Tagged with: 20th century
Posts (66)
-
The Queen in Wales
James Roberts
This week the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh will visit south Wales, as part of her diamond jubilee celebrations. On Thursday she will visit Llandaff Cathedral, previously the scene of a 1960 visit, before making her way to Margam Park and Merthyr. On Friday the royal party will visit Aberfan, ...
-
The aviation race to cross the Irish Sea
成人论坛 Wales History
Sunday 22 April, marks the 100th anniversary of the first manned flight across the Irish Sea from Wales to Ireland. In April 1912, three intrepid aviation pioneers - Vivien Hewitt, Denys Corbett Wilson and Damer Leslie Allen - each aimed to be the first man to fly across the Irish Sea in an aeroplane. The race to cross the sea would eventually leave one man missing presumed dead, another successful in the endeavour, and the third man, who landed four days after the record had been completed, hailed as a triumphant hero. The challenge had previously been attempted by actor-aviator Robert Loraine. On 11 September 1910 he had narrowly failed to cross the Irish Sea. Leaving from Holyhead, he was tantalisingly close to the Irish coast when his plane suffered engine trouble and he was forced to land in the sea and swim ashore. Two years later, Hewitt, Corbett Wilson and Allen all chose to attempt the challenge using single seater Bleriot XI monoplanes. The Bleriot XI was constructed with wood and fabric and had a compass but few other navigational aids. It had a maximum speed of around 65 miles per hour but was vulnerable in strong winds. Two of the aviators, Denys Corbett Wilson and Damer Leslie Allen, who had both relatively recently attained their Aviator's Certificate, met at Hendon in north London and had become friends. On Wednesday 17 April 1912, both men arrived early in the morning at Hendon to begin their journey. There were very strong winds that morning, which showed no signs of easing. Eventually taking off, Allen reached Chester, but Corbett Wilson, having lost his compass in the strong winds, was forced to land at Hereford. He bought castor oil locally but it was the wrong grade and engine trouble meant to had to land again, this time at Colva. There he chose to wait for his mechanic to arrive. Meanwhile, Damer Leslie Allen set off to Holyhead to attempt the record flight. The next day he left for Ireland but tragically was never seen again. He was later reported missing but his body was never found. In the meantime, Corbett Wilson had decided to cross the Irish Sea from Fishguard. His original plan, to fly north to Chester and Holyhead, was abandoned. Corbett Wilson chose to begin his journey from Harbour Village in Goodwick, Pembrokeshire. Weather conditions were reasonably good on the morning of Monday 22 April, and at 5.47am Corbett Wilson took off from Goodwick and headed west towards Ireland. In spite of deteriorating weather conditions, he reached Crane in Enniscorthy in county Wexford in a flight time of 100 minutes. He sent a telegram saying: "I have flown successfully St. George's Channel, starting from Fishguard at six o'clock and landing near Enniscorthy, Wexford County, in pouring rain and fog." Newspaper reports suggested the that tragic race between Allen and Corbett Wilson was the result of a wager, but this was later denied. In the meantime Captain Vivian Hewitt was too preparing to cross the Irish Sea. His attempt began in Rhyl, north Wales, on 26 April 1912. Hewitt flew through a foggy Irish Sea before with few navigational aids and landed, some 75 minutes later, dramatically at Phoenix Park in Dublin. When he attempted to land, turbulence nearly flipped his plane upside down. He landed and was greeted as a hero by a jubilant crowd. A modest man, Hewitt later wrote in his logbook: "Passage very rough and the wind strong and the machine took some handling". Although Corbett Wilson had completed the first flight from Wales to Ireland a few days earlier, contemporary reports judged Hewitt's longer journey from north Wales to the Irish capital to be the more difficult and dangerous feat, and he was heralded accordingly. The daring aviation attempts took place just a week or so after the sinking of the Titanic. The naval tragedy consumed the British press in April 2012 meaning that the achievements of Denys Corbett Wilson and Vivien Hewitt neither of the men were to achieve the level of fame that they truly merited.
-
The Mumbles lifeboat disaster of 1947
Phil Carradice
As far as sailors are concerned the land bordering the Bristol Channel, and in particular its northern extremity, has always been a dangerous and deadly stretch of coast. This part of the estuary has seen hundreds, perhaps thousands, of shipwrecks over the years but none is more famous or more tragic than the post-war wreck of the Liberty ship Samtampa and the subsequent loss of the Mumbles lifeboat Edward Prince of Wales. The double disaster took place on the night of 23 April 1947. The Samtampa was a 7219 ton Liberty ship, built and launched in the USA in December 1943, one of many vessels intended to plug the gap caused by the German U-boat campaign against British and Allied shipping. She, like all of her class, was built in a hurry, her hull being welded together rather than riveted - something that may have contributed to the eventual breaking up of the stricken ship. By 1947 the Samtampa was owned and operated by the Houlder Line. On 19 April she left Middlesborough, in ballast and therefore high out of the water, bound for Newport. Her captain, Neale Sherwell, was a New Zealander, an experienced and able seaman. In all, she had a crew of 39. Severe gales By the afternoon of 23 April, the Samtampa was in the channel off the Devon coast. With a severe south westerly gale blowing and being in ballast, she was light and soon unmanageable. Both anchors were out but the stricken vessel was being blown, slowly and inexorably, towards the Welsh coast. Her captain had little option other than to radio for assistance. The nearest lifeboat station at Mumbles, to the west of Swansea, was alerted. As darkness gathered, the Mumbles lifeboat Edward Prince of Wales, under the command of coxswain William Gammon, was launched in what was to prove a fatal and unsuccessful rescue attempt. Unable to locate the Samtampa, Gammon brought his tiny craft back to the slipway at Mumbles in order to find the exact location of the vessel. Then he and his crew set out, once more, into gigantic seas and a wind that had now assumed virtual hurricane proportions. Shortly after 7pm the Samtampa was driven onto the rocks of Sker Point, close to Royal Porthcawl Golf Club. The tragedy was that watchers from the shore could see what was happening, could even hear the cries of the doomed men, but were powerless to help in any way. The hull broke into three sections almost immediately. The bow section drifted several hundred yards out to sea and most of the crew huddled together on the central bridge section or at the stern. They were already beyond help. The Porthcawl Lifesaving Company made three attempts to fire rockets out to the ship, with the hope of setting up a breechers boy. But, with the wreck lying about 500 yards beyond the waters edge and the wind - now between Force 10 and 11 - howling into their faces, the lines fell well short. Before long all three sections of the wreck were under water. The Edward Prince of Wales was last seen by Coastguard watchers at 7.10 pm. She was not equipped with radio and attempts to communicate with her by signal lamp were hindered by mountainous seas and rain squalls. It was not until the following morning that her wrecked hull was found about 450 yards south east of the Samtampa. The events surrounding the loss of the Edward Prince of Wales will never be fully known. The RNLI, after looking into the disaster, said that she had been capsized and driven ashore onto the rocks at high water, about 8pm on 23 April. She was never seen by the watchers on Sker Point so it is hard to confirm these findings. Choked by oil Many of the bodies - lifeboat men and sailors from the Samtampa - were found with their mouths, ears and nostrils clogged by fuel oil. In many cases they had died after being choked by this oil rather than by drowning. There is a theory that William Gammon took his tiny vessel inside the stricken Liberty ship, between the Samtampa and the coast, where the water was calmer and the chances of taking men off were greater. Then, so runs the theory, the Samtampa was hit by a gigantic wave that threw her on top of the lifeboat and capsized her. After this time it is hard to know - certainly there were few marks on the hull of the boat while everything above deck had been smashed away, consistent with her being driven ashore upside down. In all, 39 of Samtampa's crew perished along with eight crewmen from the Edward Prince of Wales. It remains perhaps the worst maritime disaster to hit the south Wales coast. But such is the courage of the men and women of the RNLI that within 24 hours of the sinkings a new lifeboat crew had been formed and the service from Mumbles carried on as before.
-
Researching Harold Lowe: Titanic hero
Cat Whiteaway
Way back in 2002, when I started working on 成人论坛 Radio Wales' Look Up Your Genes family history series, we used to tour the country with our roadshow. One of our first venues was in Caernarvon and one of the first full family history stories that I had the pleasure of researching was that of local man Harold Lowe. Known as Commander Harold G Lowe R.N.R at the time of his death in 1944, he was probably better known as 5th Mate HG Lowe, survivor of the Titanic. But to others he was simply "the one who went back". Archives often contain unusual and poignant documents, but they are not the only source of information and this employment card along with a photograph of Harold Lowe was located on a CD titled Titanic - The True Story. Vital to my search was the fact that it also confirms his date of birth. The third of seven children, Harold Godfrey Lowe was born on 21 November 1882 at his home Bryn Lupus, Llanrhos in Conway. Since this meant he was missing from the 1881 census it was necessary to purchase his birth certificate to confirm his parents' names. George Edward Lowe and Emma Harriett Quick had married in 1877 in her home town of Liverpool. Harold's decision to go to sea was perhaps due to his geographical location rather that one based on family tradition, since his father was a jeweller and goldsmith, as were as his grandfather George Lowe and his great-grandfather Edward Lowe who originated from Chester. By the time of the 1891 census the eight-year-old Harold and his family had moved to the Castle Hotel in Llanddanwg, Merionethshire, where his father's occupation is listed as "landscape and cattle painter" and his mother as the hotel manageress. Just 12 months before that fateful night in April 1912, Harold can be found on the 1911 census listed as a boarder at 7 College View, Bootle at the age of 27, where his occupation is given as Master Mariner. Working for the 成人论坛 means that I sometimes gain access to the most unusual places, and the time I spent with the original Titanic documents was the most treasured. Behind the scenes at the National Archives at Kew, in a small room with two nominated members of staff to act as security, we were very privileged to be able to turn the pages created by the White Star staff in the chaotic aftermath of the disaster. I remember the vast lists of the names of the missing and the survivors scribbled in pencil, with many mistakes crossed through and roughly erased. This simple list projected a real sense of the urgent need to know who was alive and who had died. By a cruel twist of coincidence, while Harold famously survived the sinking of the Titanic, two of his brothers tragically drowned in separate incidents. According to details published in his obituary in the North Wales Weekly News on 12 May 1944 it seems young Harold also had a lucky escape while out punting with his father. When their punt capsized at Barmouth he had to swim to shore in his boots. Harold was linked to various other deeds of bravery during his naval service; one that stands out is of Harold jumping overboard to rescue a man while suffering from a poisoned arm himself. Naturally, this type of detail is much more valued than any amount of facts obtained from a death certificate or will. Crucially, the obituary also provided the names of the chief mourners. These included his widow Ellen and details of his two children Florence and Harold, who was abroad serving in India but whose fianc茅e, Miss Marguerite Davies, attended on his behalf. The obituary ends with the simple words "his coffin was draped with the Union Jack. On it were Commander Lowe's hat, medals and sword". Read Titanic: Victims from Wales of 1912 liner tragedy on 成人论坛 Wales News. View the rise and fall of the Titanic animated timeline on the 成人论坛 History website. Cat Whiteaway joins Chris Evans and Alex Jones on The One Show tonight, Friday 13 April, 7pm, 成人论坛 One.
-
Titanic - the Welsh Connections
Phil Carradice
This weekend sees the 100th anniversary of one of the most tragic and dramatic of all sea disasters, the loss of the White Star liner RMS Titanic. The story, of course, is well known. On the night of 14/15 April 1912, the Titanic was on her maiden voyage across the Atlantic, ploughing ...
-
Thirtieth anniversary of the start of the Falklands War
成人论坛 Wales History
The Falklands - Healing the Wounds is one of two documentaries on 成人论坛 Cymru Wales to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the start of the Falklands War on 2 April 1982. They capture the personal and emotional impact of the conflict on the lives of Welsh soldiers who fought in the war. Thirty years ago Argentine troops invaded the Falkland Islands, a remote UK colony in the South Atlantic. It was an action that led to a brief but bitter war. Argentina had claimed sovereignty over the islands for many years, and the ruling military junta did not think that Britain would attempt to regain the islands that lay 8,000 miles away. Margaret Thatcher, the prime minister at the time, considered the 1,800 Falklanders living on the faraway islands to be "of British tradition and stock", and ordered the sending of warships and hastily refitted merchant ships to the Falkland Islands. A task force of of 28,000 British troops were deployed. It reached the Falklands in early May. The war lasted 74 days, during which time 255 British servicemen lost their lives. 649 Argentinians also died, as well as three Falkland Islanders. The Welsh Guards sustained heavy losses in the conflict, and it was one single incident heavily involved the Regiment that accounted for nearly one fifth of all British Army fatalities during the war. On 8 June at Fitzroy, to the southwest of Port Stanley, an Argentinian jet bombed the Sir Galahad and Sir Tristram. The troop ships were moored and carrying equipment and the Welsh Guards, who were ready to go ashore and join the land war. The attack left 48 men dead, 32 of whom were Welsh Guards. Eleven other Army personnel and five crewmen from Sir Galahad herself also died. The bombing of the two ships happened just six days before the Argentine surrender. In Britain, people who had seen men from the Welsh Guards departing on the luxury cruise liner the QE2, which had been requisitioned for service to carry troops to the South Atlantic, now saw pictures of two stricken ships, and desperate attempts to rescue troops from the burning vessels by helicopter and by boat. From the shore Brian Hanrahan, the 成人论坛 Falklands War correspondent, described the "constant crackle of ammunition and bigger explosions throughout Sir Galahad and Sir Tristram". The bombing also left dozens of men horrifically burnt and maimed, included in the casualties was Welsh Guard, Simon Weston who suffered 46% burns. He was the subject of several documentaries and his struggle to overcome his injuries, including over 70 major operations or surgical procedures, is well documented. He is now a well-known personality and commentator on the radio and television, as well as the patron of patron of a number of charities that support people living with disfigurement. Simon Weston recalled the experiences that changed his life, including the attack on the Sir Galahad which left him fighting for life on 成人论坛 Radio Wales documentary broadcast yesterday. If you missed the programme you can listen again here on the 成人论坛 iPlayer. The war has left a lasting impact on the lives of the soldiers who fought in the Falklands. In this clip from Timewatch: Remember The Galahad (2007), Andy Jones, secretary of the South Atlantic Medal Association in Wales, was just a 19-year-old Welsh Guardsman when he fought in the Falklands. He explains his sense of indebtedness that he and others felt for their fallen comrades. Falklands: Healing The Wounds can be seen on Tuesday 3 April at 10.35pm on 成人论坛 One Wales. 成人论坛 News has a timeline of the key dates of the Falklands War. Click here to view the video timeline.
-
James 'Big Jim' Callaghan
James Roberts
James Callaghan - the only 20th century prime minister to hold the offices of Chancellor of the Exchequer, Home Secretary and Foreign Secretary - was born a century ago today. Callaghan became the Labour MP of Cardiff South in 1945. After serving as a junior minister in the Attlee government, he became Chancellor of the Exchequer when Labour returned to power in 1964, overseeing the controversial devaluation of the pound. Following his resignation, Callaghan, or 'Big Jim' took the post of Home Secretary between 1967 and the summer of 1970. Prime Minister and leader of the Labour Party Jim Callaghan in Abingdon electioneering for the 1979 General Election. As Home Secretary, Callaghan took over from Roy Jenkins' role and witnessed the ratcheting up of violence in Northern Ireland. During this period, British troops were deployed to protect the minority community. The Portsmouth-born south Wales MP's stint as Foreign Secretary was cut short as Callaghan went for the leadership of the Labour Party following the surprise resignation of Prime Minster Harold Wilson on 16 March 1976. Callaghan, with wide support from his party, defeated Michael Foot. In this 成人论坛 News clip from July 1976, Callaghan is on his second day of a visit to south Wales. Here the Prime Minister is searched for contraband as he prepares to enter the west Wales colliery at Betws New Drift Mine that was planned to open in 1978. Throughout his premiership, Callaghan was hampered by a lack of a clear majority. Very early on in his role as Prime Minister he was forced to rely upon the support of the Liberal Party and with the British economy in strife, amid high inflation and rising unemployment, a controversial decision to seek an emergency loan from the International Monetary Fund caused tensions within the party. Between 1976 and 1979, Callaghan's government introduced the Police Act, the Housing (Homeless Persons) Act in 1977 and the Education Act of 1976. The economic turmoil that raged throughout the 1970s culminated in a number of strikes during the winter of 1978-1979. Infamously dubbed The Winter of Discontent the industrial and social strife proved too detrimental for the Labour Government under Callaghan and a motion of no confidence was called by opposition MPs in March 1979. As Margaret Thatcher's Conservative government famously won the 1979 election, Callaghan remained Labour leader for another year before handing over to the man he once defeated in the leadership election, Michael Foot. In 1987, Callaghan was made a life peer and Knight of the Garter. He died on 26 March 2005, on the eve of his 93rd birthday, becoming the longest living former Prime Minister.
-
Strikes and riots at the National Wool Museum
成人论坛 Wales History
A new exhibition at the National Wool Museum called Strikes and Riots, offers an in-depth look into troubled times throughout Wales' industrial history. The free exhibition, which runs from Tuesday 6 March until 29 June, highlights five strikes and riots relating to work and employment in Wal...
-
The Kinmel Camp riots of 1919
Phil Carradice
Some of the most serious riots in British military history took place between 4 and 5 March 1919 in the Canadian Army Camp at Kinmel Park in North Wales. Postcard of Kinmel Camp (provided by George Owen) Kinmel Park, just outside Abergele, was a transit camp for Canadians waiting to be repatriated to their homeland after their service to the British Empire during World War One and at the time of the riots held almost 15,000 soldiers. Originally it had been intended to send the Canadians home directly from France but many of these men had relatives in the United Kingdom that they wanted to visit. This was understandable and, as it was unlikely that most of these men would ever be in a position to visit them again, transit camps were established across Britain in order to facilitate this desire. Kinmel Park was a huge staging camp where troops of all regiments and military specialities were housed, the soldiers being accommodated according to the military districts of Canada from where they came rather than in the long-bonded regimental units that had seen them through the war years. The men did not know the officers and there was a clear mood or feeling of alienation in the air. This, in itself, was enough to create problems but when, in late February 1919, it was learned that troop ships originally allocated to the Canadians had been re-allocated to the American forces - who had certainly not served in France for half as long as the Canadians - it caused understandable and huge resentment. Then came the news that the Canadian 3rd Division - know to the military authorities as the Fighting Division - was to be given priority over other Canadian troops. The men at Kinmel were outraged, both at the implied slander on their reputations and on being once again pushed down the list for repatriation. Basic conditions Conditions at Kinmel Park were very basic. The place was a sea of mud and strikes had held up the delivery of both fuel and food supplies. As a result the men were on half rations and as many had received no pay for over a month, even the delights of the canteens in Tin Town - a large, privately run establishment set outside the military camp - were beyond their means. They were sleeping 42 to a hut in accommodation that had been designed for no more than 30. Men were taking it in turns to sleep on the floor and most of them had only one blanket to keep them from the cold of a north Wales winter. Several delegations were sent to the senior officers in the camp, protesting about conditions and the way the men felt they were being treated. Nothing was done. Then, on 1 March 1919 there were rumours that tempers had boiled over and that one of the canteens in Tin Town had been looted. That same day some of the soldiers refused to go on a route march and Colonel Colquhoun, the camp commander, became very concerned. It did not stop him going off to Rhyl for a social evening on 4 March and in his absence large numbers of muttering soldiers began to gather together in groups to sound off about the conditions they had to endure. In the early hours of the morning, with tempers growing more and more frayed by the second, discontent finally spilled over into direct action. Several leaders were appointed by the men, one of them being Sapper William Tsarevitch, and when some of the groups moved off to raid and loot the camp Quartermaster's Stores the call "Come on the Bolsheviks" was heard. Fires were soon started in Tin Town and the officers' and sergeants' messes were looted. Officers quickly established a defensive perimeter and ammunition was issued to those soldiers considered to be trustworthy and loyal. The rioters had a few rifles but, in the main, they had to improvise weapons, strapping razors to broom handles or sticks. Full scale mutiny When 20 of the mutineers - because it was by now considered a full scale mutiny - were seized the rest simply charged the guardroom and set them free. Rifle shots were exchanged and, when casualty figures were later added up, it transpired that three rioters and two guards had been killed in the affair. Many others had been wounded or injured. The rioting continued until 4.30 in the morning of 5 March when things seemed to fizzle out and the officers regained control of the camp. In the aftermath of the mutiny - although the term riot is probably more accurate - 78 of the Canadians were arrested. Twenty-five were convicted of mutiny and sentences of between 90 days detention and 10 years' penal servitude were handed out by the military courts. There was no great conspiracy to mutiny at Kinmel Camp, rather it was something that just happened due to a variety of different causes. Yet the military and those in command needed to fix or apportion blame, at the same time absolving themselves from fault. As far as many in authority were concerned, despite the appalling conditions at the camp, one of the root causes was the growth of socialism. Set in the context of the time, with recent communist revolutions and uprisings in Russia and Germany, it is relatively easy to see how they reached this conclusion. The fact that the officers did not ensure that the men knew their concerns were being heard and understood was conveniently forgotten. Following the riots priority was given to repatriating the Canadian troops. The affair was, as far as possible, "hushed up" and by 25 March over 15,000 Canadians had been transported home. The tragedy is that it could not have been done earlier.
-
The death of Alun Lewis
Phil Carradice
Many people consider the young Welsh poet and short story writer Alun Lewis, a man who died on active service in Burma in 1944, a far better writer than the more famous Dylan Thomas. His body of work - two small poetry collections, two short books of prose - was not great and it is difficult ...
