by Mike Hall
July 8th
1960: Prime Minister Harold Macmillan visited Cardiff to unveil a statue to his eminent predecessor David Lloyd George outside the National Museum of Wales. Mr Macmillan was accompanied by Conservative MP Anthony Berry, destined to be killed in the IRA bomb attack on the Grand Hotel, Brighton, in 1985. (Stewart Williams, Cardiff Yesterday)
1966: Despite protests from local people, the Secretary of State for Wales, Mr Cledwyn Hughes, gave Cardiff Council the go-ahead to compulsorily purchase and demolish houses in the Newtown area of the city (known as its Irish quarter) and redevelop the area. He reached this decision following a Public Enquiry at which Mr William Bate, the Chief Public Health Inspector, had stated that 88 per cent of the houses were in a state of disrepair. Only 7 per cent of homes in the area had fixed baths with a hot water supply. (Western Mail)
2009: The start of the first-ever Test Match to be played in Cardiff (see July 12th).
July 9th
1617: Death in Cardiff of Sir John Herbert following a duel with Sir Lewis Tresham two months earlier. Lawyer, diplomat and accomplished linguist, he had been used to interrogate foreign prisoners and on trade and political missions in Europe. In April 1600 Queen Elizabeth I appointed him her Secretary of State and he was knighted in 1602. He continued in office under James I. (T.D. Breverton, The Welsh Almanac, Glyndwr Publications, 2002 / Wikipedia)
1940: Cardiff suffered its first air-raid casualties when a bomber scored a direct hit on a cargo ship. The bomb exploded in the hold, killing seven men. Dock worker Tim O’Brien from David Street earned the title ‘Hero of the Docks’ in this incident. Three times he went down into the hold to bring up injured colleagues. He was given a medal for his bravery but many people felt it should have been the more prestigious George Cross. Already well known locally as a rugby player, he later became steward at the Glamorgan Wanderers club and landlord of the Royal Hotel, Cadoxton near Barry. (Matthew Cragoe and Chris Williams, Wales and War, 2007)
July 10th
1896: Thirty-five-year-old David Thomas was murdered at Fairwater. He had been shot twice in the chest. His body was found lying across a path near the forge. Despite the extensive publicity given to the case, his killer was never identified. (Stewart Williams, Cardiff Yesterday)
2010: It was announced that the skeleton of Billy the Seal (see June 6th) had been unearthed from the vaults of the National Museum and was being put on display. After being accidentally netted off the Irish coast in 1912, the seal had been a much-loved attraction at Victoria Park Lake until its death in 1939. A post-mortem examination then discovered that Billy was in fact female. In 1927 Billy had escaped when the lake overflowed. It was later claimed that during this escapade Billy had boarded a tram in Cowbridge Road and patronised several fish & chip shops. The story was later immortalised in a song written and performed by folk singer and BBC Radio Wales presenter, Frank Hennessy. (South Wales Echo)
July 11th
1899: ‘There was quite a ceremony at the Museum on Tuesday morning when the Gorsedd sword was unpacked. It arrived in Cardiff on Monday evening and remained in the Great Western Railway’s custody for the night. The museum has been chosen as the best and safest place to keep it. This fact, coupled with the custody of the Hirlais horn, given by Lord Tredegar, will probably be taken as a reason for making Cardiff Museum the home for the Gorsedd regalia. The formal presentation by Professor Herkomer will be one of the features of the brilliant gathering to be held at the Free Library next Monday evening at which the Mayor (Alderman Sir Thomas Morrel) will hold a reception at which the delegates from abroad, as well as the local leaders in the Eistedfodd and the Gorsedd will be present. Miss Lena Evans has been asked to look over the Gorsedd banner and clean it up a little, if that process is found necessary.’ (Western Mail)
July 12th
2009: The first Test Match to be played in Wales ended amid high drama at 6.41 p.m. at the Swalec Stadium. England’s last two batsmen, Jimmy Anderson and Monty Panesar, resisted the Australian bowlers for sixty-nine balls to secure a draw in a match that, for most of the final day, Australia looked likely to win. It was not without controversy – Aussie captain Ricky Ponting complained about what he saw as time-wasting tactics by England in the tense last few overs. However, he praised the manner in which the Glamorgan County Cricket Club had hosted the match. ‘You could not have put on a much better spectacle. The hospitality we have been shown, the actual ground and the venue itself have been terrific,’ he said. ‘I have really enjoyed my time in Cardiff, as have the rest of the squad.’ Australia had scored 674 for 6 declared, England 435 all out and 252 for 9. England saving the game turned out to be crucial as their victory in the final match at the Oval gave them a 2-1 win in the series. (Daily Telegraph)
July 13th
1869: A special Thanksgiving Service was held at Llandaff Cathedral to celebrate its restoration which had included the provision of its landmark spire to replace the old tower which had collapsed in 1723. (Llandaff Cathedral guidebook)
1907: King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra visited Cardiff to open the Alexandra Dock which had been built by the Cardiff Railway Company at a cost of £1.5 million. It was the first visit to Cardiff by a reigning monarch for 250 years. The opening was performed by the Royal Yacht cutting through a ribbon between the lock and the dock. The King bestowed a knighthood on the Lord Mayor, Alderman William Smith Crossman who knelt by the side of the dock. Crossman had come to Cardiff from the West Country in 1884 to work on the building of Roath Dock. He was a staunch trade unionist, one of the leaders of the major building trade dispute in 1892 and was the first Labour Lord Mayor. The King and Queen were serenaded by the Madame Hughes Thomas Ladies Choir who were resplendent in full Welsh national costume, tall black hats and all! (John O’Sullivan & Bryn Jones, Cardiff: A Centenary Celebration, The History Press, 2005)
July 14th
1892: ‘On Friday evening two new board schools were opened, one at Stacey Road, Roath, and the other at Splottlands. Both schools were visited and the doors opened by his worship the Mayor (Mr A. Thomas) but the formal ceremony of inauguration took place at the Splottlands school where the public assembled in the infants’ department. Mr Lewis Williams (Chairman of the Building Committee) said that these were two of the largest, and unquestionably the fines, schools in the Principality. The total cost of the Stacey Road school, including the site, was £9,583 and the cost per head of accommodation, exclusive of the site, was £7 13s 6d. The Splottlands school cost, with the land, £12,000, and per head, without the land, was £3 19s 3d. The average cost per head in London was about £12 and he thought this fact alone would satisfy the people of Cardiff that the School Board was not extravagant in its expenditure. The Mayor then delivered an address, in the course of which he alluded to the improvement which had taken place among the humbler classes since the introduction of the school board system, of which he entirely approved.’ (Western Mail)
July 15th
1658: Cardiff tailor Tobias Hodge, a Quaker, was jailed for causing a disturbance in St John’s Church, protesting against the Puritan Minister there, Benjamin Flower. In December a similar warrant was issued for the committal of Dorcas Emery. Other members of the Society of Friends were brought before the bailiffs for disrupting services at Llandaff and Dinas Powis. Local Quakers had been emboldened by a visit from their leader, George Fox, who had preached at the Town Hall in 1657. (William Rees, Cardiff: A History of the City, Cardiff Corporation, 1969)
1872: The tram route from the High Street to the Docks was opened. For those passengers who could not read, the tramway company provided different-coloured discs on the ends of the trams to signify the different destinations (green for Roath and red for the High Street). It seems that colour-blind illiterates had to manage as best they could! (Stewart Williams, Cardiff Yesterday)
July 16th
1953: Gladstone County Secondary School for Girls staged ‘The Queenly Tradition’, a Coronation Day pageant ‘to look at t
he part women have played in the great history of our land and to express the hope that, under the leadership of our young and gracious Queen Elizabeth II, there may be even greater opportunities for women in the future’. (Stewart Williams, Cardiff Yesterday)
1990: A teenage Kelly Jones (later of The Stereophonics) was in the crowd at the Arms Park to hear The Rolling Stones perform as part of their ‘Urban Jungle’ tour. The gig had had to be rescheduled because Keith Richards had cut his finger. Jones later recalled that, ‘I went to Cardiff with a bunch of older guys. In the streets people were getting drunk and selling bootleg tee-shirts and stuff like that. I remember buying one for a fiver. I didn’t take it off for a long time. I remember Jagger shouting out a lot of Welsh town names and being quite impressed that he knew all those places. Thirteen years later I was headlining in the same stadium.’ (www.uncut.co.uk/music)
July 17th
1897: French impressionist painter Albert Sisley (1839-99) was working in and around Penarth. He spent four months in Wales at the suggestion of his friend and patron Francois Depeaux, a Rouen industrialist who had business interests in the Principality. During this time Sisley painted five views around Penarth and thirteen at Langland Bay. From Penarth he wrote to the critic Gustave Geffroy: ‘I have been here for a week after having travelled through the south of England by train and stayed three days at Falmouth in Cornwall. I am resting from this tiring journey before setting to work. The country is pretty and the shipping-lane, with the great boats which go in and out of Cardiff, is superb. I do not know how long I shall be staying in Penarth. I am materially well-off here, in lodgings with worthy people. The climate is very mild, even too warm these present days.’ (Roy Thorne, Penarth: A History, Starling Press, 1975)
July 18th
1958: The sixth Commonwealth Games opened in Cardiff. Thirty-five nations sent a total of 1,130 athletes and 228 officials. Many other these countries, including Brunei, Dominica, Singapore and St Vincent, were participating in the Games for the first time. An innovation for the Cardiff Games was the Queen’s Baton Relay which began at Buckingham Palace where the baton, which contained a message from the Queen as Head of the Commonwealth, was entrusted to the first of 664 runners who conveyed it to Cardiff. The Queen was unwell and not able to attend the Closing Ceremony but her recorded message broadcast at the Arms Park revealed her intention to make Prince Charles, then aged 10, Prince of Wales when he came of age. He was officially given the title at the Investiture at Caernarfon Castle in 1969. (John O’Sullivan & Bryn Jones, Cardiff: A Centenary Celebration, The History Press, 2005 / Wikipedia)
1983: The Cardiff Singer of the World competition took place for the first time. It was devised by BBC Wales to mark the opening of the St David’s Hall. The first winner was the Finnish soprano Karita Mattila. (Wikipedia)
July 19th
1913: The Earl of Plymouth ceremonially opened the first two houses on the new Rhiwbina development. A Housing Reform Company had been set up in 1911 to plan and develop a Garden Suburb, following the principles established by pioneer planner Ebenezer Howard at Letchworth and Welwyn in Hertfordshire. The grassed open space in Y Groes was named the Village Green. Tea Gardens established at Rhiwbina in 1916 quickly became a popular rendezvous in summer. Tessa O’Shea later made her first stage appearance there. (Stewart Williams, Cardiff Yesterday)
1984: An earthquake measured at 5.4 on the Richter Scale centred on the Llyn Peninsula in North Wales was felt in Cardiff. It was the strongest onshore quake to occur in Britain since accurate records began. Landslides were triggered at Tremadog and houses in Liverpool were damaged. In Cardiff the effects were less severe but several people were wakened by the tremors. Several aftershocks – the strongest reaching 4.3 on the Richter scale – followed. (Wikipedia)
July 20th
1743: John Wesley preached at Cardiff Castle, probably from the foot of the steps to the keep, where, he later recalled, he had ‘never such a congregation in Wales before, all behaving as God-fearing men’. (William Rees, Cardiff: A History of the City, Cardiff Corporation, 1969)
1855: The first section of the new East Bute Dock was opened. The tug Queen towed in the Sunderland barque William Jones, dressed overall and with sailors aloft on the yardarms. Four other vessels followed and also Francis Crawshay’s private yacht. Music for the occasion was provided by the Cyfarthfa Iron Works Band. (John Richards, Cardiff: A Maritime History, The History Press, 2005)
1979: Ely Leisure Centre opened on part of the former racecourse. An innovative establishment at the time, its facilities have continued to develop and in 2011 included a gymnasium, fitness suite, cardio studio and dance studio. There is a large swimming pool and a smaller training pool, a floodlit outdoor multi-sport pitch and a community room used by local groups. (www.geograph.org)
July 21st
1896: Fourteen-year-old Louisa Maud Evans died in a ballooning accident at the Cardiff Industrial and Maritime Exhibition in Cathays Park. She had run away from home in Bristol and got involved with Alphonse Gaudron, a Frenchman who was demonstrating the art of parachuting from a balloon tethered over the site. He seems to have lost his nerve and was under threat of being sacked by the show’s organisers. He somehow persuaded her to jump instead. It all went horribly wrong. The balloon had not been properly tethered and the helpless Louisa was carried up and out over the sea, her body being retrieved from the Severn at Nash Point near Newport four days later. Her funeral drew large crowds to Cathays cemetery and her headstone, which can still be seen there, was paid for by public subscription. In 2011 performance artist Kathryn Ashill spoke to the South Wales Echo about her plans to commemorate Louisa in Cardiff during the summer. ‘I am going to commission a story or poem in her memory,’ she said. ‘I was really touched by the fact that people felt the need to look after her in her death.’
July 22nd
1679: Two Roman Catholic priests, Father Phillip Evans and Father John Lloyd, were martyred in Cardiff at the height of the Titus Oates ‘Popish Plot’ hysteria in the reign of Charles II. At their trial no attempt was made to convict them of treason, they were simply charged with being priests. After being convicted, they were first dragged on hurdles to the gallows, situated near the present-day junction of Crwys Road, City Road and Albany Road in Cathays. They were hanged for a few moments but then, before they were dead they were cut down, disembowelled and finally dismembered. The execution is commemorated by a plaque on the side of the NatWest bank. In 1970 Father Evans and Father Lloyd were declared ‘Saints and Martyrs’ by Pope Paul VI. (Dennis Morgan, The Cardiff Story, D. Brown & Sons, 1991)
1765: There were more lambs for sale at Ely Fair than ever ‘in the memory of the oldest men’ but they sold very cheap ‘because of the dryness of the weather’. (William Rees, Cardiff: A History of the City, Cardiff Corporation, 1969)
July 23rd
1323: A priest from St Mary’s, Cardiff, officiated at Mass on the Feast Day of St Margaret. St Mary’s had been established as the parish church for the town and outlying chapels at Roath, Llanishen, Lisvane etc. St Mary’s had been granted by the Lord of the Manor to the Abbey of Tewkesbury and became a priory with a community of monks until 1221. A small village near Tewkesbury still has the name Walton Cardiff. (William Rees, Cardiff: A History of the City, Cardiff Corporation, 1969)
1963: P.A. Campbell’s, which had sold off its steamer fleet, began week-long trials with a 27-ton SRN2 hovercraft with a view to operating a passenger service between Penarth and Weston-super-Mare. (John Richards, Cardiff: A Maritime History, The History Press, 2005)
2010: Campaigners against a proposed 350,000-tonne waste incinerator at Trident Park, Splott, demonstrated outside City Hall. Waste management company Viridor had been given planning permission for the plant in June but local people vowed to continue to fight the plan. (South Wales Echo)
July 24th
1886: The Western Mail published a mock inscription for the statue of John Batchelor in The Hayes (see February 11th
): ‘In Honour of John Batchelor, a native of Newport who in early life left his country for his country’s good. Who, on his return devoted his life and energies to setting class against class. A traitor to the Crown, a reviler of the aristocracy, a hater of the clergy, a panderer to the multitude who, as first Chairman of the Cardiff School Board squandered funds to which he did not contribute, who is sincerely mourned by unpaid creditors to the amount of £50,000 and at the end of his life died a demagogue and a pauper. This monument to the Eternal Disgrace of Cardiff is erected by sympathetic radicals.’ It had been sent in by Thomas Ensor, a Cardiff solicitor but he denied it when threatened by Batchelor’s son, Cyril and Llewellyn Batchelor. Armed with a riding crop, they accosted the Editor on his way to his office. The row led to an important Test Case on the Law of Libel. In 1887 Mr Justice Stephen ruled that a libel of the dead is not punishable unless an intent to injure the living was proved. (Elizabeth Dart, ‘When Legal History was Made in Cardiff’ in The Cardiff Book, Vol.3, 1977)
