Atgofion Clement / Clement's Memories

Early memories of Fishguard, c.1890, as recounted by Mr Clement Davies (1884-1958)

“My grandfather, known generally in my time as ‘William Davis y Cwm’, (and known before that, I think, as ‘Wil y Felin’ because he had occupied the Mill at Lower Town, Fishguard for a period), was a gem of the first order!

His build, as I remember him, was impressive – at any rate, it was to a small child. He was about five feet nine or five feet ten in height, broad and powerful, but his walk was stiff and heavy, partly on account of rheumatism, I think. He carried a heavy stick which he himself had cut from the hedge and it had a knob at the top rather than a straight or curved handle. His hair was grey and rather long, after the manner of about seventy years ago, and he had side whiskers but no moustache.

As I see him in memory, the shaved part, chin and upper lip, were bristly as if he had been shaved about a week ago and there were traces of brownish tobacco juice coming from one corner of the mouth. His face was strong, with a good forehead and long nose. I am sorry that I have no impression of his eyes. The general impression I have bears out the words of Aunt Sophie (from Porth) “Wedd e’n ddyn pert, ond hen ddiawl oedd e hefyd”. (A handsome man was he, but an old devil too !!)

His best clothes were of a heavy cloth, greyish or bluish, the trousers were of the old form, like breeches in front and not having the modern opening down front.

To me as a child, he was rather wonderful. A visit to him at the Cwm was always a pleasure. At a meal I sat in the corner opposite to him in that little room, (if it can be called a room), in the old cottage on the quay and after I had eaten all I wanted, he always called me round the table to stand before him. He then pressed the back of his hand against my tummy ‘to see whether it was full!’ This, to me, was like a ritual. He would then take me out to the “Ship” or the “Sailors Arms”, I forget which – they are both near one another, – or were. There he would call for a pint, brought in the bluish mugs. I sat on his lap and watched him take it up, take the top off with a first draught. Then I knew that I would get the next drink –  a great moment!

All this was up to my being seven years of age. Then we left Fishguard in 1891.

I had only the vaguest impression of his ‘formidable’ character. That was to come later by hearsay, chiefly from Mother, but I did have an idea that he caused Father and Mother a great deal of trouble. During the whole of that time, I have no impression of his being drunk, nor of his doing much work. Later I was to learn how he would come up from the Cwm, call at the house in “Stryd Baram” (Smyth Street) and insist on taking me out, and Mother was too frightened of him to refuse. Later, she would be told sometimes that the old man (he was sixty when I was born) was drunk in Town, staggering with little Clement in his hand “It was a shame to let the child go with him”, but I never came to any harm.

The particular trouble he caused Father was over the bills to old Dolly Lamb who kept a general stores. He had the contract for building that sea wall at Cwm-yr-Eglwys. He employed his sons – (Father and Uncle Ben, neither married and living at home at the time), and he gave them, I understand, what amounted to ‘pocket money’. Periodically, he was paid a “draw”, the signal for a drinking bout.

The contract ended in due course, the sons married, and soon after, that trouble started with Dolly Lamb. She claimed that she had sold her groceries, lime, etc. to “William Davies and Sons“. Neither Father nor Uncle Ben knew anything about it, and Mother thought it  was an arrangement entered into by my Grandfather and old Dolly Lamb after the event. The old man would come up bullying Father and Mother, and frequently Mother only, since Father would be out at work. In spite of his fear of the old man, Father stuck out on this matter, so that it went to County Court – a fearful disgrace, but judgement went against Father, and he and Mother, out of his scanty earnings, had to pay his share.

That is only one instance of Grandfather’s completely unscrupulous character, which was backed by a build and force of personality that made him a terror to Mother.

In his younger days, he had gone up to the “gweithe”  (coal fields) walking to Ebbw Vale, way back in the forties and fifties of the 19th century. There he entered the ring at a boxing booth against the great Tom Sayers, for three rounds. What was the result, history does not say, but he was one of the fighters of the district, and I can’t imagine him anything but dangerous.

Mother had this story about him from the hostess of the inn some little distance outside Fishguard where a fight took place. A number of North Walians had come down to work in the Porthgain Slate Quarries and some kind of feud sprang up between them and some of the natives, among whom Grandfather was prominent. One day, Grandfather and a pal walked into the parlour of this little inn, and before he had realised who the company were, the door was closed behind him. There were nine or ten of his enemies, who stood up immediately and it was obvious that he was “for it”. Without a moment’s hesitation, he took up a chair and became the attacker. So formidable was his onslaught that in a minute or two the room was cleared. After that he went about with a slater’s hammer-axe (lath hammer with axe end), and as no one doubted that he would use it, his enemies kept clear of him.

He himself told me the story of how he had taken part in the Rebecca Riots (1843) when he was nineteen years old. He was hidden in a pub-cellar at Goodwick for three days by a girl he was courting, until the worst of the hue and cry was over.

One of many brothers, he was, I think, the third. They all stood in fear of him. The only one of these I remember fairly well was Uncle Peter, about six feet tall, and in his day a very strong man who could get under a loaded cart and lift it.  I don’t know what the load was! But he stood in fear of “Wil”, and as he told Mother, “Fe all Wil fy mrawd ddweyd celwydd lawer iawn gwell nag allaf fi ddweyd y gwir.” (Wil can lie far better than I can tell the truth).

When we were later living  in Mardy, and Father  was a foreman with Jenkins the builder, his father appeared looking for work, but Father saw to it that Jenkins would not give him work, and for a short time he worked on some houses at the top of Tylorstown. That was about the last work he ever did.

Shortly after that he went “on the parish”, and Father had to pay one and six a week towards him to Father’s intense indignation. It was not that he grudged paying that, but he said he owed his father nothing, that no one could have been a worse father. In due course he died when exactly I don’t know, but he was over eighty, and he was much lamented by Aunt Margaret who treasures his memory to this day (1937). They were birds of a feather.

Then there was our Grandmother, Hannah, buried up at Harmony. The only impression of her conveyed to me, were by Mother, who, of course, spoke from hearsay, for Grandmother died when Father was about seventeen years of age, and about four years before Mother came to Fishguard. The impression is of a rather fine character, perhaps not very strong, but of the kind that valued the respectabilities of life, and found herself constantly in the midst of the disrespectabilities of life into which her glib, forceful and unscrupulous husband plunged her.

There was the constant struggle to live, to find food for her children. Her sister (Aunt Lettice, mother of Aunt Hannah), herself struggling with a husband who brought down the family fortunes through drink, was very good to her and the children. This largely accounts for the regard that Father always had for Aunt Evans and aunt Hannah, and accounts too for the round oak table Aunt Hannah hes. It was in Father’s home, but his mother parted with it to Aunt Lettice in payment of debt. Aunt Lettice, in the decline of family fortunes, kept a little general shop at the top of the hill leading down to the Cwm,. She sold baked buns, cakes, etc. (She is lovingly remembered by her great-nephew for the sweets he got!) Her husband, William Gwynne, worked doing odd jobs for people, usually concerned with horses, breaking them in, etc.)

In her later years, Grandmother was an invalid, broken in spirit, I imagine, but so loved by Father, that Mother told me that at one time, when Father was working some miles from home, be would run home during the dinner break to see that his mother got some food, and run back again.

That is practically all I know of her, for Father hardly ever spoke of her, and when he did, it was always with the note of an almost sacred memory. Mother always considered that though Father was in some respects his father’s son, his mother had in the main been the saving of him, and that her influence upon him was permanent.

My impressions of Mother’s parents are almost equally faint, but at any rate I did see both of them. Perhaps here I’d better start with Grandmother, for she lived longest and probably accounted indirectly for the death of her husband. The home was a typically poor one of the farm labourer type, – but the farm-labourer whose intelligence and knowledge raised him to the higher ranks of such employment. However, this meant nothing in terms of wages. Though Mother was not born at the place, the family were from her earliest childhood at Treshenkin, a little place on the large farm of Castle Cenlas about 350-400 acres, I think, – kept by one named Griffiths.

There were two cottages and farms, etc. I have some faint recollection of Mother speaking of family in the other cottage, but I don’t think it was so occupied for long. Anyway, the place was far off the road and down in a bit of a hollow, and from the neighbouring boggy land they cut turf for fuel. In addition to the ten shillings a week wages that Grandfather got in Mother’s time, he was allowed to keep on the land a cow, a sheep (and lambs) and a donkey. There was, of course, a garden. They made a little butter, cheese, etc. The sheep generally had two lambs, there would be a calf etc. etc. It seems to me that life must have been one dull monotony of work and thrift. Mother emphasised the thrift, and said that Grandfather was able to buy more cows than he could keep at Treshenkin and hired them out. (Her impression of him  as being an intelligent farmer, high in the confidence of his master, was borne out by our first cousin, William Bowen of Headborough and Tiers Cross, who had lived for a period at Treshenkin after the old man’s death.)

I have tried to emphasise the narrow life of work and thrift (Chapel on Sundays) and I must add them as these circumstances, I think, explain in a measure the sad consequences.

The earliest of the children was Mary, weak in health, and winning therefore her mother’s chief attention. When you’ve looked at Treshenkin, its position, and the nature of the little one-floor cottage, you are not surprised that after a lingering illness, Mary died of T. B. in her later ‘teens. It was the shock of Mary’s death that unbalanced Gr Grandmother’s mind. That is what Mother told me. She became “strange” in her reactions, particularly to people. She lost her old interests, went the round of her duties in a purely mechanical fashion, and ever and anon broke out into a doleful refrain of something or other. There seemed to be no words. I am now describing her as I saw her when Ben and I stayed at Treshenkin over a Sunday when I was ten years old. Grandfather had not been dead long, and Lemuel and Aunt Ellen had returned home, Lemuel taking his father’s place on the farm. (He ultimately died of T.B.)

That is how I saw her, and when we arrived on Saturday evening, in a covert kind of way, she asked Ellen who we were, and on being told that we were “Anne’s children” she paid no more attention to us of any kind, not even upon our departure. We might just as well have not been there.

Things that really interested me there were the cottage arrangements. It was really a kind of one-roomed, one-floor cottage of a very poor kind. Some kind of division had been made so that one part was a kind of kitchen or work part, and the other a kind of bedroom and sitting room combined. In the first was a chimney over a flat hearth on which a turf fire burned, and a little dairy led off it. In the other part were two beds. The one in which Grandmother and Ellen slept was of the kind that was drawn out for the night, folded closed up for the day into a cupboard. The other bed in which Lemuel and ourselves slept was a “gwely mawr”. It was entirely enclosed, and we got into it by sliding back a shutter which could be closed afterwards. I don’t remember whether it was closed when we slept in it! Couldn’t have been, I think, or we should all three have been suffocated by morning. But is it any wonder that T. B. was rife along the countryside?

In due course, all the children had left home, and the two old people were alone. Now I know nothing of the immediate causes, but one day in 1894, the old man hanged himself in the barn. I don’t know whether Ellen was there at the time. William Bowen, Headborough knows the details and I remember the wire that came to us in Mardy, and I still remember the words, “Inquest held”, and Mother went down.

Grandmother died in 1904, aged 69. In appearance, by the way, Grandfather was medium or short in height, had a bright intelligent face, and some whiskers. That is all I can recall of my memories of his very occasional visits to Fishguard.

One Sunday in July 1883, their daughter Ann (my mother) Mother laid the table for dinner at Mr. James’s, Pentowr, where she was maid, and walked up to Hermon Chapel. The morning service had been over some little time. Father had walked out of the chapel, and along the road, but made an excuse to return. The visiting minister, Mr. Aaron Morgan of Blaenffos near Cardigan, had been detained because there was to be a wedding, and Mr. Peter Lewis, the Registrar, had arrived. Then Father and Mother walked in, were married with only about four people present, so well had the secret been kept! Then, they walked home to Stryd Baram, and so began their married life.

Mrs. James was very indignant, naturally I think, at the way in which Mother walked out on her. But Mother’s possessions were fetched and there was an end of that. The house had been taken some months before. The furniture – not a great deal – had been made by William Roberts, Cabinet Maker, and had been carried to the house by night. The last item of that furniture that remained, I think, was the press, though I remember the chest of drawers also.

The omens were good. Father, though having a drunken scoundrelly father, had had a good mother to whom he seems to have been devoted. He was one of the promising young members of Hermon Chapel, (a fervent admirer of the pastor, William Jones, a great and lovable student, who was soon to return there after a short pastorate at Castle Street, London),  was not a T. T., but only the most moderate of drinkers, and was a steady craftsman, though employment was a bit uncertain, especially in winter.

Mother was obviously a very steady type of girl, of very hardworking, thrifty, respectable parentage. She had been in service at Pentowr for four years and before that for a somewhat similar period at a grocers on a crossing at Letterston.

All seemed to promise a very happy marriage, however it might be fraught by a growing family, unemployment, etc., etc. Yet I do not think it was a happy marriage – at any rate for Mother for whom it meant a rather quick disillusion.

Mother was tall, dark, of strong frame, and a face more marked by character than beauty. I have told you about her home and it was not surprising that her education had been limited. She had attended school at Croesgoch for four years, on and off – for the demands of home meant that she was often wanted to help.

She must have been pretty intelligent as a child for she told me that after an absence she used to “pick up” very quickly. She was “out to service” soon, and I can’t say how many places she may have gone to. It could not have been many, for she went to Letterston when she was about sixteen and she went to Fishguard -“improving herself” – at nineteen.

She always spoke of her indebtedness to her mistress at Letterston, but I can’t remember the name. There were no children and the work was light for a strong girl, leaving a fair amount of spare time. Her mistress was a reader and seems to have encouraged Mother to be a reader too. She was a reader to the end of her life.

Life seems to have followed a very even tenor at Letterston with quiet kindly people. At one time I could have told you quite a lot about that little place and it’s people, interests,  rivalries, etc, for Mother had the eye of a reader for the life around her, and more humour than one could readily recognise.

I remember more of her life at Fishguard. She seems to have started “walking out” with Father fairly soon, having met, I suppose, through going to the same chapel, This was also, undoubtedly, through her friendship with Martha, the maid next door or so, who was going with George Williams (Vergam Stores) who was Father’s particular pal among his cousins.

Just where the hill started down for Lower Town, was Aunt Lettice’s little shop, and in the room over the shop, my aunts – Aunt Evans and Aunt Hannah – had their millinery workroom. The James’s house on Pentowr almost overlooked that house, and that proximity influenced Mother a great deal.

Uncle William Gwynne, the father, had been a man of some means, and on marrying Aunt Lettice, Grandmother’s sister, their two girls had been educated at a boarding school in Haverfordwest before they had learnt millinery – a far more important craft in those elaborate days than it is now. Though their father’s love of drink had brought them down in the world, the girls probably thought themselves superior to a servant girl, however friendly they might be. As I’ve told you before, Father was almost like a brother with them and so he was back and fore there a lot. To what extent the girls’ superior airs contributed to it, I can’t really say, but certain it is that Mother was always a little jealous of them and inclined to be on her dignity. She might have been a servant girl, but she was certainly not lacking in pride.

Mother’s place at the James’s was pretty comfortable. Old Mr James would have been of the Squire class with a fair amount of landed property. Drink, however had reduced his circumstances until I think he only had one considerable farm left, just outside Fishguard, and they had been forced to move to a little house with one maid. He was quite a simple and very good-natured old fellow who had given up his drink. Mrs. James was not of such good birth and was a harder type altogether. Perhaps misfortunes had somewhat soured her. They had one daughter about Mother’s age who was a little deaf. (She seems to have been a good sort, also a reader, and so Mother’s reading facilities continued.  (When I was at school, she knew of the “Boys’ Own Paper” because it was read by the Williams boys of Cefnydre, known as the “Chile family” because the father was a merchant who traded with Chile. ) Miss James, by the way, later married Phillips, the Methodist minister, who was known as a very dramatic preacher, and their daughter married either Dr. Walford Davies or Dr. Chalke, – I forget which.

I have stressed all this about Mother’s reading because that’s the source of a great deal about all of us. Father was not really a great reader, and when he did read, it was something beyond our reach as children, being of the “traethawd”, “erthygl” or “barddoniaeth yn y mesuron caeth” type (essays, articles and poetry in strict metre). He had old Puritanic standards about fiction. Mother read English, he read in Welsh.

Father owed to Hermon Chapel & to Mr. Jones, the pastor, a debt of gratitude, but also to a number of men who must have been, I think, of fine calibre. Within the limits of theology at the time, they were thinkers of a fairly solid type. He certainly could distinguish and appreciate solid thought in a sermon, and was against mere sentiment and “hwyl”. His frequent mentions of Mr. Jones’s references to Carlyle suggest that he was in some way influenced by the philosophy thus transmitted.

In addition to this there was his contact with Uncle George, Uncle Evan (Vicar) etc. These were tailors who had achieved the highest class of work for some miles around Fishguard, and their customers were frequently, therefore men of a better education. They were Churchmen too, and the Church in that area, with its proximity to St. David’s was by no means the alien thing it was about the valleys of Glamorgan, but combined something of the tradition of the old Church in Wales with English culture. Add to all this the fact that tailors workshops, like those of cobblers and blacksmiths, were frequently the rendezvous in the evenings of different people who came in for a chat, it is obvious that there were keen discussions about religion, politics, and literature. The influence of this little coterie upon Father was considerable.

All these contacts account for the fact that Father was well above the average craftsman. In his prime he had command of better language than the average, and he read the Welsh classical poets with zest. I have always considered that he had a better brain than Mother but that it was not such a growing mind as Mother’s. His was cramped by dogmas and prejudices far more than Mother’s, and so was by no means as open to life’s influences. 

These then were the two people who started life one July Sunday of 1883. Father  had a circle of friends and associates in his home town in the midst of which he had always moved as a bachelor.  However Mother was tied to a house where she was much alone, and soon I was on the way. Neighbours were good, but quite obviously she looked forward to Father’s company in the evenings. He, having arrived home from work, soon changed and was off again in a very short time. He was off to the Club (Oddfellows), periodically meeting at the “Swan”, or to his cousins’ tailors’ workroom where he spent happy evenings just as he had done in the past. He thought little of Mother sitting alone in Stryd Baram and he was generally very late in coming home. As far as he was concerned, she had little  to grumble at, or give him black looks for: he was sober, drinking very little, brought his wages home, kept good company and not bad, etc., 

Mother evidently looked for ways and means out of to her situation of unemployment and the  debt they had to shoulder after the ‘Dolly Lamb’ case. During a few weeks of the summer, visitors of a good class came to Fishguard, and Mother did much washing and ironing to add to the family income. I remember that well. But evidently her eyes were early on turned to “y gweithe” (the coal fields) as the Glamorgan valleys were called, as a way out. She herself had spent a brief period at Briton Ferry with Uncle Jim’s parents, and Father’s brother had gone to Mountain Ash. It was difficult however to shift Father whose attachment to Fishguard and its associations was deeply ingrained. For him it was the most wonderful place in the world at any price, but Mother would have gone to the ends of the world for a decent livelihood and hope of employment later for the children

During one period of unemployment, Mother managed to find the money to push Father off to Mountain Ash to look for work. He did not find it immediately and he was back in less than a week because he found the contrast between Fishguard (Heaven) and Mountain Ash (Hell) intolerable. I don’t remember that, but I do remember the final effort. Father was friendly with a certain John John from Letterston, a young widower, serious-minded, religious, etc. He was up at “the works” and had come down on holiday over Christmas. 1890, and in his company Father set off for Mardy in January 1891, and there we followed him on September 19th (Saturday) 1891 to begin a new life,  of hard struggle for Mother, but with hope. There were some debts behind, but those were soon cleared, and I doubt whether Mother was ever in debt after that. She was free of the disgrace that was really terrible to her respectable heart.

And that’s that; 1891 marks the end of a definite period at Fishguard, and I can well stop there.”

Clement (1884-1958), Ben (1888-1954) and Myfanwy Arianwen Davies (1890 – 1970) were born in Fishguard. Their parents were George Davies (born 21 March 1859, Fishguard and died 1941) and Anne (or Ann) Davies nee Williams (born 26 June 1860 at Treshenkyn, Llanreithan, died 8 September 1911 in Ystrad Mynach and buried in Hengoed).

The family moved to Mardy in the South Wales mining valley of the Rhondda in 1891, and subsequently Gwilym Allan (1893 – 1967) and Ivor Idwal (1897 – 1975) were born. George and Anne had other children as well who did not survive infancy.
This is about George and Anne in Pembrokeshire and their ancestors.

GEORGE DAVIES (1859 – 1941) AND HIS ANCESTORS

GEORGE DAVIES (1859 – 1941)
He was born in Fishguard and was a mason and a builder. He married Anne (or Ann)Williams at Hermon Chapel in Fishguard on 15 July 1883. His brother Benjamin Price Davies died in 1888 and George named my grandfather after him. After Anne’s death in 1911, George (aged 64) married Hannah Price Thomas (aged 65) in Hermon Chapel, Fishguard on 11 August 1923. They were both living in Fishguard. She was a widow and her father was William Gwynne, a labourer. The marriage was not a success, Hannah said George wanted a housekeeper not a wife. In 1939 she was living at 7 Bridge Street, Fishguard but George is not listed there. George died in on 15 January 1941 and is buried in the graveyard of the Welsh Chapel, Hengoed in the same grave as Anne.

His parents were William Davies (1826 – 1903) and Hannah Davies (1826 – 1877) and he was their first son.

WILLIAM DAVIES (1826 – 1903)
William was the third/fifth son of George Davies (1780 -1832) and Anne Davies nee Walters (1787 – 1873). William lived at Cwm in Fishguard, and before that at the mill in Lower Town. William was a mason. He was born at Penmeiddyn [?farm at Manorowen near Fishguard now an Arts and Retreat Centre]. He took part in the Rebecca Riots in 1843 and was hidden in a pub cellar in Goodwick for three days by a girl he was courting. When he married Hannah in 1857 (see below) he was a widower. After Hannah’s death he married Anne Davies (born 1839) in the parish church of Llanwnda (presumably St Gwyndaf which is famous as the nearest church to the spot where the French invaded on 22 February 1797). In 1881 William and Anne were living at 60 Quay Street in Fishguard with his sons George and Benjamin and all the men were working as masons. He died in Fishguard in February 1903 and is buried at Hermon graveyard there.

HANNAH DAVIES (1826 – 1877)
Hannah was first cousin to her husband William whom she married on 14 February 1857 in Granston parish church [presumably St Catherine’s rebuilt in 1877]. She was from Felin Newydd, New Mill, Granston [grid ref: SM 89326 35045 near Tregwynt woollen mill]. She was born in 1826 and died on 22 April 1877 and is buried at Harmony [Harmony Baptist Church built 1828 (new chapel built across the road in 1908) SA64 0JH].

Her parents were-

BENJAMIN DAVIES/DAVID (George’s brother) born 1786 in St Dogwells, a miller who died in Granston on 15 November 1855, and HANNAH DAVIES/DAVID nee PRICE of Broadmoor [Farm SA62 5TB], Letterston, leased from the Bishop of St Davids. She was born 1791/2, and died in Granston on 1 September 1852/5. They were married on 1814 in Letterston church when they were both living in the parish [presumably St Giles, rebuilt 1845]. For Benjamin Davies’ parents (Peter David and Mary Read) and their forebears see George David/Davies below.

Hannah Davies nee Price’s parents were probably BENJAMIN PRICE (1762-1833) of Midland Farm Letterston, [ ?now Midlands caravan site SA62 5TU] and MARY PRICE nee EVANS (1758 – 1827). Benjamin Price of Letterston married Mary Evans of Mathry there on 16 October 1788. They were both buried in Letterston.

GEORGE DAVID/DAVIES (1780 – 1832)
He was William Davies’ father. George’s surname was originally David but it changed to Davies. He was from Pantycrwyn Farm, Letterston [?SA62 5TU]. He married Anne Walters in Jordanston in 1807 and moved to Penmeiddyn. He was a blacksmith and farmer. He died on 20 June 1832. His parents were PETER DAVID of Pantycrwyn where his family had been tenant farmers for many generations and MARY READ of Scottish origin. Peter David was baptised on 13 July 1755 and married Mary Read on 6 October 1779 in St Dogwell’s. Peter’s father was PHILIP DAVID of Granston Parish who married MARTHA WILLIAM of St Dogwells in June 1735. Mary Read’s father was GEORGE READ reported to be from Scotland who was a blacksmith of Welsh Hook, St Dogwells. His will is online at the National Library of Wales. He married MARY GEORGE in St Dogwells on 10 November 1756/1757 and was buried there on 13 December 1807. Mary George was baptised in June 1731, and was buried in St Dogwells on 11 December 1796. Her father was DAVID GEORGE (buried 14 September 1749) who married MARY BEVAN in 1728 in St Dogwells Church [still 90% medieval church SA62 5NF].

ANNE DAVIES, NEE WALTERS (1787 – 1873) Anne (or Ann) was William Davies’ mother. She was born in February 1787 in Trewalter Llwyd Farm [Trewalter near Mathry]. She was from Penmeiddyn. A cousin of William Gwynne, a farmer of Old Holmus, Little Newcastle. She died on 5 June 1873 and is buried at Manorowen.

Her parents were THOMAS WALTERS from South Pembrokeshire (probably of Norman origin) and MARTHA WALTERS nee JAMES of Hendre Ganol farm, near Jordanston, the youngest daughter of JOHN JAMES the elder of Hendre Ganol. He died in 1792 and his will is on the National Library of Wales website. It refers to the lease of the farm granted to him on 10 April 1749 by William and Anne Tucker of Sealyham Hall whose descendant bred the Sealyham terrier. The will refers to his wife as Anne, but from its wording it is not clear that she was the mother of his children. Our family papers stated that Martha’s mother probably had the surname Gwynne, with a father GRIFFITH GWYNNE (1716-1796) of Court, Llanllawer (who acquired the lease of Cilciffeth) and mother ELIZABETH THOMAS (1723-1784), married in 1754 and subsequently both buried in the parish church, Llanychaer, St David’s (rebuilt 1876 SA65 9SN). Elizabeth’s parents were JOHN THOMAS (1683-1750) of Cilciffeth mansion (remnants now Kilkiffeth farm with Gwaun Valley Brewery in its yard SA65 9TP) and LETTICE VAUGHAN (1664-) daughter of THOMAS and MARGARET VAUGHAN of Vorlan, descended from the Vaughans of Pontfaen. The Gwynnes, Thomas’ and Vaughans were “stay at home squires who farmed around their residences and acted as magistrates and high sheriffs”.

ANNE DAVIES nee WILLIAMS (1860 – 1911) AND HER ANCESTORS

ANNE DAVIES nee WILLIAMS (1860 – 1911)
Anne was born on 25/26 June 1860 in Llanreithan to William Williams and Elizabeth Williams nee Llewhelin/ Llewellyn. She was brought up at a little place called Treshenkyn [?Tresciencyn farm] on the large farm of Castle Cenlas in the parish of Llanreithan as her father was a tenant farmer. She went to school for four years in Croesgoch and then went into service. She was at Letterston (at a grocer’s shop with attached house) when she was sixteen and her mistress encouraged her to read. She was a reader to the end of her life. She moved to Fishguard to “improve herself” when she was nineteen to work as a maid for Mr and Mrs James and their daughter at Pentowr, Tower Hill, before she married George Davies in Hermon chapel on 15 July 1883. They went to live in Stryd Baram, Smith Street. She did washing and ironing for visitors to add to the family income. Work for George was uncertain and they were in debt. Anne viewed the Glamorgan valleys as the way out. She persuaded George to go to Mardy in January 1891 and Anne and the children joined him on 19 September 1891. Before then she had had five children of whom two (Arthur and Ceridwen) had died, with Clement, Ben and Myfanwy surviving. In December 1892 she had twins, Claudia (who died at one month, and was buried by her father at Hermon cemetery in Fishguard) and Gwladys (who died at ten months and was buried at Mardy cemetery). She subsequently had Gwilym (1893) and Idwal (1897) who survived. She was close to her brother Thomas, Tom (born 19 March 1858) who went to sea as a boy in 1872 became an only mate in 1882 and a captain in 1885. He captained steamers from Cardiff with coal to Rio de Janeiro or Buenos Aires (where coincidentally my great uncle Harry Scott on my mother’s side worked at the Cory’s coal depot) or grain for Rotterdam or Hamburg. He lent money to George for the business and so two resulting semi-detached villas in Bedwlwyn Road, Ystrad Myanch were called Hillfern and Hilltarn after two of his ships. There is a report in the Sydney Morning Herald of 6 December 1905 of the arrival of Hilltarn in London on 5 December, captained by Captain T Williams, from Albany (19 September) via Fremantle (3 October). Anne died at Ystrad Mynach on 14 September 1911 and is buried at Hengoed.

WILLIAM WILLIAMS (1829 – 1894)
Anne’s father was born on 18 March 1829 at Wern, Castlebythe [north of Castlebythe and east of Puncheston]. He was the son of Evan Williams by his second wife, Martha. He was a tenant farmer at Treshenkyn. He married Elizabeth Llewellyn/Llewhelin. He died on 27 March 1894 and is buried at Groesgoch.

EVAN WILLIAMS (1797 – 1847)
William’s father Evan was born in 1797 at Little Newcastle [/Garngwew] and was baptised in 1801 at St Peter’s Church there [heavily restored 1870]. His father was Thomas Williams. He married his first wife, Mary William (1797 – 1826) of Castlebythe in 1817 and they had six children. On 9 January 1827 he married his second wife, and William’s mother, MARTHA WILLIAM (born Upper Wern, Castlebythe 1801/3 and died Puncheston 3/11 February 1872) at Little Newcastle. They had four/five children. Evan died on 13 May 1847 of pneumonia at Wern Castle, Castlebythe and was buried on 15 May 1847 at St Mary Puncheston [rebuilt 1895]. By 1861 Martha was a farmer of 11 acres in Puncheston and by 1871 she was a lodger there with an Anne Williams. Martha’s parents were THOMAS WILLIAM of Dinas [?Dinas Cross], born 1766 who died and was buried in Puncheston on 20 May 1823 and LETTICE JENKINS born in 1763 at Parc y Bor Farm Puncheston [SA62 5RW] who died on 8 August 1841. Lettice’s parents were [ ] JENKIN and MARY JENKIN (born 1729 and buried at Puncheston on 19 October 1813 aged 84).

THOMAS WILLIAMS (1759 – 1826)
Evan’s father, Thomas Williams was born in 1759. He was a tailor in Puncheston. On 31 October 1780 he married DOROTHY HARRY in Mathry. By the time Evan was born, Thomas was married to MARY WILLIAM (possibly nee John born 1770). His father was WILLIAM WILLIAMS of Garngwen Farm [?Garreg Wen farm near Henry’s Moat] and his mother [?Elizabeth] was a member of the SELBY family of Nevern. [?William Williams was buried on 16 December 1785 in Castlebythe.]. Our family papers state that Thomas went to London to claim the Selby estates (see further on the Selby inheritance below). [? Descended from Thomas Selby of Nevern parish born 1649 and died 1684/9. ? Married to Mary Lloyd]. Thomas Williams was buried on 15 October 1826 in Puncheston.

ELIZABETH WILLIAMS nee LLEWELLYN (1835 – 1904)
Anne’s mother Elizabeth Llewellyn/Llewhelin was born on 28 March 1835 in Spittal and she died on 8 March/August 1904. Spittal is on the Landsker Line, the historical line dividing the Welsh speaking north and the English speaking south. Elizabeth’s father was THOMAS LLEWHELIN (1812-26 August 1891) from Spittal South Pembrokeshire but he learnt Welsh. Thomas’ father was PHILLIP LLEWHELIN of Bridgend, Spittal, a butcher, baptised on 3 October 1784, who married MARY WILLIAMS on 3 November 1811 and was buried on 19 October 1834. Phillip’s parents were THOMAS and ANNE LLEWHELIN. Elizabeth’s mother was JANE EVANS, born in 1808 in Castlebythe who died on 6 March 1874 and is buried at the Baptist cemetery Letterston.

THE SELBY INHERITANCE
The will of Thomas James Selby (1717- 1772)
Thomas James Selby was an only child who died unmarried and childless. Apparently he did not know any of his Selby relations. His father and grandfather were successful lawyers which is where his fortune came from. He went to Brasenose College in Oxford and became Sheriff of Buckinghamshire. His father James Selby (1658 – 1724) went to Cambridge and was a Serjeant-at-law of Serjeant’s Inn, Chancery Lane. His grandfather, also a James Selby (1629-1688) was at the Inner Temple.
As well as properties in London, Hertingfordbury and the Isle of Ely, Thomas inherited Wavendon House in Buckinghamshire (which seems to have been his principal country house). It has been altered since his day and was used to house Wrens working at Bletchley Park during the war. He commissioned Richard Woods to lay out the park and gardens there in 1768-1772 which are listed, with a right of way running through them. In his will dated 10 August 1768 he left a life interest in Wavendon to his mistress his “dearly beloved Mrs Elizabeth Hone, commonly called Mrs Vane”.
The part of his assets which became known as the Selby Inheritance was at Whaddon and Nash, also in Buckinghamshire, and presumably it was this that our ancestor Thomas Williams went to London to claim. The will provided: ” To right heir at law (to be found by advertisements in public papers) manor of Whaddon and Nash AND capital messuage known as Whaddon Hale and lands etc… AND Whaddon Chase, with all deer, soil, ground, together with timber and wood growing there , coppices of wood part of the same… AND Whaddon Park and all farms .. lands….etc in parishes of Whaddon and Nash, Great Harewoord, Little Harewood, Single, Borough, Tottenhoe alias Catnal, Shenley, Mursely and Salden and Bletchley, Bucks ” subject to various bequests. “In the event of no right heir being found appoint William Lowndes Esq of Winslow Major in Militia (on condition changes name to Selby)” subject to those bequests.
Whaddon Chase was a royal hunting forest – part of it is now a Woodland Trust wood open to the public, College Wood.

What happened next
There were subsequent legal cases about the Selby inheritance (proceedings in Court of Chancery 1783, under which Lowndes took possession while claims were considered, Selby v Selby 22 February 1787 Chancery 21 E.R.435, Selby v Selby Dickens, Selby v Selby 1792, Selby v Selby 1817, Davies v Lowndes 1835 1 Bing 597 Court of Common Pleas, Davies v Lowndes Court of Common Pleas 1838, Davies v Lowndes 1844, and Selby v Lowndes 1846 Court of Common Pleas).
The reference to a right heir at law in the will was construed to be an “heir of the blood of the Selbys” and adverts were put in papers. Various unsuccessful claims were made and in the end the inheritance passed to William Lowndes who changed his name to William Selby Lowndes.

The adverts
The adverts I found were all in the London Gazette. The first ones in 22 December 1772 and 2 January up to 9 March 1773 asked any person who could prove to be the real heir at law to contact Mr Ambrose Reddall of Eversholt near Woburn “to hear something very much to their advantage”. The 1773 adverts referred to the will having been proved in Doctors Commons in London and also said Mr Reddall would only answer post paid letters. Subsequent adverts published on 5 and 29 May 1781 referred to a decree of the High Court of Chancery and said claims had to be made to Edward Leeds, one of the masters of the court, at his chambers in Lincoln’s Inn on or before “the last day of Trinity term next” otherwise they would be excluded from the benefit of the decree.

The link with South Wales
In the case in 1838 the claimant said that a Thomas Selby was shipwrecked in South Wales, married a Mary Lloyd who gave birth to a James Selby but died in childbirth and James was educated by J Lloyd, Mary’s brother. The claimant, Elizabeth Davies, said she was a descendant of James Lloyd, an attorney, of Monington (Nevern), the brother of Mary Lloyd. She said the deceased Selby was Thomas Selby’s great grandson and produced James Lloyd’s will dated 3 September 1669 which contained a bequest to “James Selby of Wavendon the son and only issue of Thomas Selby of Nevern by my sister Mary his deceased wife”. However this wording in the will was held to be a forgery.

Our family papers refer to the mother of our ancestor Thomas Williams being descended from Thomas Selby of Nevern parish born 1649 and married to Mary Lloyd.
My internet searches found a Thomas Selby born in 1645 in Nevern who died on 28 January 1718 there. He was married to Mary Lloyd (1644/1650 – 1728). They had nine children, including the Reverend Thomas Selby (born in Pembroke about 1665 and died on 28 January 1718 in Granston or Mathrey). In about 1686 he married Mary Marlowe Jones (1665 – 1726) and they had eight children. His will is on the National Library of Wales website. So far I have not been able to find any link between any Selby and our family.

Background on Welsh claimants
There were a number of different claims made to the Selby inheritance by claimants in Pembrokeshire. The reason for this is explained in an article on “The Selby Romance” in volume 19 of a journal, Y Cymmrodor, the magazine of the Honourable Society of Cymmrodorion, also available on the National Library of Wales website. This refers to an affidavit sworn in 1786 by Thomas Williams, but I am not sure that this is our Thomas Williams as he is referred to as living in Manorbeer and it seems to be in support of a claim by a Jane Richards nee Selby.

Compiled by Janet Sparks.