Swansea Family History

  Following on from last month’s article about the 40 th  anniversary of the pound coin, this short article is about the history of the piggy bank. The term, “ Piggy Bank”  was first citied in the Oxford English Dictionary in 1913. Notably piggy banks are either made from porcelain or ceramics and one of the earliest ones  dates from around the 2 nd  century BC was found in the Greek city of Priene, which is shaped like a Greek temple with a slit in the pediment. The earliest example shaped like a pig was discovered on the island Indonesian island of Java and dates from about the 12 century. In the 15 th  century, people would use household equipment, such as plates and pots in order to store what little money they had.  These utensils were made from cheap clay, known as  pygg .  Words over time have changed and their pronunciation likewise,  pygg  changed to  pug , and then this would have changed to  pig . As the word ch...

  This month’s article looks outside of Swansea at a headstone and some interesting blue plaques situated in Llanelli and Pembrey. Our first stop is  St Illtyd’s Church  (top right) in Pembrey, a village situated between Burry Port and Kidwelly. The nave and chancel at  St Illtyds  date from the 13th century, with some additional building works being carried out during the 14 th  and 15 th  centuries. In 1856, the church was restored in the Tudor-Gothic style that we see today. The stained-glass window in the east wall which depicts  The Adoration of the Shepherds and the Magi , (right) is by Celtic Studios of Swansea. Celtic Studios was situated at 5 Prospect Place and was established during 1946 by  Howard Martin  and his cousin  Hubert Thomas . The two men had founded an earlier business located in Morriston during 1933. Most of their work was stained glass windows in churches around South Wales,  with some of their best wor...

  So, what’s the second connection to 21st April? Replica of the F.E.2b flown at the time by Allen It relates to the death of  Manfred von Richthofen , AKA the  Red Baron  in 1918 and has a Swansea connection. Today, 44 St. Helens Road is the premises of  Kevin Thomas Pharmacy , but over a hundred years ago it was the home of  Archibald Bates, Ironmongers . At the time of the 1911 Census, schoolboy,  Allan  was aged 14 and the son of  Archibald Bates  the Ironmonger and  Harriet Elizabeth Bates .  Allan  had three older siblings,  Archibald Alfred ,  Florence Harriet  and  Richard Bertram . Top left: Red Baron Top right: 44 St Helens Rd today Bottom left: The Red Baron’s red Fokker DR. 1 triplane Bottom right: South Wales Weekly Post 21 April 1917 During the First World War,  Allan  was ranked Second Lieutenant serving with the No. 25 Squadron, Royal Flying Corps. No. 25 Squadron was formed in...

  This month we will look at the date 21st April and two connections specific to that date.  The first is for April 1983 when the Royal Mint introduced the ‘new’ pound coin (right). Pound notes were in circulation until 1988 when they were finally withdrawn. This month marks the 40th anniversary of the pound coin. At this time in 1983, there were 443,053,510 coins minted. The obverse side of the coin shows a portrait of Queen Elizabeth II, drawn by artist  Arnold Machin . In this portrait the Queen is wearing the “ Girls of Great Britain and Ireland ” tiara which was a wedding present to the Duchess of York, later Queen Mary in 1893. In November 1947 she gave the tiara as a wedding present to her granddaughter, Princess Elizabeth. The Queen wore the tiara regularly throughout her rein and is depicted wearing it on certain issues of British and Commonwealth banknotes and coinage. This portrait was in use from 1968 until 1984.  Machin’s  portrait of the Queen has ...