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Amgueddfa Cymru – Museum Wales
Framed photograph of Charles Beynham, Albert Medal winner, Tynewydd inundation, 1877, wearing medal. In wooden frame.
He was the last surviving recipient of the Albert Medallists from Tynewydd Colliery. The colliery was flooded with water from the disused Cymmer Old Colliery initially trapping nine miners and killing five others. The Tynewydd rescue was one of the iconic incidents in the history of the Welsh coal industry.
Between the 16 and 20 April 1877, Baynham was one of a team of eleven colliers engaged in cutting the barrier of coal separating them from the final five trapped men. For this he was awarded the Albert Medal by Queen Victoria. The present whereabouts of his Albert Medal is unknown to the family.
Charles Beynham was born in Cirencester, Gloucestershire, the son of Edward and Mary Baynham, and grew up in Ross on Wye, Herefordshire, before moving to the Rhondda as a young man. Charles had eight children, four boys and four girls. His grandson was boxer William Jonathan Alsop (‘Jonty’) of Pentre, who became Welsh Bantomweight champion in 1921. His boxing career ended when he was badly injured in a roof fall underground.
