by Mike Hall
1947: A gale drove the 7,131-ton Canadian steamer Port Royal Park broadside into Penarth Pier. The ship, which had been travelling empty from Newport to Cardiff to load cargo for the Persian Gulf, came to rest with her bow within a few yards of the promenade. A considerable amount of damage was done to the pier which had to be closed to the public for two years. (Roy Thorne, Penarth: A History, Vol.2, Starling Press, 1976)
1974: Twenty-year-old trainee reporter Diana Halprin made her own headlines when she posed naked for the latest issue of top-shelf men’s magazine Mayfair. She had been spotted by its photographer ‘notebook in hand pursuing contestants at a flower show’. Miss Halprin told readers that after leaving school in the Rhondda she had ‘endured eighteen months in a Cardiff insurance office. It taught me shorthand and the fact that I never wanted to work in an office again,’ she said. ‘Her April 21st birthdate makes her a Taurean,’ readers were informed. Apart from her more visible attributes, the magazine was much taken with her Welsh accent!
May 3rd
1958: The ‘Festival of Wales’ was inaugurated by a spectacular procession through the streets of Cardiff. Led by a giant Welsh dragon breathing smoke, it wound its way past the City Hall where the Duke of Gloucester took the salute and then performed the festival’s opening ceremony. (Stewart Williams, Cardiff Yesterday)
1965: The death of journalist and author Howard Spring. He had been born in the Tiger Bay area of Cardiff in 1889, the third of nine children. His father was a jobbing gardener who was often out of work. His mother took in washing to eke out the family income. He left school at twelve and worked for a short time as a butcher’s errand boy and as an office boy at an accountant’s in the docks. He then got a job as a messenger at the offices of the South Wales News. His ambition and willingness to learn persuaded his editor to pay for Spring to go to evening classes. This led to a distinguished career in journalism in South Wales, Yorkshire and London. He became a novelist, best-known for his 1940 book Fame is the Spur. His Cardiff childhood is described in Heaven Lies All About Us (1939). (Dictionary of National Biography, OUP)
May 4th
1926: the start of the General Strike. This had been called by the Trades Union Congress in support of the miners. In April the coal-owners, in response to the worsening economic situation and the decline in the market for coal, demanded that miners worked longer hours for 10-25 per cent less pay. They rejected this and were locked out. Across the country workers’ reactions to the strike call were immediate and overwhelming, surprising both the Government and the TUC which quickly lost control of the situation. In Cardiff the men at the Dowlais steelworks walked out as did all the transport workers. Nearly 3,500 railway wagons were strikebound in the local marshalling yards. Seamen, however, refused to strike and the city’s trams were kept running by volunteers who ran the risk of assault by angry strikers. Over 600 Special Constables were enrolled and the Government sent troops to key installations and warships to the main ports. Cardiff received a battalion of infantry, a submarine and a cruiser. In the docks volunteers operated tugs and grain elevators and unloaded essential cargo. (Dennis Morgan, The Cardiff Story, D. Brown & Sons, 1991 / Wikipedia)
May 5th
1846: The Cardiff & Merthyr Guardian announced that the Cardiff Cricket Club had been reformed at a meeting at the White Lion Inn. The new club seems to have been a bit more go-ahead than its short-lived predecessor. The increase in trade in Cardiff following the opening of Bute Dock in 1839 led to an influx of young men from England, many of whom were keen cricketers, ‘gentlemen who have already learned the rudiments of the game, as well as being involved in matches of decent standard’. The new club played matches against teams from Tredegar, Merthyr and Newport, as well as several military sides. However, the ground at Longcross House in Newport Road was only available to the club on Thursdays. In July 1847 the paper reported that ‘several members say the day appointed for play is not convenient and that a day earlier in the week would suit the majority of members much better’. On some occasions the club played at an alternative ground in Splott. (Andrew Hignell, From Sophia to Swalec: A History of Cricket in Cardiff, The History Press, 2008)
May 6th
1945: ‘One of the last battles of the Second World War was fought not in Germany but at Ninian Park. The weekend before VE-Day England beat Wales 3-2 in front of a 40,000 crowd. The Echo soccer pundit, “The Citizen”, described how Welsh fans had plastered the goalposts and field with leeks before jumping on the crossbars and behaving like monkeys. The police frog-marched some of the worst offenders from the field’. (John O’Sullivan & Bryn Jones, Cardiff: A Centenary Celebration, The History Press, 2005)
1959: The pilot and three passengers died when their twin-engine aircraft crashed on North Road, close to Blackwater Playing Fields where 400 schoolboys were enjoying a sports day. The plane, owned by the Lec Refrigeration Company of Bognor Regis, had taken off from Sophia Gardens where the Ideal Home Exhibition was being held. The plane exploded as it hit a parked van. No one on the ground was injured but it took firemen half an hour to control the fierce flames and then recover the bodies. One person who had a lucky escape was South Wales Echo reporter Sonia Jones who was not allowed to fly because she was not insured. (John O’Sullivan & Bryn Jones, Cardiff: A Centenary Celebration, The History Press, 2005)
May 7th
1917: The first limbless soldier was admitted to the Prince of Wales Red Cross Hospital, Cardiff. The hospital was also the first to fit two artificial arms to an injured war veteran. (Stewart Williams, Cardiff Yesterday)
1953: Boxer Joe Erskine from Cardiff beat Dick Richardson (Newport) in a heavyweight bout at Maindy Stadium, watched by 30,000 people. (Stewart Williams, Cardiff Yesterday)
1973: Cardiff General Station was renamed Cardiff Central. ‘General’ was a suffix used by the pre-nationalisation Great Western Railway for the principal station in a town or city. (Stewart Williams, Cardiff Yesterday)
1983: Jubilant crowds invade the pitch as Cardiff City secure promotion from the Third Division by beating Leyton Orient 2-0. Cardiff’s first goal had followed a surge upfield following confident Orient appeals for a penalty for handball at the other end. This was the second time in eight years that relegation had been followed by promotion in the next season. (Dennis Morgan, Farewell to Ninian Park, 2008)
May 8th
1648: Fighting for the King in the second phase of the Civil War, 8,000 ‘country yokels who had never seen a battlefield in their lives’ were comprehensively defeated by just 3,000 members of Parliament’s New Model Army in the Battle of St Fagans. Their pikes, pitchforks and other farm tools were no match for the Roundhead cavalry and hardened and disciplined soldiers. According to local tradition, the fighting was so fierce that the River Ely ran red with blood. The Royalists, led by Major General Laugharne, a Presbyterian who had fallen out with Oliver Cromwell and switched sides, were routed and pursued west more than ten miles beyond Cowbridge. From the small village of St Fagans alone, sixty-five men were killed. Nearly 3,000 Royalists were taken prisoner. Two hundred and forty of them were transported to Barbados as slaves, but most were released on a pledge ‘never to engage again with the Parliament hereafter’. Four of their officers were executed and local Royalist families which had taken an active part in the battle were fined. (Dennis Morgan, The Cardiff Story, D. Brown & Sons, 1991)
May 9th
1926: Support for the General Strike was beginning to crumble. Cardiff tram drivers were told that they would lose their jobs unless they returned to work within twenty-four hours. More than 150 men reported back that day and they were soon followed by most of the rest. Other strikers, mainly railwaymen, set up picket lines but failed to stop the return to work. The General Strike ended on May 12th after a peace formula acceptable to the TUC was agreed but the miners held out for several more months. (John O’Sullivan & Bryn Jones, Cardiff: A Centenary Celebration, The History Press, 2005)
1945: Cardiff celebrated the end of the war in Europe whic
h had been announced by the BBC the day after the Germans had surrendered. The announcement came at midnight on May 8th and was relayed by tannoy to the crowds gathered outside the City Hall. As O’Sullivan & Jones describe, ‘it was the signal for 50,000 men, women and children to cheer, dance and sing the night away in front of the floodlit hall. Cardiff rejoiced as lights went on again after six years of miserable blackout.’ (John O’Sullivan & Bryn Jones, Cardiff: A Centenary Celebration, The History Press, 2005)
May 10th
1912: The death of Alderman William Taylor, Mayor of Cardiff in 1886-7. He was a leading protagonist in the resistance to replace the historic name of Crockherbton with the less distinctive Queen Street (see March 14th). In 1901 his colleague J.H. Matthews, speaking to the Cardiff Naturalists Society described those modernists who perpetrated the deed as ‘vandals’ saying ‘every fourth-rate market town has its Queen Street but Crockherbton was distinctive, ancient and historically interesting. It did not sound genteel enough for some of the shopkeepers, so it had to go’. Alderman Taylor was clearly a combative figure. In November 1889 he was voted off the Aldermen’s Bench but contested the decision. He died at the age of 82 on board the P&O steam yacht Vectis and was buried at sea off the Adriatic island of Lissa. His wife and infant child who predeceased him are buried in the family grave at Cathays Cemetery. (Stewart Williams, Cardiff Yesterday)
May 11th
1872: The last broad gauge train ran in South Wales. In 1835, Brunel had advised the Great Western board that a gauge of 7ft be adopted for the railway to Bristol and Cardiff. This was despite the fact that most railways in Britain were adopting Stephenson’s standard gauge of 4ft 8½ inches. This led to great inconvenience on cross-country journeys, especially where the two gauges met at places such as Gloucester. In 1846 a Gauge Commission was set up to consider the problem. Its members found that, although the broad gauge was superior in terms of speed, the standard gauge was more common (1,901 miles out of a total of 2,175) so suited the needs of a national system better. Gradually the GWR began to convert its routes to standard gauge, a process that was finally completed in 1892. (Stephen K. Jones, Brunel in South Wales, Vol.2, The History Press, 2006)
1897: Guglielmo Marconi successfully transmitted the first wireless message across the water from Flat Holm to Lavernock Point. He had been taken over to the island on the tugboat May, operated by the Stevens family of Grangetown. (Stewart Williams, Cardiff Yesterday)
May 12th
1874: Susan Ann Gibbs was murdered by her husband James at St Mellons. Her decomposing body was not discovered until June 3rd. It had been hidden in a hedgerow at Hall Farm near Llanrumney. For years James Gibbs had strung along the infatuated Susan, wealthy but twenty-two years his senior – insisting on communicating only by letter – before finally marrying her on her home island of Jersey in July 1873. Even then he would not allow her to join him at Llanrumney Hall, where he was butler, claiming that his master would not countenance employing a married man. In fact he was carrying on an affair with a pretty young chorister named Mary Jones who lived at St Mellons. However, he suddenly appeared to relent and invited Susan to join him … (for the rest of this story, see May 28th and June 3rd).
1999: The first meeting of the Welsh National Assembly was held at Cardiff. Critics claimed that it had little power compared to its Scottish counterpart. (T.D. Breverton, The Welsh Almanac, Glyndwr Publications, 2002)
2001: The FA Cup Final between Liverpool and Arsenal was the first to be played at the Millennium Stadium while Wembley was being rebuilt. Over 80 million people worldwide saw it on television. Liverpool came from behind to win 2-1. (Wikipedia)
May 13th
1926: In the aftermath of the General Strike there were a number of court cases relating to incidents of disorder. Forty-five year-old William Walsh appeared before Cardiff Magistrates. The court heard that he had thrown stones in an attempt to bring a Cardiff Corporation bus to a halt. He was sentenced to two months hard labour. Two other strikers were jailed for trying to prevent volunteers from manning a bus. The accused appeared in court with their heads swathed in bandages. Cardiff’s Lord Mayor, Alderman William Francis, was given a standing ovation in the Council Chamber for recruiting volunteers to keep public services running. Alderman W.H. Petherbridge declared that the Council would not be ruled by a ‘Soviet Committee’ in London. (Dennis Morgan, The Cardiff Story, D. Brown & Sons, 1991)
1937: Cardiff’s ‘Pageant of Industry’ included a flatback lorry carrying five miners in their working clothes, part of a display by colliery owners Gueret, Llewellyn & Merrett Ltd. This was to celebrate 100 years of progress in the industry. As a contrast there was a tableau of 1837 pit gear mounted on a horse-drawn cart. (Stewart Williams, Cardiff Yesterday)
May 14th
1612: Sir Thomas Button of Duffryn set sail on an expedition to find the North West Passage and to search for Henry Hudson, missing since a similar expedition in 1609. Button’s quest was unsuccessful but it was nevertheless quite a voyage of discovery. He is credited with exploring the western coast of Hudson Bay and securing it for the British Crown. He named parts of the area ‘New North Wales’ and ‘New South Wales’, long before the latter name was adopted for the part of Australia. Button was knighted by King James I. He continued to have a significant naval career and was later appointed ‘Admiral of the King’s Ships on the coast of Ireland’. (Wikipedia)
1972: The first of the massive cooling towers that had dominated the views from Colchester Avenue in the northern part of Roath was blown up. The area is now home to the Colchester Factory Estate, various ‘superstores’ along Newport Road and the Cardiff Megabowl. (Stewart Williams, Cardiff Yesterday)
May 15th
1909: The Cardiff Railway Company opened its line from Heath Junction to Treforest, south of Pontypridd. It was the Bute Docks Company’s attempt to emulate the Barry Railway in building an independent route to bring coal to its quays. Amid much opposition from other railway companies it secured an Act of Parliament authorising the line in 1897 but the powerful Taff Vale Railway was successful in preventing the junction at Treforest from ever being used for revenue-earning traffic. Passenger services began operating between Bute Road/Queen Street and Rhydyfelin via Whitchurch, Coryton, Tongwynlais and Upper Boat. Only the Cardiff end of the route ever made any money and the service was cut back to Coryton Halt in 1931. Despite a frequent service (fifty trains on weekdays) the future of the line was in doubt and closure was proposed in 1964. Protests led to the line being reprieved and now the Coryton line is an important part of Cardiff’s suburban rail network. (Don Gatehouse & Geoff Dowling, British Railways Past & Present, Vol.28, 1995)
May 16th
1916: Lieutenant-Colonel Frank Gaskell, whose father was chairman of Hancock’s Brewery, Cardiff, was killed in action in the First World War. An experienced soldier he had served in the Boer War and then practised as a barrister in Cardiff until 1914. He was invalided home after being shot in the jaw. He played a leading part in raising the 16th Cardiff City Battalion. Returning to active service, he was again hospitalised after breaking his leg in a riding accident. Again he returned to the Front and was killed when a German bullet struck his ammunition pouch. He is buried at the cemetery at Merville. There are memorials to him in St Isan’s Church, Llanishen, and at St John’s. (J.H. Morgan, ‘Cardiff at War’ in Stewart Williams (ed.) The Cardiff Book, Vol.3, 1974)
1933: The Prince of Wales (later Edward VIII) visited Cardiff. He arrived in his private plane at the newly-opened Pengam Aerodrome. He went on to St John’s where he unveiled a memorial plaque to Sir Herbert Lewis, late St John’s Ambulance Commissioner for Wales. His full day ended with a ceremony at City Hall for the Investiture of all members of the Order of St John admitted or promoted since 1921, the year of the last such ceremony in Cardiff. (Stewart Williams, Cardiff Yesterday)
May 17th
1915: The bravery of Sergeant Major Fred Barter of Daniel Street, Cardiff, led to him being
awarded the Victoria Cross. Having gained the first line of enemy trenches at Festubert, he called for volunteers and with eight others attacked the German position with bombs, capturing three officers and 102 men and around 500 yards of trenches. (Stewart Williams, Cardiff Yesterday)
1929: The distinctive concrete Penarth Pier Pavilion opened. For the next two years, until the seaward one was destroyed by fire, Penarth Pier had two pavilions. (Roy Thorne, Penarth: A History, Starling Press, 1975)
1943: An unexploded bomb was discovered below the platform at Cardiff General Station. Over a tense four days operation bomb disposal officer Major Hugo Jones successfully defused it, having first ensured that trains could pass through the station without causing vibrations which could set it off. Things were complicated by the later discovery that there was another unexploded bomb nearby, fitted with a time fuse which meant that it could go off any minute. (Daily Telegraph obituary of Major Jones, 2010)
2008: Cardiff City lost 0-1 to Portsmouth in the FA Cup Final. (Western Mail)
May 18th