dcf.cymru stimulus sheet · History · Year 10

Teras y Graig: one street in the records, 1921 and 1939

The street, the village of Pentre-glo, Graig Colliery, the chapel and every person in Sources A and B are invented for practice. They are modelled on real records from the South Wales coalfield. The records in the box below, and all the figures in Source C, are real.

The records historians use

The street

Teras y Graig is a terrace of 12 houses in Pentre-glo, a mining village in the Cynon Valley, built for the workers of Graig Colliery. A historian has searched both records for the street and typed out every person aged 14 and over (14 was the school leaving age). The same data are in teras-y-graig-records.csv.

Occupations are copied exactly as the enumerator wrote them. In 1921 the miners on this street wrote down their usual job and colliery, even though they were locked out on census night. In 1939, ages have been worked out from the date of birth in the Register.

Source A1: Teras y Graig in the 1921 census (19 June 1921)

HouseNameRelationshipAgeOccupation, as written
1David EvansHead44Coal hewer, Graig Colliery
1Mary EvansWife42Home duties
1Tom EvansSon17Collier’s boy, Graig Colliery
1Gwen EvansDaughter15Shop assistant, Co-operative stores
2William JenkinsHead38Collier, Graig Colliery
2Sarah JenkinsWife36Home duties
2Elizabeth MorrisMother-in-law68Home duties
3John MorganHead30Coal haulier, Graig Colliery
3Ann MorganWife28Home duties
4Richard PriceHead50Colliery repairer, Graig Colliery
4Margaret PriceWife48Home duties
4Idris PriceSon22Collier, Graig Colliery
4Ivor PriceSon19Collier, Graig Colliery
4Lily PriceDaughter16Home duties
5Evan ThomasHead45Coal hewer, Graig Colliery
5Catherine ThomasWife44Home duties
5Dai ThomasSon20Collier, Graig Colliery
5Olwen ThomasDaughter18Dressmaker, own account
6Thomas LewisHead33Colliery fireman, Graig Colliery
6Rachel LewisWife31Home duties
6Blodwen LewisDaughter14Home duties
7Robert HughesHead60Coal hewer, Graig Colliery
7Jane HughesWife58Home duties
7Arthur HughesSon25Railway porter, Great Western Railway
8Morgan DaviesHead28Collier, Graig Colliery
8Hannah DaviesWife25Home duties
8Ellis DaviesBrother24Collier, Graig Colliery
9Owen ReesHead55Coal hewer, Graig Colliery
9Elinor ReesWife52Home duties
9Owen ReesSon26Tinplate worker, out of work
9Mair ReesDaughter21Elementary school teacher, county council
10George PowellHead42Colliery labourer (surface), Graig Colliery
10Emily PowellWife40Home duties
10Frank PowellSon15Collier’s boy, Graig Colliery
11Henry BowenHead36Colliery blacksmith, Graig Colliery
11Martha BowenWife35Home duties
11Patrick O’BrienBoarder27Collier, Graig Colliery
12Daniel GriffithsHead70Retired collier
12Ruth GriffithsWife66Home duties
12Isaac GriffithsSon17Collier’s boy, Graig Colliery

Source A2: Teras y Graig in the 1939 Register (29 September 1939)

HouseNameRelationshipAgeOccupation, as written
1David EvansHead62Retired coal hewer
1Mary EvansWife60Unpaid domestic duties
2William JenkinsHead56Coal hewer, out of work
2Sarah JenkinsWife54Unpaid domestic duties
2Glyn JenkinsSon16Errand boy, grocer
3John MorganHead48Coal haulier
3Ann MorganWife46Unpaid domestic duties
3Emrys MorganSon17Collier’s boy
3Megan MorganDaughter15Shop assistant, draper
4House empty
5Evan ThomasHead63Incapacitated, former coal hewer
5Catherine ThomasWife62Unpaid domestic duties
5Dai ThomasSon38Coal hewer, out of work
6Thomas LewisHead51Colliery fireman
6Rachel LewisWife49Unpaid domestic duties
6Gareth LewisSon17Van boy, Co-operative stores
7Jane HughesHead76Unpaid domestic duties
7Arthur HughesSon43Railway porter
8Morgan DaviesHead46Coal hewer, out of work
8Hannah DaviesWife43Unpaid domestic duties
8Ken DaviesSon17Factory hand, Treforest Trading Estate
9Glyn WilliamsHead34Bus conductor
9Nancy WilliamsWife30Unpaid domestic duties
10George PowellHead60Colliery labourer, out of work
10Emily PowellWife58Unpaid domestic duties
10Frank PowellSon33Coal hewer
11House empty
12Isaac GriffithsHead35Coal hewer
12Beti GriffithsWife33Unpaid domestic duties

Source B: Capel Bethania members’ book, 1921 to 1939

When a chapel member moved away, the chapel wrote a letter of transfer to a chapel in their new home and noted it in the members’ book. The historian copied every entry for people from Teras y Graig.

Transfers out:

YearNameHouseTransferred to
1925Olwen Thomas5a Welsh chapel in London
1927Idris Price4Slough
1927Owen Rees (the son)9Toronto, Canada
1928Ellis Davies8Coventry
1930Mair Rees9a Welsh chapel in London
1931Ivor Price4Oxford
1932Tom Evans1Slough
1933Gwen Harris (born Gwen Evans)1Dagenham
1934Richard, Margaret and Lily Price4Slough
1935Blodwen Lewis6a Welsh chapel in London
1936Owen and Elinor Rees9Cardiff
1937Henry and Martha Bowen11Coventry

Burials: Elizabeth Morris (house 2), 1926. Daniel Griffiths (house 12), 1929. Robert Hughes (house 7), 1931. Ruth Griffiths (house 12), 1936.

Patrick O’Brien (house 11) was a Catholic and never a member of Capel Bethania, so the book says nothing about him.

Source C: the bigger picture (real census figures)

Place191119211931
Population of Wales2,420,9212,656,4742,593,332
Population of the Rhondda Urban District152,781162,729see note

Note: historians estimate that about 50,000 people left the Rhondda between 1924 and 1939, many of them for new factory jobs in towns such as Slough, Oxford, Coventry and Dagenham. The Treforest Trading Estate near Pontypridd was built in the late 1930s under the Special Areas scheme to bring light industry to South Wales.