Remembering the Fallen

by Dr Meilyr Powel

Over the past few months I’ve been working on a small project to re-house a war memorial from the First World War. The plaque commemorates three members of Elizabeth Street Presbyterian Church, Dowlais, who were killed during the war: Able Seaman David Albert Stephens; Private Archie Vincent Evans; and Second Lieutenant Thomas Glyn Nicholas.

The plaque was discovered in a second hand ‘junk’ sale, and together with my supervisor at the time at Swansea University, Dr Gethin Matthews, we applied for a collaborative research grant from the First World War Network to re-house the memorial as an exhibition at Cyfarthfa Castle, Merthyr.

The project has now been completed, with the exhibition being unveiled to the public on Saturday 4 May during an afternoon of talks on Merthyr and the First World War. Two information panels accompany the display of the plaque, along with the production of a small booklet with additional information on the three men and war memorials in general.

The first name that appears on the war memorial plaque is that of David Albert Stephens. After doing some research, we know now that Able Seaman D. Albert Stephens was killed in the largest sea battle of the war, at Jutland on 31 May 1916. Albert, originally from Llandovery, married Dowlais born Catherine and had two young children, Katie and Thomas. They were all bilingual and Albert worked as a stoker in the local iron works when war broke out.

At Jutland, Albert was a gunner on board HMS Invincible, part of Rear Admiral Horace Hood’s 3rd Battlecruiser  Squadron, when it was hit in the turret amidships, which detonated the magazines below, caused a huge explosion, and split the ship in two before sinking. It took just 90 seconds for the Invincible to sink. Thousands of sailors perished at this fateful battle. Indeed, the Battle of Jutland involved around 100,000 men in 151 British and 99 German ships, and lasted 72 hours with over 8,000 shells fired. Only six out of 1,032 crew members of the Invincible survived, but Albert wasn’t one of them. His name also appears on Plymouth Naval Memorial.

Private Archie Vincent Evans is the second name on the memorial. Archie was born in 1892 in Treorchy to Thomas and Henrietta Evans.  He had three younger brothers, Tom, Trevor, and Harold, and lived at Lower Union Street, having previously lived at Horse Street. Archie and his parents were bilingual, although his brothers were noted as English speaking only. His father, Thomas, was a restaurant owner and former rail inspector, while Archie himself worked as a grocer’s assistant with William Harris and Sons in Alma Street.

Archie served with the 9th Battalion, Royal Fusiliers, which was part of 36 Infantry Brigade, 12th (Eastern) Division. It appears he was conscripted to the army in 1916, and in October that year his battalion launched an attack at Le Transloy, just west of the village of Gueudecourt on the Somme. The attack was a total failure, the battalion losing 15 officers and 250 other ranks that day. Archie, just twenty-four years old, was killed in the attack. His name also appears on the Thiepval Memorial to the Missing of the Somme.

Second Lieutenant Thomas Glyn Nicholas is the last name on the memorial. The son of Thomas Richard and Mary Jane Nicholas, and brother of Rees and Dilys, Thomas was articled to the solicitors D. W. Jones and Co. before volunteering for service in the army. His father had been a clerk at Lloyd’s Bank. Thomas was educated at Merthyr County School and Worcester Grammar School and seemed set for a long career in the legal profession before the war began.

Following the outbreak of war, duty called for Thomas, and on 15 July 1915 he received his commission as a Second Lieutenant. He was assigned to the 18th Battalion (2nd Glamorgan) Welsh Regiment. This battalion was formed in Cardiff in January 1915 as a Bantam Battalion, a battalion which had lowered the minimum height requirement for recruits from five foot three to five feet. However, he was soon attached to the 14th Battalion (Swansea Pals) Welsh Regiment.

Thomas was part of a working party with the 14th Battalion when he was killed in February 1917 at East Canal Bank on the Ypres Salient. Thomas was the only man in the battalion killed or wounded that day. He was just twenty years old. He is buried in Bard Cottage, Belgium, and his name also appears on Merthyr County School’s own memorial.

The Merthyr Express reported Thomas’ death and quoted Lieutenant-Colonel J. H. Hayes, writing to Thomas’ parents: ‘His death will be a great loss to the battalion. He was always cheerful under all conditions, however bad they were. I looked upon him as one of my most promising young officers.’

Elizabeth Street Church remembers

After the war, state and civil institutions began to commemorate the dead. Cenotaphs were erected in many towns and cities, with London’s Whitehall Cenotaph, unveiled on 11 November 1920, providing an official site of remembrance for the British, and later Commonwealth, dead. Many of the public monuments built in towns and villages throughout Wales were subsequently based on Edwin Lutyens’ design of the Whitehall Cenotaph.

Churches, schools, clubs, and societies also honoured their members who were killed during the war. Around 35,000 Welshmen were killed during the First World War and many of them are remembered on plaques such as this, from Elizabeth Street Presbyterian Church, Dowlais.

Rev Thomas James

David Albert Stephens, Archie Vincent Evans, and Thomas Glyn Nicholas were not the only members of their church to have served during the war.

In addition to several other members, the minister himself, the Reverend Thomas James, joined the Royal Army Medical Corps and served on both the French and Italian fronts.

This memorial plaque is representative of hundreds of chapels and churches across Wales which saw their members enlist in the forces during the First World War. The fact that so many Welshmen did not return home is testimony to the devastating impact of the war on communities across the country. In one church in Dowlais, it was felt deeply.

Elizabeth Street Chapel, Dowlais

Merthyr’s Boxers: The First Boxing Champion of Merthyr

by Lawrence Davies

Along with the town of Pontypridd, Merthyr could rightly claim to be one of the foremost hubs of Welsh boxing history.  Although many would no doubt prefer that his name had been forgotten altogether, Redmond Coleman was one of the first men to put Merthyr ‘on the map’ as a town capable of producing gloved boxing champions, whose names will no doubt ring down the ages, men like Eddie Thomas, Howard Winstone and the never to be forgotten Johnny Owen.

Redmond Coleman

Redmond had ended up fighting for recognition at the Blue Anchor in Shoreditch, his well known reputation with the knuckles or ‘raw ‘uns’ having convinced the lightweight Welsh boxing champion, Patsy Perkins to step up and act as Redmond’s manager.  Not too long afterwards Coleman floored challenger Curly Howell at the National Sporting Club in Covent Garden before an appreciative crowd of well heeled gents.

Coleman took out the Bristol man in less than a round, a devastating right hand to the jaw sending Howell to the boards, his head making a sickening crack on contact.  Curly was out for the count.  A promising boxing career appeared to be on the cards, but the ‘Iron Man’ of Merthyr apparently found London was not to his liking, and travelled home.

Although Redmond fought with gloves, it was with the knuckles that he was thought to be virtually unbeatable, and there were plenty of Merthyr men who were willing to step up and meet the challenge.  Knuckle fighting had always been how the men had settled their differences, and it was ‘on the mountain’ that contests were usually fought.

Ned Turner

The first Welsh boxing champion to receive widespread national recognition was Ned Turner, in the early 1800’s, and was thought to have been the second greatest lightweight in the country, showing such cleverness and skill in the ring he might be thought of as the very first ‘Welsh Wizard’.

There can be no doubt that his example inspired a number of his countrymen to seek recognition between the ropes of the old prize-ring soon afterwards.

It seems that one of the very first prominent fighting men of Merthyr was a pugilist named John Thomas.  London was the centre of the prize-ring in those days, and it is in London that the appearance of Thomas was first noted, when he appeared at a benefit event held to raise funds for a veteran fighter.  Thomas decided to ‘step up’ and meet an unnamed ‘Sawney’ or Scottish ‘champion’ who had previously appeared before the audience. Considering that Thomas had not sparred on the stage of the Tennis Court before, he did exceptionally well.  The ’round hitting’ of the Scotsman was ‘well met’ by the ‘straight muzzlers’ of the ‘Welchman’.  Thomas got the better of the ‘Scotch Champion’, and at the end of the contest ‘Taffy retired as proud as one of his native buck goats…’

This unexpected turn of events led to something of a rivalry between the two Celtic warriors, with it having been noted that the Welsh and Scottish ‘Champions’ met a number of times afterwards with both knuckles and gloves.  Thomas would appear to have had a great deal of support from his backers at Merthyr, and boldly threw out a challenge to any man in England of his weight to meet him for anywhere between £50 and £100.  One person who was greatly irritated by the challenge was Thomas’ Scottish rival, who quickly stated his desire to draw Thomas’s ‘…hot Welsh blood on the earliest occasion’, and claiming to have been in bad condition when they had first sparred.  So sure was the Scotsman of his victory over the Welshman that he had also planned to travel to Merthyr to meet Thomas with the knuckles and hand him a beating, and was prepared to throw down a £20 deposit on the contest at the Bell Inn at Merthyr Tydfil…

Lawrence Davies

You can find out what happened next in ‘The Story of Welsh Boxing, Prize Fighters of Wales’ published by Pitch Publications, today, 1 June 2019.  

An interview with the author can be read at the link below: 

https://americymru.net/ceri-shaw/blog/5057/the-story-of-welsh-boxing-an-interview-with-lawrence-davies

The book can be ordered from Amazon, and is also available at branches of WH Smith, Waterstones and other bookshops. To read more about ‘The Story of Welsh Boxing’, please visit;

https://www.pitchpublishing.co.uk/shop/story-welsh-boxing

Merthyr Historical Society Talk

Life and Times of an Eccentric Welsh Jew

This talk is given by Lionel Elton who was born in Cardiff into a world in turmoil, just as Hitler came to power, and found himself back in Wales when some of the worst aspects of those times seem to be in the ascendancy once more.

Lionel has always considered himself to be something of a square peg in a round hole, never comfortable to blindly accept what he was told and taught. He believes that his curious, questing, questioning nature has helped him find a place in the grand scheme of things, which is both informed and balanced.

Hopefully everyone in the audience will discover something new, or something to be entertained by, or something just to quietly ponder.

All this and live music too!

A Secret Tunnel?

The article transcribed below appeared in the Western Mail 130 years ago today (23 May 1889).

ALLEGED ANTIQUARIAN DISCOVERY AT MERTHYR.

THRILLING EXPERIENCES OF A “SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT.”

by Morien

In consequence of a rumour to the effect that an extraordinary subterranean passage had been discovered leading from Morlais Castle to no one knew where, I visited the place on Wednesday, accompanied by the Rev. J. Edmund Jenkins, rector of Vaynor, who is a local antiquarian. After a frugal repast at the hospitable Aber Glais Inn, we passed over the romantic river which during countless ages has scooped out remarkable dents in the living rock, and slowly ascended the green slope at the summit of which the castle stands.

In a quarry, about half a mile from the castle, and to the south-east, of it, we came upon some men at work. In answer to our inquiries as to the subterranean passage, they pointed to a heap of sleepers, and said “the hole” was underneath them. After some conversation of a persuasive nature they began to remove these impediments, and eventually the opening was revealed to what looked like a very ugly “hole”. A plank was next placed in it, and pushed forward until it rested upon something solid below. I, Morien, then got on to the plank and, after the fashion of other and youthful dogs, slid down into the unknown abyss. I found that the end of the plank rested on an immense heap of fallen rubbish, with a vault-like roof of uneven rocks overhead and water dropping everywhere.

Owing to the wet and, therefore, slippery nature of the descent, it seemed highly dangerous to attempt to explore below. But I determined to make the attempt, and, having lighted a torch of cotton wool, the darkness was made visible. One of workmen above now came down over the plank and joined me. Lighting his candle by the light of the Morienic torch, he led the way over the great heap of stones down into the great silent depths. I followed him, after the manner of a goat, careful of every footstep.

The roof as we proceeded came nearer to one’s back, and I was made rather uncomfortable by observing that there were spaces between the roof and the hanging stones overhead. Besides the danger of those stones giving way, there was also the peril which would result from an accidental slip of the feet, for had that happened one would have been precipitated over the surface of the immense heap of debris. But my companion still descended, and after he had gone about 40 yards further I – employing the patois of the country-side – called out “Stopwch!” to my companion. I had by this time become convinced that neither a De Bohun of Brecknock nor a De Clare of Glamorgan had ever been such a fool as to risk his neck in such a place, and that the so-called “subterranean passage” from Morlais Castle to some place unknown was a myth. We, therefore, retraced our steps, and eventually reached the surface, none the worse except for dirty coats and unmentionables.

Mr. Evan Lewis, Cefn, and Mr. Richard Hughes had descended a few days ago a little below the place at which I stopped, but neither went more than about 45 yards. They then came to the bottom of the heap. There they found the thigh bone, as was supposed, of a human being, and a large stone lying in a slanting position. Mr. Evan Lewis endeavoured to go beyond that stone, but he told me there was no open space beyond, and the roof there seemed extremely dangerous. Mr. Martin, manager of the Dowlais Works, had given orders to explore beyond if it was seen that the so-called passage was continuous; but, it seems that the stone referred to, closing up the place, does not lie more than five yards from the bottom of the heap of rubbish.

Nevertheless, there is no doubt this castle had its subterranean exits, and it is not impossible, after all that this was one of them, but that it has fallen in.

Andrew Wilson J.P. Freeman of the Borough – part 2

Below is the conclusion of the article about Andrew Wilson which is taken from the marvellous website http://www.treharrisdistrict.co.uk and is transcribed here with the kind permission of the webmaster, Paul Corkrey.

War Pensions

During the First World War 1914-18 Andrew Wilson became very involved in war pension work and he became secretary of the local war pensions committee for the Treharris Ward. Until two whole years after the armistice the men of Treharris Colliery contributed through the colliery office 3d a week, this raised over£6,000 for the dependents of those serving in the war. Everyone in the district gave their services for free and many benefited from the fund, Andrew was a member of the North East Glamorgan War pensions committee for 31 years.

First Chairman of the Water board

Before the First World War Andrew became interested in the question of water supplies in South Wales and supported the Merthyr Parliamentary Bill for the construction of the Taf Fechan Reservoir near Merthyr.

The Taf Fechan Water Supply Board was formed, and at its first meeting in April 1922 Mr Wilson was made the first chairman of the board; at the end of his first year of office he was appointed chairman of the finance committee, a position he held ever since.

He also had the honour of laying the last granite set of the overflow shaft on behalf of the board during its construction. In view of the valuable work that he did since its inception it was decided that a portrait of the first chairman be placed in the board room.

Members of the Taf Fechan Water Supply Board. Andrew Wilson is seated at the far right in the front row

Justice of the peace and proud miner

Andrew Wilson was made a Justice of the Peace in 1918; he was also the chairman of the Labour Party for many years. Apart from serving on many committees Andrew worked at the Deep Navigation Colliery for 55 years, of which 37 years were underground, and 18 years on the surface as a checkweigher. He finally retired in 1946. Andrew also completed 50 years service as a member of the Merthyr Tydfil Council, and to mark that achievement he received a cheque from the Borough trades council and the Labour Party.

A family man

It is very obvious that Andrew Wilson was a great man and a wonderful servant of the people who kept voting him into office. He was so well respected and often chaired the organisations he was involved with but he was also a family man and he and his wife Maria were parents to nine children, one son and eight daughters, one of which was my grandmother Gladys Wilson. They were married for 57 years and lived a full and happy life.

Both Andrew and Maria were members of the Trinity Forward Movement Church in Perrott Street (now demolished), and Mr Wilson was an elder there for over 40 years.

Trinity Forward Movement Chapel in Treharris

In April 1953 the borough was shocked to hear of the death of Andrew Wilson at the age of 78, hundreds of tributes poured into the family home from some very important people of the time that would have been a comfort to the family in Treharris. Further sadness followed just two days later though when his wife Maria also passed away at the family home in Brynteg Place, they were both buried in a huge funeral at Beechgrove Cemetery, Edwardsville, right behind the graveyard church. I have paid a couple of visits to the cemetery to pay my own respects to a remarkable man of Treharris.

Andrew Wilson J.P. Freeman of the Borough – part 1

The following article is taken from the marvellous website
http://www.treharrisdistrict.co.uk, and is transcribed here with the kind permission of the webmaster, Paul Corkrey.

In 1908, Andrew Wilson, of 4 Brynteg Place, Treharris, became the youngest and only collier mayor of a county borough. Andrew Wilson was in fact the first mayor of the newly created County Borough of Merthyr Tydfil.

Andrew was born in Llangstone cottages; Llangarron, Herefordshire in 1874, and attended school there and later worked at the Woodfield Nurseries. At the age of 16, he moved to South Wales, and with the exception of two years spent at Abertillery, he spent his entire life residing in Treharris where he soon became involved in politics.

Politics

He became secretary of the local branch of the Independent Labour Party, in the days when Ramsey MacDonald, Keir Hardie, Snowdon and Glasier were pioneers of the movement. He also served upon the management committee of the Co-operative society in the early days and helped to form the South Wales Miners Federation after the great strike in 1898 and served upon the Taff Cynon district of miners for many years. He later became president of the district.

Compensation act

He became a hero to his fellow mine workers when he fought against The Ocean Coal Company at Treharris who were anxious to opt out of the new Compensation act which came about following the 1898 strike. The Ocean Company wanted the miners to contribute towards a fund with the employers, out of which compensation would be paid.

The miners Federation were against this and Alderman Wilson became plaintiff in an action against the company to prevent them from deducting money from the miners to fund this scheme.

The case went to the High Court and the decision went against the company who then had to repay to the miners the money that had been deducted against their wishes, this also brought an end to companies contracting out of the Compensation Act across all of South Wales.

Education for Treharris and the Borough

Mr Wilson was elected a member of the education committee when the school boards went out of office in 1904 and he opened Webster Street School in 1905, he also supported the conversion of Cyfarthfa Castle into a free secondary school.

For several years he was chairman of the Higher Education Committee and he represented Merthyr on several boards including the University Court of Wales, Central Welsh Board, Mining Board of South Wales, the University College in Cardiff, and he had also been a member of the South Wales Industrial School in Quakers Yard and of St Cynon’s National School.

Mr Wilson was very popular in the town and it was no surprise when he was returned as a member of the Urban District Council of Merthyr in April 1903, when Treharris and Merthyr Vale were one ward. He supported the incorporation of the whole parish in the new borough during the great struggle for incorporation, and was elected as a member of the first borough council in 1905.

He was made an Alderman at the first meeting and became mayor of the Borough in 1908, the same year that Merthyr became a county borough and he was the last person to be appointed High Constable of Caerphilly higher.

During his year in office Mr Wilson achieved many things and he was proud to open Cyfarthfa Castle to the public but closer to home he was delighted to open the new Library in his home town of Treharris in 1909.

Treharris Library in 1911. Photo courtesy of http://www.alangeorge.co.uk/index.htm

To be continued…..

Did you know?

Continuing the new feature, and following on from the previous article – did you know that when St Tydfil’s Church was rebuilt at the turn of the 20th Century, the architect for the new building was one of the foremost architects of the day? His name was John Loughborough Pearson.

John Loughborough Pearson was born in Brussels on 5 July 1817. He was the son of William Pearson, etcher, of Durham, and was brought up there. At the age of fourteen he was articled to Ignatius Bonomi, architect, of Durham, whose clergy clientele helped stimulate Pearson’s long association with religious architecture, particularly of the Gothic style. He soon moved to London, where he became a pupil of Philip Hardwick (1792–1870), architect of the Euston Arch and Lincoln’s Inn.

Pearson designed many buildings, but his most famous work is Truro Cathedral which was begun in 1880 to a design by Pearson. In the same year he also drew up plans for the new cathedral in Brisbane, Australia.

As well as designing new churches and cathedrals, Pearson was also responsible for restoration on many ecclesiastical buildings, most notably the cathedrals at Lincoln, Gloucester, Exeter, Bristol, Chichester, Peterborough and also at Westminster Abbey.

All of this goes to re-affirm what an important place Merthyr Tydfil still was in the late 188o’s, that a man of such importance was asked to rebuild the town’s Parish Church.

St Tydfil’s Church Memorial Windows

The article transcribed below appeared in the Cardiff Times 120 years ago today (13 May 1899).

MERTHYR PARISH CHURCH

Memorial Windows

On Sunday afternoon the dedication of five stained glass memorial windows which have been placed in the restored parish church of Merthyr took place at a service conducted by the rector (Rev. Di. Lewis).

The west window in the tower was given by Sir W. T. Lewis, Bart., in memory of the local “captains of industry”; the south aisle window was presented by Mr and Mrs Frank James, in memory of the late Miss Florence James, their daughter, and the three chancel windows were the gifts of Miss Williams, Maesgruddiad, and Mrs Brewer, Danygraig, Mon.

In the chancel, which is of an apsidal form, and the roof of which is groined, the lancets are about nine feet high, in the three central lancets are, placed three stained glass memorial windows by the well-known artist, Mr Kempe, London. The subjects are the Crucifixion. The central window is divided into three panels above is a canopy of peals of bells ringing, whilst the central panel depicts Our Lord on the Cross, the lower of the panels showing a pelican which is represented according to the old myth as feeding its young with its own blood by picking its breast, this being meant as emblematical of the Blessed Sacrament of the altar. The right hand window has a canopy with bells ringing, the second panel is that of the Blessed Virgin at the Cross, and the third or lowest panel has an angel holding a shield on which are painted some of the instruments of the Passion.

The left hand window has also a similar canopy of bells, the central panel depicting St. John at the foot of the Cross. In the third panel there is an angel holding a shield, on which again are painted the other instruments of the Passion. In these three panels there are scrolls with suitable texts in Latin from Holy Scripture. The windows present a very pleasing appearance, and are regarded as a very becoming decoration of the sanctuary. They were given by Miss Williams and Mrs Brewer, in memory of some of the members of the Maesgruddiad family.

In the south aisle is a handsome window divided into three panels. In the central panel is depicted St. Cecilia playing on an instrument of music. This window has beautiful Romanesque decorations. It was presented by Mr and Mrs Frank James. The next window in the tower was given by Sir W. T. Lewis, Bart., and is considered to be a very interesting work of art. It was designed by Mr Newbury, London. It incorporates subjects characteristic of the industries of the district, and is in that respect a bold departure from the conventional treatment of subjects in memorial glass. It is mainly the conception of the rector, but it appears there are ancient examples of such treatment.

The stained glass window is divided into three panels formed by a light framing of Norman detail. The upper panel, which comprises the main portion of the window, illustrates Luke ii. 1-4, where Jesus teaches the disciples to pray, and has two angels above holding a scroll on which is written the first portion of the Lord’s Prayer, and on the panel below the picture continues, Give us this day our daily bread.”

The smaller panels, which form a base to the window, are filled with subjects relating to the industries of the district. The left panel indicates a pit’s mouth with machinery, on which is inscribed “The thing that is hid bringeth He forth to light”, and on the right blast furnaces are illustrated – “As for the earth, out of it cometh bread” – and underneath the wharfing and loading of coal and iron are depicted. These two panels are decoratively treated, and it has been the artist’s endeavour to combine the many interesting details as the space permits. At the sill of the window are the arms of the donor, Sir Wm. T. Lewis, Bart. Underneath is a handsome brass plate three feet square, on which are engraved the names of 37 of the “captains of industry”.

 

The inscription reads as follows:-

“Efe a gyffwrdd a’r mynyddoedd a hwy a fygant”

Psalm 104, v. 32.

The above Window is erected to the Glory of God and to perpetuate the memory of the following

“CAPTAINS OF INDUSTRY”

with whom Sir William Thomas Lewis, Bart., has been associated in the development of the Minerals of the District, i.e.:-

William Adams, Ebbw Vale Works.
George Brown, Nixon’s Collieries.
Crawshay Bailey, Nantyglo and Aberaman.
William Southern Clark, Aberdare.
The Crawshays of Cyfarthfa and Hirwain Works.
Tom Cumow, Plymouth Works.
The Davises of Blaengwar.
William Davies, Lewis Merthyr Collieries.
Sir George Elliot, Bart., Aberaman.
The Evanses of Dowlais.
The Formans of Penydarren Works.
Anthony Hill, Plymouth Works.
Thomas Howells, Lletty Shenkin Collieries.
Christopher James, Llwyncelyn, Rhondda.
William Jenkins, Consett (formerly Dowlais).
R Johnson, Rhymney.
William Jones, Cyfarthfa Works.
The Josephs, Plymouth Works.
The Kirkhouses, Cyfarthfa Works.
Lewis Lewis, The Graig and Lletty Shenkin Colllieries.
Lewis Thomas Lewis, Plymouth Collieries.
Lewis Thomas Lewis, Cadoxton Lodge, Neath.
The Llewelyns of Hirwain and Pontypool.
The Martins of Dowlais and Penydarren Works.
William Menelaus, Dowlais.
John McConnochie, Cardiff.
Captain Ralph Pomeroy, Cardiff.
Robert T. Rees, the Graig and Lletty Shenkin Collieries.
Daniel Rees, the Graig and Lletty Shenkin Collieries.
The Thomases of Waunwyllt.
The Waynes, Gadlys Works.
David Williams, Ynyscynon.
Edward Williams, Middlesbrough (formerly Dowlais).
John Williams, Lletty Shenkin Collieries.
William Williams, Cyfarthfa Works.
W.H. Williams, Lewis Merthyr Collieries.
George Wilkinson, Cwmpennar Collieries.

Reddwch i’w Llwch.

Diolchus Anrheg Syr William Thomas Lewis.

Barwnig, Mardy, Aberdar, 1896.

At the service an address was delivered by the Rector, who described the windows and adverted briefly to the subject of memorials in churches historically regarded. He referred also to the list of persons whose names were in the list of “Captains of industry” as pioneers of the trade of the district. Many of them risked all they had in their enterprises, and some of them lost all they had. He mentioned various improvements yet to be made before the parish church would be comfortably equipped, and announced that the offertory would be in aid of a fund for providing seats.