D A Thomas (Lord Rhondda) – The Melting Pot

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.

A family of the name of Steel were at Plymouth. Old Mr Steel was the chief and trusted agent. One of his sons died, the other was in America for many years. Alfred Meyler Hughes, who was at Dowlais, married a Miss Steel, but as far as known, the family have died out.

The Joseph family were there: the oldest that can be recalled was Mr Morgan Joseph. He had three sons and two daughters. The sons were Mr David Joseph, who became one of the trustees under Mr Hill’s will; Mr Thos. Joseph, one of the most enterprising of colliery proprietors (although he did not amass a fortune); Mr Morgan Joseph, who was an agent or resident part proprietor with the Ocean Colliery, and is yet alive, I believe, at Bath. One of the daughters married a Mr T Davies, who was furnace manager at Plymouth; the other married Mr Samuel Thomas, then of Pontstorehouse, but later of Ysguborwen, the father of Mr David Alfred Thomas, the senior member of the borough (right).

The Bevan family were the forge carpenters, or if the term is preferred, the engineers, as was also a Davis family, the daughter of whom, Angharad Gwent, is, I hear, yet with us. All there were prior to Mr W T Lewis’ time.

A Mr John Bevan, not the same family as previously mentioned, was in charge of the horses. This Mr Bevan’s brother was archdeacon of Carmarthen. Mr William Thomas – the grandfather of Mr W Thomas of Oakfield, and brother of the Mr E Thomas alluded to – was the chief book-keeper, left for a while but returned, and after some few years passed away.

Before leaving Plymouth, I should say Mr A Hill was extremely fond of Chemistry, Dr Wollaston was his beau ideal, but chemistry was not then advanced as now. What with some few experiments, and very careful observation in practice, Mr Hill did certainly produce first a bar iron, and afterwards a rail, which stood amongst the highest of their kind. He used certain materials not usually resorted to, but nothing would induce him to patent after the experience of the cinder one.

To be continued at a later date.

Merthyr’s Chapels: Park Chapel

Park English Baptist Chapel

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Merthyr Burns Club and Mutual Improvement Society

From the Evening Express 120 years ago today….

David Alfred Thomas and the Lusitania – part 2

Sinking of the Lusitania. Engraving by Norman Wilkinson, The Illustrated London News, May 15, 1915

Rescue

Lifeboat #11 was spotted by the trawler Wanderer of Peel and the boat took on the survivors. After four hours of being cold and miserable, Oliver asked D. A., “Exciting day, Mr. Thomas?”

“Outrageous. Simply outrageous.” D. A. growled.

“They certainly made a job of it.”

“Didn’t you see what happened at the lifeboats? Deplorable. The standard of human efficiency is far below what we are entitled to expect — today it was ghastly.”

“Of course,” Bernard said, “it’s got to start at the top. You can’t expect efficiency from the crew if you don’t set an example on the bridge.”

“What do you imagine the percentage of average efficiency to be?” Thomas asked.

“Fifty per cent?”

“Nonsense, young man. Any employer who gets an average of ten per cent efficiency all around is doing extremely well.”

The Wanderer of Peel (foreground) with the sinking Lusitania. Photo courtesy of The Lusitania Resource

As the Wanderer was becoming overcrowded, the skipper, Ball, had to have many of the rescued transferred. Bernard and Thomas were taken aboard the trawler Flying Fish.

At Queenstown, he was looked after by a Catholic priest who treated D. A. to dinner and brandy, despite D. A.’s protests. By the time he returned to the Queenstown quay to await news of his daughter, he was a bit tipsy.

Margaret was aboard the Bluebell, the same boat that saved Captain Turner. Upon their reunion, the father and daughter checked into the Queen’s Hotel to put an end to their ordeal. Dorothy visited Lady Mackworth the next morning to check up on her and to say that Howard was safe. Lady Mackworth and D. A. Thomas went home to Wales; Dorothy and Howard continued on to work on the battlefields of France.

Despite his survival, the Lusitania left a lasting impression. D.A. Thomas would later remark, “The thought of crossing the Atlantic frightens me. I can’t get the Lusitania out of my mind. I dream of it.”^*

Media coverage

The 8 May 1915 New York Times, page 4 ran this: “Mr. Thomas declined to relate his experience, saying that he had too easy a time to be interesting. Just as a boat was being lowered on the starboard side an officer ordered him to take a vacant seat. This boat got away without any trouble and was one of the first to be picked up.”

One of the more interesting headlines detailing D. A.’s survival read: “GREAT NATIONAL DISASTER. D. A. THOMAS SAVED.”

After Lusitania

D.A. Thomas was awarded the title of Baron Rhondda in 1916. From 1916 to 1917, he was President of the Local Government Board. When he was appointed Minister of Food in June of 1917, he introduced food rationing to Great Britain. Another title, Viscount, came to D. A. in June of 1918. He was only able to enjoy his title for one month, as he died on 3 July 1918 in Llanwern, Monmouthshire. His title and peerage, by special remainder, were inherited by her daughter Margaret. Margaret wrote about him in her 1933 autobiography, This Was My World.

This article is reproduced with the kind permission of the webmasters of https://www.rmslusitania.info/. If you have an interest in the Lusitania – I would recommend visiting this remarkable and fantastically researched site.

David Alfred Thomas and the Lusitania – part 1

David Alfred Thomas (1856–1918), 59, (right) was a British Member of Parliament travelling aboard Lusitania with his daughter Margaret Mackworth and his secretary Arnold Rhys-Evans. On board, they also became friends with Dr. Howard Fisher and his sister-in-law, Dorothy Conner, who were travelling to France to work in the field hospitals. Father and daughter were separated during the sinking, but both survived, as did Fisher and Conner.

Family and background

David Alfred Thomas was born in Ysgyborwen, Glamorgan, Wales on 26 March 1856 as the son of Welsh coal magnate Samuel Thomas of Aberdare. He was educated at Caius College, Cambridge, and returned to Wales to become the senior partner in the Cardiff-based Thomas and Davey. This company owned several collieries in the Rhondda Valley. Despite being born into wealth and privilege, D. A.’s needs were simple. A Labour politician had even commented, “There goes Thomas — with the income of a duke and the tastes of a peasant.”

Subsequently, D. A. Thomas married Sybil Haig on 27 June 1882. Their only child, Margaret Haig Thomas, later Lady Humphrey Mackworth and even later Viscountess Rhondda, was born in 1883. D. A. educated his daughter in matters of business and she became a champion for women’s equality everywhere. As D. A. would say of her daughter, “Margaret and I are not like father and daughter. We’re buddies.”

Involvement in politics

D.A. Thomas was elected Member of Parliament (MP) as a Liberal for Merthyr Tydfil in 1888. He subsequently became MP of Cardiff as well, and he held these positions until the 1910 General Election. Although Thomas was reputedly an agnostic, he was a supporter of Nonconformity in his constituency. He even laid the foundation stone of Soar Welsh Calvinistic Church, Cwmaman, and many others.

When the First World War broke, David Lloyd George sent D. A. Thomas to arrange the supply of munitions for the British armed forces. In April of 1915, D. A. Thomas and his daughter Margaret, who was now her personal assistant and proxy, went to take a look at Thomas’ interests in the Pennsylvania coal mines. He also was launching a new barge service on the Mississippi and planning extensions of Canada’s railroad system. His secretary, Arnold Rhys-Evans, also came along.

Lusitania

To end their trip abroad, they had booked passage on the Lusitania. His saloon cabin was the parlour suite B-86, B-88. Aboard the Lusitania, D. A. Thomas and his daughter had befriended Dr. Howard Fisher and Nurse Dorothy Conner, Fisher’s sister-in-law. Dorothy had often commented on the lack of excitement on the voyage and was often teased by D. A. Margaret had also found the voyage rather dull, but as her father was having fun she decided to keep her mouth shut.

A typical 1st Class bedroom on the Lusitania. Photo courtesy of The Lusitania Resource

On the afternoon of 7 May, D. A., Margaret, Arnold, Dorothy, and Howard all sat down to lunch with the foghorn blaring. Margaret remarked, “Home tomorrow! Aren’t you pleased, father?”

“I would be more pleased, my dear,” D. A. remarked, “if I believed that wretched siren hasn’t given our whereabouts away.”

Margaret and D. A. left the saloon and left Howard and Dorothy to finish lunch by themselves. The father and daughter stood waiting for the elevator with Frederick Tootal and Albert Byington. D. A. then joked with his daughter, saying, “You know, Margaret, I think we might stay up on deck tonight. Just to see if you get your thrill.”

Before Margaret could respond, they felt the torpedo rock the ship with “a dull thudding sound.” They were already partially inside the elevator, but instinctively, they stepped back, a move that would save their lives. D. A. ran over to a porthole to see what had happened; Margaret went upstairs to grab lifebelts, and they were separated.

Sometime later, D. A. tried to get back to his cabin, but he found the stairs to be too crowded. A steward gave him an inflatable lifebelt, but it wouldn’t work. He was finally able to get to his cabin and retrieve one from the wardrobe. On deck, he saw the ship overwhelmed by “absolute confusion” and “an entire absence of discipline” among the crew.

Back outside, he saw that the water was almost level with the deck and a woman with a small child hesitating to get into a lifeboat. D. A. shoved them both into the boat, #11, before he jumped in himself. Oliver Bernard, also in the boat, was amused by the “rather worried and puzzled expression” on the Welshman’s face. His secretary, Arnold Rhys-Evans, was also in #11, but had gotten in before D. A. did. Being one of the last boats to leave, #11 was still close enough to the Lusitania when she foundered that they were in danger of being crushed by the funnels.

To be continued…..

Stanley Beynon J.P. 1893 – 1979

by Malcolm Llywelyn

The distinction of Freedom of the Borough being presented to Stanley Beynon

The distinction of the Freedom of the Borough of Merthyr Tydfil dates from 1907 when David Alfred Thomas, member of parliament for the town was the first recipient of the honour. It is a distinction conferred on those have rendered a valuable service to the Borough of Merthyr Tydfil. A viscount, a baronet, prime ministers, politicians, sportsmen and businessmen have been among those who have been awarded the Freedom of the Borough of Merthyr Tydfil.

In 1974, Stanley Beynon J.P. was honoured with the Freedom of the Borough of his home town. He lived in a council house in Penydarren and he worked as a miner and then a school caretaker until his retirement. He was an active member of Nantwen Pit Lodge and the chairman on two occasions during his employment in the mining industry. Stanley Beynon was general secretary of the Merthyr Tydfil Trades Council and the Labour Party in 1930 until his retirement from office in 1968. In 1932, he was parliamentary agent to Mr. R.C. Wallhead M.P. and held the same position for his close friend Mr. S.O. Davies M.P. for over 30 years. He also fulfilled the role of Justice of the Peace from 1934. In 1953, Stanley Beynon was awarded the Trades Union Congress Silver Medal of Merit for his long and dedicated service to the Trade Union Movement.

“Man of the people,” Stanley Beynon was a counsellor, an advocate and facilitator for those in need in his community.

The admission of Mr. Stanley Beynon J.P. as an Honorary Freeman of the County Borough of Merthyr Tydfil on 22nd March 1974 was conferred on him with the following words:

“In Mr. Stanley Beynon the Council recognise a person who has made a notable contribution to the trade union and political life of the County Borough of Merthyr Tydfil over a period of almost forty years.”

Merthyr’s Lost Landmarks: Gwaunfarren Baths

Swimming has always been a popular pastime. Up until the late 1880s, however, the only place for anyone in Merthyr to enjoy a swim was in one of the many ponds dotted around the town. These were often dirty and un-hygienic and people would quite often find themselves swimming with goodness knows what.

In 1889, John Vaughan, a local solicitor, secured a piece of land in Gwaunfarren, and opened an open-air swimming pool there. Fed by a channel off the neighbouring weir, and with wooden decking along the pool’s edge, the new pool provided a safe venue for swimming set into the hillside amidst sheltering trees and bushes.

Gwaunfarren Swimming Pool. Photo courtesy of the Alan George Archive

In February of the following year, John Vaughan set up a limited company, ‘The Merthyr and Dowlais Swimming Bath Company Ltd’, to formalise the formation of the new bathing facility. The company was registered with a capital of £800 in £1 shares, “to obtain a lease from Colonel Morgan of the swimming bath at Gwaunfarren, Merthyr Tydfil, for 60 years, at a rent of a peppercorn, when demanded, for the first 21 years, and £3 per annum for the remaining period”.

With this secured, John Vaughan embarked on developing a more permanent site with relevant facilities, and the new Swimming Baths were built by a local builder, Mr Matthew Warlow at a cost of £1,600, and were opened in 1891.

From the outset, the new baths were a success. A swimming club was started and competitions and swimming galas were held regularly at the baths.

One of the regular visitors to the baths, and one of its greatest patrons was David Alfred Thomas (Lord Rhondda), the Welsh industrialist and M.P. for Merthyr between 1888 and 1910. In 1915, Thomas was aboard the RMS Lusitania when it was sunk by German torpedoes, and a number of accounts say that he cited the years spent swimming at Gwaunfarren as a contributory factor in helping save himself from the disaster.

The impact of the First World War was catastrophic on the open-air baths and through a mixture of declining use, neglect of the fixtures and fittings, and even pilfering of parts of the wooden structure, the baths were closed.

Following the war, Henry Seymour Berry, Merthyr’s great benefactor, realising the Merthyr no longer had adequate swimming facilities, paid for a new, indoor facility to be built on the site of the old baths, and subsequently made a gift of the new baths to Merthyr County Borough Council.

The new building, which was built at a cost of over £8,000, was officially opened in a grand ceremony on 3 July 1924.

‘New’ Gwaunfarren Baths. Photo courtesy of the Alan George Archive

The baths were refurbished again at a cost of £67,000 in 1979-1980, and they remained open until 2007. The building was subsequently demolished.

Gold King to Merthyr M.P. – William Pritchard Morgan

William Pritchard Morgan was born in Usk in 1844, son of William Morgan, an eminent Wesleyan preacher, who died when the young William was just eight years of age. Following his education, he was articled to Robert James Cathcart, a solicitor in Newport, but in 1867, following a ‘lively quarrel’ with Cathcart, Morgan left the firm, and indeed the country, emigrating to Queensland in Australia.

In Australia, he took advantage of the skills he had learned in Newport and gained a reputation as a mining lawyer. He also became largely interested in gold-mining ventures in North Queensland, investing money whenever he could. Within twenty years, William Pritchard Morgan was a millionaire.

In 1885 he returned to England and established the mercantile firm of W. Pritchard Morgan & Co. in Queen Victoria Street, London. Fascinated by the many reports that gold had been found in Wales, however, he bought a mansion on a mountain in Dolgellau – and began digging. Convinced he could succeed where others had failed Morgan, by force of both his personality and his money, set about transforming the mining of gold in Wales. Shortly after taking over the Gwynfynydd mine in Dolgellau in 1887 Morgan’s faith was vindicated when he hit a large pocket of gold. So fabulous was this discovery that he declared to the whole of Britain there was enough gold in Wales to pay off the national debt. His mine, he said, was going be one of the richest in the world – and as there were fifty other sites in North Wales there was every reason to believe that gold would be found in huge quantities.

Morgan’s announcements sent the national press into frenzy. Story after story appeared and every development at Gwynfynydd was enthusiastically reported which in turn brought any array of visitors, from royalty to hordes of sailors who hiked up the mountain on their days off. Morgan became a celebrity and earned the sobriquet ‘The Welsh Gold King’, and with his new found fame pursued his passion for politics.

In October 1888 a vacancy occurred in the representation of Merthyr Tydfil in the House of Commons. Morgan thereupon became a candidate in the Independent Liberal Party and was returned by a very large majority over the Official Liberal nominee, Richard Foulkes Griffiths.

At that time, the Merthyr Tydfil Constituency had two M.P.s, the second member for the district being David Alfred Thomas, Viscount Rhondda, standing for the Official Liberal Party. The two M.P.s clashed from the outset, but the major political issue between them was attitude to the Second Boer War, supported by Morgan who was on the Liberal imperialist wing of the party. Morgan was also in favour of Welsh disestablishment, making a lengthy parliamentary speech on a resolution in 1891, but his views on disestablishment differed from those of Thomas.

During the campaigning for the 1900 election, Keir Hardie, representing the new Independent Labour Party had launched his bid to become the junior member for Merthyr. Such was the animosity between William Pritchard Morgan and David Alfred Thomas, that Thomas actively supported Keir Hardie. Hardie duly defeated Morgan, becoming one of the first Labour Members of Parliament.

Following his defeat, Morgan retired from politics, and in the words of his contemporaries became a ‘Will of the Wisp’, flitting from place to place, and transferring his mining interests from Wales to the Far East. He reaped the rewards of his investments, living in comfort into his old age, dying on 5 July 1924.

A caricature of William Pritchard Morgan as M.P. for Merthyr

Lord Buckland – 17 September 1877–23 May 1928 – part 1

BOWEN, BERRY, and BILBO BAGGINS

By Irene Janes

I love putting together my family tree and one day going through the microfilm of old newspapers in the central library, for something totally unconnected, the name John Moses Bowen jumped out at me – my grandfather, and it was concerning Henry Seymour Berry. I was on the first step to finding out more of the name on the statue near the bottom of the library steps I had just passed.

BOWEN

One Thursday, in June in 1897, at Merthyr Tydfil Police Court, stood an eight year old John Moses Bowen, a pupil at Abermorlais School. He was a witness for the prosecution with regards to an assault on Thomas (Tommy) Alfred Baverstock, also aged eight, which allegedly took place on Monday, 24 May, just a month before. Bowen told the court he saw the Pupil Teacher – one Henry Seymour Berry, hit Baverstock on the head with the frame of a slate. Bowen said on the Wednesday after the incident the teacher told the class to say if anyone was to ask, they were to say he (Berry) did not hit Baverstock.

Abermorlais School. Photo courtesy of http://www.alangeorge.co.uk/index.htm

Wyndham Marshall, aged nine, confirmed he saw Berry break the slate on William Joseph Foy’s head and like Bowen saw him strike Baverstock with its frame. He said a few days later, at school, Berry had asked him where was Baverstock, to which Marshall answered ‘he was home’, as Baverstock’s brother had hit him in the eye. Marshall explained to the hearing he had said this only because Berry had told him to say that the brother had caused the injury.

Elizabeth Baverstock said her son had made a complaint to her and she went to the school to show Berry her son’s eye. Berry had knelt down and asked her son “Did I do it Tommy?” The lad replied “Yes.” Berry then asked the mother to let him know every day how the boy was and once he sent down to ask.

William Joseph Foy, aged eleven, was called for the defence. He said it was not true that Berry had broken a slate on his head, like the one produced in court, or that Berry had struck Baverstock with the remnants of the slate. Alfred W Dean, aged eight, also denied seeing Berry assault Baverstock.

Mr W. N. North presiding said he was bound to state that he did not believe the evidence for the prosecution because they, Bowen and Marshall, had contradicted themselves in a very marked manner. He believed the evidence of the two boys, called by the defence, Foy and Dean, and dismissed the case.

(Information from The South Wales Echo, 18 June 1897)

BERRY

Born at 73, Lower Thomas Street, to John Mathias and Mary Ann Berry. Seymour first went to Abermorlais School as a pupil and was fortunate to befriend John Payne who helped him with his schoolwork. Several years later Berry, became the first Pupil Teacher in Abermorlais School. However, he decided a teaching career was not for him. Therefore, on 1 September 1897, two and half months after the alleged assault, (mentioned above) he left the profession and went to work with his father.

His parents had moved to Merthyr Tydfil from Pembrokeshire. To supplement his wages as a railway clerk John Mathias Berry sold packets of tea and then became a commercial traveller. Henry Seymour and his father must have proved to be a good team as seven years later they opened J.M. Berry and Son, Auctioneers & Estate Agents in Victoria Street.

In 1907 he married Gwladys Mary, Justice of the Peace, Mr Simon Sandbrook. They went on to have five daughters.

Berry’s father was the agent of David Alfred Thomas, Liberal M.P. for Merthyr Tydfil (1888-1910). Henry Seymour’s hard work, ambition, and keenness to seize an opportunity soon saw him become a protégé to this politician and industrialist. This set Berry on his way to becoming a very successful and rich man. Thomas became Viscount Rhondda in 1918.

Seymour Berry was now beginning to be regarded as a social climber.

In 1915 Berry suggested to Thomas, who was no longer an M.P., but a creator and controller of the largest combined collieries in Wales, he should go and work with him. Berry didn’t want a wage but a chance to show his capabilities.

The following year Thomas joined the government’s cabinet. He turned to Berry to look after his numerous industrial companies. When Thomas joined the government’s cabinet Berry took on more responsibly and 1918 was a director of over sixty companies.

To be continued…..

Keir Hardie: Leader of the Labour Party – part 4

by Carolyn Jacob

‘The life of one Welsh miner is of greater commercial and moral value to the British nation than the whole Royal crowd put together.’

Keir Hardie June 1894

‘One day in June, 1894, in the Commons, an address of congratulations was moved on the birth of a son to the Duchess of York. Hardie moved an amendment to this address, crying out that over two hundred and fifty men and boys had been killed on the same day in a mining disaster, and claiming that this great tragedy needed the attention of the House of Commons far more than the birth of any baby. He had been a miner himself; he knew. The House rose at him like a pack of wild dogs. His voice was drowned in a din of insults and the drumming of feet on the floor. But he stood there, white-faced, blazing-eyed, his lips moving, though the words were swept away and he was dismissed for spoiling the joy of a Royal occasion’.

R. Clynes, Memoirs, 1937

Attacking the Royal Family was hugely unpopular but Hardie was grief-stricken for colliers’ families and bitter that others did not seem to even care. He later criticised the visit by the Russian Czar because Russia had recently treated trade unionists savagely, shooting demonstrators. In reply Keir Hardie and two others were removed from the list of Members invited to Court functions. In the Merthyr Express Keir Hardie seemed amused not to be invited to the Royal Garden Party, an invitation he would not have accepted, as he could not return the compliment by inviting the Court to tea in his small terraced house in Lanarkshire.

‘I thought the days of my pioneering were over but of late I have felt, with increasing intensity, the injustice inflicted on women by our present laws’.

Keir Hardie, speech at the Labour Party Conference, 1907

‘That there is difference of opinion concerning the tactics of the militant Suffragettes goes without saying, but surely there call be no two opinions concerning the horrible brutality of these proceedings? Women, worn and weak by hunger, are seized upon, held down by brute force, gagged, a tube inserted down their throats and food poured or pumped into the stomach’.

Keir Hardie, letter to Votes for Women, 1 October, 1909

The Pankhursts converted Hardie to the cause of women’s suffrage, although not all of his fellow socialists shared this commitment. In 1907 when Miss Arscott of Merthyr Tydfil, daughter of the Brecon Road grocer, was imprisoned in London for taking part in a demonstration outside the Houses of Parliament Keir Hardie visited her in prison to offer his support and encouragement. He had many female supporters in Merthyr Tydfil, including the daughter of the Liberal MP, D.A. Thomas.

‘Keir Hardie has been the greatest human being of our time. Asked to write a motto, he would choose Votes for Women and Socialism for All.’

The Women’s Dreadnought, 2 October, 1915

‘His extraordinary sympathy with the women’s movement, his complete understanding of what it stands for, were what first made me understand the finest side of his character. In the days when Labour men neglected and slighted the women’s cause or ridiculed it, Hardie never once failed us, never once faltered in his work for us. We women can never forget what we owe him’.

Isabella Ford, a member of the NUWSS

‘Politics is but a kind of football game between the rich Tories and the rich Liberals, and you working men are the ball which they kick vigorously and with grim delight between their goalposts’.

Keir Hardie, The Labour Leader

Keir Hardie devoted his life to the working class and, contrary to the lies of the Conservative Party, he accepted no money for himself. Hard work wore him out, in some photographs he looked like Old Father Time but he was only 59 when he died.

‘The moving impulse of Keir Hardie’s work was a profound belief in the common people. His socialism was a great human conception of the equal right of all men and women to the wealth of the world and to the enjoyment of the fullness of life. He had a touching sympathy for the helpless. I have seen his eyes fill with tears at the news of the death of a devoted dog. He carried to his end an old silver watch he had worn in the mine, which bore the marks of the teeth of a favourite pit pony, made by the futile attempt on its part to eat it’.

Philip Snowden

Keir Hardie could not understand how working-class men could fight each other for a ‘Capitalist Cause’. He was a firm opponent of all wars.

‘I knew that Keir Hardie had been failing in health since the early days of the war. The great slaughter, the rending of the bonds of international fraternity, on which he had built his hopes, had broken him’.

Sylvia Pankhurst

‘The long-threatened European war is now upon us. You have never been consulted about this war. The workers of all countries must strain every nerve to prevent their Governments from committing them to war. Hold vast demonstrations against war, in London and in every industrial centre. Down with the rule of brute force! Down with war! Up with the peaceful rule of the people’.

Keir Hardie at the Merthyr Olympia Skating Rink, 30 October 1914

Keir Hardie disagreed with the Labour Party over the outbreak of the First World War in 1914, as a pacifist, he tried to organize a national strike against Britain’s participation in the war and was saddened that the recruiting in Merthyr showed patriotic zeal. He was concerned about the threat to civil liberties and to the living standards of the working class. Although seriously ill, Hardie took part in several anti-war demonstrations and some of his former supporters denounced him as a traitor.

In December, 1914, Hardie had a stroke and he returned to the House of Commons in 1915 before he had made a full-recovery. Numerous meetings in various parts of the country and staying in people’s homes took their toll. His London home, was an attic in Nevill Court and he does not appear to have taken much care of himself. Politics concerned him more than personal comfort. Once when his doctor told him to rest, he went to Belgium to meet other social democratic leaders but was arrested as he was mistaken for an anarchist!

‘Hardie died of a broken heart. He had always been a pacifist; when British Labour refused to inaugurate a great strike on behalf of peace, Hardie became a broken man’.

R. Clynes, Memoirs

‘What could Hardie do but die?’

George Bernard Shaw