Collections & Research

Cyn i ni ddechrau o ddifri ar y bennod nesaf ym mhrosiect @DyddiadurKate (oes, mae dilyniant!), yn y blog hwn mi fyddai’n ffarwelio â dyddiadur 1915 drwy gyflwyno stori Tomi’r Hendre.

Mae enw Tomi’r Hendre yn gyfarwydd iawn i’r rhai ohonoch sydd wedi dilyn @DyddiadurKate o’r cychwyn cyntaf. Ynghyd â’i chwaer Win, roedd Tomi yn ymwelydd cyson â Ty Hen – cartref Kate a’i rhieni – drwy gydol 1915. Fe’u magwyd yng Nghwm Main, ble roedd eu rhieni – John ac Ann Jones – yn rhedeg Siop yr Hendre. Mae llyfrau cyfrifon a thalebau’r busnes bellach yng nghasgliad yr Amgueddfa, ac os gofiwch chi, mewn blog blaenorol, fe fues i’n trafod ymgyrch John Jones i gael blwch post cyfleus i drigolion yr ardal.

Ond i droi nôl at Tomi’r mab, yn 1915 roedd yn fyfyriwr yn y Coleg Normal ym Mangor, ac eisoes wedi hyfforddi fel athro. Yn Rhagfyr y flwyddyn honno – tri mis cyn ei benblwydd yn 21 – ymunodd â’r fyddin. Nid oes cofnod o hyn yn nyddiadur Kate Rowlands.

Erbyn Ionawr 1916, roedd Tomi wedi ei leoli gydag 21ain Bataliwn y Ffiwsilwyr Brenhinol Cymreig yng ngwersyll hyfforddi Parc Cinmel. Wrth chwilota drwy archifau Siop yr Hendre, fe ddes i ar draws cerdyn post a anfonodd Tomi at ei rieni yn ystod y cyfnod hwn.

Derbyniais y parcel ond oherwyd[d] prysurdeb yr wyf wedi bod yn anabl i atteb [sic] o’r blaen. Yr wyf wedi symud i Hut 30 fel y gwelwch ac wedi cael fy ngwneyd [sic] yn ben arno ac felly yr wyf yn hollol gartrefol. Yr wyf yn hynod o hapus a digon o fwyd ac mewn iechyd rhagorol ac yn mynd yn dew ac yn gryf. Nid wyf yn med[d]wl y byd[d] yn rhaid imi byth fynd i’r front gan y byd[d]wn yn cael ein gwneyd [sic] yn officers… Gyrwch fy nghyllell boced a fy spectol mor fuan ag a alloch.

Er nad oedd yn rhagweld cyfnod yn y ffosydd, ym Mehefin 1916 roedd Tomi ar ei ffordd i Ffrainc. Llai na mis yn ddiweddarach, ar 20 Gorffennaf, fe’i hanafwyd yn ddifrifol yn ei frest ym mrwydr Coedwig Delville. Cludwyd Tomi i ysbyty yn Boulogne, ac yna i Ysbyty Ryfel Leith, ger Caeredin. Mae’r adroddiadau gan feddygon Leith yn anodd iawn i’w darllen. Dyma grynodeb o’i gyflwr pan gyrhaeddodd yr ysbyty ar 31 Gorffennaf.

Admitted from No 18. Gen. Hospt. Boulogne. There is a small wound size of 5/ on right side about the level of the 8^th rib. Dulness all over this side absolute at base, breath sounds faint over upper lobes. Pat. states that he spat blood but only very little at first. X-ray shows piece of metal at level of 8^th rib.

Bu farw Tomi’r Hendre o’i anafiadau ar 27 Awst 1916.

I hereby certify that No. 29606 Pte Thomas Jones… who died to-day of Empyeme and septicaemia… stated to me that he was wounded inaction [sic] at Delville Wood on July 20^th 1916. There was a wound in right side of the chest, haemothorax and X. Ray showed a piece of metal in chest. Patient was operated upon and portion of rib resected to allow of free drainage on the 13^th, but septic condition was very bad. L. Stewart Sandman M.D.

Mae’n dorcalonnus meddwl am fawredd y golled i’w deulu a’i gymdogion yng Nghwm Main. Cynhaliwyd ei angladd yng Nghefnddwysarn ar 31 Awst, ac mae’n debyg fod tad Kate yn un o’r rhai fu’n talu teyrnged iddo mewn seiat gyda’r hwyr. Cyhoeddwyd adroddiad manwl, di-flewyn-ar-dafod, am yr angladd yn Y Cymro (Lerpwl a’r Wyddgrug).

Angladd Tom yr Hendre yw y condemiad mwyaf ynddo’i hun fu ar y rhyfel yng Nghefnddwysarn… Y mae ei ysbryd caredig yng nghartref Caredigrwydd ei hun. Nid oes yno orfodaeth, nid oes yno glwyfo, nid oes yno ladd a llofruddio, nid oes yno neb yn cael ei gablu a’i regi gan ei salach. Yno y mae cydwybod yn rhydd, yno ni chlwyfir cariad mam, yno rhoddir ei le i gariad tad, yno ni chwelir cartrefi, ac yno ni thorrir calonnau.

Fel y byddai’n gwneud i goffau Hedd Wyn maes o law, cyfansoddodd R. Williams Parry – cyn ysgolfeistr y Sarnau –  englynion er cof amdano.

Ger ei fron yr afon rêd – dan siarad

Yn siriol wrth fyned;

Ni wrendy ddim, ddim a ddwed

Dan y clai nid yw'n clywed.

Ond pridd Cefnddwysarn arno – a daenwyd

Yn dyner iawn drosto;

A daw'r adar i droedio

Oddeutu'i fedd ato fo.

This month the museum purchased four handbills for the Isle of Man Steam Packet Company. They date from the 1960s and 1970s. This company is still going and is the oldest continuously operating passenger shipping company in the world. It was founded in 1830 and is celebrating its 185^th anniversary this year. Three are illustrated here.

The next three images are from a book of cartoons published by the Western Mail and Evening Express. The cartoons by J.M. Staniforth tell the story of the strike of 1898 and are “a Pictorial History of the longest and most disastrous dispute which ever afflicted the extensive coalfield of South Wales and Monmouthshire”. Joseph Morewood Staniforth was born in Gloucester in 1863. His family moved to Cardiff in 1870, and he started working for the Western Mail aged 15. His first cartoons were published by the Western Mail in 1889 and he went on to produce cartoons covering political and social unrest in Wales up until the First World War.

Amgueddfa Cymru holds a large and comprehensive collection of Welsh share certificates. This month we added one further share certificate to the collections. This was for Nobel Industries Ltd. This company, which operated from 1920 to 1926, owned two important explosives works in Wales. The Glynneath Gunpowder Works in the Vale of Neath (now open to the public by the Brecon Beacons National Park), and Pembrey Explosives Works, Carmarthenshire (also open to the public as a local authority owned country park). This certificate is unused and dates from the 1920s.

Finally this month we acquired three photographs showing the hot dip galvanizing of finished steel pressings at Cwmfelin works, Swansea in the early 1960s. The two images here show the galvanising of buckets and rubbish bins.

Mark Etheridge
Curator: Industry & Transport
Follow us on Twitter - @IndustryACNMW

Following on from Sioned’s blog about our work with Mat Fraser in 2014 and the anonymous ‘invalid chair’ she found in the collection, in this blog I’ll be discussing another object which featured in Mat’s performance – an 18^th century woollen suit from the Llantrisant area.  

Unlike most of the disability-related collections in the Museum, the suit in question comes with a personal story and a file bulging with snippets from local history books. Worn by Hopkin Hopkins – better known as ‘Hopcyn Bach’ [Little Hopcyn] – the frock coat and matching breeches are among the oldest items of clothing in the collection. They were acquired by the Museum in 1920, before it was common practice for curators to document their reasons for accepting artefacts into the collection.

Hopkin Hopkins (1737 - 54) was born with a growth restricting condition. His physical appearance became a source of income for his family. It may seem repugnant to us today, but at the age of 14 he was taken to London by his parents and shown publically for money. Billed as “the wonderful and surprising Little Welchman”, his perceived ‘freakishness’ was a source of entertainment in polite society. In 1751, Hopkin was presented to the Royal Family who gave him a gold watch, an annual pension and ten guineas for each appearance he made at Court.

In the same year, he was also ‘on display’ in Bristol. This vivid account of the visit is taken from a letter sent by John Browning in September 1751:

I am just returned from Bristol where I have seen an extraordinary young man, whose case is very surprising; he is shewn publicly for money, and therefore I send you the printed bill, which is given about to bring company… I went myself to view and examine this extraordinary, and surprising but melancholy subject; a lad entering the 15^th year of his age, whose stature is no more than 2 feet and 7 inches, and weight 13 pound, labouring under all the miserable and calamities of old age, being weak and emaciated, his eyes dim, his hearing very bad, his countenance fallen, his voice very low and hollow; his head hanging down before, so that his chin touches his breast, consequently his shoulders are raised and his back rounded not unlike a hump-back, he is weak that he cannot stand without support. [Letter from John Browning to Henry Baker, 12 September 1751. Quoted in Sem Phillips, The History of the Borough of Llantrisant, 1866.]

How did Hopkin feel about being an object of curiosity? We simply don’t know. Although we have numerous descriptions of his body, his voice is missing from the narrative.     

Wel dyna ni, dim ond cwpl o ddyddiau sy’n weddill nes bod @DyddiadurKate 1915 yn dirwyn i ben. Ceir ei chofnod olaf ar y 15^fed o Ragfyr, ac mae’n rhaid i mi gyfaddef, â hithau ‘di bod mor selog yn ysgrifennu, ro’n i’n siomedig nad oedd hi wedi rhoi pen ar bapur dros gyfnod y Nadolig. Ro’n i wedi edrych ymlaen cael darllen am baratoadau’r Nadolig a’r Flwyddyn Newydd, ac wedi bod yn dyfalu p’un â’i gŵydd yntau asen o gig eidion fyddai’r wledd? Pwy fyddai’n galw heibio? A fyddai’r teulu’n mynychu gwasanaeth y Plygain? A fyddent yn addurno Tŷ Hen? Ac a fyddai Kate yn “gwneud cyfleth” neu’n “mynd i noson gyflaith”? Yn anffodus, nid oedd i fod, ond rhaid diolch iddi am y gwledd a roddodd i ni dros y flwyddyn.

Cyd-ddigwyddiad llwyr oedd i mi dderbyn copi mis Hydref 2015, o bapur bro Bala a’r cylch, Pethe Penllyn ac ynddo erthygl, ‘Noson Gyfleth Coed y Bedo, Cefnddwysarn’. Roedd cyfeiriad ynddo at deulu Yr Hendre, sef cartref genedigol mam Kate, yn ymuno yn yr hwyl. Felly, dyma fanteisio ar y cyfle i sôn am arfer hwn, oedd yn draddodiadol mewn rhannau o ogledd Cymru dros gyfnod y Nadolig a'r Flwyddyn Newydd. Byddai teuluoedd yr ardal yn cymryd eu tro i gynnal nosweithiau o’r fath, gan wahodd eu ffrindiau i'w cartrefi fin nos. Wedi gwledda, byddai pawb yn mwynhau rhyw fath o ‘noson lawen’, cyfle i sgwrsio, chwarae gemau, adrodd straeon, canu a thynnu coes, ond canolbwynt y noson fyddai tynnu cyflaith.

Dyma rysáit o’r Archif yn Sain Ffagan a gasglwyd o ardal Pennant, Trefaldwyn:

3 phwys o siwgr llwyd, meddal

½ pwys o fenyn hallt (wedi’i feddalu)

sudd 1 lemwn

¼ peint o ddŵr berw (neu ragor os bydd y siwgr o ansawdd sych)

• Tywallt y siwgr a’r dŵr i’r sosban. Toddi’r siwgr yn araf uwchben tân gloyw, a’i droi'n gyson â llwy bren nes iddo doddi'n llwyr (gall gymryd ryw ugain munud).
• Tynnu’r sosban oddi ar y tân, ychwanegu’r sudd lemwn a'r ‘menyn, a'u cymysgu'n drwyadl.
• Berwi'r cymysgedd yn weddol gyflym am ryw chwarter awr heb ei droi o gwbl.
• I brofi os yw’n barod - gollwng llond llwy de o'r cymysgedd i gwpaned o ddŵr oer. Os bydd yn caledu ar unwaith, mae’n barod.

Dyma gychwyn yr hwyl! Rhaid oedd tywallt y cyflaith ar lechen, carreg fawr neu garreg yr aelwyd oer wedi'i hiro â ‘menyn – dwi’n gwybod o brofiad pa mor danbaid boeth yw’r gymysgedd. Byddai pawb yn iro'i dwylo ag ymenyn (er mwyn arbed llosgi eu dwylo ac i ychwanegu at y blas a’r ansawdd) ac yn cymryd darn o'r cyflaith i'w dynnu tra byddai'n gynnes. 'Roedd hon yn grefft arbennig a’r gamp oedd tynnu'r cyflaith nes ei fod yn raff melyngoch. Byddai'r dibrofiad yn edmygu camp a medrusrwydd y profiadol, tra bo methiant ac aflwyddiant y dibrofiad yn destun hwyl i bawb. Gwyddom pa mor gymdeithasol oedd cymuned @DyddiadurKate, ac mae’n hawdd ei dychmygu’n rhan o’r hwyl a’r sbri!

Diolch i bawb sydd wedi dilyn y dyddiadur yn ystod 2015. Cofiwch ddilyn hynt a helynt Kate o’r 1^af o Ionawr 2016 ymlaen, wrth i ni agor cyfrif newydd i drydar cynnwys dyddiadur arall o’i heiddo, a roddwyd ganddi i Archif Sain Ffagan ym 1970. Dyddiadur 1946 yw hwn, gyda Kate bellach yn briod, yn fam ganol oed, sy’n cofnodi ei bywyd ar ddiwedd yr Ail Ryfel Byd.

Nadolig Llawen a Blwyddyn Newydd Dda i chi gyd, ac os ydych am roi cynnig ar wneud cyflaith – cofiwch beidio llosgi eich dwylo!

What do our museum scientists do out ‘in the field’? One of our museum scientists, Ray Tangney, has just returned from the Falkland Islands. See what he got up to.

"There are 3 of us, myself, Matt von Konrat from the Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago, USA, and Juan Larrain from the Universidad Catolica de Guayaquil, Santiago, Chile; and we were in the Falklands as part of a Darwin Initiative funded project, recording and conserving the lower plants. This means we were searching for plants such as mosses and liverworts (small, low growing plants that do not produce flowers).

We spent most of the time in ‘Camp’ (the name for the hinterland beyond the capital, Stanley), visiting locations in a 4 wheel drive on East and West Falkland, and on Pebble Island to the north. We estimate we found 14 plants that had never been found growing on the Falkland Islands before; 8 mosses and 6 liverworts.

I gave a talk about the project to the Falklands Conservation AGM. We also ran a school activity session at Fox Bay School. The children collected and created their own herbarium specimens, making them accessible for scientists in the future. They looked at mosses under a microscope and observed details they would never usually have been able to see in the wild. Image 1 shows the children being asked by Juan whether the plant is a moss or a liverwort! It’s a silver coloured moss we also have in Wales called, rather unsurprisingly, Silver-moss (scientific name, Bryum argenteum). In January, the Lower Plants Project Officer, Dafydd Crabtree, ran a similar activity session about lichens with the children. Have a look at some more photos from the Falklands Conservation Facebook page here.

We found a number of new records of mosses for the Islands during this trip. Image 2 shows a misty Mount Donald on West Falkland at about 600 metres above sea level. The moss Bucklandiella pachydictyon growing on rocks here was a brand new record for the Falklands. It wasn’t all sunshine. The next day on Mount Adam we had rain, sleet, hail and snow, along with strong winds!

A characteristic feature of the Falklands are sea inlets. Streams that feed into these inlets are an important habitat for mosses and liverworts. One moss (Blindia torrentium) that only grows in the Falklands is commonly found on rocks in these streams.

Tiny plants such as mosses are such a big feature of the Falkland Isles landscape. School activity sessions, as well as talks, are crucial to increase local knowledge of, and interest in, the unique natural environment of these fragile, beautiful islands in the Southern Hemisphere."