by Mike Hall
In 2011 a series of programmes about life at the Mint was shown on BBC Wales television.
December 16th
1905: In what many consider to be the greatest rugby match ever played in Cardiff, Wales beat the New Zealand All Blacks 3-0. At the suggestion of Llywnypia solicitor Tom Williams, in a letter to the Western Mail, the singing of the Welsh national anthem was introduced as a riposte to the traditional All Black challenge of the ‘Haka’. The band of the 2nd Battalion. Welch Regiment played before the teams came onto the pitch and struck up with ‘Men of Harlech’ as the All Blacks took the field. Immediately after the Haka the Welsh players gathered in the centre of the pitch and sang ‘Hea Wlad fy Nhadau’. The crowd joined in heartily and the most famous and revered tradition of Welsh rugby internationals was born. In 2006 the New Zealanders reacted badly when, at the Millennium Stadium on November 25th, Wales intended to repeat this response to the challenge. In a spat over the order of Haka and anthem, the All Blacks chose to perform the Haka privately in the safety of their own dressing room. On this occasion New Zealand had a very comfortable 45-10 victory. (Steve Lewis, The Priceless Gift: 125 Years of Welsh Rugby Captains, Mainstream, 2005 / www.news.co.uk/sport)
December 17th
1859: Police Superintendent J. Box Stockdale set up the Cardiff People’s Rifle Corps which recruited ‘respectable working people’, a group that was not represented in the town’s other such groups. At a dinner the following year he stated that ‘working men can be trusted with arms. The working classes are now an educated thinking set of men and I am quite certain they will not abuse that confidence. The way to make men know themselves and the position they hold in the world is to place confidence in them.’ When the Cardiff Artillery Corps was set up in 1860 the Cardiff & Merthyr Guardian emphasised that their aim was ‘to raise a truly popular corps, one intended for muscular young men, able and willing to tuck up their shirtsleeves and work.’ (Matthew Cragoe and Chris Williams, Wales and War, 2007)
1968: The Queen opened the new Royal Mint at Llantrisant. It had been decided to move the Mint from its old premises at Tower Hill. One of the new Mint’s tasks was to make the decimal coinage due to be introduced in 1971. (Western Mail)
December 18th
1879: ‘The proceedings in connection with the bazaar in the Town Hall concluded on Tuesday evening and, although it is not yet known what the actual outcome of the three days receipts is, the success is considered satisfactory. One of the most interesting features was the drawing for prizes. A revolving apparatus, containing the numerous counterfoils for the tickets issued, was provided for this occasion. The handle was turned by Miss Ward and Miss Decandia drew the winning numbers. Father Clarke superintending the drawing in the presence of a numerous company of visitors.
The first annual meeting of the Cardiff Quoit Club was held at the Town Hall, Mr S. Cooper presiding. Twelve gentlemen were selected to form the committee. A new piece of ground has been laid out in Tredegarville and it is confidently anticipated that a large number of gentlemen will avail themselves of the opportunity of indulging in a very healthy and pleasant exercise. The club numbers already over sixty members and, after a successful season, will commence the year with a handsome balance in hand.’ (Western Mail)
December 19th
1901: In a landmark ruling judgement was given in favour of the Taff Vale Railway Company against the Amalgamated Society of Railway Servants. The TVR had taken legal action against the union to recover losses they had incurred during a strike. Up to that time it had been assumed that trade unions could not be sued for action carried out by their members but they lost the case and were fined £23,000. This exposed unions to the risk of being taken to court every time they were involved in an industrial dispute. After the 1906 General Election the Liberal Government passed the Trades Union Disputes Act which removed unions’ liability for damages due to strike action. (T.D. Breverton, The Welsh Almanac, Glyndwr Publications, 2002 / www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk)
1953: In the first rugby international to be televised live, Wales defeated New Zealand 13-8 at the Arms Park. It was a result that went very much against the run of play. The New Zealand pack had been in complete control but they only led 8-5 as the game entered its final quarter. An infield cross-kick by Clem Thomas led to the crucial score by Ken Jones which secured the Welsh victory. (Steve Lewis, The Priceless Gift: 125 Years of Welsh Rugby Captains, Mainstream, 2005)
December 20th
1910: Cardiff boxer ‘Peerless’ Jim Driscoll was controversially disqualified in a British light heavyweight title fight against Freddie Welsh – a decision that led to street-fights in Cardiff for several days afterwards (see October 5th). (John Davies et al., The Welsh Academy Encyclopaedia of Wales, 2008)
1955: In response to a Parliamentary question from Mr David Llewellyn MP, the Secretary of State for Welsh Affairs, Mr Gwilym Lloyd George, stated that the government was ‘prepared to recognise Cardiff as the capital of the Principality’. It was an unspectacular moment but the Lord Mayor and Council made the most of it. The mayor had an escort from the Welch Regiment when he announced the news to a small crowd outside City Hall and a similar proclamation was made to cheering traders at the Coal Exchange. Local MP James Callaghan was less impressed. ‘Dockworkers would be more excited,’ he said, ‘if Mr Lloyd George had announced that two more ships a week would be sailing into Cardiff to discharge their cargo.’ (John O’Sullivan & Bryn Jones, Cardiff: A Centenary Celebration, The History Press, 2005)
December 21st
1855: The Taff Vale Railway brought in the first trainload of steam coal from the Rhondda into Bute East Dock. In 1857 the Rhymney Railway opened up another important source of business – the Monmouthshire mining valleys – at the expense of Newport. (W. Jones, ‘The Taff Vale Railway in Modern Times’ in the Trains Illustrated Annual, 1960)
2010: Five Cardiff men, aged between 23 and 28, were arrested on suspicion of involvement in terrorist activities. Most were believed to be of Bangladeshi origin. Officers carried out a search of a seven-bedroom house in the Riverside area and were reported to have seized a Mercedes estate car. In the Ely area up to twenty plain-clothes officers smashed their way into a flat above a takeaway. The arrests were related to an alleged Al-Qaeda plot to target Christmas shoppers in London in a wave of suicide-bomb attacks. (Daily Telegraph)
December 22nd
1871: ‘One of the crew of an Italian barque lying in Penarth Dock died on board last night from the effects of injuries inflicted by another member of the crew. It appears that the two men were washing the deck and a dispute arose between them. One man struck the other on the head with a broom and the man who was struck went to his bunk complaining of pain. The blow, however, was not looked upon as a severe one and no serious consequences were apprehended but the injured man died at five o’clock. The Captain placed in irons the seaman who had struck the blow and went for a constable. Failing to find the policeman in Penarth, he came to Cardiff and gave the information to the borough police.’ (Cardiff Times quoted in E. Alwyn Benjamin, Penarth 1841-71, A Glimpse of the Past, D. Brown & Sons, 1980)
1888: Cardiff’s Norman Biggs won his first cap for Wales at the age of 18 years and 49 days, a record that would stand until Tom Prydie was selected in 2010. The game, which was against the All Blacks, was played at the St Helen’s ground in Swansea and the local crowd gave him a rough reception because they felt a Swansea player should have been selected in his position. He was described as ‘palpably nervous’ and had a poor game. (see also February 27th). (Robert Cole & Stuart Farmer, The Wales Rugby Miscellany, Sports Vision Publishing, 2008)
December 23rd
1871: ‘A fire was discovered on board the Psyche, lying at Penarth Dock basin, ready for sea. Captain Harris was in Cardiff and for a few minutes there was no one to direct the movements to extinguish the fire. A telegram was sent to Cardiff for the fire-engine there being, strange to say, no engine in Penarth Dock or in the basin. As the st
eam engine, by order of the Town Council, is not allowed to leave the borough, the manual engine was despatched. It left Cardiff at 1.45 and reached the burning ship at 2.10, having taken only twenty-five minutes to get over four miles of very muddy road. By this time the fire had got possession of the whole of the cabin and threatened to destroy it. Gradually, the effort to fight the fire was increasingly successful but there is no doubt that, had the steam fire-engine been on hand, it would have been quickly extinguished. Captain Harris, who had arrived some time before, said that besides some paraffin and kerosene, there was also a magazine of gunpowder aboard. A slight explosion, which shook the stern of the vessel and the black flames which rose directly after, were judged to be paraffin-caused.’ (Cardiff Times, quoted in E. Alwyn Benjamin, Penarth 1841-71, A Glimpse of the Past, D. Brown & Sons, 1980)
December 24th
1869: According to an episode of Doctor Who (broadcast in April 2005), on this date the Doctor (played by Christopher Eccleston) and Rose Tyler (Billie Piper) arrived in Victorian Cardiff just as the town was being terrorised by a group of zombies which refused to stay in their coffins. One sat down in the theatre audience just as Charles Dickens (Simon Callow) was reading passages from A Christmas Carol. It proceeded to evaporate into a cloud of gas and fly all around the building. The episode was part of the first series of the iconic TV series following its revival after fifteen years absence. It was now being made in Cardiff as was its later spin-off, Torchwood, and Cardiff Bay became a familiar location. One story, concerning Rose’s parents’ wedding was filmed at St Paul’s, Grangetown, and showed it being attacked by alarming flying aliens. (Gary Russell, Doctor Who: The Encyclopaedia, BBC Books, 2007 / Western Daily Press / Cult TV Magazine No.186)
2010: The Model Inn in Quay Street closed. Soldiers of Cromwell’s New Model Army had allegedly been billeted there during the Civil War. The Taff used to run alongside Quay Street until it was diverted for the building of the railway. (South Wales Echo)
December 25th
1900: ‘The great festival of the Nativity was observed in Cardiff with the same enthusiasm as in times gone by, notwithstanding the wet weather which prevailed. The streets presented an animated appearance. All means of locomotion were in full play and the railways were kept busy all day. The usual run of services and meetings were held, being well attended. Collections were made by several congregations on behalf of the Cardiff Infirmary. The Post Office was well able to cope with the demands made on it. Deliveries on Christmas Day were exceptionally numerous and the inside staff, as well as the postmen, were hard at work until well into the afternoon. In many towns and villages eisteddfodau were held, the events being well patronised. The poor in most unions were provided with “Christmas Cheer”, dinners being given them, either at the expense of the guardians or private individuals.’ (Western Mail)
1955: A fire broke out at the Fire Brigade Headquarters in Westgate Street. Damage was confined to the roof-space over the residential flats. The operation of the Fire Service was unaffected. In 1973 the building was demolished to make way for a multi-storey car-park. (M.J. Mace, ‘A Brief History of Cardiff Fire Brigade’, in The Cardiff Book, Vol.3, 1977)
December 26th
1948: The Gwyn Nicholls Memorial Gates at the Arms Park were dedicated by former team-mate Rhys Gale. Known as ‘The Prince of Three-Quarters’, Nicholls was born in 1874 and first played rugby for Cardiff in 1893. In 1909 he refereed the match between England and Scotland at the Richmond Athletic Ground. This was the last international to be played there. In 1923, while on holiday at Weston-super-Mare, he was involved in the rescue of two young girls from the sea. Not a strong swimmer, he only just got back to shore. His health never fully recovered and he died in March 1939. (T.D. Breverton, The Welsh Almanac, Glyndwr Publications, 2002)
2004: Newlyweds Jennifer Hill and her husband Tony, a museum assistant at St Fagans, escaped unhurt from the Boxing Day tsunami which hit while they were on honeymoon at Marawila, Sri Lanka. The water stopped only yards from their beach bungalow. On January 5th 2005, the First Minister at the National Assembly led three minutes silence in Cardiff in memory of the 150,000 killed in the disaster. (South Wales Echo)
December 27th
1913: A severe storm swept northwards from Devon into South Wales and on as far as Cheshire. Making landfall at Aberthaw, it built up into what was described as ‘a tornado of exceptional violence’ in the Taff Valley, north of Cardiff. At Duffryn Dowlais its track was 50 yards wide and the wind was strong enough to cause structural damage. A Mr W.M. Morris, travelling home to Cardiff by train from Pontypridd, reported seeing ‘a ball of fire and a blinding sheet of lightning’ near Creigiau station at about 5.30 p.m. About £40,000 of damage was done to properties in the Rhymney and Rhondda valleys. (Meurig Evans, ‘A South Wales Tornado’, Glamorgan Historian, No.11)
1979: Flooding caused major damage in the area west of the River Taff. The river burst its banks at Llandaff Fields. Cathedral Road and Cowbridge Road East were flooded. Camels and horses escaped from a circus in Sophia Gardens and were rounded up in Penarth Road. The monkeys were taken to a Funeral Parlour where they were served tea and cake. (John O’Sullivan & Bryn Jones, Cardiff: A Centenary Celebration, The History Press, 2005 / www.mets.org)
December 28th
1908: The Australian rugby team embarked on their first European tour. They were encouraged by their Rugby Football Union to perform a ‘war-cry’ before matches, in imitation of the New Zealand ‘Haka’. When they tried this before their match against Cardiff, the home captain responded by advancing towards them brandishing a Zulu spear, allegedly a souvenir of the Battle of Rourke’s Drift. It must have been effective – Cardiff won the game. (Robert Cole & Stuart Farmer, The Wales Rugby Miscellany, Sports Vision Publishing, 2008)
1958: Uncharacteristic blunders by Liverpool’s Scottish international goalkeeper Tommy Younger helped Cardiff City to a shock 6-1 win in their Second Division encounter at Ninian Park. This marked the beginning of a sequence that established Cardiff as Liverpool’s ‘bogey team’ for a couple of seasons. It was the first of five successive Cardiff victories, the last of which was a 4-0 triumph at Anfield in December 1959. (Dennis Morgan, Farewell to Ninian Park, 2008)
December 29th
2010: Vimla Patel, a businesswoman who had worked tirelessly for Cardiff’s Hindu community, was made a MBE in the New Year Honours list. The 58-year-old had come to Cardiff in 1972 after fleeing Idi Amin’s regime in Uganda. Refusing to accept any State handouts, Vimla and her husband Hari worked long hours to make ends meet. Eventually they had saved enough money to buy a petrol station and were able to build up a chain of garages in South Wales. The MBE was for Vimla’s community work. ‘When we first arrived in Cardiff,’ she told the South Wales Echo, ‘there were many Ugandan Asians who could not speak English. I went with them to hospital appointments and job interviews and helped them to fill in forms. In 1984, with a group of friends, she had set up the Sanatan Dhatma Mandel Community Centre in The Parade, Roath, where Hindus could meet to celebrate religious and cultural events and where older people could socialise.’
December 30th
1921: The death of Charles Wood, the last man to receive the Victoria Cross from Queen Victoria herself. He had earned the award for his gallantry in the Boer War. In June 1900 a group of men from his regiment, the 2nd Battalion King’s Own Yorkshire Light Infantry, were surrounded on three sides by about 500 Boers. Despite the great likelihood that he would die in the attempt, Private Wood volunteered to take a message requesting reinforcements to a signalling post 150 yards away. He succeeded but was severely wounded and his action saved his comrades from capture. He died in Whitchurch and for more than sixty years lay in an unmarked grave in St Mary’s churchyard. In 1986 David Clarke, the verger at St Mary’s, identified the grave, with the help of the Glamorgan Family History Society. The British Legion and Wood’s old regiment paid for a headstone. Wood’s grown-up children were among those who attende
d its unveiling by Pontlottyn-born VC-holder Edmund Chapman. (South Wales Echo)
December 31st
1872: Cardiff police constable William Perry was murdered by a mentally-ill butcher John Jones. His funeral was attended by large crowds (see January 5th). (Mark Isaacs, Foul Deeds & Suspicious Deaths in Cardiff, Wharncliffe, 2009)
1938: A crowd of 40,000 attended Cardiff City’s derby game with Newport County in the Third Division (South). Only Newcastle United had a bigger attendance that day. County won 2-1 and at the end of the season gained promotion, only for the 1939/40 season to be abandoned after three games because of the outbreak of war. (Dennis Morgan, Farewell to Ninian Park, 2008)
