The Merthyr Rising

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The ironmasters developed mines for coal and iron production, which were needed during the Industrial Revolution. Die gafodd y bai o'i anafu A chrogwyd yntau yng Nghaerdydd, Flynyddoedd wedyn cyfaddefodd leuan Parker Ond i Die roedd hi'n rhy hwyr yn y dydd.

The Napoleonic Wars fed the rapid industrialisation of South Wales, naturally rich in coal and metal deposits. The ‘Welsh method’ of puddling, pioneered in the 1780s, utilised coal to make malleable iron – essential for the production of machinery, infrastructure and weaponry. The demand for iron and coal transformed the rural and sparsely populated South Wales valleys (stretching from Carmarthenshire in the West to Monmouthshire in the East) into one of the industrial centres of British capitalism, with several massive coalpits and ironworks. The level of industry was highly developed. The world’s first steam locomotive left Penydarren in Merthyr Tydfil in 1804. By 1830, South Wales was producing 40 percent of British pig iron.Lewsyn yr Heliwr's sentence was downgraded to a life sentence and penal transportation to Australia when one of the police officers who had tried to disperse the crowd testified that he had tried to shield him from the rioters. He was transported aboard the vessel John in 1832 and died 6 September 1847 in Port Macquarie, New South Wales. [ citation needed] Having sent messengers, who had started strikes in Northern Monmouthshire, Neath and Swansea Valleys, the riots reached their peak. However, panic had spread to the family oriented and peaceful town folk, who had now started to flee what was an out-of-control town. With the rioters arranging a mass meeting for Sunday 6th, the government representatives in Penydarren House managed to split the rioters' council. When 450 troops marched to the mass meeting at Waun above Dowlais with levelled weapons, the meeting dispersed and the riots were effectively over. By the end of the 18th century, Merthyr was an ideal centre for the iron industry as four great ironworks were established.

Looking at this offence with all its bearings, there seems a much less degree of moral turpitude in the crime, than that of an ordinary robbery, committed for the sake of plunder. Here the offender sought no plunder, but, from a mistaken sense of right and wrong, did that which he thought justice, by restoring to the widow the money she had paid for the chest of drawers. But it is here that the Rising also reached its limits. Simply holding the town was not enough: the miners could not hope to defeat the entire might of the British state once it found its way to Merthyr. Without a political programme to lay claim to the means of production – the ironworks – and spread the fight to extend their control to the surrounding region, the movement was doomed to run out of steam. People were still hungry, and once the shops were looted, there were no goods to replenish them. The same was true for guns and ammunition. Given the early stage of the workers’ movement, it is inconceivable that the necessary programme could have been developed. In terms of their efforts to secure Merthyr and spread the rebellion, the workers went about as far as possible for the time.

The Reform Act that was supported by the working class gave industrial and political power to the ironmasters. Attard, Joe (2 June 2020). "The Merthyr Rising 1831: rage, rebellion and the red flag". International Marxist Tendency . Retrieved 25 March 2022. Williams, David. "Lewis, Richard ('Dic Penderyn'; 1807/8-1831)". Dictionary of Welsh Biography. National Library of Wales . Retrieved 4 June 2018. Miners to models: Merthyr Tydfil strikes a pose – in pictures". The Guardian. 26 January 2016 . Retrieved 25 March 2022.

Prices of goods in tommy shops tended to be higher than in ordinary shops. The goods were also of inferior quality. The Merthyr Rising, also referred to as the Merthyr Riots, [1] [2] of 1831 was the violent climax to many years of simmering unrest among the large working class population of Merthyr Tydfil in Wales and the surrounding area. The Rising marked the first times the red flag was used a symbol of working class rebellion in the United Kingdom. [3] [4] Beginnings [ edit ]

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One person, a stranger, advocated strike action. This stranger was probably a representative of the National Association of the Protection of Labour, a trade union which had been formed in the North of England in 1830, and which had already set up Colliers Union branches in North Wales and was attempting to do so in South Wales. of rebellion, the first time it was to be so used in Britain. On its staff was impaled a loaf of bread, the symbol of the needs of the marchers. It had a magical effect.

The terrified and exhausted men at the Castle Inn retreated to the more defensible position of Penydarren House, carrying their wounded on stretchers. They were soon joined by 70 men of the East Glamorgan Yeomanry and 50 from the Central Region – the same reserve corps of petty-bourgeois scum who had caused such bloodshed at Peterloo. A detachment of the 93rd Foot arrived from Newport, resulting in a total of 300 men at Penydarren. They were underequipped, surrounded by a town in furious revolt, and keenly aware that a 120,000-strong population of angry working men in a 15-mile radius might descend on them at any moment.

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As the demand for these materials increased, the ironmasters became richer. Conversely, the working conditions of the workers got worse. Despite the difficult conditions, the large community was tight-knit and erudite. The level of general education was pretty high. Most people were bilingual to some extent, with English being the language of officialdom, while Welsh was used in homes, pubs, chapels and the streets. The main leader of the Rising, Lewis Lewis, was familiar enough in English to use it to insult an army captain during a confrontation. The Rising’s most-famous martyr, Dic Penderyn, was definitely educated, given the high-quality Welsh of the letter he wrote to his sister from prison. Merthyr also boasted a vibrant local culture of music, poetry and dance, culminating in the annual eisteddfod festival, which was taken very seriously.