Prince Charles Hospital – The Melting Pot

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.

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.

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.

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…..

Professor Julie Williams C.B.E.

by Irene Janes

Here is a name to remember – Professor Julie Williams C.B.E, world leading Figure in the research of Alzheimer’s Disease.

Julie Williams is still very much alive, kicking and still researching, and her research is making a huge difference worldwide but I am just so afraid like other famous women if her works are not recognised in Merthyr they will never be heard of let alone forgotten.

Well I am not sure about you, but when I was about seven I read The Famous Five and my weekly magazine, Princess. Perhaps this is why I have not and ever will receive a Royal honour.

At the age of seven, little Julie (then Baker), would be professor, from Cefn Coed, loved horse riding, ballet and playing football. However, between scoring goals and pirouetting around on horses Julie may have missed the fact Richard Burton had married (for the first time) Elizabeth Taylor or the Welsh Office was established. It was more likely her pin up poster would not be of Howard Winstone but that of the great British Physicist and Chemist Michael Faraday. This was because one day in W.H.Smiths Julie picked up a leaflet about Faraday which she admits she did not understand but piqued her interest. In addition to this, a B.B.C. programme, “The Ascent of Man” (1973), set her on a journey and where others now follow her.

Her schooling at Vaynor and Penderyn Grammar School served her well, and when The University of Wales Institute of Science and Technology, in Cardiff beckoned, Julie welcomed the opportunity to make the most of the many horizons now open to her. The one horizon we celebrate here is her studying psychology to PHd level. Her fascination of how a human brain works is as strong now as it was as an undergraduate. The idea of ‘How molecule changes can produce some sort of thought processes’ became and still is her focus. After her research work with schizophrenia, Julie turned her attention to Alzheimer’s, which is more prevalent today than ever. We all know someone inflicted by it.

In Wales 2,500 people under the age of 60 have this disease and that figure is expected to rise.

Julie’s academic and research successes could fill pages and I salute them all, alas, there are too many to mention here. The details are on the internet for you to read at your leisure. Here are just some of the professors’ academic achievements:

March 1991 – April 1992 – research Assistant.
August 1999 – October 2001 – Reader in Neuropsychological Genetics at the Department of Psychological Medicine, University of Wales College of Medicine
2010 – 2011 – Member of the Welsh Government Advisory group on Dementia.
October 2012 – September 2013 – Dean of research at Cardiff University School of Medicine.
September 2013 – September 2017 – as Professor of Neuropsychological Genetics. Chief Scientific Advisor for Wales Julie and her team were successful in winning the largest Marie-Sklodowska Curie Fellowship grant plus funding from the European Structural Funds, thus bringing to Wales over £60m for research so amounting to over £23m.

Now Julie and her team, with funding from the U.K. Dementia Research Institution, are concentrating on thirty genes that pose the risk of developing Alzheimer’s. Such is the importance of eradicating or controlling this disease £250m made available by the U.K. Medical Council.

Today she acclaimed as a world leader in her field of research.

It is hardly surprising that in 2012 Professor Julie Williams, in recognition of her dedication and research was awarded the C.B.E.

Away from Royal recognition now, and back to Merthyr and Julie’s roots. Out of general interest, her father Eric Baker had a Ford dealership. For twenty years her mother Terry ran the W.R.V.S. shop and coffee shop, in Prince Charles Hospital.

Here is a link no matter how tenuous but one that makes my imagination bridge the years. Her grandfather Henry Edwards worked and lived as caretaker in Cyfarthfa Castle. I like to think Rose Mary Crawshay, (wife of Robert Thompson Crawshay) who fought for the education and advancement of women (see my previous article – http://www.merthyr-history.com/?p=1934) and founded Vaynor School, where Julie became a pupil, is smiling down with pride on Professor Williams.

The Meaning of ‘Gurnos’

Gurnos
by Carl Llewellyn

Some time ago I read an article in an old edition of the Merthyr Express. It was written by a J.R. Evans of Aberdare who complained that many local Welsh place names were incorrectly spelt; he then gave his interpretation why places in our locality were so named. Many Welsh place names were bestowed centuries ago and were often descriptive of their pictorial detail. Perhaps because these place names were seldom written, and again because of the inability of the English to pronounce Welsh words, in some cases these words become so changed in form they become unrecognisable and unintelligible, with the original signification being entirely lost.

Examples of the mutilation of Welsh place names can be found in “Lechwedd” (meaning a slope) has become “Leckwith” near Cardiff, and “Rhaiadr” (water fall) becoming “Radyr”. When referring to the name “Gurnos”, it immediately brings to mind one of the UK’s largest Housing estates situated near Prince Charles Hospital to a majority of people but most of them are not aware of its origin and translation. We often find the name of parts of the body are used in place names. For instance we speak of head or top of a hill, for instance Penydarren, (pen, head or top; y, of the; darren, a rocky hill) also Troedyrhiw (troed, foot; y, of the; rhiw slope). So the word “Cern” meaning “side of the head”, is applied similarity to the side of the hill, which perhaps has an even surface resembling earth moulds protruding on the side of the hill. There is a diminutive plural suffix “os”, when appended to “Cern” gives us “Cernos”, The placing of the letter “y” before the word modifies it into “Y Gernos”, meaning the lower side of the hill. In the opinion of J.R. Evans “Y Gernos” has been incorrectly spelt by some as the “Gurnos”. I tend to agree with J.R. Evans over the centuries it’s possible the word has been corrupted either by incorrect spelling or pronunciation. On the site of Gurnos Housing Estate once stood the “Gurnos” farm whose name aptly describing its location.

Gurnos Farm by Penry Williams. Photo courtesy of http://www.alangeorge.co.uk/index.htm

Charles Wilkins in his History of Merthyr Tydfil calls the farm “Gyrnos” and gives it derivation as “Carn-nos” (carn, a heap of stones; nos, night), signifying “Night Watch Beacon” stating that it may have reference to the warfare day of the district. You the reader must make up your own mind on the explanations for the Welsh word “Gurnos”. I concur that Charles Wilkins reference is a romanticised version while J.R.Evans interpretation has more of a down to earth explanation.

These differing points of view reminded me of a television series, “The Dragon Has Two Tongues”, where Wynford Vaughan-Thomas, and Professor Gwyn Alf Williams gave their own passionate satire about Wales.