Tag: Florence Smithson

How well do you know Merthyr? The answers

Here are the answers to the questions I posed you last week. How did you do?

  1. What was the name of St Tydfil’s father?

King Brychan Brycheiniog

  1. Who founded the Cyfarthfa Ironworks in 1765?

Anthony Bacon

  1. Who was Merthyr’s first Labour M.P.?

James Keir Hardie

  1. What was the name of the first chapel to be built in Merthyr town?

Ynysgau Chapel

  1. What was the name of the pub that Lord Nelson stayed in when he visited Merthyr in 1800?

The Star Inn in Caedraw

  1. Nixonville in Merthyr Vale is named after whom?

John Nixon, the founder of Merthyr Vale Colliery

  1. Who has ‘God Forgive Me’ inscribed on his grave?

Robert Thompson Crawshay

  1. Where was the Olympia Skating Rink?

In Pontmorlais, just further up than the Theatre Royal

  1. Which Merthyr-born boxer won the WBC World featherweight title in 1968?

Howard Winstone

  1. Where would you find St Matthias Church?

Treharris

  1. The Bwthyn Bach Inn is missing from the Old Merthyr Tydfil list of pubs, where was it situated?

At the corner of what was known as the Broad Pavement, opposite was the name given to a street built behind the Palace Cinema.

  1. Where was Tai Harri Blawd?

Behind the Theatre Royal and bordering the old Tramroad

  1. What is the area known as Daniel’s Waterloo?

The area now known as the Grove

  1. Where was the Merthyr Tydfil clay pipe factory?

In Vaughan Street, Caedraw

  1. What did the factory next to Factory Cottages make?

Factory Cottages were alongside the old Drill Hall and given this name as they adjoined a flannel factory.

  1. How did Storey Arms get its name?

The first landlord there was a Mr Storey

  1. Where was Pendwranfach?

A narrow street by the Fountain …… turn left at the bottom of the High Street

  1. What is the real name of the pub often called The Spite?

The Farmer’s Arms, Mountain Hare

  1. Who was Miss Florence Smithson and what building is she associated with?

A famous actress associated with the Theatre Royal

  1. Why was an area by St Tydfil’s Church named Lle Sais?

Its name is derived from the fact that most of the English people brought in to the area to work in the Penydarren Ironworks lived here

How well do you know Merthyr?

To round the year off, here is a quiz for you about Merthyr’s history.

There are 20 questions in all – 10 easy and 10 difficult. See how well you can do. The answers will appear in the New Year.

  1. What was the name of St Tydfil’s father?
  2. Who founded the Cyfarthfa Ironworks in 1765?
  3. Who was Merthyr’s first Labour M.P.?
  4. What was the name of the first chapel to be built in Merthyr town?
  5. What was the name of the pub that Lord Nelson stayed in when he visited Merthyr in 1800?
  6. Nixonville in Merthyr Vale is named after whom?
  7. Who has ‘God Forgive Me’ inscribed on his grave?
  8. Where was the Olympia Skating Rink?
  9. Which Merthyr-born boxer won the WBC World featherweight title in 1968?
  10. Where would you find St Matthias Church?
  11. The Bwthyn Bach Inn is missing from the Old Merthyr Tydfil list of pubs, where was it situated?
  12. Where was Tai Harri Blawd?
  13. What is the area known as Daniel’s Waterloo?
  14. Where was the Merthyr Tydfil clay pipe factory?
  15. What did the factory next to Factory Cottages make?
  16. How did Storey Arms get its name?
  17. Where was Pendwranfach?
  18. What is the real name of the pub often called The Spite?
  19. Who was Miss Florence Smithson and what building is she associated with?
  20. Why was an area by St Tydfil’s Church named Lle Sais?

Many thanks to Carolyn Jacob for the hard questions…..she obviously has a hidden vicious streak!!!!

Florence Smithson

Today marks the 135th anniversary of the birth of one of Merthyr’s brightest musical stars – Florence Smithson.

Although born in Leicester, Florence spent most of her childhood and formative years in Merthyr. She was the daughter of Will Smithson, a well-known provincial theatre manager, who had settled in Merthyr to take over the running of the Theatre Royal. She made her stage debut at the age of three in pantomime. After leaving school she studied at the London College of Music. Various singing engagements followed, and while she was touring with a small opera company in Donizetti’s opera La Fille du Régiment, she was spotted by the impresario Robert Courtneidge. Under his management she toured in 1904–05 as Nanoya in The Cingalee and Chandra Nil in The Blue Moon.

In August 1905 she made her first appearance in the West End repeating her role in The Blue Moon and making an immediate success. From then until the First World War she made occasional variety appearances and played in a series of musical comedies, and created the role of Sombra in The Arcadians.

In July 1914, she sailed for Australia, but the outbreak of war curtailed her tour. Returning to England in 1915 she toured in variety theatres and played pantomime seasons in London. Australian and South African tours followed in the 1920s, and she returned to England in 1927.

Throughout this period, she never forgot her roots in Wales, and performed frequently throughout the country, and made regular appearances in Merthyr. One of her last engagements was in a national tour of The Gipsy Princess.

Florence Smithson died on 11 February 1951 in a nursing home in Cardiff after undergoing a serious operation.

She had a singing voice of great purity, and audiences waited expectantly for her trademark pianissimo high notes. The operatic star Adelina Patti dubbed her “the Nightingale of Wales”, and Dame Nellie Melba was quoted as saying of her “They say the birds taught her to sing; I think she taught the birds”.