The British and Foreign School Society
and the Aberdare Area

A ES the result of the appeal made by (Sir) Hugh Owen, in 1843, the British and Foreign School Society appointed two agents to address public meetings in Wales on the advantages of British Schools, and to organise committees to establish them. The Rev. John Phillips was appointed for North Wales, and, on account of the strength of the Calvinistic Methodists there, large numbers of British Schools were soon established. But, unfortunately for South Wales, where the ’Senters (Independents or Congregationalists) and the Baptists, were predominant, the Rev. William Roberts, “Nefydd,” of Blaina, Mon., who had been appointed agent, had his engagement postponed for ten years, because of the strength of the opposition to any form of State grants for education, which the Society advocated. Gradually, the hopelessness of depending entirely on voluntary effort was realised, and the Rev. William Roberts was installed as agent for South Wales, and began earnestly to assist in forming committees and seeking financial assistance to established British Schools.

The following facts gathered from the minute books of the British and Foreign School Society, at their London office, may be of general interest. They refer to grants made by the Society in the form of books, maps, exercise books, slates, etc. The first two schools were established soon after Ysgol y Comin, and were probably stimulated by the same cause—the agitation set up by the publication of the “Blue Books.”

1849 April 20. Rigos (sic) near Merthyr Tydfil. Applicant, Mr. Williams, for materials for a new school about to be opened there. The grant was agreed to.

1849 July 20. Hirwaun, near Merthyr. Applicant, Mr. Williams, for material for a new school about to be opened there. The grant was agreed to.

1855 August 17. Aberdare, Applicant, Mr. Price, supported by Mr. Roberts. It was agreed, that under the circumstances, they be allowed to purchase to the extent of £10 at half-price.

1866 May 18. Cwmaman. Applicant, Mr. Joshua Evans. £5 was granted.

1866 June 15. Aberaman, near Aberdare, a new school. Applicant, Rev. R. Rowlands. £5 agreed.

1867 June 21. Ynysybwl, near Aberdare. Applicant, Mr D. Edwards, 50s

1867 December, 20. Cwmbach, near Aberdare. Applicant, Mr. D. T. Jones. A new school. £5 worth was granted.

1859 April 16. Ynyslwyd. New school. Applicant, Rev. Thomas John. Agreed that £3 worth be granted.

WHO THE APPLICANTS WERE

The Mr. Williams (of Hirwaun), mentioned above was probably the Rev. William Williams, who reported to the Commissioners, and assisted at the meeting at Siloa. The Mr. Price mentioned as an applicant for the Aberdare School, was our friend, the Rev. Dr. Thomas Price, and the school was “Ysgol y Comin.” Mr. Joshua Evans was the headteacher at Cwmaman, and a brother of Beriah Gwynfa Evans, who was the secretary of “The Society for the Utilisation of the Welsh Language,” founded by Mr. Dan Isaac Davies. The Aberaman British Schools’ applicant was the Rev. Robert Rowlands, “Rolant ap Gwilym,” pastor of Saron Cong. Chapel. The boys’ department was conducted in Saron Hall, with John Jones Griffiths (later an alderman), as the headmaster of Penygraig School, while his wife Rachel, was mistress of the girls’ department in Shiloh Chapel, in Regent Street.

Mr. D. Edwards, of Ynysybwl, was the farmer of Gellifach. He bought Ty-draw Farm, took down the old house, and built a new farmhouse, and called it “Gilfach Glyd.” Glanffrwd, in his descriptive “Hanes Plwyf Llanwynno,” said of him, “Yr oedd yn gryf fel Samson ond yn dyner fel geneth,” etc. (pages 39-42). His daughter Jane, married Dr. Rhys David Morgan, of Cwmbach and Ynysybwl, brother of Mr. W. R. Morgan, a former town clerk of Aberdare.

It was from Ynyslwyd Baptist Chapel and its vestry, in Sunny Bank Street, that children were marched down Cardiff Road on the opening of the Blaengwawr Board Schools in 1880. The Rev. Thomas John, the applicant mentioned in the minutes of the British and Foreign Schools Society, was the pastor.

The Mr. Roberts, who supported Rev. Dr. Thomas Price, was the Rev. William Roberts, “Nefydd,” the agent for South Wales. He married as his second wife, the mother of Mr. Dan Isaac Davies.