ABERDARE HISTORY

LOCAL ADMINISTRATION

The development of Local Administration may be divided into 5 separate units:

1 Parish Vestry: In the course of time the function of this body was taken over by two other bodies

2 The Board of Guardians

3 The Local Board of Health.

In turn, the functions of the Board of Health were taken over by

4 Urban District Councils, 1894

5 County Councils, 1899
Chronologically, 5 precedes 4.

PARISH VESTRY

Eleanor Mathews of Aberaman rode to Brecon to procure a new Parish Register returning the same day.
In addition to christenings, burials etc., this register contains details of contemporary administration. It is now in St. John’s Church. The second Volume of Parish Vestry Book covering the period 1817 to 1848 is now in the Cardiff P.R.O. These volumes give a very full and accurate picture of rural life in Aberdare in the 18th and 19th centuries. They contain reports of Vestry Meetings of Ratepayers where the decisions of the majority were binding on the Parish. The chair was usually taken by the incumbent, but the task of implementing the decisions fell upon the Churchwardens. The duties of the latter were various they:—

1 Collected the Church Rate
2 Attended to the repair of the Church fabric
3 Reported on the supervision of the morals of the parishioners.
4 Paid for the destruction of vermin before the days of pest officers.
5 Were responsible for Roads and Bridges (This duty dating from 1535). Every parishioner who held land was liable for 6 days work on the roads of the Parish. The supervision of this work was entrusted to surveyors appointed by the Vestry.
6 Had joint authority with ‘overseers’ in the care of the poor. The Elizabethan Poor Law Act of 1601 had made the Parish the responsible unit for the administration of Poor Relief.

The Parish was empowered to raise a rate for this purpose. Justices of the Peace acting through the medium of the Vestry nominated ‘Overseers’ to raise and administer the Poor Rate. Relief was given sometimes in cash and sometimes in kind. The overseers also saw to the apprenticing of pauper children when they came of age. By the Act of Settlement of 1667, the overseers had the right of removing to their place of birth any paupers who might become a chargeable burden on the Poor rate e.g.

Parish register records that the overseer was granted expenses up to £15 for taking a pauper woman to her birthplace in Liverpool.

The Poor Law Amendment Act of this year drastically altered the whole system. It abolished ‘outdoor relief ’ except for the aged and infirm, and established workhouses where life for the able-bodied poor was deliberately made as unpleasant as possible.

The scope of the work of the Parish Vestry is indicated by the following matters recorded in the Parish Register:

Concerning repairs to the Bridge over the River Dare.

Apprenticing a pauper boy to a shoemaker.

Increase of Salary of Vestry clerk from £10 to £15 per annum.

Concerning the housing of the poor.

Concerning a Bridge over the Cynon near the Trap (Tafarn Trap).
In 1818, the clerk to the Vestry was Thomas Williams.

Mr. John Jones, Druggist (Ceffyl Gwyn), had his salary raised from £20 to £35 per annum.

Resolved at a meeting of the Parish Vestry that an advertisement be placed in the Cambrian and Merthyr Guardian for an assistant overseer at £60 per annum. Later Howell Williams of Pant-y-Gerdinen Farm was appointed.

Resolved that Martha Llewellyn be paid £4 per annum for cleaning the Church. The Vicar Rev John Griffiths claimed and secured the right to appoint a sexton.

After this year, the Parish Overseers of the Poor were supplanted by an elected body called the Board of Guardians. New administrative areas known as unions were established. Aberdare together with the Parishes of Llanwonno and Ystradyfodwg were included in the Merthyr Union. However, since there was no workhouse built in Merthyr until 1836 the Parish Overseers in Aberdare continued to levy the Poor Rate and to administer outdoor relief. However, by the late Forties their work was passing more and more into the hands of the Board of Guardians.

Ystradyfodwg Parish Vestry sent over to Aberdare James Edwards of Tŷ Newydd and William Davies of Cwm Saebron to a Vestry Meeting at Aberdare to discuss the possibility of secession by Ystradyfodwg from the Merthyr Union. At the meeting, it was decided to take into consideration that the Merthyr Union should be divided to the exclusion of Llanwonno, Ystradyfodwg, Rhigos and Penderyn .

It was not until this year that the Pontypridd Union was formed and this included the Parishes of Llantrisant, Llanwonno and Ystradyfodwg.

ABERDARE: THE BOARD OF GUARDIANS

The Aberdare representatives on the Merthyr Board of Guardians were

Richard Fothergill   Richard Williams
Philip Taylor          John Williams

The first relieving Officer was Morgan Dafydd who was succeeded by his son William Dafydd.

Aberdare representatives on the Merthyr Board of Guardians were

David Williams, Ynyscynon, Farmer
Morgan Williams, Aberdare, Village Saddler
R. H. Rees, Llwydcoed, Mineral Agent

In the seventies, a well-known overseer for the Board of Guardians was John Hughes who lived at Norton Villa, Clifton Street. He died in 1889 at the age of 49 and was succeeded by D.W. Price who was appointed at a salary of £280 per annum. Broadly, the approach of the Board of Guardians to the matter of Poor Relief could be charitable or patronising. Too often, it was the latter.

As a result of the Old Age Pensioners Act, 700 Aberdare people over 70 years of age qualified for a pension of 5/- a week.

THE BOARD OF HEALTH

Up to 1845, local affairs were in the hands of the Parish Vestry.

The first election for membership of the New Board of Health. There were 18 contestants for 12 seats. The Results were as follows:—

The first rate charged was 3d in the Pound.

One of the first duties of the new Board was to order the demolition of the “Cabannau Un Nos” on Hirwaun Common.

The Board arranged for street lighting.

The Board set up the Burial Board

Samuel Thomas, Ysguborwen, elected to the Board of Health.

The Board objected to the Dare Railway crossing the road without a Bridge being built.

Formation of Water Board authorized. Tender was accepted from Brown Lenox and Co. for “iron milestones” at 18/6 each. They proved unsatisfactory and the order was cancelled. New drinking troughs and fountains were authorized. The Board decided that all streets should have name plates and that all houses should be numbered.

The establishment of a Public Cemetery was authorized.

The Board still consisted of 12 members and met fortnightly. One third of its members retired annually but were eligible for re-election.

Mountain Ash petitioned the Home Secretary for the Ecclesiastical District of St. Margaret’s to have its own Board of Health. The people of Aberdare protested at a Public Meeting in the Temperance Hall. Mountain Ash, however, had the strong and influential support of H.A. Bruce.

A Government inquiry was held at the Bruce Arms, Mountain Ash before Mr. Arnold Taylor. Aberdare was represented by a Barrister, Mr. Michael, and a Merthyr Solicitor, a Mr. Linton appeared for Mountain Ash. H.A. Bruce gave evidence. As a result of the inquiry a compromise solution was decided upon, viz. that Aberdare should retain Mountain Ash property in the Old District to the Rateable value of £8,000. The New District should consist of the remaining portion of Mountain Ash and the adjoining Parish of Llanwonno. This gave the district a Rateable Value of £41,000.

Early this year the final separation was effected. Inspired by the success of Mountain Ash the people of Hirwaun began to agitate for a separate Board of Health and they too petitioned the Home Secretary. Nothing came of it.

Officers of the Board of Health

THE ABERDARE URBAN DISTRICT COUNCIL

The first election to the A.U.D.C. held.

Principal Officers

Chairman:  R.H. Rees
Vice Chairman:  D.P. Davies
Clerk:  (Major) Thomas Phillips
Surveyor:  Owen Williams

The first resolution passed was, “to draw the attention of the Police Superintendent to the dangerous prevalence of street skating and sliding”.

The Council accepted the tender of Thomas Lewis (£10) for sheep-grazing rights in Aberdare Park.

A.U.D.C. began its meetings at 11 o’clock in the morning. Later the time was changed to 3.30 p.m. With the increase in labour representatives on the Council during the first decade of the 20th Century much time off work had to be taken.

The time of the Council Meetings was change to 5 p.m. Even in 1896, there were complaints that speeches were far too long. Vivid reports of Council meetings appeared in the Local Press.
Opponents in debate did not bandy words. Epithets like ‘intellectual kittens’ and ‘mud squirting hippopotamus’ were hurled across the chamber.

The Council worked through 14 District sub-Committees

1 Farm Management
2 Finance
3 Parks
4 Health
5 Roads Street & Scavenging
6 Hackney Carriage and Omnibus
7 Lighting and Fire Brigade
8 Water and Sewage
9 Parliamentary
10 Cemeteries
11 Library
12 Pensions
13 Education
14 Housing

Thomas Phillips the first clerk now resigned his post as Col Phillips. His successor was D. Llewellyn Griffiths.

Meeting held over because there was no quorum.

D.L. Griffiths was appointed to a similar post at Aldershot out of 35 candidates.
Some items from A.U.D.C. Minutes

Surveyor prepared for Parliament, plans for the new Robertstown Bridge.

The overseers of the Poor were Councillors Rhys Llewellyn, D.P. Davies, N.R. Williams, E. Stonelake, L.M. Williams, William Thomas and William Rees.

R.L. Berry resigned his appointment as Captain of the Fire Brigade and Capt John Davies was appointed as his successor.

A.U.D.C. Chairman: E. Stonelake

The Council approved the name of Bryn Terrace for a row of houses built on Cwmdare Hill.
D. Tyssul Davies applied for permission to lay water mains for Cledwyn Terrace.
The Council agreed to meet a claim by the Aberdare Market Co. in respect of damages caused to the Company’s Weighing Machine by the Council’s Steam Roller.
The Council agreed to grant a week’s holiday with pay to all its workers who had been in continuous employment for 12 months.

The Parks inspector reported a case of furious driving through Aberdare Park.

Mr and Mrs. E.A. Knight of Bonville Gardens, Clapham Park were appointed caretaker and Nurse respectively at the Infectious Diseases Hospital.

A.U.D.C. Typist salaries raised to £52 per annum.
Merthyr Tydfil had been a Borough since 1905 and prior to this, it had made several applications for incorporation viz. in 1837, 1857, 1876, 1879 and 1897.

Saturday. “Western Mail” reported that there was a strong movement in Aberdare to secure its charter of incorporation as a Borough.

Mr Edmund Stonelake put before the A.U.D.C. an extremely strong and cogent case for Aberdare’s Incorporation. Nothing came of it however.

ABERDARE URBAN DISTRICT POPULATION CHANGES
BY ELECTORAL WARDS 1921 to 1961

GLAMORGAN COUNTY COUNCIL

The first meeting of the GCC was held at Neath. Elections had been held the previous month and the results were as follows:—

There was one seat per Ward except for No. 1 ward. At the first meeting of the Council, Sir W.T. Lewis and T.P. White were elected Aldermen causing by-elections at Hirwaun and Aberaman. The results of these were that the Rev Richard Morgan of Moriah, Llwydcoed, defeated Dr Evan Jones and Mr. Thomas Davies defeated Mr E.M. Hann.