William Laugharne Morgan - a brief biography 

The Rev. Lewis Morgan, Vicar of Llandybie, latterly Vicar of Llangaddock and Mary Ann née Lucas of Llandeilo, were married on 12th June 1852. Their sixth child, William Laugharne Morgan was born at Llandybie, Carmarthenshire on 31 January 1861.

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            When he was thirty-four years old, William married Alice Emily, aged twenty-four, daughter of George Dods MD at Roxburghe Hotel, Edinburgh on 3rd December 1894. The Evening Express of 5 December 1894 announced that 'they would be at home at Belmont, The Mayalls [sic] from 20th December.' 

            In due course, they became parents to seven children, four daughters, Eileen Alice, Margaret Heather, Nesta and Hilda Mary and three sons, Lewis Laugharne, George Laugharne and Normand Laugharne.

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            By 1901, they were living at 10, St. James' Gardens, Uplands with their first three children, two servants and a Nurse;  by 1906, at Pine Lodge, Langland Hill (next door to Roger Beck's house, The Rhyddings); followed by a move to 28, Glanmor Crescent, Uplands where William and  Alice, four daughters and  baby George were looked after by a Governess, Rebecca Clarke, plus a cook and housemaid (Son, Lewis was not there); by 1914 they were at Wellfield, Bishopston and then, sometime in 1914 at Underwood,  'a large semi-detached, three-storeyed, five bedroomed house with bath,  with splendid views of Swansea Bay' on Overland Road, which was advertised for sale in  the South Wales Weekly Post in April and May of that year. 

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            His professional life was full. In 1899, he was described as a 'Ship's Broker'  with offices at 10, York Street, from where he also ran his firm of  W. Laugharne Morgan & Co.,  a well-established parcels and delivery business with another office at 10, The Dunns, Mumbles.

The haulage business was not without its problems however, as illustrated by an incident in January 1910, when PC 123 Bevan stopped a runaway horse attached to one of William's wagons. It was galloping down Fabian Street, St. Thomas with smashed shafts and the driver John Turner, lying helpless on the vehicle, having been kicked by the animal. PC Bevan dashed at the horse and was dragged thirty yards before stopping it. The driver was taken to hospital with a compound fracture of his left leg and suffering from severe shock. PC Bevan said that it was the same horse which had previously run away in Waterloo Street, when PC Fox was injured. Letters were received by eye-witnesses 'speaking in high terms of the valour displayed'.  

            On another occasion,  traffic was held up 'by an accident to a lorry belonging to William Laugharne Morgan which, loaded with sacks of sawdust, in turning, fell on its side on the greasy road'. No one was hurt and the sacks were pulled to the roadside'.

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            By 1911,  he was described as running the South Wales Anthracite Colliery Co., as an agent for the Ystradgynlais and Yniscedwyn collieries, as well as being a 'carting contractor', but by 1914 had relinquished his involvement with the haulage business. 

            Ystradgynlais Colliery was near the Neath and Brecon Railway and Yniscedwyn was served by the Midland Railway,  much of the coal  destined for the Midlands and Central Wales. 

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            The family had happy times together. They owned a Cottage in Kingsbury Street, Marlborough, where they would go as a family for holidays. One such get-together took place at Easter in 1918 and included Lewis, who by then was serving in the RFC. Sadly, it was to be their final complete family gathering, as a few weeks later, Lewis was killed in Action, aged twenty-one. (see below).

            Other family events were publicised, such as when second daughter, Heather gained an elementary pass at the piano from the Associated Board of Royal Academy of Music and the Royal College of Music.

            Following the Representation of the People Act in February 1918, the Cambrian Daily Leader editorial, of 25 February, noted that 'A large extension of the Municipal Franchise should accomplish much locally, but to do so, women's aims must be voiced. That means Women Councillors. Several names have already been suggested'. One was William's daughter, Miss Heather Laugharne Morgan.

            Then on 2nd August 1918,  he had the joyful task of leading  her down the aisle at a military wedding at Oystermouth Parish Church, to be married to Lieutenant Geoffrey Grundy MA a Master at Ripon.(SWWP 10/8/1918)  He was the son of the late Mr. Walker Grundy and Mrs Grundy of Prestwich near Manchester. The best man was her brother-in-law, Captain Norman Birley MC., DSO, husband of Eileen.  The service was conducted by the Vicar of Oystermouth, the Rev. Harold Williams, assisted by her Uncle, the Rev. J. Popkin Morgan of Llanelly.  In her honour, the church was decorated throughout with heather, as were the bride's and bridesmaids' bouquets. The couple then left for a honeymoon in Oxford. The flowers were provided by Tom Barron who back in 1888, had described himself as 'The Royal Florist' and had nurseries at Blackpill and a branch at Lilliput.

            In November 1920, another happy event occurred when daughter Eileen Birley, came home to Underwood to give birth to a son, a first grandson for William and Alice. 

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             William was  a sociable person in the community, with a special talent for mimicry and 'a most entertaining raconteur actively involved in the local community,'  with a love of  amateur theatricals, appearing as part of the cast in a charity programme at the Theatre in November 1898, together with Ernest Perkins, Captain Forbes and Mrs Brooks.  

            During the Great War, as part of the Committee of the 6th Welsh Comforts Fund, William relished his role dressed as Father Christmas, when five hundred Swansea children, who had lost their fathers in the War, were entertained to a tea-time treat of bread and butter, cake and tea, at the Central Hall, Swansea. He told them he had come from the North Pole in an aeroplane and remarked 'Oh My! It was cold there.' He distributed envelopes to each child containing six freshly-minted 'golden' pennies, provided from Mr. C.C. Vivian of the London City and Midland Bank. The following year, the Committee again gave a tea, this time to nine hundred children, who each received from Father Christmas, 'dressed for the part to perfection', six golden pennies, an apple and a ticket to get a train home. 

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William was a staunch Churchman and held the position of Warden at St Peter's Church, while living at Newton, before moving to Underwood on Overland Road, Mumbles when he became a Sidesman at Oystermouth Parish Church.

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He was a Conservative member of the Oystermouth Urban District Council  for a few years in the Edwardian era, serving on the Finance Committee, where outstanding bills were 'examined' and paid, and as Chairman of the Works and General Purposes Committee. The minutes of the Council record that the Group dealt with a variety of issues as deverse as boating bye-laws, road improvements, granting permission for alterations and additions to buildings,  discussing a request to install a penny-slot machine on 'the Council's esplanade and, on one occasion, whether or not to 'dispose of the council horse, which had become unmanageable'. It was decided to sell it with a reserve price of £18 and buy another.

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 By 1911, he had become a member of Swansea Town Council, which then held its meetings in the building, now housing the Dylan Thomas Centre on Cambrian Place, serving as the representative for the Ffynone Ward and a member of the Education, Highways and later, the Allotment Committees. 

            William wished the Council to vote at least 50% more for road improvements than the previous year and the following week, he again appealed again as 'the amount was not at all adequate.' Needless to say, his interest in roads was probably due to his haulage business and his first-hand experience of their poor road conditions. William voiced his support for the appointment of Mr. FitzMaurice as Inspector of the Tramway extension at 4 guineas a week, as he believed him to be 'a most capable man'. 

            The Kelly's directory 1914, records that William was due to retire from his seat that year, but evidently he offered his services for another term and was re-elected.

            William was very concerned with the bird life on the Gower and protested vociferously at the Swansea Parliamentary and General Purposes Committee meeting in February 1914 at 'the indiscriminate catching of larks on Gower.' He said that 'on Sundays in the summer, hosts of men can be seen snaring birds on Fairwood and Clyne Commons. There is a ready market for the birds as larks are sought for their singing qualities and the wings of other birds used for millinery purposes'. It was a bad custom and  he thought a stop should be put to it. He therefore supported the Wild Birds Protection Acts, which had originally come into force back in 1880. In a letter to the Cambrian Daily Leader on 13th March 1914, another supporter,  Mr. E.L. Danberry 'gave statistics to the effect that from January to March 1911, 40,000 larks had been supplied daily to Leadenhall market'.

            Due to Britain then being at war with Germany, William became involved in  'Call to Arms' meetings  and, on one occasion, spoke at Llanrhidian Parish Hall, where the Swansea Battalion Welsh Group was endeavouring to recruit.

            That same month, 'the whole of the returning Swansea Councillors were returned without opposition in accordance with the arrangement made owing to the national crisis'. 

            In September 1915, at a Council meeting during a discussion on whether Swansea was suitable as a garrison town, William made the case for Swansea by pointing out that 'Swansea was well adapted for a training ground for Government horses' and later that month,  he was elected as an Honorary member of the small executive committee of the Free Importation of Canadian Cattle Association of Great Britain, which wished to remove the embargo on the importation of Canadian cattle. In his speech to the committee, he again promoted Swansea's cause when he explained 'how well situated Swansea is for the landing and distributing of livestock'.

            A public meeting was held at the Crown Court in January 1917, for those who wished to learn more about the Cultivation of Land Order, 1916 and what the Council was doing about it. Several parks had been set aside e.g. nine out of the fourteen acres at Morriston Park, three fields at Singleton and Victoria Park. William was also prepared to give the use of about a half an acre of land adjoining his house 'for the use of cultivators.' Some councillors wanted fencing around the plots, but William believed that 'fencing was not of much importance. Trust to the people and they would do all right' was his opinion. Applications for allotments could be made and handed in on a from specially printed for the purpose.  The Mayor was quoted as saying that, 'Every time they made a potato grow, they were helping Great Britain to win the war.'

            In January 1917, William brought before the Council a suggestion to approach the Secretary of State for War, with a view of getting a draft of German prisoners to assist in work on the land, such as drainage work on Clyne and Fairwood Commons, so that preparation could be made for our disabled soldiers who wished to take up land when they returned from the war. This proposal received the wholehearted support of the Council. There would be a fixed price of land on Townhill of 10/- per ten perch plot, there would be one man one plot and no reductions, as that would be unfair on others. William was appointed to a sub-committee to discuss the erection of piggeries and the purchase of pigs.

            In February 1918, a deputation of nine members of the Swansea Council, including William, was to be presented to the Prince of Wales during his visit to Port Talbot and it was decided that they would travel on the 11.25 am train from the Rhondda and Swansea Bay Station and return by the 3.20pm Great Western Railway train.

            In November 1918, following the local elections, the Cambrian Daily Leader, 6 November 1918, published  a letter from William in which he wrote  'I wish  very sincerely to thank those of you who desired to retain my services on the Council of Greater Swansea and showed their good-will by turning out on a wet day, to register a vote in favour of one who has done his best in the interests of the town for the last seven years'. 

             In 1922, he was approached to stand as Councillor for the Oystermouth and Brynau Ward, but declined as he felt 'he would be unable to devote sufficient time to his public work'.

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As well as his work on the Council, William was a Member of the Swansea Harbour Trust and in January 1917, was appointed, along with Mr. Roger Beck, as Revisor of the Votes of Proprietary Trustees.

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Sadly, his personal life was punctuated by a series of tragedies. In the August of 1899, his younger brother 36 year-old, Dr Arthur Lucas Morgan, a very sick man took a train to Crewe, where he committed suicide in a hotel room. William had to identify him. The coffin arrived at High Street Station and the cortège travelled to Oystermouth, where 'the funeral took place in the early morning'.  

             During the Great War in 1918, his nephew, Captain David Lloyd Popkin Morgan and Lewis, his eldest son, who had both served with distinction, each being awarded the MC, were Killed in Action.

            Captain David Lloyd Popkin Morgan MC, son of Mr. David Henry Morgan of Church Park, Mumbles was serving with the 24th Welch Regiment, when he was killed in Palestine on 9 March 1918, aged 30, during the  four-day battle for  the 'wonderful observation point of  Tell Asur', 15 miles north of Jerusalem. He was interred in Grave F73 at Jerusalem War Cemetery. David had been working as an assayer and metallurgist in Peru, before returning home to enlist in the Pembrokeshire Yeomanry. 

Barely six weeks later, on 26 April 1918, while serving in the UK, Second Lieutenant Lewis Laugharne Morgan was killed aged 21. He was flying a SESa plane with no. 50 Squadron and  due, to problems with its take off, he crashed into a railway embankment in Kent.  Lewis, who had previously worked in his father's office, had won his medal on 24 May 1917, during his time with the Royal flying Corps, when he 'crossed the lines at a height of under 100 feet and destroyed a hostile kite balloon and a hostile scout at close range,' sustaining a fracture of his leg, which required amputation. Despite this, he returned to action and known as 'the air hog' because of his incessant participation in air operations, continued to fight.  He often wrote to his fiancée, Molly Leuw, telling her of family events and seemingly making light of his artificial leg, which he had named Prudence. On 26 March 1918, he described that 'Prudence has been behaving simply abominably lately. Whenever I take her for a walk, she pinches my left side and makes me limp a lot.'  

            William, accompanied by some friends, travelled to Canterbury to attend the funeral, where Lewis was interred at Bekesbourne Cemetery.

            Both their names are commemorated with honour on the Rood Screen memorial inside All Saints Church, Mumbles and on the memorial in Parade Gardens.   

            But further tragedy perhaps even of a crueller kind, was once more to strike the family, when his youngest son, Normand, aged only nine was killed in an accident near Mitchin Hole at Pennard on 23 April 1921.  His two young sons, George, 11 and Normand, 9, had set off from their home at Underwood, to cycle to Pennard to picnic. Following their lunch, George spotted some jackdaws and began to descend the cliff to search for birds' nests. He found it too difficult to proceed and started to retrace his steps, when he realised that Normand had followed him. The ledge on which the younger boy was standing then gave way, causing him to fall 60 to 70 feet to the bottom. George climbed down, found his brother unconscious and bleeding and climbed back up to call for help. Normand was then taken to Southgate farm and thence to Swansea Hospital, but died before he reached there.  At the inquest, a verdict of death from a fall was recorded.

Since moving to Underwood, it had become William's custom, by now in his early fifties, to cycle at 7.00am every morning come rain or shine, to the slipway at the old Lifeboat House at Southend, where he would slip into the tide and bathe for a few minutes.

On the morning of 23 October 1922, he was seen by Mr. Wren Harris on The Parade, riding towards Southend, where he asked William Jenkins, a lifeboatman and fisherman, whether he could leave his clothes inside the boathouse, while he bathed.  This done, Mr Jenkins then proceeded on his way to the pier, but on his return, some thirty minutes later, he noticed the bicycle and clothes were still there, but of Mr Morgan, there was no sign. After a brief search, he informed the police and Sergeant Thomas Williams, accompanied by several coastguards, fishermen and two Swansea tugs, began a search of the bay, and the adjacent bays of Bracelet and Limeslade, all to no avail. 

            At about 1.15pm two days later, a body was found by the local Coastguard, Thomas Burt on the beach at Oxwich. It was duly examined by the Coroner, Dr. Edward Dendy and identified by Albert Grundy.  At the inquest conducted at Oxwich by Mr. C.J.C. Wilson a few weeks later, William Jenkins and Thomas Burt recounted the events they had witnessed and Dr. Dendy described the injuries to the head and body, as consistent with having been dashed against the rocks. A verdict of asphyxia due to accidental drowning was recorded.

            The following day, a service was held in Oystermouth Parish Church prior to interment in Plot 453E at Oystermouth Cemetery, where he lies with Normand. William left a widow, four daughters and his one remaining son.

Such a sad and tragic end to a still comparatively young, busy, sociable and entertaining man, with a social conscience, bent on doing 'good works.' 

            Alice survived him by twenty-five years and passed away on 7 January 1947, but is interred elsewhere.

Bibliography

1851 Religious census

1901 census, 1911 census

Birth, Marriage and Death records

Kelly's Trade directory, 1906, 1914

Minutes of the Oystermouth Urban District Council, West Glam Archive, cat.no. TC/68/1/8

Cambrian 25 August 1899, 7 January 1910, 9 November 1920

Cambrian Daily Leader 7 January 1913, 15 January 1913, 13 March 1914, 28 April 1913, 23 April 1914,22 October 1914, 5 January 1917, 6 January 1917, 8 January 1917, 16 January 1917,  

2 January 1918, 19 February 1918, 25 February 1918, 6 November 1918, 9 November 1920

Herald of Wales, 26 January 1918

Mumbles News February 1973

Mumbles Press 3 October 1912,  29 April 1921, 26 October 1922,  22 November 1922

South Wales Weekly Post (SWWP) April and May 1914. 10 August 1918, 31 October 1914, 

18 September 1915,

South Wales Daily Post (SWDP) 23 August 1899,  13 March 1918

The Evening Express, 5 December 1894

Western Mail (WM) 24 November 1898

Jones, Francis, 'Llanrheithan' in Pembrokeshire Historian, no.3, 1971

Whitehorne Major A.C., OBE, The History of the Welch Regiment, 1932

OHA Archive

www.Slatersplastikard.com

www.genforum.genealogy/Morgan

www. pictorialgems.com

Previously published in The Swansea History Journal. Minerva, No. 24, 2016-17, page 112.