‘I only found out the full story of my dad’s death nearly 80 years after he was killed’– Max
WALES’ entertainment legend Max Boyce has revealed he only recently found out the full story behind his father’s tragic death, nearly eight decades after he was killed.
The star from Glynneath said he was sent some vintage newspaper cuttings just a few months ago which detailed how his father lost his life in a pit disaster in the Dulais Valley in 1943 – one month before he was born.
Leonard Boyce was 31 when the terrible explosion occurred at Onllwyn No.3 pit in Banwen on August 20 of that year, fatally injuring him and leaving three other miners severely injured.
However, because Leonard’s widow Mary never talked about the incident to her young son, Max never really got to find out the truth about what happened to his dad.
“The cuttings arrived completely out of the blue, it was the first time I’d ever seen them,” said the 78-yearold, who mentions the discovery in his new book Max Boyce: Hymns & Arias – The Selected Poems, Songs and Stories.
“A friend of mine who’s a local builder and history buff came across them in some archives and sent them to me. They made for some hard reading – very surreal too, almost as though they were talking about someone else entirely.”
The dog-eared clippings told of how the ill-fated miners had been working in an area of the pit known as the Grey Seam when the explosion happened. All four were taken to hospital in Swansea, where Leonard Boyce succumbed to his wounds.
“My mother would never talk about that day and kept it all inside – those feelings never stopped being raw for her. So I grew up unaware of the full details. Decades not knowing.”
One sentence in particular shocked him, however.
“In the report immediately following the explosion it says, ‘The damage was not extensive – work resumed shortly afterwards,” said Max. “My God, imagine these men’s lives being regarded as that inconsequential, as though what happened was little more than a blip in productivity.
“They were just written off, and when I read that I just shook my head and went, ‘Wow’!”
Mary Boyce, along with the families of the other men involved, ended
up claiming damages for negligence from the colliery owners, Messrs Evans and Bevan of Neath.
The firm would eventually admit liability, but not before trying to allege that the workers themselves were responsible for the blast by failing to ensure their area was properly ventilated.
She received £1,750 – £300 of which was to go towards caring for her new baby and £23 was set aside for her husband’s funeral expenses.
“I think my mum got something like 50p a week for my upkeep while I was growing up,” said Max.
“Which goes to show how cheap life was regarded by certain people back in those days.”