On November 9 1910 troops were despatched to the Rhondda and Cynon Valleys in response to industrial unrest and rioting in support of striking miners. Read the succinct Wiki.
– and Rhondda Cynon Taf have a nice web-site.
Tonypandy girl Carolyn Hitt writes very well:
My own knowledge of the Rhondda’s most compelling historical event had also been passed down the generations. As the youngest child of my grandmother’s youngest child – her 12th – I had the oldest Nan of anyone I knew and thus a direct hotline into history.
She could remember Queen Victoria’s funeral, music hall and mutton-leg sleeves and couldn’t utter Winston Churchill’s name without an expression of complete distaste. He wasn’t the wartime leader to her, he was just the man who ‘Sent The Troops In’
Guilty as charged? (it still matters…)
Well – there’s a quite considered post-intervention letter to Lloyd George. Old Churchill was good with language :
….Unless some real quality is put into this business we shall get into very deep water indeed.
Hmmmm horse bolted springs to mind Winnie old mate…
Here’s a great video made by the youngsters of Tonypandy and Llwynypia – The Powerhouse.
Welsh Nationalist. Rugby Fan. Know a bit about History and Railways…