Tag: Dowlais

The South Wales Lock Out

The article transcribed below appeared in the Illustrated London News 150 years ago today.

Several fresh illustrations are given this week, from sketches by our own artists, of the deplorable stoppage of labour in the vast collieries and ironworks of South Wales. The amount of interests involved in this unfortunate rupture between capital and labour is estimated by the correspondent of a daily paper:—

“In Monmouthshire and Glamorgan there are, all told, 450 collieries, of which about 150 are the property of ironmasters. In times when business is at full swing, the amount of coal ‘won’ from these numerous pits reaches 350,000 tons weekly. The manufacture of iron in the district demands 100,000 tons this weekly output, the remainder being spread abroad—some for shipping purposes, but the greater part for household and factory consumption. To raise 350,000 tons of coal in six days would require the operation of 70,000 hands—that is to say, practical ‘pitmen’, with labourers and lads. It is reckoned that the united earnings of this great body of workmen average £100,000 a week—about 27s. a head per week ‘all round’;  or take the labourers and lads at 10s. to £1 a week, and the miners at 34s.

In the immediate vicinity of these collieries are the establishments of at least a score of leading ironmasters, giving employment to some 30,000 men. Taking an ironworker’s wages at the low average of 27s. a week, nearly £40,000 would be required to satisfy the number above indicated. Then there are those who are engaged in the ironstone mines, a body of men reckoned by thousands, and whose earnings are said to be at least £10,000 weekly. One way and another it may be fairly reckoned that the South Wales coal-fields are not worked at a less weekly average cost in the shape of wages than £150,000, and when nothing is amiss this is the sum, barring the small savings of the pitman, which between Saturday and Saturday finds its way into the tills of the butcher, the baker, the grocer, the publican, and other worthy tradesfolk of Merthyr, Aberdare, Dowlais, and the surrounding districts. It is hard to say who feel most acutely the pinch of the lock-out—the shopkeeper, or those who in flourishing times are his profitable customers. In by far the majority of instances, the tradesmen in question depend mainly for support on those who are employed in the pits and at the ironworks, and when these are rendered wageless the shopkeeper may as well put up his shutters.”

Merthyr Tydvil, a place of 70,000 inhabitants, including the Dowlais, Cyfarthfa, Pen-y-darren, and other works, in the neighbourhood of the town, is situated in the north of Glamorganshire. It takes its name from an ancient Celtic princess, named Tydvil, who was Christian virgin martyr, slaughtered by the Pagan Saxons about King Arthur’s time. The Vale of Merthyr varies in width from a mile to half a mile, with hills on each side that nowhere reach an altitude of 2000 feet. It has all the characteristics of those valleys of South Wales where the days are darkened by furnaces vomiting smoke and the nights are illumined by hundreds of furnace fires. Such, at least, is its normal condition. The Vale of Merthyr is not the least valuable of the wealth-producing districts where gigantic fortunes have been accumulated. Right and left shafts rise out of the hill-side, and from side to side engines reply to each other. Small streams bear away the water that constantly springs in the underground workings. The entire vale is intersected with tramways, by which coal is conveyed, from the pit to the metal-works.

“But these days,” writes newspaper correspondent, “the Vale of Merthyr has begun to put on an appearance of desolation. The Plymouth Iron and Coal Works, which extend for nearly a couple of miles, and present a succession of valuable workings, are strangely silent. The steam-engines at the pit mouth, noisily and showily pumping, throw significant aspect of inactivity upon acres of unworked machinery; and there is long line of black, funnels, tall chimneys, gaunt beams and cranks, and gaping machinery in cold repose. Not a gleam will to-night enlighten the landscape where for years the valley has been notorious for its unearthly glare. An old man, gazing upon the dismal desertion of these magnificent works, says there are people starving in the valley, and that half the distress which exists, and will exist here, will be never known.”

In the midst of so much gloom, there is one gleam of satisfaction in the fact that the ironstone-miners are working. They will not be stopped. They have been associated with the ironworkers in past reductions, and, as they are dependent upon neither collieries nor ironworkers, work has been secured to them at Cyfarthfa. These men attempted a resistance to the first reduction, and were out about two months. They then applied for work, but the difference with the ironmasters having obliged Mr. Crawshay to blow out his blast-furnaces, he told them ironstone was not required. If, however, they chose to work upon the wages of 1871—that was, 30 per cent below the highest point which had been reached, and the level to which the present reduction of 10 per cent brings colliers’ labour—they might go on. They accepted the offer, and have been working with regularity ever since.

Although the ironworks have been at a standstill all the time, and the colliers are now reduced to a similar condition, they will be kept going, no matter how long this struggle may last. It is stated that Mr. Crawshay would have kept his ironworkers similarly employed, had they met him in the same spirit; he would have stocked iron to the extent of 100,000 tons rather than they should have been thrown out of employment. Further, he made more than one effort to come to an arrangement with the association for the employment of his ironworks colliers alone, but the union question cropped up and became an insurmountable obstacle. Cyfarthfa, therefore, with the exception of the ironstone works, is in the same position as all the rest of the ironworks, with one furnace only in blast.

There has been no event of importance during the week, lord Aberdare (who was Mr. Bruce, late Home Secretary) has declined to interfere on behalf of the men, and advises them give way. The Merthyr poor-law guardians impose stone-breaking tasks as a condition of outdoor relief.

Illustrated London News – 20 February 1875

Notes on Post War Developments on the Merthyr Tydfil High Street

by Carolyn Jacob

After World War II more street lights were powered by gas than electricity.  Electricity was then supplied by the Merthyr Electric Traction and Lighting Co. Ltd  and gas mainly by the Dowlais Gas Company and the Merthyr Tydfil Gas Company.

High Street Sewers

From the 1850s onwards the Board of Health continually argued as to how a High Street sewer was to be paid for and how to clean up certain problem areas such as Caedraw.

The drainage of the High Street was a problem as the town had no means of proper drainage. Mr. Hill said that sewers were made large for the purpose of admitting men and boys to clean them and that he would prefer draining the worst localities in the town first, especially those which had been afflicted with cholera like Caedraw.

Caedraw in the early 1900s. Photo courtesy of the Alan George Archive

Merthyr Tydfil had a 100 miles of sewers varying in diameters between 9 inches and 30 inches. In 1946  a new main sewer was built from Dowlais to Troedyrhiw, the trunk mains in the upper part of the Borough being defective and inadequate. It was proposed to broaden the whole of the old High Street.

In 1949  Trystan Edwards (left), father of the New Towns Movement and opposed to  tower blocks became the architect for Merthyr Council. His classic book on ‘Style and Design in Architecture’ by Mr Trystan Edwards’ of Merthyr Tydfil was published in 1950. Mr Trystan Edwards who had a high reputation as a town planner and architect made 3 objections in September 1952 to the new Merthyr Tydfil Development Plan. It seems that as early as 1905  a new Town Hall was on the cards and he objected to its proposed position and not a new building itself.

Caedraw Central Housing Development

In the 1960s came the new Caedraw flat scheme at a cost of £540,000. The new police station was officially opened in April 1965 by James Griffiths, the Secretary of State for Wales. He  said the development had transformed the area from an over-crowded slum to an ultra modern residential area ‘ bold and imaginative’ as he had a conducted tour of the estate.

Photo courtesy of the Alan George Archive

St Tydfil’s Shopping Centre

The bridge from the St Tydfil’s Shopping Centre to the car park constructed 1969 was the first of its kind  300 foot  cost £55,000  to build. Gareth Morgan a ten year old boy from Dowlais received a prize of £25 for naming the one and a half million new  shopping centre St Tydfil’s. All 80 suggested names were connected with the history of the town and variations of the name Winstone  were common. The centre developed by Chesterfield Properties Ltd  included 48 shopping units, 2 supermarkets, a market hall, one large departmental store, public house, entertainments centre, 25 maisonettes and office accommodation.

St Tydfil’s Shopping Centre in the 1970s. Photo courtesy of the Alan George Archive

The Market Square Chapel was demolished.

In July 1966 the Eagle Hotel was completely renovated and modernised throughout. The landlord and land lady were Mr and Mrs Parry.

Oldway House, Castle Street was begun in 1966 by Oldway Properties Ltd. as part of the new Merthyr  and took 13  months to complete. The building itself was a frame structure.

Oldway House during construction. Photo courtesy of the Alan George Archive

The new central Police Station cost £150,000 in Swan Street was completed 1968, it was only a 75 yard move from the old Merthyr Police Station at Graham Street.

Police Station in Swan Street. Courtesy of Mansell Richards

Victoria Street clearance 1966

In the 1970s it was decided that the High Street  was extremely congested and it was unsafe for pedestrians  and it was decided in the 1970s that there ought to be  a traffic-free shopping centre. The High Street became a haven of peace and quiet in  September 1976. The Welsh Office gave a grant of  £103,725  to take the traffic out of the High Street  This ring road was to get the traffic out of the High Street

In 1988 the shops and offices in the High Street in Pontmorlais were treated to a facelift under a commercial improvement scheme. A car park and flower beds were created at the junction with Bethesda Street.

‘A past, a tradition, an experience in space and time we seem hellbent on bulldozing away … A man who loses his memory is half a man … A man who destroys his won memory is a madman’.

From an address given by Professor Gwyn  Alf Williams to the first meeting of the Merthyr Tydfil Civic Society.

The Dark Side of Convict Life – part 22

by Barrie Jones

Chapter XIX. Henry recounts his association with the convict Samuel Blisset and how he helps pass on a message to Samuel’s daughter, Hannah Williams, following his release from Parkhurst. Blisset shot his wife Margaret on the 15th November 1894 outside her shop at 112 Ivor Street, Dowlais. Margaret a ‘well known’ greengrocer, died of her wounds on the following day. 

The Dark Side of Convict Life (Being the Account of the Career of Harry Williams, a Merthyr Man). Merthyr Express, 28th May 1910, page 11.

Chapter XIX

THE DOWLAIS TRADEGY RECALLED

During my stay in Parkhurst, I never got into much trouble, for though I was passed as perfectly sane, nevertheless, I was well treated by the doctors. Parkhurst is well known as the dead station; the last camping place it has been to many of the criminal class. Men suffering from all manner of diseases are to  found here – consumption, heart disease, pleurisy, dropsy, and a great many fit cases. I was in Parkhurst over three years, and during that time not one single week passed without some poor, unfortunate passing away to the unseen world.

I was surprised to see down there poor Samuel Blisset, who was sentenced to twenty years on the 12th of November, 1894, for the manslaughter of his wife, and I cannot help thinking that his case did not merit the heavy sentence passed upon him for, when all is said and done, it was more of an accident than a crime, and there is doubt that if had had been allowed to go into the witness box, as is done these days, and give his own evidence, then he might have cleared himself. I had not much of a chance beyond a passing word to speak to him, but I can well remember a few weeks before my liberation telling him that I would take a message to his daughter in Dowlais, and after some difficulty in searching I found her, and I received a great welcome. The poor woman had evidently been trying and trying to get her dear father’s sentence remitted, but the poor woman’s application each time met with a refusal. Samuel Blisset was fifty-four years of age at the time of his trial, and I suppose he was given the heavy sentence thinking he would not live to see it through. But what man proposes, God disposes, and Samuel Blisset now has his liberty, and is now restored to his daughter to live the remainder of his life in peace and happiness, and when the time comes he will not be buried in a convict’s grave, where no flowers nor headstones marks the place. Let us hope that Samuel Blisset will live with his daughter for many years yet. For a convict is a man who has a heart that can feel joy and sorrow just like another, so do not treat him worse because misfortune is his curse. But he is the son of some mother, remember.

Before closing this chapter I will give an account of a poor, week-minded lad, for he was far away from budding-manhood. This young fellow’s name was Calladine, and he was subject to fits, and very bad fits they were, too, which took him some time to get out of them. He was a light-hearted – although light-headed – friendly, little fellow, and many a chat we had together, but his conversation pointed strongly to brain trouble, for sometimes when speaking to one he would suddenly stop and look into the sky, as if looking for his next words. It was heart rending to hear him speak of his coming liberty, but the poor little chap never dreamt that in a few weeks’ time he would be laid to rest in the convict’s cemetery at Newport. One morning, coming over the steps of the Protestant Chapel, this poor fellow fell down in a  fit. He was taken to a hospital, and after recovering, he declined to stay there. While in the straight jacket I heard his shouts and cries, which were most pitiful to hear, and I was working at the time sweeping the gutters underneath the padded cells. The following night he was taken from the infirmary to the separate cells, ready to appear before the governor the next morning, but when the officer opened his cell door, poor Calladine was cold and stiff, having expired during the night.

To be continued…..

Merthyr Historian Volume 34

The Merthyr Tydfil & District Historical Society is pleased to announce the publication of Volume 34 of the Merthyr Historian.

The cost is £12, and volumes will initially be for sale at the Society’s next lecture at Canolfan Soar on Monday 4 November. They can also be ordered (for £12 plus p&p) via this blog at merthyr.history@gmail.com.

CONTENTS

VOLUME 33 (2024) ISBN 978-1-7391627-1-9

1. Remembering Brian Davies

2. The Welsh Heritage School’s Initiative. The winner of the 2024 prize  from our Historical Society

3. ‘Carlton Working Men’s Hotel. “A great boon to Merthyr”’ (1911). Transcription by Carl Llewellyn

4. DENIED! Welshman Cuthbert Taylor and the abolition of boxing’s colour bar by Bill Williams

5. A Railway walk from Pantysgallog (High Level) Halt to Torpantau station (1961) by Alistair V. Phillips

6. The History of Merthyr Newspapers (and some of their Printers and Publishers) by D. Rhys Davies and Carl Llewellyn

7. Harris Schwartz: family, furniture and Merthyr’s Jewish community recalled by Rita (Schwartz) Silverman

8. Apprenticing a chemist in Dowlais, 1880, and all those concerned by Christine Trevett

9. The Almanack and Year Book 1897 Merthyr Tydfil. A Victorian Townsman’s Pride in the Press and in his home-town, the Best Shopping Centre in North Glamorgan by Mary Owen

10. A history of the education movement in the parish of Merthyr Tydfil (to 1896) by H. W. Southey from The Almanack and Year Book transcribed by Caroline Owen

11. The Quakers’ Yard Truant School: some glimpses of its history by Stephen Brewer, Carolyn Jacob and Christine Trevett

12. A school from the ashes. The British Tip and some reflections on the final years of Abermorlais School by Clive Thomas

13. A Little Gay History of Merthyr by Daryl Leeworthy

14. From Troedyrhiw to California. Welsh Immigrants in the Mount Diabolo Coalfield by David Collier

15. A History of Nonconformity in Dowlais by Stephen Brewer

16. ‘The Mighty Morlais’: A study in the history of Morlais Castle and its significant figures by Benedict Bray

17. Out and About with Cerddwyson by T. Fred Holley and John D. Holley

18. Our Excursion to Swansea transcription by Stephen Brewer

BIOGRAPHIES OF CONTRIBUTORS

Accident on the Brecon & Merthyr Railway

The following article is transcribed from the Western Mail dated 24 August 1874.

ACCIDENT ON THE BRECON AND MERTHYR RAILWAY

A STOKER KILLED AND A PASSENGER INJURED

On Saturday evening another accident occurred on the Brecon and Merthyr Railway, when the last evening train was wending its way from Brecon to Newport. At a quarter past six o’clock, just as the passenger train had approached Pant station at the point of junction which leads to the Dowlais branch, the engine, from some defect in the points or otherwise, left the rails, and, after an abrupt deviation towards the Dowlais branch, came to a standstill.

The stoker, on perceiving something wrong, either jumped off, or was violently thrown from the footplate of the engine. He was instantaneously killed. His name is John Price, of 26, Dolphin-street, Newport. The engine dragged after it one carriage, which appears to have become separated from the other portion of the train at the time of the accident, and in this carriage was a woman, named Elizabeth Jefferies, wife of a bailer at Ebbw Vale, whose leg was broken. The rear portion of the train passed for a short way along the main line. It contained a great many passengers, none of whom sustained injury. The injured woman was conveyed to the Bruce Hotel, Dowlais, where she received every treatment from Dr. Griffiths, of Dowlais. An inquest will be held on the deceased as soon, as practicable.

ANOTHER ACCOUNT
(FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT)
MERTHYR, SUNDAY

This line seems fated to become notorious in the annals of accidents. The inquest has not yet been held over the remains of the victims of the last, when another occurs, and this time to a passenger train.

On Saturday evening the “4.30 passenger” from Brecon to Newport was arriving at the Pant Station, a little way from Dowlais, and where the main line to Newport forms a junction with the branch to Dowlais, when the locomotive suddenly left the metals, and a scene of wreck and disaster at once occurred. Though only 500 yards or so from the station, the pace of the train was rapid. I am not aware whether the carriages are furnished with continuous breaks, but I believe this is the case, and thus up to the closest vicinity of the station the pace is rapid. The locomotive kept exceedingly close to the metals, but it must be noted for future examination on the Pant side.

Some of the carriages were upset, and two of the passengers at least severely injured. One of them at the moment of the accident opened the carriage and jumped out and broke her leg. She was a very stout woman, and this case may be serious. One of the carriages was completely overturned, and the passengers thrown in a heap, but no bones were broken. The stoker, a young married man, named Price, aged 26, was thrown under the wheels of the locomotive and instantly killed. This was the only death, but the injuries received were numerous, though all but two managed to go on with the train.

The scene of the accident has been thronged, but only a heap of matchwood, the remains of one of the carriages, showed where the calamity took place.

It seems a difficult matter to account for the accident. Had the points been at “half,” precisely the same thing would have occurred, but in this case the points are worked from the signal box, and were locked at the time. It will be seen by the official inspector’s report that the first trace of leaving the metals is at the points, and the first blow on one of the fish-plates. Could the flange of the wheel have struck this at a critical place, the facing points just before or on a curve are extremely dangerous, and should be altered.

This is the first accident that has occurred in the locality, which is one of great archaeological interest. The place is called Pantcoed Ivor, and is so named from the redoubtable worthy who scaled Cardiff Castle and sorely grieved the doughty earls of Glamorgan in days of yore. Nearby is a hollow where he is traditionally supposed to have fought his last battle, and on the other side a place called Rhyd-y-bedd, which is associated with his burial. Here, then, by ancient wells, and amidst the moss and the ivy of the past, comes another railway disaster, and its scenic accompaniments, which, too often, alas, mar one of the noblest handmaids of civilization. Where Ivor Bach marched in battle array the locomotive sweeps, and trains of commerce and pleasure are rapidly brushing aside a locality which is only again brought into notice by this railway catastrophe.

Western Mail – 24 August 1874

The Passing of Bethel – part 2

A CWMTAF CHAPEL TO DISAPPEAR AT YNYSFELIN

Transcribed from the Merthyr Express 30th May 1914

In 1795, a few members from Zion Baptist Church, Merthyr, went up to hold meetings in a farmhouse, close by the chapel, called Penpont, and these services were continued for some years on Sundays. They were held in the farmhouses. In 1798 twelve members were discharged from Zion in order to form a church at Ynysfelin. On January 25th of that year, Mr David Davies was ordained as the first minister of the church. He was also a farmer. In 1836 he was privileged to have a co-pastor, for in that year his son (also named David Davies) was ordained to the ministry. The roll of members during this time was about 60, but the number has been even more than that. Father and son seem to have been highly respected and their services much appreciated. They were reckoned very good preachers.

Among the ministers who have hailed from this little church was the Rev Jenkin Thomas who became famous as a preacher throughout England. He was one of the foremost preachers of the Baptist denomination in his day. His chief ministry seems to have been done in Cheltenham.

The two Davies’s were the grandfather and father of Mr Herbert Davies, now of the Hendre, Cwmtaf. Both Davies were judged to be of noble Christian character, and endowed with strong preaching powers. They lived, each of them, to be over 80 years of age, and their descendants still remain in the neighbourhood. David Davies junior occupied for many years Abernant Farm.

From the records he has left behind him he was a man of many parts, and was as efficient in sowing the corn in the fields as he was in sowing the word on Sundays from the pulpit. All branches of the farmer’s varied duties were by him thoroughly carried out. He could be at the carpenter’s bench, or at the shoemaker’s last. As butcher he would be called to neighbouring farms to kill and dress a pig, sheep or ox. And if a will was to be proved, David Davies was the counsellor sought to assist in the work. Farmers consulted him about the payment of taxes, rates and rents. His M.S.S. (both his diaries and sermons) show him to be man of keen intellect, and wide knowledge, and a shrews observer of events. The handwriting (in Welsh) indicates great care and attention to details. And he had acquired the art of taking pains, the handwriting being neat, straight and clean, and the language choice and scriptural. His steady hand indicates that he was either a total abstainer from intoxicants or a very temperate man indeed. A striking trait in his character was his gift of keeping records of daily events for the last 36 years of his life. There are four books (his diaries) in Welsh commencing on August 23rd 1834, and reaching to March 18th 1869. Not a single day during that long period seems to have escaped his notice. The entries contain details which are most interesting. Opposite every day he notes the weather, wet, dry etc, his own work or employment, and other interesting events that came within his knowledge or observation. Sunday’s records include texts for sermons he either preached himself or had listened to from others.

The following are a few examples:- 1834, Sunday, August 31, fine: morning Bethel, father preaching I Cor, 15.58; evening, self preaching I Cor, 18. 1837, December 20, rain, threshing corn in Abernant. 1847, June 16, rain, mending the children’s boots. September 9, fine, Brecon Fair; proving will, Watkin Morris. 1869, March 9, cold, Troedyrhiw, funeral of my sister Jane. The reader will have some idea of the interesting work to read over such a daily record for 36 years. He lived a strenuous life, clean and strong. He was a very prosperous farmer and a popular preacher. He travelled much to preach on Sundays, and wherever there was trouble David Davies was sought to comfort and solace.

Other ministers who, after him, have done faithful and most acceptable service to the church are Rev T Salathiel and Rev J D Hughes, Cefn, whose family still live at Cefn, Mr Hughes for many years walked on Sunday to preach to the little flock who were always looking forward with pleasure to his visits. He was beloved by all.

The new chapel erected by the Corporation stands on the side of the road, about two miles from Cefn, and is a modern, pretty and well built structure. The remains will be removed into the burial ground adjoining the new chapel. The families of Penpont, Celleia, Penrheol, Grawen and Danygraig Farms are among the faithful members of the church. Mr and Mrs Herbert Davies, the Hendre are also among the pillars of the cause. Mr Davies seems to have received the mantle of his father, in the sense of his unflagging interest and zeal for the welfare of the little church.

The farewell service was held on May 19th and a good congregation attended. In addition to the local friends, other descendants of the Davieses attended, including Miss Watkins and Mrs Edwards, Garth, Dowlais; Mrs Matthew Owen, Mrs Hughes, widow of the late Rev J D Hughes, and other friends from Cefn were also present. Rev Rowland Jones, B.A., Troedyrhiw, preached an appropriate sermon, and the Rev D L Jones, the present minister of the church, gave an account of the church from its origin. Mr Price, Penderyn, and Mr Matthew Owen also delivered addresses. Rev D L Jones is doing good work here, and we wish him and his flock the rich blessing of God upon their labours.

The new Bethel Chapel

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.

We have now entered Dowlais – yes, to some extent, truly called dismal and dirty. No doubt it has redeeming traits, but from personal recollections I do not consider it had even the amenities that existed in Merthyr. It was, or seemed to be, more brusque, more aggrandising, but if Merthyr was truly a village in the early thirties, Dowlais was somewhat less. “Nothing extenuate, nor set down aught in malice” shall be my guide.

Up the brook a short way there was a brewery, erected by a Mr Powell of Abergavenny, whose father was a church dignitary there. The hill before us is steep, and the first road is one that doubles back in front of the Dowlais Inn, and then turns up to the right to the Dowlais Church, stables and on to the Ivor Works. This was kept by a James Henry, who went thence to keep another public house in Rhymney.

The Dowlais Inn. Photo courtesy of the Alan George Archive

Keeping the coach road, another public house on the other side was the Vulcan. There were steps alongside down to the tramroad, and the lowest entrance gates into the works stood just there. Some short distance further there was another public house, whose name has slipped. It was, however, some four steps (nearly three feet) lower than the road. Mr David Williams and his aunt, Miss Teague, kept it awhile after leaving the Angel in Merthyr, but it was taken as the station of the railway from the Taff Vale, and used as such at the time.

Following this on the same side was a row of workmen’s cottages having their back to, but the ground floor much lower than the road. About six of what were then the best shops in the place being passed, the main entrance into the works and office was come to.

The shop nearest the entrance gates was, or had been, the old Company shop. It had, however, ceased to be carried on upon the truck system as far as can be recalled. A Mr Parnell was the manager, but there is some hazy idea of Mr Williams, the father of Mr Joshua Williams, of Aberdylais (sic), being connected with it. Mr Jenkins, the druggist, had a branch shop in the row; also a Mr D Lewis kept another druggist’s shop, and Mr Lewis, draper, of the London Warehouse, also had a branch. Immediately opposite to the entrance gates was the Bush Hotel, kept by Mr Richard Henry who had been a contractor in the works some years before.

The Bush Hotel in Dowlais c.1885. Photograph courtesy of the Alan George Archive

At the passing of the Reform Bill in 1832, Merthyr was made a borough, and privileged to send one member to Parliament. Sir John (then Mrs) Guest was returned, but he had previously been member for Honiton, and upon one occasion ordered a large number of pairs of boots and shoes there. They were dispatched to Dowlais to the company’s shop there, but Mr Parnell decline having anything to do with them. “He had not ordered them”, and knew nothing whatever about them.

Richard Henry was sent for to the office, he being then a contractor and having a great number of persons under him. “Dick I want you to sell a lot of boots and shoes for me” was said by Mr Guest. “Well, but master, I don’t want them, and how am I to pay for them?” was replied. “Oh that shall not trouble: you can pay when you sell the last pair”, was the rejoinder, and ‘Dick’ took them all but never sold the last pair. It is not possible to vouch for the strict accuracy of it, but I can vouch for having the narrative from Mr Richard Henry’s own lips.

To be continued….