Brynmawr furniture

Talybont cupboard-chest and Ynysddu armchair by the Brynmawr Furniture Company.

The 'Brynmawr Experiment' was an attempt by the Quakers to relieve the mass unemployment in the town of Brynmawr, south Wales in the early 1920s. They set up a small furniture-making enterprise that led to a major chapter in the social and artistic history of Wales.

The venture started in 1929, employing twelve local untrained men and later took on boys trained straight from school. Support came mainly from other successful Quaker companies - the first order was for 400 chairs for a Quaker school in York. Each chair cost £1 each (equivalent to £41 or $71 today). New equipment and machinery was bought with the profits

Paul Matt

Advertising poster for the Brynmawr Furniture Company.

The success of Brynmawr furniture was mainly due to the designer, Paul Matt. He had served his apprenticeship under his father, a skilled designer and cabinet-maker in London.

Paul Matt designed furniture that was simple to construct, taking into consideration that the workers were initially all unskilled. The main timber used was imported oak, finished with a coat of clear wax which gave the furniture an overall simple and minimal appearance, in line with the Quaker philosophy.

Glossy catalogues and promotional leaflets emphasised the high quality and design of the products whilst providing sustainable employment for the local community. These ideals appealed to the middle and professional classes of the 1930s and the company made the furniture affordable to such professions.

'Welsh' furniture

David Morgan's department store opened in Cardiff in 1879. The store provided important support for the Brynmawr Furniture Company between 1932 and 1940.

Brynmawr furniture was available in large department stores such as Browns of Chester and Lewis's of Birmingham and Manchester. In 1938 the company had a permanent showroom in London's fashionable Cavendish Square.

Although successful in England, the company was also keen to promote Brynmawr furniture in Wales. David Morgan Limited, a well-known Cardiff department store provided exhibition space free of charge for the products and exhibitions were held at the National Eisteddfods.

The furniture was marketed as 'Welsh' and branded using Welsh place-names such as the Cwmbran chest, Llanelli table and the Cwm-du chair. This ensured a loyal following within Welsh professional and academic circles throughout the 1930s.

The advent of War

The Cardiff National Eisteddfod Chair, 1938 from the Bryn-mawr Settlement Factory.

In 1936 Arthur Reynolds took over as designer from Paul Matt. Although production remained relatively unaffected, sales gradually declined in the late 1930s as the war approached. The advent of war also made it difficult to import materials therefore the Brynmawr Furniture Co. sadly had no other choice than to cease trading in 1940.

Background Reading

'Crafts and the Quakers' by Gwen Lloyd Davies. In Planet, vol. 51, p108-111 (July 1985).

'Utopian designer: Paul Matt and the Brynmawr Experiment', by Roger Smith. In Furniture History vol. 23, p88-94 (1987).

Lindsay Shen, 'Philanthropic Furniture: Gregynog Hall, Powys' by Lindsay Shen. In Furniture History vol. 31, p217-235 (1995).

Bertie Stephens

Bertie Stephens, Carmarthenshire ballad singer (1900-1978)

Wandering singers, or balladeers were once an important source of storytelling and entertainment in Wales before the rise of the music hall and cinema.

'Y Baledwr Pen Ffair
'Rwy'n cofio ers dyddiau am hen gymeriadau
Yn canu baledi mewn marchnad a ffair,
Hwy ganent mor ddoniol, mewn gair mor gartrefol,
Nes twyllo o'r bobl eu harian a'u haur...'
Dafydd Jones ('Isfoel'), 1881-1968

'The Balladeer at the Fair
Oh, how I recall the old balladeers
Singing their stories with sadness or mirth,
From market to fair, they'd go a tramping,
Taking your money for all they were worth...'

The 19th century marked the golden age of ballad singers in Wales, when songs were composed and performed in fairs, markets and taverns. Of the several hundred archive recordings relating to folk song held at the National History Museum; St Fagans, many references are made by interviewees to these nomadic balladeers.

Bertie Stephens was one such interviewee. Born in Abergorlech, Carmarthenshire in 1900, he was influenced by the balladeers from an early age. In total he recorded an astonishing 80 or so songs for the Museum. With his amazing memory he often remembered in detail where and by who the particular songs were sung, most being performed at the local fairs he visited as a boy.

Stories told through song

Designed to entertain, ballads were sung in plain, uncomplicated language, and usually covered a specific occasion or experience. Daily newspapers were not yet generally available, and many of the older generation at the turn of the 20th century were illiterate, and dependent on balladeers for the latest news. The lyrics were, therefore, paramount, for each composition was primarily a story narrated through song.

Bertie Stephens began visiting fairs at five or six years old, and most of the songs he heard were sung by tramps, who often used their hats to collect money from spectators. Their ballads created such an impression on the youngster that he memorised them instantly.

Hen Feible Annwyl Mam

Bertie Stephens vividly recalled his childhood songs when interviewed by the Museum. Religious pieces were his favourites: he considered them more substantial than comic ditties. Songs like Beibl Mam (Mother's Bible) could take hold of a performer, and he stressed how placing one's whole personality into a piece was essential.

Another Bible-linked song, Hen Feibl Mawr y Teulu, (The Great Old Family Bible) he heard during a trip to Mumbles, from a shabbily dressed man with a collecting cap, carrying a Bible under his arm. Coming from a religious family, Bertie Stephens felt saddened that the singer used the Bible to raise money for beer.

Balladeers often had dubious reputations, and the police were known to arrest scruffily attired, drunken tramps, for disturbing the peace. Bertie Stephens told how his family gave food and shelter one evening to two of these tramps, who in return taught him C'ân yr Asyn (Song of the Donkey). Bertie's father soon discovered that they had stolen some of his newly shorn wool.

His son's rendition to the police of C'ân yr Asyn enabled them to catch the villains near Carmarthen, on account of their singing the same ballad in that area.

New forms of entertainment

With the rise of industry and the creation of cinemas and music halls, wandering balladeers gradually lost their appeal. By the early 20th century they had virtually disappeared.

Fortunately, as these old customs disappeared, there began an interest in collecting melodies and related information. The Welsh Folk Song Society was formed in 1908. There is no doubting the value of ballads as important social comments and our knowledge of these historical customs is due to individuals like Bertie Stephens.

Background Reading

Ballads in Wales / Baledi yng Nghymru by Mary-Ann Constantine. Published by FLS Books (1999).

I Fyd y Faled by Dafydd Owen. Published by Gwasg Gee, (1986).

Walter Cleall, winner of the Albert Medal. Image copyright Kenneth Williams.

The Albert Medal (front view)

The Royal Hotel, Cardiff (photographed 2003).

In 1919 Walter Cleall won the Albert Medal for gallantry in saving the life of Winnie Jones from a fire at the Royal Hotel, Cardiff.

On the afternoon of 11 August 1919, an off-duty chambermaid named Winnie Jones found herself trapped in her 6th floor room at the Royal Hotel, Cardiff, by a severe fire. The Fire Brigade's ladders could not reach her. A crowd had gathered and two men - Tom Hill and Walter Cleall - ran into the hotel to try to rescue her.

Somehow, Cleall reached the 6th Floor, but to get to the girl he had to smash a window and make his way round a narrow parapet, at places with a drop of nearly 30m (100 feet) to Wood Street, below. He then carried her back by the same route. As they left her room, the roof collapsed. Both the girl and her rescuer were later taken unconscious to hospital.

The whole event was witnessed by a London barrister, who happened to be in Cardiff that day. He promptly wrote to the Home Secretary (another barrister) and within two days of the event the Home Office was investigating whether to reward Cleall's bravery. The following March, Cleall was invested by the King with the Albert Medal, then Britain's senior civil gallantry award.

The Albert Medal was first awarded in 1866 for gallantry in saving life at sea. In 1877, it was extended to cover incidents on land, following the dramatic rescue of five miners who had been trapped underground for nine days at the Tynewydd Colliery in the Rhondda Valley. It rapidly became known as the 'Civilian Victoria Cross'. The creation of the George Cross in 1940 made the Albert Medal redundant, except as an occasional posthumous award, and in 1971 it was revoked. Its living holders were invited to exchange it for the George Cross. Walter Cleall was one of five who chose to donate their original award to the National Museum of Wales.

Background Reading

For Those in Peril, by Edward Besly. Published by the National Museums & Galleries of Wales (2004).