Tag: Quakers Yard Grammar School

Thomas Jacob Thomas – Sarnicol

by Barrie Jones

Wales has provided a number of prominent twentieth-century poets with the surname Thomas, for example: Dylan Thomas (1914-1953), R.S. Thomas (1913-2000), and Edward Thomas (1878-1917)[1]. However, all three poets wrote solely in the English language.

A prominent Welsh poet who wrote in both Welsh and English was Thomas Jacob Thomas (1873-1945). Born 13th April 1873 near Rhos-yr-hafod, Capel Cynon, Cardiganshire, he was the fourth of the five children of David Thomas (1841-1922) and Mary nee Jacob (1837-1919), David was an agricultural labourer and the family lived in Sarnicol farm cottage.[2]

After an early education attending Capel Cynon board school and later Talgarreg school, owing to his frail health it was advised that he attend New Quay grammar school. Here, he stayed for four years taking Department of Science and Art examinations. In 1891 he won a £20 scholarship for the University College of Wales, Aberystwyth, reading for the University of London B.Sc. degree.[3]

At that time, it was normal for most well-educated working-class men and women to pursue teaching careers. So it was with Thomas, who halting his degree course, accepted a teaching post in mathematics at the Hartley Institution in Southampton in 1894. Returning to Wales in 1896 he obtained a post as science master at Abergele intermediate school, Denbighshire. Here, he completed his final B.Sc. examination. The following year he moved to teach science at schools in South Wales, Merthyr Tydfil County School, (1897-1901), and Abertillery Secondary School (1901-1913). In September 1913 he accepted the post as assistant master at the newly established Cyfarthfa Castle Municipal Secondary School, Merthyr Tydfil, teaching Chemistry and Welsh. In his final year at Cyfarthfa he took an external B.A. degree of the University of London. In 1922 he was appointed headmaster of the newly established Quakers Yard Grammar School, Treharris. What is unique is that Thomas was associated with the early years of Merthyr Tydfil’s three grammar schools: ‘The County,’ ‘Cyfarthfa Castle,’ and ‘Quaker’s Yard.’ In 1931, at the age of fifty-eight, owing to ill health he took early retirement and moved with his wife ‘Katie’ to live in ‘Llywel’, Laura Place, Aberystwyth, ‘where he found kindred spirits interested in literature and etymology with whom he could discuss the subjects which despite, his science training, were nearest to his heart’.[4]

Throughout his adult life Thomas wrote prose and verse contributing to numerous publications such as Ymofynydd, Cymru, Y Geninen, the Western Mail, the London Kelt, Y Lienor, Y Ford Gron, Y Beirniad, and Y Cymro. He also edited a Welsh column for the Merthyr Express newspaper for a number of years. His chief publications on collections of his poems were Ar lan y mor a chaneuon eraill, (1898), Odlau Mor a Mynydd, (1912), Blodau drain duon, (1935), Storiau ar gan, (1936), Catiau cwta, (1940), and Chwedlau cefn gwlad, (1944). Ready for publication at the time of his death in 1945 was Odlau’r aelwyd, which he considered to be his best poems. The manuscript is currently held at the National Library of Wales.

Thomas entered his odes (awdlau) to numerous National Eisteddfodau; London, (1909), Colwyn, (1910), Wrexham, (1912), Abergavenny, (1913), Birkenhead, (1917), and Bangor, (1931). At the Abergavenny Eisteddfod he was chaired Bard for his ode (awdl), ‘Aelwyd y Cymro,’ (The Welshman’s home) using the bardic title’ ‘Sarnicol,’ after the name of the cottage where he was born. He also judged the awdl at Llanelli, (1930), and Bangor, (1943). In addition to his odes, Thomas entered translations of verse to the National Eisteddfodau at home and in the United States of America. These covered Welsh into English, English into Welsh, and even French into Welsh. In 1915 he won a forty-dollar prize for a translation of verse from English into Welsh at the San Francisco Eisteddfod, California.[5] In July 1901 Thomas passed the National Eisteddfod examination for Gorsedd degree as a bard.[6]

Following his bardic achievement at Abergavenny in 1913 he was much in demand to give addresses to groups and societies throughout Wales. His favourite topic at that time was the Welshman and humour, (Y Cymru yn y cywair llon), drawing upon examples from Welsh literature both ancient and modern. ‘The suggestion that the Welshman was a sad, morose individual, devoid of all sense of humour, was contrary to facts, as revealed in Welsh literature and life.’[7]

Following the outbreak of the First World War in August 1914, Thomas demonstrated that he could be carried along with the war fervour that gripped Britain at that time. In typical jingoistic fashion in November 1914, he wrote the lyrics of ‘Men of Cambria’ to the tune of ‘Men of Harlech’, the song finishing with the following lines:[8]

Face the Teuton’s fire and thunder,
Rend the Kaiser’s hosts asunder;
Strike again the World with wonder,
Show that right is might!

His penchant for writing verse to popular tunes was most notable when while teaching at Cyfarthfa Castle Grammar School he wrote the lyrics to the school song; Can y Castell (Song of the School),[9] to the tune of Captain Morgan’s March[10]: –

Can y Castell

Ienctyd y Castell, caer I ddysg a hedd,
Gloewn ein harfau I’r gad ddi-gledd;
Byddwn yn deilwng blant I enwog lu,
Dewrion wyr Morgannwg y dyddiau fu:
Byddwn yn deilwng blant I enwog lu,
Dewrion wyr Morgannwg y dyddiau fu.

Ienctyd y Castell, awn ymlaen o hyd,
Galw am ein gorau mae’r eangfyd;
Gorau gyda chwarae, gorau gyda Gwaith
Gluda glod ein Castell drwy’r ddaear faith;
Gorau gyda chwarae, gorau gyda Gwaith,
Gluda glod ein Castell drwy’r ddaear faith.

Song of the School

Youth of the Castle, fortress of learning and peace,
We burnish our weapons for the swordless battle;
As children we’ll be loyal to a host of famous people,
The heroes of Glamorgan in days past;
We’ll be loyal children to the famous hosts,
The heroes of Glamorgan in days past.

Youth of the castle going forward at all times,
The wide world is calling for our best;
Best at play and best at work
Carry the renown of our castle throughout the earth,
Best at play and best at work,
Carry the renown of our castle throughout the earth.

The song was sung regularly at school assemblies up until the 1970’s and surely is well remembered by many ex-pupils of the ‘Castle’ school, although I for one found learning the words so difficult in my first year at Cyfarthfa.

In April 1914 Thomas married Catherine Elizabeth Thomas (1876), (A.R.A.M.), at Frederick Street Presbyterian Chapel, Cardiff. ‘Katie’ was the daughter of Edwin Thomas (1853-1918) and Sarah Ann nee Owen (b. 1857). Edwin was headmaster of Aberfan Boy’s School, and Thomas and Katie lived at Katie’s parents’ house; ‘Llywelfa’, Aberfan Road, Aberfan.[11] Katie and Thomas knew each other from their time teaching at Merthyr Tydfil County School, both joining in 1897, barely a year after the County school had been established.[12] Thomas died 2nd December 1945, and following his death Katie returned to live in Merthyr Tydfil. Katie died 8th July 1960, and both are buried at Bwlch-y-groes (Congregational) chapel cemetery, Llandysul, Cardiganshire, the cemetery where Thomas’s parents are also buried.

[1] Although not born in Wales, Percy Edward Thomas was of Welsh parents.

[2] Evan David Jones, ‘Thomas Jacob Thomas (Sarnicol),’ Dictionary of Welsh Biography, 2001.

[3] Jones, Sarnicol, DWB.

[4] Jones, Sarnicol, DWB.

[5] Cambrian News, 21st September 1917, p.5.

[6] ‘Gorsedd Degrees,’ Evening Express, 2nd August 1901, p. 4.

[7] ‘Wales and Humour,’ The Amman Valley Chronicle, 26th February 1914, p. 5.

[8] ‘Men of Cambria,’ Aberdare Leader, 28th November 1914, p.6.

[9] Mansell Richards, A farewell to Cyfarthfa Castle School, Merthyr Tydfil Library Service, 2014, ps. 16 & 72.

[10] A traditional Welsh tune by an unknown composer, most probably written in the late eighteenth century.

[11] Cambria Daily Leader, 15th April 1914, p. 3.

[12] ‘Merthyr County School,’ Merthyr Times, 29th October 1897, p. 8.

Quakers’ Yard – A Potted History

In 1870-72, John Marius Wilson’s Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales described Quakers’ Yard like this:

“QUAKERS-YARD, a village in the E of Glamorgan; on the river Taff at the influx of the Bargoed, adjacent to the Taff Vale Extension railway, at the junction of the branch to Hirwain, 7½ miles S S E of Merthyr-Tydvil. It took its name from an old burying-place of Quakers; stands in a fine curve of the valley, engirt all round by hills; and has a station with telegraph at the railway junction.”

The village of Quakers’ Yard was originally known as ‘Rhyd y Grug’ or ‘The Ford of the Rustling Waters’, grew up at the confluence of the Taff Bargoed River and the River Taff, and the name was derived from the fact that the Taff was quite shallow here and there had been a ford crossing the river at this point. The village later became known by its more usual name because of the Quaker burial ground that was erected in the village (see previous article – http://www.merthyr-history.com/?p=5069).

Quaker’s Yard was, until the second half of the 19th century, a quiet rural spot. There was a corn mill, Melin Caiach and a small woollen mill on the banks of the Taff Bargoed, as well as a small scattering of houses. With the building of a bridge across the Taff to replace the ford, the village could even boast two inns – the Quakers’ Yard Inn and the Glantaff Inn.

Quakers’ Yard Bridge and Quakers’ Burial Ground. Photo courtesy of the Alan George Archive

The Industrial Revolution, of course, changed all that. Soon the coal trade totally revolutionized the nature of the environment, creating booming and burgeoning communities like nearby Treharris and Trelewis. The link to Quakerism remained strong. Treharris was named after William Harris, a Quaker businessman whose family owned a fleet of steam ships, while streets in the new towns were named after famous Quakers such as William Penn and George Fox.

Religion in the village wasn’t confined to Quakerism. In 1831, members of Groeswen Chapel in Caerphilly broke away from their chapel and built and Welsh Independent Chapel called Soar in the village, The Welsh Independents also built Libanus in 1833 and the Welsh Baptists built Berthlwyd in 1841. There was also a Welsh Wesleyan chapel – Horeb, and a Primitive Methodist chapel – Ebenezer. Finally, in 1862, the Anglicans opened St Cynon’s Church at Fiddler’s Elbow.

In 1858 the Quaker’s Yard High Level station was opened. Together with the village’s Low Level station this created a lively and bustling railway junction where passengers could embark for places like Merthyr and Aberdare and coal could be dispatched down the valley to the docks at Cardiff. In 1840 the engineer – and guiding force behind the Great Western Railway – Isambard Kingdom Brunel began work on a six-arched viaduct across the River Taff. While the High Level station closed in 1964, the viaduct is still there, carrying traffic from Merthyr to Cardiff.

Quakers’ Yard Viaduct and Truant School. Photo courtesy of the Alan George Archive.

As the village grew so schools were built here or in the surrounding area. In 1894, the borough’s infamous Truant School was built in Quakers’ Yard, and in 1906, the Woodlands Junior School was built along the river Taff; 70 years later the building was used for a Welsh Medium Junior School, Ysgol Cymraeg  Rhyd y Grug. After the First World War, Merthyr Tydfil acquired some prefab buildings for a new secondary school and on the 2 May 1922 Quakers’ Yard Grammar School officially opened by Mayor David Davies, although this wasn’t actually situated in the village, but in Edwardsville.

Perhaps the most famous man to emerge from Quaker’s Yard was the world flyweight boxing champion Jimmy Wilde (right) who was born in the village in 1892. Known as ‘the ghost with a hammer in his hand’, Wilde fought an amazing 864 bouts, losing only four of them, and reigned as champion between 1916 and 1921 (see previous article – http://www.merthyr-history.com/?p=150).

Merthyr Memories: Cyfarthfa School Days

by Barrie Jones

Of the many benefits that came to post war children such as myself the most important for me was my passing the Eleven Plus (11+) thus gaining entry to Cyfarthfa Castle Grammar School in September 1960.  Before the ‘Castle’, I attended St. Mary’s Roman Catholic School in Court Street, known to us boys as the “bottom of the town”.  St Mary’s was a small school and boys were taught separately from the girls and even playtimes were held apart.  To this day I can recall the name of only one girl who attended the school during my four years there.  The boy’s school was on the upper floor with the girls occupying the ground floor.  There were only three classrooms on the upper floor, so depending on pupil numbers some doubling up of age groups was necessary.  My age group attended Mr. Dennis Hennessey’s class for the final two years.

St Mary’s 3rd and 4th year boys circa 1959 with Bede Wills our headmaster in his final year before his retirement.

I remember sitting some of the 11+ test papers in the build up towards the final sitting but I cannot remember the final important test.  On the day of the result Mr Cotter, our new Headmaster in that year, called some of us out to the school hallway to tell us we had passed.  We all returned to the classroom to thank Mr. Hennessey for getting us through.  I recall that two boys who had joined our class in the final year to sit their 12+, passed for Quaker’s Yard Grammar School, two from Cefn Coed went on to Vaynor and Penderyn Grammar School, three others went to the County Grammar School, and four of us went to the Castle.  Not a bad number for a small school and I am certain that ‘downstairs’ far more girls than us boys passed.

St Mary’s School, Court Street. Photo courtesy of http://www.alangeorge.co.uk/index.htm

 

Today, pupils attending a new comprehensive school have some prior knowledge of their new school through school open days and primary/comprehensive school liaison.  In my day the first taste of a new school was on that anxious first day of term.  Three of us Castle boys lived in Twynyrodyn, Michael Long in Walter’s Terrace, and Alan Clifford and I on the Keir Hardie Estate, so most weekday afternoons after school we would make the long trek up Twyn Hill together.  After the 11+ result we had more to talk about, and one afternoon Alan came up with an idea on how we could see our new school before our first day of term.  An aunt of his was a cleaner at the Castle and she offered to take us around the school in the summer holidays.  So one morning in August we met up by Penuel Chapel on the Twyn Hill and walked across town to his aunt’s house on the Grawen and from there we were taken up to the school.

My first impression of the school was how big it was! Such long corridors and so many classrooms, how would I ever find my way around?  The place was busy with workmen everywhere and two new classrooms were being built on the ground floor in what I later discovered was the boy’s old assembly hall.  A new gymnasium had been opened in April 1959 on the site of the old ruined coach house and it doubled up as the boy’s new assembly hall.  The new class rooms were necessary to accommodate the impact of the post war baby boom.  The Headmaster, W. Lloyd Williams, mentioned the increase in pupil numbers in his 1958/59 School report to the Education Committee calling it a bulge.  It was a bulge that would last a long time.  Entry numbers continued to increase each year so that by September 1960 the pupil number was 738,405 girls and 333 boys.  More girls than boys were entering each year, in my year (1960) there was even a class 2G for girls only!

On my first day at the ‘Castle’ I found out that my form room 2A was one of the very new classrooms I saw being built on the day of our special tour.  My Form Master, Mr. Alan James Hill (Religious Education), was new to the school also. The Form Master of the adjoining new classroom, form room 2B, was Mr. Vincent Lee, (English), he was a new starter also, but he had the advantage of being a former pupil of the school.  Similar to St Mary’s school we boys were separated from the girls for assembly and play times, we having sole use of the downstairs while the girls occupied the floor above.  What I was not prepared for was sharing lessons with girls, something I hadn’t experienced since leaving the Roman Catholic infant’s school in Morgantown.

Unlike the day of our private tour the School was so full and busy with pupils streaming through the corridors in between lessons shepherded by senior boys, the Prefects.  Surely these were men who towered over us with beard stubble on their chins!  It would take quite a while to settle in but those six years would soon fly by and in my final two years I to would be shepherding pupils in between lessons but with not so much beard stubble.

Merthyr Memories: Afon Taf High School

by Josh Powell

Following on from the tribute to Josh Powell in the last post, his family have kindly given me permission to transcribe the following piece which appeared in the book ‘All Change’ which Josh published in 1983.

Afon Taf High School was officially opened on Friday 5 July 1968 by the Right Honourable Edward Short, M.P. Many people had been eagerly awaiting this day, and as we filed, two by two, into the packed hall and joined the dignitaries on the stage, one sensed the importance of the occasion.

We wore our best clothes but they were hidden by our long, voluminous gowns (it had been ordained that gowns should be worn in school at all times). Actually, comprehensive education had reached the Valley ten months earlier when the staff and pupils at Quakers Yard Grammar; Pantglas; Treharris and Troedyrhiw Secondary Modern Schools had entered the magnificent new building which had cost three quarters of a million pounds.

I still taught Mathematics and General Science to the lower streams, but on the brochure I was given the pompous title – Sports Host. It simply meant that it was my duty to welcome visiting teams. During that first year I arranged all fixtures in rugby, soccer and hockey, but the weather made it a futile exercise. It rained and rained and rained and the vast playing fields were submerged – Viv, Bill and Terry, the groundsmen, dug drains and deep sump holes in vain and most games were cancelled. When play was possible, the teams were given a hot meal in the canteen or sandwiches and tea in the pavilion.

Mathematics had always been my first love but now there were so many changes – Modern Maths; Decimalisation of Money; Metrication of Weights and Measures; and the use of pocket calculators was the last straw. I sympathised with those pupils who had a natural flair for figures and were now being denied the satisfaction of demonstrating their prowess.

The most enjoyable year I spent in Afon Taf was the one when Mr David Howells, our headmaster, suggested that the boys might enjoy gardening during their science lessons. I am no gardener but that proved no obstacle as the soil was very fertile and a new greenhouse was erected on the plot. However, I questioned his judgement when he entered the Troedyrhiw Chrysanthemum Show. Fortunately Mr Porter, a local expert, came to our rescue and we were able to put on a creditable display.

As a reward for their efforts in the garden, I arranged games for the boys against Greenfields Remedial School. Mr Weldon Davies, the headmaster of Greenfields, was a keen sportsman and he made these football matches seem like Internationals and the cricket games became Test Matches. It enabled me to observe qualities in my boys that were normally well concealed – although they were superior both physically and mentally, they never took advantage and invariably the weaker boys were victorious.

Afon Taf School in the late 1960’s. Photo courtesy of http://www.alangeorge.co.uk/index.htm