On 3rd October 1283: Dafydd ap Gruffydd, the brother of Llywelyn ap Gruffydd, become the first prominent person in recorded history to be hanged, drawn and quartered.  He was also the first person known to have been tried and executed for high treason against the King.

Dafydd was dragged through Shrewsbury, attached to a horse's tail then hanged alive, revived, then disembowelled and his entrails burned before him for "his sacrilege in committing his crimes in the week of Christ's passion", and then his body cut into four quarters "for plotting the king's death".

Pictured is the cross on Pride Hill, Shrewsbury, which  replaced the earlier High Cross that was the site for proclamations and significant executions. A notice nearby states that David III, Prince of Wales was hanged, drawn, beheaded and quartered near here in 1283 for high treason.

Events leading up to the execution of Dafydd ap Gruffydd;

1238  Dafydd was born to Gruffydd ap Llywelyn and his wife, Senena, and thus a grandson of Llywelyn Fawr.

1241  Dafydd is recorded as having been handed over as a hostage, as part of an agreement with Henry III of England. 

1255  Dafydd joined in a challenge to Llywelyn at the Battle of Bryn Derwin.  Llywelyn was victorious and imprisoned Dafydd but released him and restored him to favour the following year.

1263  Dafydd  joined King Henry against Llywelyn 

1267  At the Treaty of Montgomery,  Llywelyn was  recognised as Prince of Wales by King Henry and Dafydd was again restored to Llywelyn's favour

1272  Henry III died and was relaced on the throne by his son Edward I

1274  Dafydd was involved in an unsuccessful assassination attempt on Llywelyn and forced to flee to England where he was maintained by king Edward I  and assisted in further raids on Llywelyn's lands,

1276  Edward declared Llywelyn a rebel and gathered a massive army to march against him.

1277   Edward's forces had reached the heart of Gwynedd and confiscated the harvest in Anglesey, which forced Llywelyn to surrender.  This resulted in the Treaty of Aberconwy, which guaranteed peace in Gwynedd.  Dafydd and Llywelyn were also reconciled.

1282 (Easter)  Dafydd attacked Hawarden Castle, thereby starting the final conflict Edward I.

1282 (11th December)  Llywelyn was killed and Dafydd who had become Prince of Wales, was on the run. 

1283 (January)  Edward I  had the heartland of independent Wales ringed with a massive army. Dafydd was initially based at Dolwyddelan, but with limited resources this became indefensible and he moved to Castell y Bre.

1283 (April)  Castell y Bere was besieged by over 3,000 men, and the small Welsh garrison surrendered. Dafydd, however, managed to escape to Dolbadarn Castle. 

1283 (May)  Dafydd was forced to move  to the mountains above the Welsh royal home in Abergwyngregyn.

1283 (22nd June)  Dafydd was  captured near Bera Mountain to the south of Abergwyngregyn. Dafydd, who was seriously wounded, was taken to King Edward at Rhuddlan and then to Chester and finally to Shrewsbury.  Dafydd's wife Elizabeth and their seven daughters, as well as Llywelyn's daughter, Gwenllian were also taken prisoner.

1283 (28th June)  Edward summoned a parliament at Shrewsbury, to discuss Dafydd's punishment.

1283 (3rd October)  Dafydd was executed, with Edward ensuring that his death was slow and agonising.  

Born this day 1972 in Newport

Josie d'Arby - television presenter, actress, writer and director

d'Arby began a presenting career while studying at RADA. In the early 1990s, she presented on Children's BBC and had her own show 'Josie' on Channel 5. She has since presented a number of high profile programmes including the Bigger Breakfast, Top of the Pops, BBC Young Musician of the Year, BBC Cardiff Singer of the World and BBC Choir of the Year.   She and Cerys Mathews hosted the Children in Need section for Wales.  She has also worked in radio, as a co-presenter for BBC Radio 2 of The Steve Wright Show and has also presented a number of documentaries for BBC Radio 4.

d'Arby's first high-profile dramatic acting role was as series regular WPC Jodie Finn, in the BBC drama, Merseybeat and the Channel Four sketch series Spoons.  She is a celebrity ambassador for the British Red Cross.  Continuing her diverse career, Josie now works as a writer-director and her first play ' The Newport Monologues' about life in her hometown, opened to rave reviews from press and audience in September 2012.  

Born on this day 1804 in Sandy Hill, New York (of Welsh descent)

Townsend Harris, U.S. politician and diplomat, who was the first consul from the West, to reside in Japan and was subsequently instrumental in shaping Japanese–Western relations.

A minor Democratic politician, Harris became the president of the New York City Board of Education in 1846. He then left on a series of financially disastrous trading voyages, but in 1853, he managed to join a deputation to Japan to open trade with the West and using his political connections, managed to have himself appointed the first consul general to Japan in 1855. However when Harris arrived in Japan, he was not made welcome and the Japanese authorities simply ignored his presence, which forced him to establish his consulate in a Buddhist temple in the small town of Shimoda.

Eventually, his sincerity and perseverance were rewarded with several audiences with the Shogun, which culminated in Harris persuading the Japanese to sign a commercial treaty (Harris treaty) on July 29, 1858, with similar treaties soon signed between Japan and other Western countries. He resigned in 1861 and returned to New York, where he remained active in politics until his death in 1878.  

In October 1848, the building of the North Wales Hospital in Denbigh was completed.

The North Wales Hospital (locally known as Denbigh Mental or Denbigh Asylum) is a Grade II listed building and was built in response to the Lunacy Act 1845 as a hospital for housing 200 people with psychiatric illnesses.

The act was an important landmark in the treatment of the mentally ill and changed the status of the mentally ill to people who could be treated and cured, an attitude that had been highlighted by the mental disorder of ruling monarch George III.