Man Engine stands among other giants of south Wales’ industrial past
As the impressive Man Engine – the UK’s biggest mechanical puppet – begins a tour of south Wales telling the story of the region’s industrial past, Stuart Griffin, from Swansea University’s Hafod-Morfa Copperworks Development Project, profiles significant
■ Watcyn Wyn (1844–1905) – Big Pit
Watcyn Wyn worked in the mines carting coal as a boy and later became a renowned teacher, poet and preacher who made a significant contribution to the literary, educational and religious life of Wales during the last quarter of the 19th century.
His story illustrates the importance of coal for Wales and the world which cannot be overstated. When production peaked in 1913, south Wales was Britain’s largest coalfield, supplying almost one-third of global coal exports and employing 234,000 miners and hundreds of pits in South Wales. This came at considerable human cost; countless lives were lost with 6,000 in recorded industrial accidents of 5 fatalities and more.
■ Sidney Gilchrist Thomas (185085) – Blaenavon Iron Works
Sidney Gilchrist Thomas came from a Welsh family and grew up in London. As a young man he was fascinated by chemistry and resolved to make steel with the phosphoric ores that could not be used in Bessemer converters. He experimented in his spare time and when his cousin Percy Gilchrist (1851-1935) was appointed as Blaenavon works’ chemist in 1876, they began to secretly work together with the help of general manager E.P. Martin who let them use a small Bessemer converter for their experiments. In 1878 they succeeded in eliminating phosphorus by lining the converter with dolomitic limestone bricks. This “basic Bessemer” or “Thomas” process significantly advanced steelworks across the world.
■ Aneurin Bevan MP (1897-1960) – Parc Bryn Bach, Tredegar
Tredegar-born politician, Aneurin Bevan was MP for Ebbw Vale from 1929 until his death in 1960. He was the son of a coal miner and a champion of social justice and the rights of working people. From 1959, Bevan was deputy leader of the Labour Party but he is best remembered as Minister for Health in the post-war Labour Government as architect of the National Health Service, which was created in 1948 – 70 years ago
He was inspired by Tredegar Workmen’s Medical Aid Society and in the first half of the 20th century provided medical services to 20,000 local people, 95% of the local population. He claimed this was his model for the National Health Service.
In Bevan’s own words, “All I am doing is extending to the entire population of Britain, the benefits we had in Tredegar for a generation or more. We are going to ‘Tredegarise’ you!”
■ Richard Trevithick (1771-1833) – Cyfarthfa Castle, Merthyr Tydfil
On February 21, 1804, Richard Trevithick put one of his inventions, a high-pressure steam engine on rails at Penydarren Ironworks in Merthyr Tydfil and hauled 10 tons of iron and 60 people; this was the world’s first steam railway locomotive journey. The Penydarren Locomotive travelled down the Merthyr Valley to Abercynon and back at a top speed of 5mph. This monumental journey predates the first purpose built public railway by 20 years!
Interestingly, the powerful Merthyr ironmaster Richard Crawshay placed a wager against Trevithick’s success which he then refused to pay. The Crawshay family were a huge influence on a period of entrepreneurialism in transport and iron making, creating innovations that would be adopted worldwide.
■ Elizabeth Andrews, (1883-1960) – Ynysangharad Park, Pontypridd
A local hero and suffragist from Hirwaun, Elizabeth Andrews campaigned for better working conditions securing pit head baths which made life easier for workers and families of mining communities, improving mortality rates of women and children as a result. Elizabeth was one the most influential female activists in the early 20th century, working to the mantra of “education, aggravation, organisation”. In 1949 she was awarded an OBE and in 1957 published her life story – A Woman’s Work is Never Done – a first-hand account of life at the end of the 19th century in the Rhondda.
■ Captain David Morgan (1835date of death unknown) – National Waterfront Museum, Swansea.
Capt David Morgan was one of the thousands of sailors or Cape Horners who established the trading routes that placed Swansea at the centre of the copper industry which was arguably the first globally integrated heavy industry. Once supplies from Anglesey and Cornwall were exhausted, new supplies were sought and found across the globe in Chile, Cuba, South Australia, North America.
David Morgan went to sea in 1851 aged 16 and spent the next 30 years making long voyages of up to 12 months round Cape Horn making 33 voyages in total and crossing the dangerous cape Horn 66 times with cargoes of copper, nitrates, guano, and hides.
■ John Vivian (1750 – 1826) – Hafod-Morfa Copperworks, Swansea
John Vivian moved from Cornwall to Wales in 1800 and in 1810 opened the Hafod copper smelting works, a planned and innovative complex which was to become the largest of its type in Europe.
The Hafod Copperworks was one of 11 major copperworks which had been established on the banks of the River Tawe, and for a time they produced over half of the world’s total output of smelted copper. The innovative Welsh Process was developed which consistently produced the world’s highest quality copper though repeated roasting in rows of reverberatory furnaces up to 20 times. Such was the importance of this industry that Swansea became known as “Copperopolis”.
■ The Man Engine tour lasts until Thursday. For tickets and information visit https://www.themanengine.co.uk/
■ The Wales tour is a collaboration, with Swansea University working in partnership with Cadw, Amgueddfa Cymru-National Museum Wales, five local authorities – Torfaen, Blaenau Gwent, Merthyr Tydfil, Rhondda Cynon Taf and Swansea – Head 4 Arts and Golden Tree Productions.