Bill Jones’ farm and our only brook was an old Hill’s Plymouth Collieries’ watercourse which drained numerous disused mountainside coal levels. Despite its origins, the water was clear and clean, drinkable, dammed in the summer holidays, paddled and bathed in. When bored or just at a loose end we raced empty Bondman tobacco tins along its course, running to keep up with the flow and ensure that our own particular tin wasn’t held up by a fallen branch or trapped in an inconvenient eddy. On first encounter I couldn’t imagine any of those activities taking place along ‘The Stinky’ and my initial observations confirmed that its local name was not in any way exaggerated. Indeed, the name appropriately characterised some of its more sinister and less praiseworthy qualities.

The stretch I first got to know was, what a student of physical geography would term, the stream’s ‘Old Age’, that is the portion towards the end of its life. Indeed, one might say at its very death, for union with the parent Taf was imminent and in 1968 the confluence of the two was observable, not as now concealed beneath a highway and pedestrian pathway. To the south of the stream were some of the streets and courtways of the town, many of which were derelict and already marked as candidates for slum clearance. Within two or three years these would be swept away. Rising up from its northern bank was the huge tip of waste produced over a century earlier by the Penydarren Ironworks, its industrial waste concealed for the most part by surprisingly lush vegetation. The British Tip, as it was sometimes known, took its name from the British and Foreign Bible Society, founders of the academy which graced its summit. On its plateau top was a once grand construction, a building of a century’s age but which in many respects had seen better times.  Abermorlais, the school’s official name, was most appropriate, as it proclaimed its location, at the union of Taf and Nant Morlais. Unfortunately,  there was to be seen no evidence in the stream here of a course well run, more confirmation of ill use, where Sixties’ waste and detritus continued to be added to over a century’s massive abuse. A sad end indeed to what no doubt had once been in pre-industrial times a clear and unspoilt mountain stream.

A map from the 1860s showing the Morlais Brook (flowing East to West) entering the Taff (flowing North to South). Abermorlais School is shown overlooking the scene.

Perhaps though, to gain a more comprehensive appreciation of the stream’s course, it is probably better to follow the guidance of another Thomas, and “begin at the beginning”.

Nant Morlais forms from numerous small tributaries on the slopes of Twynau Gwynion and Cefnyr Ystrad on the 560 metre contour above Pantysgallog and  Dowlais. In a distance of seven and a half kilometres it descends 440 metres to its confluence with the Taf. It’s not easy walking country with the gently dipping beds of Millstone grit overlying the Carboniferous Limestone. The surface is rough with ankle breaking rocks and many sink holes to topple into. Among many, but by far the largest of these is Pwll Morlais, a deep and supreme example of what happens where the underlying Limestone has been eroded and the grit collapses into the void. Depending on the season this can be a steep sided, empty peat banked hole or after heavy rain, full to overflowing with a brew of brown froth. The song of the skylark can be enjoyed here on a fine summer day but it is also a solitary place, disconcerting or eerie even, when mist or low cloud descends and the lone walker is surprised by the frantic cry of a disturbed snipe.

Pwll Morlais. Photo Clive Thomas

On a clear day the view to the south is the trough of the Taf Valley. Always viewed into the sun so never really clear, with only silhouettes, shadows and reflections to give a hint of detail. One wonders how different it would have looked when all of the works below would have been at their height?

From Pwll Morlais, the stream is called Tor-Gwyn by the Ordnance Survey, until its junction with another parallel tributary, and thereafter it becomes Nant Morlais proper. The stream’s descent is gentle to begin with over the hard resistant gritstone. It is along this stretch  that there is much evidence of the importance placed on the brook as a source of water power for the rapidly growing Dowlais Works during the early part of the nineteenth century. There are still the remains of sluices and numerous places where the course has been altered, or feeders led its water off to be stored in numerous hillside reservoirs.

Sluice where water was diverted from the stream into the Pitwellt Pond. Photo Clive Thomas

Where one of these diversions fed the extensive but now dry Pitwellt Pond above Pengarnddu, the Brook leaves the Millstone Grit and begins to cut a deep gorge into the softer Coal Measure rocks. From here there is more urgency in its flow, its course becomes narrower and more confined. At several locations it caused railway builders of the past to pause and consider the inconvenience of its course which would necessitate the construction of embankments and small bridges. The line which took limestone to the ironworks at Rhymney crossed hereabouts, as did the Brecon and Merthyr Railway on its way north over the Beacons and the London and North Western on its descent into Merthyr Tydfil via the ‘Miler’ or  Morlais Tunnel.

The stream cuts down into some of the softer beds of the Coal Measures. Photo Clive Thomas

More significantly however, it is within this section of the stream that geologists have been able to discover some of the secrets of the South Wales Coalfield and probably many hundreds of school pupils, university students, and local amateur geologists will have benefitted from the instruction of teachers like Ron Gethin, Tom Sharpe or John Perkins. Like myself on many occasions I am sure, they have stumbled down its steep banks into the course of the stream below Blaen Morlais Farm in search of  Gastriocerassubcranatum or Gastriocerascancellatum . Not valuable minerals  these, but the important fossils which would indicate the location of one or other of the marine bands which were significant in determining the sequence of sedimentation of the rocks generally, and the coal seams in particular.

To be continued…..

Evacuees in Merthyr

The article transcribed below appeared in the Merthyr Express 80 years ago today (8 June 1940).

Merthyr Welcomes Evacuees

Sixteen Hundred Arrivals

“You will get a square DEAL here, FOLK-stone”.  This clever slogan on a banner at the main entrance to Merthyr Railway Station greeted 1,600 children evacuated from Deal and Folkestone when they arrived at Merthyr on Sunday.

Several thousand people lined High Street and Church Street to welcome the evacuees, who were accompanied by their teachers.

The children were met by Merthyr’s Mayor (Mr. J.W Watkin J.P.) and the Mayoress.  Others present at the station were the Deputy Mayor (Mr. A.J. Brobyn), Ald. Wm Powell, Ald. Sam Jennings, Ald. David Jones J.P., Ald. John Williams, Ald. T. Edmund Rees, Councillors Andrew Wilson J.P., J. E. Jones J.P., B. J. Williams (chairman, education committee), Lewis Jones, F. J. Bateson J.P., T. J. Evans, John Harris, Mrs. Mary Thomas J.P., F. A. Phillips J.P., David Parry J.P, and D O’Driscoll; the Town Clerk (Mr. Edward Roberts) and Mrs. Roberts, Canon J. Richards Pugh (Rector of Merthyr), the Rev. Emlyn Davies (president, Merthyr Free Church Council), Mr W. T Owen M.A. (director of education), Dr. T. H. Stephens (medical officer of health), the chief constable (Mr. T A Goodwin), the Rev J. T. Rogers, the Rev H. Davies, Mrs Margaret Gardner M.B.E., Mr A. P. Thomas J.P., Mr T. E. Lewis (station-master), Mr J. Crossland (borough treasurer), Mr. G. A. Cook (public assistance officer), Dr. King (H.M. inspector of schools), Mr. T Longville Bowen (editor, Merthyr Express), Mr. David J. Owen (chief billeting officer), Mr. Israel Price, Mr. T. S. Evans (deputy food controller), Major T. R. Evans (A.R.P. officer) and others.

After the playing of “Hen Wlad fy Nhadau” by the Salvation Army Band at the Station approach, the children – many of the younger ones carrying dolls and toys, and all with their gas masks – were led by the Mayor and officials to the Miners’ Hall.

In extending a welcome on behalf of the townspeople, the Mayor expressed the hope that the children would be happy and well cared for at their new homes.

Coun. B. J. Williams and Mr. David Owen were in charge of the dispersal of the children from the Miners’ Hall.

After being allocated to the various wards, the children were taken to the St. David’s Hall, where they were medically examined by 14 local doctors.  When the examinations were completed, buses were waiting to take the evacuees to the dispersal centres in the various wards.  At these dispersal centres they were provided with a meal, and later they were conveyed to their new homes.

On Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday Merthyr’s schools were closed while arrangements were being completed for the education of the evacuees, who are drawn from secondary, technical, elementary and infants’ schools.  Throughout the borough the evacuees could be seen fraternising with the local children and “exploring” their new surroundings.

The slogan already referred to was thought out by Mr William Morgan, of Twynyrodyn, one of the ward billeting officers.

Troedyrhiw

Bridge Street, Troedyrhiw, was decorated with flags and bunting to greet Pentrebachthe children from Deal when they arrived at 9.30 pm, and crowds of people lined the streets to welcome them.  The children, numbering 96, and varying in ages from four to fourteen, marched to the Welfare Hall, where they were provided with a meal.

The Rev. J. C. Bowen, during the proceedings, introduced the Rev. T Rees (vicar), who spoke to the children and said they were now among people who were kindly disposed to them, and were united to make them happy.  On behalf of the people of Troedyrhiw, and also of the churches and chapels, he extended to them a warm welcome.  Great credit is due to the chief billeting officer, Mr. D Rowlands, and his staff of assistant billeting officers for the smooth working of the arrangements for billeting the children.  There was evidence of fine teamwork, which included the chairman, Coun. B. M. Davies; Mr. M.Morgans, secretary; and Mr. G. Bryn Jones J.P., treasurer.  Valuable services were also rendered by the police and special constables, under the direction of Sergt. Pugh; also by the ambulance division (Capt. David Jones); the Auxiliary Fire Service, with Mr. Harry Lucas, officer in-charge; and the committee of the Welfare and Boys’ Club (chairman, Mr J. J. Palmer); and Mr Fred Bristowe (Boys’ Club secretary).

The members of the committees were busy on Monday writing letters to the parents of each evacuee child.

Evacuees arriving in Merthyr

Abercanaid

Although the contingent of the evacuee children, numbering 65, for the Abercanaid and Pentrebach area, from Deal, arrived at a late hour on Sunday, the villagers crowded the streets to give them a welcome to the area.  The chief billeting officer (Mr. D. W. Davies) had the arrangements so admirably planned, that within an hour of their arrival the children were in their new homes.  The billeting and welfare committee were all out to attend to the provision of a meal at the Abercanaid schools, and parents of the children have been informed of their safe arrival, and with the assurance that they will be well cared for during their stay.  Splendid services were rendered by the special constables, under the direction of P.C.’s Caleb Evans and R. Davies.

Merthyr Vale

Children evacuated from Deal arrived at the Gordon-Lennox Hall, Merthyr Vale, close on 9 p.m.  Outside the hall hundreds of local residents gave them a rousing welcome.  About 210 children, with their teachers and a few adults, were handed over to a competent staff of workers, drawn chiefly from the teaching profession, and the difficult task of placing the children in their new homes began.  All the clergy and ministers of the village, together with local members of the St. John Ambulance Brigade and the local police (with Inspector Young in charge) worked as one, and many of the children brought letters of introduction from their clergy to those of their new home.  Praise must be accorded the women helpers who served the children with a meal.  All worked together, and tribute must be paid to Mr. W. J. Williams, headmaster of Pantglas Boys’ School, and Mr. A James, headmaster of Merthyr Vale Boys’ School, through whose energy the children were all placed in good homes.

Many thanks to Tracy Barnard for transcribing this article.

Charlie Jones

by John Simkin

Charles (Charlie) Jones was born in Troedyrhiw 120 years ago today, on 12 December 1899. He joined Cardiff City in 1920 but after playing in only one first-team game he moved to Stockport County. In his first season with the club he helped them win the Third Division North championship (1921-22).

In March 1923 Jones joined Oldham Athletic in the First Division. However, he failed to prevent them being relegated at the end of the 1922-23 season. Jones scored 5 goals in 56 games before joining Nottingham Forest in 1925.

Jones had developed into a skilful winger and was selected to play for Wales against England on 1st March 1926. Jones had a great game in his country’s 3-1 victory.

In May 1928 Herbert Chapman paid a four-figure sum for Jones. Soon afterwards Chapman signed David Jack, Cliff Bastin and Alex James. They joined a team that included Herbert Roberts, Eddie Hapgood, Tom Parker, Bob John, Alf Baker, Dan Lewis, George Male, Jimmy Brain, Joe Hulme and Jack Lambert.

Herbert Chapman gradually adapted the “WM” formation that he had introduced when he first came to the club. Herbert Roberts was the centre-half who stayed in the penalty area to break down opposing attacks. Chapman used his full-backs, Eddie Hapgood and Tom Parker, to mark the wingers. This job had previously been done by the wing-halves, who now concentrated on looking after the inside-forwards. Bob John and Alf Baker were the men he used in these positions. Dan Lewis was the goalkeeper in what became known as “defence-in-depth”. The young George Male was often used if any of the full-backs or wing-halves were injured.

Pulling the centre-half back left a gap in midfield and so Chapman needed a link man to pick up the ball from defence and to pass it on quickly to the attackers. This was the job of Alex James, who had the ability to make accurate long low passes to goalscoring forwards like Charlie Jones, David Jack, Jimmy Brain, Joe Hulme, Cliff Bastin and Jack Lambert. Chapman told the other forwards to go fast, like “flying columns” and if possible to make for goal direct.

Success was not immediate and Arsenal finished in 14th place in the 1929-30 season. Jones missed only three league games that season. They did much better in the FA Cup. Arsenal beat Birmingham City (1-0), Middlesbrough (2-0), West Ham United (3-0) and Hull City (1-0) to reach the final against Chapman’s old club, Huddersfield Town. Unfortunately, he was not selected for this game.

Herbert Chapman decided to move Jones to right-half for the 1930-31 season. Arsenal won their first five matches and did not lose until the tenth game. Aston Villa took a narrow lead but in November, 1930, Arsenal beat them 5-2 at Highbury with Cliff Bastin and David Jack scoring twice and Jack Lambert once. Sheffield Wednesday now went on a good run and for a while had a narrow lead over Arsenal. However, a 2-0 win over Wednesday in March took them to the top of the league. This was followed by victories over Grimsby Town (9-1) and Leicester City (7-2).

When Arsenal beat Liverpool 3-1 at Highbury they became the first southern club to win the First Division title. The Gunners won 28 games and lost only four and obtained 66 points, six more than the previous best total and seven more than their nearest rivals, Aston Villa.

Jones won a second First Division championship medal when playing in 16 games in the 1932-33 season. Jones was even more important in the 1933-34 season when he played in 29 league games to win his third championship medal.

Charlie Jones retired from football in the summer of 1934. He had scored seven goals in 71 league games for Arsenal. He was briefly manager of Notts County before becoming a successful businessman.

Charlie Jones died in April 1966.

To read more of John Simkin’s excellent essays, please visit:
http://spartacus-educational.com

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…..