World War II  

On 3rd September 1939, the United Kingdom declared war on Nazi Germany following the German invasion of Poland on 1st September.  The war would subsequently cost Wales around 15,000 lives.

There was a feeling of  inevitability after the announcement, there were no wild scenes of patriotism as there had been in 1914 and  streets virtually empty as the  deadline of 11.00am approached.

The Second World War changed Welsh society, bringing employment and improved incomes.  Many war industries were established in Wales and troops, workers, civilians, government departments and evacuees totaling as many as 200,000 were moved to Wales between 1939 and 1941.

Food shortages led to enhanced prices for food and farmers enjoyed unprecedented prosperity.  Coal was central to the war effort, as after the loss of French and Belgian coalfields, Welsh coal became very important.  Initially, 25,000 Welsh workers left mining for the armed forces and other jobs between 1938 and 1941, which led to a serious labour shortage.  To combat the problem, the government exempted coal miners from military service. The labour shortage also led to the introduction of the 'Bevin Boys' in 1943 - named after Ernest Bevin, the Minister of Labour and National serservice.  One  in  ten eighteen-year-olds were  draughted into mines  rather than the forces.

Wales was believed to be too far to the west to be subject to German air raids, however the docks and industrial works of Cardiff and Swansea made them obvious targets. Over the course of the war 33,000 houses were damaged and over 500 demolished in Cardiff, with 355 civilians killed.  In Swansea, which suffered the most intense attack in Wales, a raid that lasted three nights in February 1941 and destroyed half the town's centre, 11,084 houses were damaged and 282 demolished, with 227 people killed.

Even rural communities were bombed.  Caernarfonshire, which was near the flightpath of bombers targeting Liverpool, suffered five deaths in bombing raids during the war and 27 people were killed as a result of a raid on Cwmparc in the Rhondda.

Charles II's aborted escape through Wales after The Battle of Worcester. 

The Battle of Worcester took place on 3 September 1651.  It was the final battle of the English Civil War, where the Parliament defeated the Royalist forces of King Charles II.  The King was attempting to regain the throne that had been lost when his father Charles I was executed.

The following six weeks was one of the most astonishing episodes in British history, as Charles desperately tried to avoid capture and reach safety in France.  It became  known as the Royal Miracle because he narrowly escaped discovery and capture so many times.

Once Charles realised that all was lost, legend has it that he fled as out the back door of his lodgings as the enemy entered at the front and escaped out of the last unguarded city gate.  When the King arrived at Whiteladies, some 50 miles from the battlefield, his hair was cut, his face and arms stained and he was dressed in the coarse clothes of a woodman.  With the road to London blocked by Commonwealth troops and the route to Scotland choked with the remnants of his fleeing Royalist Army, Charles made the decision to head for Wales and the port of Swansea, where there were known royalist sympathisers.  Travelling at night, the King found all the bridges and ferries across the River Severn heavily guarded and so decided that escape through Wales was impossible.

The King continued to evade capture, even by hiding in an oak tree, just as Paliamentary troops were searching the woods nearby and over the next six weeks, he made his way to Shoreham near Brighton, riding with a woman, and disguised as a servant.   It was an improbable venture, as he was a noticeable man at six feet two, but he rode right under the noses of Cromwell’s soldiers time after time, without being recognized.  He was sheltered and helped by dozens of people – mostly simple country folk and minor gentry, who despite the reward of £1000 offered for his capture, put their lives in jeopardy to help him.  He sailed for France on October 15, not to return until  The Restoration of The Monarchy in 1660.  After his return to the throne, he told the story frequently for the rest of his life, and it is said that the hardships he endured gave him an understanding of the common people such as no other king had had.    

 
Born on this day 1974 in Llwynypia, near Tonypandy

Robert Page - former Wales soccer international, who gained 41 caps  in a ten-year international career.   In an eighteen-year career in the Premier League and the Football League, he made 475 league appearances for six different clubs. He both captained a team and scored a goal in all top four divisions of English football.  

The last hanging at Cardiff jail occured on 3rd September 1952.  Mahmood Hussein Mattan's case was the first to be referred to the Court of Appeal, who found the judgement to be "demonstrably flawed" and his family were awarded £725,000 compensation, which was the first award to a family for a person wrongfully hanged.

Mahmood Hussein Mattan was a Somali merchant seaman who was convicted of the murder of Lily Volpert  in the Docklands of Cardiff, mainly on the evidence of a single prosecution witness.  In 1996 the family were given permission to have Mattan's body exhumed and moved from a felon's grave at the prison to be buried in consecrated ground in a Cardiff cemetery and his conviction was quashed in 1998.  

Born on this day 1879 in Llanmaes, near Cardiff 

Illtyd Buller Pole-Evans -  The man who is credited as saving the South African citrus fruit industry

After graduating from Cambridge in 1905, where he studied mycology and plant pathology. Pole Evans moved to Pretoria, South Africa, where he was appointed as mycologist and plant pathologist, in the newly-established Transvaal Department of Agriculture.  His dedication to botany in South Africa, set a high standard for a whole generation of South African botanists.

 Among his many achievements were; 

*  In 1916 an outbreak of citrus canker threatened to bring down the citrus industry in the Transvaal. Pole-Evans introduced a program that eradicated all the infected orchards and is credited with saving the industry.

*  He was world renowned expert on the Aloes, the most widely known species of which is Aloe vera.

*  He travelled widely throughout Africa and his "The Plant Geography of South Africa" was the standard reference work of the time.  He was also instrumental in the publication in 1920 of the magazine the "Flowering Plants of South Africa".

*  One of his longstanding interests was pasture grasses and he was instrumental in collecting and introducing many of these to South Africa.  

  Welsh International rugby players killed in action during World Wars One and Two.

Horace Wyndham Thomas  was a Welsh international rugby union fly-half who played club rugby for Swansea.  He reached the rank of  Second Lietenant within the Rifle Brigade and was killed in battle at Guillemont on 3rd September 1916.

Thomas was one of thirteen Welsh internationals to die in conflict during World War I and three in World War II;

World War I;

W.P. (Billy) GEEN - 2nd lt, 9th Battalion, King's Royal Rifle Corps. Killed in action at Ypres 31/7/15. AGED 24. Oxford Univ/Newport - 3 caps 1912-13.

Brinley R LEWIS - Major in Royal Field Artillery. Killed in action at Ypres 2/4/17. AGED 26. Swansea/Cambridge Univ - 2 caps 1912-13.

L.A.(Lou) PHILLIPS - Sgt in Public Schools Battl'n of Royal Fusiliers. Killed in action at Cambrai 4/3/16. AGED 38. Newport - 4 caps 1900-01.

C.M.(Charlie) PRITCHARD - Capt in 12th Batl'n South Wales Borderers. Wounded in Battle of Somme and died at no 1 Casualty Clearing Station, France 14/8/16. AGED 33. Newport - 14 caps - 1904-10.

Charles G TAYLOR - Engineer/captain of 1st Battle Cruiser Squadron. Killed on board HMS Tiger at the Battle of the Dogger Bank 24/1/15. AGED 51. Ruabon - 9 caps 1884-87.

E.J.(Dick) THOMAS - CSM in 16th Batl'n of 38th Welsh Division of Welch Rgt. Killed in action in attack at Mametz Wood in Battle of the Somme. AGED 32. Mountain Ash - 4 caps 1906-09.

Horace W THOMAS - Temp 2nd lt in 11 Batl'n of the Rifle Brigade. Killed in action at Guillemont, France during the Battle of the Somme 3/9/16.  AGED 26. Swansea - 2 caps 1912-13.

Phil D WALLER - 2nd lt in South African Heavy Artillery (71st Siege Battery). Killed in action at Arras 14/12/17. AGED 28. Newport - 6 caps 1908-10.

David WATTS - Corporal in 7th Batl'n King's Shropshire Light Infantry. Killed in action at Ancre Valley, France during the Battle of the Somme 14/7/16. AGED 30. Maesteg - 4 caps 1914.

David WESTACOTT - Private in 16th platoon D company of the Gloucestershire Rgt. Killed in action in France 28/8/17.  AGED 35. Cardiff - 1 cap 1906.

Johnnie L WILLIAMS - Captain in Welch Rgt. Killed in action at 5th Casualty Clearing Station at Mametz Wood during Battle of the Somme 12/7/16. AGED 34. Cardiff - 17 caps 1906-11.

Richard D.G.WILLIAMS - Lt-Col in 12th Batl'n of the Royal Fusiliers. Killed in action at Loos, France 27/9/15. AGED 59. Newport - 1 cap 1881.

World War II;

Cecil R DAVIES - Royal Air Force. Killed in action 25/12/41. Bedford/RAF - 1 cap 1934.

John R EVANS - Lt in 3rd Batl'n of the Parachute Rgt. Killed in action in North Africa 8/3/43. AGED 31. Newport - 1 cap 1934 (as captain).

Maurice J.L.TURNBULL - Major in the 1st Batl'n Welsh Guards. Killed in action near Montchamp, Normandy 5/8/44. AGED 38. Cardiff - 2 caps 1933.  

Born on this day 1974 in Llwynypia, near Tonypandy

Robert Page - former Wales soccer international, who gained 41 caps.  He also made 475 Football League appearances, captaining a team and scoring a goal in all top four divisions of English football.