West Glamorgan Archive Service: Annual Report of the County Archivist 2018-2019

Adroddiad Blynyddol Archifydd y Sir

Annual Report of the County Archivist

2018-2019 A joint service for Swansea and Neath Port Talbot Councils Gwasanaeth ar y cyd ar gyfer Cynghorau Abertawe a Castell-Nedd Port Talbot

West Glamorgan Archive Service West Glamorgan Archive Service collects documents, maps, photographs, film and sound recordings relating to all aspects of the history of West Glamorgan. It is a joint service for the Councils of the City and County of Swansea and Neath Port Talbot County Borough.

Our mission is the preservation and development of our archive collections, to safeguard our documentary heritage and to enable research in order to further our collective knowledge. We are committed to providing information and the opportunity to engage with archives to everybody.

West Glamorgan Archive Service Civic Centre Oystermouth Road Swansea SA1 3SN  01792 636589

Front cover: Group portrait of Edwardian children at play, one of a collection of glass slides relating to Aberavon and area.

(D/D Z 1045/21)

westglam.archives@swansea.gov.uk www.swansea.gov.uk/westglamorganarchives

@westglamarchive

Connecting People and History

Archivist David Morris and Archive Trainee John Moffat pictured in front of a selection of panels from the Archive Service’s latest portable exhibition which celebrates the fiftieth anniversary in 2019 of Swansea gaining the title of city.

West Glamorgan Archive Service is run jointly by Swansea and Neath Port Talbot Councils in order to preserve access to their archives and to other archive collections which we have received and collected on their behalf. Residents of the two local authority areas and researchers from across the UK and overseas access our archive collections daily, both online and in person, in order to carry out a wide variety of research.

Like most UK public services, the Archive Service has experienced financial challenges in recent years which have resulted in cuts to our opening hours. It is therefore cheering to see that the number of physical user visits for 2018/19 has shown a modest 1.6% increase, the first increase in user visits since 2010/11. We hope this downward trend in reader visits has now stabilised.

Despite all its challenges, the service has continued to use its collective initiative and imagination to promote the archives and attract as wide a range of people to engage with archives, whether or not they end up using the service as an individual visitor. We have launched books, created exhibitions and online resources, hosted visits from schools and local history groups, worked with the press and of course put ourselves out on social media.

All these outreach activities rely on the energy and enthusiasm of a small group of archive staff who operate as a tightly-knit team. Without their dedication, the service would be a fraction of what is described in the following pages.

INTRODUCING THE ARCHIVES CARD

The Archives Card is a new development led by the Archives and Records Association through its arm ARA Commercial which will lead to a single archives membership card able to be widely used across England and Wales.

In Wales, the one card will give public access to archive collections in the majority of Welsh local authority archives, as well as to Cardiff and Swansea University archives, and the scheme documentation will be fully bilingual. Participating archives in Wales have received a Welsh Government grant to enable them to join the scheme.

Having advocated for such a card for some years, the County Archivist is heavily involved in its development. The scheme follows the stricter procedures for identity verification introduced a decade ago by the Archives Wales card, still in use here and elsewhere in south west Wales.

It is anticipated that the Archives Card will be introduced later this year. The scheme is supported by The National Archives at Kew and is sponsored by the family history website Ancestry.

In 2018, the Archive Service was able to install in the archive searchroom and the Family History Centre two electrically-operated height adjustable desks, courtesy of a grant from Welsh Government through its Museums Archives and Libraries Division, MALD. Regular customer Jim Kimpton of Tr4ce Genealogy is seen below using the new desk in the Family History Centre.

“I am being selfish by saying it’s helped me so much to enjoy my visits. But this achievement is an improvement for ANYONE with a disability to now have access to archives and records with the knowledge there are good facilities and staff to help.

The two desks were provided by a grant and I am most grateful and humbled that this was provided by the Welsh Assembly.” (Jim Kimpton, by email)

COMMEMORATING THE CENTENARY OF THE END OF THE FIRST WORLD WAR

Last November saw the unveiling of a digital memorial based on material held at West Glamorgan Archives, called “Their names shall live for evermore”: uncovering hidden war memorials at West Glamorgan Archives”. Part online exhibition, part research tool, its aim is to make the memorials and rolls of honour we hold more accessible. The launch coincided with the centenary of the signing of the Armistice.

Commemorating the centenary of such a cataclysmic conflict as the First World War is not an easy task. We wanted to produce something that would be different and lasting, that could be a focus of remembrance and at the same time a resource to help people discover the part their family members played in the conflict. Over the years, we have received a number of rolls of honour, which form the subject of a longer article later in this report. Many of them have come from churches, chapels and other institutions that have closed down, and a combination of years of damp and neglect have taken their toll on highly decorative items that once took pride of place.

We digitised all the war memorials and rolls of honour that we hold, then, with help from our volunteers, extracted all the names and made an index. This has been uploaded onto our website as a digital roll of honour. Each name on the index (there are 4,295 of them) has a link to the memorial on which they appear, with information about where it was displayed and how it came to be made.

The results can be seen on our website and an article by Andrew Dulley, who created the resource, is to be found below. Our intention is that this will be a lasting memorial to the men and women from our local area who took part in the First World War, and that it will prove to be a useful resource long after the centenary commemorations are over.

Building and preserving our collections

Conservation work starting on one of the Archive Service’s rolls of honour. The work was carried out by Gwynedd Archives Conservation Unit on our behalf.

The primary role of the Archive Service is to preserve our documentary heritage for the benefit of future generations, receiving additional gifts and deposits of archive material while maintaining and developing the greatest degree of access to the collections in our care. The pictures show how conservation of our collections brings our documents back to a useable condition.

During the year, the Archive Service has continued to receive collections of archives through donation, deposit and transfer. In the year when we commemorated the centenary of the end of the First World War, we received war memorials and rolls of honour from Henrietta Street Chapel, Swansea, which were incorporated into our online war memorials resource. We also received a little bundle of letters written to his mother by Brinley Steins of St Thomas, Swansea. Carefully written in sometimes colloquial English, his letters spell out his hopes and fears as he waited for the big push. He was one of the many who did not return.

This year we have received a larger than usual number of ecclesiastical parish records, the majority coming from parishes on the Gower peninsula. This has been precipitated to a degree by reorganisations and boundary changes as clergy have retired or moved on, giving the Diocesan Archive Advisor the opportunity to go through legacy records with the new incumbent and ensure

that the appropriate records are transferred to the Archive Service. This has included many parish registers, and also parochial church council (PCC) minutes, in some cases going back to the 1920s when these bodies were first established.

An interesting small donation during the year was a collection of four Swansea theatre posters dating from 1838 to 1842. The posters advertise various productions including ‘Othello’ and ‘William Tell’. This accession is the subject of an article below by archivist David Morris.

In August, and rather timely as the Eisteddfod was in full flow in Cardiff, we received scrap books of poetry collected and composed by Eos Wyn (Edward Young of Alltwen). He was a local poet and Eisteddfodwr whose poetry, written in Welsh, echoes with the daily rhythms of life in the Swansea Valley. His three volumes of collected poems date from the 1870s and 1880s.

Staying in the Swansea Valley, a collection of records was received relating to the Swansea Canal.

This consists of facsimiles of records held at The National Archives, and represents the hard work and dedication of a longtime researcher, Clive Reed.

In the last couple of years, an opportunity to promote discovery of our collections has arisen through a collaborative project between Welsh archives and the aggregated online catalogue known as the Archives Hub. Started by the HE sector, the Hub now represents over 300 archiveholding institutions across the country and provides descriptions of thousands of the UK's archive collections.

Work completed, one roll of honour conserved for posterity

As a result of this project, we have uploaded all our catalogues onto the Hub and set up a workflow to ensure that they are kept up-to-date.

Remedial and preventive conservation work carried out in 2018/19 12 volumes 3 rolls of honour 1 large poster 755 volumes individually boxed

Engaging new audiences

A new exhibition celebrating the contribution a century ago of local women to the struggle for women’s suffrage is seen here on display in Margam Orangery in November.

2018 was a major year for anniversaries, with centenaries marking the end of the First World War and the partial granting of women’s suffrage. In July, it was also the seventieth anniversary of the foundation of the National Health Service.

The activities we undertook to help mark these anniversaries are described in greater detail elsewhere in this report, suffice to say here that the Archive Service plays an important role in the civic commemoration of such events. Together with the two museums services, we are the custodians of much of the original documentary material and artefacts which allow us to understand how national events played out at a local level. Our narrative exhibitions generally attract significant interest from local residents, especially when they coincide with television and press coverage of the anniversary.

The major archive exhibition of 2018 was one commemorating the centenary of the partial granting of the women’s voting rights in 1918. It was created in partnership with Swansea Museum, the Dylan Thomas Centre, Richard Burton Archives Swansea University and Women’s Archive Wales and illustrates how working in partnership has become integral to the way we plan such activity.

A significant occasion where the women’s suffrage panels were on display was at the unveiling on 14th December (the centenary of the first general election in which women voted) of a Swansea Council blue plaque to the suffragist Clara Neal. The event took place at Terrace Road Primary School in Swansea, where Clara was headmistress for twenty years.

This and other local history exhibitions created by the Service are available for loan to community groups, schools and other venues via our web page ‘Exhibitions you can borrow’.

CELEBRATING THE CENTENARY OF WOMEN’S SUFFRAGE To celebrate one hundred years since the first women were able to vote in parliamentary elections, Swansea Museum, Women’s Archive Wales, Dylan Thomas Centre, Richard Burton Archives and West Glamorgan Archive Service created a portable exhibition in two versions, a longer 10-panel display for a more in-depth story and a 5-panel display suitable for younger audiences and easy-read situations. Both exhibitions have been used in a variety of venues since that date, including the Women’s Archive Wales annual conference held in Swansea this year.

One very enthusiastic supporter of the exhibition panels was teacher Carol Shepherd who used the exhibition with children at Terrace Road Primary School in Swansea in a curriculum-linked project about how one person can make a difference to society. This theme fitted the school well because one of the key women in the suffrage campaign in Swansea was Clara Neal, a former head teacher at the school. The children’s and Ms Shepherd’s enthusiasm for Clara and her story was instrumental in getting Swansea Council to celebrate her with a Council blue plaque on the walls of the school, unveiled on the centenary to the day of the first general election which saw women voting for the first time. The unveiling ceremony at the school was a memorable occasion for everyone who attended, inspiring confidence in young people and their enlightened values of mutual respect.

“Last week the children used the panels for their own research, this week they are writing biographies of Clara Neal. The panels are great because as well as looking impressive, the pictures are interesting and the clear language and layout have allowed the children (aged 7 and 8) to independently research the topic. The teachers are immensely grateful to have such a brilliant resource at their disposal…I also observe that even though only years 3 and 4 are using the panels directly, the older children have been able to enjoy them as they are on permanent display in the hall this week.”

(Email from teacher at Terrace Road Primary school)

With a long and respectable list of publications on local history over the last two and a half decades, the publication programme of the Archive Service is nevertheless in a winding-up phase as it draws on the last funds available in its dedicated publication fund. Since 1992, the Service has published around 25 local history books, continuing a fine tradition set by its two predecessors, Glamorgan Record Office and Swansea City Archives.

There has however been no book published by the Service till this past year since 2010.

‘The Parish of Llangyfelach: Landed Estates, Farms and Families’ by Jeff Childs, a joint publication between the author and the Archive Service, was launched on 8th December at Llangyfelach Parish Hall after this long hiatus. Jeff’s work comprises a study of this large Glamorgan parish which is primarily seen through the prism of landownership. It has been well received in the intervening months and copies (while still on sale) are selling very well.

The Archive Service’s next and last publication will be Dr Dinah Evans’ study of how Swansea came to be reconstructed in a somewhat bland modernist style after the last war, ‘A New, Even Better, Abertawe: Rebuilding Swansea, 1941–1961’. The book will be illustrated with a number of contemporary images from the Archives which are under-researched and little known. Publication is planned for September 2019.

Following page: pictures taken at events this year. Clockwise from top: Skewen and District Local History Day; Swansea Local History Book Fair; visit by the Friends of Hafod Morfa Copperworks; visit by Friends of Babell Graveyard.

In December, the Archive Service jointly launched ‘The Parish of Llangyfelach: Landed Estates, Farms and Families’ with the author, Jeff Childs. Jeff is pictured here at the launch of the book with guest speaker, Professor Emeritus Prys Morgan.

Our work with schools, colleges and universities

The Archive Service provides an education service to schools in both Swansea and Neath Port Talbot, mainly for primary schools but also for secondary schools at KS3 level. During the year, various primary and secondary schools have come in to the Archives to learn about what local history resources we hold and how we look after and conserve them. We have also continued to provide sessions off-site in the school, which helps schools get over the barrier of not being able to afford transport. Our sessions for students of the two universities in Swansea are overseen by Assistant County Archivist, Andrew Dulley.

Archivist Katie Millien has delivered all the sessions to local primary schools while fellow archivist David Morris has delivered sessions to secondary schools, both helped by Production Assistant Anne-Marie Gay. Our sessions are always tailored and relevant to the school’s curriculum requirements. This year we introduced a new topic on Victorian childhood diseases, as described by Katie in her article below.

Thank you so much for hosting us today. We had an absolutely fantastic time and the children all thoroughly enjoyed. Both the enthusiasm and knowledge of yourself and Anne-Marie really made the experience even more interesting. (email from Pengelli Primary School)

2018/19 ARCHIVE EDUCATION STATISTICS Total numbers attending archive education sessions: Teachers and school pupils University students Sessions held in the Archives Sessions held in schools and universities

850 242 17 8

The total number of individuals and groups recorded by West Glamorgan Archive Service at its Swansea, Neath and Port Talbot service points in 2018/19 was 5,750, which was an increase of just under 1.6% on the previous year’s figure of 5,661.

Total members of the public visiting the Archive Service during 2018-2019: 5,750

2018/19 IN NUMBERS 204 reader’s tickets issued to new users 415 visited our stalls at external events 850 school pupils and teachers attended our learning sessions 1,408 total attendees at our learning events 3,654 followers on social media (Twitter and Facebook) 5,232 individual visits to the archives 6,857 Individuals and members of groups reached on or off-site 9,273 documents issued in our Swansea searchroom 12,802 hits on the Archive Service website 64,079 hits to our catalogues on the Archives Hub 228,021 records on our online catalogue

Including: Swansea Neath Port Talbot Group visits

3,914 1,221 97 518

Figures for usage of the service are submitted annually to CIPFA, the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy. The most recent published figures relate to the year 2017/18.

A decline by local archive services in supplying statistics to CIPFA is making benchmarking with other local authorities increasingly difficult. The following statistics are based on returns from only eight out the thirteen local authority archive services in Wales: West Glamorgan remains the busiest archive service in Wales measured by the performance indicator of individual visits by researchers, with figures 75% higher than second-placed Gwynedd Archives.

In 2017/18, with 5,254 individual visits (this excludes group visits and special events), West Glamorgan Archives accounted for almost exactly one third of the 15,852 individual visits to the eight Welsh local authority archives which sent in figures to CIPFA. Extrapolating the data to estimate the figure for all 13 services, we probably account for between one fifth and one quarter of the total number of individual visits to local authority archives in Wales.

ARA Survey of Visitors to UK Archives In November 2018, the Archive Service once again took part in the Archives and Records Association’s Survey of Visitors to UK archives, now managed by CIPFA on ARA’s behalf.

Archives from across the UK have been collectively seeking feedback from their users since 1996 and the accumulation of comparable data is useful both to assess our performance over a timespan of more than two decades and to benchmark with other services across the UK. The 2018 results were as follows: Percentage of correspondents who rated the service as ‘very good’ or ‘fairly good’, ‘very satisfactory’ or ‘satisfactory’ (the top two of five possible responses) Quality of the reception area and welcome on arrival Attitude of staff Availability of staff Quality and appropriateness of the advice received from staff Opening hours Ease of access to use the service Appearance and upkeep of the building Physical access to the building Onsite computer facilities Online catalogue Document ordering Seating Copy services Overall mark out of 10 for your experience today

Swansea score

Neath score*

100% 100% 98% 99%

100% 100% 100% 100%

UK average / median 96% 98% 96% 97%

100% 100% 94% 96% 100% 100% 100% 100% 95% 9.7

58% 88% 100% 88% 100% 83% 100% 100% 100% 9.5

89% 96% 95% 96% 96% 84% 95% 98% 89% 9.3

In January, the website People’s Collection Wales featured images from our Neath Abbey Ironworks collection which have been published on the People’s Collection website

Who is using our service?

The pie chart above shows the distribution by postcode of those of our researchers who have obtained an Archives Wales reader ticket from us since the ticket scheme started.

Only users of original documents need a ticket. The percentages therefore do not take into account the mostly family historians who use the printed and online resources at the Swansea and Neath service points without needing to have a reader’s ticket.

In July, we lent for display in Margam Orangery for the ABMUHB 70th birthday celebrations of the NHS a letter from Florence Nightingale supporting the proposed new general hospital in Swansea.

Staff The Archive Trainee for 2018/19 is John Moffat. John is an MA graduate in history of Glasgow University and hails from Dundee. Volunteers during the year have included Jane Atzori, Alan Gardiner, Stuart Martinson and Ruqqaiya Sultan, who have between them notched up over 594 hours of voluntary work over the course of the year. We are all very grateful to them for the work they have done. A former member of archive staff, Liza Osborne, has helped out in a voluntary capacity at several of our special events over the year, help which has been invaluable.

The Archive Service could not provide the level of service outlined here without the enthusiasm and dedication of our staff in Swansea and Neath. I would also like to thank the Neath Antiquarian Society volunteers, with whose regular contribution we are able to continue to provide a service in Neath: Christine Davies, Jonathan Davies, Robert Davies, Josie Henrywood, Phillip John, David Michael, David Newton, Paul Richards, Gloria Rowles and Janet Watkins.

Acknowledgements Thanks are due to local historian Jeffrey Griffiths for contributing an article about a recently vanished aspect of Neath’s history, its small grocer’s shops, which is published below.

The chair and members of the West Glamorgan Archives Committee have continued to show their interest and support for the work of the Service during the year, for which I am grateful. …………………………………………..

Kim Collis West Glamorgan County Archivist May 2019 …………………………………………..

Liza Osborne and our stand at the 2018 Glamorgan Family History Fair in Merthyr Tydfil, October

West Glamorgan Archives Committee As at 31 March 2019 Chairman HM Lord Lieutenant of West Glamorgan D. Byron Lewis Esq. CStJ, FCA Vice-Chairmen City and County of Swansea Councillor R. V. Smith County Borough of Neath Port Talbot Councillor P. A. Rees Representing the City and County of Swansea Councillor P. M Black CBE Councillor M. Durke Councillor L. S. Gibbard Councillor L. R. Jones MBE Representing the County Borough of Neath Port Talbot Councillor A. Aubrey Councillor W. F. Griffiths Councillor H. N. James Councillor R. Mizen Representing the Diocese of Swansea and Brecon A. Dulley MA, MSc Representing the Diocese of Llandaff vacancy Representing Swansea University Prof. L. Miskell FRHistS Representing the Neath Antiquarian Society Mrs J. L. Watkins City and County of Swansea Head of Cultural Services Ms T. McNulty MA Neath Port Talbot County Borough Head of Legal Services M. C. Griffiths LLB County Librarian W. John MCLIP

West Glamorgan Archive Service STAFF As at 31 March 2019 West Glamorgan Archives Civic Centre, Oystermouth Road, Swansea SA1 3SN Tel. (01792) 636589

Neath Antiquarian Society Archives Neath Mechanics Institute, 4 Church Place, Neath SA11 3LL Tel. (01639) 620139

Email: westglam.archives@swansea.gov.uk Website: www.swansea.gov.uk/westglamorganarchives

County Archivist ...........................................................................................Kim Collis MA, DAS Assistant County Archivist ....................................................... Andrew Dulley MA, MSc (Econ) Archivist........................................................................................David Morris PhD, MSc (Econ) Archivist.......................................................................................... Katie Millien BA, MSc (Econ) Archive Trainee ................................................................................................... John Moffat MA Production Assistant .............................................................. Anne-Marie Gay MA, MSc (Econ) Family History Centre Supervisor .......................................................................... Lorna Crook Archives Reception Assistant ....................................................................Rebecca Shields BA Office Manager ...................................................................................... Don Rodgers MA, PGCE

Records Management Service (Swansea Council) Records Officer ................................................................................. Andrew Brown MSc (Econ) Records Assistant .................................................................................................... Linda Jones

Swansea Theatre posters, 1838-1842

View looking along Temple Street showing the Swansea Theatre prior to its demolition to make way for the David Evans department store in the 1890s (the lower windows appear to be all broken). In later years, the theatre became known as the Theatre Royal, as seen here (P/PR10/2/1) An exciting accession this year consists of four early Swansea Theatre posters from the period 1838 to 1842. The posters were designed and printed by the local printers Murray & Rees and were commissioned to publicise forthcoming productions of Othello: the Moor of Venice; The Spectre Bridegroom; A Loan of a Lover; William Tell: the Hero of Switzerland; Honey Moon and An Englishmen in India.

The principal actor in Othello and William Tell was Mr William Woolgar. Woolgar was a provincial actor of some repute. In 1832 he performed Lucius in the Tragedy of Brutus at the Royal Pavilion Theatre, London, and in 1838 the Nottingham Journal went so far as to call him “the leading tragedian of the theatre” following his performance as the “crook’d back’d tyrant” in Richard III.1 It comes as no surprise that Woolgar visited Swansea in coming to Wales. In the 1840s, Swansea was the largest urban centre in Wales and its theatre was the equal of any outside London.

Work on the new Swansea Theatre on the corner of Temple Street and Goat Street began in 1805 and it was opened to the public in June 1806.2 The exterior was built in an unadorned classical manner, but the interior was lavishly decorated in the late Georgian style. This is evidenced by a report that appeared in The Cambrian on 24th June 1837: This delightful and well-conducted place of rational amusement opened for the season on Monday evening, and great as our expectations were, during the progress of renovation, the beauty of the whole interior far, very far surpassed them. The house now presents one scene of splendour: the ceiling is painted in light panelling, enriched with Arabesque ornaments; the upper and low circles are finished in much elegance and artist-like taste, in a buff ground and light blue drapery festooned; the upper circle enfolded by a drapery of white – the lower encircled by the richest flowers; beneath is a belt of French white, and in the centre of each panel is an emblematical trophy, heightened with gold; at the bottom of each tier of boxes, all round the house, is a gold fringe. The proscenium is painted to correspond. The pillars, and round the back of the pit, are in Sienna marble. The seats in the boxes are all newly covered with crimson moreen. The new painted curtain is rich in the extreme, and when down, makes the theatre unique in appearance: it is composed of French white drapery (the upper part festooned with gold cords and tassels), with wreaths of flowers, and a gorgeous deep gold fringe at the bottom. We cannot bestow too much praise on the artist, Mr Turner; he will long leave his name in Swansea as a gentleman of first-rate talent. His scenic exertions on the stage are no less to his credit; nor must we omit to mention the liberality of Mr Woulds [theatre manager], who seems to have spared no expense in gratifying his numerous patrons, and we feel assured his anxiety and untiring efforts will not be lost sight of by them.

On 20th August 1842, a further piece in The Cambrian included favourable reports about Mr Woolgar’s recent debut at Swansea: Editorial labours have prevented our attendance at this place of rational amusement this week, but report speaks highly of a new actor here (a Mr Woolgar), who has been playing “Sir Giles Overreach”, “Othello”, and “Brutus” with much eclat. We shall take an early opportunity of witnessing this gentleman’s efforts, and shall have much pleasure in being able to corroborate the favourable opinion entertained of him.

The said opportunity occurred on 22nd and 23rd August 1848. On the 23rd, Mr Woolgar and his fellow actors performed William Tell: the Hero of Switzerland by J.S. Knowles, and Honey Moon in five acts by John Tobin. As was fitting Mr Woolgar played the leading role as William Tell, while in Honey Moon he assumed the role of the Duke Aranza. The poster for this production states that the doors will open at half past six and the performance is scheduled to commence at seven o’clock precisely. Tickets were 3s for a box, 2s for the pit and 1s for the gallery. In the course of the evening, there was also a comic song performed by Mr H. Bedford: a `low’ comedian who worked the Liverpool and Manchester circuit.3 In the event, the review in The Cambrian about Mr Woolgar’s performances at Swansea was decidedly mixed. On 27th August 1842, the newspaper declared: We went to the theatre on Monday, to witness Mr Woolgar’s “King Lear”, prepossessed in his favour from public report; and we feel pleasure in having it in our power to add our favourable opinion to that report. It is no more than justice to say, Mr Woolgar is a good and powerful tragedian, capable of producing extraordinary effects, and at once riveting the attention of his audience – his performance of this character abounded beauties, and he was “every inch a king”. He is also deserving of high praise for his bold, manly, and feeling impersonation of the hardy Swiss Mountaineer, “William Tell”, on Tuesday and regret we cannot give the same praise to his comedy. His “Duke”, in the Honey Moon, was downright bad, loose and vague in the acting, and still more loose in the text. The latter is a fault in anyone – to go on the

boards imperfectly is a dereliction of duty and an insult to the audience. We shall not fail to visit the offender with the severest animadversions, upon a recurrence of such shameful practice, be that offender whom it may.

Evidently stung by this critical review Mr Woolgar felt the need to respond in a letter to the editor that was published in The Cambrian on 3rd September 1842: Sir, – I should not have presumed to have noticed the observations on my professional efforts in your journal of last week, but that involves a very serious charge against me, namely, that of shameful neglect and insulting my audience.

I bow with all proper deference to just criticism, and I am free to confess myself as having been “loose in the text” in the “Duke Aranza”. I had never acted it before, and it had fallen to me with but little time for the study of a character of such importance; and even with a most extended knowledge of the author, it is a part, however beautiful, one I deem myself not at all suited for; but this most often occurs to the provincial actor, who from the necessities of his vocation cannot always select for himself. So far your opinion of my performance of it being lame, vague etc., I think to be correct.

I am, however, too devoted to my profession, to suffer the charge of inattention to be laid against me. I was even much more perfect at the morning’s rehearsal than at night; but from a nervous apprehension, my best desires were destroyed at the time of representation.

Surely, the personation of “William Tell”, on the same night, would entitle an actor to some consideration.

This, Sir, is the extent of my shameful neglect; – this “the very head and front of my offending.” It is not the threat of future castigation that induces me to trouble you with these observations, but a desire that I may not be considered reckless of the good opinion of (much less insulting to) my audience, whose fair report it is my proudest ambition to gain, as it ever has and shall be that of the public, wherever my destinies may cast me, by the best exercise of my physical and mental energies.

In the years to come, Mr Woolgar would carve out a successful career as an actor and theatrical manager. However, there is no evidence to suggest he ever again returned to Swansea. Maybe he was loath to tread the Swansea Theatre boards after receiving this critical review. One thing is for certain, the aforementioned collection of theatre posters is a valuable addition to our collections, one that sheds light on the cultural life of Swansea during the early 1840s. …………………………………………..

David Morris Archivist …………………………………………..

Archives Theatre Royal posters, 1838-1842, reference D/D Z 1069/1-4 References 1. Morning Advertiser 29th February 1832; Nottingham Journal 16th November 1838 2. The Cambrian 30th November 1805; 7th June 1806 3. Theatrical Times 11th September 1847

comedy. His “Duke”, in the Honey Moon, was downright bad, loose and vague in the acting, and

Griff the Grocer

The shop frontage of E. Griffiths Grocer of The Green, Neath, 1950s (courtesy Neath Port Talbot Council: Neath Museum collection) This article comprising personal recollections of Neath and a lost era of grocer’s was kindly contributed by Jeffrey Griffiths, local historian.

I am a post-WWII ‘Baby Boomer’ born into a family which ran a small grocery store. This article mixes personal tales, social history and the changes in food retailing over the last half century.

My father was brought up in Maesteg during the economically depressed 1920s. Unable to afford to take up a place at grammar school, he announced that he wanted to follow his father and brothers down the coal mines. On hearing this, his mother clipped him around the ear and expressed the fervent hope that one of her sons would have the good sense not to go working underground. Accepting her firmly-delivered advice he went on to become instead a manager with the Maypole, a national grocery chain which, along with others like the Home and Colonial, has now long disappeared from public consciousness.

Following wartime service abroad, my father bought an already established grocery business in Neath. The part of the town in which the shop was situated is known as The Green. It was an area that was on the ‘wrong side of the tracks’, divided from rest of the town by Brunel’s mainline GWR railway, the shop being situated to the rear of Neath General Station. Back then it consisted of close-packed terraces and housing built around a series of courts with shared toilets and piped water, run-down housing stock situated between the railway, Neath Canal and the river. Alongside

the river were sawmills, tile and brickworks, and lime smelting kilns. It was known as a rough part of town and it was said that rookie Police Constables had their mettle tested by patrolling The Green. Adding to the area’s almost Dickensian character was a large, public boarding house - one census recorded forty residents living there - next door to the shop. Such boarding houses had once been common in industrial towns which attracted single working men requiring cheap accommodation. The shop catered for the particular needs of this neighbourhood. With no refrigeration, little food storage and preparation facilities, customers might purchase only what they needed on a day-to-day, or even a meal-to-meal basis. So, they might purchase just a single egg, a few rashers of bacon and a bread loaf. Customers were allowed to buy ‘on tick’, delaying payment until wages were received.

Provisions were delivered in bulk to the shop, not in pre-packaged, small quantities as today.

Cheese (there were none of your fancy varieties back then, only what was colloquially known as ‘mouse-trap cheese’) arrived as a large, barrel-shaped truckle which had to be divided with a wirecutter into portions. Truckles had a cheesecloth coating and had first to be ‘skinned’ of this outer covering, a greasy removal task. A side of pig, a half carcass minus the head and feet, would arrive slung across the shoulder of the meat delivery man. It was then deboned, cut up and tied with string into more manageable portions. My father skilfully wielded sharp knives for the deboning, and the bacon-slicing machine’s shiny circular blade was daily cleaned. Hunks of meat were boiled in a large pan at our home to produce cooked ham for shop resale. Hooks formerly used for hanging meat still protruded from the shop’s ceiling. At one time tea came loose in large, wooden ‘tea chests’ which were popularly re-used for furniture removals when emptied of their contents. Fruit was delivered in bulk and unwrapped. Bananas, shipped by the ‘banana boats’ from the West Indies into Barry docks, were delivered in wooden crates containing a whole stalk of attached bananas which, at times, might contain an exotic spider or even a small snake.

Cigarettes could be bought in packets of five and pungent chewing tobacco, torn off a tight coil and looking like liquorice, was popular with some. Food packaging was provided by brown paper bags, replaced in due course by plastic bags, and by greaseproof paper. Old newspapers were also used for wrapping purposes. Customers would bring their own stout shopping bags and home delivered grocery orders would be contained in recycled cardboard boxes in which some food product had once been packed.

Whatever their age or marital status, female shop counter assistants were known as ‘shop girls’ and addressed by their first names. My parents were always accorded the title of Mr and Mrs Griffiths, though more familiarly father was known as ‘Griff the Grocer’. He always dressed in shirt and tie and wore steel-tipped brogues to work: all staff were clad in frequently laundered white overalls. There were also shop delivery or ‘errand’ boys, in which role I served my time. Their duties included riding the shop delivery bike with its wicker pannier front basket. When loaded with a box of groceries these shop bikes were difficult to control.

The Queen’s Coronation in 1953 was also memorable as the year our family acquired both its first TV and a car. My father always owned estate cars which doubled up as delivery vehicles. The Green was then undergoing large scale housing clearance with residents relocating to new housing developments around the Neath district: the family’s car enabled our shop to retain their custom, a home delivery service being provided for free. Petrol was so much cheaper in the days before the Arab-Israeli conflict enormously escalated its price in the ‘70s: I could fuel my first car in 1969 with four gallons (sic) for a £1 note. A large area of The Green cleared of its old housing was given over to the relocated cattle market. The family store functioned as a social as well as a trading centre with two chairs in front of the long, polished wooden counter enabling shoppers to sit and chat. The relocation of what was then a busy weekly cattle market brought new custom from the farming community while a similar move of Neath’s fairground to a site close by introduced seasonal trade from showmen’s families. These diverse groups adding to a distinctive neighbourhood which included two, and previously more, pubs produced a rich array of memorable characters and gossip. It was a continuation of a tradition of fairs and markets acting

as channels for information exchange, something not easily maintained in contemporary, selfservice shopping aisles. A butter and egg merchant who supplied our shop would churn milk into butter in his own small, backyard factory and collected eggs straight from local farms, acquiring in the process a rich knowledge of local folklore and history which he shared.

A phenomenon of the time were the ‘Reps’, travelling representatives of the various product manufacturers who would regularly call at shops. They were men - always men - who were welldressed and had the ‘gift of the gab’. Included among those Reps visiting our shop were the father of a Goon Show member and a former Welsh international rugby team captain and coach. Reps would try to persuade shopkeepers to place orders for their goods using inducements and urging shops to give prominent place to their products, with prizes offered in some cases. Our shop, like others of that time, would carry front window displays of artfully stacked canned products – and woe betide if one of these displays collapsed. My father was skilful at arranging window displays and won a number of prizes, one of which was a domestic fridge, something only just being introduced into private homes in the 1960s. If the Reps were touring a region they might stay at commercial hotels in the towns visited. Observing their expense account living and sales bonuses, some shop traders concluded that the Reps led a hedonistic lifestyle.

Small traders shared a camaraderie and a support network. One would go to those butchers, bakers, fishmongers, etc., in the town who were customers of yours and mutually discounted prices would be charged for goods purchased. Such local trader cooperation no doubt mitigated the impact of post-war rationing in place until 1954 on some goods. They also had a lively social life and my parents frequently attended formal dinner dances organised by Neath’s Chamber of Trade and those of neighbouring towns. My parents’ generation, one that would have been born around a century ago, were proficient in formal dancing and many marriage unions resulted from this social pastime. The local Chambers of Trade would also annually charter one of the White Funnel Fleet paddle steamers which plied the Bristol Channel. These would sail typically from Mumbles or Porthcawl for Ilfracombe, Weston-Super-Mare or even Lundy Island. Shop assistants were treated to this annual summer sailing which meant a one day closure of shops in the town.

While stores now open long hours each day and trade on Sundays, for most of the last century those in shops normally had a five and a half-day working week. The Shops Act 1911 allowed a weekly half-holiday for shop staff which became known as ‘early closing day’, typically held on a Wednesday or Thursday. The half-day closing was not just a tradition but was required by law and regulated by the local council. Legislation passed in 1994 introduced Sunday trading and abolished the statutory half-day weekly holiday thereby drastically changing the template of shopping, added to which the supermarkets were locating to out of town centre locations. My father bought fancy goods from a Swansea warehouse with Jewish owners who traded on Sunday as it was not their Sabbath day. As a child, this was the first time I became aware of a group in the local community who weren’t nominally Church or Chapel in their allegiance. As for the diversity of our customers, we had only one non-white family among our regulars.

The Second World War left its mark as well. We had two women customers of German and Polish origins respectively who, while close neighbours, would never speak to each other or remain together if both entered our family shop. I was much struck in my youth by ex-servicemen, often missing a limb, clad in old Army greatcoats and wearing their medals, who would busk in the town centre. And on a personal note the war years, most of which was spent overseas by my father, meant an eight year age gap existed between my sibling and myself, born respectively just before and after the war. As was not an uncommon experience then in wartime servicemen’s families, my father materialised as a complete stranger to my sister when eventually shipped home after 1945.

The shop operated principally on a cash payment basis – cheques being the only other form of money exchange - but never possessed a cash till. All who worked ‘behind the counter’ had to be proficient in mental arithmetic, even more challenging before the introduction of the decimal

money system. Bills were all handwritten and with £.s.d columns before 1971. Payment for grocery orders - phoned in or prepared from a customer’s hand written list - was normally collected on delivery. Some defaulters unable to pay for goods they’d received would hide at the knock on the door, a ruse sometimes betrayed by children calling out to their skulking parents. My father acquired a regular order from those employed in lighthouses and light vessels around the Welsh coast, groceries which had to sustain them for months at a time at their stations. Substantial grocery orders were delivered to the Trinity House base at Swansea docks and then helicoptered out to the various locations. Our family shop also supplied the famed faggots and peas stalls in Neath’s indoor market.

The interior of the shop (courtesy Neath Port Talbot Council: Neath Museum collection) The shop contained fine display cases and trading was conducted over a long, polished wooden counter. Each day fresh sawdust was spread on the stone flag floor and then swept up at close of business. My father would make a display of patting loose butter with wooden paddles on a marble counter top and his salted butter was popular. In later times this was Irish butter bought cheaply from the ‘Butter Mountain’ of the European Union’s surplus dairy produce to which salt was added to meet local taste. He was also known for his painting in whitewash on the shop’s front display window whatever was the week’s ‘Special Offer’.

Food establishments of that vintage would inevitably attract rodents: shop cats were common and earned their keep. My mother had worked in local food retailing establishments during my father’s wartime absence. She told the tale of a rat burrowing its way through a large block of lard in one instance and of another episode where a shop cat gave birth to kittens on top of a chest containing loose leaf tea. They cleaned up the soiled products as best they could and went on selling them, unable to afford to throw away precious food in a time of severe wartime shortages.

One shouldn’t over-romanticise these traditional shops despite their nostalgic attraction in an era when the supermarket prevails. They fell far short of today’s standards in areas like hygiene,

health and safety, heating, lighting, etc. We had an upper floor which was used for storage with an open trap door. Poised above this opening was a pulley system like a hanging gallows by which boxes of goods were manually hauled up by rope, the whole arrangement fraught with potential danger. The only heating in the cold of winter was paraffin stoves and staff suffered chilblains from the cold, flagstone floors. After a day’s work, which could be quite physical, my father would devote part of each evening to ‘doing the books’, checking, recording and paying: when VAT was introduced in 1973 it meant even more bookwork for the small trader. I never saw my father use any machine aid, all calculations being done mentally and with pen and paper.

The proliferation of the supermarkets from the 1960s sounded the death knell for many small shops. Their owners tried to counter supermarket prices by setting up their own bulk buying trading organisations in order to pass on savings to customers. Still, my father would complain of items being sold more cheaply in supermarkets than he could buy them at wholesale prices. The growth of self-service supermarkets, however, did have one beneficial consequence for our family’s business. Until then the concept of customers helping themselves to items was unheard of and shop staff would deal with each customer in turn, plucking goods from stacked shelves then handing them over or delivering them by bike or van. Those who did not want to adapt to selfservice shopping gave their custom to the shrinking number of privately run shops where over the counter service was still available. Eventually, our family shop became the last of the old-style grocery establishments in the town and was patronised by some of the more well-to-do who appreciated individual service and free delivery (many supermarkets didn’t offer home deliveries at first then charged for this service when they did). One such customer, the director of a longestablished Neath engineering firm, once showed me the office desk used by the eminent Victorian engineer Sir Benjamin Baker. Baker, who had been apprenticed at the Neath Abbey Ironworks, later designed the Forth Bridge, developed London’s Underground and transported Cleopatra’s Needle from Egypt. .

As the twentieth century drew to its close, the shop became a living reminder of a past era: school parties were brought to see how shopping was once conducted before the arrival of the supermarkets; photography enthusiasts and the occasional film crew would visit. The 19th century shop frontage with its multi-coloured glazed tiles and decorative woodwork was listed Grade II on account of “the well-preserved shop front and interior, once typical but now extremely rare to the area”. In 1992 its wrought iron shop gates closed for the final time. By then my father, Griff the Grocer, who’d worked from the age of 14, was aged 79. The premises were sold and put to another use: it was the end both of a family chapter and an era of traditional grocery trading in our town. …………………………………………..

Jeffrey Griffiths …………………………………………..

Commemorating the Conflict: why rolls of honour are so important

War memorials are all around us: they are prominently sited and built to be noticed. As we walk through the Gnoll Park gates in Neath, sit in the parks in Mumbles and Port Talbot, cycle along the Promenade in Swansea or look left while queuing in traffic by Fforestfach Cross, we cannot fail to notice the lists of names in stone and bronze, their dignified formality belying the grim reality to which they bear witness. As we attend the annual act of remembrance, we intone the words, “We will remember them,� but it was the realisation that last November marked the hundredth year since peace was signed that has resulted in many communities taking steps to ensure that those would not be empty words. Some have restored or extended their memorials, while others have researched them to put faces and life stories to the names of those who died.

Here at the Archive Service we have collected many examples of another sort of war list, one that has generally fallen out of favour as the years have gone by. That list is the Roll of Honour.

These are nearly always less permanent than the war memorial, and after decades languishing in a damp cupboard, they are usually quite fragile too. Nevertheless, they are a crucial part of the story of the First World War and deserve a better fate than often befalls them. We have been at pains to encourage owners of such things to transfer them to the Archive Service, and during the year, a number of additional ones have come to us for safekeeping.

At the beginning of the First World War, it was clear to most that this would be a significant conflict, although few were prepared for the realities of life in the trenches. The patriotic lads who signed up, believing that it would all be over by Christmas, were cruelly disappointed, and as despatches reported eye-watering casualty levels and the pain and grief was felt in every town and hamlet, it was felt that something should be done to record the names of those who were seeing active service, on whatever level.

Communities recorded their pride and gratitude in different ways. Many towns and villages set up fundraising committees to finance commemorative items sent to men at the front. In churches and chapels, workplaces and schools, lists were drawn up of parishioners, adherents, employees and former pupils who were away fighting, partly to commemorate their efforts; partly too to encourage others to join them. In Briton Ferry, for example, local people formed the Briton Ferry Boys at the Front Fund Committee, which bought wristwatches for the men. The detailed records of the committee are held at the Archive Service. The committee at Abergwynfi and Blaengwynfi on the other hand collected money not for commemorative items, but for comforts for the men at the front.

Most communities made efforts to ensure that the names of those fighting at the front were recorded in some way. In Swansea in 1915 the vicar of Christchurch distributed a printed list of the 460 men from the streets of his Sandfields parish who were away at war. The church bell, he said, would be rung at 6pm daily as a reminder to pray for them, and there would be a daily service of intercession. A year into the war, seventeen of them were already dead. Something similar was compiled by George Baker-Haynes of Bryn-hir and published as a supplement to the Gower Church Magazine. This covers all the parishes in Gower and gives us an unparalleled snapshot of the situation at the mid-point of the war, in December 1918. It is more than a mere list of names; it adds information about the men’s regiments and where they are fighting at the time of going to press as well. The statistics are chilling: in Bishopston, for example, eight men had died, and of the forty-three still in service, eight more were wounded, with two years of the war to go.

Who knows what scars those men carried?

The most common means of commemoration was the roll of honour. Most follow the same basic model: they are manuscript lists of names, more or less embellished, of those serving in the war, and they were framed and displayed prominently. The quality of the artwork varies greatly from one to the next. Some are very beautifully and artistically designed by an expert draughtsman.

For example, a few years ago we received a beautiful one from Ebenezer Mission. This was the English mission attached to Ebenezer Chapel near Swansea Station. It is very decorative, but short, containing a mere thirteen names. These are written on a representation of a scroll, which hangs by two blue ribbons from the laurel branches of victory suspended either side of the banners, chain-linked together, that name the church. Visible between them is the flame of remembrance, burning in a stone bowl marked “The Great War 1914-18”. Below are the olive branches of peace. The whole composition is harmonious, dignified, colourful and full of symbolism that in no way detracts from the centrality of the list of names. Only recently did we learn that it was in fact one of a pair: its larger sister, with a near-identical design (an extract of which appears on the previous page), listed the names of the 120 men of Ebenezer’s Welsh congregation who served in the war. It is signed, simply, E, 1920, Swansea.

It was given to the Archive Service in January this year.

Mynyddbach Chapel had not one, but two rolls of honour, both by the same man. The first was drawn up at the beginning of the war, but abandoned, because there was insufficient space for all the names. It takes the form of a pillared plaque, lighter on symbolism and more direct in its functionality. The plaque is divided into two columns: the first includes the names of the men while the second gives their regiment. The inscription at the base reads “Gweddiwch drostynt” – pray for them. It only contains nineteen names. The second roll, pictured here, contains sixty. It is more colourful, with a stage curtain fringing the

stylised pillars, and the flags of the allied forces under the word ‘Unity’. Everything points to this having been produced at the end of the war. Both memorials were drawn up by Ivor Stanley Rees, a mechanical draughtsman in the tinplate works who lived in Bartley Terrace, Plasmarl. As befits his calling, his designs are precise and geometric, but lack the finesse of those at Ebenezer.

The roll of honour of Memorial Baptist Church, Swansea has a poignant story: simply designed, but beautifully executed, it is a representation in coloured ink of a parchment scroll, bearing the names and regiments of the men from the chapel who went to fight. In tiny white letters at the bottom is the name of the artist, Walter W. Goddard. About half way down the list is the name of his son, Walter Curtis Goddard of the Royal Army Medical Corps.

Where they could not source or afford the services of a trained draughtsman, they improvised. The First Swansea Sea Scouts, for example, had no budget for that, but wanted, nonetheless, to record the names of members and former members of the troop who had gone to war. All care was taken with the framing and design: the stylised frame is festooned with foliage and on the plaque in the centre rest the Union Flag and the naval White Ensign, below the scouts’ fleur de lys; but beyond the amateur calligraphy of the heading, the list of names is plainly written, in fountain pen, in more than one hand and with insertions, showing that this was an evolving document. Professional it might not be, but the sentiment that inspired it was the same.

So far mention has largely been made of men who fought and men who died. This represents the majority of the names, but not all of them, because women’s names are there as well. Not every roll of honour records them, but some do. There is Eunice Thomas at Mynydbach Chapel, for example. Occasionally we only know almost by accident: the parish church of St Jude, Swansea had a huge, and presumably quite costly, roll of honour, which hung in its frame until the church was closed. Lavishly embellished with gold, it lists 744 people from the Mount Pleasant area who went to war. Unusually, the names are just surname and initial. Here and there in the list, added in red ink, are the various decorations they won: MM for Military Medal, DSO for Distinguished Service Order, and so on. One of these reads RRC, which is the Royal Red Cross, awarded to nurses for exceptional bravery, and exclusively to women until 1976. The recipient is E. J. Evans. We wonder how many of the people behind the other names were women. The war memorial of St Luke’s church, Swansea includes two women who died in the service of their country. One is Eleanor Thomas, and on investigation, we find that she was a munitions worker. She and Gwenllian Williams of Kidwelly were decommissioning ordnance at Pembrey Sands in January 1919. Gwenllian was drilling out a screw from a shell when it exploded, killing them both. Eleanor was twenty years old.

After the war was finished and the men came home, there was pressure on the powers that be to repatriate the remains of those who did not return. The government resisted, and so began a national debate about how they should be commemorated at home. This was resolved on a local level in a variety of different ways. The Briton Ferry Boys at the Front Fund Committee had plenty of money left after the war, so when a resident of Briton Ferry wrote to the church magazine in protest at the paltry little memorial on a notice board, it was decided to use the residue of the fund to pay for a proper memorial. You can see it today on Neath Road, opposite the old St Clement’s Church. In a dignified and sombre square, up a flight of stone steps, high on his plinth, a bronze soldier leans on his rifle, his head bowed in sorrow. For some communities, the memorial is inside the church or in a public park. In Blaengwynfi, it is in the British Legion building. Some churches

put up carved wooden screens or set aside memorial chapels. Whichever way it was done, it was done not with a piece of paper in a frame, but in a permanent way, in bronze, in stone, in brass or in oak.

In the course of time, and as a consequence of the need to get on with life, rolls of honour were gradually demoted. Once taking pride of place, many ended up in cupboards and storerooms. By the time we received the one from Pantygwydr Baptist Church, it was twisted out of shape after many years languishing in the attic of the church. The one at the Gilbertson Works in Pontardawe suffered a more ignominious fate – it had been a beautiful thing, a triptych, finished in black, red, blue and gold, with the names of the men who went to war arranged by works department and a special central section for the names of the fallen. Neglected and trapped in its frame in a damp environment, the mould began to grow, until the names in the central portion are now hard to see.

The roll from Tabor chapel, Blaengwynfi has been preserved in the nick of time. Severely damaged by damp, parts of the fragile paper have been lost. It is currently being repaired, receiving all the expert care and attention it needs. While the names of the war dead live on in a more permanent medium, the names of those who survived are in danger of fading away.

The importance of the rolls of honour is immense. They record, not just the dead, but those who survived, who, based on the records we hold here, outnumbered their fallen comrades by around seven to one, and whose sacrifice deserves to be remembered too. They also provide a unique research tool. Quite apart from the artistry they display, they often give useful information about regiments, ranks, decorations or theatre of war. The efforts of communities across the country to identify, research and commemorate their war dead has shown the depth of feeling that the First World War still evokes a century after it came to an end. Our contribution here at the Archive Service has been to collect and preserve these records, and to devise a means of making them available online. …………………………………………..

Andrew Dulley Assistant County Archivist …………………………………………..

Smallpox, Successful Vaccinations and school groups

Pupils from Waun Wen Primary School researching the symptoms of smallpox at an education session in the Archives, February Smallpox was one of the deadliest diseases known to humans, and the only human disease to have been eradicated by vaccination. The smallpox vaccine, introduced by Edward Jenner in 1796, was the first successful vaccine to be developed.

This year West Glamorgan Archive Service received two ‘Registers of Successful Vaccinations’ for the Pontardawe Union. The volumes record vaccinations against smallpox and cover the periods January 1888 to December 1891 (U/Pd 38/3) and January 1896 to December 1899 (U/Pd 38/4).

The volumes compliment others within our collections from the Neath and Pontardawe Unions: Aberavon District, 1925-1929; Abergwynfi District, 1919-1928; Glyncorrwg District, 1902-1929; Margam District, 1853-1928; Ystradfellte District, 1896-1901; Port Talbot District, 1935-1938; Pontardawe District: 1880-1883, 1888-1899.

The Poor Law Unions funded and administered the vaccination programme of the nineteenth century. The 1840 Act to extend the Practice of Vaccination, provided free vaccination of infants.

However, as the vaccination was voluntary, the uptake was poor, so the later 1853 Vaccination Act made the vaccination compulsory. That act required that every child be vaccinated within three months of birth by the public vaccinator of the district.

Illustration showing smallpox on a foot

Various other acts followed to consolidate and amend the laws relating to vaccination, including the division of unions into vaccination districts; the appointment and payment of public vaccinators; the fining of parents or guardians of unvaccinated infants (all 1867); the appointment of vaccination officers (1871); and the conditional exemption of conscientious objectors (1898).

Following public opposition to compulsory vaccination led by the Anti-Vaccination League, the law was repealed in 1909. Finally, in 1949 compulsory vaccination was abolished.

With the introduction of vaccinations came the formation of various roles within the Poor Law Unions.

The first meeting of the newly established Pontardawe Union took place on Wednesday 14 April 1875 at the Justices’ Room, Pontardawe. The Union consisted of several parishes formerly belonging to the Neath and Swansea Unions: Cilybebyll, Llangiwg, Ystradgynlais, part of Llangyfelach (Mawr and Rhyndwyclydach) and part of Cadoxton-juxta-Neath (Ynysymond).

At that first meeting, members put forward and resolved that one Relieving Officer should be Map showing Poor Law Union Districts appointed for the union at a salary of £80 and also that a Registrar of Births and Deaths should be appointed for the district at a salary of £40 per annum; and a Vaccination Officer at £20 per annum. An advert for the joint position of Registrar of Births and Deaths, Pay Clerk, Vaccination Officer and Collector of the Guardians appeared in The Cambrian on 23 April 1875. ’The person appointed will be required to reside in some central part of the District, and to devote the whole of his time to the duties of the respective offices…[he] must be fully competent to keep all the books and accounts.’

The successful candidate was Thomas Rees of Ynysmeudwy. He held the position of Registrar of Births, Deaths and Marriages and the Vaccination Officer for Pontardawe Union from 1875 until around 1901. At the same time the Medical Officers and Public Vaccinators, David Thomas, M.D., Ystalyfera (Eastern District); Griffith Griffiths, L.R.C.P. Edin, Bryncelyn, Pontardawe (Western District) were appointed. Although the vaccinators had to be medical men, the Registrar and Vaccination Officer did not.

Thomas Rees was baptised in Michaelston-super-Avon on 21 November 1835. Born the son of Thomas and Ann Rees of Penrhys Fawr. Thomas Rees senior was a farmer. Thomas Rees junior also started out life as a farmer living and working on Ynysmeudwy Ucha and later Danycoed Cottage (House). Noted as a farmer on the 1871 and 1881 census, by 1891 and 1901 he was listed as a Relieving Officer and Registrar of Births and Deaths.

In 1911 he was noted as being retired and he died in 1912.

Extract from The Cambrian 23 April 1875

It was the local registrars’ responsibility to keep the vaccination registers and to issue a vaccination certificate to the parents of each vaccinated child. Due to the amount of detail recorded in the registers, they can act as a substitute for civil registration birth indexes and can therefore be a valuable source for anyone interested in family history.

Other records created by the vaccination programme included: report books, certificates of vaccination, returns of deaths of infants under 12 months old and annual returns. Survival of the records is patchy and no records survive for the Gower or Swansea Unions.

The Registers of Successful Vaccinations record all births registered during each month in a particular district. The form is divided into three sections: columns in Divisions I and II were to be filled out by the Registrar. While columns in Division III to V were to be filled out by the Vaccination Officer. In the example of Pontardawe, Thomas Rees was both Registrar and Vaccination Officer.

The columns in Division I record the number in the birth register; when and Extract from one of the Registers of Successful Vaccinations (U/Pd where born; name and sex of child; name 38/3) and surname of father (or, if the child was illegitimate, name of the mother) and rank, occupation or profession of parent. The columns in Division II record when and to whom notice to be vaccinated was given. Division III records the date of medical certificate of successful vaccination; or date of insusceptibility or of having had smallpox; and name of medical man (in this case David Thomas or Griffith Griffiths). Division IV records the date of death in case of the child being dead before vaccination. Finally, Division V records cases that were transferred.

The records will be of interested to anyone studying health and disease and as mentioned earlier can also be used by family historians. The Registers of Successful Vaccinations will also be used in our next Childhood Victorian Diseases school session This year, as part of our service to schools, we introduced a new topic looking at ‘Childhood Victorian Diseases’.

This includes pupils annotating an outline of a body with the symptoms of various diseases (smallpox, measles, scarlet fever, cholera) using original documents from our collections to research the symptoms and remedies. The pilot sessions have proved to be very successful and everybody (apart from the poor cadaver on the operating table) has had much fun! The new topic compliments others that we already offer. ‘Rich and Poor Victorians’ is a comparison of the lives of residents of a Swansea or a Neath slum and the Talbot family of Margam Castle.

‘Tudors at Work’ encourages pupils to use original Latin documents to interpret basic Latin words and create their own apprenticeship indentures. Finally, ‘Swansea during the Three Nights’ Blitz’, is where pupils use original Resource packs created for school groups records such as a Luftwaffe plan, ARP and Home Guard diaries and school records to build a picture of what life was like for the people of Swansea during those three days. All these sessions can be booked by teachers direct through the Archive Service’s ‘Services for Schools’ web page or via the 4-Site programme if the school is a member of that scheme. …………………………………………..

Katie Millien Archivist …………………………………………..

Hanner can mlynedd fel Dinas: Abertawe, 1969-2019

Mae Abertawe wedi newid yn sylweddol ers iddi dderbyn statws dinas ym 1969.

Yn yr oesoedd canol, roedd unrhyw anheddiad ag esgob a chadeirlan yn cael ei alw’n ddinas. O ganlyniad i hyn, roedd dinasoedd yn gallu bod yn fach iawn, megis Tyddewi yn Sir Benfro neu Wells yng Ngwlad yr Haf. Yn ystod y Diwygiad, penderfynodd Harri VIII mai’r Goron fyddai’n gyfrifol am roi statws dinas trwy gyflwyno breinlythyrau. Er bod rhaid i bob dinas feddu ar gadeirlan, ar ôl hyn nid oedd pob lle â chadeirlan yn troi’n ddinas os nad oedd y brenin hefyd yn dymuno hynny. Rhoddodd y Brenin Harri’r anrhydedd i drefi lle crëwyd cadeirlannau newydd o hen fynachlogydd yr oedd ef wedi eu cau, megis Bryste a Rhydychen ym 1542. Gan na chafodd unrhyw gadeirlannau newydd eu creu ar ôl oes y Tuduriaid tan y 19eg ganrif, ni chafodd unrhyw drefi Prydeinig neu Wyddelig statws dinas am 300 mlynedd.

Ym Mhrydain yn ystod y 19eg ganrif, tyfodd trefi’n gyflym gan fod pobl yn tyrru i weithio yn eu ffatrïoedd a’u diwydiannau eraill. Tyfodd trefi megis Birmingham a Manceinion i fod yn llawer mwy na’r hen ddinasoedd cadeiriol. Roedd gwleidyddion Fictoraidd yn meddwl bod maint poblogaeth, hunaniaeth drefol arbennig a llywodraeth leol dda’n penderfynu ar statws dinas. Ym 1888 a 1889, Belfast a Birmingham oedd y lleoedd cyntaf i dderbyn statws dinas heb gadeirlan, ar sail y gwerthoedd hyn. Rhoddwyd statws dinas i Bradford, Hull a Nottingham ym 1897 yn ystod Jiwbilî Ddeimwnt y Frenhines Fictoria. Er bod y Swyddfa Gartref bellach yn gwneud y penderfyniad, roedd dathliadau brenhinol yn gyfle gwych i gyhoeddi dyfarnu statws dinas. Ym 1905, rhoddodd y Brenin Edward VII statws dinas i Gaerdydd i gydnabod ei llwyddiant economaidd pwysig a’i chyfraniad at economi Prydain. Roedd Abertawe ychydig yn llai na Chaerdydd ar y pryd, ond roedd y rheolau ar fin newid.

Ym 1907, penderfynodd y Swyddfa Gartref yn gyfrinachol na fyddai’n ystyried deisebau gan drefi oni bai fod ganddynt boblogaeth o leiafswm o 300,000. Cyflwynodd Abertawe ei deiseb gyntaf am statws dinas ym 1911, heb sylweddoli ei bod hi’n rhy fach i fod yn gymwys dan y rheolau newydd.

Lansiwyd ymgyrchoedd aflwyddiannus eraill ym 1918 a 1935. Ym 1941, dioddefodd Abertawe ddifrod o ganlyniad i gyrchoedd awyr, y gwaethaf o unrhyw dref yng Nghymru yn ystod y rhyfel. Yn y 1960au cynnar, pan gafodd canol y dref ei ailadeiladu, dechreuodd y cyngor ddeisebu’r Llywodraeth eto er mwyn ennill statws dinas. Ym 1964, rhoddwyd statws dinas i Southampton.

Roedd Southampton tua’r un maint ag Abertawe, ac roedd hithau hefyd wedi dioddef bomio difrifol yn ystod y rhyfel. Rhoddodd hyn obaith y byddai’r llywodraeth yn rhoi statws dinas i Abertawe’n fuan hefyd.

Ym 1967, canfasodd dau Aelod Seneddol Abertawe ar y cyd i’r Swyddfa Gartref fod blwyddyn arwisgiad y Tywysog Charles yn gyfle perffaith i roi statws dinas i Abertawe. Daeth yr Aelod Seneddol dros Gaerdydd, James Callaghan, yn Ysgrifennydd Cartref ym 1968 a bu’n eiriolwr allweddol yn ystod ymgyrch Abertawe. Daeth llwyddiant pan ymwelodd Tywysog newydd Cymru ag Abertawe ar 3 Gorffennaf 1969 a chyhoeddwyd y newyddion i’r dorf ar risiau Neuadd y Ddinas.

Ar 15 Rhagfyr, dychwelodd y Tywysog Charles i Abertawe er mwyn cyflwyno’r siarter i’r Maer yn ystod seremoni yn Neuadd Brangwyn. Mae gan nifer o breswylwyr hŷn Abertawe atgofion melys o’r diwrnod hwnnw ym mis Rhagfyr 1969. Cyflwynodd papurau newydd argraffiadau arbennig, cynhyrchwyd cofroddion a rhoddwyd diwrnod bant o’r ysgol i’r plant.

Mae Abertawe wedi tyfu mewn maint a phoblogaeth ers 1969. Erys Abertawe fel ail ddinas Cymru a bellach hi yw’r 25ain fwyaf yng Nghymru a Lloegr. Yn dilyn ehangu ym 1974 a 1996, mae ffiniau Abertawe bellach yn cynnwys Gŵyr ac ardaloedd i’r gogledd o’r cyrion trefol o Gasllwchwr i Glydach. Ym 1996, rhoddwyd yr enw Dinas a Sir Abertawe arnom i gydnabod y ffaith bod gan y ddinas wyneb gwledig a threfol. Rydym yn boblogaeth fwy amrywiol, gyda rhai sgiliau nad oeddent hyd yn oed wedi cael eu dychmygu bymtheng mlynedd yn ôl. Mae myfyrwyr yn dod yma o bob rhan o’r byd er mwyn astudio yn ein prifysgolion. Wrth i ni symud ymlaen at yr hanner cant mlynedd nesaf, gallwn ni edrych yn ôl ar ein campau yn y gorffennol fel tref a dinas, ac adeiladu ymhellach ar ein treftadaeth falch. …………………………………………..

Kim Collis Archifydd y Sir …………………………………………..

Appendix 1: Depositors and Donors The Archive Service is grateful to the following individuals and organisations who have placed local and historical records in its care during the period 1 April 2018 to 31 March 2019.

P Adams; J Andrew; J Barber; Mrs E Belcham; A Blethyn; G Borsden; Revd Canon P Brooks; Ms K Charles; J Childs; Mrs B Claybrooke; A Clews; J Coleman; L Cooke; R Cooper; Mrs W Cope; Ms S Croall; I Currie; Ms E Davies; Revd J Davies; Ms L Davies; Mrs M Davies; Ms R Davies; M Dobbins; A Dulley; Mrs B Essex; R Essex; E Evans; Mrs J Evans; K Evans; R Evans; P Frame; G Games; Dr D George; B Grenfell; Mrs K Griffiths; Mrs P Grove; P Hall; E Harris; Miss E Hewitt; Ms D Hodgson; Mrs J Hope; Mrs G Howard; Dr R Isaac; Dr P Jackson; Miss C James; Ms C Jenkins; P Jenkins; C Johnston; Ms C Jones; E Jones; Mrs E Jones; Mrs M Jones; Mrs R Jones; Mrs S Jones; Ms T Jones; Ms J Joslin; P Kay; Ms L Kelly; Ms M Kenna; A Kreppel; R Lanchbury; A Lea; Ms M Leaity; C Lindley; Revd Canon B Lodwick; D McLaughlin; D Michael; Revd Dr A Morgan; J Morgan; Mrs J Morgan; Ms M Morgan; Ms P Morgan; Y Parch J Morris; L Morris; Miss J Neilson; Mrs E Niedergang; P Olsen; S Paltridge; T Parslow; Ms J Payne; S Phillips; T Price; C Reed; Revd I Rees; I Richard; G Richards; A Roberts; D Roberts; Revd Canon D Roberts; P Sambrook; J Sims; Mrs J Slade; Mrs H Smail; S Smith; Ms R Steel; Ms C Stevens; Mrs M Stray; R Symberlist; A Wyn Thomas; Ms H Thomas; Ms L Thomas; Ms R Thomas; Ms W Thomas; K Tucker; Mrs J Turner; Mrs M Webster; Ms L Whelan; H Williams; J Williams; Ms S Williams; Mrs V Williams; Mrs J Wilson; C Wilson-Watkins Benefice of South West Gower; Benefice of Three Cliffs; Blaenhonddan Community Council; Brynhyfryd Primary School; Capel Ebeneser Newydd; Cilybebyll Community Council; Coedffranc Community Council; Cumbria Archive Service; Glamorgan Archives; Gower Broadband Community Group; Gower Landscape Partnership Oral History Project; Gower Society; Jazz Heritage Wales; Llansawel Primary School; Ministry of Justice ; Neath Port Talbot Council; Neath Registry Office; Neath Town Council; Oystermouth Historical Association; Pantycrwys, Eglyws yr Annibynwyr; Parish of Gorseinon; Parish of Ystradgynlais; Pennard Women’s Institute; Rosehill Quarry Group; Rotary Club of Swansea; Royal Institution of South Wales; Seion, Capel yr Annibynwyr, Glais; Skewen and District Historical Society; Soroptimist International, Port Talbot; Swansea Bay Port Health Authority; Swansea Council; Swansea Festival of Music and the Arts; Swansea Freemasons, Tuscan Lodge 7267; Swansea Libraries; Swansea West Constituency Labour Party; Undeb Bedyddwyr Cymru (Baptist Union of Wales); Ysgol Cwm Brombil

Appendix 2: Accessions of Archives, 2018-2019 The archives listed below have been received by gift, deposit, transfer, purchase or bequest during the period 1 April 2018 to 31 March 2019. Not all items are available for consultation immediately and certain items are held on restricted access.

PUBLIC RECORDS SHRIEVALTY High Sheriff of West Glamorgan: declarations and oaths of Henry Michael Gilbert as High Sheriff and Robert Hywel Parker Williams as Undersheriff of West Glamorgan, 27 Mar. 2018 (HS/W 44/12) H.M. CORONER Swansea Coroner: inquest files, 2002-2003 H.M. CUSTOMS AND EXCISE Certificate of Release at Termination of Voyage for the ship Aberlemno, 1889 MINISTRY OF JUSTICE Plan of Carmarthen Prison, 1881

RECORDS OF LOCAL AUTHORITIES AND PREDECESSOR AUTHORITIES UNITARY AUTHORITIES Neath Port Talbot County Borough Council Electoral and Democratic Services: electoral registers, 2018-2019 (CB/NPT RE 41-42) ‘Information for elected members’, 1995; Local Government Boundary Commission for Wales Review of Electoral Arrangements, 2010, 1927-2010 (CB/NPT CE 9/1-2) City and County of Swansea Design and Conservation Team: various published books and booklets, 20th cent. (searchroom library) Order of ceremony: inauguration of Councillor David Phillips as the Right Worshipful the Lord Mayor of the City and County of Swansea, 18 May 2018 (CC/S CE 11/5) Order of proceedings for the honorary freedom of Sir Karl Jenkins, 2018 (CC/S CE 12/4) Conservation records including photographs of Wind Street pre-enhancement; early proposals for the marina development; conservation area photographs; reference books, pamphlets and ephemera, late 20th and early 21st cent.

Highways and Transportation: plans of Swansea North Dock, c.1930-1950 City and County of Swansea, Planning Department: County Borough of Swansea Development Plan, 1960 Conservation Team: Various files relating to listed and formerly-listed buildings; photographs of conservation areas; records relating to public art, 1990s-2000s Swansea Local Plan, 1993-2003; Northern Lliw Local Plan, 1992; Southern Lliw Local Plan, 1986, 1986-2003 (CC/S Pl 1/1-3) Committee minutes and reports, 2016-2018 (CC.S CC 25-26) Planning and conservation records includes proposed plans for the Millennium Energy Park, c.1990s-2000s Electoral register, 2019 (CC/S RE 46-47) Photographs relating to Swansea Market and cockle picking, 20th-21st centuries Gower AONB designation order, 1956 and certified plan, 1956 COUNTY COUNCILS West Glamorgan County Council West Glamorgan County Council diary, 1987-1988 (WGCC/CE 3/12a) File relating to buildings of special architectural or historical interest, 1987-1995 (WGCC/Pl X 134) BOROUGHS Neath Borough: particulars and conditions of sale of property at Neath with correspondence, 1927 (B/N L 5/22) POOR LAW UNIONS Pontardawe Union Records: vaccination registers, 1888-1900 (U/Pd 38/3-4) CIVIL PARISH/COMMUNITY AND TOWN COUNCILS Blaenhonddan Community Council: minutes, 2011-2017 (P/245/20) Cilybebyll Community Council: minutes 2007/8-2014/5; receipts and payments 2005/6-2011/12, 2005-2015 (P/73/3/14-14; P/73/4/8) Coedffranc Community (now Town) Council: minutes, 2009-2018 (P/220/44-55) Neath Town Council: minutes, agendas and papers, 1976-2016 (P/76/24/1-45)

Penmaen: parish residents’ meeting minutes 1977-1986, 1863-2014 (P/116/4) Reynoldston parish: Vestry minutes and civil parish meeting minutes, 1872-1946 (P/120/5-6) OTHER PUBLIC BODIES Swansea Bay Port Health Authority: annual report, 2018 (PH 1/111)

EDUCATION RECORDS Bishop Gore School, Swansea: school magazines, 1958-1963 (E/BG Sec 22/50-56) Brynhyfryd Primary School, Briton Ferry: log books, admission registers, photographs, 19th-21st cent (E/N 1/1/2-4; E/N 1/2/1-3; E/N 1/3/1-14; E/N 1/4/1-3) Dyffryn Comprehensive School, Port Talbot: photographs, school prospectuses, programme for the opening of the school, 20th-21st centuries Dynevor School: The Dy’vorian, journal of the former pupils of Dynevor School. Winter 2018/19 No. 34, 2018-2019 (E/Dyn Sec X 2/9) Glanmor School, Swansea: school magazines, 1966-1970 (E/Gla C Sec 4/1-6) Llansamlet Primary School: log books, 1900-1979 (E/S 11/2/3-4) Llansawel Primary School, Briton Ferry: log book, 1933-1990; admission registers, 1894-1998, 1894-1990 (E/N 6/1/3; E/N 6/2/1-5) Pentrepoeth Infants’ School: records relating to Pentrepoeth Infants’ School including regulations for school management; examination schedules; pupil teacher agreements and pupil returns, 1880-1939 (E/S 39/5/2) Port Talbot Elementary Secondary School: governors’ minute book; cleaning/cookery schedule, 1918-1930 (E/D Sec 8/1b; E/D Sec 13/16) St Thomas Community Primary School, Swansea: architectural plans, n.d. [c.2000]

ECCLESIASTICAL PARISH Bishopston: marriages, banns, service registers, PCC and Easter Vestry minutes, and records relating to church property and premises 1863-2014; PCC minutes and records relating to church property and premises (P/103/CW/32-62) Coelbren: marriage register, 1991-2010 (P/303/CW/24) Deanery of West Gower: Chapter minutes, 20th-21st century (D/D RD 12-13) Gorseinon: marriage registers, 2007-2017; registers of baptisms, confirmations, banns and services; PCC minutes; annual report and parish magazine, 1970-2018 (P/305/CW/242-252)

Ilston: marriage register, 1971-2012 (P/105/CW/18) Llanddewi: records relating to the fabric of the church and Easter Vestry and PCC minutes, 20032017 (P/107/CW/16-18) Oxwich: PCC and Easter Vestry minutes and records relating to the fabric of the church, 19182017 (P/114/CW/16-23) Pennard: marriage register 2010-2015; Gower Ministry Area Magazine, July 2017-October 2018 (P/117/CW/146-147) Penmaen: register of services, churchwardens’ accounts and returns, 1892-1936 (P/116/CW/4548) Penrice: records relating to the fabric of the church and Easter Vestry and PCC minutes, 19872014 (P/118/CW/14-15) Port Eynon: records relating to the Port Eynon, Llanddewi and Rhossili Church Working Group; records relating to the fabric of the church; Easter Vestry and PCC minutes, 1982-2017 (P/119/CW/97-103) Reynoldston: marriage registers, service registers, PCC and Easter Vestry minutes, and records relating to the fabric of the church, 1933-2017 (P/120/CW/19-33) Rhossili: records relating to the fabric of the church, Easter Vestry and PCC minutes, 1993-2017, 1918-2017 (P/121/CW/28-32) Swansea St Luke, Cwmbwrla: photographs of the church taken shortly after its closure, 10 Dec. 2014 (P/321/CW/72) Swansea, St Mary: orders of service and programmes for events, 2017-2019 (P/123/CW/1377)

NONCONFORMIST AND CATHOLIC RECORDS Baptist Pantygwydr, Swansea: 125th anniversary chapel history, 2018 (D/D Bap 50/128) Rehoboth, Briton Ferry: marriage register, 1956-2015 (D/D W/Bap 42/1/1-6) Undeb Bedyddwyr Cymru: copies of Y Negesydd/The Messenger, 2018; annual report, 2018 Calvinistic Methodist Salem, Creunant: marriage registers, 1931-1993, 1931-2017 (D/D CM 29/1/1-4) English Congregational and United Reformed Church Bethel, Sketty Green, Swansea: Friendship Club and Sisterhood minutes, lists of members, subscriptions and accounts, 1950-2013 (D/D E/Cong 14/1/1-14/3/2) Ritson Street, Briton Ferry: Minutes, financial and membership records, trusteeship records, photographs and records relating to the building, 1920s-2007 (D/D E/Cong 6/38-45)

Jehovah’s Witnesses Kingdom Hall, Neath: marriage register, 1981-2006 (D/D JW 1/1/1) Roman Catholic St Joseph’s, Aberavon: marriage registers, 1980-2017 (D/D RCC 3/1/1-8) St Philip Evans’, Cwmafan: marriage register, 1987-1995 (D/D RCC 4/1/1) Welsh Independent Ebenezer, Swansea: roll of honour, 1914-1918, 1920 (D/D Ind 33/583) Henrietta Street, Swansea: First World War roll of honour, n.d, 1914-1918; memorial plaques removed from the wall of the church, including war memorial, 1914-1977; various records discovered in the chapel after it had closed, including correspondence, photographs, offering registers, annual reports and ephemera, 19th-20th centuries (D/D Ind 33/551-582) Pantycrwys, Craig-cefn-parc: facsimile of the chapel graveyard register, 2018 (D/D Ind 51/1/1) Seion, Glais: marriage registers, graveyard plan and register, members’ contributions registers, chapel history, minutes of deacons’ and church meetings, historical notes, annual reports, folder of material relating to the Rev. T. E. Nicholas (Niclas y Glais), photographs, 1892-2017 (D/D Ind 53/1/1-53/9/4) Tabernacl, Cwmgors: Annual reports, 1918-1982 (D/D Ind 52/1/1-22)

SOCIETIES, ASSOCIATIONS, SPORTS AND THE ARTS Pennard Women’s Institute: photographs of of Pennard Women’s Institute members and events, 1950s-2000s (D/D Xno 29/28) Gower Society: bundle of additional papers relating to the Gower Society, 1953-2018 (D56 4c/4-5; 5/40; 7/79-80) Oystermouth Historical Association: facsimile and transcript records relating to Oystermouth and Newton schools, and to Mrs Rees, a former headmistress at Newton School, and Thistleboon Orphanage, Mumbles, 19th-20th centuries (D/D Z 95/130-133) Gower Festival programmes, 2017-2018, 2017-2018 (D 62/2/39-40) Soroptimist International, Port Talbot branch: business minutes, 1980-2017 (D/D SIPT 1/6-30; 3/12) Papers relating to Selar opencast campaign, plus 2 boxes of glass plate negatives, 20th century Royal Institution of South Wales: photograph album; newspaper cuttings; minutes and reports, 1950s-1960s; historical records - minutes, annual reports, newsletters, late 20th, early 21st century Swansea Freemasons, Tuscan Lodge 7267: minutes and attendance register, 2001-2014 (D/D FM/S 95-96)

St. Helen’s Balconiers: newsletter, 2012-2016 (D/D Z 560/18-22) Swansea International Festival: programme, 2018 (D 59/4/71) Copies of photographs showing the opening of the Swansea Music Festival (includes Sir William Jenkins & Sir Adrian Boult), 1948 (D 59/9/6/2-3) Programmes: Festival of Britain combined gymanfa ganu at the Brangwyn Hall, 26th July 1951; Choir of 2,000 Voices at the Cricket Field, Swansea accompanied by the Swansea Police Band to commemorate the Coronation of King George V and Queen Mary, 22nd June 1911, 1911-1951 (D/D Z 1068) Swansea theatre posters, 1838-1842 (D/D Z 1069) Mumbles and West Cross Photographic Society: album of photographs and items relating to the Society’s activities, 1993-2015 (D/D Z 1070/1) Ostreme ‘73 brochure; Morriston Orpheus Choir Subscribers Association brochure; David Evans brochure, 1970s Poster advertising an exhibition in Neath by the artist Lynnford Jones, 2003 Gower Broadband Community Group: minutes, papers, posters, commercial tender, 2011-2016 Skewen and District Historical Society: Minutes and ‘Hanes’ magazine, 2018-2019 (D/D SHS 1/18 and searchroom library) Rosehill Quarry Group: Minutes, reports, press cuttings, photographs and plans relating to the activities of the Rosehill Quarry Group, 1990s-2010s Swansea Library collection: books of poetry by Edward Young (Eos Wyn) of Alltwen, 1870s-1880s (SL EW 1-3)

POLITICAL PAPERS Swansea West Constituency Labour Party: Minutes, Correspondence, Manifestos, Boundary Commission Documents, General Election Leaflets, 1978-2008 (Lab/SLA 1-14) Swansea East and West Constituency Labour Parties: Campaign literature produced by the Labour Party for candidates for local elections in Swansea, 1925-1960s (Lab/SLA 15-17)

WOMEN’S ARCHIVE WALES Women’s Archive Wales: personal papers of Margeret Fisher, Martha Mary Davies and Mary Ann Fisher, 20th century (WAW 45/1-8) Merched y Wawr, West Glamorgan District: additional records 2010-2016 Wendy Richards collection, additional items 1970s-1980s.

Swansea Women’s History Group: exhibition material from the Swansea Women’s History Group, 20th century

FIRST AND SECOND WORLD WAR RECORDS Autograph books of Doris May Adams of Briton Ferry, including anti-war sentiments, 1915-1922 (D/D Z 1056/1-3) Receipt from the Mayor’s Air Raid Relief Fund, 1942 (D/D Z 1060/1) Three letters written by Brinley Steins to his mother from the Front during the First World War, 1917 (D/D Z 1064) Index of Swansea War Dead Part 1, The First World War, created by Charles Wilson Watkins, c.2018 Swansea War Library: newspapers, pamplets, leaflets and booklets relating to the First World War, 1914-1920 (SL WL 10/1-33) Letter from Mrs Margaret Kay (née Evans) to her eldest son Harry describing the scene leaving air raid shelters after the first bombing raid on Swansea in 1940. Also includes a transcription, 1940 (D/D Z 1066/1-2) Book entitled ‘Morriston it did its bit’ by Philippa Grove and Len Woodward; text of RAF propaganda leaflet dropped over Germany, 1939, 1939-2018 (D/D Z 565/33; volume added to searchroom library) Swansea War Library: newspapers, pamplets, leaflets and booklets relating to the First Wolrd War, 1914-1920 (SL WL 10/1-33)

LEGAL AND ESTATE RECORDS Documents relating to the descendants of Walter Thomas of Dan-y-graig, late 20th century Deeds relating to John Morris of Clasemont, 18th century (D/D Z 1059/1-3) Pre-registration title deeds of no. 3, Rosser Terrace, Cwmafan, 1924-1995 (D/D Z 1065/1) Pre-registration title deeds relating to properties in Swansea, 19th century (D/D An) Copy of Longford Court/Cwrt-rhyd-hir Estate Map, 1743 Miscellaneous deeds relating to Swansea, 19th-20th centuries

PERSONAL PAPERS Clive Reed Collection: photographs, plans, drawings and papers relating to Swansea Canal barges including no. 56, 20th century; receipt for coal from Lewis Bros Coal Yard, Pontardawe, 1950; receipt for radio from Elsmore Rees Radio Ltd, Pontardawe, 1949; record sleeve for a 10” record from R.H. Rees and Co, Pontardawe, c.1960

Slide collection belonging to the late Bernard Morris relating to Swansea and Gower; slide collection belonging to the late Arthur Rees relating to Glamorgan churches, 20th century Papers relating to Grenville P. Neilson relating to his employment in the Swansea Council Treasurer’s department, 20th century (D/D Z 316/8/9-10) Private donation: papers relating to Griffith John (Swansea-born missionary), 20th-21st centuries (D/D Z 165/34) Photographs, correspondence and certificates relating to the career of D. R. Grenfell, c.1895-1968 (D 207/19/1-6) Certificate presented to Adamo Adami, the chef to Adelina Patti, as well as personal photos of Adami and family, late 19th, early 20th century (D/D Z 1067/1-6) Articles: Felindre: a brief history; Salem in Mawr; Anthracite Coal and Science, 1960-1964 by Ioan Richard, 2018 Estate of Miss Mary Rose Mumford: various paintings and photographs, including William Llewellyn Morgan and (possibly) his father Evan Morgan, of St Helen’s, Swansea, 19th century (D/D SH) Notes on the Swansea parliamentary hustings, 1885-1918 by Ivor Thomas Rees - includes copies of newspaper cuttings and ephemera, c. 2019 (searchroom library) Short written memoir/interview of Mrs Eva Sarah Louise Westwood talking to Harry Secombe, n.d.

Photograph showing the elders of Argyle Chapel, c.1960; bundle of photographs, correspondence etc. relating to the Women’s Institute of Crofty and Llanmorlais, 1949-2014, 1960-2014 (D/D Z 586/4-5) Final application to pay £2 6s 8d addressed to Mr William Whitelaw, confectioner, Aberavon, 1871 Ordnance Survey maps of Pontardawe, Neath Higher and Blaengwrach; records relating to the Oddfellows Friendly Society; two account books for the Loyal Order of Alfreds Friendly Society; poor rate books for Blaengwrach, 1910 and 1913; 10 postcards of Neath Town, 1950s; 10 photographs of Blaen-gwrach-fawr Farm; geological survey of the Aberpergwm Colliery, 18631950s Neath Abbey Sales catalogue, 1946; Llwchwr UDC Main Drainage Scheme opening, 1970; Llangyfelach parish tithe apportionment transcription by W. C. Rogers; Llwchwr UDC ward boundary plan, 1929, 1929-1970 (D/D Z 1071/1-4) Prize essays on The Desirability and Advantages of Recreation Grounds for Swansea, 1875

TRANSPORT, BUSINESS AND INDUSTRIAL Facsimile of map showing the Midland Railway line from Hereford to Swansea via Brecon and Brynaman, 1911 (D/D Z 1058/1-6) Records of John Andrew (Bakers) Ltd, Mount Pleasant, Swansea, 1891-2001 (D/D Z 1052)

Plans and reports relating to the former Walkers Crisps factory building at Fforestfach, Swansea, n.d, post 2006 (D/D Z 1061/1) Swansea Canal records, 1793-2015 (D/D SCS 23/1-16) File entitled ‘Tips and Tip Working in the Lower Swansea Valley’, c.1951 South Wales Transport Co. Ltd: file of 1:1250 Ordnance Survey maps showing land owned by the former Mumbles Railway, later South Wales Transport Co. Ltd, and transferred to Swansea County Borough Council in 1962 (D/D Z 101/3) Leaflets, programmes and other ephemera produced by W.Whittington’s printers, Neath Surveys of the Lower Swansea Valley, 1945-c.1965 (D/D Z 1063/1-3)

SOUND, FILM AND DVD Swansea Women’s History Group: box files relating to historical projects conducted by Swansea Women’s History Group, including video recordings and related papers, 1982-2004 VHS videos – ‘Swansea Bay, Mumbles and Gower’ and ‘A History of Port Talbot’, 1990s Peter Hall video collection: short video of an actor in a trench describing life at the front in the First World War, 2018; DVD entitled Rorke’s Drift Anglo Zulu War 1879: Swansea Connections, 2018; film about the D-Day experiences of members of the South Wales Borderers, 2018; item from ITV News relating to Swansea soldier John Connolly who took part in the Battle of Rorke’s Drift, 2018; DVD re the story of John Connolly, Rorke’s Drift Veteran, died in Swansea in 1906. Re-dedication service at his grave in 2019 (D/D Z 717/46-49) Recordings, equipment and documentation resulting from the Gower Landscape Partnership (GLP) Oral History Project consisting of interviews with Gower people about their memories of life and experiences of Gower, 2017-2018 (T 47) Audio tape concerning the redevelopment of the Lower Swansea Valley, 1979 (T 48/1)

PICTORIAL AND MAPS Ordnance Survey 1”:1 mile geological map of Swansea and Gower and associated geological sections, 1872 (D/D Z 1055/1-2) Postcards of locations in Swansea and Gower, c.1910 (P/PR/3v/3/15; P/PR/13/3/12; P/PR/34/3/13; P/PR/72/3/7-8; P/PR/78vi/3/17; P/PR/90/3/20) Box of assorted Swansea slides, 2 large photos of Waun Wen School, 1 photo and notes relating to Tawe Lodge nurses, photos of Tir John Power Station, old Swansea photographs, 20th century Set of photographic prints of various locations around Swansea, early 20th century

Photographic slides of Swansea; tourist leaflets relating to the Tawe Heritage Trail and Craig y Nos, c. 20th cent.

Photographs relating to Swansea’s canals, 20th century Copy of Longford Court/Cwrt-rhyd-hir Estate Map, 1743 Photographs and negatives of Swansea, taken mainly from Mount Pleasant, 1960s-1980s Photographs of Swansea and the Lower Swansea Valley, including several of Port Talbot, mostly taken from high vantage points, 1950s-1960s

Gwasanaeth Archifau Gorllewin Morgannwg Mae Gwasanaeth Archifau Gorllewin Morgannwg yn casglu dogfennau, mapiau, ffotograffau, recordiadau ffilm a sain sy’n ymwneud â phob agwedd ar hanes Gorllewin Morgannwg.Mae’n wasanaeth ar y cyd ar gyfer Cynghorau Dinas a Sir Abertawe a Bwrdeistref Sirol Castell-nedd Port Talbot.

Ein cenhadaeth yw cadw a datblygu ein casgliadau o archifau, diogelu ein treftadaeth ddogfennol a chaniatáu ymchwil er mwyn datblygu ein casgliad. Rydym yn ymroddedig i ddarparu gwybodaeth a’r cyfle i gyflwyno’r archifau i bawb.

Gwasanaeth Archifau Gorllewin Morgannwg Canolfan Ddinesig Heol Ystumllwynarth Abertawe SA1 3SN  01792 636589

Back cover: Portrait of a child taken from a collection of glass slides relating to Aberavon (D/D Z 1045/11) (D/D Z 1045/17)

archifau@abertawe.gov.uk www.abertawe.gov.uk/archifaugorllewinmorgannwg

@archifgorllmor

Gwasanaeth ar y cyd ar gyfer Cynghorau Abertawe a Castell-Nedd Port Talbot A joint service for Swansea and Neath Port Talbot Councils