The Marquess of Bute’s Translation of the Breviary

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The contribution made by the Bute family to the growth and development of Cardiff during the 19th Century is well known.  The first Marquess of Bute restored Cardiff Castle and made it habitable.  The second built a dock and, in so doing, ensured that Cardiff would become the greatest coal-exporting port in the world. The third, the subject of this article, was John Patrick Crichton-Stuart (1847-1900) who became famous in his own lifetime as a philanthropist, scholar, politician, patron of the arts and author.

John Patrick Crichton-Stuart 3rd Marquess of Bute

Although raised as an Anglican, it was no surprise (though a scandal to many) when, in December 1868, he became a Roman Catholic. He was later confirmed by Pope Pius IX in Rome.

The Marquess had long been attracted to the Roman Catholic Church, particularly to its rich heritage of literature. His particular interest was the Catholic Breviary, the liturgical book containing the prayers, hymns, psalms and readings for the everyday use by bishops, priests and deacons.   The Breviary (from the Latin “brevis” meaning ‘short’ or ‘concise’) is known today as the “Liturgy of the Hours”, the “Divine Office” or, simply, the “Office”. 

The version of the Breviary familiar to the Marquess can be traced back to the reforms of the Council of Trent and Pope Pius V, who, in July 1568, promulgated the edition which became known as the “Roman Breviary”. During the centuries which followed, alterations were made by Popes Clement VIII and Urban VIII. (Further revisions were to be made during the 20th century by Pope Pius X and by Pope John XXIII).

Even before his reception into the Catholic Church the Marquess had been planning to translate the Breviary into English. His biographer, David Hunter Blair (“A Memoir”), cites a letter, dated October 5th 1868, in which the Marquess makes reference to the texts he used during his “devotions”. These included the Letters of St. Bernard, a simple prayer-book and, crucially, the Latin Psalter, in which he found, “a beauty and fullness of meaning which I think no modern language can give except…. ……possibly Greek.” The letter continues: “I sometimes dream of trying my hand at a new English version of the Psalms; but that is part of a larger scheme which is perhaps presumptuous of me even to think of.”

The Marquess began his work on the translation during the winter of 1870.  His objective was clear: to “lay open to the English reader the whole of the Prayer of the Church.”  It was a difficult task and progress was “most discouragingly slow”.  It was not until August 1877 that he could declare, “the MS is nearly finished, and the printing now going on. I expect it will be published next year. I have learnt Hebrew (more or less) for the purpose, and done an amount of reading which it quite frightens me to think of. This translation is my beloved child.”

The “beloved child” was to occupy Bute’s time and energy for two more years, during which he corrected and revised the proofs to make sure that the translation was free from errors. The text was finally published in two large volumes in the Autumn of 1879. It was the first time that the entire Roman Breviary had appeared in the English language.

In his translation the Marquess closely followed the format of the Roman Breviary. This was divided into four sections according to the seasons of the year: Winter; Spring; Summer and Autumn.  The main elements were: (a) the Psalter, consisting of some 150 psalms; (b) the Proper of the Season, i.e. Advent, Christmas, Lent, Easter; (c) the Proper of the Saints, consisting of the lessons, psalms and antiphons for the feasts of the saints; (d) the Common, or prayers for groups, such as the Apostles, Martyrs, Abbots, Holy Women ; (e) certain special Offices, such as the Office of the Blessed Virgin or the Office of the  Dead.

To these sections the Marquess added critical notes, along with explanatory information on the lives of the saints. Also included were the published hymns of Cardinal Newman as well as hymns written by Caswell, Neale and Littledale. The first chapter was entitled “The Pie”, a somewhat quaint title perhaps, but we should remember that this was the era of moveable and immoveable feasts. The Marquess considered that the “Pie” would help the reader to decide which texts should be used on a particular day. To explain how  he included a section entitled “Two Easy Tables”. Here, the use of the word “easy” is questionable, particularly when we find that the reader was expected to:

“find the little square from which lines drawn from the designations of the two Offices meet at right angles, and then look what direction is given underneath the Table with the number inscribed in the square.”

Despite his efforts, The Marquess felt that his work left a lot to be desired. In his view it contained a “great many blunders and oversights – mostly mine, not the printers’, who have done their work extraordinarily well which make me anything but contented with it.”  

Others appear to have shared his apprehensions: “two ponderous tomes” wrote one friend.  Later, however, the Marquess was pleased with many aspects of the final version: the Prayers, for example, where he considered that he had,

“not quite failed to reproduce…..the measured and sonorous dignity of the original Latin.”

Early sales of the Breviary were disappointing – for perfectly understandable reasons according to one observer.  The Catholic clergy had little money to spare for literary luxuries and besides, why should they give up using their familiar Latin Breviary and replace it with this version in English?  In fact, so slow were the sales that the Marquess complained that, “I am still 300 out of pocket by having published it.”

That said, Reviews of the work were positive and in 1908 (after his death) a second edition was published. This proved to be so popular in some Catholic religious houses that it was used to instruct novices. It was also popular among Anglican communities, particularly in the United States, where it was brought into use as the regular Office book.

By the end of his life The Marquess had achieved a great deal. On the one hand his conversion to Roman Catholicism had brought the issue of religious bigotry to a national level and this was further reinforced when Benjamin Disraeli (loosely) based the hero of his novel “Lothair” on him .  But perhaps his finest achievement  was to harness the talent of William Burges – once described as the “greatest of the Victorian art-architects”.  Burges, acting on Bute’s instructions, restored the interiors of Cardiff Castle and reinvented Castell Coch as a fairy-tale castle.  However, even these restorations  provided an opportunity for Bute to demonstrate his firm religious faith;  at Castell Coch, for example, where religious symbols can be found at various points including the approach to the castle where the portcullis is overlooked by the statue of the Madonna and Child.

Patrick Crichton-Stuart, the third Marquess of Bute, died of Bright’s Disease in October 1900 aged just 53 years. He was buried in a small chapel on the Isle of Bute, his ancestral home in Scotland. A few days later his wife and children took his heart to Jerusalem where it was laid to rest in the garden of a small Franciscan chapel situated halfway up the Mount of Olives. The name of the chapel is “Dominus Flevit” – The Lord wept!

Mount of Olives Chapel Dominus Flevit

Guest contribution by Liam Affley, former Chairman of the Wales and the Marches Catholic History Society 

Note: The 1908 edition of the Marquess of Bute’s Breviary is available online

An American Sea-Captain in a Cardiff Cemetery

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Readers of a certain vintage might well remember the layout of Cardiff’s Adamsdown Cemetery prior to the changes of the 1970s.  Opened in September 1848 on land donated by Lord Bute, the size of the site allowed for some 600 graves. After outbreaks of cholera in 1849 and 1854 the cemetery was  soon full.

In late 1968 I visited the site to carry out some family research. At that time the majority of the gravestones were of average size – three feet high by two and a half feet wide.  One however was a much larger structure, a short spire supported by a square stone base bearing the inscription:

“In

Memory of

Franklin Hunter Whitney

formerly of Topsham Maine

and late Commander of the ship

Jennie W. Paine of Gardner

Who died June 10th 1853

Aged 30 Years”

Headstone of Franklin Hunter Whitney at Adamsdown Cemetery in 2015 (photo credit: Cardiffians website)

Reading the words immediately gave rise to questions.  Clearly,  Franklin  Hunter Whitney had been a sea captain and in 1853  the rapidly developing port of Cardiff played host to sailors and ships from all over the world.   But what happened to this sea captain?  How did he die?   Who arranged the burial?  Who erected the monument?  What about the ship, the Jennie W. Paine?

Thinking I’d like to find out some more about Franklin Hunter Whitney and his ship, I copied  the details on to a scrap of paper and then forgot all about it.  Forty or so years later the paper came to  light and it was then that I decided to  pick up where I’d left off. 

In America, the  surname “Whitney”  is so common that,  in 1996,   the “Whitney Research Group”  (the WRG)   was established  as an aid to family research. Taking the WRG  as a starting point, I soon located the name  Franklin Hunter Whitney and from there followed a trail which led along many different avenues and touched on many unexpected areas, including an “on-line” contact with Franklin Hunter Whitney’s great-great-grandson, Lee Whitney of California.

Franklin Hunter Whitney was born in the State of Maine on the 17th January 1823  at Lubec, a small town on the border between the United States and Canada.  His father, Joseph  (1784 – 1841) was Lubec’s Town Clerk and is described in the WRG as a “man of superior character and a surveyor of great skill and exactness”.  His wife, Nancy, a “woman of sterling qualities” was a native of  Topsham, some  two hundred miles further south.  She was the daughter of a sea captain, William Hunter.  Her mother was Mary Patten, a member of a well-known sea-faring family .

Franklin’s elder brother,  Robert Patten Whitney, was born in October 1817.  In 1837, he moved to Topsham, his mother’s home town.  Franklin followed a few years later.  In those days Topsham was a small town consisting of only a few streets.  Of these, Elm Street was the longest and is of interest only for the fact that it was at 47 Elm Street that, in 1847,  Ellen White experienced the “vision” which led her to become one of the founding members of the Seventh Day Adventist Church.

During the next few years the career paths of the two brothers diverged.  Robert remained in Topsham, became a successful trader and, from 1851 to 1860,  attained the post of  Topsham’s Town Clerk.

Franklin, however, decided to go to sea.  This was no surprise. His mother was a Patten and the Pattens owned ships, a great many ships.  Indeed, by the middle of the Nineteenth Century the Patten family, with 65 ships,  owned the largest private fleet in North America.  Thus Franklin Hunter Whitney had descended from one of the most influential and powerful seafaring families in the country.

In those years the sea was a magnet for young people drawn from all shades of Maine society.  Rich or poor, many would prefer to become sailors rather than take up employment in local sawmills.  Whatever their background, life for these young men was extremely demanding.  Voyages could last several months.  On board conditions were challenging with cramped conditions, often  poor food and sometimes very bad weather.  Shipwrecks were a common occurrence.     

Clearly Franklin Whitney possessed the qualities of toughness and endurance to succeed.  Aged only 26, he took command of a ship named the “Sarah Hand”.  This was a “bark”, a ship with three or more masts.  Described as the “workhorse of the golden age of sail in the 19th Century”,  a bark would often follow trade routes which extended across the world.

We can visualise the outward appearance of the Sarah Hand from a painting now in the possession of the  Maine Historical Society.  The name of the artist is unknown.  Here the ship is seen entering the harbour of Naples, Italy, on April 29, 1849. 

Background notes to the painting confirm that that the Master’s name was Franklin Hunter Whitney.  Also that  this ship,  described as a “merchant ship”,   was owned by William Bradstreet and other residents of Gardiner, Maine.  William  Bradstreet (1793 – 1868) is an interesting character.  He might well be described as an “entrepreneur”.  He was certainly well known  in the township of Gardner as a businessman, a shipbuilder and shipowner.

Regarding the painting, one might say that here the Sarah Hand displays a certain jauntiness as she rides the choppy waves and stormy seas.  However, a  few years later things were not so rosy.  In early April 1852, whilst sailing near the Florida Keyes, the Sarah Hand was shipwrecked. The incident is recorded in a newspaper report of the time.

New York Times April 1852

“The ship Memphis, (newly) arrived at New-Orleans, reports the total loss of the bark Sarah Hand, on Sandy Keys, bound to New-York, with a cargo of sugar and molasses. All the cargo was lost except 300 boxes of sugar.”

As no names were mentioned in the report, it is not certain that Franklin was in charge of the ship when it foundered.  However, it is clear that at some point during the period 1849 to 1852, Franklin married and raised two children, a boy and a girl.  His wife was Julia A.H. Foote, born at Topsham in 1827.  His children were named Peter Bradstreet Whitney, born in 1850 and Anna Jane Whitney , born in 1852.

In September 1852  Franklin Whitney, now aged 29, returned to the sea as Commander of a brand new ship.  This was the Jennie W. Paine.  Recently built at Gardner, the ship was once again described as “a bark, thoroughly ventilated, with great breadth  of beam and ample space between the decks”.

The ownership of the Jennie W. Paine is interesting.  A handwritten document, dated September 29th 1852, shows that the co-owners of the ship were William Bradstreet of Gardner, Maine, and the ship’s Commander, Franklin Hunter Whitney.  Bearing in mind the middle name of Franklin’s son, it is possible that Bradstreet’s  relationship with Franklin may have been more to do with friendship than business.  In any case, for Franklin to have a share in the ownership made a great deal of sense as he could now have  a say in important decisions relating to  a voyage. For example, the choice of ports, cargoes and terms of service of the crew. 

In late 1852 the Jennie W. Paine made its first voyage.  This was to the French port of Le Havre.  Again a painting  is available, courtesy of the Maine Maritime Museum.  This time we know  the artist’s name – Henri Louis Casselini.  Clearly a minor artist, Casselini – like many other port artists of the time – knew how to make some extra cash by monitoring  ships entering the local port.  He would then choose a ship, paint it and then offer the result to the captain – for a fee!    

The Museum has offered this additional description of the ship:

“Ship Jennie W. Paine, Franklin H. Whitney Commander, Leaving the Port of Havre. ……..The image is a port broadside view of the ship, which features a black hull and yellowish sails. All sails are set except the main royal staysail, the mizzen course and the mizzen staysails. The vessel is flying a burgee of (sic) the main mast and the ensign off the mizzen halyard. “

In April 1853 The Jennie W. Paine left New York and sailed to Cardiff.  By this time, thanks to the Taff Vale Railway , Cardiff had become a port of world renown as the centre point for the export of high grade iron and coal.  During these years American ships were a common sight at the port as ship owners and businessmen – like Bradstreet – sought to load up their ships with high quality Welsh coal.  This coal, known as “Welsh Steam Coal”  was in great demand  because it provided a high heat and burned without giving off too much smoke or ash.  As such, it was the ideal  power source for the many factories and railways which were emerging in the industrial towns and cities of America.

Franklin Whitney’s voyage to Cardiff would prove to be his last. He died of smallpox on June 10th 1853.  He was 30 years old.  Following his death, for fully understandable reasons, he was buried without delay.  On  June 11th, the next day,  a funeral service was held at St. Mary’s church in Bute Street and from there the body was taken the short distance to the nearby Adamsdown Cemetery.

The Death Certificate is quite specific.  Franklin Whitney, a Master Mariner,  died on board his ship on the 10th June 1853. The cause of death was Smallpox – against which he had not been vaccinated.  The death was registered on June 11th.  Present at the death was one Matthew P. Reed who was, possibly, the ship’s First Mate.

Whilst the manner of Whitney’s death  was, probably, very sad for the crew, the reality of life at sea meant that work  had to go on.  Therefore, it is reasonable to assume that within a few days the Jennie W. Paine, now loaded up with coal, set sail for America, under the command of Matthew Reed.

For some years after his  death, Franklin’s wife and children continued to live at Topsham until, at some point, Franklin’s son,  Peter Bradstreet, left home.  In the 1878 census he is recorded as living in Marin in California and later, in 1880, at Ashland in Oregon. He died there on April 1 1907 aged 57 years.  As for Franklin’s wife, Julia , she remained in Topsham for a few more years and then followed  her son  to Oregon where she died on the 31st July 1887, aged 60 years.  Nothing more is known of Franklin’s daughter, Anna. 

Given his wider family’s wealth and status, it is clear that arrangements were made – probably via the American Consulate at Bristol –  to erect a tombstone to mark the position of Franklin’s grave.  This remained in place for over a hundred years until, with the changes of 1970s, it was removed and replaced near the cemetery’s walls.

What of the Jennie W. Paine?

For the ten years or so after Franklin’s death  she  continued to trade at ports in countries across the world: Panama and Peru in 1854; the Philippines in 1855; Australia and New Zealand in 1860.

In April 1861 American society changed significantly when the long-lasting tensions between the northern and southern states broke out into a full scale civil war.  Almost immediately ships working out of ports such as New York were warned that they should be on their guard when sailing near ports of the South.

New York Times May 1861:-

“Shipowners and captains should be advised that it is no longer safe for vessels to go to any ports in North Carolina.” 

Perhaps it was to avoid the conflict that, during the next two  years,  the Jennie W. Paine left American waters and restricted its trading activity to ports around  Australia and New Zealand.  Thus during the years 1862 to 1863, we find the ship under Commander A. Burke, carrying  “sheep, wethers (lambs) and horses” between the ports of Auckland, Melbourne, Southland and Port Chalmers.

After these years, whilst little information  can be found regarding the Jennie W. Paine, one source –  Lee Whitney of California – suggests that she took an active part in the American Civil War when she was “requisitioned”  by  Admiral David  Farragut of the Northern States  for service in the Battle of Mobile Bay in August 1864.  Whatever the case, it should be remembered that after the Civil War the “golden age” of sailing ships began to decline, not only in America but across the world.  Very soon these  ships would  be replaced by ships made of iron and steel and driven by engine power.  

Did the Jennie W. Paine carry on trading for a few more years?  We don’t know. However it is tempting to think that, at some time, she followed the traditional method of disposal for Maine ships when she was sailed to some lonely river bank, abandoned and allowed to waste away in her own good time.

————————————————————–

Guest contribution by Liam Affley, former Chairman of the Wales and the Marches Catholic History Society 

Sir George Lewis – where is he?

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Can you help us track down Sir George Lewis.  He’s been reported missing. 

A recent enquiry into our website asked if we knew of his whereabouts.  It came from Steve Parlanti whose ancestors owned Parlanti Bronze Foundries in London.  Steve has been busy piecing together the history of the foundry and tracking down the bronze casts that were made there.  He’s put his findings together on an interesting website.

Of the many pieces of art made by Parlanti foundries, three are here in Cardiff, all close to each other.  There are:

Boer War memorial by Cardiff City Hall.  In his book of 1953, ‘Casting A Torso In Bronze’, Ercole J Parlanti wrote about the direct lost wax method, and mentioned how it was used for the casting in bronze of a small tree fixed in the hand of a Figure of Victory, part of the Cardiff War memorial. A real tree was used in this case, the brick-dust mixture applied to it, the wood burned out in the baking, and the molten metal run in its place. The casting was successful.

The Scott memorial plaque is in the City Hall. This was designed by a young sculptor W.W.Wagstaffe.  The tablet had a troubled creation. Cardiff donated generously towards Scott’s expedition to the Antarctic but it seems were far less generous when it came to establishing a Memorial Fund to him.  Wagstaffe claimed the tablet ended up costing him more to have made than he was paid. Delivery of the tablet was also delayed because the foundry had been ordered to temporarily suspend all artistic work for the production of vital munitions.

Morpheus by the sculptor William Goscombe John made in 1890 in the National Museum of Wales. This figure was modelled in Paris during the studentship which followed the sculptor’s winning of the Royal Academy Gold Medal of 1889. Goscombe John frequented Rodin’s studio and the pose of this figure recalls Rodin’s Age of Bronze.  At the Royal Academy in 1891 it was exhibited with the poetic caption ‘Drown’d in drowsy sleep of nothing he takes keep’.  When I tried to visit Morpheus at the museum recently I was told he’d been removed because of Covid. Here’s wishing him a speedy recovery.

Parlanti castings in Cardiff: Boer War memorial, the Scott memorial plaque and Morpheus.

What we are looking for is a fourth casting.  In the West London Observer of  31 Aug 1900 there is a list of pieces made at the Alexander Parlanti foundry including “Sir George Lewis for Cardiff”.  Given the dates the foundry existed it is believed this must have been referring to a cast made some time between 1890 and 1900.

A quick internet search throws up two people called Sir George Lewis of notoriety.

Sir George Cornewall Lewis (1806-1863). He was born in Radnorshire and later became MP for Herefordshire and held senior positions in government including Home Secretary and Chancellor of the Exchequer.  He is best known for preserving neutrality in 1862 when the British cabinet debated intervention in the American Civil War.  He is remembered in New Radnor with a striking stone monument erected in 1864.  Sir George Lewis is also remembered in Hereford with a statue which was unveiled also in 1864 some 35 years prior to the one referred to in the newspaper article so not the one we are looking for.  There is also a bust of him by Henry Weekes in Westminster Abbey.

Sir George Cornewall Lewis, the New Radnor monument and statue in Hereford.

The other Sir George Lewis (1833-1911) was a lawyer from London.  On the face of it he has no obvious association with Cardiff.  It would also be relatively unusual for a statue to be commissioned of someone still alive though one of Cardiff’s statues bucks that trend.

So where is the missing statue of Sir George Lewis?  Can you help find him please.

Impressionist Painter Herbert Ivan Babbage

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In October 1916 the impressionist painter Herbert Ivan Babbage died at Howard Gardens School, which was at the time being used as a military hospital.

Luxembourg Gardens, Paris by Ivan Babbage

Ivan Babbage was great-grandson of Charles Babbage, the engineer, mathematician and ‘father of the modern computer’.

It’s a sad story but let’s have a look at how Ivan Babbage happened to end up in Cardiff.

Herbert Ivan Babbage, known as Ivan, was born in Adelaide, Australia on 18 Aug 1875 to Charles Whitmore Babbage, a bank clerk and sketch artist, originally from Somerset, England and Amelia Babbage née Barton, originally from  Frimley, Surrey.

 In 1876 his father was convicted of forgery and embezzlement and whilst he was still serving his prison sentence, Ivan, his mother and brothers moved to Wanganui, New Zealand to start a new life. Ivan studied to become an artist, initially in New Zealand and then at the London School of Art and later at the Académie Julian in Paris, France. He returned to New Zealand in 1909 where he had a number of exhibitions before moving back to England again in 1911 to the studio he had set up at St Ives, Cornwall.  

Babbage, Herbert Ivan; Harbour, St Ives ; Penlee House Gallery & Museum; http://www.artuk.org/artworks/harbour-st-ives-238480

At the outbreak of WWI Herbert Ivan Babbage enlisted at St. Austell at the age of 39. He was posted to Duke of Cornwall’s Light Infantry and then transferred to Royal Defence Corps.

In a letter home to New Zealand Babbage writes of guarding a viaduct in harsh wintery conditions, presumed to be the Goitre Coed Viaduct, Quakers Yard. This ties in with information from his probate which gave his address as Camp Edwardsville, Glamorganshire.

Goitre Coed Viaduct, Quakers Yard (Photo credit: National Museum of Wales)

There were in fact two other railway viaducts in Edwardsville at the time, both since demolished, so the Royal Defence Corps were no doubt kept busy.

Two newspaper articles published in New Zealand shed light on his war service and painting:-

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume LXXI, Issue LXXI – 14 June, 1916:

ON DUTY IN ENGLAND – AN ARTIST’S LETTER

In the course of an interesting letter, dated April 25th, Mr H. J. Babbage, formerly of Hawera, who has been doing special military duty in England for a considerable time, says that the hours are pretty long owing to air raids. The men have 24 hours on and 24 hours off, in addition to fatigue duty in the spare time. Writing of the season he says:- “We have had the worst winter in the memory of living men. It has been a regular old-timer one reads about. Early in March we had a blizzard. It snowed for two weeks on end. Then at the end of March another blizzard lasting two days, and in that time the drifts of snow were 20 feet deep and number so people perished in them. All trains were stopped, some snowed up, and all telegraph wires were down; the poles simply smashed off in the gale like reeds. The wires weighed tons, and were like great white ropes as thick as one’s arms. Two motor busses were snowed up outside our billet in the street. It was pretty trying at night time on top of the viaduct, as they were so exposed.” His picture, which gained a place at the Royal Academy, he worked at in his spare time. The snow effects, he says, were most lovely. Not only was the picture hung, but hung “on the line,” which means the best place in the Gallery. In concluding his letter, Mr Babbage says:- “All the Reserves are now formed into one, with headquarters in London, and are now called the Royal Defence Corps, as the King wanted to show his appreciation of the service of the various corps.”

Hawera & Normanby Star, New Zealand, Volume LXXII – 23 October, 1916:

PERSONAL ITEMS

The death is announced of Mr Herbert Ivan Babbage, third son of Mr and Mrs C. W. Babbage, of Wanganui, formerly of Hawera. Mr Babbage had adopted the profession of artist, and after forwarding himself as far as possible in New Zealand went to England. There he pursued his studies diligently and with a success that justified the early promise he had shown. Later on he travelled a good deal in Europe, all the time adding to his reputation. Last year he gained the distinction of having one of his pictures accepted by the Royal Academy and hung “on the line,” a coveted concession. Very general regret will be felt by Hawera friends at his untimely death. It is not suggested that he was killed in action, and we understand he had not been accepted for military service abroad, though he had offered himself. But he had been serving in England on patrol duty, and curiously among his first work was the duty of helping to guard an important bridge in the south of England which his grandfather had designed.

Ivan’s grandfather, mentioned in the letter above, was engineer Benjamin Herschel Babbage who at times worked with Isambard Kingdom Brunel who designed the Goitre Coed Viaduct at Quakers Yard, so it seems to tie in.

Another interesting fact about Benjamin Herschel Babbage was that in 1850 he was commissioned by Patrick Brontë, father of the famous writing sisters, to investigate the unsanitary conditions in Howarth, Yorkshire.   These investigations ended up in the Babbage Report and work being carried out to improve the sanitary conditions in Howarth.  

According to his death certificate, Ivan Babbage suffered from bowel cancer and received treatment at 3rd Western General Hospital (Howard Gardens), Cardiff where he died on 14 Oct 1916 aged 41. 

Howard Gardens School being used as a hospital in WWI

He is buried at Cathays Cemetery with others who fell in WWI and WWII near the Cross of Sacrifice.  His burial place is marked with a flat granite slab erected privately rather than the traditional Commonwealth War Graves Commission headstone.   

Present with him at the time of his death at Howard Gardens was his aunt Flora Lavinia Adrian née Barton. Her son, Ivan Babbage’s cousin, Edgar Douglas Adrian, was an  electro-physiologist at Trinity College, Cambridge and went on to win  the 1932 Nobel Prize for Physiology for his  work on the function of neurons. He provided experimental evidence for the all-or-none law of nerves.

Rt: gravestone of Herbert Ivan Babbage at Cathays Cemetery

Ivan Babbage is remembered on the St Ives War Memorial and the St. Ives Arts Club Memorial for the Great War.  Ivan Babbage Commonwealth War Graves Commission record.

After his death his paintings from his St Ives studio were returned to relatives in New Zealand.  Some ten of his paintings are now in a collection at the Sarjeant Gallery, Whanganui. Others are held at the National Library of New Zealand. It is not clear to me if the picture of The Viaduct has survived or not.

References:

Chance meeting leads to history.

WWI Australian Soldiers and Nurses who Rest in the United Kingdom.

In a lonely grave in Cardiff: Herbert Ivan Babbage.

Remembering Babbage.

Herbert Ivan Babbage entry in Roath Virtual War Memorial.

Four people with links to Ivan Babbage who died at Howard Gardens school: Charles Babbage, great-grandfather and ‘father of the modern computer’. The Bronte sisters from Howarth, a village cleaned up by Ivan’s grandfather. Isambard Kingdom Brunel who worked with Ivan’s grandfather. Alfred Nobel who bequeathed his fortune to the Nobel Prize, won by Ivan’s cousin, Dr Edgar Adrian.
Babbage connections

Robert Fitzhamon, Tewkesbury Abbey and the Roath connection

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A look back to 2019 when our Society had an outing to Tewkesbury Abbey

In c1100, Robert Fitz-Hamon (Robert son of Hamon), a kinsman of William the Conqueror
established the Norman Lordship of Glamorgan. Within the curtilage of the old Roman
Legionary Fortress in Cardiff, he had built a Motte and Bailey, heavily fortified and for the
purpose of controlling the local native tribes. This structure dominates the Castle Arena to
this day.

The Motte is a man-made mound circa 40 feet in height, surrounded by a ditch, with
drawbridge access. The Bailey is the stone-built Shell Keep on top of the mound, probably
constructed with stone from the old Roman fort. The original structure would have been
much larger than is seen today and it was here that the Lord of the Manor, his retinue and
family would have lived, with numerous soldiers in adjacent accommodation. This was the
true Cardiff Castle. The large building on the west side is not and never has been fortified
and serves no military purpose. It was built as a residence for later Lords of the Manor and
developed over the years into the ornate and palatial building we see today.

Photos of Tewkesbury Abbey


Such large numbers required food supplies and other essentials, for this purpose an
agricultural enterprise was established several miles east of the castle, on the site of the
former Rath, which would have been situated in pre-Norman times, on the approximate
site, that Roath Court occupies today.

Rath is an Irish-Celtic word, that refers to a settlement consisting of a group of primitive
wattle and daub dwellings, surrounded by a high earth bank. The construction would have
a stout wooden palisade around the top and be surrounded by an outer ditch. There would
only be one, heavily guarded entrance.

Photos of Tewkesbury Abbey


The demesne would have been run on well organised, feudal lines. There would have been
a manor house, from which the area was administered and the work of the agricultural year
planned and implemented – when to sow, reap, harvest etc. Minor disputes and
infringements could also be settled at the manor, as reflected in the name Roath Court.
At a later stage, the manor of Roath was subdivided and parts were granted or gifted to
several religious houses. Towards the end of the 12th. Century, a portion of the land
surrounding Roath Court had been granted to Tewkesbury Abbey, a wealthy Benedictine
order, the Abbey Church of which having been established by Robert Fitzhamon, as was the
chapel of St. Margaret of Antioch (St. Margaret’s Parish Church). The area was then
designated “Roath Tewkesbury”. Another gifted section, became “Roath Keynsham”.
At the time of the dissolution of the Monasteries, the lands which had been gifted to these
religious houses reverted to the Crown. In due course they were redistributed, either by gift
or purchase and were eventually acquired by families such as the Butes, Tredegars and
Mackintoshes, who went on to develop these lands as present day Roath.

Therefore, an intimate connection exists between Tewkesbury and Roath through one man,
Robert Fitzhamon. The Founder’s Chantry is in the traditional position to the north (left) of
the high altar.


R.L.H.S. Research Group (Peter Gillard)

Tongue in cheek commentary of our visit to Tewkesbury

Went to Tewkesbury Abbey today see this guy, William Fitzhamon, and ask him
what he was playing at marching into Wales, defeating our Welsh prince and
establishing a Norman castle in the middle of Cardiff. He didn’t have a lot to
say for himself – he’s been dead 900 years. Being a second cousin of William
the Conqueror he probably thought he could do what he liked, but that’s no
excuse.

So what’s it got to do with Roath? Well, having built a castle you suddenly find
everyones a bit peckish. That’s where Roath comes in. It becomes the
breadbasket of Cardiff, rearing the animals, growing the crops, and milling the
flour at Roath Mill, all so that William Fitzhamon and his followers could be
supplied with sandwiches.

And where does Tewkesbury come into it? Well, it was Fitzhamon’s HQ. He
was Baron of Gloucester as well as lord of Glamorgan. William Fitzhamon
founded Tewkesbury Abbey in 1102, though didn’t live to see it finished but
they did have the decency to bury him in a prime spot, next to the altar.

Towards the end of the 12th century Roath, which covered a much larger area
of Cardiff than it does today, was divided up and a large part of it gifted to
Tewkesbury Abbey and hence called Roath Tewkesbury. It may still be called
that today had it not been for the Dissolution of the Monasteries in around
1540 when the land reverted to mister tubby himself, Henry VIII. Over time it
got flogged off to people like the Butes, Mackintoshes and Tredegars, who in
turn gave bits away, or flogged it on again to builders so we can have the
Cardiff we all know and love today.

Ted Richards

Cardiff Blind School

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This is a reprint of an ‘occasional paper’ first researched and published by the Roath Local History Society in 2011 supplemented with pictures and newspaper extracts.

In 1894, the Cardiff Education Committee accepted the recommendation of its Special Schools Committee to cease renting a schoolroom in the Blind Institute and to appoint a teacher to work with blind children. The teacher would attend Radnor Road School, Canton in the mornings and Stacey Rd School, Roath in the afternoons.

Radnor Road School
Stacey Road School

The teacher appointed gives his name as Frank Lattey.  There are no Latteys listed in Cardiff or anywhere else in the 1881 Census but he appears in the 1901 Census where Frank turns out to be his middle name; in the Census he is Werner F Lattey; age 41(so born about 1860); born in London, living as a boarder at 150 Richmond Rd, Cardiff; occupation Schoolmaster (which clinches it). Reading about him working mornings in Canton and afternoons in Roath, I imagined him cycling between the two, but the final column of the Census form tells us he was partially sighted from birth so perhaps the trams were already running between Victoria Park and the Royal Oak).

The logbooks of Cardiff Blind School are held in Glamorgan Archives. The first entry is dated 3 Sept 1895 but when school resumes after the Christmas holiday, the dates are still headed 1895 and all subsequent entries follow from this, so the first entry was probably made 3 Sept 1894. The following selection of entries from the logbooks provide a picture of conditions at the time:

Opened September 3 1895.  Frank Lattey teacher.

Morning attendance at Radnor Rd Girls’ School.

Afternoon attendance at Stacey Rd.

Sep 3. Admitted 1 girl and 1 boy at Radnor Rd.

Admitted 2 girls and 2 boys at Stacey Rd.

Sep 7. Admitted 1 girl Radnor Rd.

Oct 31.  ½ day holiday.

Nov 7.  Stacey Rd closed due to rough weather.

Nov 30. Ethel is progressing favourably with Braille.

Dec 21. Schools closed for Christmas vacation.

Jan 7. 1895 Resumed school work.

Jan 11. Charles is rarely in school. He is subject to fits.

Jan 25. Archibald away for last 3 weeks for lack of boots.

Feb 1. Gabrielle is making progress in Braille and arithmetic.

Mar 15. Rachel is a troublesome fidgety child and does not improve in reading and writing.

(There are later Entries concerning Rachel):

Sep 11 1896. Rachel is still absent and the attendance officer reports that the family is likely to go into the workhouse.

Sep 18. Rachel is again attending school.

And, to finish these entries on a positive note:

May 14 1897. I am informed that Clarissa of this school has won a scholarship at the Royal Normal College and Academy of Music for the Blind, Upper Norwood, London.

The Royal Normal College, Upper Norwood
(image courtesy of The Norwood Society)

Reports of Her Majesty’s Inspectors of Schools (HMI) are copied in full into the logbooks.  The reports are short and (almost!) invariably favourable.

Report of HMI Rev T Sharpe year ended 30 April 1895

Stacey Road: The children are taught with kindness and patience. Consequently provision should be made at [? illegible] for a school. Grant £8.8.0.

Radnor Road: The children are carefully taught and very gently handled. They should be transferred to more suitable premises. Grant £6.0.9.

June 16 1897 Report of HMI for Stacey Rd Dept: The children are still taught in a classroom with sighted children but with a special instructor to work with them half the day.  A new central room for the instruction of the two groups of blind children in Cardiff is approaching completion.  The work of the special instructor deserves praise.

June 18 Closed for Jubilee Week. [Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee]

July 1 Report of HMI for Radnor Rd: The children are taught in a corridor by a special teacher during half the day and during the rest of the time receive instruction with the sighted children. A new central room… [continues as Stacey Rd report]

The school transferred to the central room in Adamsdown in September 1897. The logbook records that they exhibited a hearthrug at the Cardiff Horticultural Show during the August Holiday and a boy named Sydney won 1st prize in the general competition.  Numbers of children attending increased and HMIs’ Reports continue:

South Wales Echo, 12 Oct 1898

18 July 1900 Report of HMI: The school provides for the education of 35 blind children of both sexes.  The school is in a thoroughly satisfactory state and the Master deserves praise for the capable instruction that is given here.  It is desirable that inexpensive books in Braille type should be purchased in order that the children may be encouraged to read at home.

15 March 1906 Received report of HM Inspector: The opportunities for educating children are very unsatisfactory.  The children are too few to admit of suitable classification and do not make adequate progress.  Accordingly the Committee are advised to close the school and transfer the children to residential institutions. In this way the expenditure on the children may be expected to be effective. At present this is certainly not the case.

Mr Lattey replied in a typed letter, the carbon copy of which is in Glamorgan Archives. (The carbon would now be too faint to read if he had not hit the keys with such force that they have left impressions in the paper!)

2 April 1906

To the Chairman and Members of the Special Schools Committee

Mesdames and Dear Sirs,

I have received and read with surprise the report of Dr Eichol on this school and in connection therewith I beg to submit the following statement.

The visit on which the report is based lasted less than thirty minutes and so far from the general progress of the school being inquired into, only a few questions were asked of the pupils and these were confined to four of the eleven subjects taught in the school.

I do not gather from the report that there is any complaint upon my methods or my work, and before your Committee decide to act in the matter, I respectfully ask your consideration of previous reports upon the work of the school.

The number of pupils is at present small, but as ten is the maximum for a class in a residential institution, the smallness of the number seems hardly a sound reason for closing the school.  I would also remind you that the number has been as high as seventeen and Cardiff cannot reasonably expect that the number of its blind children will remain much longer at the present low figure.

As evidence that the school has done and is capable of doing good work, I mention that no less than five children have been brought to me at a time when their sight was in a critical condition; they continued their education without injury to their sight and having eventually recovered are now in the upper standards of ordinary schools. It is doubtful if such cases would have been sent to an institution.

It is also well known that pupils from the school have proceeded to Norwood where they have been awarded £40 scholarships.  It is doubtful whether some of the present pupils would be accepted by a residential Institution.  I would point out that the practice in London, where there are both Residential Institutions and Day Centres, is that the children attend the Day Centre for seven years before going into the Residential Institution.

In conclusion I would respectfully submit that the question of a Residential Institution in Cardiff is receiving the earnest attention of some members of the Institute Committee and the summary closing of the school would probably delay its establishment.

I am, Your obedient servant, FRANK LATTEY

Western Mail, 3rd Apr 1906

And that is the last we hear of that report! Presumably, the letter was dealt with by the Special Schools Committee but from then on, after each HMIs’ visit, the logbook carefully records how long the visit lasted and whether or not the Inspectors spoke to any of the children.

A book by the Director of the Cardiff Institute for the Blind refers to efforts in 1897 to make the transition of children from school life to their apprenticeships at the Institute as easy as possible. Later, during the First World War, he notes “The blind children of Cardiff are under the care of Cardiff Education Committee and part of one of the largest and best situated schools in Cardiff has been specially allocated to them  … After the age of sixteen they are drafted into the workshops.”

Western Mail. 27 Feb 1914 – Esperanto Class for the Blind

Glamorgan Archives have decided that because the logbooks contain personal information on individual pupils, they should be closed for 100 years (for the same reason, I have used only the pupils’ first names). Their Index shows that the Blind School moved to Marlborough Road School in 1912 and again to Cathedral Road in 1926.

The original Marlborough Road Board School opened in 1900, on the corner of Blenheim Road and Marlborough Road.

A letter from the Director of Education to the Head of the Blind School dated

27 August 1926 reads:

Dear Madam

Cathedral Road Blind School

The following is a copy of a letter dated 20 inst which I have received from the Board of Education.

1. With reference to Mr Jackson’s letter of 23 inst I am directed to thank the Authority for the information contained therein and to say that the school will in future be known as the Cathedral Road Blind School.

I am to add that the new premises provide sufficient accommodation for an average attendance of 60 children.

Yours faithfully, J.J. JACKSON Director of Education.

The Index shows the final entry in the Cathedral Road logbook is in September 1939.

I have failed to find an image of Cathedral Road Blind School but would welcome sharing one if anyone has one.

Dr J.J.E.Biggs – the first man in Wales to forget the microphone was still switched on.

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It’s an unusual accolade to award someone but it tickles me. When Lord Mayor J.J.E. Biggs made his speech at the opening of the BBC in Cardiff in February 1923 he forgot the name and, forgetting the microphone was still switched on, turned to the person next to him and asked ‘What’s the name of this organisation again?’ In the same speech however he remarkably prophesised the advent of television.

I shouldn’t belittle him.  He achieved an awful lot.  He was part of the Biggs rugby playing family.  His brother Norman was the youngest person to play for Wales at 18, a record he held for 120 years.  Another brother, Selwyn Biggs, was another Welsh international.  John James Egerton Biggs himself almost joined his brothers as Welsh internationals.  In fact he was picked to play on one occasion against England but was unfortunately ill so had to pull out of the game.  All six Biggs brothers played rugby for Cardiff over the years.

J.J.E. Biggs was a doctor. He trained at Guys Hospital, and on returning to Cardiff became a surgeon, presumably at the Infirmary.

He had a distinguished medical career in WWI, promoted to Major, mentioned in dispatches and awarded an OBE.

In 1908 he became a Conservative Councillor for Roath with a record vote.  In 1911 he was re-elated councillor and became Head of Education.  In 1914 as Councillor and Chair of Education Committee his name appears on the foundation stone at Cardiff Technical College – now the Bute Building of Cardiff University. 

WWI had interrupted his involvement in politics.  In 1922 he became Lord Mayor of Cardiff which is why it fell upon him to speak at the opening of the BBC in Cardiff, 100 years ago, on 13 February 1923.

Dr J.J.E.Biggs, Lord Mayor of Cardiff 1922-23 and wife  Louisa Biggs

Opening of the BBC in Wales

On Tuesday 13th Feb 1923 the BBC started broadcasting radio from a tiny studio above the Castle Picture Theatre on the corner of Castle Street and Womandy Street in Cardiff.  In his speech, the Lord Mayor of Cardiff Alderman J.J.E.Biggs forecast that broadcasting would raise the standard of intellectual life, giving the poor the ‘same opportunity as the people of Mayfair to hear Paderewski and the voice of Melba.’ With great foresight he also prophesised that ‘one day vibrations of light would be projected in the same way allowing people to see the scenery, the architecture and the paintings of Italy, Greece and Egypt’.  The only hiccup of his speech came when he whispered to an aside heard by thousands ‘what’s the name of the organisation again?’

There’s no picture I can find of Dr Biggs at the BBC opening. This one is of a number of the entertainers with John Reath on the right.

Later Life

In 1926 he was present at the opening of Tredegar Hall – Roath Conservative Club by Lord Tredegar on Broadway, a building still there today. By 1939 he had moved from Cardiff and was living in Russell House, Gloucester, as a medical practitioner.  He died in aged 73 in Cheltenham.

John James Egerton Biggs timeline

1867: Born 9th July Montgomery Terrace (presumably Street), Roath (or at least that’s where they were when he was baptised on 3rd Aug 1867).

1871: Living in St Andrew’s Place (aged 3)

1881: Living as a boarder in Cardiff Preparatory School, Dunfries Place (aged 13), even though his parents lived around the corner.

Then educated at University College Cardiff then Guy’s Medical School

Played rugby for Cardiff 18 times between 1886 and 1893 as a three-quarter and forward,  but also for other clubs including Guy’s Hospital, Richmond and Surrey

1891: Selected to pay for Wales against England at Newport in 1891 but was unable to play – reported to have been ill.

1891: Won the 120 yards sprint race at the Civil Service sports.

1891: Missing from census

1893. Qualifies as a doctor at Guy’s Hospital.

Worked at East London Hospital for Children.

Worked at Mineral Water Hospital, Bath

1895: Returns to Cardiff

1898: Marries Louisa Frances Maude Wilson (JJE Biggs is living at 147 Newport Road at the time). She was the second daughter of John Heron Wilson, a Cardiff ship owner and coal exporter

1899: Birth of son John Heron Biggs

1901: Living at 147 Newport Road, working as a Medical Practitioner, surgeon.

1906: Elected as member of Cardiff Naturalists Society

1907: Birth of son Alwyn Biggs

1908: Becomes a Conservative Councillor for Roath with a record vote

1909: Birth of son Norman Wilson Biggs

1911: Living at 175 Newport Road

1911: Re-elated councillor and becomes Head of Education

1914: Councillor and Chair of Education Committee – name on foundation stone at Cardiff Technical College – now the Bute Building of Cardiff University

1914: Joins Army. In the 2/7 Welch Regiment and promoted to Captain.

1915 Transfers to Royal Army Medical Corps, goes to Gallipoli, invalided to Egypt, recovered and went through the Sinai and Palestine campaigns.

1917. Promoted to Major, mentioned in dispatches, awarded OBE.

1920: Living at 44 Oakfield Street

1921 Census: 44 Oakfield Street, Roath.  J.J.E. Biggs –  Employment – Medical Practitioner, based at home. Living with wife Louisa and two sons, John Heron (22) mining engineering student and Alwyn (14)

1922: Become Lord Mayor of Cardiff (1922-23)

1926: at opening of Tredegar Hall – Roath Conservative Club by Lord Tredegar on Broadway

1932: Still living in Oakfield Street

1939: Living in Russell House, Gloucester, as a medical practitioner

1940: Dies aged 73 in Cheltenham

William Erbery – Founder of the first non-conformist church in Cardiff

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Wales is known for its history of non-conformity and abundance of chapels.

The first Nonconformists  in Cardiff were probably the heretics, who, after the Reformation, were hanged or burnt at the stake for their faith. New ideas were a threat to the authority of the Church and the stability of society.

In Cardiff, two men were burnt for their beliefs: Thomas Capper in 1542 and Rawlins White in 1555. Rawlins White was a local fisherman. He was executed in 1555 in the centre of Cardiff for his protestant beliefs.  He is said to have been given opportunity to escape and renounce his beliefs but refused to. When his time came to be executed he asked his wife to bring him his wedding outfit so he would look his best.  It is even said he helped neatly build up the wood around his feet. There is a plaque to him in the old Bethany Baptist Church which has now been subsumed into the House of Frasier department store.

These were individuals and founded no new church, but in the 1630s all that was to change with William Erbery.  It was his followers who set up the first non-conformist church in Cardiff, Trinity chapel in Womanby Street, opposite the castle, in 1697.  William had been dead 45 years by that stage but his followers and their descendants are thought to have continued to meet in secret after his death, until in 1697 they were given the freedom to build their own church.

Life of William Erbery

William Erbery was born in Roath in 1604 or more precisely Roath Dogfield. His father, Thomas Erbery, was a merchant who had probably come across from the West Country of England to establish an iron foundry in the Merthyr Valley before moving to Cardiff.  It is probable that Thomas married Elizabeth, daughter of Rees David, a Cardiff cordwainer.

William entered Brasenose College, Oxford in 1619, graduated in 1623 and proceeded to Queens’ College, Cambridge where he earned a second degree in 1626. He subscribed for deacon’s orders in the diocese of Bristol a December 23rd 1626 and became curate in St Woolos in Newport in 1630.

He remained at Newport until 1633 when he became vicar of St Mary’s in Cardiff. He had been presented with the living by Sir Thomas Lewis of Penmarc, a member of the influential Puritan Lewis family of Y Fan. The Lewis family were patrons of William Wroth and business associates of Erbery’s father.

He became vicar at St Mary’s in August, 1633.  St Mary’s church is no longer standing.  The church was badly damaged when the River Taff flooded in 1607 with bones and coffins from its graveyard being washed out to sea. Accounts state a mini tsunami swept up the Bristol Channel! Saint Mary’s was finally abandoned in 1701. The church gave its name to nearby St Mary’s Street. A new St Mary’s church was later built on Bute Street, south of the railway station. The current Prince of Wales pub now stands on this church’s original site. On the side of the pub on Gt. Western lane entrance is an unusual outline of the original Saint Mary’s church.

Immediately after becoming vicar of St Mary’s William Erbery expressed his Puritan convictions. The ‘Book of Sports’ was issued on October 18th, 1633 and all clergy were instructed to read the King’s commands in Sunday worship. One of the aims of the Act was to root out ‘Puritans and precise people’ who would object to the playing games and sports on the Sabbath. Erbery refused to read out the ‘Book of Sports’, and as a result he was summoned to appear before William Murray, Bishop of Llandaff and subsequently before the Court of High Commission at Lambeth. The Bishop of Llandaff had branded him a schismatic   After a long process he resigned his living in 1638.

The Archbishop wrote to Charles I saying that the vicar of St Mary’s in Cardiff was very disobedient to your Majesty’s instructions.

Erbery’s refusal to read the ‘Book of Sports’  led to a lengthy struggle between him and William Murray, Bishop of Llandaf. The controversy may have begun with Murray, but it soon reached the ear of Laud, Archbishop of Canterbury, and even the King. In his annual reports to Charles, Laud referred  to his struggles with the schismatic Erbery.  Ultimately Erbery was summoned to appear before Laud at the Court of High Commission at Lambeth. Laud’s reports to the King present important and intriguing reading.

REPORT FOR 1634

The Bishop of Landaff certifies. That this last Year he Visited in Person: and found that William Erbury, Vicar of St. Maries in Cardiff, and Walter Cradocke his Curate, have been very disobedient to your Majesty’s Instructions, and have Preached very Schismatically and Dangerously to the People. That for this he hath given the Vicar a Judicial Admonition, and will farther proceed, if he do not submit, And for his Curate, being a bold ignorant young Fellow, he hath Suspended him, and taken away his License to serve the Cure. Among other things he used this base and Unchristian passage in the Pulpit, that God so loved the world, that for it he sent his Son to live like a Slave, and dye like a Beast.

In 1638 William Erbery was deprived of his occupation for refusing to read “The Book of Sports” and along with similar minded members of the congregation of St Mary’s. He preached for some years in secret in various parts of England and Wales, and on his return to Cardiff in the latter part of 1639.

Around 1640, or at the end of the previous year, the radical cleric  Rev William Erbery set up his own church with his followers but in the Civil Wars was about to start.  

His Cardiff property was plundered by the Royalists though it is unclear whether this was his house in Roath or a vicarage in St Mary’s parish.

Like his fellow Puritans in south-east Wales, Erbery was forced to flee from the Royalist forces because ‘the sword scattered us all into England’. Erbery made his way to Windsor Castle where he sought help from Christopher Love who was serving as chaplain tan Venn, Governor of the castle. s parish.

Erbery played a role in petitioning the House of Commons about the need for a godly ministry in Wales:-

The first indication of the Welsh radicals pressing their case for reform came in December 1640, when William Erbery submitted a petition to the Commons… he, and the clique of Puritan ministers associated with him, saw his role to be that of a spokesman for the whole of Wales… It was noted on the surviving copy of this petition that it was granted on 12 January 1641, and liberty was given by the Commons to a closely-associated group of Welsh radicals – quite possibly those mentioned as attending on parliament – to preach throughout Wales. They were Erbery himself, Walter Cradock, Henry Walter, Ambrose Mostyn and Richard Symonds.”

He became chaplain, when the English Civil War broke out in 1642, to the regiment of Philip Skippon in the Parliamentary Army.

Erbery played a key role in the Oxford Disputations. He was a prime cause of the growth of sectarianism amongst students and soldiers (a heady mix!) in the city.  Oxford had fallen to the  parliamentary Army in the summer of 1646, and Erbery was there soon after the city’s liberation/capture. His lectures and preaching created such a ferment in the city that parliament sent six Presbyterian ministers to maintain the orthodox line. The visitors reported to parliament that ‘they found the University and City much corrupted’.  Five separate accounts have survived of the debates between the Presbyterians and Erbery.  They make fascinating reading and provide a contemporary picture of a critical struggle between those, like Erbery, who were ‘enquiring only, and seeking the Lord our God’, and those, like Francis Cheynell, who feared that ‘a licentious spreading of damnable doctrines would be disturbing the civill peace and power’.

When Oxford fell to the parliamentary forces, Erbery was in the limelight in instructing and supporting the rebellious students and soldiers. He defended his position vigorously against six Presbyterian visitors sent by parliament to force Erbery and his followers to submit to orthodoxy. He was obliged to leave the city at the instruction of General Fairfax.

Erbery wrote a letter to Oliver Cromwell in 1652. The letter’s survival is remarkable. Found in the political papers of John Milton, it was first published by John Nickolls in his collection of Cromwell’s letters and papers of state in 1743.

Mr. William Erberry, to the Lord General Cromwell.

SIR,

Greate thinges God has done by you in warr, and good things men expect from you in peace; to breake in pieces the oppressor, to ease the oppressed of their burdens, to release the prisoners of their bandes, and to relieve poore familys with bread, by raisinge a publique stocke out of the estates of the unrighteous rich ones, or parliamentary delinquents and from the ruines of most unjust courts, judicatures and judges, brought in by the conqueror, and embondaging the commonweale; as alsoe the tythes of the preists, the fees of the lawyers, whom the whole land has longe cry’d out and complain’d against, besides the many unnecessary clerks offices, with the attendants to law, who are more oppressive and numerous then the prelates and their clergicall cathedrall company, whom (from the highest to the lowest, and least Querister) God in judgment has rooted out; by whose fall, as some have bin raysed, and many enriched, so now the poare of the nation are waiting at your gates, beseeching your Excellency to move effectually our present Governors, to hasten | a publique treasury for them, from those, that there be noe begger in Israel, nor base covetousness among Christians; but that it may be punished as double idolatry by the magistrate, as the primitive ministers of Christ did excommunicate the covetous (amonge the worst of men) out of the churches.  If this virgin commonwealth could I bee preserved chast and pure, if the oppressed, the prisoner, and the poore might bee speedily heard and helped, how would the most high God bee praysed, and men pray for you, and your most unworthy servant professe himselfe in truth, Sir,

Yours for ever in the Lord,

and in all Christian service,

WILLIAM ERBERRY

London, the 19th of July, 1652.

After this he preached for some time at Christ Church, Newgate Street. London, until he was summoned before the Committee for Plundered Ministers at Westminster in 1652 to explain the strange tenets held and the hetercdox doctrines preached by him. He published many books, one of which has an odd title : “Jack Pudding, or the Minister made of Black Pudding.” “Presented to R. Farmer, parson of Nicholas Church, at Bristol. 1654.” He was also a voluminous writer of pamphlets and tracts on religious subjects, and after his death an anonymous pamphlet was issued entitled “A small Mite in Memory of the late deceased and never to be forgotten Will Erbery.”

Finally in 1653, he was accused and tried for heresy at Westminster before a congregation of 500. This man of Roath, Cardiff did not live a quiet life. The last twenty years of his life often saw him hit the headlines, but after his death, he has been quietly forgotten.

He died in 1654 and believed to be buried in London.

Trinity Church

The original Trinity church Trinity burnt down in 1847 but was replaced soon afterwards with a fine classical frontage, the name ‘Trinity’ incised into the stonework.

A number of daughter churches were created including Charles Street Congregational and Llandaff Road.  John Bachelor was a member of  Trinity church.  In 1888 Trinity Church was amalgamated with Llandaff Road Church and the Charity Commissioners approved the sale of Womanby Street Church, the proceeds of which were used to erect a new church in Cowbridge Road for the united congregation. The united congregation met in Llandaff Road Church until the new church, known as New Trinity Church, was opened on Cowbridge Road. The chapel on Womanby street was demolished and looks at one stage to have been a garage and when that was demolished more recently it was being used as a car park. It is now the beer garden for the Fuel Rock Club. I wonder what William would have thought of that.

Old view of Trinity Chapel, Womanby Street, Cardiff

References

This article quotes heavily from two sources:-

Cardiff Churches through Time – Jean Rose (see list of publications on our website)

and

The Honest Heretique – The Life and Work of William Erbery – John I Morgans – published by y Llolfa (2012) ISBN: 978 184771 485 5.

This is a very thorough and well researched book and recommended for anyone wanting to read more of the writings of William Erbery.

Back cover of this reference reads:-

Born in Roath, Cardiff, William Erbery (1604-1654) was a graduate of Oxford and Cambridge universities. He served as curate of St Woolos, Newport, and vicar of St Mary’s and St John’s in Cardiff. He was tried for his Puritanism at Lambeth Palace and resigned as a priest of the Church of England.

Erbery was the founder of the first Independent Church in Cardiff, and a chaplain in the parliamentary Army. He resigned as an Independent minister and was a forerunner of Quakerism. He was accused of heresy at St Mary’s, Oxford in 1646, and at Westminster in 1652. Although acquitted, he was stigmatised by his enemies as a ‘madman’. This stigma followed him into the second half of the twentieth century.

The Honest Heretique lets Erbery speak for himself. Containing 500 extracts from all of Erbery’s writings, the book presents the background to Erbery’s life and thoughts, introduces each of his tracts, and takes note of recent scholarship.

———

Mini-review by Professor M. Wynn Thomas, Swansea University of above reference on back of book:

William Erbery is one of Wales’ hidden writers. So unorthodox and daring a theological thinker was he, and so controversial was his social outlook, that many of his own and later times dismissed him as mentally unbalanced. His rebellious originality of mind has, however, proved altogether more intriguing to recent scholarship and a full-scale ‘rehabilitation’ of him, such as that attempted in Dr Morgans’ ground-breaking study, is as welcome as it is overdue.

——————————————————————–

Womanby Street, Cardiff – site of former Trinity Church

The Development of City and Albany Roads

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This is a digitised version of a research paper that one of our members authored back in 2009 with some pictures added.

In the 17th century, Plwca Lane or Heol y Plwca (later City Road) marked the western boundary of the Parish of Roath, adjoining the Parish of St John’s, Cardiff.  The centre of the village lay a mile to the east, clustered around St Margaret’s Church.

Cardiff and Roath map from 1799
Map of Roath from 1789.

Surrounding Plwca Lane was an area of dirty wet uncultivated land.  Rushes grew in the fields and were used to make rush mats which were then sold in the streets of Cardiff.  Where City Road, Richmond Road, Crwys Road and Albany Road meet stood the town gallows.  As commemorated on a plaque on the wall of the National Westminster Bank, the Roman Catholic martyrs, St John Lloyd and St Phillip Evans were executed here, as were many others.

Plaque on the side of the Nat West bank on Crwys Road marking the site of the gallows.

In 1802 Parliament passed the Heath Enclosure Act.  Half of the land enclosed was awarded to the Cardiff Corporation, while a sizeable amount went to freeholders who had a claim to rights of pasture.  Most of them were rich and powerful families such as the Butes and the Lewises.  The landscape of the Heath was transformed as Heath Farm, Allensbank Farm and Ton-yr-Ywen farm were created from the former rough pasture land.  Certain rights of way were upheld, among them the future Heathwood Rd, Allensbank Rd and Merthyr Rd (now Albany Rd) running east from the junction of City Rd with Crwys Rd.  Together these two roads would form the framework from which the Mackintosh Estate later developed.

In the 1840s the land surrounding the lower end of Plwca Lane where it joins what is now Newport Road was owned by the Tredegar estate, centred on Tredegar House, west of Newport.

Roath in the 1830s

Of the residents of Plwca Lane in 1851: 28 were born in Glamorgan; 3 in Monmouth shire; 9 in Wiltshire; 1 each in 7 other counties.  One woman, a soldier’s wife, was a British subject born in America.  By 1861 there were 19 houses in Plwca Lane and 14 of their occupants were born in Glamorgan; 4 in Monmouthshire; 8 were born in Somerset; 6 each in Devon and Wiltshire; 5 each in Devon and Ireland and 13 from 11 other countries.

James Hemingway the elder (1802-1854), his 2 brothers and Charles Pearson were all natives of Dewsbury, Yorkshire and were contractors for the construction of the East Bute Dock between 1851 and 1859.  James the elder lived at the junction of St Peter’s St and City Rd (Perrix Wholesalers) but appears to have purchased land on the east side of Plwca Lane on which Talworth St, Pearson St and Byron St now stand. Talworth House which stood to the west of Plasnewydd (now the Mackintosh Institute) had been occupied by James Hemingway the younger, at least from November 1859.  He married Mary McGregor, step-daughter of his late father’s partner, Charles Pearson.  James the younger moved back to Northern England in January 1861.

Example of 1851 Census for Plwcca Lane – the James Hemmingway household

Before the end of 1862 Charles Pearson had moved from Leckwith to Talworth House and was appointed a member of the Roath District Board of Health.  A house in Clive St (now Byron St) was built for Charles Pearson in 1863 and plans approved for further development.  Plans were also approved for additions to Talworth House in  July 1867 and for a new street, James St, off Castle Rd (now City Rd), both for Charles Pearson.  Fourteen houses were built on James St for James Hemingway the younger and it was late: re-named Talworth St in 1872.

Development now spread on both sides of Plwca Lane.  Montgomery Place is pre- 1861 when it had 7 inhabited and 1 uninhabited house.  The 1861 census records 56 inhabited and 18 uninhabited houses in Plwca Lane but the earliest known house plans date from 1865.  Three houses are described as villas, implying a residential district.  In one lived Edward Cleavin, age 39, a civil engineer; Edward Edwards, an engine fitter from Neath and John Webb a builder from Staffordshire who employed 24 men.  Finally by 1865, Solomon Andrews had established his business at No 1 Castle Rd i.e. Roath Mews.

Waring’s plan of 1869 shows that there was no development north of James St on the even numbered side and north of Tredegarville on the odd numbered side, though an application had been made for 14 more houses to be built in Castle Rd (BC/51/90342) Plans for 6 houses in Plwca Lane were proposed in 1872 (BC/51/90657) and a further 6 in 1874, two of which were described as villas, again implying a middle class market (BC/51/9098).

1869 map. Roath / Cardiff boundary marked in pink went down the middle of Plwca Lane. The land off the southern end of Plwca Lane has been developed but the land surrounding Plasnewydd (later called the Mackintosh Institute) remains undeveloped

In 1874 Plwca Lane was re-named Castle Rd and in the following year the Cardiff Improvement Act incorporated Roath into Cardiff.  Castle Rd continued to develop, plans being submitted in 1875 for 6 proposed villas, 3 stables and coach houses, 4 shop fronts, 2 bakeries and many other alterations.  In general most new houses were still terraced buildings, 2-3 stories high, their dimensions controlled by the end of the 19th century by byelaws passed by the local authority.  At this time, water was increasingly supplied directly into houses.  This permitted internal sanitation, hot and cold water and bathrooms.

In 1877 the Borough Surveyor reported on the state of footways in Castle Rd and submitted estimates for their repair.  Further reports between 1879 and 1887 indicate continuing road maintenance activities being carried out in Castle Rd (CBC Minutes 1879-1881) but in 1880, 123 acres of land belonging to the Hemingway estate was purchased by Cardiff Borough Council for £140 for the purpose of road widening.

1880 map of the northern part of Plucca Lane, again marked with a dotted line indicating the Cardiff-Roath boundary. The four-way junction neat the top was later to become a five-way junction when Mackintosh Place was built. (map from Old-Maps.co.uk)

Cardiff BC had been unsuccessful in 1883 in purchasing Plasnewydd and its grounds from the Mackintosh family for use as a public park and it may well have been this which acted as a catalyst for the family to proceed rapidly with housing development on the estate (Childs, 2005:5).  By now, Merthyr Rd cut through the Plasnewydd estate from the cross roads at the Roath parish boundary with Cardiff St John in the west to Roath Court in the east.  Forty feet wide and constructed along the course of a public drain, it provided a ready-made central highway for future urban development (Childs,2005:7).

John Batchelor and Talworth House

Most of the landowning families in Roath systematically gave their land over to urban housing development during the second half of the 19″ century.  In Roath, Lord Tredegar was the largest landowner and some of the earliest street development was on Tredegar land adjacent to the Cardiff boundary i.e. The Parade.  All the landowners adopted the practice of leasing building plots for a term of 99 years and exercised  overall architectural control over the building operations on their estates.

In 1884 development begins on the Plasnewydd estate.  Harriet Richards of Plasnewydd had by now married the Mackintosh of Mackintosh, Chief of the Scottish clan, which explains many of the street names in the area.  Charles Rigg, an architect with offices in High St, Cardiff submitted plans to the local authority on behalf of the  estate, for the proposed layout of the streets and houses as and when they were ready to be built.  Usually a large number of master builders or contractors were involved in the house building operations on each estate.  They were allowed to introduce minor variations of design, thus pinpointing the work of a particular builder.  Not much is known about the individual builders.  Fluctuations in supply and demand made house building a risky form of enterprise.  Bankruptcies were common (Daunton, 1977).

Plans for 9 houses to be built in Merthyr Rd were submitted by Leonard Purnell, a builder in Calston St, Adamsdown and his partner Mr Fry under the supervision of the Mackintosh estate architect, Charles Rigg.  In the same year Merthyr Rd was renamed Albany Rd on the 10 April 1884 (Keir, RLHS).  Initially intended as a residential. development, which the estate may have envisaged as a superior type of residential road similar to Richmond Rd.  It soon became a commercial centre as houses were converted into shop fronts.

Edward Jellings who lived in no 31 also built 4 houses in Albany Rd in 1884 and another 6 in 1885. Another builder, William Geen, lived at no 1 Albany Rd (Childs, 2005:10).  He sought permission to erect 6 houses in Albany Rd in 1890.  In the area where Charles Rigg was the Mackintosh estate architect, Thomas Gough, a builder at No 1 Oxford St off lower City Rd, applied to build 19 houses.  His architect was E WM Corbett who normally acted for the neighbouring Bute estate.  Applications were made to build a further 48 houses in Albany Rd in1891.  Among the builders were David Edwards of Glenroy St and Henry Lewis of 54 Arran St and Wilde and Allen were neighbours at nos 22 and 20 Kincraig St respectively.  After a lull in 1892, when William Geen applied to build 8 houses, 16 houses were built in 1893 and 20 more by the end of the century in 1899.

Albany Road in the early 1900s looking east with St Martin’s church on the right.

By 1900, the development of the Mackintosh estate was complete.  The estate comprised about 2750 houses, various shops and commercial premises, several places of religious worship, 2  schools, 3 public houses and many trades and services needed for the maintenance of  what was a densely packed housing zone.  The total population of the area was some 15,000 (Childs, 2005:7).

By 1901, 76 houses had been built on the north side of Albany Rd and 67 on the south side, where an area of rural development still existed between Roath Court and the Claude Hotel. Castle Rd (renamed City Rd in 1905) numbered 479 houses of which only 23 of the occupants could be described as private residents.

Given the estate’s large population, the transformation of Albany Rd into a suburban commercial centre was unsurprising; indeed it could be said to be a natural development.  The conversion of the properties’ ground floors into shop fronts involved the disappearance of the low front walls and small forecourts (Childs, 2005:11).  In City Rd a Doctor’s surgery was established by 1908 at 107 when a waiting room and dispensary were added.

In 1895 there were 13 planning applications for shop fronts in Albany Rd, 23 in 1896 and 11 between 1897 and 1899.  There were also 10 applications for stables to be built in this period and G H Hodgkinson applied to build a shoeing forge in 1895.  From 1900 to 1902, 11 more shop fronts were converted in Albany Rd and 12 in the period 1903 to 1908.  Conversion also continued in City Rd e.g. at no 169 when a house was converted into 3 shops, in 2005 the site of Rent Direct.

Cardiff postcard
66 Albany Road before it had been redeveloped into a shop.

By 1912 Albany Rd is a tree-lined road with a line of tram poles running along the centre, removed by 1925 (CY 10:24).  Occupations include tripe sellers in 1910 (CY 10:53) and W H Bishop and Son, sanitary engineers at no 60 (Cardiff Dir 1910).  Cardiff Co-operative Society had premises at no 69 in 1907, as did E Snook at nos 52-54 City Rd and 113-115 Albany Rd.  Land tax returns for 1910 record a G H Snook as residing at no 126 City Rd and owning premises at no 3, but the Burgess Roll for  1911 records Geo Hill Snook as living at no 30 The Parade and owning property at no 126 City Rd!

From 1910 garages or motorhouses became the object of planning applications rather than stables.  10 were built between 1910 and 1915.  Another sign of the times was that Walter Andrews, a son of the mighty Solomon, undertook an apprenticeship in the motor trade in his father’s garage in the former livery stables and in 1910 Daimler cars were introduced into the car fleet, to be replaced by Austin limousines in 1929.

Gaiety Cinema, City Road, Roath, Cardiff
Gaiety Cinema, City Road, Roath, around 1912

Other commercial enterprises in City Rd were Smith & Bedoe, decorators at no 5 in 1910 and William Lamerton, a butcher at no 195 but at no 236 by 1920 (CY8:48).  W H Wormleighton was a sculptor or monumental mason at no 197, next door to the Gaiety Theatre.  T Shapcott is still a fruiterer at no 119a and Samuel Milkins, once of the Bedford Hotel, at no 185.  According to the land tax returns for 1910, Samuel Milkins is also the owner of a house at no 21 City Rd, where Albert Stone is the occupier, and at no 189

John and Minnie Rich at no 103 City Rd seem to have owned a group of properties in City Rd.  Minnie also seems to have owned houses at nos 105 and 109.  By 1920, John and Ethel Rich are living at no 109.

Finally, City Rd celebrated its 100th birthday in 2005, when part of the road, north from the Roath Park Public House to its junction with Albany Rd, was closed on the 10th July.  In addition to dancing and live music, the stalls were filled with displays and exhibitions by local schools and Societies, together with street performance workshops, community information and charity stalls.

City Road centenary celebrations in 2005.

Former Stacey Road Primary schoolgirl awarded MBE for Blitz Bravery

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With headlines like that I admit I could reasonably be accused of clickbait but I hope like me you find the story of Ethel and the Peacock family fascinating.

Ethel was born in Cardiff in 1907, the youngest of the Peacock family that lived at 21 Sapphire Street, off Clifton Street.  She attended Stacey Road Primary School and later went on to take up a career in nursing.

In WWII she was a nurse in London at the height of the blitz.  The following accounts speak for themselves so I’ll not try to paraphrase them:

Report from those on duty on the night of the raid:

An extract from the book ‘Southwark in the Blitz’ by Neil Bright:

Ethel Peacock, from Southwell in the Midlands, had worked for the St Olave’s District Nursing Association and was based at the nursing home at Cherry Garden Street. Ethel, who was training as a Queen’s District Nurse, set off from Cherry Garden Street to visit an expectant mother, Mrs Louisa Ludgrove, in Renforth Street. Her colleagues were sheltering in the nursing home cellar, but they made sure Ethel had a strong cup of tea before she set off on her five-minute cycle ride.

Ethel arrived at the property in Renforth Street as the raid was intensifying; she had already seen incendiary bombs find their mark on buildings along the route. She was greeted by an Air Raid Warden, a Mr Walker, who suggested that they should evacuate the property  immediately, particularly as the block of flats Mrs Ludgrove lived in had caught fire. However, the patient was in a serious condition as birth was imminent. Other residents of the block had left for the local shelter.

A baby girl, Lillian, was born at 10.30 a.m. the following morning; Ethel had been tending to and comforting her patient all night. Just as Lillian was born, there was a knock on the flat door. A policeman was at the door, ordering them out as an unexploded bomb was about 100 yards away and was liable to explode. Ethel explained that Louisa and Lillian couldn’t be moved; instead, she put her arm across mother and child to shield them from any blast. The bomb exploded, lifting the bed off the floor, but the building held firm and all three survived. Ethel Peacock went on with her midwifery career, working as tutor of midwives at the nursing home, winning a succession of awards for her skill in her chosen field.

‘Southwark in the Blitz’ by Neil Bright

So how did I know that the Ethel May Peacock in these reports was the same person that grew up in Cardiff?  Well, that’s where the genealogy research comes in.

I found an entry in the 1939 Register for Ethel May Peacock, born 26 May 1907, a Hospital Sister at Queen Charlotte’s Hospital Nurses Home, Marylebone, London.

  

I also found Ethel Peacock in the Stacey Road Primary School records book, born 26 May 1907, living at 21 Sapphire Street, father’s name Thomas.

The reason why on report describes Ethel Peacock as being from Southwell in the Midlands is because the Peacock family moved around quite a bit. Fortunately with a relatively unusual surname they were relatively easy to trace.

Again I’ve taken a liberty with the headline for this piece in that Stacey School records show Ethel moved away in 1912 when she would have been just five, so her stay at the school would admittedly been brief.  

As for the lady Ethel assisted, Louisa Ludgrove, she was a chocolate packer and lived in Bermondsey.  She was born Louisa Rich in 1918 and married Henry Victor Ludgrove in 1940. She passed away in 2000 aged 81.  As to what happened to the baby, Lillian, born in the blitz I don’t know.

Harold Peacock – brother

The reason I was looking at the Peacock family in the first place was that I was researching the name Harold Peacock that appears on the Broadway Methodist Church war memorial plaque.  

Broadway Methodist no longer exists. The church closed in 1950 when the congregation merged with Newport Road and Roath Road Methodist Churches to form Trinity Methodist Church where the war memorial plaque is now housed.  The former Broadway Methodist Church building then became a studio building for the BBC and then later a mosque.  The building was sadly destroyed in a fire on 19 Sept 1989. 

Broadway Methodist Chapel

Finding Harold Peacock was a bit of a challenge.  I made the breakthrough when I found a newspaper cutting referring to a Thomas Harold Peacock from Rumney, Cardiff, who was killed in 1918. I was then able to trace the family back to having previously lived in Sapphire Street in the 1911 census.

 The following summary of Harold Peacock now appears on our Roath Virtual War Memorial:

THOMAS HAROLD PEACOCK

Second Lieutenant, 1st Battalion, attached to 14th Battalion, Worcestershire Regiment

Thomas Harold Peacock pictureThomas Harold Peacock was born in Grimsby, Lincolnshire in 1895 the eldest child of Thomas Peacock, a basket weaver, originally from Kimbolton, Huntingdonshire and Ellen Peacock née Bond originally from Southwell, Nottinghamshire.  The Peacock family moved to Cardiff in 1906 and lived at 21 Sapphire Street, Adamsdown. In the 1911 census Harold is described as a Commercial Student. He went on to work for some time with H.T.James, Barrister, in Windsor Terrace before moving to the offices of the Vacuum Oil Distillery in Cardiff Docks. The family moved to Whitchurch in 1912, and later to The Grove, Rumney, Cardiff.  Harold joined the Devon Regiment in Aug 1914 and received rapid promotion. He fought at Loos in 1915, where he was shot through the left lung. He returned to Britain for treatment.  After recovering he served with his regiment and returned to France in May 1918. Harold was killed by a bursting shell on the night of 27 Jun 1918 aged 22. He is buried at the Acheux British Cemetery in France (Plot 1. Row E. Grave 17). Harold is remembered on the Broadway Methodist church war memorial plaque, now at Trinity Centre. Commonwealth War Graves Commission record.

Thomas Peacock – father

Ethel’s father Thomas looks an interesting character. In the 1891 census, aged 21, his profession was described as basket maker and local Wesleyan Preacher. In the 1911 census he was described as a Foreman at the Blind Institution.  This was the fine building on the corner of Longcross Street and Glossop Road that later got bombed in WWII.  I wonder if Thomas appears in any of the old pictures of the time of the card selling woven produce from the Blind Institute.  

After living in Rumney, Cardiff the Peacock family moved to Bridgend and then up to Nottinghamshire.  Thomas died in 1949 aged 79 as a result of a cycling accident.

Charles Egerton Peacock – brother

Charles egerton Peacock picAnother of Ethel’s brothers was Charles Egerton Peacock.  He also served in WWI but was fortunate enough to survive. He later became a Methodist Missionary and went to Canada where he settled and was ordained into the ministry.