The Cardiff Book of Days

by Mike Hall

  August 10th

  1889: The birth in Cardiff of Irene Steer, a swimmer who successfully competed in the 1912 Olympics in Stockholm. Her event was the 100-metre freestyle but a collision with a fellow competitor in the heats robbed her of a chance of a medal. Her gold came in the relay along with Jennie Fletcher, Annie Spears and Bella Moore. Irene swam the anchor leg in the final for the British team which set a new Olympic record. She was unbeaten in the Welsh Championships for seven years from 1907 until she retired. She later married a director of Cardiff City and was still driving herself to games when in her eighties. Recalling her in 2008, her grandson William, told BBC Wales that ‘she was an incredibly modest champion. We would never have known she was good at anything. She talked more about football. The Stockholm Olympics were the first in which women were allowed to participate in the swimming events and the team did not have a coach but a formidable-looking chaperone. Her silk costume had to have bra and knickers inside because when it got wet it went completely see-through!’ (www.sports-reference.com / www.news.bbc.co.uk)

  August 11th

  1929: Birth in Bargoed of prolific classical composer Alan Hoddinot, A gifted teacher, he was Professor of Music at University College, Cardiff and responsible for the department’s expansion to become the largest in Europe in the 1980s. In 2005 he produced a fanfare for the wedding of Prince Charles and Camilla Parker-Bowles, having previous written works to celebrate the Prince’s 16th birthday and for his Investiture as Prince of Wales. (Wikipedia)

  1995: The Welsh National Opera staged a free concert outside the City Hall. The venture was such a success that they put on another at Cardiff Bay in July 1997. (Western Mail)

  1999: The eagerly-awaited eclipse of the sun duly occurred around 11 o’clock but was largely obscured by cloud. The eclipse would have been total in the far south-west of England. The authorities in Cornwall had been making preparations for this event all year and there had been concerns about whether the roads and water supply would be able to cope with the influx of visitors. In Cardiff about 97 per cent of the sun was obscured. (Western Mail)

  August 12th

  2010: Cardiff Council’s decision to allow the demolition of a much-loved Cardiff pub prompted calls for a review of planning guidelines. Splott councillor Gavin Cox made his plea to stop parts of the city being ‘ghettoised’ after the Planning Committee approved proposals for the demolition of the Grosvenor Hotel in South Park Road and its replacement with a block of twenty-two flats. A number of other pubs had closed in Splott in recent years and Mr Cox complained that ‘we are losing our community resources and there is nothing to come to our aid’. The Grosvenor, which had been built in 1893, had been derelict for some time after being closed by its owners, Brains Brewery, who claimed it was ‘no longer viable’. Councillor Cox had attempted to get the building protected but CADW (the Welsh heritage agency) did not consider it worthy of listing. Attempts to get the surrounding area designated as a Conservation Area were also turned down. Suggesting that at least the façade might be preserved, Cllr Jacqui Perry commented ‘isn’t it a shame that we are losing so many of our lovely old buildings?’ (South Wales Echo)

  August 13th

  1831: Twenty-three-year-old Dic Penderyn (Richard Lewis) was hanged at Cardiff for his part in the Merthyr Rising. Several weeks of protests by miners and other works about low wages and poor conditions had led to rioting in the town and soldiers being called in by the authorities to restore order. Penderyn was alleged to have stabbed a soldier outside the Castle Inn, Merthyr, but local people believed he was innocent and campaigned for a reprieve. This was refused by the Home Secretary, Lord Melbourne. Many at the time were convinced that the hanging went ahead because Melbourne wanted a scapegoat to blame for the Rising and to deter others. Others involved in the soldier’s death escaped with transportation.

  Penderyn’s wife was pregnant at the time of his execution and suffered a miscarriage as a result of it. Thousands flocked to escort his body through the Vale of Glamorgan to Dic’s funeral at Port Talbot. Later one James Abbot, who had testified against him, admitted that he had lied under oath. Another man, Ianto Parker, confessed on his death-bed that he had carried out the stabbing. (John Davies et al., The Welsh Academy Encyclopaedia of Wales, 2008 / Wikipedia)

  August 14th

  1907: Rhoda Willis (aka Leslie James) became the only woman to be hanged at Cardiff Jail. A ‘baby-farmer’, who accepted unwanted babies to place for adoption, she had been convicted of killing one that she had just collected from an address in Fleur-de-Lis. She had made a full confession to her solicitor the previous evening, telling him that she could not go to her death without a clear conscience. She said that she had indeed murdered the baby on the train home, somewhere between Llanishen and Cardiff. A sudden temptation had come over her, she said, and she could not resist it. She asked him to let the judge and jurors know of her confession so that they would not have her death on their consciences, The execution took place on her 44th birthday. Henry Pierrepoint, the hangman, recorded in his diary that ‘she was still an attractive woman, her golden hair glinting in the sunshine as she was led across the yard to the execution shed’. A large crowd had gathered outside the prison but, as was usual with a female’s execution, the press were not permitted to witness it. (www.capitalpunishment.org)

  August 15th

  1911: A visitor from Leicester, quoted in the South Wales Daily News, commented that ‘Cardiff is a city of contrasts. The slums around the docks are as bad as any in London and the alien quarters are a serious menace to other parts of the city but the wide expanses of Queen Street, the beautiful parks (especially Roath Park) and, to crown it all, in Cathays Park, City Hall, the University and Glamorgan County Hall, buildings which even London might be proud of.’

  1958: Hayes Buildings, completed in 1893 for Soloman Andrews, was destroyed by fire. It was by far the most serious fire in Cardiff since the war. The building was used for storage by a number of different firms and the fire broke out in the early hours. It was some time before it was discovered by the night watchman. It took seventeen water-jets from eight pumps and two turntable ladders to put out the blaze. The ruins were later demolished and Oxford House built on the site. Soloman Andrews had come to Cardiff in 1851 as a young man. Starting from selling sweets from a tray in St Mary Street, he built up a successful business empire in the town and was a wealthy man when he died in 1908. (M.J. Mace, A Brief History of Cardiff Fire Brigade, 1977 / Stewart Williams, Cardiff Yesterday)

  August 16th

  1944: Major Tusker Watkins from Cardiff was awarded the Victoria Cross for his gallantry at Barfour, Normandy. Watkins and his unit came under fire while advancing through booby-trapped cornfields. The only remaining officer, he led a bayonet charge against fifty enemy infantry and practically wiped them out. He then ordered his men to scatter and, after charging a machine-gun post and putting it out of action, he returned them to safety. Not only did Watkins save his men but he single-handedly altered the course of the battle. (John O’Sullivan & Bryn Jones, Cardiff: A Centenary Celebration, The History Press, 2005)

  1966: Glamorgan’s last County Championship match at the Arms Park ended in defeat by Somerset. Many of the players were sorry to leave the old ground with all its memories. Being so near the city centre, the crowd would be swelled around one o’clock by office workers enjoying the cricket in their lunch break. For this reason, the lunch interval in games at the Arms Park did not happen until 2 p.m. Work had already begun on Glamorgan’s new stadium at Sophia Gardens with a few games being played to test out the new square. (Andrew Hignell, From Sophia to Swalec: A History of Cricket in Cardiff, The History Press, 2008)

  August 17th

  1860: The Times reported Rifle Shooting competitions at Cardiff, held to promote the recruitment of Volunteers. Cragoe and Williams in Wales and War point out that ‘the public gaze was an essential element in promoting decorous behaviour among the Volunteers. This was particularly true
of the gaze of female spectators, who were not to be shocked or scandalised by their actions as they might have been by the notoriously less-restrained behaviour of regular soldiers.’

  1915: Under the Defence of the Realm Act, severe restrictions on licensing hours were imposed in militarily-important areas, which in South Wales included Cardiff, Barry and Newport. This was not popular with drinkers – many of whom made their way to smaller towns just outside the exclusion zones – or with the brewers and publicans. W.H. Brain called it ‘a great blow to trade’ and Harry Prickett of the Cardiff Licensed Victuallers Association said it spelt ‘absolute ruin’. George Westlake of the South Wales Brewers Association blamed ‘fanatical teetotallers pushing their fiendish propaganda’. (Brian Glover, The Prince of Ales: The History of Brewing in Wales, Alan Sutton, 1993)

  August 18th

  1952: The transmitter at Wenvoe came into service bringing television to parts of Wales and South West England. As with Cardiff’s first radio station (5WA), attempts were made to cover the two contrasting areas – to the dissatisfaction of both. It was not until 1964 that BBC Wales was given separate programmes. The same thing happened with Independent Television which began in the late fifties. Television Wales and West (TWW) and later Harlech Television (HTV) struggled with unrealistic ‘dual-franchises’. A short-lived and financially unsuccessful Welsh TV company was Wales West & North (WWN) (1961-2), born out of the discontent felt locally at the lack of attention paid to Welsh needs by TWW and the BBC. WWN promised that it would show Welsh programmes in peak viewing hours (but see November 27th). (Geraint Talfain Davies, ‘The Capital Makes News’ in Stewart Williams (ed.) The Cardiff Book, Vol.2, 1974)

  August 19th

  1822: The Cradock Wells Trust was established in Cardiff to provide education for ‘twelve necessitous children’, six boys and six girls. For their subsequent apprenticeships awards of £10 for boys and £5 for girls were to be made for ‘the purchase of necessary books and clothing’. The Master and Mistress of the school were to be paid ‘a reasonable allowance, this not to exceed half the income of the Trust’. (William Rees, Cardiff: A History of the City, Cardiff Corporation, 1969)

  1945: ‘The ‘Pay As You Enter’ system will operate on services between Victoria Park and Ely only. The “ticket issue” method will be maintained on all buses operating the through service between the GWR (General) Station and Ely. In consequence of the operation of PAYE on the Victoria Park to Ely section, certain fares will be reduced. Tickets will not be used; change will not be given. Passengers must have the exact fare of One Penny ready before boarding.’ (Leaflet issued by Cardiff Corporation Transport.) In 1950 heavy losses caused by the low flat-fares on these routes led to the abandonment of the PAYE scheme. (Stewart Williams, Cardiff Yesterday)

  August 20th

  1834: ‘First day of the Eisteddfod at Cardiff. The scene of the bardic meeting was an enclosure in the castle yard, covered with an awning. It nearly touched the fine old keep. Lord Bute presided and opened with one of the clumsiest addresses I have ever heard. Then came a very clever and eloquent clergyman by the name of Price. He spoke admirably in praise of the ancient Welsh. One of the reciting bards was the toll keeper at Cowbridge; several were common labourers. The chief bard was adjudged to be Taliesen (something-or-other) Williams. He was placed in a great antique chair crowned with laurel; he was a clever and interesting young man. I was much pleased with the blind old minstrel (Richard Roberts) from Caernarvon who played several airs beautifully on the harp. Two minstrels had walked 150 miles to come to the Eisteddfod. The delight of the day was some awful howling which they called “singing after the manner of Gwent and Dyfed”. It was irresistibly absurd and anything but a musical treat.’ (M.G.R. Morris (ed.), Romilly’s Visits to Wales 1827-1854, Gomer Press, 1998)

  August 21st

  1834: ‘Today the silver harps were contended for. We all rejoiced greatly at a blind youth being the victor. A beautiful little boy of four, named John Manuel, was exhibited to us. He reads fluently Hebrew, Greek, Latin and Welsh and does it equally well when the book is upside down. One of the planks in the hustings gave way and frightened Lady Bute prodigiously (she is an invalid), however nobody was hurt. The victors received their prizes from the hands of Lord and Lady Bute and other grandees, to the sound of trumpets.’ (M.G.R. Morris (ed.), Romilly’s Visits to Wales 1827-1854, Gomer Press, 1998)

  1869: ‘We teach every child that prevention is better than cure, and then license by tens of thousands houses that foster every vice and crime, and then forthwith go and spend no end of gold to cure the evils produced. This is not a question of total abstinence; it is a question of order and peace, of decency and morals. Our streets are disgraced with immorality. Dirt and debt, disease and degradation, vice and villainy, murder and death, stalk around us, all fed from these public houses.’ (Revd C.W.L. Christien in a letter to the Cardiff Times, quoted in E. Alwyn Benjamin, Penarth 1841-71, A Glimpse of the Past, D. Brown & Sons, 1980)

  August 22nd

  1651: Reverend Christopher Love (born in Cardiff in 1618) was beheaded at Tower Hill for allegedly corresponding with the exiled Charles II in a plot to raise money to further his restoration to the throne. (www.apuritansmind.com)

  1834: ‘I went to Cardiff with the High Sheriff and drove back in Mr Conybeare’s phaeton in the pouring rain. Dinner with Lord Bute: He is very nearly blind and not as clever as the bats, for in introducing us to Lady Bute he ran against and upset a chair.’ (M.G.R. Morris (ed.), Romilly’s Visits to Wales 1827-1854, Gomer Press, 1998)

  1870: The death of Jeremiah Box Stockdale, first Chief Constable of the Cardiff Police, best-known for his arrest in 1839 of the Chartist leader Zephaniah William (see November 23rd). He had been on holiday in Metz when foreign nationals were ordered to leave for their own safety at the onset of the Franco-Prussian War. He became ill at Dover and was brought home to Cardiff, where he died. A ‘Stockdale Memorial Fountain’ was put up in Adamsdown Square but it was removed in 1939 as a potential danger in the blackout – and fell to pieces. (www.southwalespolicemuseum.org.uk)

  August 23rd

  1789: ‘In the afternoon of the 23rd I proceeded to Llandaff which is two miles higher up the Taff than Cardiff. It is a small and inconsiderable place and has not even a market to boast of but the elegant and venerable ruins of its cathedral are sufficiently attractive to commend the occasional resort of strangers. The structure was built about the beginning of the twelfth century. The building now used as the cathedral includes part of the body of the ancient one but is in other respects as modern as the present century, about the middle of which, I believe, the old church underwent such a restoration as was almost equivalent to rebuilding. The ruins exhibit an aspect very different from the present cathedral, the new part of which the architect formed principally on the Roman model, without considering how incongruous this style of architecture is with the plan pursued in the ancient part.’ (‘C.C.’ in The Gentlemen’s Magazine)

  1926: Cardiff-born balloon pioneer E.T. Willows was killed along with four passengers in an accident at a Flower Show at Hoo Park, Kempston, near Bedford. (www.sermonsinwelshstone.com)

  August 24th

  1794: A band of forty-five men, possibly shipwrecked sailors or mutineers who had landed at Barry, passed through Cardiff heading in the direction of Newport. At Rumney they were overtaken by the dreaded Press Gang, fourteen of them, intent on kidnapping them to serve in the Royal Navy fighting against Napoleonic France. The sailors though, armed with cutlasses and bludgeons, got into position to defend themselves and the gang, deciding that discretion was the better part of valour, retreated. The relieved sailors retired to the inn where they were regaled with beer by the locals. (William Rees, Cardiff: A History of the City, Cardiff Corporation, 1969)

  1887: Roath Dock opened. It was equipped with the latest Lewis-Hunter cranes, designed to avoid breaking up the coal as it was loaded into the ships’ holds. Three or more cranes could work simultaneous
ly on the same vessel, loading a cargo of 10,000 tons in twenty-four hours. (John Richards, Cardiff: A Maritime History, The History Press, 2005)

  1964: The coaster Farringay left Queen Alexandra Dock with the final cargo of coal to be shipped out Cardiff. The British Transport Docks Board had decided that in future South Wales coal would be exported through Barry and Swansea. (John Richards, Cardiff: A Maritime History, The History Press, 2005)

  August 25th

  1932: Glamorgan captain Maurice Turnbull (see August 5th) scored a fighting 205 against Nottinghamshire’s fearsome ‘Bodyline’ bowling attack led by Harold Larwood. Despite being hit several times on the body, Turnbull never flinched. At the close of play Turnbull was 160 not out and received a standing ovation from the Glamorgan crowd at the Arms Park while the Nottinghamshire bowlers muttered darkly about being expected to bowl on ‘a featherbed wicket’, sentiments they forcibly expressed in the pubs that evening. Possibly egged-on by local newspaper men, some of the Notts players then climbed over the wall into the Arms Park and expressed their contempt of the wicket by pouring beer onto it. A scuffle took place when the Arms Park groundsmen tried to stop them and Turnbull was telephoned at his hotel. The Western Mail was all set to run the story but Turnbull would have none of it. ‘Think of the embarrassment it will cause English cricket and Glamorgan cricket in particular,’ he pleaded. He went on to make 205 but the match was drawn. (Andrew Hignell, From Sophia to Swalec: A History of Cricket in Cardiff, The History Press, 2008)