The Historical Association - Swansea Branch

23/06/2026

23 June 1896 EVENING EXPRESS. SWANSEA REGATTA. GERMAN EMPEROR WILL SEND THE METEOR. ‘At a meeting of the committee of the Swansea. Bay Royal Regatta was held on Monday afternoon, under the presidency of Colonel Pike. The Secretary (Captain Smith) reported receipt of the following letter: — "From the German Embassy, London, to the Mayor of Swansea. "Referring to your letter addressed to his Excellency the German Ambassador, in which you inquired whether his Majesty the Emperor would allow his yacht the Meteor to race in your regatta on the 25th prox., I have received instructions from the Naval Cabinet to inform you that his Majesty has consented to his yacht competing at the Swansea Bay Royal Regatta if the weather permits the yacht to arrive there in time.— I have, &c., "E. GULICH. "Captain Imperial German Navy’. It was further reported that, the estimated prize list would be £742, and that £ 704 had already been subscribed, apart from the £70 subscribed by the ladies. A special vote of thanks was passed to the mayoress and ladies -for their efforts, and it was stated that their fund was likely to reach £ 100. It was decided that the second yacht race be called the "Ladies' Race." For the first race a gold cup, value 100 guineas, and a second prize, value £50, would be offered.’ For more information on the Swansea Branch of the Historical Association go to haswansea.org.uk
NOTE: The Meteor II was a 37m racing yacht designed by G L Watson for the German Emperor, Kaiser Wilhelm II, and built by D. and W. Henderson & Company on the Clyde, Scotland. It was launched in May 1896 and was competing by June 1896. Constructed specifically to conquer the highly competitive British yachting circuit, it famously defeated the Prince of Wales’s yacht, Britannia. The Kaiser eventually grew displeased with Meteor II's performance, handing the vessel over to the German Imperial Navy before moving on to Meteor III.
West Glamorgan Archive Service Swansea Museum Amgueddfa Genedlaethol y Glannau - National Waterfront Museum Swansea Libraries Germany Tourism The Story of Mumbles

22/06/2026

The Historical Association’s Swansea Branch is delighted to announce the launch of its new website https://www.haswansea.org.uk As well as information on the Historical Association and the Swansea Branch, you can see the details of our next free talk at the Waterfront Museum in July and all of our talks up to April 2027. You can view all of our publications, and find out how to purchase them. If you would like to become a member of the branch you can download a membership form and, if you are looking for a speaker for a local group or society, you can see all of our outreach speakers, the subjects they talk on and how to book them. You can also link directly from the website to our social media posts on Facebook, X and Instagram, and if you need to contact us, please complete the form on the ‘Contact Us’ page, press send and your message will come directly to us. We hope you will find the new website easy to use and a useful means to keep in touch with the Historical Association’s Swansea Branch. West Glamorgan Archive Service Swansea Museum Amgueddfa Genedlaethol y Glannau - National Waterfront Museum Swansea Libraries The Historical Association Glynn Vivian Art Gallery Heritage Neath Port Talbot Neath Port Talbot Libraries

The Historical Association, Swansea Branch is a community dedicated to celebrating, discussing, and promoting history in Swansea and south-west Wales area.

22/06/2026

22 June 1914 Cambria Daily Leader THE "BATTLE" OF MUMBLES HILL" Visitors to Mumbles on Saturday afternoon will remember seeing a number of ambulance men and ladies of the Red Cross Society carrying out operations in connection with a very realistic scheme, in which the 3rd Welsh Field Ambulance were joined by the local Voluntary Aid Detachments (ladies) and the St. John Ambulance. The idea, briefly, was that a fight was in progress between Langland and Limeslade. An advance party had established a clearing hospital on Bracelet Common to accommodate six beds. At four o'clock the main body arrived. At five o'clock Mrs. Bertie Perking in command of the three Voluntary Aid Detachments, and Superintendent Wheel, and Mr. Edmund, Briton Ferry, in charge of St. John Ambulance, reported. In five minutes the clearing hospital was prepared. Some of the injured treated for minor injuries at the dressing station, near the scene of action, and others were conveyed on the ambulance wagons to the clearing hospital. The first news of the action was brought by two men who limped, bandaged, into the hospital. From the Clearing Hospital the injured were conveyed to the Rail Head Hospital at the Pier Head, whence they were entrained for the Base Hospital at Blackpill. A humorous element was lent by the fact that they lost the six o'clock train, but several were sent down by the 6.50 Private cars were also pressed into service, and Mr. Thomas, of Clydach, took an injured man to the Base Hospital in his side car. The Base Hospital was arranged with the greatest attention to detail, an operating theatre being arranged with instruments ready sterilised. Operations ceased about eight o'clock. The Story of Mumbles West Glamorgan Archive Service Swansea Museum Amgueddfa Genedlaethol y Glannau - National Waterfront Museum Swansea Libraries

21/06/2026

21st June 1910 South Wales Daily Post. POPULACE ENJOYS THE COOL OF THE EVENING. The sweltering heat of Monday brought the people of Swansea out in the evening to the sands, the parks and the bays —in fact anywhere in the open where a breath of air be obtained. The temperature had been 79.3 deg. F. in the shade during the day—only a little below the hottest day (Sunday) of the year, when the thermometer registered 80 deg. It was oppressive, and the advent of the evening and the setting sun was immensely appreciated. The sands were crowded, and hundreds of people visited the parks. The Police Band provided a great attraction at Brynmelin Park, additional interest being centred in the fact that the new bandmaster (Mr Shackleford) wielded the baton for the first time. Bandmaster Shackleford pleased everybody, and met with a splendid reception on stepping into the bandstand. The Industrial School Band played selections at Cwmdonkin Park, and the lads gave creditable performances. Just before nine o'clock the sky became overcast, and an hour later there was a welcome downfall of rain, though of short duration. West Glamorgan Archive Service Swansea Museum Swansea Libraries Amgueddfa Genedlaethol y Glannau - National Waterfront Museum The Story of Mumbles

20/06/2026

Many thanks you everyone who came along to listen to Gerald Gabb’s excellent talk on 20th century housing in Swansea, and his reminder to us all to look up and observe what may seem everyday or commonplace. Our apologies for technology imposing a short intermission - fortunately it didn’t disrupt Gerald’s flow or shorten the time allowed for your insightful questions. We hope you can join us for our next free talk at Swansea’s National Waterfront Museum which will be at 11:00 am on Saturday 18th July - more details to follow shortly - but please put the time and date in your diary.

20/06/2026

20th June 1899 Evening Express - Barnum and Bailey. BRILLIANT PERFORMANCE AT SWANSEA. ‘Swansea turned up trumps (or, in Americanese, went "bully") for Messrs. Barnum and Bailey. I question whether Swansea, has ever been so full before. The streets were thronged from morning to night and money rolled into the coffers of the world's greatest showmen in bucketsful. No wonder the attendants in their announcements within the tent elevated Swansea to the dignity of a "city." Swansea had all West Wales to back her, for the show goes no further west, and if the circus tent alone holds 15,000 people- well, they were certainly "there." The streets were crowded even before the precession started. Jake Posey, with his forty-horse team, was alone a sight worth going to Swansea for. But these were only a small part of the 364 steeds, whilst, besides this, sixteen lumbering elephants, sixteen humpy, ponderous camels, a number of cages of carnivorous animals, 20 or 30 ponies, and 250 gaily-apparelled people took their share in the unique show.
When I got to the Victoria Park — I found the place absolutely besieged. When tickets were obtained, the question was which way to turn in the all too limited time before the performance in the main circus tent. In the circus tent, order, method, and organisation reigned supreme, and, although the place was crammed, everyone had a seat. There were three rings and two platforms occupied by different "turns" at the same time. The succession and the range was so bewildering, I had my head turned so repeatedly, that I cannot remember much of what I saw. The trick equestrianism of the accomplished Lecusson family struck me as very fine. La Roche's spiral ascension inside a metal ball; the control by Ducrow of 70 horses in the ring at one time; the performing seals; the many bar trapeze, and aerial performers; the host of clowns, are now all vague, but imperishable memories with me; whilst the succession of brilliant, impetuous races which conclude the show gave it really an aspect of grandeur most dazzling to the senses.’ West Glamorgan Archive Service Swansea Museum Amgueddfa Genedlaethol y Glannau - National Waterfront Museum Swansea Libraries

19/06/2026

19th June 1908 The Cambrian “SWANSEA-BORN FRENCH ARTIST SUCCESS AT THE PARIS SALON” ‘M. Albert Belleroche who was born in Swansea and was a pupil of Carolus Duran, has secured a second medal and an honourable mention for two lithographs at the Paris Salon.’
NOTE: Albert Gustavus de Belleroche was born in Swansea on 22 August 1864 and baptised at St Mary’s Church. His parents were, Alice Sidonie (nee Baruch) and Edward Charles de Belleroche, a Count (Comte) of Huguenot descent. On the 1861 Census the Belleroche family were living at 25 Belle Vue Street, Swansea and Edmund Belleroche was a ship broker’s clerk. Edmund died in Swansea in 1867 and Alice Belleroche remarried in 1871, moving her children to London and Paris. In Paris, Albert Belleroche was briefly a pupil of the portrait painter Carolus Duran but became friends with Toulouse Lautrec (whose portrait he painted), John Singer Sargent and Frank Brangwyn. Belleroche’s son William also became a close associate of Brangwyn and, in addition working with him on wood engravings, collected Brangwyn’s work and became his biographer.
Originally starting as a painter, Albert Belleroche became famous as a lithograph artist. In 1906 ‘The Cambrian’ carried a report of his London exhibition which described him as a ‘master of lithographic art. He returned to live in Britain in 1910 and died in Nottinghamshire in 1944.
In 1917 Sir Alfred Mond gifted a picture by Albert Belleroche to the Glynn Vivian Art Gallery, but this was return in the 1950s to William Belleroche in exchange for two other works - one of which ‘Berthe’ remains in the Glynn Vivian Gallery. The National Museum in Cardiff has Albert Belleroche’s portrait of his mother (Mrs H V Milbank) which was gifted to the Museum in 1942. Belleroche’s work can also be found in the British Museum, the Victoria and Albert Museum, Brussels, Dresden, Paris, Berlin, Munich New York, Washington and Vienna. Swansea Museum Glynn Vivian Art Gallery West Glamorgan Archive Service Amgueddfa Genedlaethol y Glannau - National Waterfront Museum Swansea Libraries

18/06/2026

18th June 1928 South Wales Daily Post ‘First Woman to Fly Atlantic lands at Burry Port’ Interviewing a man on Townhill, who claimed to see ‘an aeroplane come out of a bank of cloud and descending’ the newspaper attempted to give a Swansea spin to Amelia Earhart’s transatlantic fight and subsequent landing between Pwll and Burry Port on the Loughor estuary. Flying from Newfoundland and aiming to land at Southampton, the three engined Fokker seaplane named ‘Friendship’ was, after 21 hours in the air, running low on fuel and, with limited visibility, needed a suitable landing site. Unaware of their exact location the pilot identified an estuary and nearby industrial town and the plane touched down at 11:40 on the 18th June 1928. The crew of three were rowed ashore from the seaplane to Burry Port harbour and after spending the night at the Ashburnham Hotel, the ‘Friendship’ took off for Southhampton the following morning.
Amelia Earhart was widely celebrated in the media and gained celebrity status as the first woman to make a direct flight across the Atlantic. But despite having over 500 solo flying hours, Earhart was a passenger on the flight, the ‘Friendship’ being piloted by Wilmer Stultz, with Lou Gordon as flight mechanic. As Earhart admitted to the ‘Daily Post’, “It was not a question of being a woman … we were not taking any chances … perhaps less skilful and experienced, it would not have been fair of me to have taken the joy-stick and jeopardised our prospects of success or safety.”
NOTE: On 20th May 1932, Amelia Earhart flew solo across the Atlantic, from Newfoundland to Northern Ireland, a journey of 15 hours. She became the first woman to fly solo and nonstop across the Atlantic, and only the second person to do so since Charles Lindbergh in May 1927. West Glamorgan Archive Service Swansea Museum Amgueddfa Genedlaethol y Glannau - National Waterfront Museum Swansea Libraries Burry Port and Pembrey Historical Society.

17/06/2026

Our next free talk, at 11:00 am on Saturday, 20th June in Swansea’s Waterfront Museum, will be ‘Some Ideas on 20th Century Swansea’ with Gerald Gabb. This talk will take a close look at how housing in Swansea has changed during the course of the 20th Century.
Biography: Gerald was born and brought up in Swansea. Excellent teaching at sixth form and some brief MA research gave him an abiding joy in historical research and, having not travelled, it made sense to concentrate on Swansea. Gerald previously worked as an Education Officer at the old Maritime and Industrial Museum as well as at Swansea Museum, a role he enjoyed. As well as being a council member for the RISW for over 40 years and editor of Swansea History Journal/Minerva since 2009 he is also a Branch Fellow of the Historical Association Swansea Branch. Swansea Museum Swansea Libraries Amgueddfa Genedlaethol y Glannau - National Waterfront Museum West Glamorgan Archive Service West Glamorgan Archive Service Swansea Scoop

17/06/2026

17th June 1910 The Cambrian ‘Swansea Tar on the Terra Nova” - Abertawe Boy who is South-Ward Bound’ Capt. Scott, C.V.O., and the officers of the British Antarctic expedition vessel, Terra Nova, were entertained to dinner at Cardiff on Monday evening by the commercial community. At the event of special interest to Swansea also occurred. Chief Seaman Edgar Evans, of Swansea, one of the biggest and burliest members of the crew, was received with three times three as he rose from his seat. With the typical modesty of a jack tar and with an unmistakable West Wales accent, he said "I think it is out of place for me to sit up here with Captain Scott, but whatever I have to say I'll say it in as few words as possible. (Cheers.) Every man in the ship has confidence in Captain Scott. I know him and I he knows me very well (laughter). Every man in this expedition is heart and soul in the business, and as it has got to be a success this time—(cheers) every man will do his best. As a representative of Wales, I am pleased to meet you all, but, whether Wales or Ireland, if Captain Scott had only said he is going again I would go too. (Cheers.) No one else would have induced me to go there again, but if there is a man in the world who will bring this to a successful issue Captain Scott is the ma.n. (Renewed cheers.) The crew appreciate what you have done for them. I hope we shall meet again - and we shall. (Cheers.) Of course, that depends on Captain Scott bringing back the Pole. (Loud laughter.) We cannot put it in the museum, but if we do bring it back I hope you will let it go to Swansea, (loud cheers and laughter.) MR. EVANS'S SWANSEA CONNECTIONS. Chief Seaman Evans, although a Swansea boy, makes his home at Portsmouth, but he was born at Abertawe, and his father, Mr. Charles Evans, sailed out of Swansea in the Glasgow trade for years. His mother still lives in Gower and during the fifteen years he has been in the Navy he has visited every quarter of the globe. He is 35 years of age, three children in family, and expects that the expedition will be away at least four years.’
NOTE: Petty Officer Edgar Evans (1876-1912) died on 17th February 1912 when returning from the South Pole with Captain Scott’s British Antarctic Expedition. His body was never recovered. There is a memorial plaque to him in St Mary’s Church, Rhossili. Swansea Museum West Glamorgan Archive Service Amgueddfa Genedlaethol y Glannau - National Waterfront Museum Swansea Libraries
Amgueddfa Genedlaethol Caerdydd - National Museum Cardiff