Stimulus: two web accounts of the Merthyr Rising

Facts both sites agree on

These are taken from the WJEC GCSE History resource on the Merthyr Rising and are not in dispute. Use them to test the two extracts.

Merthyr Tydfil grew from a few hundred people in 1750 to around 30,000 by 1831. It was the largest ironmaking town in the world, with works at Cyfarthfa, Dowlais, Plymouth and Penydarren.
Shifts in the ironworks lasted 12 to 13 hours. Some workers were paid in tokens (“truck”) that could only be spent in the ironmasters’ own “tommy shops”, which pushed families into debt.
The Court of Requests could seize a family’s goods to settle a debt. On 2 June 1831 the crowd went from house to house reclaiming seized goods and burned the court’s records.
On 3 June 1831 ironmasters and officials gathered in the Castle Inn, protected by soldiers and 70 special constables. A crowd of about 10,000 surrounded the building. The Riot Act was read, fighting broke out, 16 soldiers were injured and 24 protesters were killed.
Order was restored on 6 June. Twenty-six protesters were arrested. Four were transported to Australia. Lewis Lewis (“Lewsyn yr Heliwr”) had his death sentence reduced to transportation.
Richard Lewis (“Dic Penderyn”) was hanged outside Cardiff Gaol on 13 August 1831 for wounding a soldier. A petition signed by 11,000 people was dismissed. Years later another man, Ianto Parker, confessed to the wounding on his deathbed.

Extract A — from Valleys Heritage Voices (a community history blog)

Author: not named. Published: no date shown. About page: “celebrating the fighting spirit of the coalfield”.

In the summer of 1831 the heroic ironworkers of Merthyr finally said enough. Ground down for years by greedy ironmasters who cared for nothing but profit, and robbed by a corrupt Court of Requests, the people of the town rose up and took back what was theirs.

On 3 June a peaceful crowd was butchered outside the Castle Inn. Soldiers, hiding behind the men who paid their wages, opened fire on unarmed families. Twenty-four innocent people were slaughtered in the street.

Then came the final act of cruelty. The authorities needed a scapegoat, and they chose the martyr Dic Penderyn, an innocent young miner. Eleven thousand people begged for his life. The establishment ignored every one of them and murdered him at Cardiff Gaol on 13 August 1831. Wales has never forgotten this crime.

Extract B — from britishindustry.info (an industrial history directory)

Author: not named. Published: no date shown. About page: “a celebration of the men who built British industry”.

The Merthyr disturbances of June 1831 were a brief but violent interruption to the work of the greatest ironmaking town on earth. Encouraged by outside agitators, a drunken mob rampaged through the town for several days, burning official records and terrorising respectable shopkeepers.

On 3 June the magistrates, gathered lawfully at the Castle Inn, were besieged by ten thousand rioters. The troops showed admirable restraint before being forced to defend themselves. Sixteen soldiers were injured by the thugs who attacked them.

Order was mercifully restored on 6 June. The courts dealt firmly with the ringleader Richard Lewis, who had stabbed a soldier with a bayonet, and the town returned to the prosperous business of making iron.

Two websites, one rising: Merthyr, June 1831

Facts both sites agree on

Extract A — from Valleys Heritage Voices (a community history blog)

Extract B — from britishindustry.info (an industrial history directory)

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