A Short History of Merthyr General Hospital – part 3

by Ann Lewis

During the First World War, Seymour Berry rendered valuable service to the country, by relieving Lord Rhondda of his business responsibilities, so releasing him for important work as a Cabinet Minister. After the war, he became director of over 80 public and other companies, including the great Guest, Keen and Nettlefolds, eventually becoming its chairman.

He was without doubt the most generous benefactor Merthyr has ever known. Indeed the family over the years gave a total of £100,000 to the people of Merthyr. He was awarded the title Lord Buckland of Bwlch in 1926.

His tragic death two years later in 1928 as a result of a riding accident was a great loss to the people of Merthyr. A fund was opened, and over 50,000 people contributed, but by far the largest portion was given by his wife, Lady Buckland and his brothers, Lord Camrose and Lord Kemsley.

The fund was used to build the Lord Buckland Memorial Hospital which was officially opened on 5 June 1931 and cost over £40,000 to complete. The new hospital was connected to the General Hospital by a corridor, where a lift and a stairway provided access to the upper floors.

Lord Buckland Memorial Hospital

The entrance, off Alexandra Road, was where the opening of the new part of the hospital took place, when Lord Camrose unlocked the door. This was followed by the unveiling of the Memorial Panel by Mr W. R. Lysaght, C.B.E. The inscription read:-

“This hospital was erected by Public subscription as a memorial to Henry Seymour Berry, first Baron Buckland of Bwlch. A native of this town. Knight of Grace of the Order of the Hospital of St. John of Jerusalem. 3rd  Honorary Freeman of the County Borough of Merthyr Tydfil. Chairman of Guest, Keen and Nettlefolds.

In recognition of the high ideal of citizenship displayed in his generous gifts  for  the  alleviation of suffering in  the  town  and  for  increasing the happiness and  prosperity of his fellowmen.”

The people of Merthyr gratefully appreciated the hospital and it remained a voluntary one until 1948, when all hospitals were transferred to the Ministry of Health. Our area came under the care of the Merthyr and Aberdare Hospital Management Committee.

Merthyr and Aberdare Hospital Management Committee

Many improvements have been made over the years; they include the new theatre, opened in 1960 when the area behind the Buckland Hospital was extended. By 1962 the right hand side of the first floor of the Buckland building was converted as an extension to the children’s ward, and was later used as the Special Care Baby Unit.

In the 1970’s Prince Charles Hospital was built, and the building of a new large, modern hospital had repercussions for all of the other hospitals in Merthyr. In 1978, when the first phase of Prince Charles Hospital opened, the General Hospital closed to be adapted to receive several departments from St Tydfil’s Hospital, while it was being refurbished.

In 1980, the Maternity and Special Baby Care units were transferred to the Buckland Hospital and the department for the Care of the Elderly was transferred to the main hospital.

In 1986, with the refurbishment of St Tydfil’s complete, the Care of the Elderly department was moved there, and the main building of the General Hospital closed. At this time the Sandbrook and Berry wards were demolished.

Sandbrook and Berry wards being demolished in 1986

The Buckland Hospital remained open until 1991 when phase 2 of Prince Charles Hospital was finished and the Maternity and Special Baby Care units were transferred, and the building was subsequently demolished.

The main hospital building still stands but is in a pitiful state. There is a proposal to turn the building into 23 new homes. Let’s hope that the refurbishment will be sympathetic to the history of a building that the local people gave so much of their time, energy and money to build for the people of Merthyr.

The General Hospital in 2016

A fuller history of the General Hospital by Ann Lewis is available in Volume 4 of the Merthyr Historian.

A Short History of Merthyr General Hospital – part 2

by Ann Lewis

As the years passed the demands on the hospital increased and there was a serious lack of accommodation, so much so, that many urgent cases had to be sent to the Workhouse Infirmary. The Board of Governors felt that while there was nothing wrong with the treatment the patients received at the Infirmary, it was unfair that these men, who would have had to pay between 15 and 16 shillings a week for their maintenance there (a great deal of money in the 1910-20s) as they were already contributing to the fund of the General Hospital.

The doctors and staff were greatly concerned and approached Mr Henry Seymour Berry (right). Mr Seymour Berry, who later became Lord Buckland, was another man who played a prominent part in the development of the hospital.

After being approached, Seymour Berry offered a site on the Gurnos Estate (obviously before the development of the Gurnos Estate as we know it today), which was the area behind his home at Gwaelodygarth House, and £10,000 to erect temporary buildings to meet the emergency. His offer was rejected however, as it was felt that the site was inaccessible both for the patients and staff.

At one time, the Board of Governors had intended to purchase part of the Avenue to extend the hospital to accommodate between two to three hundred beds. It was decided to use the £10,000 to extend the hospital with two more wards, which cost just over £14,000 to complete. A lift and long corridor connected the front section with the new wards. A plaque was erected in the corridor which reads:-
“This building was presented by Mr and Mrs H. Seymour Berry as an addition to the Merthyr General Hospital October 1922”.

One ward was named after his mother Mrs M. A. Berry, the other after his mother-in-law Mrs R. Sandbrook. The  building was  intended to  last  10  years  although I  doubt if  Lord Buckland would  have  realised  it would still be in use 63 years later, for the care of the geriatric patients, while St. Tydfil’s Hospital was being upgraded.

Sandbrook & Berry Wards

At Whitsun of 1923 the people of Merthyr held the first Fete and Gala in Lord Buckland’s honour, with all the proceeds in aid of the hospital. The carnival pageant which started at the fountain at the bottom of town stretched over 2 miles. It took over 1½ hours to travel through the town to be judged in front of Cyfarthfa Castle. There was the children’s fancy dress parade and many floats, one with the old woman who lived in a shoe and another holding the ‘Fete Queen’.

Miss Enid Mann being crowned the ‘Fete Queen’ in 1936

This first fete proved a great success and continued for 25 years with thousands attending each year to witness events like the death defying dive from a high platform into a tank of water, tight-rope walkers, comedy acrobats, gymnasts, and for many years there was a football match on bicycles with Merthyr vs. the rest. There were the horse and dog shows.  And if anyone required a cup of tea it could be bought at the big tent. The Brass Bands played in the bandstand, and there was fierce competition between the many jazz bands taking part, some playing their ‘guzutes’. Great fun!

Each political ward throughout the Borough had their own stalls and there was friendly competition one against the other to see who could raise the most money. The young nurses in full uniform were sent around the town with collecting boxes and by the time they reached the park their tins were full.

In these 25 years £60,000 had been raised with a debt of gratitude owed to the committee and the ladies of the Borough for the many hours of voluntary work put into making it such a success.

Even though the fete and Gala was a great money making event, it was by no means sufficient for the smooth running of the hospital. We have already mentioned the weekly contributions, and  the  gifts and  bequests but events like dances, whist  drives, cricket   matches etc., were  held  throughout the year. Most Merthyr people were involved one way or another and local clubs, societies and later factories contributed and took a pride in supporting their hospital.

When the Dowlais and Merthyr United Choir went to the Queen’s Hall in London in 1936, 80% of the 220 choristers were unemployed, but all proceeds went to aid the hospital.

Dowlais United Choir at Queens Hall in 1936

To be continued…..

A Short History of Merthyr General Hospital – part 1

by Ann Lewis

I suppose it’s difficult for us to imagine what life would be like without a hospital in an hour of need, but before 1888 Merthyr had only a small six-bedded Cottage Hospital for children at Bridge Street.

There was the workhouse for the sick paupers and Mrs Clark’s Hospital at Dowlais which had closed six years earlier. There was also a Fever Hospital at Pant, built in 1869, and another at Tydfil’s Well.  These were totally inadequate for the needs of a town the size of Merthyr, with the many accidents that occurred at the Ironworks and collieries. When accidents did occur the doctors would have to perform operations on a kitchen table or at the doctor’s surgery.

The Voluntary Hospital had for some time existed in London and other large cities. These were maintained by gifts and bequests from individuals and groups. The patients did not have to pay for treatment, for the doctors gave of their skills freely and in doing so gained a great deal of prestige and power in the management of the hospital.

By February 1886 the caring people associated with the Cottage Hospital formed a group with the sole aim of improving the facilities in Merthyr for the sick and injured. They included Drs. Biddle,  Cresswell, Webster, Ward and Dr Dyke who had founded the Children’s Hospital at his home called  ‘The Hollies’ in Bridge Street, Merthyr with  the Rev J Griffiths the then Rector of Merthyr and Sir  W T Lewis, who later became Lord Merthyr.

Unknown Dr, Dr Biddle, Dr Cresswell & Dr Ward

It was through Sir W. T. Lewis that the Marquis of Bute offered the sum of £1,000 towards the building of a voluntary hospital at Merthyr, and £1,000 towards the upkeep, provided the people of Merthyr raised the remainder of the money for the building. A meeting was held at the Temperance Hall and the people of Merthyr responded by raising £5,220 – a very large sum of money in those days.

The Clock field was chosen as a suitable site between Dowlais and Merthyr because Dowlais was equally as important as Merthyr at that time. It was opposite the Old Penydarren Works and the freehold cost £300. The foundation stone was laid by Sir W T Lewis in June 1887. Lewis was greatly involved with the hospital and had donated ‘35,000 pennies’ which he had received from the members of the Provident Society, which he had helped found, on the occasion of his knighthood.

The General Hospital in 1888

The new hospital had two ten-bedded wards. The first, The Lady Ann Lewis Ward, was named after Sir W T Lewis’ wife, who was the grand-daughter of Robert and Lucy Thomas the first exporters of steam coal in South Wales. The second ward was St Luke’s Ward. There was also a small four bedded ward for children, which was the room used as the operating theatre opposite Ann Lewis Ward for many years. The original theatre had been opposite St Luke’s Ward, in what later became the General Office. Next to the original theatre were the splint and instrument rooms and the Dispensary.

Ann Lewis Ward
St Luke’s Ward

The Hospital had a Board of Governors and they were the policy making body.  Anyone could be a governor for the sum of £2 per year. Thousands of people helped to maintain the hospital voluntarily. The workers at the Ironworks and Collieries were asked to contribute a farthing a week or a penny per month or one shilling per year towards the cost. It seems a very small amount to us now, but not in 1888. Any donation above £100 was recorded for all to see on a large board at the entrance hall.

Many people endowed beds in memory of loved ones and would maintain the endowment over 12 months. When the hospital opened, it required £500 per year to cover expenses; by 1940 – £6,000 and by 1950 – £52,000, but wages were blamed for the last increase.

In 1895, as part of Queen Victoria’s Golden Jubilee Celebration, an Accident Receiving Ward was endowed by Sir W T Lewis. A stained glass window was commissioned by the High Constable of Merthyr, Mr Frank James, a solicitor and clerk to the Board of Guardians, to honour Lewis’ gesture. On 4 April 1900 a statue of Sir W T Lewis was erected outside the hospital in recognition of these services and the honour conferred upon him by Queen Victoria, in raising him to the Baronetcy.

The General Hospital after the opening of the Accident Receiving Ward – built adjoining the hospital at the left of the picture

To be continued….

Merthyr’s Chapels: Penywern Chapel

The next chapel we are going to look at in our continuing series is Penywern Welsh Independent Chapel.

The cause at Penywern began in 1856 when Mr David Evans of Llanwrda and Rev Benjamin Williams of Gwernllwyn Chapel began holding meetings in Mr Evans’ house in Penywern. With the blessing of the congregation at Gwernllwyn, they also opened a Sunday School.

As there was no other room available, the Sunday School was held in the long room of The Ifor Arms, Penywern. The room was let by Mrs Nancy Rogers, the licensee, at a rental of 12 shillings a month. One rule was laid down by the officials of the Sunday School however, that “no intoxicants were to be consumed in the long room while the Sunday School was being held”.

As the congregation grew it was decided to build a chapel in Penywern. Land was leased from the Dowlais Iron Company for 5s per annum, and the chapel, designed by Rev Benjamin Owen, Zoar, opened on the first Sunday in March 1858, with Rev Benjamin Williams taking responsibility for the chapel in a joint ministry with Gwernllwyn Chapel until he left in 1861.

As the numbers grew the chapel was rebuilt in 1876-7 at a cost of £1000, and the new chapel opened on 19 August 1877. Rev Benjamin Williams was invited back to the chapel to take the opening services for the new chapel.

In 1910, a few of the young men at the chapel, encouraged by the minister Rev J H Hughes decided to start a small choir and elected Mr Evan Thomas to be their conductor. The choir quickly grew and evolved into the Penywern Male Voice Choir, which became famous throughout Wales. The choir, under the leadership of Evan Thomas, sang for King George V and Queen Mary when they visited Dowlais in 1912. They went on to win many auspicious prizes, culminating in 1927 when the choir won three Eisteddfodau, and Evan Thomas won the three Eisteddfod chairs which he donated to the chapel. Due to the depression in the 1930’s and the closing of the iron works, the choir membership dwindled and eventually disbanded.

Penywern Male Choir

In 1921 a large school room was added to the front of the chapel. As this was a difficult time financially at the chapel, the stone for the new school room was given by Messrs Guest, Keen and Nettlefold through the courtesy of the general manager Mr Howell R Jones. The school room was built by voluntary labour with horses and carts being used to transport the stone from the nearby quarry. The school room was completed and opened in 1922.

Volunteers beginning work on the new schoolroom

Like so many other chapels in Merthyr, the congregation dwindled over the years, and the chapel closed and was subsequently demolished.

Thank You

A huge thank you to everyone who made a donation to the blog. Every penny donated goes towards the cost of keeping it running.

Thanks to your generosity we can keep going for another year (at least), and lets hope the blog goes from strength to strength. It’s your continued interest and support that makes it all worthwhile.

A Merthyr Gentleman in New York – part 2

Continued from the previous post……

SUCCESSFUL CAREER OF A MERTHYR GENTLEMAN IN NEW YORK
Merthyr Telegraph – 20 September 1878

“The next week after landing in this city he began work in a job printing office in Beekman Street. In a very few weeks after that he heard that the American Grocer, a new publication at that time that was struggling for existence, wanted a foreman, and very fortunately for him and it, he obtained work on the paper. He remained in the position of foreman, receiving a moderate salary, upon which he lived carefully and economically, saving some money and laying it by every week doing his work thoroughly and well, and showing his ability in the best way it can be shown, viz., by practical demonstration. Changes subsequently took place in the office, and Mr Jones having some money invested in the stock, and having gained the confidence of other stockholders in his ability to conduct its affairs, in July, 1876, assumed control, and under his management our readers can testify to the marked ability with which the paper has been conducted.

Our mail list testifies to the enormous growth of its circulation, our advertising columns to the great increase in advertisements, whilst our advertisers can bear witness as to how great a hold it has on the minds of its subscribers by the large returns they receive from advertising in its columns. If the stockholders do not receive large dividends it is not the fault of Mr Jones, but of the policy of devoting all the revenues of the paper to improving it and extending its circulation.

Mr Jones is now a large owner in a paper that is acknowledged to be the representative journal of the grocery trade in the United States. This has been due to his own exertions, to his working faithfully and ably for his employers when on a salary, thus impressing them with the importance of raising him from step to step, until confiding the sole charge of the paper to his hands. By his economy in saving a portion of his wages every week, thereby having a fund to assist him in purchasing an interest in the paper, he gave confidence to his associates, inasmuch as a man who was a good manager of his own affairs, was careful, economical and saving when on a salary, must needs be the right man to have charge of the financial, editorial, and mechanical departments.

The result has proved that they did not make a mistake, and that the right man was put in the right place. The rigid economy that Mr Jones was obliged to learn in his youth is carried out in every department of the American Grocer. Every person on the editorial staff, and every man and boy in the composing room and job office know that he thoroughly understands what can and ought to be done, and also that he will insist upon its being done properly and at the time wanted. The result of such a course has been that every department of the American Grocer is filled with hard-working, steady men, and, as Mr Jones says with pride, he can turn out more work, in better style, from the composing and job office than is done with the same force in any other office in this city.

We hope by the 1st of September to see him back at his post, refreshed and invigorated by rest and recreation that his travels will widen his business experience, and that the prominent business men whom he will undoubtedly come in contact with, will give him broader views, so that he may be able to lie even more useful to the readers of this paper than ever. We do not doubt that this will be the case. An energetic, observing man, who has the opportunity, is always picking up and storing away in the storehouse of his memory facts and figures to be put into practical use at the proper time, and there can be no question that our readers will be the gainers by our chief’s trip to Europe”

A Merthyr Gentleman in New York – part 1

The following article appeared in the Merthyr Telegraph 140 years ago today.

SUCCESSFUL CAREER OF A MERTHYR GENTLEMAN IN NEW YORK
Merthyr Telegraph – 20 September 1878

We have much pleasure in publishing the following extract from the American Grocer in our paper. The subject of the biography is well known in Merthyr, and his genial character and good-natured qualities will be remembered by many who recollect him amongst us. His amiable wife also (a sister of Mr Chirm, formerly of the Brunswick Hotel), will be recollected by her many friends here with much gratification. We willingly bear our testimony to Mr Jones’ excellent ability as a member of the printing profession, for he was engaged as foreman at our office for a considerable period, and he is also a gentleman of considerable intellectual power. We heartily congratulate him on his great commercial success in the land of his adoption.

“Since our last issue the Editor of this paper left us on the White Star steamer Britannic for a trip of three months’ duration to Europe, to visit the home of his a childhood and also the Paris Exhibition. As the great success which Mr Jones has achieved in a very few years is one of the most striking examples of what can be done by hard work, energy and determination to succeed, the assistant Editor, now in charge, has determined to give to the readers of the American Grocer a little of his history, although certain that Mr. Jones would not allow it to appear were he in charge of the editorial department. The temptation to do this is altogether too strong to be resisted, for of all the examples we have given from the career of the business men around us, not one has been more striking than that which we could furnish in the case of Mr Jones.

Watkin T. Jones was born in the town of Merthyr, in Wales. His father was a journeyman printer, an exceptionally good workman and thoroughly acquainted with the business in all its departments. The son had as a boy that independent spirit that is so prominent a characteristic with him today. At a very early age he entered a printing office in his native town to learn the printer’s trade, and he did learn it thoroughly in every part and detail. In a few years he became as good a workman as was to be found in the office, and not satisfied with living in a small country place, like so many young men, he was bound to go to London.

Thither he went and obtained work as a journeyman printer on one of the metropolitan dailies. Not seeing his way clear, however, to an immediate success in London, he finally persuaded his wife (who by-the-bye is a “help-meet” in every sense of the word) to agree to try their fortunes in America, and so in 1870 Mr Jones sailed for New York, with but little money, but brimful of hope and courage.”

To be continued…..