A Hundred Years Ago
1921 was when -
Merthyr’s MP was Rhondda-born Sir Edgar Rees Jones, coalition Liberal and George V was king.
The Cyfarthfa ironworks closed totally.
The Coal Industry was re-privatised; the Black Friday Strike and lockout brought production to a halt, miners were forced to accept wage reductions.
In October "French Leave" – ‘The funniest play of the London season’, was on at the Theatre Royal, Merthyr Tydfil, ‘direct from the Globe and Apollo Theatres’.
The Merthyr Express had a section devoted to advertising for domestic servants.
Average life expectancy in Britain was 60 for men and 56 for women.
Jimmy Wilde, ‘the ghost with a hammer in his hand’, born Pentwyn Deintyr, Quakers Yard was in his last year as world flyweight boxing champion.
The War Memorial in Troedyrhiw was unveiled, secured by public subscription.
The Dowlais branch of The Irish Self Determination League built its own Irish Club; MI5 arrested a local on suspicion of being an IRA explosives courier; the Anglo-Irish Treaty, ending British rule for most of the island of Ireland, was signed in December.
The Merthyr Times, Dowlais Times and Aberdare Echo, published since 1912, came to an end.
The Socialist local newspaper, Merthyr Pioneer, founded by Kier Hardie in 1911 had Niclas y Glais as an editor and Sylvia Pankhurst (a friend of Hardie) as a contributor. This was the last full year of its existence.
Under the 1921 Licensing Act pubs could open for 8 hours on weekdays between 11:00 a.m. and 22:00, given a minimum 2-hour break in the afternoon.
Christine Trevett
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