The Cardiff Book of Days
Page 18
1953: The Foundation Stone of the Welch Regiment Memorial Chapel at Llandaff Cathedral was laid by Major General C.E.N. Lomax, CBE, DSO, MC. The chapel was built using stones from cottages near the cathedral that were destroyed by German bombing in January 1941. The owner of the land where the stones lay made a gift of them to the Dean after the war ended. (Llandaff Cathedral guidebook)
September 27th
1738: Sir Thomas Stradling of St Donats was killed in a duel at Montpelier, France. He was the son of Sir Edward Stradling who had been Cardiff’s MP from 1698 to 1701. His eldest brother had been elected for Cardiff in 1722 but had died young. The Stradlings had lived at St Donats since the Middle Ages. Sir Thomas’s death led to much litigation over the estate and a special Act of Parliament was ultimately required to resolve matters. (W.R. Williams, ‘Members of Parliament for Cardiff’ / Wikipedia)
1923: It was the penultimate day of the Big Tent Mission which was taking place in Cardiff. The evangelists pitched their tent on waste ground behind the General Post Office in Westgate Street. A photograph in Book 9 of Stewart Williams’ Cardiff Yesterday series shows a large and serious-looking crowd in front of it. Some of them carried placards with such slogans as ‘The Coming of the Lord draweth nigh’, ‘The Lord Is At Hand’, ‘Ye Must Be Born Again’, ‘Christ Died For The Ungodly’. The tradition lives on – street preachers proclaiming the same message are a not uncommon sight (and sound) in Queen Street.
September 28th
1868: Reverend William Watkiss led the first service to be held at Wood Street Congregational Church in Temperance Town. The famous acrobat Blondin had performed on the high-wire at the building when it was a music hall. Circus performances had also been staged there before it became a chapel. In 1964, when the building had become very dilapidated, it was studied in detail by three young architectural students who described it as ‘the finest architectural treasure in the city’. Inside they discovered mysterious doors that led nowhere, false windows and the fact that the five brown-painted doors facing Havelock Street had brick walls immediately behind them. In 1972 the old chapel was demolished to make way for a car park. Later an office block was built on the site. Twenty-five-year-old Christopher Pendlebury sold his collection of vintage cars to buy the chapel’s organ and rebuild it at his father’s farm at St Mellons. The Congregational Chapel at St Mellons was reopened after extensive refurbishment on this date in 1955. It was intended to serve the expanding population of Llanrumney but its location on the wrong side of the busy A48 led to its premature closure. (Stewart Williams, Cardiff Yesterday)
September 29th
1714: For a convivial evening at the Cordwainers’ Hall also attended by members of the Glovers’ Gild who shared the premises, hops and a barrel of beer were provided and a brewer was paid a fee of 2 shillings to produce the ale. Pipes and tobacco as well as coal and candles were provided and the Hall was white-limed for the occasion. For these festivities the Cordwainers contributed 16s 4d and the Glovers 6 shillings. (William Rees, Cardiff: A History of the City, Cardiff Corporation, 1969)
2010: Dame Shirley Bassey, Katherine Jenkins, Welsh rock band The Lost Prophets and Britain’s Got Talent star Shaheen Jafagholi were all at the Millennium Stadium to perform at the ‘Welcome to Wales’ concert to launch the Ryder Cup Golf Tournament being held at the Celtic Manor Resort near Newport. Actress Catherine Zeta Jones, who also starred in the show, described the Ryder Cup as ‘Great for the country, great for the people and great for morale’. However, there was some criticism that the concert was not being staged in Newport rather than Cardiff. (South Wales Argus)
September 30th
1959: The complex financial affairs of the Ely Brewery came to a head – possibly a somewhat unfortunate term when beer is being discussed. On the previous day officers from the City of London Fraud Squad commenced investigations into the books of the company, interviewing the combative and long-serving chairman, Lazarus Niddith, at some length. Leslie Lowe, the chairman of a Cardiff engineering company was appointed to take over as acting chairman in Niddith’s place. At a stormy Shareholders’ Meeting at the Park Hotel on the 30th Mr Niddith faced angry questioning from the floor about the £30,000 he had received as compensation for the loss of his position as chairman. ‘If you sold your company for thirty pieces of silver, what are you still doing here?’ demanded one irate shareholder. In December the Ely Brewery, with its 260 pubs in South Wales, was merged with the Rhymney Brewery Company (470 pubs). The Ely’s trademark barrel and most of its beers soon vanished from all the pubs and the Brewery was demolished. (Brian Glover, The Prince of Ales: The History of Brewing in Wales, Alan Sutton, 1993)
October 1st
1961: The first-ever Songs of Praise programme was broadcast from Tabernacle Baptist Church, The Hayes. Those taking part included the singer Cy Grant (well-known for his calypsos on the Tonight programme) and Arwel Hughes (organist). Songs of Praise remains popular, with over 2.5 million viewers each week. (www.bbc.co.uk/songsofpraise)
1993: Over 25,000 people saw Lennox Lewis beat Frank Bruno at the National Stadium in the first World Heavyweight title fight ever staged in Wales. Also on the bill was a young Joe Calzaghe in his first professional contest – but only about 300 people watched his win over Paul Hanlon. (Wikipedia)
1999: In the first event to be held at the new Millennium Stadium Wales beat Argentina 23-18. It was the first game of the Rugby World Cup and was watched by a capacity crowd of over 70,000. In a Quarter Final at the stadium they were beaten 24-9 by Australia. In the Third-Place Final there South Africa beat New Zealand 22-18. (John O’Sullivan & Bryn Jones, Cardiff: A Centenary Celebration, The History Press, 2005)
October 2nd
1915: Cardiff’s Member of Parliament, Lord Ninian Stuart was killed in action at the Battle of Loos, one of six MPs to lose their lives in the First World War. He was the son of the 3rd Marquis of Bute and his wife Gwendoline. During his short career at Westminster the Conservatives had been in Opposition and so he did not have much opportunity to make a name for himself, but he was well-liked in Cardiff – not least for the ways in which he stood up for the people’s interests. Cardiff City’s Ninian Park ground was named after him. He had helped the club procure the ground in 1910 and supported it financially out of his own pocket. He died when the Germans attacked a position where he was supervising the construction of trenches. Shot in the head, he died instantly. The South Wales Daily News, a paper which did not share his political views, wrote of the way in which ‘the bitterest opponents were captivated by the spontaneous and utterly unaffected friendliness of his manner’. Ninian Stuart was buried at Bethune Military Cemetery and a Requiem Mass was said in Cardiff’s Roman Catholic Cathedral. (Dennis Morgan, Farewell to Ninian Park, 2008)
October 3rd
1864: Henry Marc Brunel (Isambard Kingdom’s youngest son) was staying at Bute Cottage, Penarth, and wrote that it was ‘a very pretty place about 3½ miles from Cardiff. In a lodging, a small truly rural detached house among fields [with a] picturesque honeysuckle sort of garden and orchard. Letters come and go once a day, not Sundays – four shillings to come out in a cab.’ As well as being so cut off from a town, he complained that he had to stand on one leg and in his own light in order to shave. The Taff Vale Railway’s Cadoxton branch ran close by but the first station in Penarth did not open for passengers until February 20th 1878. (Stephen K. Jones, Brunel in South Wales, Vol.3, The History Press, 2009)
1983: A new Cardiff railway station, the first for over forty years, opened at Cathays, served by trains to Aberdare, Merthyr, Pontypridd, Treherbert, Penarth and Barry. It was conveniently located near to the university and the civic buildings in Cathays Park. (South Wales Echo)
October 4th
1762: There was great rejoicing in Cardiff and a bonfire at Llandaff on receiving the news that ‘our men took a wealthy place, ye Havannah [Havanna] from the Spaniards’. (William Rees, Cardiff: A History of the City, Cardiff Corporation, 1969)
2010: Cymdeithas yr Iaith Gymraeg (the Welsh Language Society) held a rally at Cardiff University to protest about cuts to the funding of S4C. Culture Minister Jeremy Hunt – later the victim of a memorable Spoonerism perpetrated on live television by James Naughtie – had outraged its supporters when he said that Welsh television programmes could simply be those made in English but with Welsh voiceovers accessed via the red button facility. Menna Machreith, speaking for the group, said ‘it’s an absolutely crazy suggestion. It shows he does not know anything about the purpose of having a Welsh language channel that people campaigned for over a long period.’ In February 2011 they staged a sit-in at the BBC Wales headquarters at Llandaff opposing the plans for the BBC to part-fund S4C from 2013. The Welsh-language broadcaster’s budget was scheduled to fall by 25 per cent by 2015. (South Wales Echo)
October 5th
1966: In reporting the death (aged 82) of boxer Patrick ‘Boyo’ Driscoll, the South Wales Echo recalled the furore caused at his bout with Jack Daniels in 1910, on the same bill as ‘Peerless’ Jim Driscoll’s bout with Freddie Welch. After the decision had gone against Peerless, Boyo was involved in a stand-up fight with Jim Driscoll’s second, ‘Badger’ Brian. This scrap, it seems, set off a series of street fights among the local boxing fans that lasted for several days. ‘Boyo’ Driscoll was not related to ‘Peerless’ although they both lived in Ellen Street in the Newtown area.
1979: Taxi-driver Jack Armstrong, a father of five, was found bludgeoned to death at Stalling Down, Cowbridge Common, less than an hour after picking up a fare (who gave his name as Williams) outside the Fairwater Hotel, 16 miles away on the outskirts of Cardiff. Despite an exhaustive enquiry, no arrest was ever made. On the first anniversary of the killing police staged a reconstruction in an attempt to jog memories, but to no avail. (Mark Isaacs, Foul Deeds & Suspicious Deaths in Cardiff, Wharncliffe, 2009)
October 6th
1898: A report on a suicide in Sophia Gardens, printed in the previous day’s Western Mail prompted two readers to write to the paper with more information: ‘In your account of the suicide of William Sloper you say that “this is the first suicide to occur in Sophia Gardens”. That statement is hardly correct for I remember some thirty years ago a man named Jones who either shot or hung himself from a tree at the upper end of the field. Children used to be rather timid about approaching “Jones’s tree”, as it used to be called – Charles Evans, Cardiff.’ Mr William Chambers of 21 Castle Street wrote: ‘I find that the man who committed suicide in Sophia Gardens this morning purchased the revolver from me last night between the hours of six and seven. There was nothing in his manner while in the shop to make me have any suspicion, but he seemed rather reluctant to give me his name and address when asked. He paid 10s 6d for the revolver and 2s 3d for the cartridges’.
October 7th
1790: The mail coach was overturned at Roath Bridge, almost at the end of its long journey from London to Cardiff via Oxford and Gloucester. The river was in flood and the bridge parapets were too low for safety. The mail bags were submerged for several hours. (William Rees, Cardiff: A History of the City, Cardiff Corporation, 1969)
1791: Catherine Griffiths was hanged at the Heath Oak having admitted to burgling houses in London, Bath and Bristol as well as Cardiff. She was driven by cart from Cardiff Castle to the heath where she publicly confessed once more. She begged the Sheriff to allow her to be buried decently in a coffin. This last request granted, she helped secure the rope to the tree herself. (Brian Lee, Memory Lane Cardiff, Chalford, 2002)
1963: Edgar Valentine Black was sentenced to death for shooting Richard Cook on the doorstep of his home in Llandudno Road, Rumney, using a sawn-off shotgun. He believed that Cook was having an affair with his wife. His appeal was turned down and the execution set for November 8th. On November 6th the Home Secretary intervened and reduced the sentence to life imprisonment, to the fury of Cook’s family. He died in prison twenty-five years later. (John O’Sullivan & Bryn Jones, Cardiff: A Centenary Celebration, The History Press, 2005)
October 8th
1839: Cardiff’s West Dock opened. The Cardiff and Merthyr Guardian described how ‘Cardiff’s red-letter day began when a procession marched to the dock from the Castle. All the workers who had contributed to this ambitious venture were represented. Masons, labourers and tradesmen were followed by a band playing patriotic airs. The Mayor, the Marquis of Bute and his brother acknowledged the cheers of the crowd, estimated at 20,000. The Marquis showed his accustomed benevolence of disposition when his carriage struck a spectator’s arm, the only incident to mar the day.’ That evening, at a splendid dinner in the Cardiff Arms Hotel, the American Consul prophesied that the dock would enhance the prosperity of Cardiff ‘as long as grass grew and water ran’. Sir Josiah Guest could not resist a pop at one of Cardiff’s rivals: ‘Bristol has been termed the Queen of South Wales’, he said, raising an ironic laugh. ‘This was no longer the case. The time was not far distant when a considerable part of the trade which now wound its way up the sluggish and tortuous course of the Avon would come to Cardiff.’ (Dennis Morgan, The Cardiff Story, D. Brown & Sons, 1991 / Stephen K. Jones, Brunel in South Wales, Vol.3, The History Press, 2009)
October 9th
1815: A boys’ school at the Workhouse was opened, known as The Cardiff School for Promoting the Education of the Poor, a charity established under the presidency of the Marquis of Bute. A girls’ school followed in 1817 on a site in Porrage Lane (now Wharton Street). (William Rees, Cardiff: A History of the City, Cardiff Corporation, 1969)
1836: The Taff Vale Railway was authorized by Act of Parliament. It was built in order to bring coal down from Merthyr Tydfil to Cardiff for shipment from a new dock at Cogan Pill. The section from Cardiff to Abercynon opened on October 9th 1840 and on to Merthyr on April 12th 1841. A new section from Radyr to Penarth, enabling coal trains to by-pass Cardiff opened in July 1859 and a link to Roath in April 1888. Although built for the coal traffic, most of these routes are now important links in Cardiff’s suburban rail network. (Don Gatehouse & Geoff Dowling, British Railways Past & Present, Vols 26 & 27, 1995)
1839: The paddle-steamer Lady Charlotte and the schooner Celerity, with a party of civic dignitaries aboard, inaugurated the new dredged channel between the Sea Lock and the Glamorganshire Canal. (John Richards, Cardiff: A Maritime History, The History Press, 2005)
October 10th
1882: Samuel Arthur Brain and Joseph Benjamin Brain, bought the brewery in St Mary’s Street from John Griff Thomas (who had been persuaded to sell up by the passing of the Welsh Sunday Closing Act in 1881). Beer had been brewed on the site, which was agreed to have the finest water supply in Cardiff, since 1713. In 1887 a new brewery, then the largest in South Wales, was built at a cost of £50,000. S.A. Brain became a town councillor in 1885 and was mayor for 1899-1900. Brains was a firm that knew the value of advertising on prominent sites such as railway bridges and, in the twenty-first century, the shirts worn by the Welsh rugby team. When French television advertising restrictions outlawed this for a match in Paris, the shirts read ‘brawn’ instead. In January 2011 after Charlotte Church had to apologise after criticising the Queen for ‘having no idea what’s going on’, Echo reader Andrew Thompson commented that Ms Church had been pictured ‘wearing a rugby shirt with the word “Brains” emblazoned across her ample bosom. Is this anatomically correct?’ he asked. (Stewart Williams, Cardiff Yesterday / South Wales Echo)
October 11th
1898: The South Wales Miners’ Federation was set up to protect miners’ interests following the defeat of the strike of that year. The Tonypandy Riots of 1910 and the Hunger Marches of the 1930s further radicalised the workforce whose leaders supported both the Labour and Communist parties. (T.D. Breverton, The Welsh Almanac, Glyndwr Publications, 2002)
1924: ‘The ruins of this thirteenth-century bell-tower were restored to view by pulling down Tower House, formerly the Red Lion Inn, and the adjoining premises an
d the site was conveyed to the City of Cardiff on October 11th 1924 to be held as an open space for ever.’ (Inscription on the War Memorial outside Llandaff Cathedral)
1933: The Cardiff branch of the Young Citizens’ Association held a dance at the Connaught Rooms. The Association had been set up after an appeal by the Prince of Wales (later Edward VIII) to the youth of the country to get involved in good works. They organised trips to the seaside and Christmas entertainments for needy children. (Stewart Williams, Cardiff Yesterday)
October 12th
1837: The Calvinistic Methodist Chapel at St Fagans was opened, the only Nonconformist place of worship in the village. There had been some opposition to the project and difficulty in acquiring a suitable site but, with the assistance of the Hon. R.T. Clive, a plot of land was found. The building of the chapel cost £300. In 1900 it was rebuilt at a cost of £400. (Stewart Williams, Cardiff Yesterday)