The Cardiff Book of Days (40 page)

1979:
Taxi-driver Jack Armstrong, a father of five, was found bludgeoned to death at Stalling Down, Cowbridge Common, less than an hour after picking up a fare (who gave his name as Williams) outside the Fairwater Hotel, 16 miles away on the outskirts of Cardiff. Despite an exhaustive enquiry, no arrest was ever made. On the first anniversary of the killing police staged a reconstruction in an attempt to jog memories, but to no avail. (Mark Isaacs,
Foul Deeds & Suspicious Deaths in Cardiff
, Wharncliffe, 2009)

1898:
A report on a suicide in Sophia Gardens, printed in the previous day's
Western Mail
prompted two readers to write to the paper with more information: ‘In your account of the suicide of William Sloper you say that “this is the first suicide to occur in Sophia Gardens”. That statement is hardly correct for I remember some thirty years ago a man named Jones who either shot or hung himself from a tree at the upper end of the field. Children used to be rather timid about approaching “Jones's tree”, as it used to be called – Charles Evans, Cardiff.' Mr William Chambers of 21 Castle Street wrote: ‘I find that the man who committed suicide in Sophia Gardens this morning purchased the revolver from me last night between the hours of six and seven. There was nothing in his manner while in the shop to make me have any suspicion, but he seemed rather reluctant to give me his name and address when asked. He paid 10
s
6
d
for the revolver and 2
s
3
d
for the cartridges'.

1790:
The mail coach was overturned at Roath Bridge, almost at the end of its long journey from London to Cardiff via Oxford and Gloucester. The river was in flood and the bridge parapets were too low for safety. The mail bags were submerged for several hours. (William Rees,
Cardiff: A History of the City
, Cardiff Corporation, 1969)

1791:
Catherine Griffiths was hanged at the Heath Oak having admitted to burgling houses in London, Bath and Bristol as well as Cardiff. She was driven by cart from Cardiff Castle to the heath where she publicly confessed once more. She begged the Sheriff to allow her to be buried decently in a coffin. This last request granted, she helped secure the rope to the tree herself. (Brian Lee,
Memory Lane Cardiff
, Chalford, 2002)

1963:
Edgar Valentine Black was sentenced to death for shooting Richard Cook on the doorstep of his home in Llandudno Road, Rumney, using a sawn-off shotgun. He believed that Cook was having an affair with his wife. His appeal was turned down and the execution set for November 8th. On November 6th the Home Secretary intervened and reduced the sentence to life imprisonment, to the fury of Cook's family. He died in prison twenty-five years later. (John O'Sullivan & Bryn Jones,
Cardiff: A Centenary Celebration
, The History Press, 2005)

1839:
Cardiff's West Dock opened. The
Cardiff and Merthyr Guardian
described how ‘Cardiff's red-letter day began when a procession marched to the dock from the Castle. All the workers who had contributed to this ambitious venture were represented. Masons, labourers and tradesmen were followed by a band playing patriotic airs. The Mayor, the Marquis of Bute and his brother acknowledged the cheers of the crowd, estimated at 20,000. The Marquis showed his accustomed benevolence of disposition when his carriage struck a spectator's arm, the only incident to mar the day.' That evening, at a splendid dinner in the Cardiff Arms Hotel, the American Consul prophesied that the dock would enhance the prosperity of Cardiff ‘as long as grass grew and water ran'. Sir Josiah Guest could not resist a pop at one of Cardiff's rivals: ‘Bristol has been termed the Queen of South Wales', he said, raising an ironic laugh. ‘This was no longer the case. The time was not far distant when a considerable part of the trade which now wound its way up the sluggish and tortuous course of the Avon would come to Cardiff.' (Dennis Morgan,
The Cardiff Story
, D. Brown & Sons, 1991 / Stephen K. Jones,
Brunel in South Wales, Vol.3
, The History Press, 2009)

1815:
A boys' school at the Workhouse was opened, known as The Cardiff School for Promoting the Education of the Poor, a charity established under the presidency of the Marquis of Bute. A girls' school followed in 1817 on a site in Porrage Lane (now Wharton Street). (William Rees,
Cardiff: A History of the City
, Cardiff Corporation, 1969)

1836:
The Taff Vale Railway was authorized by Act of Parliament. It was built in order to bring coal down from Merthyr Tydfil to Cardiff for shipment from a new dock at Cogan Pill. The section from Cardiff to Abercynon opened on October 9th 1840 and on to Merthyr on April 12th 1841. A new section from Radyr to Penarth, enabling coal trains to by-pass Cardiff opened in July 1859 and a link to Roath in April 1888. Although built for the coal traffic, most of these routes are now important links in Cardiff's suburban rail network. (Don Gatehouse & Geoff Dowling,
British Railways Past & Present, Vols 26 & 27
, 1995)

1839:
The paddle-steamer
Lady Charlotte
and the schooner
Celerity
, with a party of civic dignitaries aboard, inaugurated the new dredged channel between the Sea Lock and the Glamorganshire Canal. (John Richards,
Cardiff: A Maritime History
, The History Press, 2005)

1882:
Samuel Arthur Brain and Joseph Benjamin Brain, bought the brewery in St Mary's Street from John Griff Thomas (who had been persuaded to sell up by the passing of the Welsh Sunday Closing Act in 1881). Beer had been brewed on the site, which was agreed to have the finest water supply in Cardiff, since 1713. In 1887 a new brewery, then the largest in South Wales, was built at a cost of £50,000. S.A. Brain became a town councillor in 1885 and was mayor for 1899-1900. Brains was a firm that knew the value of advertising on prominent sites such as railway bridges and, in the twenty-first century, the shirts worn by the Welsh rugby team. When French television advertising restrictions outlawed this for a match in Paris, the shirts read ‘brawn' instead. In January 2011 after Charlotte Church had to apologise after criticising the Queen for ‘having no idea what's going on',
Echo
reader Andrew Thompson commented that Ms Church had been pictured ‘wearing a rugby shirt with the word “Brains” emblazoned across her ample bosom. Is this anatomically correct?' he asked. (Stewart Williams,
Cardiff Yesterday
/
South Wales Echo
)

1898:
The South Wales Miners' Federation was set up to protect miners' interests following the defeat of the strike of that year. The Tonypandy Riots of 1910 and the Hunger Marches of the 1930s further radicalised the workforce whose leaders supported both the Labour and Communist parties. (T.D. Breverton,
The Welsh Almanac
, Glyndwr Publications, 2002)

1924:
‘The ruins of this thirteenth-century bell-tower were restored to view by pulling down Tower House, formerly the Red Lion Inn, and the adjoining premises and the site was conveyed to the City of Cardiff on October 11th 1924 to be held as an open space for ever.' (Inscription on the War Memorial outside Llandaff Cathedral)

1933:
The Cardiff branch of the Young Citizens' Association held a dance at the Connaught Rooms. The Association had been set up after an appeal by the Prince of Wales (later Edward VIII) to the youth of the country to get involved in good works. They organised trips to the seaside and Christmas entertainments for needy children. (Stewart Williams,
Cardiff Yesterday
)

1837:
The Calvinistic Methodist Chapel at St Fagans was opened, the only Nonconformist place of worship in the village. There had been some opposition to the project and difficulty in acquiring a suitable site but, with the assistance of the Hon. R.T. Clive, a plot of land was found. The building of the chapel cost £300. In 1900 it was rebuilt at a cost of £400. (Stewart Williams,
Cardiff Yesterday
)