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Rees Hopkin Rhys (industrialist And Local Politician)
Rees Hopkin Rhys (19 March 1819 – 1899) was an industrialist, landowner and prominent local government figure in the Aberdare area for much of the nineteenth century. Rhys was born in Llwydcoed and from an early age showed an interest in public affairs. In 1847, he lost his sight after an accident at Dowlais works where he was conducting experiments with "gun cotton". Public life Following his accident, Rhys devoted much of his time and energy to public life and became a highly respected figure in the Aberdare Valley, even among those of opposing political views. He was involved with a number of public improvements in Aberdare, including the development of Aberdare Park, for which he donated the land. In 1846 he became one of the three members representing Aberdare on the Merthyr Tydfil Board of Guardians in the 1840s and was chairman from 1880 to 1887. For many years he chaired the Assessment Committee, and was also involved in the industrial schools movement. In 1884 the Gua ...
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Aberdare
Aberdare ( ; cy, Aberdâr) is a town in the Cynon Valley area of Rhondda Cynon Taf, Wales, at the confluence of the Rivers Dare (Dâr) and Cynon. Aberdare has a population of 39,550 (mid-2017 estimate). Aberdare is south-west of Merthyr Tydfil, north-west of Cardiff and east-north-east of Swansea. During the 19th century it became a thriving industrial settlement, which was also notable for the vitality of its cultural life and as an important publishing centre. Etymology The name ''Aberdare'' means "mouth/confluence of the river dare", as the town is located where the Dare river ( cy, Afon Dâr) meets the Cynon ( cy, afon Cynon). While the town's Welsh spelling uses formal conventions, the English spelling of the name reflects the town's pronunciation in the local Gwenhwyseg dialect of South East Wales. ''Dâr'' is an archaic Welsh word for oaks (the plural of ''derwen''), and the valley was noted for its large and fine oaks as late as the nineteenth century. In ancien ...
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Aberdare Park
Aberdare Park ( Welsh: Parc Aberdâr) is a well-preserved Victorian public park located in the village of Trecynon, near the town of Aberdare in South Wales. The park is designated Grade II* on the Cadw/ICOMOS Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in Wales. History The park occupies nearly fifty acres (20 ha). It opened on 27 July 1869. It was landscaped and planted by William Barron, who had laid out many parks in England. The park was created at the instigation of Rees Hopkin Rhys. In April 1948, 33-year old Polish national Jerzy Strzadala was murdered in Aberdare Park in a case that is still unsolved. In 1956 the National Eisteddfod was held in the park. A gorsedd circle was erected to commemorate this event; the stone circle is still remaining. Motorcycling There is a circuit of public roads within the park which is used for motorcycle road racing. Races were held until 1964, with 15 starters in each race. Racing resumed on 24 June 1978. ...
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Merthyr Tydfil Board Of Guardians
Merthyr Tydfil (; cy, Merthyr Tudful ) is the main town in Merthyr Tydfil County Borough, Wales, administered by Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Council. It is about north of Cardiff. Often called just Merthyr, it is said to be named after Tydfil, daughter of King Brychan of Brycheiniog, who according to legend was slain at Merthyr by pagans about 480 CE. generally means "martyr" in modern Welsh, but here closer to the Latin : a place of worship built over a martyr's relics. Similar place names in south Wales are Merthyr Cynog, Merthyr Dyfan and Merthyr Mawr. History Pre-history Peoples migrating north from Europe had lived in the area for many thousands of years. The archaeological record starts from about 1000 BC with the Celts. From their language, the Welsh language developed. Hillforts were built during the Iron Age and the tribe that inhabited them in the south of Wales was called the Silures, according to Tacitus, the Roman historian of the Roman invaders. The Roman i ...
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Thomas Brock
Sir Thomas Brock (1 March 184722 August 1922) was an English sculptor and medallist, notable for the creation of several large public sculptures and monuments in Britain and abroad in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. His most famous work is the Victoria Memorial in front of Buckingham Palace, London. Other commissions included the redesign of the effigy of Queen Victoria on British coinage, the massive bronze equestrian statue of Edward, the Black Prince, in City Square, Leeds and the completion of the statue of Prince Albert on the Albert Memorial. Biography Brock was born on 1 March 1847 in Worcester. He was the only son of a painter and decorator and attended the Government School of Design in Worcester, after which he undertook an apprenticeship in modelling at the Worcester Royal Porcelain Works. In 1866 he became a pupil of the sculptor John Henry Foley and also enrolled in the Royal Academy Schools, where he won a gold medal for sculpture in 1869. H ...
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Aberdare School Board
The Aberdare School Board was formed in 1871 and consisted of thirteen members elected for a period of three years. It was abolished, along with other School Boards in 1902 and its responsibilities transferred to Glamorgan County Council. In the main, the members were local industrialists, tradesmen, nonconformist ministers. In later years, this changed to include a smattering of working men, The 1871-74 School Board In late 1870 a vestry meeting was held at Aberdare, presided over by the rector of Aberdare, John David Jenkins, where it was agreed, on the proposal of Rev Thomas Price, seconded by Rees Hopkin Rhys, that a School Board be elected as soon as possible. Rev David Price, Siloa, hoped that there would be no contest. ‘A contest’, he argued, ‘would be productive of personal feeling besides being expensive and full of turmoil. It would also rouse a feeling of denominationalism, and he wished that to be entirely sunk. They should forget the sects in their regard fo ...
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1889 Glamorgan County Council Elections
The first election to the Glamorgan County Council was held on 17 January 1889. Results were announced over several days. They were followed by the 1892 election. The authority, by far the largest county in Wales in terms of population, was established by the 1888 Local Government Act. The county of Glamorgan was at this time becoming heavily industrialised although some areas such as the Vale of Glamorgan remained essentially rural. Overview of the Result The rise of nonconformist liberalism, especially since the 1860s, throughout Wales, had challenged the prevailing influence of the landed gentry. However, even in 1889, the traditional forces remained influential and no working men were elected to the Council. For many weeks prior to the election there was lively campaigning in most wards and on election day, 'there was great interest manifested in the proceedings, and at most of the polling places a great many votes were recorded.' The results are incomplete. As in most p ...
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Glamorgan County Council
Glamorgan County Council was established in 1889 together with the administrative county of Glamorganshire under the Local Government Act 1888. The first elections to the council were held in January 1889. The council was abolished under the Local Government Act 1972 on 1 April 1974. It was replaced by Mid Glamorgan County Council, South Glamorgan County Council and West Glamorgan County Council. The first Council, 1889-92 There were sixty-eight members elected to the new county council in 1889. Prior to 1889 local government had been carried out by unelected magistrates, often wealthy industrialists and landowners. The first intake of Glamorgan County Council reflected this. Eight members declaring themselves as 'colliery proprietors' (and 15 others being chairmen, directors or prominent colliery shareholders). Owner of Cyfarthfa Ironworks, William T. Crawshay, was elected in the Cyfarthfa ward and four tinplate manufacturers were elected. Sir Hussey Vivian (shortly to become Lord ...
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Griffith George
Griffith George (1847–1910) was a Liberal politician, businessman and a prominent figure in the cultural and religious of Aberdare and Glamorgan, Wales. George was born in Llangoedmor, near Cardigan, but moved at a young age to Pontseli, near Newcastle Emlyn. One of his contemporaries was Herber Evans, a prominent Calvinistic Methodist minister. He entered the drapery trade and spent a number of years in London. He married Rachel Rees, of Castell Gorwyn, Trelech, Carmarthenshire and they had a son and two daughters. The son became a mining engineer in India. In 1876, George moved to Trecynon where he opened a drapery business, and in 1886 he took over the larger concern of Henry Lewis, known as the Beehive, in Victoria Square, Aberdare. He retired from business in 1900. George became active in local Liberal politics, was a founder member of the Aberdare Liberal Club and was also active in the South Wales Liberal Association. In 1894 George was elected as one of the first mem ...
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Aberdare Urban District Council
Aberdare Urban District Council was a local authority in Aberdare, Wales. History It was created in 1894 as a result of the 1894 Local Government of England and Wales Act and the 1894 Aberdare Urban District Council election saw the election of the first members of the authority. The Council existed until 1973 and replaced the Aberdare Local Board of Health which had functioned since the 1840s. Its boundaries were identical to those of the original parish of Aberdare. Initially, the Council had fifteen members but this was increased to twenty in 1906, as a result of the increase in population. There were five wards, namely Aberaman (also known as No. 5 Ward), Blaengwawr (also known as No. 4 Ward), Gadlys (also known as No. 2 Ward), Llwydcoed (also known as No. 1 Ward), and the Town Ward (also known as No. 3 Ward). The first councillors were elected at the 1894 elections. Most of the first members of the authority had served on the Local Board, including the first chairman ...
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Henry Richard
Henry Richard (3 April 1812 – 20 August 1888) was a Congregational minister and Welsh Member of Parliament between 1868–1888. Richard was an advocate of peace and international arbitration, as secretary of the Peace Society for forty years (1848–1884). His other interests included anti-slavery work. Early life Born in 1812 in Tregaron, Ceredigion, he was the second son of Ebenezer Richard (1781–1837), a Calvinistic Methodist minister. He was educated initially at Llangeitho grammar school, and attended Highbury College, near London, to obtain qualifications for the ministry. In 1835, after ordination Richard was appointed pastor at the Congregational Marlborough Chapel, in the Old Kent Road, London. Its foundation stone had been laid by Thomas Wilson in 1826. Richard succeeded Thomas Hughes, and raised sufficient funds to pay off the chapel's building loans and establish a school (British School, Oakley Place). Secretary of the Peace Society Richard resigned in 1850 ...
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Hen-Dy-Cwrdd
Hen-Dy-Cwrdd (The Old Meeting Place) is a disused Unitarian chapel in Trecynon, Aberdare, Wales. Services at the chapel were conducted in the Welsh language. Origins and early history With the exception of the twelfth century St John's Church, Hen-Dy-Cwrdd was the oldest place of worship in the Aberdare parish and the only nonconformist chapel to pre-date the industrial revolution. It was established in 1751, by members of the Cwm-y-glo chapel on Merthyr mountain and on land leased from Theophilus Richards. Hen Dy Cwrdd was the third daughter church established, following those at Cefn in 1747 and at Ynysgau in 1749. The original chapel resembled a modest cottage or inn with an outside staircase. It could hold a congregagation of between fifty and a hundred people, and by 1853 it had a membership of sixty. A number of radical ministers have served at Hen-Dy-Cwrdd. These included Thomas Evans, also known as Tomos Glyn Cothi, a weaver from the Teifi Valley who played a prominen ...
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1819 Births
Events January–March * January 2 – The Panic of 1819, the first major peacetime financial crisis in the United States, begins. * January 25 – Thomas Jefferson founds the University of Virginia. * January 29 – Sir Stamford Raffles lands on the island of Singapore. * February 2 – ''Dartmouth College v. Woodward'': The Supreme Court of the United States under John Marshall rules in favor of Dartmouth College, allowing Dartmouth to keep its charter and remain a private institution. * February 6 – A formal treaty, between Hussein Shah of Johor and the British Sir Stamford Raffles, establishes a trading settlement in Singapore. * February 15 – The United States House of Representatives agrees to the Tallmadge Amendment, barring slaves from the new state of Missouri (the opening vote in a controversy that leads to the Missouri Compromise). * February 19 – Captain William Smith of British merchant brig ''Williams'' sights Williams ...
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