The Cardiff Book of Days
Page 17
September 10th
1869: The steamer Golden Fleece sank between Sully and Barry. The iron-built barque had only just left Penarth Dock bound for Alexandria. She was carrying 2,000 tons of Powell Duffryn coal and had a crew of forty-three. A leak had been discovered too late and she split in two and sank while being run ashore. The cook’s mate, an elderly man, fell overboard. Lifeboats were launched but he drowned. (E. Alwyn Benjamin, Penarth 1841-71, A Glimpse of the Past, D. Brown & Sons, 1980)
1985: Scotland football manager Jock Stein (62) collapsed on the touchline at Ninian Park in the closing minutes of the World Cup qualifying match against Wales. He was taken on a stretcher to the medical room but attempts to revive him were unsuccessful and he died without regaining consciousness. Stein had been one of the most successful football managers of his time. In 1967 Celtic, under Stein’s management, had become the first British team to win the European Cup. (Dennis Morgan, Farewell to Ninian Park, 2008)
September 11th
1945: The survivors of the 77th Heavy Royal Artillery Regiment who had been captured by the Japanese were finally released from Prisoner of War camps. The 77th had included many well-known sportsmen including five Cardiff City footballers: Ernie Curtis (who had played in the 1927 FA Cup-winning team), Billy James, Bobby Tobin, Billy Baker and Jackie Pritchard. There were also rugby players, including Les Spence and Fred Street of Cardiff RFC and all-round sports star Wilf Wooller. The unit had spent the first part of the war guarding Cardiff from gun emplacements ar Maerdy Farm, Rumney and Sloper Road (near Ninian Park). In 1942 they had been sent out to Java, only to be taken prisoner six weeks later. More than 300 of them died, many while working on the infamous Burma Railway. (John O’Sullivan & Bryn Jones, Cardiff: A Centenary Celebration, The History Press, 2005)
1947: John Crichton-Stewart, 5th Marquis of Bute, placed Cardiff Castle and 400 acres of its grounds in the care of the City Council. He was presented with a casket containing a scroll bearing their message of thanks for this most generous bequest. Another 400 acres of Bute land was set aside for the building of a new Roman Catholic cathedral – which more than sixty years later still has not happened. (John O’Sullivan & Bryn Jones, Cardiff: A Centenary Celebration, The History Press, 2005)
September 12th
1759: There was fighting in Womanby Street between sailors from the Bristol galley the Eagle, who were armed with pikes, swords, cutlasses and muskets, and those of HMS Aldeborough, who were equally well equipped. One man was killed. (William Rees, Cardiff: A History of the City, Cardiff Corporation, 1969)
1826: The Theatre Royal, described at the time as ‘handsome but not comfortable’ opened with a performance of Macbeth. The so-called ‘curse of the Scottish play’ took some time to take effect but the theatre was destroyed by fire in 1877. (William Rees, Cardiff: A History of the City, Cardiff Corporation, 1969)
1868: Thousands of people turned out to greet the 3rd Marquis of Bute as his yacht tied up at 8.20 a.m. at the dock built by his father. He was given a seventeen-gun salute to mark his coming of age. (John Richards, Cardiff: A Maritime History, The History Press, 2005)
1997: Prime Minister Tony Blair laid the Foundation Stone of the Millennium Stadium. It was to become ‘one of the world’s grandest arenas. All that was needed to put Welsh rugby back among the game’s leading lights was a team worthy of it’. (Steve Lewis, The Priceless Gift: 125 Years of Welsh Rugby Captains, Mainstream, 2005)
September 13th
1916: The birth of children’s author Roald Dahl. He was born in Llandaff to Norweigian parents and, like his three sisters, christened in the Norweigian Church, being named after the explorer Roald Amundsen, a national hero at the time. His parents were Harald and Sophie (née Hesselberg). Harald had moved from Sarpsborg in Norway and settled in Cardiff in the 1880s. Roald attended the Cathedral School, Llandaff. At the age of 8, along with four friends he was caned by the headmaster after they put a dead mouse in a jar of gobstoppers at a local sweet shop. He later moved on to a boarding school at Weston-super-Mare, chosen by his parents (who wanted him educated at an English public school) because of the regular ferry service across the Bristol Channel. He later went to Repton School where he got into more trouble, being caned by the headmaster, Geoffrey Fisher, a future Archbishop of Canterbury. He served with distinction in the RAF during the Second World War and was involved in writing propaganda for American audiences in support of the Allied cause. His autobiography Boy refers to his early life in Cardiff. (Wikipedia)
September 14th
1766: ‘Mr Bedford [John Bedford of Bassaleg] says that Newport is a cheaper port for sending to Bristol. The freight from Newport is 2s per ton, from Cardiff it is 3s or 3/6. Newport, I am of the opinion, will be a more convenient port for us and ground may be obtained there much cheaper and more convenient than at Cardiff. Vessels can go out of Newport oftener and more certain than from Cardiff.’ (Joseph Gross (ed.), The Diary of Charles Wood of Cyfarthfa Ironworks, Merthyr Tydfil, 1766-1767, Merton Priory Press, 2001)
1859: The Illustrated London News reported that ‘owing to the sudden death of Lord James Stuart, the intended festivities were dispensed with and Bute Dock was opened for trade in the quietest possible manner’. The Cardiff & Merthyr Guardian noted that only a few people ‘who had heard of the intended formal opening, hastened to the spot’.
1998: Tesco introduced twenty-four hour shopping at its Western Avenue store. (South Wales Echo)
1999: A Britannia plane from Cardiff crash-landed at Genoa Airport. The plane broke into three pieces but all 236 passengers and crew survived. (Western Mail)
September 15th
1899: ‘At the Cardiff Waterworks Committee meeting the Waterworks Engineer Mr C.H. Priestley reported upon the storage of water at the various reservoirs. On September 1st there was a total quantity of 381,000,000 gallons, which was 230,000,000 less than on August 1st. Mr Priestley reported that a fortnight ago it appeared that the drought had broken but the slight rainfall on the gathering grounds at Cwm Taff was entirely absorbed by the land; consequently there was no increase in water in the reservoirs. Since May 19th there had been no rain to affect the storage. More rain fell at Cantreff in one week during the month of January than has fallen during the past seventeen weeks, the drought having lasted 116 days. Mr Priestley throught that something should be done to prevent the reservoir water being used for street purposes and that notice should be given to customers to economise as far as possible. The Chairman asked how many days supply there was now. Mr Priestley replied thirty days – or at the outside, forty. The Clerk was requested to stop street watering from hydrants and to issue a notice for customers to economise as much as possible.’ (Western Mail)
September 16th
1871: ‘Arising from a suspicion that a ship bound for Cardiff might be carrying a case or cases of cholera from the East, it is hoped to combat the disease, if it should arrive, by every means possible. It is well-known that germs are undoubtedly carried on the wind and scattered wherever local influences or circumstances favour their dissemination. The disease has hit Cardiff and Merthyr Tydfil in the past and readers are advised to give special heed to sanitation and cleanliness in all matters if the community is to escape a further attack.’ (Cardiff Times)
1884: ‘The usual meeting of the Lighting Committee was held at the Town Hall. Alderman Duncan presided. It was decided that St Mary Street, by way of experiment, should be lighted by electricity by the Great Western Elecrtric Light Company.’ (Western Mail)
September 17th
1645: Cardiff Castle surrendered to Parliamentarian forces. The city walls were slighted (reduced in height so that they no longer performed any defensive function). (T.D. Breverton, The Welsh Almanac, Glyndwr Publications, 2002)
1890: The Duke of Clarence and Avondale officially opened the swing bridge named after him which spanned the River Taff at Grangetown. Measuring 464ft in length, with a swinging portion of 190ft, it was described as ‘an engineering
marvel’. (Stewart Williams, Cardiff Yesterday)
1966: The last ever cricket match was played at the Arms Park was held: Cardiff Athletic Club v. Glamorgan Nomads. After the game, which ended in a draw, a ceremonial burning of the stumps took place, along with the singing of ‘Auld Lang Syne’ and ‘Now is the Hour’. The following day the bulldozers moved in and construction work began on the new rugby ground. (Andrew Hignell, From Sophia to Swalec: A History of Cricket in Cardiff, The History Press, 2008)
1991: Shops in Cardiff were allowed to open on Sundays for the first time, a move that had been bitterly opposed by church groups and trade unions. (Western Mail)
September 18th
1997: In a Devolution Referendum Cardiff voters voted against the setting up of a National Assembly for Wales but over the whole of the country the proposal was approved by a mere 6,712 votes. There had been a great deal of apathy over the issue and only about half of the electorate bothered to vote. The opponents of Welsh devolution were in the lead until the very last result, that of the Carmarthen constituency, was declared. That Carmarthen should decide things for devolution was perhaps appropriate since it was for Carmarthen that Gwynor Evans, Plaid Cymru’s first Member of Parliament was elected at a by-election in 1966. In 1998 the Government of Wales Act, establishing the Welsh Assembly, was passed by Parliament at Westminster. There was then something of a row about where the new assembly should meet, City Hall in Cardiff being rejected in favour of a site at Cardiff Bay.
Simon Jenkins, in his book Wales: Churches, Houses, Castles, describes this decision as unfortunate: ‘it must play second fiddle to the City Centre and turns its back on its city and its country.’ In March 2011 another referendum supported the granting to the Assembly of far wider powers. (Western Mail)
September 19th
1888: ‘Dr Lewis took me to see Cogan Church. It has been entirely neglected and cattle used to shelter themselves in it. Much ivy had overgrown it, working its way into the walls and destroying them. At the present time it is undergoing restoration at the cost of the Marquis of Bute.’ (Notes by David Jones of Wallington quoted in E. Alwyn Benjamin, Penarth 1841-71, A Glimpse of the Past, D. Brown & Sons, 1980)
1980: The former Broadway Methodist Church in Roath, a landmark for over seventy years, was destroyed by fire. Closed in the early 1950s, it had become first a BBC television studio and then a mosque. (Stewart Williams, Cardiff Yesterday)
2010: Llandaff Cathedral took part in the Open Buildings Weekend that had been run by the Civic Trust Wales for many years. For the first time the Friends of the Cathedral, the Llandaff Society and the BBC were all involved. As well as the cathedral itself, modern buildings in the area, such as the UWIC Management School and the WJEC building on Western Avenue (where the architect showed people round) were open to visitors. (Croeso, The Llandaff diocesan magazine)
September 20th
1859: Lady Sophia Bute, recently returned from a lengthy stay in Switzerland, made her first visit to the gardens named in her honour. She suggested that a fountain should be erected in the ornamental lake. This was agreed by the trustees but sadly Lady Bute never saw it operating. She fell ill and died at Christmas. The park had been her own idea, inspired by the public gardens she had visited on her continental travels. The site chosen was on fields on the west bank of the Taff that the marquis had purchased some years before from the Homfray family. Work began in 1854 and the garden layout was designed by the Bute Estate’s architect, Colonel Alexander Ross. An offer to have a Field Gun, captured during the Crimean War, was rejected in favour of an ornamental lake. The gardens were formally opened in 1858. (Andrew Hignell, From Sophia to Swalec: A History of Cricket in Cardiff, The History Press, 2008)
1979: Four men were killed when a construction cradle fell 100ft at South Gate House, Wood Street. (Western Mail)
September 21st
1639: The Royal Council had complained that the amount of Ship Money sent to the Exchequer by the authorities in Glamorgan was £23 short and the sheriff was rebuked for his ‘neglect’. He was not to blame. The £23 was the amount owed by the town of Cardiff rather than the shire and was therefore the responsibility of the Bailiff rather than the sheriff. It was duly paid on this date. (Lloyd Bowen, The Politics of the Principality, University of Wales Press, 2007)
1836: In a report to the Directors of the Gloucester and South Wales Railway, Isambard Kingdom Brunel recommends that ‘a line from Gloucester by way of Newnham and Chepstow to Newport and thence to Cardiff would be a really easy route to build’. (Stephen K. Jones, Brunel in South Wales, Vol.2, The History Press, 2006)
1914: Cardiff-owned ship Cornish City was sunk by the German cruiser Karlsruhe 250 miles off the coast of Brazil. She had been sailing from Barry to Rio de Janiero with a cargo of 5,500 tons of coal and was the first Cardiff vessel to be lost in the First World War. Her crew was rescued and later landed in Brazil. (John Richards, Cardiff: A Maritime History, The History Press, 2005)
September 22nd
1876: At a meeting held in the Swiss Hall in Queen Street it was agreed that the existing Glamorgan and Wanderers rugby clubs should merge to form Cardiff Rugby Football Club. Rugby football was at that time much stronger in Newport and Swansea whose teams regularly beat all opposition, to the chagrin of Cardiff men. On September 22nd 1951, as part of its 75th anniversary celebrations, Cardiff played a British Isles XV. Among the players taking part was a young Cliff Morgan (see April 7th). Another was Jack Matthews, an outstanding centre for Cardiff and Wales, once described as a ‘crash-tackling human torpedo’, whose great partnership with the legendary Bleddyn Williams contributed much to Cardiff’s post-war success. (Andrew Hignell, From Sophia to Swalec: A History of Cricket in Cardiff, The History Press, 2008)
1923: The birth in Cardiff of Danny Abse, younger brother of the politician Leo. Although best known as a poet, he was active in his chosen profession of medicine and was a specialist at a chest clinic for over thirty years. His memoir of his wife Joan, published the year after she was killed in a road accident, won the Wales Book of the Year in 2008. (T.D. Breverton, The Welsh Almanac, Glyndwr Publications, 2002 / Wikipedia)
September 23rd
1871: The Cardiff Times reported that ‘on Thursday night no less than six vessels were stranded on Breaksea Point, a dangerous reef which runs out from West Aberthaw. In the course of Friday a Cardiff steam tug came to the assistance of the stranded vessels but after persistent efforts only succeeded in getting off Eliza, a brigantine of Whitehaven.’
1988: Death in Cardiff of composer Arwel Hughes (born at Rhosllannerchrugog near Wrexham in 1909). Best remembered for his pieces for choir and orchestra, he was in charge of the music for the Investiture at Caernarfon in 1969, the year in which he was awarded the OBE for services to Welsh music. He had joined the BBC’s Music Department in 1935 and became Head of Music at BBC Wales in 1965. His son Owain Arwel Hughes (born 1942) was conductor of the BBC Welsh Symphony Orchestra and founder of the Welsh Proms held in Cardiff. (T.D. Breverton, The Welsh Almanac, Glyndwr Publications, 2002 / Wikipedia)
September 24th
1963: TWW (Television Wales & West) took over the Cardiff-based WWN (Wales West & North) station, agreeing to cover its losses of £220,000. WWN was ‘the first and only example of an ITV company going broke. The famous “licence to print money” (a phrase coined by Lord Thompson referring to his Scottish TV franchise awarded in 1957) did not extend to this region of Wales.’ (Jane Harboard and Jeff Wright, 40 Years of British Television, Boxtree, 1992)
1966: A new Day Centre for Spastics (a term which would never be used now) was opened at 127 Cyncoed Road. It was the realisation of a dream for Mr and Mrs Gil Jones of Keppoch Street who, with other parents, had set up the Cardiff and District Spastics Association to raise funds for such a centre.
Their fifteen years hard work in fundraising were rewarded when the Mayor and Mayoress of Cardiff officially opened the £6,000 centre who described their campaign as ‘a story of lov
e and devotion’. (Stewart Williams, Cardiff Yesterday)
September 25th
1993: Hindus from all over the world processed through Cardiff city centre before making their way to Grangetown for the opening of the Shree Swaminarayan Temple in Merches Gardens. The Hindu community, which dated from the 1950s and ’60s, had worshipped in a disused synagogue since 1979 but this had become too small to meet their needs. (Stewart Williams, Cardiff Yesterday)
1996: Hooker Barry Williams set a record for the fastest debut try by a Welsh player. He took just two minutes to cross the line in a friendly match against France. Despite this promising start for Wales they lost the match 33-40. (Robert Cole & Stuart Farmer, The Wales Rugby Miscellany, Sports Vision Publishing, 2008)
September 26th
1597: Nicholas Hawkins was elected Member of Parliament for Cardiff. He was the son of the celebrated Admiral Sir John Hawkins, scourge of the Spanish. Nicholas’s sister married Sir Rowland Morgan of Llandaff, hence the connection with Cardiff. The Hawkins family wealth was largely founded on the slave trade. John Hawkins set up a syndicate of merchants dealing in slaves and is generally believed to have been its pioneer in Britain. In June 2006 a descendent, Andrew Hawkins, issued a public apology for his ancestor’s actions. Some suggest that it was Hawkins, rather than Sir Walter Raleigh, who introduced both potatoes and tobacco to Europe. (W.R. Williams, ‘Members of Parliament for Cardiff’ / Wikipedia)