The West Family Version of the 17 Miracles – part 1

The following article, contributed by Maryellen West, is a fine example of the excellent job done by local Family History experts.

In 2017 my goal for visiting Wales was to discover Margaret Rowland, the sister of Job Rowland, my great-great grandfather who immigrated to the United States in 1849. I had records that indicated that her husband, Morgan Thomas, had been buried in Pant Cemetery in Merthyr Tydfil, Wales but nothing about her and I was determined to suss out her information.

In March of 2017, my friend Sandra, my two brothers and their wives and I set out for a journey that would take us across the south of England, thru Scotland and straight into our family’s history in Wales.

The day we arrived in Merthyr Tydfil, Wales, we went to the Glamorgan history center, and spent a couple of confusing hours trying to determine how to begin our search. At a loss, we decided to pick up a few pamphlets and to go to the Pant cemetery where we were sure we could find the grave of Morgan Thomas, the husband of Margaret Rowland, or at least find someone who could guide us to the grave.

When we arrived, we were stunned having been used to our western American cemeteries of limited size. Pant was huge! Hill upon hill of ancient gravestones in every conceivable condition of disrepair. We all stood in disbelief as we stared at the task before us. We ultimately decided just to walk around a bit as we prayed to be guided in the right direction. After about 30 minutes of wandering we met and determined that this would be a hopeless endeavor and somewhat discouraged we left for dinner.

The next morning, we went to the Ynysfach Engine House (a genealogical repository and information center) in Merthyr to begin our research. It is there where the miracles began as we entered the Engine House and met miracle number one: Terry Jones.

Richard, Joe, Eileen, and I were downstairs learning about the history of the iron industry in town when Sharon and Sandy went upstairs to wander and look for restrooms. There they encountered a gentleman working on a computer and began a conversation with him about our quest. When they mentioned trying to find one grave amongst the 10,000 in Pant Cemetery he realized that we really did need some help. He arranged for us to meet him at the cemetery office across the street where he introduced us to Deb, the keeper of records. Here we not only found Margaret’s grave site number but others who were related and resided next to her. We were able to arrange with her husband, the caretaker of the cemetery, to meet later that day to see the graves.

Miracle number two occurred when we returned to the cemetery and realized that all six of us had previously stood very near the actual site of the graves at some point as we wandered the cemetery. The reason we didn’t see the graves was they were covered entirely by a huge tree that had completely swallowed them. We had photographed the tree because it was so immense and imposing but for no other reason. We returned later to cut away some of the lower branches so that Sharon could crawl inside and read the writing on the headstones and we discovered that we had many more relatives buried in this plot than we realized.

Miracle number three came with a visit to the Colly Ishaf farm upon which Margaret and Morgan Thomas farmed.  It is no longer in the Thomas family, but the current owners allowed us to visit and photograph the place where our family lived. We discovered the name of the farm listed on the back of a photograph found Aunt Mary Miller’s material.

To be continued……

The Boer War Memorial, Thomastown Park

by Barrie Jones

To mark 121st anniversary of the start of the Second Boer War, this article is a rewrite and update on Merthyr’s Boer War Memorial that was first published as part of an essay on Thomastown Park in Volume Twelve of the Merthyr Historian in 2001.

2001 was the 100th anniversary of the construction of Thomastown Park and the war memorial will reach its 116th anniversary in September this year.

Situated in the ‘western’ park the memorial is unique as the first memorial to Merthyr’s menfolk who gave their lives in the service of their country.

The Second Boer War

The Second Boer War was fought from 11 October 1899 to 31 May 1902 and was the first British conflict that depended heavily upon volunteers to boost the small and heavily stretched established army.  The war under conventional terms of fighting between formed armies was over by June 1900.  A guerrilla phase followed in which the worst aspects of warfare such as scorched earth actions and concentration camps were to inflict severe hardship and suffering upon the Boer people.  The war was concluded at the peace of Vereeniging in May 1902.

An indication that the war was over in all but name was that some four months before the signing of the peace treaty prominent Merthyr townsfolk were planning a memorial to those that had died in the service of their Queen, King and Country.

Memorial Committee

At a public meeting held on the 17 January 1902, a resolution was passed that a suitable memorial to perpetuate the memory of former townsmen who had fallen in the war in South Africa be erected.  An application for consent of the Council to erect a memorial on the Recreation Ground, later known as Thomastown Park, was made by the secretary of the Committee, Mr W. T. Jones.  Mr Jones of 25, Tudor Terrace, Merthyr Tydfil was an accountant practising from offices at 50 High Street.  His letter of application, dated 22 January was read at the Council meeting on the 5 February 1902 and was granted subject to a suitable site being available.

Chairman of the committee was Dr. C. Biddle and the vice-chairman was Mr. William Griffiths, High Constable of Merthyr Tydfil, and over the next two years the committee set out to raise the funds to build and erect the memorial.

Fund Raising

The overall cost of the memorial was £300, the majority of which was got by public subscription.  Fund raising was slow and by the spring of 1904 was somewhat off the fund’s target.  At which time the Police, Yeomanry and Volunteers came forward offering to organise an assault at arms and concert at the Drill Hall, Merthyr.

The event held on the night of Wednesday 11 May 1904 was well attended and raised £75 towards the memorial.  The evening’s proceedings demonstrated the strong military background of members of the police force and the overall strength of support towards the erection of a memorial to the men that had died in the war.

The District Council, at a total cost of £123 carried out the foundation work for the memorial.  They presented an account for the work, less the Council’s contribution of £25 towards the memorial, in the November following the unveiling ceremony.

The Memorial

The site chosen for the memorial was in the western park on the Thomastown Tips overlooking the town and with the memorial’s overall height of thirty five-foot it is clearly visible from the town below.  (George) Washington Morgan, a local sculptor and monumental mason of Penyard House, was commissioned to design and build the memorial.  Built from Aberdeen granite in the shape of an obelisk, fifteen feet tall, standing on a pedestal carved from the same material the memorial stands on a foundation designed by Mr C M Davies and Mr T F Harvey, District Council surveyor.  The foundation comprises a Pennant stone base twelve feet square upon which the granite pedestal rests.  The base surrounded by kerb and railing stands on a grass clod embankment giving added height to the memorial.  Application had been made to the War Office to have two South African guns to place each side of the obelisk but without success.

Thomastown Recreation Ground in the 1920s. Photo courtesy of Carl Llewellyn

The pillar has a wreath carved just above the front of the Pedestal, under which is the motto ‘Gwell Angau na Chywilydd’, (Better Death than Dishonour).  On the front of the four faces of the pedestal is carved the words ‘A tribute to Merthyr men who died in the South African war, 1899-1902.’  The other three sides contain the forty-two names of ‘Merthyr’ men who died in the war:

  1. Charles M Jenkins, Thorneycroft’s Mounted Infantry
  2. Trooper John Gray, 18th Hussars
  3. Trooper Dominick Dasey, 19th Hussars
  4. Gunner Thomas Williams, Field Artillery
  5. Thomas W Davies, Imperial, Yeomanry
  6. Trooper Evan J Williams, Imperial Yeomanry
  7. Trooper Caradoc I Evans, Protectorate Regiment
  8. Arthur J Jenkins, Grenadier Guards
  9. Evan Evans, Welsh Fusiliers
  10. Frederick Barnett, Welsh Fusiliers
  11. John J Davies, Welsh Fusiliers
  12. Edwin Mansell, South Wales Borderers
  13. William Reardon, South Wales Borderers
  14. William Lewis, South Wales Borderers
  15. David J Moses, South Wales Borderers
  16. J Walsh, South Wales Borderers
  17. Edward Davies, South Wales Borderers
  18. John Rees, South Wales Borderers
  19. Edward Owens, South Wales Borderers
  20. Daniel Sullivan, South Wales Borderers
  21. Sydney Rees, South Wales Borderers
  22. Thomas Davies, South Wales Borderers
  23. William James, South Wales Borderers
  24. Edwin Jones, South Wales Borderers
  25. William Wayt, South Wales Borderers
  26. Michael Flynn, South Wales Borderers
  27. Thomas Fouhy, Welsh Regiment
  28. Timothy O’Shea, Welsh Regiment
  29. Dennis Donovan, Welsh Regiment
  30. Samuel Thomas, Welsh Regiment
  31. Henry Pollard, Welsh Regiment
  32. Cornelius Mahoney, Welsh Regiment
  33. Henry Davies, Welsh Regiment
  34. Morgan Roberts, Welsh Regiment
  35. Thomas Rule, Welsh Regiment
  36. Lewis Williams, Welsh Regiment
  37. John M Ball, Welsh Regiment
  38. John Hayes, Welsh Regiment
  39. Samuel Broadstock, Gloucester Regiment
  40. Patrick Cronin, Manchester Regiment
  41. Daniel Jones, Imperial Light Infantry
  42. William F Howell, R.A.M.C.

Lieutenant C. M. Jenkins was the son of Thomas Jenkins J.P., farmer, of Pantscallog House, Pant.  Charles was a railway engineer and had been living in the Transvaal for eleven years before he enlisted in Major Thornycroft’s Imperial Mounted Infantry in October 1899; “All my pals are in it, and I must take a hand as well”.  Charles was killed at the battle of Colenso, Natal, on 15 December 1899, aged 32 years old.

The Unveiling Ceremony

After strenuous fund raising the memorial was complete and ready for its official unveiling on Thursday afternoon, 8 September 1904.  In keeping with military tradition the ceremony was planned to precision and comprised both military parade and music.  On the week leading up to the ceremony plans of the ground showing the entrance gates to be used by the various participating groups was on display in prominent office and shop windows about the town.

The ceremony must have looked most impressive with some six hundred officers and men of the volunteer detachments, South Wales Borderers, of Cefn Coed, Dowlais, Merthyr Tydfil and Merthyr Vale and the Glamorgan Yeomanry.  Witnessing the event was a large assembly of the general public under the supervision of the local police.  Lord Windsor, in his capacity of Lord Lieutenant of Glamorgan, accompanied by Mr Forest, Deputy Lieutenant, Mr. W. W. Meredith, High Constable, and Mr. J. M. Berry, Chairman of the Public Works Committee, arrived at the recreation ground in a brougham.  Lord Windsor was met at the entrance of the gates to the ground by the Memorial Committee and was afforded the honour of a guard of one hundred men under the command of Lieutenant D. C. Harris, Merthyr Tydfil Volunteer detachment of the South Wales Borderers.

After speeches from both the High Constable and Dr. Biddle the buglers of the 3rd Volunteer Battalion Welsh Regiment sounded ‘The Last Post’.  Lord Windsor then unveiled the obelisk to great applause and after an appropriate speech concluded by asking Councillor J. M. Berry to accept the memorial on behalf of the Parish of Merthyr.  Councillor Berry accepted the monument and assured Lord Windsor and subscribers that the town would do its utmost to keep it as a sacred trust.

The memorial still stands but is in much need of repair and refurbishment.

The Memorial shortly after it was unveiled. 

Merthyr’s Heritage Plaques: John Hughes

by Keith Lewis-Jones

Plaque sited at the entrance to the Merthyr Tydfil Civic Centre, CF47 8AN

John Hughes (1814-1899) trained as an engineer at the Cyfarthfa Ironworks in his native Merthyr Tydfil. He acquired an international reputation in marine engineering and armament production.

He was invited by the Tsar to help in the development of Russian railways and heavy industry.

He moved to the Ukraine in 1870 and established a steelworks at Hughesovka (Yuzovka) which was first renamed Stalino & then Donetsk.

Harry Goodwin

Today marks the 150th anniversary of the birth of another notable Merthyr citizen, yet someone who is quite forgotten – the first-class cricketer Harry Goodwin.

Harry Smyth Goodwin was born at Brynheulog Villa in Thomastown on 30 September 1870, the son of Albert Goodwin, a school-master originally from Monmouth. He was educated at prep school in Bournemouth before attending Rossall School in Fleetwood, Lancashire.

It was whilst he was at Rossall School that he first began playing cricket. According to records, in these school matches he batted in the top order, scoring five and 16 against Loretto School on 7 June 1889 while batting at three. He also took a five-wicket haul with his bowling though his bowling style is not recorded, and he did not bowl during his first class career. On 21 June he played against Malvern College and scored 72 and 15 opening the batting, but did not bowl.

Goodwin was bitten by the cricket bug, and decided to embark on a career as a cricketer, making his first class debut on 25 May 1896 playing for Gloucestershire against Sussex (a team which included the ageing but legendary W. G. Grace), where he batted and number six, making 10 runs on his first outing. He played again that year against Middlesex on 18 June at Lord’s.

In 1897, he played once again for Gloucestershire, enjoying his most prolific season. He played ten games, scoring 239 runs at 21.72 including a high score of 44 not out which came against Sussex on 2 August, overshadowed once more by a Grace century. He also made 36 against Somerset on 19 August, however he was unable to make any lasting impact and played only one match in the 1898 season: scoring five against Sussex on 30 May.

He did return more convincingly in 1899, playing five games including his career-high score of 46 made against Somerset on 28 August at Taunton, which was the highest score of the innings, and also a game against a touring Australian side though in this match he only made six. However, a batting average of 12.50 and only 100 runs scored in the season was not enough to secure a regular place in the Gloucestershire line-up. Goodwin managed only nine runs from his three games in 1900, and played only one match in 1901.

In 1902, he decided to give up his cricket career, and in May of that year, he joined the staff at the prestigious Christ’s Hospital School. Christ’s Hospital was founded in 1552, receiving its first Royal Charter in 1553. Although following the public school tradition, Christ’s Hospital has been, since its establishment, a charity school, with a core aim to offer children from humble backgrounds the chance of a better education. Originally situated at Newgate, London, when Harry Goodwin began his teaching career, the school had just moved, in May 1902, to a newly purpose-built establishment at Horsham, Sussex.

A tribute to Goodwin in ‘The Blue’, the official magazine of Christ’s Hospital, written at the time of his retirement describes one of his first teaching experiences:

“He was then appointed to Coleridge A as its first Junior House Master, and the ‘Prep’ was the scene of his first teaching activities. Some will remember his astonishment at finding in his form a diminutive cockney, who had never seen a cow. Accordingly the small boy was sent out to an adjacent field to inspect a herd grazing there. Asked on his return what he thought of the cow, he replied, ‘Please sir, it’s like an ‘orse with ‘orns’.”

The Blue, June 1930

In 1906, he returned briefly to cricket, again playing for Gloucestershire, playing four games that year. In 1907, however, he played six matches and reached 117 runs for the season and a best of 34 made against Essex on 5 August. His final first class match came against a South African side that was on an England tour, where he made a pair – two scores of zero. He was dismissed each time by South African Test cricketer Ernie Vogler. After this brief return to the world of cricket, he returned to his teaching career.

When the First World War broke out, despite his age (he was 43 at the time), he immediately volunteered for active service. At first rejected on account of his age, he eventually became a private in the Public Schools Battalion of the Middlesex Regiment, soon being transferred to the Royal Fusiliers as a Lieutenant, quickly moving up the ranks to Captain then Major. Whilst serving on the front-line in France he was badly wounded in the arm by machine gun fire, and following his recovery, he became Director of Graves’ Registration and Enquiries until he was demobilised.

Following his demobilisation, he returned to Christ’s Hospital, and in 1920 married Ada White. He continued to teach at the school until his retirement in 1930. Harry Goodwin died at the school where he spent most of his adult life on 13 November 1955.

Christ’s Hospital staff in 1922. Harry Goodwin is at the centre, sitting on the ground at the front.

Many thanks to Christ’s Hospital Museum for providing the photographs and invaluable information for this article.

Thanks too to Mike Donovan for his help in researching Harry Goodwin’s family records.

Memories of Old Merthyr

We continue our serialisation of the memories of Merthyr in the 1830’s by an un-named correspondent to the Merthyr Express, courtesy of Michael Donovan.

Behind this part, and alongside the river, was the quarter whose savour was anything but respectable; it was known as China. It only went down the riverside a short way, from which to the Morlais Brook the cinder tip abutted on to the river.

An extract from the 1851 Ordnance Survey map of Merthyr showing the location of China. 

The locality was also called Pontstorehouse, the origin of this name, according to my idea, being from the storehouse for general housing of the shop goods being a little way beyond Jackson’s Bridge on the right hand. It was, of course, on the canal bank, and the wharfinger, or storehouse keeper, was a Mr Lewis Williams of Cardiff. There was also another storehouse a little lower on the other side of the canal, kept by Mr Mathew Pride of Cardiff, but it had not the traffic of the upper one.

Between these there were one or two private stores, one of which belonged to Mr Christopher James, already alluded to. The wharves of the Dowlais and Penydarren Companies were between the canal and the river. First came the Dowlais one, with a house so that oats or other material damageable by rain could be discharged; then the Penydarren Wharf, walled round with an entrance gate (the Dowlais one described above also had its entrance doors) and adjoining was the other Dowlais Wharf, used solely for the discharge of hematite ore, or other kindred material. The tramroad ran to the end of this wharf and no further. There was a building below, which afterwards altered and converted into a brewery. It was afterwards owned by Mr David Williams.

Another extract from the 1851 Ordnance Survey map of Merthyr showing the old Tramroad crossing Jackson’s Bridge, and leading to Dowlais and Penydarren Wharves between the River Taff and the Glamorganshire Canal.

Having reached the terminus of the canal branch of the Old Tramroad, we could go straight on and join the road between the canal and Iron Bridges; but by so doing some parts would be omitted.

To return to the road passing over Jackson’s Bridge. Crossing the Canal Bridge between the Dowlais Wharf, partly covered, and Upper Storehouse, the first house on the left having entrance from the towing-path was occupied by Mr William Harrison, the clerk of the canal, whose office was at the Parliament Lock, a short distance down the canal, and nearly opposite the Ynysfach Works, on the other side of the canal.

There being some descendants of that name yet residing, I may perhaps interest them by saying Mr Harrison himself was rather short, inclined to be stout, and fond of his garden, which was kept in very good order. It is not for me to pry into anyone’s private history; but as it is clear that he was at one time engaged in the Forest of Dean, probably in connection with the timber of encroachments, he then took a wife, and a real good, kind woman she was. One of their sons was named Maynard Colchester (who became cashier at the Dowlais Ironworks), which indicates her to have been one of the family whose home was called the Wilderness, not very far from Mitchel Dean or Dean Magna.

Mr Harrison was a great hand at trigonometry. Keith being the author of his ideal books on those subjects. There were five sons and two daughters. Mr Harrison resided at one time at Pencaebach House, and was engaged at Plymouth Works. It is said he wrote to Pitt suggesting the putting of tax on the manufacture of iron, and suggesting that his own knowledge of the trade rendered his services of great value in the collection of such tax, if imposed. If I mistake not, this may be read by his grandchildren, and to them and every other whose name may be mentioned, I beg to tender as assurance that nothing is said but with due respect.

The road around to the Iron Bridge passed on one side of Mr Harrison’s garden, and the towing path of the canal on the other; but before turning down that road, let us glance around. One road is to the right, and led to the Nantygwenith turnpike gate; the road in front led up the hill to to Penyrheolgerrig, and on to Aberdare over the hill. A tramroad from Cyfarthfa to the Ynysfach Works crossed somewhat diagonally, and passed behind the Dynevor Arms, the first house on the left having only the road between it and the Canal House.

A more detailed version of the above map showing Mr Harrison’s house (Canal House)

To be continued at a later date…..

As an addition to this piece, I would like to send my best wishes to Mike Donovan who provided these marvellous articles. Mike has been unwell lately, and I,  (personally and on behalf of everyone who knows him) would like to wish him a speedy recovery.