The Cardiff Book of Days (9 page)

1900:
Funeral of 63-year-old Harry Blatchford who had been shot by a mentally-ill employee, Tommy Sweetman, at a dairy yard in Conybeare Road. Sweetman had attempted to bury the body but his crime was soon discovered. Blatchford had been employed by Tommy's father to collect and transport hay to feed his animals, taking over a job that Tommy had done since his release from a lunatic asylum. When his father dismissed him from this responsibility and gave the job to Harry it gave Tommy what he saw as sufficient motive to do away with him. (Mark Isaacs,
Foul Deeds & Suspicious Deaths in Cardiff
, Wharncliffe, 2009)

1908:
Former Cardiff rugby player Norman Biggs (born 1870) was killed by a poisoned arrow in Nigeria. Both Norman and his brother Selwyn represented Wales although they never played together in the same game. Norman was a member of the 1893 Triple Crown-winning side. At 18 years and 49 days he was the youngest player capped by Wales (
see
also December 22nd). At the outbreak of the Boer War Norman Biggs volunteered for service in the Glamorgan Yeomanry and was wounded near Vrede in October 1900. In 1903 he became an Inspector of Musketry. In 1906 he was seconded to the Home Office and posted to northern Nigeria as a Superintendent of Police. He was killed in 1908 while on patrol in the Kebbi District. (T.D. Breverton,
The Welsh Almanac
, Glyndwr Publications, 2002 / Wikipedia)

1900:
The 4
^th
Glamorgan Company, 1
^st
Battalion Imperial Yeomanry set sail from Liverpool bound for the Boer War. Following the serious reverses suffered by the British Army in South Africa, the War Office had decided to recruit Yeomanry Volunteers for war service against the Boers. They were intended to be mounted infantry, mobile hard-hitting groups which it was hoped would match the enemy in veldt warfare. The Cardiff tailoring firm of Jotham & Sons secured the contract from the War Office to supply 120 khaki serge tunics, a similar number of drill tunics and 240 pairs of cord breeches. Before sailing they had come to Cardiff to attend a Civic Reception and Banquet held in their honour. The troops arrived in Cape Town on March 23rd. (Aubrey Morgan,
Glamorgan: Its Gentlemen & Yeomanry
, 1983)

1892:
‘Sir – Yesterday (Sunday) a seizure of beer by the police was made in Helen Street, Roath, the booty being four and a half gallon casks of beer. Some of the young men interested in the drinking features of the case broke one of the casks and let the beer run out, with the intention, presumably, that the police should not have the satisfaction of seizing the lot. The police, however, managed to catch the delinquents and conveyed them to the Roath Police Station. It is a melancholy thing to see such a sight on the Sabbath, but the laxity of the Welsh Sunday Closing Act is alone responsible for it. Let the temperance orators talk as glibly as they like upon the effectiveness of the Act. It is no use asserting that the drinking traffic must be put down on Sundays to present conditions. The working classes will have their glass of beer despite the provisions of the Act. The only way out of the difficulty is to repeal the measure or adopt the old plan of opening the public houses for a short time on Sundays. If I had the money and the inclination, I could get drunk on any Sunday in the year in Cardiff. I am &c
ANTI INTOLERANCE
. Roath, Feb 29.' (
Western Mail
)

1942:
Cardiff's trolleybus system was inaugurated, along with an innovative ‘Pay As You Enter' system. The chairman of the Transport Committee (Alderman Henry Johns) handed the Lord Mayor (Alderman James Hellyer JP) a newly-minted penny which he placed in the collection receptacle, so becoming the first fare-paying passenger. One man complained that he now was late for work because he was no longer woken by the rattle and clang of the early morning trams. (Stewart Williams,
Cardiff Yesterday
)

1991:
The young Prince William, accompanied by his mother Princess Diana, carried out his first official duty – the launch of the Cardiff Marketing Board. (Stewart Williams,
Cardiff Yesterday
)

2010:
Feminist students picketed the finals of the Miss University GB competition held at Oceana, Cardiff. Leaflets distributed by protesters stated that ‘judging women on their looks erodes their human right to be treated as equals'. The event raised £6,000 in aid of the Joshua Foundation for children with cancer. One of the judges was Cardiff Blues player Jamie Roberts, a medical student. The winner was Emma Franklin, a history student at the University of Glamorgan. (
South Wales Echo
)

1486:
Henry VII gave the Lordship of Glamorgan to his uncle, Jasper Tudor. Jasper had accompanied the teenage Henry into exile in Brittany in 1471 and it was thanks to him that Henry acquired the tactical awareness which enabled him to defeat Richard III at the Battle of Bosworth (1485) which ended the Wars of the Roses. In 1488 Jasper took possession of Cardiff Castle and modernised its defences. He died in 1495 and was buried at Keynsham Abbey in Somerset. (T.D. Breverton,
The Welsh Almanac
, Glyndwr Publications, 2002 / Wikipedia)

1742:
John Wesley preached at Cardiff Town Hall. He had experienced a rough crossing on the ferry across the Severn, having to scramble over rocks to safety on the Monmouthshire side. The following day he preached at Llantrisant where he denounced the action of John Gilbert, Bishop of Llandaff, in banning him from the pulpit. He met further opposition there in May 1743 from ‘one or two wretches called gentlemen who wrecked the meeting by ill-behaviour and stone-throwing'. (William Rees,
Cardiff: A History of the City
, Cardiff Corporation, 1969)

1941:
German bombs destroyed the premises of the Cardiff Institute for the Blind at the corner of Glossop Road and Longcross Street. Before the war the institute had run a ‘help the blind to help themselves' campaign. Baskets, brushes and door-mats were made in their workshop and sold from a horse-drawn van that toured the streets of Cardiff. Postcards produced by Messrs A. & G. Taylor of Duke Street Arcade were handed out. These could be filled in by customers if they wanted a salesman to call. The bombing raid that night was particularly heavy. The docks were the Germans' main target but there was also damage to houses, particularly in Hunter Street, Madoc Road and South Park Road in Splott. A high-explosive bomb destroyed the bridge over the Rhymney River. A swing-bridge at the Queen Alexandra Docks was hit and put out of commission. In all, sixty high-explosive bombs and over 7,000 incendiaries were dropped on the city. Fifty-one people were killed and 243 injured. (J.H. Morgan, ‘Cardiff at War' in Stewart Williams (ed.)
The Cardiff Book, Vol.3
, 1974)

1323:
A Royal Patent (reissued and confirmed in 1360 and 1589) gave members of the Gild of Cordwainers and Glovers of Cardiff the monopoly of selling boots and shoes in the town and within a radius of seven miles around the town. (William Rees,
Cardiff: A History of the City
, Cardiff Corporation, 1969)

1741:
The old Guild Hall was described as ‘so ruinous that it cannot be repaired'. The Town Council agreed that it should be demolished and replaced. The Council further resolved ‘to meet on the 11th March to receive proposals and to meet every week until the Hall is completed'. Building of the new Town Hall was begun in May 1742. (William Rees,
Cardiff: A History of the City
, Cardiff Corporation, 1969)

1941:
Pupils at the Higher Grade Board School in Moorland Road (built to the plans of James, Seward and Thomas in 1885) found the building reduced to a flame-blackened shell after the overnight bombing raid. There was also severe damage to factories and railway sidings on the north side of Roath Dock. Spiller's Silo was badly damaged, preventing the discharge of bulk cargo. (Stewart Williams,
Cardiff Yesterday
)

1886:
Birth in Cardiff of Paulo Radmilovich who was to become an Olympic swimming champion. The son of a publican, originally from Dubrovnik, and his Irish wife, Paulo discovered his love of the water as a child, swimming regularly in the Glamorganshire Canal than ran alongside his home, the Glastonbury Arms in Bute Street. It was common then for children to swim there to wash off the smoke and dust of polluted summer days. Radmilovich won Olympic gold medals in 1908, 1912 and 1920. In 1928 he became the first person to compete for Britain in five Olympics. (T.D. Breverton,
The Welsh Almanac
, Glyndwr Publications, 2002 / Wikipedia)