Author: gbadmin

      Let’s pop over to the other side of Swansea this week, for a change, and think about what the local press called the ‘Blackpill Sensation’ in November 1907, which began when William Griffin was rushed to the Swansea Hospital after being poisoned.      He was a young married man of 22 who worked the…

The body was identified by William Richards. He confirmed that it was his mother in law, the wife of a labourer called William Webber. She might have been known to some as May Taylor but her name was Ruth Webber and she was 43 years old. She was living in a flat at 38 Trafalgar…

Soothing wrinkles from the brow of agony      The history of Wales has always been tied up with the sea. In the nineteenth century ships drifted in slowly from beyond the horizon bringing trade and ideas, changing lives. The sea was always the route to a new and exciting world, to places of unexpected adventure…

Life can change in an instant. Things can happen suddenly, which can never be undone. And death can be ready to embrace you. Consider Frederick Kent. Consider Thomas Allen. Or rather, consider whoever Thomas Allen may have been. It was 10 February 1889 and in spite of all the difficulties that were gathering around Thomas…

It takes a lot of understanding, this story, although I particularly like the bit about the mice…Notwithstanding unexpected rodent interest, there are three main characters in this peculiar tale. Jessie Hill – the victim – a market gardener who lived on Carmarthen Road in Swansea Rhys Davies – the accused. A haulier from Penfilia Street.…

The house in High Street stank of fish. That is what the reporters first noticed –salt fish mingling in a sickly way with smells from the dwelling itself and with those from the backyard where the animals were kept.  A fit place for an intensive investigation by the local board of health, is what they…

Martha Ann Nash was buried in December 1885, aged 6. You can search for as long as you like but you won’t find her grave.  Today Llangyfelach cemetery is tangled and overgrown. It is does not readily reveal its secrets. No one seems to know where she is now. Poor Martha. Abandoned in death, just…

It is every parent’s nightmare. Your child taken from you in the middle of the day in broad daylight. The next time you see them they are dead. This was the horror faced by the Macari family in the summer of 1941. To make matters worse, they knew who had done it. But they just…

It was July 1882 when The Polaria docked in Swansea. The ship had been launched on the Tyne by Mitchell and Co. in February that year for Carr Line of Hamburg. It had been specifically designed for the emigrant service operating between Hamburg and New York and could accommodate over 1000 passengers. Carr Line had…