Little egrets

 

Little egrets

Read more about these beautiful little birds that are becoming much more common these days in Britain in my daily nature post on earthstar.blog: More herons at the lake

Who’s been sleeping in my house?

The flat I’m currently renting in Cardiff is in Roath Park, an affluent suburb that was always intended to be a high-quality residential district – I certainly couldn’t afford to buy here nowadays! In 1887, the Marquess of Bute and other generous locals donated land for a public park to be established around Roath Brook and, in subsequent years, Roath Park Lake was constructed, and the Pleasure Gardens and recreation grounds were laid out. Residential development occurred between 1890 and 1914, with the houses where I am, on the south side of the Pleasure Gardens and recreation grounds, being built over a fifteen-year period starting around 1891.

Postcard of Roath Park, c.1896

The houses are substantial. Mine has three storeys; has been subdivided into four flats: a studio, two two-bedroom flats and mine, a one-bedroom; and eight people live comfortably within its red-brick walls. But it wasn’t always so crowded.

I’m not sure of its exact construction date but, as far as I can tell the first occupant, in 1905, was John Greatrex. He was a shipbroker and must’ve been in his fifties by then as a newspaper report in The Cardiff Times, 7 June 1884, says he was then a shipbroker of 22 years’ experience. At that time, he was manager of shipbroking company Messrs Morteo and Penco, though in a later newspaper report (South Wales Daily News, 2 February 1899) he was working for Messrs Cory Bros and Co. Later still, he went into partnership with a Gwilym Rees, trading as Greatrex and Rees, coal exporters, steamship brokers, and colliery agents, out of Swansea.

John Greatrex didn’t stay long in my house, as the 1906 directory shows the house was occupied by Martin D. Gargill, MD. Despite his unusual name, I haven’t been able to discover anything about the good doctor.

The next occupant has left more of a mark on history. Gilbert Norwood, born 23 November 1880 near Sheffield and with a double first in Classics from Cambridge University’s St John’s College, moved to Cardiff in July 1908 to take up his new appointment as Professor of Greek at the University College. He continued in that position for 20 years, after which time he moved to Canada, where he was appointed Professor of Classics and Director of Classical Studies at the University College in Toronto.

Gilbert Norwood, in 1908 and in 1944.

Norwood’s specialties were Ancient Greek tragedy (in particular, the works of Euripides) and comedy (with a focus on Aristophanes), and he published widely on these subjects, in essays and scholarly journals and in at least ten books. His work gained international recognition: he received a number of guest professorships at elite universities, and he was elected a member of the Royal Society of Canada in 1943. He died in Toronto in 1954.

Norwood didn’t stay in my house for all of his 20 years in Cardiff – perhaps he moved somewhere closer to the university – as the directories from 1914 to 1932 show one Alfred Carrell was resident here. Alfred has also proven a trifle elusive, though I think he may also have been a shipbroker. If I have the right man, then Alfred was born in Jersey, in the Channel Islands, around 1880, and was the son of Francis P. Carrell, who various newspaper reports also list as a shipbroker and shipowner in Cardiff from 1859 onwards. More than this I do not know.

The last name in my historical look at who’s been sleeping in my house is Harry Vye-Parminter, who appears to have moved in around 1937. Despite that very distinctive surname, Harry has also proven a little elusive. From some 1930s’ references to patents (for upholstery springs, of all things) I think his full name was Harry Harvey Vye-Parminter and, if so, he was born in March 1875 in Swansea. According to one Swansea directory, his father, James Chapman Vye-Parminter, was both ‘portrait painter [and] art photographer to H.M. the Queen’, though I can find no official verification of that. He was also a Justice of the Peace and a prominent man in Swansea society of the time, according to numerous contemporary newspaper reports and an obituary published in the Evening Express on 30 October 1896.

The house is on the end of a row of terrace houses.

Harry’s mother Agnes was also an artist, a painter of some repute, and I found images of two of her portrait paintings here. However, it seems Harry himself didn’t inherit their artistic talent or, at least, chose not to exercise it professionally. He’s listed in the 1891 census as a clerk to a metal broker, and his father’s 1896 obituary states that he was ‘engaged in the Swansea coal trade’, but he doesn’t appear in the 1901 or 1911 census documents (though it may be that his name has been mis-transcribed).

Harry reappears on 21 August 1920 when he married Jessie Maria Jones in St James Church in Swansea, and then again in 1921-22, when his partnership with John Torbock was dissolved. They had been carrying on business as manufacturers of Soleenite Belt Dressing and Black Swan Boot Polish and Soleen at 39 King Edward-road, Swansea, under the style of Parminter & Torbock. By June 1928, Harry had made the move to Cardiff, as he was living in Whitchurch when he was officially declared bankrupt.

Although Harry then appears in the local directory as living in my house in 1937, he wasn’t here long, as he passed away in 1938. His wife continued living in Cardiff – though, whether in my house or elsewhere is uncertain – until 1948, when she also passed away.

Harry’s passing marks the end of my look at who has lived in my house, as I didn’t want to invade the privacy of any past residents who might still be alive. It was a fascinating exercise to see who has lived here, and certainly one I will do again in my next abode.

From Cardiff to the South Pole: Robert Falcon Scott

Robert Falcon Scott,
 from Wikipedia commons

It always struck me as odd that Roath Park Lake in Cardiff had a lighthouse in it, until I read the plaque:

To the memory of Captain R.F. Scott C.V.O., D.S.O., R.N. and his faithful companions Captain L.E.G. Oates, Lieut. H.R. Bowers R.I.M., Dr E.A. Wilson, and Petty Officer Edgar Evans R.N. who sailed in the S.S. Terra Nova from the port of Cardiff June 15th 1910, to locate the South Pole; and, in pursuit of that great and successful scientific task, laid down their lives in the Antarctic regions. March 1912. Britons all and very gallant gentlemen. Erected and presented to the City of Cardiff by F.C. Bowring Esq., J.P. 1915.

Most people are familiar with Scott’s sad tale, I think: after an heroic struggle, he and his team reached the South Pole on 17 January 1912 only to discover that the Norwegian team, led by Roald Admunsen, had beaten them to their goal and then, on their 1500km return journey across the ice, Scott and his four comrades all perished from a combination of hunger and the extreme conditions. What you may not realise is Cardiff’s connection to the story.

SS Terra Nova, Evening Express, 13 October 1910

Cardiff was Scott and his team’s UK departure point for the expedition. They arrived at Roath Basin in Cardiff docklands, aboard their whaling ship the SS Terra Nova, on 10 June 1910 to complete their final preparations for the voyage, and the folk of Cardiff did them proud. According to information from the Welsh National Museum website,

300 tons of Crown Patent Fuel, 100 tons of steam coal and 500 gallons of engine and lamp oil were donated by Welsh coal companies. All the cooking utensils were given by the Welsh Tin Plate Company of Llanelli and even Scott's sleeping bag was bought with funds raised by the County School in Cardigan. In addition to support in kind, a further £2,500 was raised in Cardiff, more than from any other city.

In fact, local supporters were so generous that Scott named Cardiff the Terra Nova’s home port and it was to this city that the ill-fated expedition returned on 14 June 1913, almost three years to the day after its departure.

Photograph taken at the South Pole by Henry Bowers (using a piece of string to operate the camera shutter). From left to right: Oates, Bowers and Wilson (both seated), Scott and Evans. Photograph from Leonard Huxley (ed.), 'The Return from the Pole' in Scott's Last Expedition, Volume 1, Dodd, Mead and Company, New York, 1913.

The connection with Cardiff arose through E.R.G.R. (Teddy) Evans, a young navy Lieutenant who had initially planned his own Antarctic expedition but eventually joined Scott as his second-in-command and captain of the Terra Nova. Evans brought with him the backing of William Davies, influential editor of the Western Mail newspaper, as well as the financial support of leading Cardiff ship-owners William Tatem and Daniel Radcliffe. Evans also convinced fellow Welshman David Lloyd George, then Chancellor of the Exchequer, to provide the sizable sum of £20,000 in government support. Evans went on to a highly successful naval career, and was recognised for his achievements by his elevation to the peerage: he became 1st Baron Mountevans in 1945.

Edgar Evans, Cambria Daily Leader, 11 February 1913

Obviously then, he was not the Evans who died with Scott on their return journey from the South Pole. That was another Welshman, Edgar Evans, the expedition’s Chief Petty Officer. Edgar Evans first met Scott when he began his naval service aboard the HMS Majestic in 1899 – Scott was then serving as a torpedo lieutenant on the same ship – and Evans travelled with Scott on his earlier polar expedition in 1901-4, so he was a logical choice to join the Terra Nova expedition. It seems he was a bit of a character, nearly missing the Terra Nova’s departure south from New Zealand because he was drunk and fell into the water when trying to board the ship. Sadly, he was the first to die on the return journey from the South Pole.

Cardiff’s connection with Scott and the Terra Nova expedition are commemorated in many places around the city. As well as the lighthouse and a garden memorial at Roath Park Lake (the café nearby is also called Terra Nova), there is a sculpture in Cardiff Bay, depicting Scott and the faces of the four men who died with him, and a large outdoor exhibition providing interesting photos and information about the expedition. 

There is even a Captain Scott Society, which meets annually to ‘commemorate the association of the City with Scott's last expedition and to encourage the spirit of adventure that he inspired’. Now that’s an aim I can heartily endorse!  

Scott Memorial sculpture, at Cardiff Bay

The sails in the background mark the site of the Scott exhibition, Cardiff Bay