From the Western Mail 130 years ago today….
Catholicism in Merthyr
Tag: Western Mail
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
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Prosecution of Dowlais Publicans
From the Western Mail 140 years ago today…..
Merthyr’s Historians: Charles Wilkins
Over the years, Merthyr has produced some excellent historians, and I would like to introduce a new feature celebrating some of them. To mark the 110th anniversary of his death, we kick off with Merthyr’s first ‘official’ historian – Charles Wilkins.
Charles Wilkins was born on 16 August 1830 in Stonehouse, Gloucestershire, the second of nine children of William Wilkins, a Chartist bookseller, and Anna Maria Wilkins. In 1840 the family moved to Merthyr, with William Wilkins opening a shop on the High Street (opposite the current Lloyd’s Bank), and eventually becoming postmaster at the post office adjoining his business. At the age of fourteen, Charles left school to work with his father as a clerk at the post office.
In 1859, Charles married Lydia Jeans and they settled at Springfield Villa in Thomastown. The (by contemporary accounts) idyllic marriage was shattered in 1867 when Lydia died giving birth to their third child.
The following year, Charles married Mary Skipp in Topsley, Herefordshire, and she would bear him two further children.
In 1871, William Wilkins died, and Charles took over as postmaster.
From 1846 to 1866 he was also librarian of the Merthyr Tydfil Subscription Library of which Thomas Stephens was secretary.
From the age of fourteen, Charles began writing articles for local and national Welsh newspapers, and in 1867, he published ‘The History of Merthyr Tydfil’, the first ‘official history of the town. It was subsequently extended and re-published in 1908.
As well as writing some fiction, he also wrote several other major historical works including:-
- Wales, Past and Present (1870) (The History of Wales for Englishmen)
- Tales and Sketches of Wales (1879, 1880)
- The History of the Literature of Wales from 1300 to 1650 (1884)
- The History of Newport (1886)
- The South Wales Coal Trade and Its Allied Industries (1888)
- The History of the Iron, Steel, Tinplate and Other Trades of Wales (1903)
In 1877, he was “initiated into the mysteries of the Druidic lore”, and at the 1881 National Eisteddfod, held in Merthyr Tydfil, he won a £21 prize (approximately equivalent to £2,100 in 2019) and gold medal for the best “History of the Literature of Monmouthshire and Glamorganshire from the earliest period to the present time.” In 1882 he founded ‘The Red Dragon: The National Magazine of Wales’. That same year, it was reported in the Western Mail (7 December 1882) that, “after careful examination of the various works written by Mr. Wilkins”, he was “unanimously elected to the super graduate Degree of Literature (Lit. D.)” by the Druidic University of America and its affiliate in Maine.
Charles Wilkins retired as postmaster at the end of 1897 after almost 50 years of service. He died at Springfield Villa on 2 August 1913 and was buried at Cefn Cemetery.
Although his history of Merthyr contain some inaccuracies; bearing in mind when it was written, and that a lot of it was based on oral history; it is a remarkable work, being the first of its kind to chronicle Merthyr’s history, and it is an invaluable resource to use as a starting point for further research.
You can download the 1867 version of Wilkins history of Merthyr here:
https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/The_History_of_Merthyr_Tydfil/FWk1AQAAIAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=0
The 1908 revision is available here:
A Merthyr Centenarian
From the Western Mail 130 years ago today…….
Merthyr Tydfil and its Brave Souls of War
by Gavin Burns
Upon moving to Merthyr in 2010 and in the years that followed, it always struck me as strange that there were multiple war memorials scattered around with names (Pant/Cefn/Troedyrhiw etc), but that the main war memorial was locked away in Pontmorlais, with no record of any names. Fast forward to 2019 and a chance advert on Ebay caught my eye, where a 1914/1915 trio of medals were up for sale to a Merthyr man who had been killed in World War 1. Unfortunately I can’t remember the name and I didn’t purchase them, but it made me look into how many men had died from Merthyr at the time and how were they commemorated.
This slowly morphed into my current project which members may have seen, which is called “Merthyr Tydfil Remembers – The WW1 & WW2 Memorial Project”. Initially set up as a Facebook page for somewhere to post some of my research, it became apparent that people across the Borough have found the articles and pictures really interesting, and it has grown from there.
The aim of the page is to find out about the men and women who gave their lives in both wars. Where they lived, where they served & their actions which resulted in the ultimate sacrifice, their lives. The end goal is to be able to have a full memorial list which is accessible for everyone, to allow us to always remember. I certainly didn’t realise the magnitude of the task at hand until I found a rough estimate of numbers who had passed.
When the War Memorial in Pontmorlais was opened in 1931, the memorial handbook states that they believe over 1140 names would have had to be added, and due to the number, the names were not included on the memorial but in a hand out, which would turn into a “beautifully bound and illuminated book, to be deposited at Cyfarthfa Castle and then the Free Library”. Unfortunately, this never happened. The handout is now the basis of my project, and what has become apparent, is the number of anomalies within the booklet.
Noting it is 2022 and we now have the internet, but also with the various research methods now available (including most importantly WW1 pension records), I have begun cross referencing each name in the 1931 booklet to ensure they are from Merthyr. Alongside this, I have been searching through the Merthyr Express & Western Mail from 1914 – 1919, locating photos and articles that were published weekly of the men who served.
Whilst I have marked a number of entries as needing to be potentially deleted, the most important aspect is the 60+ men (and rising) who I have found from Merthyr who were missing from the initial memorial booklet. Work is ongoing, although it is a huge project.
Some of the stories of sheer bravery I have come across from Merthyr has been astounding – and one I feel that needs to be highlighted. Everyone is aware of John Collins winning the Victoria Cross at the Battle of Beersheba (and so they should), but some other examples below which are not in the ‘public eye’ so to speak:-
- Sgt John Owen (Dowlais), who was killed in the fighting at Bourlon Wood, Cambrai with the Welsh Regiment. He was found dead on top of a German Bosche Dug Out, having single handily bombed the dug out, killing 40 Germans. Remarkably, John was not awarded with a gallantry award (however, I am still convinced he must have been!)
- Lt John Arthur Howfield (Vaynor), who was awarded the Military Cross for attending to casualties under heavy shell fire, and rescuing a comrade whose clothes had caught fire following a hit from a German shell. He was later killed in action in September 1918.
- Company Sergeant Major, David Jones (Penydarren), who was awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal in October 1917 for actions at St Julien where he captured an enemy stronghold and killed the Garrison. He was subsequently killed by a German sniper whilst looking for an injured officer in no mans land in November 1917. David has been recently rededicated following the identification of his body this year.
- Private James O’Brien (Dowlais) who was awarded the Military Medal for taking part in a German Trench raid with the Lancashire Fusiliers, where he was involved in hand to hand combat with the Germans. Such is the magnitude of the raid, the Lancashire Fusiliers Museum has a highlighted citation on the raid, which shows 2 x Military Crosses, 1 x DCM and 6 x Military Medals were awarded in connection with the raid.
Since I have started this project, it has brought me into contact with so many people who have been willing to share pictures & stories of their relatives, which has enabled me to post them onto the page and I am very grateful.
Some of the brave men I have researched:-
An open request to anyone reading this – if you have any pictures, stories, memorabilia etc. from relatives (or even non relatives) from Merthyr and would be willing to share with myself, that would be fantastic. I am keen to continue sharing stories to ensure their memory stays alive. I am also a keen collector of war memorabilia to Merthyr to preserve items locally, and to ensure they are ‘brought home’.
Lest We Forget.
For further information on the memorial project or how to adopt a Merthyr war grave, please go to www.merthyr-remembers.co.uk
John Lloyd
by Laura Bray
Merthyr has produced many notable people over the years and John Lloyd is one of the more recent ones. Indeed, some of you may remember him. My mother certainly talks fondly about him – her childhood companion.
John was born in Cyfarthfa Row, Georgetown in 1930. He was an only son – and indeed brought up as an only child, as his sister sadly died in childhood.
John had a normal upbringing and after leaving school joined the Merthyr Express, moving from there to the South Wales Echo and Western Mail. He left Merthyr in his late 20s and went up to London to join the Daily Express as a sub-editor on the sports pages, where he remained for 40 years. But John was so much more than that – he had a flair for reporting and for making contacts so much so that he occasionally acted for as PR for the big Welsh names such as Dorothy Squires, who was a life-long friend, Shirley Bassey and Tom Jones. There are reports of his London flat being so packed with visitors during the Rugby Internationals that he slept in the bath or at the office.
By all accounts he was an incredibly generous man, and one who could get tickets for almost event – from theatre tickets to Wimbledon, rugby matches to FA Cup final. There was almost nobody in London John did not know – from sportsmen to show business to mostly anyone who was part of the London Welsh!
But the story that mostly is told about him is how he delayed the departure of the Intercity 125 train from Paddington for 6 minutes, log enough to enable the Cardiff City Players to catch up after a match against Leyton Orient. And did so, just by standing on the platform chatting to the driver! Only he would have had the nerve!
But John was not just a journalist – he was also the Secretary of the Dorothy Squires fan-club and owner of a newsagents in London’s Gray’s Inn Road. It was his local paper shop and he bought it because it was about to close down and it was so handy for colleagues and friends at The Times, and for where he lived in nearby Trinity Court.
John died in April 2016, aged 87, an ambassador for Wales and for Merthyr to the end.
Do you have any memories of John? Please share them in the comments box below.